Chpt.10) The end of the training

As Ford woke up, she noticed that she was in her tent, and it was getting dark outside. She sat up and looked for her fedora since she was still wearing her robes. As she searched, she heard everyone talking around the campfire.

“What if she loses control during a fight in the dungeon? What then? Just run and hide?” Morgan asked.

“We need a solution for when she goes Berserk,” Benet said, “we barely survived this time, and that was just out of luck.”

“Maybe we can figure out how to fix her brain,” Max suggested, “she did say her brain was broken.”

“The Grimoire and stress broke it,” Ee said, “short of killing her, we can’t fix her.”

Ford climbed out of her tent as Farah said, “Then that’s what we must do. If… when she loses control, we have to kill her.”

“No, we can’t kill her,” Max protested.

“I agree,” Lilly said, “there has to be a way to save her.”

“Wrath is created by her Grimoire,” Ee explained, “her Grimoire is bonded to her soul and body. Destroy one destroy the other, permanently, with resurrection still active. You destroy a Grimoire; there’s no afterlife of any kind.”

“But Ford is our friend,” Gimble said.

“It doesn’t matter if she kills us when she loses control,” Farah exclaimed.

Ford stepped forward and said, “She’s right,” everyone turned to look at Ford. She took a deep breath, not making any eye contact, and continued, “I’m sorry, everyone. I lost control, and I nearly killed all of you. For that, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t nearly kill them. I did…and it was awesome! Let’s do it again sometime,” Wrath exclaimed un-apologetically.

Ignoring Wrath, Ford continued, “What Farah said is correct. IF I ever lose control, whether I allow it to happen or not, you must kill me.”

“Uhh, what are you saying?!”

“No! we can’t-” Max started to protest.

“If you ever have to kill me, make me one promise. That one of you will wish for everyone who died during this game will be resurrected,” Ford said, cutting Max off, “can you all promise that?”

“I promise you that,” Farah said.

“Hold up, are you giving them the go-ahead to kill us? I do not agree with this. Let’s discuss it back in the tent…uh, Ford?”

“Well,” Morgan said, “what’s the plan then?”

Ford looked up at them and gave a small smile as she sat next to Max and Lilly; Max had a red helmet in her lap, “You already got the plan, cut off my limbs, and then decapitate me. I can only regenerate so much.”

“Why don’t we,” Kii started.

“Just shoot you in the head,” Mizu finished.

“I told you to stop that,” Ford said flatly, “and although that would work. You’ll have to get my helmet off first, and that thing is indestructible,” she said, gesturing to the helmet in Max’s lap. Ford looked up at Max’s face and saw she refused to look at her.

Max stood and walked over to the cauldron boiling on the fire and tasted the stew. “It’s done,” she said and started to fill bowls. Everyone got up gratefully accepted the bowls of stew. As they ate, the tension in the camp relaxed, and Ford learned what else happened while she was knocked out.

Turns out Gimble manifested his soul and learned his numbers thanks to Lilly. Benet gained two points in endurance thanks to Wrath breaking his back and ribs in one go; Ford apologized profusely for what happened again. In contrast, Morgan gained two points in wisdom for fighting against Wrath; Ford apologized again and congratulated Morgan, Benet, Gimble for their stat increases. All the while, Max was silent and avoided talking to Ford.

When they finished eating and stacked their bowls, Ford said, “Alright, get some sleep, everyone. We got a dungeon tomorrow.” Everyone agreed and went off to their respective tents. Ford walked over to her tent and noticed Max went with Lilly, “Hey, Max aren’t you-”

“I’m going to sleep in Lilly’s tent,” Max said, crossing her arms.

“You and I both know not to ask why. So don’t ask,” Wrath advised.

Ford ignored, “Why?”

“YOU DUMB FUCKING BITCH, LISTEN!!”

Max took a deep breath and turned her back on Ford as she said, “I-I need some time to think.”

“For the love of the Gods, don’t ask about what?”

Ford furrowed her eyebrows and asked, “Think about what?”

“YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! IF I COULD KILL YOU, I WOULD!”

Max snapped then and yelled, “LEAVE ME ALONE TO THINK!”

Max never turned around, but Ford could hear her begin to sob; Ford nodded and said, “Al-alright, good night,” Max ignored her and ducked into Lilly’s tent. Lilly gave Ford a look of concern and followed Max.

“Told you so, dumbass. Hey, are you listening to me?” Ford ducked into her tent and sat down to meditate and get her mind straight.

***

Ford entered her soul and looked at her soul. She noticed that it had changed slightly, instead of the white light with fire, water, and dust flowing around it while surrounded by darkness. The bright white light was blood red and gave everything an unsettling color. Ford rested a mental hand on it, and it felt slick. ‘That must be what Ee means when I melt my soul. Get in a brutal fight that gets my blood boiling, and it’ll just come out,’ Ford thought.

“Yeah, but you can’t do that anymore now, can you?” Wrath mocked.

Ford clenched her fists and guided the soul out of her body, holding it there letting it envelop her. The feeling of presence around her returned, but it was more apparent this time, not blurred like last time. This time she could distinguish each presence as a person.

She assumed Gimble was the significant but gentle presence, just like him. Morgan’s was stern and unmoving; it felt sturdy enough to hold up a mountain. Benet’s was fluid and constantly changing. The Twin’s presence was obscure and hard to find. Farah’s presence was as strong as Morgan’s but felt as gentle as Gimble; Ford found that interesting. Lilly’s presence felt absent and empty, like a modern-day library; it made Ford feel depressed. Ee’s presence was nowhere to be seen. Max’s presence was a maelstrom of emotions. She was angry, afraid, and the strongest emotions were sadness and loss.

“HEY! Let’s talk,” Wrath demanded.

Ford pulled away from the presence and looked at Wrath, “What?”

“Why are you ignoring me?”

Ford clenched her jaw and said, “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Clearly!”

“YOU NEARLY KILLED EVERYONE!!” Ford yelled.

“I wasn’t going to.”

“That doesn’t matter! The fact that you didn’t stop when we were told to when I told you to tells me you can’t be trusted in a fight with them!”

Wrath threw her hands to the side, “What, I have to blow off some steam sometimes. Besides, it’ll help your soul melt and level up,” Wrath defended, trying to negotiate more body time.

“Well, guess what! I don’t need you for leveling up my soul! I can do it myself!”

Wrath chuckled, “You sound like a spoiled brat. Do you understand how your body gets that hot? Your blood boils. Unless you’re feeling,” Wraths eyes light on fire like small candle flames, and her voice got deeper and boomed forth, “complete unbridled rage!” her voice and eyes changed back as she continued to explain, “Unless you feel that, you can’t melt your soul. When you feel that rage, I will take over and fight anything that gets in my way.”

Ford could feel her heart stop as she listened to Wrath’s explanation. Then she took a deep breath and calmly said, “Fine, I’ll have to overcome you myself and never let you out again.”

“HA! Good luck,” Wrath mocked as Ford pulled herself out of her soul and back into the real world.

***

Ford couldn’t sleep when she got out of her meditation, so she was lying down, staring at her stats. Name: Ford; gender: Female; race: human; Grimoire: wood; class: Ruler/Sin; Level: thirteen. Abilities: STR: thirty; PER: twenty; END: thirty; INT: twenty-four; AGI: thirty-seven; CHR: thirty; LCK: twelve; WIS: twenty; SOL: twelve.

Skills: natural: carry weight: hundred-fifty kg, quick-witted, resilient, strong-willed, cook. Skills: weapon mastery five/five, comms one/five, crystal heart five/five, blood controller five/five, crystal weapon storage five/five, void storage two/five, crystal battle music two/five, blood weapons five/five, regeneration five/five, embracing pain five/five.

HP: three-hundred thirty; STM: three-thousand sixty; MN: twenty-seven-thousand four-hundred sixty-seven; EXP: zero/three-thousand one-hundred thirty-nine. STM recharge: eighty-three per second; MN recharge: fifty-five per second; Grimoire progression: zero of one-hundred percent. There are fifty skill points available.

‘It’s good that I have more soul to work with, but I’m going to have to work hard to level it now,’ she thought, ‘wait, didn’t I unlock a new quest?’ Ford opened up her quest screen and got a notification. New quest unlocked. Quest: I need this; you’ve created a new Grimoire; fill the Grimoire with unique and powerful skills; reward: special weapon made by the Gods, required items given by the Gods, five thousand EXP. ‘A special weapon made by Gods. That sounds powerful. It’s probably a common dagger, if I had to guess. Knowing Tanashi, I wouldn’t put it past that prick.’

While Ford complained to herself, she opened up her skill screen. Select Class: Labor, Assassin, Mage, Archer, Beast-master, Warrior, Sin. Warrior selected. Select class: CQB, Paladin, Knight. Knight selected. Select route: soldier, commander. Commander selected. Skills: empower, command, comms. New skill: Intimidating aura: passive ability; strike fear into your enemies, causing them to stop moving for ten seconds; can use at will; requirements: STR: twenty, SOL: five, CHR: fifteen; level: zero of five; doesn’t affect enemies with higher SOL.

Skill: strategist: passive ability; find the best way to win any battle; requirements: INT: forty, WIS: forty; level: zero of one.

Skill: party stats: passive ability; see the stats of all party members within one kilometer; max party stats two; requirements: permission from a party member; level zero of five.

Skill: radar: passive ability; enemies come up on your mini-map and compass within one kilometer; passive ability; requirements: PER: twenty, INT: twenty, LCK: fifteen; level: zero of five.

Ford gave out a low whistle or tried to she wasn’t the best whistler. She put one point into comms, intimidating aura, strategist, and radar, then five into party stats. She read the new description for comms and party stats.

Skill: comms: passive ability; communicate with anybody in your party within two kilometers; level: two of five.

Skill: party stats: passive ability; see the stats of all party members within five kilometers; max party stats: ten; requirements: permission from a party member; level: five of five.

After getting those, more new skills popped up, Ford ignored them and went into the fighter route. Skills: spear, sword, claymore, fatal slash, long strike. New skills acquired. Skill: warning: passive ability; know when an attack will come from your blind spot; requirements: PER: twenty, AGI: thirty; level: zero of one.

Skill: area slash: cut anything within a three-meter square around you; requirements: AGI: Twenty-five, STR: twenty-five; cost: one-hundred stamina; level: zero of five.

Ford put a point into fatal slash and warning, then five points into long strike and area slash. Then she read the updated skills. Skill: long strike: dash forward fifteen meters to attack an enemy; requirements: AGI: thirty, STR: thirty; cost: three-hundred stamina, two-hundred mana; level five of five.

Skill: area slash: cut anything within a five-meter spherical radius around you; requirements: AGI: thirty-five, STR: forty-five; cost: one-thousand stamina; level: five of five.

‘Long strike and area slash got expensive! But that range though,’ Ford thought. She then backed out of the fighter skill tree and returned to the beginning. Select Class: Labor, Assassin, Mage, Archer, Beast-master, Warrior, Sin. Labor selected. Select class: carrier, farmer, chef, builder, blacksmith, merchant. Blacksmith selected. Select route: armor, weapon, enchanter, soul forger. ‘Soul forger?’ soul smith selected. Skills: soul fire: run your forge using a fire made from your soul; requirements: SOL: fifty; cost: one SOL point per day; level zero of one.

Skill: borrowed soul: Borrow someone else’s soul to run your forge; requirement: SOL: fifty, skill: soul fire; level: zero of one.

Skill: Soul hammer: make a hammer out of your soul; requirements: SOL: ten, skill: soul fire; cost: ten SOL points; level: zero of one; SOL points will be refunded after use.

Skill: Soul forger: craft weapons, armor, or equipment using soul fire; requirements: SOL: fifty, skills: soul hammer, soul fire; cost: enchanted weapon, armor, or equipment, ten SOL points; level zero of one-hundred. No more skills are available.

‘WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?’ Ford thought, astonished by what she just read, ‘Soul forger must be a new route in blacksmithing and incredibly rare. I’ll ask Morgan about it tomorrow… or if he doesn’t know, I’ll ask Ee.’

Ford went back and opened the enchanter route. Skill: destroy: destroy enchanted weapons, armor, or equipment to harvest their enchantment; if an item has more than one enchantment, pick only one; requirement: INT: thirty, WIS: thirty; cost: one-hundred mana; level: zero of five.

Skill: transfer: transfer enchantments from destroyed enchanted weapons; can only transfer one enchantment; requirements: INT: thirty, WIS: thirty, skill: destroy; cost: one- hundred mana; level: zero of five.

Skill: enchant: enchant weapons, armor, or equipment after destroying and transferring the enchantment; requirements: INT: thirty, WIS: thirty, skills: destroy, transfer; enchantment time: five hours; cost: fifty mana per second; level: zero of five.

Skill: quick enchantment: passive ability; enchantments instantly; requirements: INT: forty, WIS: forty; level: zero of one.

‘I’ll have to bookmark the quick enchant. It’ll be useful later,’ Ford thought, then went back to the starting screen. Select Class: Labor, Assassin, Mage, Archer, Beast-master, Warrior, Sin. Mage selected. Select class: Healer, Priest, Necromancer, light, dark, Space, Time, Creation, Destruction, possessor, Illusionist. Possessor selected. Skills: crystal core, weapon possession, mechanized servant. New skills acquired. Skill: self-repair: passive ability; crystal cores, possessed items, and mechanized servants will repair themselves over time; can speed up repairs with mana; requirement: INT: thirty; cost: one-hundred mana per second; level: zero of five.

Skill: astral possession: possess any item or set of armor for a set time; duration: five minutes; requirements: INT: thirty, WIS: twenty, skill: weapon possession; cost: twenty mana per second; level: zero of five.

Ford put five points into weapon possession, mechanized servant, self-repair, and astral possession, leaving nine skill points. She read the updated skill descriptions. Skill: mechanized servant: summon five mechanized servants to fight for you or one mech of significant mass; requirement: INT: fifty, skills: crystal core, weapon possession; summon cost: fifty percent X mana equals S times SOL squared; function cost: one-hundred mana per second per servant or one-thousand mana to run a set time; duration: five minutes; level: five of five.

Skill: self-repair: passive ability; crystal cores, possessed items, and mechanized servants will repair themselves in one hour; can speed up repairs with mana; requirement: INT: thirty; cost: two-hundred mana per second; level: five of five.

Skill: astral possession: possess any item or set of armor for a set time; duration: twenty-five minutes; requirements: INT: thirty, WIS: twenty, skill: weapon possession; cost: fifty mana per second; level: five of five.

Then the screen glitched and shut off, and a notification appeared. Parameters met. ‘Oh fuck.’ Evolving.

“OH, HELL YEAH!!”

Ford braced herself for something to happen, but when nothing did happen, she opened the Yggdras system. New skills added. Ten points refunded. Name: Ford; gender: Female; race: human; Grimoire: wood; class: Ruler/Sin; Level: thirteen. Abilities: STR: thirty; PER: twenty; END: thirty; INT: twenty-four; AGI: thirty-seven; CHR: thirty; LCK: twelve; WIS: twenty; SOL: twelve.

Skills: natural: carry weight: hundred-fifty kg, quick-witted, resilient, strong-willed, cook. Skills: weapon mastery five/five, crystal heart five/five, blood controller five/five, crystal weapon storage five/five, void storage two/five, crystal battle music two/five, blood weapons five/five, regeneration five/five, embracing pain five/five, psychosis five/five, strategist one/one, party stats five/five, targeted slaughter five/five, self-repair five/five, battle control five/five.

HP: three-hundred thirty; STM: three-thousand sixty; MN: twenty-seven-thousand four-hundred sixty-seven; EXP: zero/three-thousand one-hundred thirty-nine. STM recharge: eighty-three per second; MN recharge: fifty-five per second; Grimoire progression: zero of one-hundred percent. Nineteen skill points are available.

Ford groaned as she saw she lost comms, warning, radar, and intimidating aura. She quickly allocated two points to comms and one point to intimidating aura, radar, and warning. The rest of the skills she could wait for but those she needed now. Then intimidating auras point was refunded, and she lost it again.

A notification appeared; skill: intimidating aura is permanently locked and cannot be obtained. ‘Mother fucker,’ Ford thought as she read the notification a few times.

Then she looked at her new skills since she permanently lost one to them. Skill: psychosis: passive ability; enemies you encounter will think they are being attacked by their allies and will fight back; only affects the seven races; if enemies have a higher soul than you, skill: psychosis, will not take effect; can be activated at will; interferes with intimidating aura; requirements: STR: thirty, SOL: five; level: five of five.

Skill: targeted slaughter: annihilate anything within a one to five-meter sphere; the attack can be manipulated in different ways; requirements: STR: forty, AGI: forty, SOL: five, imagination; cost: five hundred mana; level: five/five.

Skill: battle control: using blood essence, possess an enemy for as long as needed or until they die; the skill will fail if the enemy has a higher soul or intelligence; requirements: INT: thirty, SOL: five, meditative trance; cost: two-thousand mana plus, fifty stamina, fifty mana per second; level: five of five.

“See, aren’t I good at making skills?” Wrath whispered into Ford’s ear.

Ford ignored her, closed the system with fifteen points left to spend, and then looked at the time. It was twenty-three hundred. She had spent maybe thirty minutes looking at skills, and it was only eleven o’clock. She groaned and got up and out of the tent.

She still hadn’t put the top half of her robe back on, so when she left her tent, the cold air felt good on her bare skin, and the dying fire gave everything a soft glow. She then stretched out her aching muscles, letting out all the tension from the day. She was still worried about Max, but she needed to wait for Max to come to her. At least, she hoped that was the right solution.

Then she turned, walked around her tent, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Max standing there holding Ford’s fedora. She looked like she had been crying for a while; she held out the fedora to Ford and mumbled, “You forgot your hat.”

Ford walked over and took it, “Thanks. Umm…can we talk?” she asked, gesturing to her tent.

Max rubbed her arms and said, “Yeah, sure. But put some clothes on.” Ford felt her face get warm in the cold air, and she pulled the top half of her robe back on as she opened the tent flap for Max.

When they climbed in and sat cross-legged apart from each other, they were quiet for an unbearably long time. Then Ford took a deep breath and said, “I…I know I probably shouldn’t have to ask this, but despite my high intelligence, I’m pretty stupid when it comes to some things. That being said, I have to know what made you mad at me?”

Even in the dark of the tent, the fire gave off enough light for Ford to see Max’s hands clench, and she looked down. “You thought I was mad,” Max said, starting to sob, “I was furious! I hated that you would so willingly give the order to end your life without any protest without even trying to find a way to save yourself!” tears started to roll down Max’s face. Ford had to fight the urge to wipe them away, then she continued, “You’ve saved my life at least three times since the day we met, which was only two days ago. Since then, you’ve become one of my best friends and,” she took a quivering breath and tried to think of what else to say, “and I don’t know why you would give up so easily. Why?”

Ford pulled herself forward, wiped the tears from Max’s eyes, and gently guided Max’s gaze up and into hers, “Because Max,” she said, “I can’t control Wrath. If I lose control, I might end up killing the people I care for the most,” she paused a moment to let her words sink in, “I might kill you, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it.”

She pulled her hand away from Max’s face but stopped when Max grabbed her hand; Max held it for a moment before saying, “Okay, I don’t like it, but okay. Just promise me this, though.”

Ford clasped Max’s hands with both of hers, “Anything.”

“Promise me you’ll find a way to win and not get yourself killed.”

“I don’t-”

“Promise me!” Max exclaimed as tears started to roll down her face again.

Ford let go of her hands and cupped Max’s face, whipping away the tears, and she placed her forehead against Max’s and said, “I promise I will win and not die,” she paused for a moment and added, “So that I can come back to you.” Ford could feel Max start to blush and her body relax. Ford felt the urge to kiss Max right then, but she closed her eyes and pulled away from her. She couldn’t explain it, but she also felt wrong about wanting to kiss Max, but she didn’t know why.

“A-are you okay?” Max asked, still a little flustered by what Ford had said.

“Huh, yeah, I’m, I’m okay. Anyways, weren’t you going to sleep in Lilly’s tent?”

“I was, but she kicked me out because of my crying, saying I should talk to you. She also said it was because I wouldn’t stop fiddling with her singed hair. Though not directly.”

Ford chuckled and pulled down the top half of her robe again, “Well, my tent’s still open if you want a place to sleep,” then she lay down and put her hands behind her head.

“Thanks, but can you keep your robe on?”

“Not a chance.”

“Just like your chances against me,” Wrath said. Ford nearly forgot Wrath was there; she felt so calm. But she ignored Wrath and just focused on Max.

Max rolled her eyes and gave a slight smile; then she lay down in her usual spot on Ford’s chest and was silent for a moment, then said, “Hey, Ford?”

“Yeah?”

“Everyone said you are from another world. One with no magic and no monsters. Is that true?”

“Yes, it is all true.”

“Did you have anybody there? Anybody you loved?”

The girl in the cyan dress flashed in and out of Ford’s mind, and she said, “I… n-no, I didn’t have anybody there.”

Max rolled over, and Ford felt Max put her hand on Ford’s abs, “Do you want to go back?”

Ford brought her hand down and laced her fingers with Max’s and said, “If I go back, my life would be so dull compared to now, and I wouldn’t have you… or my rock hard amazing abs.”

Max gave a little chuckle and slapped said rock hard abs. “I wish…” Max began but trailed off.

“Wish what?”

“Huh, oh, no, it’s nothing,” Max said, then rolled over and away from Ford.

“What? Come on, tell me?”

“No, it’s too embarrassing.”

“Oh, come on, tell me,” Ford insisted, and she rolled onto her side to get closer to Max.

Max looked over her shoulder to see an expecting Ford, “Okay,” she sighed and rolled over to be face to face with Ford; she was so close that she could feel Max’s breath on her face. “I wish,” Max started, “that I could see your world.”

Ford stared at her for a moment and said, “You were right. That is embarrassing.”

Max’s jaw dropped, and she punched Ford in the shoulder, “You dick!” she said, laughing, “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Ow, sorry, sorry,” Ford said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, right,” Max countered and started to roll over.

Ford stopped her and said, “No, really, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have joked like that. It was your wish, after all.”

Max sighed said, “Alright, but before I forgive you. You have to tell me your wish.”

“You already know my wish.”

“Well, yeah, and thank you, by the way, but what I meant to say was what was your wish be for you saved me?”

Ford shrugged, “I don’t know, probably to go home, but I’ve learned so much here that I want to learn more. Plus, there’s magic, and I don’t have that in my world.”

“True,” Max agreed, and both she and Ford stayed up late into the night talking about each other’s lives, likes, dislikes, hopes, and dreams until they felt tired and fell asleep.