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1599 Words
She smiled at that. She was proud of her work with the duo. She was proud of what she had molded them into. Their daughter looked to be everything they were and more. Where they had amazing combat potential, despite their conflicting affinities, they had little room in their heads for anything serious.
Their daughter was both strong, and a thinker.
Luna intended to rub that into her once protegees’ and now friends’ faces.
She turned into her cat form and curled up under Harvest’s aura. Seeing friends help each other was enough to calm the raging desire long enough to get to sleep.
Sleep was so rare for her, but she cherished it. When she slept, she dreamt, and when she had dreams, she had Nora.
Matt moved around Kyle’s s***h and slapped the flat of his blade into his inner thigh. Kyle didn’t yelp, and instead tried to hit Matt with an aggressive backswing.
They were sparring and working on his style, as Matt was the only one who could match his pure strength.
He still felt bad for what he had done to them and had apologized to each of them. None of them seemed angry at him, but more so with themselves.
It also put their progress in another light for him. They had stalled, and while they were ahead of him in cultivation slightly, they should already be fighting like Tier 7s with their Talents. He knew it wasn’t fair when you considered that they had limited mana to spend on delving, but they should have been able to fight up a Tier if they worked on their combat prowess.
Their fight had opened his eyes to the harsh reality. When he started the duel, he expected a challenging fight where he struggled to hold his own. When his starting crossbow shot and [Hail] took both Vinnie and Tara out of the fight, he was surprised that they didn’t expect a quick opening.
When he was able to lift Mathew off his feet to negate the man’s Talent and run him through, he was disappointed.
As Melinda stood there frozen, he understood what Baxter wanted from him.
He hadn’t really believed the man when he said that they needed a wakeup call and had only done it because Liz had vouched for the man. While Baxter hadn’t said it, Matt expected that he was filling in for the same thing as his own still forming management team and was trying to push them.
So, he tried to show them exactly how far behind the power curve they truly were. He toyed with Sam, Kyle, and Tara. He hadn’t liked playing it up; in fact, he hated it. But he had hoped that it would drive the point home.
He hadn’t even needed to use his AI to predict their moves, as they didn’t vary off the most obvious choices. After the first few exchanges, he turned it off and found that it didn’t hamper him at all.
Thankfully, they seemed to have learned their lesson, and were trying to improve. The team had taken the initiative to share their Talents and skills with Liz, who did the same. She was as shocked as he was at how well-rounded they were while being so weak.
They agreed that Melinda’s team should, in theory, be beating them more often than not. They had so much utility and damage to leverage. They simply relied too heavily on their cultivation and Melinda’s healing. They had the essence, but not the experience.
Matt was determined to help them advance. He contrasted the team that worked so hard in the PlayPen with the team that was unable to do anything against his own. He saw the hurt looks in Sam and Vinnie’s eyes, and anger and pain in the rest of the team’s. There was what he thought was determination, but he wasn’t sure if he was just hoping to see that.
Still, he was determined to help them where he could. He contemplated throwing them into freshly made rifts, to help them get used to fighting without a guide. He understood using it to reduce danger but, apparently, they needed guides.
Them being on the other side of the war was suddenly looking like a good thing. He knew their side had some powerhouses, just from the golem war. There were a lot of people on both sides that Matt could see them practicing their abilities and skills on.
He and Liz also decided to try and get the rest of their new war squad to come to a spar or two. It would mean hiding his and Melinda’s Talents, but it would be good to show them other strong Pathers.
They sparred for hours, relying on Matt keeping everyone full of mana to burn, and [Endurance] to keep going when exhaustion would have forced them to stop normally.
“Let’s go get showered and meet up for the auction. I hear it’s going to be crazy.”
Vinnie said while glaring at the floor, “We don’t even have points to spend. What’s the point?”
Matt didn’t like the defeatist tone his friend had. “Things will be sold for mana stones as well. Also, it’s useful just to see what is for sale. Our point of contact and leader implied that the kingdom was buying items to exchange for missions that had a high chance of death, as a form of compensation. You might see something you like.”
He bumped Vinnie and grinned at him. “Come on, if nothing else, it should be a nice little party.”
Melinda stood and brushed her armor off. “We only have the skills you’re giving us to trade, and we can do that without being there in person. I think we need the night to ourselves.”
She looked at him, and while she did look sorry, she also looked determined. “Sorry Matt. Next time. And let’s plan for some more sparring tomorrow. Okay?”
Matt wanted to say he could buy them whatever they needed, but he was pretty sure that he was running close to what he was allowed to give as a seeker equivalent. He also didn’t think they needed, or even wanted his money. Being there to help them train seemed like the better option.
While he didn’t regret his gifts from the way Tara and Vinnie looked at their items, it seemed to only make them feel worse for not keeping up.
The last thing Matt wanted to do was replace one weakness with a dependency on him to keep them competent. He knew they could be great on their own.
Matt just hoped that he didn’t do more harm than good with his gifts. His friends looked like deflated balloons after their fight, and they only seemed slightly recovered after their sparring.
With that settled, he and Liz quietly went back to their rooms. Their moods were somber as they walked away from where the arena platform dropped them off. Even Aster seemed to sense the mood; she didn’t even beg for ice cream when they passed a shop.
Neither said anything until Liz asked, “Do you think that could happen to us?”
Matt looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if we didn’t get investigated and we didn’t get the management team. Would we have stagnated?” Liz clarified with a troubled look on her face. Matt wanted to immediately deny it, but he paused.
Would we have?
Because of Melinda’s Talent, they got sloppy. He remembered the time before they had their Tier 3 Talents. They were much more diligent. While Matt’s Talent didn’t make injuries a non-issue, it did allow them to gain a large amount of essence in a very short amount of time, with minimal risk if they only delved at their Tier.
Now that he thought about it, they were already forming bad habits. If the manager hadn’t forced their hands, they would have skipped out on this war. They would have stayed at Tier 5, playing with rifts and delving for growth items, simply for wealth.
Matt slowly replied, “As much as I want to deny it, yes. During our break, I was already beginning to back slide. Without the manager, we would have stayed at Tier 5 longer than we should have. With Melinda’s Talent, they would really benefit from having a manager. Baxter seems like he’s trying to fill that role, but maybe he doesn’t have the authority to tell them what to do? Otherwise, why would he be asking for our help?”
After a moment of contemplation, Liz responded, “Yeah. You’re probably right. I felt it, too. Getting investigated was more of a blessing than I thought.”
They walked in silence for another moment when Liz said, “You know, I wanted to say something about my parents when Melinda shared her Talent. I just froze up and the moment seemed to pass me by. Sorry.”
He grabbed her hand. He hadn’t expected her to share until she was comfortable and didn’t expect it that soon. She was working on it, but it wasn’t as if she was cured of her fear just because she told him about them.
“You have nothing to be sorry about, so don’t worry about it. It’s pretty understandable. When or if you feel ready, that’s the best time to tell them. Besides, it’s not like they really need to know.”
- Writer
