12
1240 Words
“Not really. The only other thing is really just the basis of knowledge that I have. Also, having parents over Tier 15 means that the child will be perfect. No genetic imperfections at all. The same will happen when you reach Tier 15, and the mind takes control over the body. So, it is a temporary advantage at best. Also, my body, mind, and spirit are closer to a Tier 15s than a Tier 0s.”
Matt wanted to snark back that it was an advantage at the lowest Tiers, where it would make the largest difference.
He stopped himself. That really wouldn’t be fair to Liz.
“Sorry. I guess now that we talked about dating, I really feel our different social statuses.”
Liz hooked his arm, and they turned into a produce store.
“Well, please don’t take it out on me. I didn’t choose it. And don’t put yourself down. I might have started higher, but we both know that with your skillset, you’ll be there eventually. And on your own merit.”
As he pulled items for a pasta dish, he thought over his response. “I don’t want to be like that. It’s something I’ll need to work on. And I would never leave you and Aster behind.”
They chatted, and when they made it back to their rooms, Matt cooked while Liz and Camilla half-watched him and half-watched an action movie.
Matt served them, and they watched the movie in a pleasant silence. He noticed Camilla looking at her cleared plate and said, “Don’t hold back. There’s enough for more than two platefuls per person.”
She murmured quietly, “Thanks, you are a really good cook.”
He wouldn’t say that she was a friend by the end of dinner, but the hard, jaded image he had of her was replaced with a woman who had issues. She seemed like a skittish animal expecting the next blow to come from anywhere.
Matt supposed that was close enough to the truth. He just wasn’t sure if this was the true her, or an act to get back into their good graces.
The only upshot was that they weren’t just there for the rifts, but more so the natural treasures that existed on a planet that didn’t have humans curating it. Best case, Matt found a Tier 5 treasure that would boost his Mana Concentration so he could save the potions that Aunt Helen had given him.
They would just have to see what the planet brought them.
But before they did that, Matt wanted to see the woman in combat.
4
Matt brought his fist down on Camilla’s left arm and used [Cracked Phantom Armor] to ignore the bladed whip that was embedded in her flesh. The whip was made of linked, concentric, rotating blades that formed S shapes. Their hooks were incredibly sharp and could even stress his armor if the whip got wrapped around him.
His fist struck her just hard enough for their AIs to count the blow as a broken arm. He was able to dodge her retaliatory strike with her gleaming mace with a back step, then used the distance gained to deliver a low sweeping strike to the woman’s overextended leg.
The blow sent her to the ground, and Matt dove in, using his size and weight to restrain her in a grappling lock. The first time he had done that, Camilla had freaked, and she ended the training session for the evening. Now, she was determined to learn how to escape.
She struggled but, after a few moments of being unable to break out from his grip, she called out, “I yield!”
He dropped his hold and wiggled away. Camilla didn’t like any more personal touching than was required, and he respected that as much as he could while they weren’t sparring.
Seeing the look of disappointment on her face, he said, “You really shouldn’t be that hard on yourself. You said you’ve been learning to fight for only about a year. Sure, you’ve had good, even great teachers, but you still need time to really learn the finer points of fighting.”
Before Camilla could say anything, he held up a hand. “You are doing better than I was with this much training time. You need to stop thinking so much. You plan your next move and which combat form you’re going to use ahead of time. That makes you easy to predict. The best way to move past that is to experience more fights. There isn’t much else you can do.”
She lightly punched the floor. “You say all that, but you aren’t using your boosting skill or even a weapon. And I can’t use [Berserker’s Rage] as a boost in a practice fight.”
A part of Matt was envious. Duke Waters had kitted the girl out with great items and skills. She had [Berserker’s Rage], and either it was cracked, or she had a Talent that boosted her strength when she was injured. The one rift they had delved as a test had shown at least that much.
Camilla had rushed the monsters and willingly took flesh wounds, while delivering crippling blows with her two items. The fact that she only wore armor covering her vital organs and head gave Matt his ‘boost when damaged’ hunch. She also had a healing skill that he couldn’t identify. It was able to nearly instantly heal skin and muscles but was completely unable to heal the broken arm she had gotten.
Once again, he wasn’t sure if it was a Talent, a rare skill, or cracked skill. But her whole kit fed into her combat style of taking smaller hits, then hitting back with twice the power.
On top of it all, her whip and mace were growth items. The whip bit deeply into her own flesh, but she never seemed to mind. The damn thing also tried to do the same with anything it hit and could ensnare a limb and shred flesh with ease. Matt was incredibly wary of the weapon when his armor skill was inactive as he had seen the weapon shred flesh off a monster’s arm with one good pull.
The mace was slightly less menacing, but it had the ability to project force deep into whatever it hit. [Cracked Phantom Armor] thankfully blocked that effect, but the mace head could levitate three and a half feet off the shaft of the weapon. It only could move as if still attached to the shaft, but the ability gave her an extra bit of range making it invaluable against enemies that weren’t quite willing to get into melee range and hovered just out of her perceived reach.
As if she needed any more advantages, her kit was rounded out with a [Bolt] skill for mid-range opponents. Matt was sure that she had a long-range skill or weapon hidden somewhere, but she hadn’t shown it yet. Neither he nor Liz felt comfortable pushing Camilla about anything she wasn’t willingly offering up, so they didn’t pester her and, in return, she didn’t question why Matt was able to keep so many skills active. Or how he could do so for much longer than a typical melee fighter at his level.
It wasn’t a great situation for teammates to be in, but it worked.
- Writer
