Aiden's shirt was caked in sweat.
Behind him, Jax was yelling for him to go faster.
Aiden's lungs felt like they were about to collapse.
After their morning spar, Jax had insisted that Aiden needed strength training to let, in Jax's words, "the training sink into your bones."
That was how Aiden had ended up with a bundle of Thalia's strings wrapped around his chest, with Jax on the other end.
They were trying to run in opposite directions.
Or rather, Jax was dragging Aiden while yelling at him not to let himself be moved.
Normally, Aiden would have felt bad for himself.
This morning, however, he was not the only one training.
Liora and Kaelen were practicing their spell accuracy by throwing rocks into the air and trying to hit them before they landed. Thalia was weaving and constantly reinforcing the strings around Jax and Aiden. Selene was practicing rapid switches between offense and defense, her arm shifting between forms with careful control.
After what felt like an eternity of straining, sweating, and digging his feet into the ground, Thalia clapped, marking time for a break.
Both Aiden and Jax stopped straining at once.
The slightly elastic nature of the mana strings snapped them together, knocking both of them onto their backsides.
Selene, Jax, and Aiden all grabbed cups and headed to the water bucket.
Aiden drank deeply, then checked the System notifications he had muted during training.
You have worked your muscles until failure.
Your muscles begin to develop.
You have worked your muscles until failure.
Your muscles begin to develop.
You have worked your muscles until failure.
Your effort bears fruit.
Strength 7 -> 10
Aiden gave the screen a satisfied grin.
It had taken three days to get to that point, but he was growing.
Slowly.
Painfully.
With far too much yelling from Jax.
But still growing.
"I'm a bit surprised everyone else joined us for morning training," Jax said, chuckling as he lapped at his cup of water.
"Well, quests have been easier because we have been at the right level," Kaelen said, looking utterly drained. "But I do not want us getting complacent and ending up with more than we can chew."
Aiden was fairly sure Kaelen's Faith was completely bottomed out.
"Plus, who wants work to be difficult?" Liora said, taking a seat and letting out a content sigh as she finished her water. "I would rather coast along."
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment.
Then Aiden remembered a question he had been meaning to ask.
"By the way, Liora, how did you do that flying thing in the temple?"
Liora turned to him and shrugged before opening her System window.
Soaring Rhythm (E)
Passive
While in the air and not touching the ground, you gain the following benefits:
Your rate of mana regeneration is increased.
You may spend 5 mana to create a foothold in the air and stand briefly.
Your wind magic is bolstered, and your accuracy is enhanced.
"It's a skill I got during the fight with Ymer," Liora said. "Kept getting Training System notifications."
Aiden looked at her in surprise.
So did everyone else.
After a moment of discussion, it turned out they had all received similar notifications.
Each of them had gained a skill from that fight.
"The skills I got were Silver Tongue and Fragmented Will," Aiden said.
Silver Tongue (E)
Passive
Your voice is one that can soothe or lie with ease. You are better at persuading people and can lie more convincingly.
Fragmented Will (E)
Passive
Your mind begins to split under pressure to protect itself. While under intense emotional or mental strain, you may subconsciously form a mental fragment, a sliver of your will that acts independently.
The fragment may whisper suggestions, make minor decisions in your place, or retain key memories if you are compromised.
"So that's why you occasionally talk to yourself," Jax said, joking as he pulled up his own System screen. "I just thought the loneliness of the mountain made you develop an imaginary friend."
Aiden gave him a flat look.
Will laughed in his head.
Commanding Presence (E)
Passive
Nearby allies gain a bonus to morale and cannot be forced to flee unless you are unconscious.
Selene nodded along, though she seemed nervous as she pulled up her own System screen.
Hemoclash Surge (E)
25 Mutation
Your blood becomes aggressive and enhances your next strike by attacking the blood of those you strike. Enemies struck by this effect have their healing reduced.
"Looks like we have our anti-Ymer measures for the future, then," Thalia said.
She pulled up her own screen.
Isolation Assault (E)
Passive
When you are fighting a target that is away from any allies, they take extra damage, and your abilities used against them are strengthened.
They all read over the skills.
Then Liora turned to Aiden.
"All right, spill, Hallowcreek. How did you get two skills?"
"I…" Aiden paused. "I have no idea. I don't even know why we got these skills just from fighting him."
He shrugged and tried to think back to that fight.
"Could it have been that thing he called himself?" Liora asked. "Fateful? Fated?"
"Fateless," Kaelen said, snapping his fingers as he remembered the right word. "He called himself Fateless. And remember the weird text about fate coalescing into the skill?"
Everyone nodded.
As they started cleaning up the training area, Aiden found himself thinking about the road ahead.
He wanted to get moving soon. Rookburg, their next marked stop, was a good one hundred miles away. With the hills, there was a chance they would end up camping before they reached it.
As he packed, Aiden pulled out the Plate Games pamphlet again.
Plate Games
If you have received this letter, then you are part of a new team recommended by a Steel-rank or higher team due to your promising talent.
You have been invited to attend the Freshplate Games in Bearreach, Flinkeq, in three months.
Representatives from the Jade Lions, Courage Torch, Sandsharks, and Cackling Crows guilds will be present to evaluate your performance and potentially scout participants.
The games will be hosted over one week with 32 teams participating.
The final reward is as follows:
A custom creation from Snowforge Guild artisan Coal Zizegal.
To be eligible for the games, your team must fit the following criteria:
More than 4 members, but no more than 6.All members must be at minimum level 15.You must have at least 10 completed quests, not including plate quests.
Good luck in your preparations.
To learn more information, seek out your sponsor below.
Sponsor: Todis Jackle
It had been around a full week since they left Hopestone.
That meant they still had about eleven weeks before the event.
Everyone was somewhere between level eight and ten, with Selene being the highest leveled and Thalia being the lowest.
As for quests, they had completed the salamanders, the ale slime, and now the Bone Beast.
Three out of ten.
Part of Aiden wanted to race straight to the next stop and start grabbing every quest they could find.
Will, surprisingly, agreed with the other part of him.
They needed downtime.
So when they returned to the inn, the group found themselves faced with a choice.
In the room, tucked into a pocket on the back of the door, were several pamphlets for activities happening in Rosepebble over the next few days.
Pebble & Plume: The Cozy Quill Café
Forge-a-Lot: Rosepebble Smithy & Bathhouse
The Starlit Menagerie: Petting Zoo & Magical Adoption Fair
Rosepebble Amateur Theatre Guild Presents: Bards Behaving Badly
Copperleaf Charity Build-A-Home Weekend
Rosepebble Mystery Hunt: The Clockmaker's Riddle
Bloom & Brew Herbology Course
The Pebble Cup: Friendly Tavern Games League
Sanctum of the Resplendent Mind
Rosepebble Ranger-Guided Day Trips
They all sat around reading them over.
For once, no one was bleeding.
No one was poisoned.
No one was trapped in a slime, being chased by undead, or getting emotionally attacked by giant dream moths.
The only question was what to do first.