My shirt was caked in sweat, behind me Jax was yelling for me to go faster, but my lungs felt like they would collapse. Jax insisted after our morning Spar I needed to do strength training to allow what he said was "The training to sink into my bones." For this Jax was on the other end or a bundle of strings wrapped around our chests as we were trying to run in opposite directions. Jax was dragging me, but kept yelling for me to not let me move him. While normally I would feel bad for myself about this, I wasn't the only one training this morning.
Liora and Kaelen were practicing their accuracy with their spells by throwing rocks and attempting to hit them before they land, Thalia was weaving and constantly reinforcing the strings around Jax and myself, and Selene was practicing a rapid switch between offense and defense.
After what felt like an eternity of straining and digging my feet in to try to resist being moved Thalia clapped, marking time for a break. Both Jax and I stop straining and the slightly elastic aspect of the mana strings dragged us together a bit, knocking both of us on our butts.
Selene, Jax, and I all grabbed the cups and went to the water bucket and drank our fill. As we did I checked my system notifications I had muted during the 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
Str 7 -> 10
I gave a satisfied grin to the screen, it had taken 3 days to get to that point, but I was satisfied in the fact that I am growing.
"I'm a bit surprised that everyone else has joined us for the morning training."
Jax said chuckling as he lapped at his cup of water.
"Well quests have been easier because we were at the right level, but I don't want to get complacent and end up stuck with more than we can chew."
Kaelen said looking drained as I'm sure his faith was bottomed out.
"Plus, who wants work to be difficult, I would rather coast along."
Liora said taking a seat and letting out a contempt sigh as she finished her cup of water. We took a moment to sit in silence before I remembered a question I had.
"By the way Liora, how did you do that flying thing in the temple?"
Liora turned to me and shrugged, opening her system window.
Souring Rythme (E)
Passive
While in the air and not touching the ground, you gain the following benefits
Your rate of mana regeneration is increased
you can spend 5 mana to have a foothold in the air to stand in the air
Your wind magics become bolstered and your accuracy enhanced
"Its a skill I got during the fight with Ymer, kept getting training system notifications."
I looked to Liora surprised, but the others did as well. After a moment of discussion It turned out we all got the same notifications, and each of us got skills from it.
"The skills I got were Silver Tounge(E) and Fragmented Will(E)"
Silver Tongue(E)
Passive
Your voice is one that can sooth 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 thats why you occasionally talk to yourself, I just thought the loneliness of the mountain made you develop an imaginary friend."
Jax said Joking as he pulled up his own system screen.
Commanding presence (E)
Passive
Nearby allies gain a bonus to morale and cannot be forced to flee unless you are unconscious.
Selene nodded along, but she seemed to be nervous before she pulled up her 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 have their healing reduced
"Looks like we have our anti Ymer measures for the future then."
Thalia said pulling up her own screen
Isolation Assault (E)
Passive
When you are fighting a target that is away from any allies they take take extra damage and you gain a bonus to your abilities used against them.
As we read them all over Liora turned to me.
"Alright spill Hollowcreek, how did you get 2 skills?"
"I… I have no Idea, I don't even know why we got these skills just from fighting him."
I said shrugging as I tried to think back to that fight.
"Could it have been that thing he called himself, fateful, fated?"
Liora said trying to remember the word when Kaelen snapped his fingers and said.
"Fateless, he called himself a fateless, and remember the weird text about fate coalescing into the skill."
We all nodded as we started to clean up our training area. I wanted to get going because it was a good 100 miles to get to Rookburg, our next spot on the map and with the hills we might end up stuck outside camping before we get there. Remembering the requirements we needed as I pulled out the quest pamphlet
Freshplate games
If you have received this letter then you are a new team recommended by a Steel rank or above team due to your promising talent. You have been invited to attend the Freshplate games in Bearreach Flinkeq in 3 months. Attending this event will be representatives of 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 a week with 32 teams participating. The final reward is as follows
A custom creation from the Snowforge guild artisan Coal Zizegal
To be eligible for 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 for this event, to learn more information seek out your sponsor below
Sponsor: Todis Jackle
It has been around a full week since we left Hopestone, so we still had around 11 weeks before the event. Everyone was levels 8-10 with Selene being the highest leveled and Thalia being the lowest leveled. Beyond that considering the quests we have done, we did the salamanders, the Aleslime, and now the bone beast, so we were 3 quests down of the 10 we needed. So while a part of me wanted to go racing to the next spot, WIll agreed with me that we all needed some downtime. So as we went back to the Inn we were faced with a choice.
Before us sat several pamphlets,
"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 had been inside the inn in a pocket on the back of the door. Each offered activities occurring in the coming days as we all sat and read them over. The question became what to do first.