Victor of Tucson

Chapter 34: Refinement

Thayla held a finger to her lips as she peered around the corner. They were almost to the chamber where Victor had first gone with Lam on her little exploration and where he’d found Gorz. Thayla, crouching ahead of him with her spear leveled, had hissed at him to be quiet and then slunk into the shadows to peer around. Victor wasn’t sure what she’d heard, but he’d grown to respect her senses in the short time they’d been sneaking through the dark together.

Twice, she’d warned him ahead of an encounter with giant insects crossing their path, saving them from having to fight an unknown number of the creatures. She’d even spotted a group of stickmen lying in the shallows of an underground pool they’d skirted. To Victor, they’d just looked like deeper shadows, but Thayla had spotted their creepy, shiny eyes blinking in the lights Lam had left behind.

Victor gripped Lifedrinker tightly in his fists; his hands choked up near the bearded blade in the tight tunnel. Thayla looked back at him, her long braids flicking lightly on her shoulders and her dark eyes glittering in the light of his glow stone. She slowly motioned with her left hand to come up beside her. As he started to move, she gestured at her chest, her hand over her glow stone. Victor copied her, plunging the tunnel into darkness, the only light coming from Lam’s hanging orb up ahead.

When he got close to her, he saw the old piton and rope Lam had placed for everyone to climb down. Out past that, he saw the little stream crossing the cavern, the pile of ruins where Lam had killed the rot fiend and rummaging around the battle site, several large, hunched humanoids. “Are those deep hulks?” he whispered.

“I think so. Five that I can count.” Thayla’s voice barely made a sound.

“Alright, do we try to sneak past? Do we kill them?”

“Hmm. It would be a tough fight.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Victor couldn’t help looking at Lifedrinker; he wanted to fight with her so badly, he could feel it in his bones. Thayla gave him a searching look, then shook her head.

“We should try to sneak around.”

“Just a sec; let me think,” Victor said. “Gorz, what exit from this next cavern do we take? Is it feasible to sneak past those hulks?”

“Victor, the tunnel you want is halfway up the far wall, slightly to your left. You’ll be quite exposed climbing up if my memory serves.”

“Our exit is that tunnel halfway up the far wall. We’re going to need climbing equipment. How can we do that while sneaking? We gotta kill those pendejos,” Victor said softly in Thayla’s ear.

“Ugh, this is going to hurt,” she said, but she started creeping forward to the rope and piton. Victor crouched in the shadow, watching the hulks shuffling around, scooping their claws under rocks and hunks of fungi, and depositing whatever they came up with into their maws. Thayla stowed her spear, grabbed the rope, and silently shimmied down it.

When the hulks didn’t react or look their way, and Victor was sure she was down, he crouch-walked up to the edge, hooked his axe through his belt, lifted the rope, and dropped over the edge. He was halfway down, using his feet to spring away from the cliff face while he let the rope slip slowly through his hands, when a loud grunt, followed by roars and splashing water, told him the hulks had spotted him.

“Hurry!” Thayla hissed, and Victor looked down to see he was only twelve or so feet from the ground, so he let go and landed in a crouch.

“Get ready!” Victor said, yanking Lifedrinker from his belt.

“You tell me to get ready a lot! You get ready!” Thayla said, brandishing her red spear, its silvery streaks winking in the bright light of the overhead orb. Victor just laughed, lengthening his grip on his axe, ready to make use of the wide space in the cavern. “Put your back to me if they surround us,” Thayla said, and Victor didn’t see a reason to argue. The two of them stood, side by side, waiting for the hulks as they crashed through the ruins. “You’re ready to try that axe out, huh?”

“Damn right, sis,” Victor grinned, preparing to cast Inspiring Presence. He took two long, controlled breaths, and then the first of the hulks was on them. Victor unleashed his spell, and before he could even fully realize the surge of Energy and possibility that flooded him, he was stepping forward and bringing Lifedrinker down in an overhead chop. He’d aimed for the hulk’s round, smooth head but missed, splitting its shoulder and tearing a long terrible groove down through its carapace. Lifedrinker carved through its flesh and shell like it was papier-mache, and Victor crowed at the difference a good weapon made.

Shards of shell and gouts of yellow-green fluid burst from the wound, and Victor felt Lifedrinker buck in his hand as she seemed to pulse with Energy. The hulk squealed through its mandibles and fell back, causing the two on its heels to stumble. Victor lifted his axe for another hack, but Thayla’s spear was suddenly sprouting from the eye of the hulk he was aiming at, and it fell away, scrabbling at its face. With a minor adjustment, Victor brought Lifedrinker down in a sideways angled cleave into the next hulk, catching its neck and nearly removing its head. It fell, twitching, to the rubble-strewn floor.

The light was so bright, the angles so clear, and the axe so smooth as he sliced through the air that Victor felt like he was performing some kind of dance rather than fighting with huge, monstrous creatures. When a long hooked limb came his way, he backed up a step and brought Lifedrinker down through the jointed wrist, relieving the monster of its appendage.

Thayla was like a machine with her spear, using its length to keep the monsters at bay as she filled them with deep, weeping wounds. It and Lifedrinker had no trouble with their carapaced torsos, slicing and punching through them easily, exposing the hulks' weakness to sharp weapons. When the massive monsters tried to use their bulk to overwhelm them, Victor met their charges with heavy chops, and Thayla let them drive themselves onto her spear.

It helped that the hulks had come at them in a staggered line, never having the chance to surround them fully. The first kills came quickly, and then the two of them slowly hacked and stabbed the others into broken submission. Victor never had to use any rage Energy, so he kept his wits the entire time. He noticed Thayla’s spear glowing brightly and moving more quickly from time to time, and he made a note to ask her what sort of spell she was using—maybe he could copy it.

After just a few minutes of violence, the hulks were reduced to broken, bleeding mounds, and Victor and Thayla stood over them as the Energy surged out of the gathered motes and into their Cores.

***Congratulations! You’ve achieved level 20 Spirit Champion. You have gained 7 will, 7 vitality, and have 7 attribute points to allocate.***

***Level 20 Class refinement is available. Class refinement is permanent. Human Energy cultivators will next be offered a Class refinement selection at level 30. To view your options and make your selection, access the menu through your status page.***

“Oh shit! I hit twenty! Time to upgrade my class!”

“It’s not always an upgrade—sometimes it’s smart to keep what you’ve got,” Thayla said, trying to wipe the gore off her spear with a scrap of leather.

“Are you tier-two?”

“Just barely. Been level twenty-one for a while now.”

“Did your class change?”

“Yeah, I went from a brawler to a skirmisher—it’s advanced, so I get better stats than my old class, and I can improve weapon skills more.”

“Nice,” Victor said, wondering how lucky he’d been to get an advanced class at level ten. “You have some Energy attacks?” he asked as they started walking to the half-collapsed bridge; their exit tunnel was on the far side of the stream.

“Yeah, Flash Strike. It lets me channel my Energy into an attack, so it moves faster than normal. It makes it hard as hell to dodge or parry.” Thayla hopped over a gap in the bridge, nimbly scampering to the far side. “It uses a lot of my Energy,” she added with a shrug as Victor followed her over. “That inspiration thing you do is amazing, though. I swear I’m twice as good when it’s active.”

“Yeah, I think it helps you get insight into your skills, too. Let me know if your spear skill advances faster than you think it should while we’re together.”

“Maybe if we find a secure place to camp, we can do some sparring.” She moved toward the cavern wall, passing between some crumbled ruins not far from where Lam had killed the rot fiend.

“You think they’ll chase us down here?” Victor asked, gesturing vaguely toward the upper mine.

“Maybe. I’d be surprised, but they might. I figure they’ll keep scrying to see if we’re down here and maybe send some hunters, but if we can get into the dungeon, they might lose track of us—figure we’re dead.”

“That’d be good,” Victor said. They’d reached the rocky wall leading up to the exit tunnel, and he thought he could see enough handholds to make his way up. “Looks like we might not need ropes or those spikes.”

“You first, then,” Thayla said, gesturing to the wall.

“I kinda want to look at my refinement options, but we’re like sitting ducks in this cavern. I’ll do it later,” Victor said, jumping up to grab a low ledge and pulling himself up. A few more hops followed by pullups, and he was in the tunnel mouth. Thayla was watching from below, and when he turned to wave at her, she grinned.

“Now toss me a rope!”

“Oh, I see how it is,” he laughed, calling one of the ropes out of his ring and unraveling it down the rocky cavern wall. He held it tightly while Thayla pulled herself up, walking her feet up the wall. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up beside him when she came close.

“This tunnel meanders for about half a kilometer, Victor. Just stay with it and don’t take either of the side passages you’ll see,” Gorz said as Victor turned to regard the low-ceilinged, narrow tunnel they were in.

“Looks like we follow this one for a while. My neck and back are going to be killing me.” He stood up and thumped a fist on the ceiling, his back partially stooped.

“Yeah, tight quarters. You want me to go first?”

“I don’t care. Nah, I’ll go first.” Victor had pulled the rope up and stowed it. Already getting used to the convenience of the storage ring, he’d stored his backpack and its contents within. It was just too easy to think about what he wanted and have it appear in his hand; he knew, if he weren’t so busy, he’d probably have been messing around with it like a kid with a new game. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he walked into the tunnel, his light stone illuminating the darkness for about ten strides. He held his axe, grip choked up close, out in front of him as he stalked, stooped over down the dusty, rubble-strewn passage.

They ran into a trio of giant rats about halfway down the tunnel near a branching side passage, and Victor, using Channel Spirit, hacked the head off one of them as it charged, Thayla, from just behind him, drove her spear in the throat of the second one, and the third turned and ran. “Smart little stinker,” Victor said, watching it scurry away, dust clouding its passage.

“Let’s get out of this tunnel! Keep moving,” Thayla said, giving him a nudge. Victor grunted acknowledgment and kept moving through the low-ceilinged, narrow, windy passage. According to Gorz, he was almost to the exit when they came to a very tight portion, and Victor stopped, looking at Thayla.

“I’m going to have to slither through on my belly to get through that.” The idea of sliding through a narrow passage with a million tons of rock and earth above him was causing his heart to race and his palms to sweat.

“Yeah, I hope you can fit,” Thayla deadpanned.

“Are you trying to freak me out?”

“Claustrophobic?”

“I didn’t think so, but that looks too fucking tight for me!”

“Ancestors! I’ll go first, and that way, I can pull your arms if you get stuck.”

“Not helping!” He saw the grin on Thayla’s face, and getting that reaction from her usual reticent demeanor was almost worth his genuine discomfort. He watched as she crawled forward into the narrow portion of the tunnel, and then she was on her belly, slithering through. A few moments later, her light shone back toward him.

“Your turn,” she softly called.

Groaning, Victor crawled forward as far as he could, then he stretched his arms into the tight passage, holding his axe out in front of himself, and began to worm his way forward. At one point, his hips caught, and he almost panicked, but he felt Thayla’s fingers wend their way around his wrists, and then she tugged with surprising strength. His shoulders strained, and he pulled and wriggled, and then he broke free and slid through the last portion of the cramped shute. “That sucked!” he said, sitting up and brushing the dirt off himself.

Thayla didn’t respond to him right away, and he saw why when he looked around. They were in a small cave, about ten by ten paces, but rounded with a high ceiling. The only other passage from the cave was a similarly small tunnel leading from the far side, but that’s not what had Thayla’s attention—the walls were littered with little crystals that reflected their glow lamps, creating a bright, almost cheery space. “We should take a break here,” Thayla said.

“I guess so; it’s not like we’ve had any sleep in the last two days, and we can watch these two tunnels pretty easily.”

“You should check your class refinements anyway, especially before we run into something a lot tougher than a deep hulk.”

“That’s a good call. Can you keep an eye out while I’m distracted?”

“Yep, I’m gonna have a snack, too.” Thayla sat down on a rounded stone, with both tunnel openings in clear view, then she started taking things out of her ring: some sausage, some bread, and a tall, narrow wine bottle.

“Damn, save some for me!” Victor laughed, finding a comfortable stone to sit on. Before opening his status screen, he glanced around the sparkling cave and said, “Do you think these crystals are valuable?”

“I think they’re just quartz, but I’m no expert. Maybe?”

“Huh.” Victor shrugged the thought aside; they didn’t have time to be chipping cheap crystals out of stone. He called up his status sheet and then selected the option for class refinement, reading through his five options:

***Class refinement option 1: Spirit Weaver - Advanced. Pre-requisite: Two or more spirit affinities. You have begun to unlock the secrets of the spirit. This refinement will allow you to continue that progress, searching out the depths of your inner-self and melding your aspects into powerful Energy workings. Class attributes: Will, Intelligence.***

***Class refinement option 2: Battle Caller- Epic. Prerequisites: Inspiration affinity. You exemplify excellence on the battlefield, inspiring your comrades and turning the tide with powerful tactical boons. Class attributes: Will, Intelligence, Agility, Unbound.***

***Class refinement option 3: Herald of Carnage - Epic. Prerequisites: Spirit Core, two or more affinities, one of which being rage or terror. Walk the path of carnage, driving your foes ahead of you, breaking their spirits, and reaping their Energy. Class attributes: Will, Strength, Unbound.***

***Class refinement option 4: Battle Zealot - Epic. Prerequisites: Spirit Core, two or more affinities, one of which being inspiration, and one related to fear, anger, or shame. Continue to develop your battle-calling abilities. Whip your comrades into a frenzy and drive your foes mad with your exhortations. Class attributes: Will, Vitality, Strength.***

***Class refinement option 5: No Refinement - You are pleased with the path on which you find yourself and choose to continue until your next refinement option.***

“Jesus,” Victor said softly, frowning and shaking his head at his blasphemy.

“What?” Thayla asked around her mouthful of sausage. She took a swig out of her wine bottle and cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Uh, I have a lot of options, and they seem loco as hell.”

“Crazy?”

“Yeah, like fucking ‘Battle Zealot,’ um, ‘...whip your comrades into a frenzy and drive your foes mad…’”

“Hah, that does sound a little crazy! Spirit Cores are something different, I guess.”

“That’s an interesting option, Victor. Do you mind sharing more details?” Gorz asked, once again startling Victor; he jerked his head to the side before he registered that it was Gorz. Thayla kept watching him while she slowly chewed her food.

“Let me know if you want any advice,” she said. “I’m not an expert, but I might have an idea or two.”

“Alright, let me study these some more; just a minute,” Victor responded aloud while he began to read the refinement options to Gorz silently.

“Those are all excellent options, Victor. Your choices with unbound attributes are far more numerous than is typical.”

“Really? Why do you think that is?”

“Most likely a result of you having a spirit Core and having a base class with unbound attribute points. It’s uncommon to have refinement options that don’t build upon your base class.”

“So when you say it’s not typical, you mean in your experience?”

“Ahem, yes.”

“Any advice?”

“If you’re torn between options, remember that greater rarity, or, in this case, the epic options, will give you more attributes per level but take a bit longer to level. Also, look at the attribute distribution: the first attribute listed is usually the one with the greatest increase per level.”

Victor looked at his options again, deciding to discount options that didn’t have unbound attribute points. He liked the idea of the Spirit Weaver class, thinking it might lead to more control over his Core and perhaps open the door to more affinities. Still, he didn’t like that his only attribute improvements would be in will and intelligence for at least the next ten levels. Battle Zealot, while sounding strong, also didn’t allow for any unbound attributes, and it also seemed just a little too fanatical for Victor’s taste. “Well, not any crazier than going berserk, I guess.”

“What?”

“Oh, just thinking out loud. The Battle Zealot sounds kind of nuts, and I was just debating with myself about it.”

“Mmhmm, alright.”

“Well, what do you think? Herald of Carnage, Battle Caller, or keep my current class?”

“Tell me more than their names,” she said, taking another long pull of her wine bottle.

“Take it easy. You’re supposed to be keeping watch, not getting drunk,” Victor said.

“This weak stuff? I’m not going to do more than get a little buzzed if I drink this whole bottle. My vitality is too high.”

“Oh, right.” Victor cleared his throat and then described his class options to Thayla.

“I don’t know. Battle Caller sounds more support-oriented, and the other one sounds like you’re going to be leading the way into fights. Which one sounds more like you? Based on that fight with the beetles the other day, I’d say you should pick the, um, carnage one.”

“What about my current class?”

“Well, if I had the option for an epic class, I’d take it. My levels have slowed a lot since I got to tier two, but I’m still holding out hope for an epic class at level thirty.”

“Alright, fuck it. Herald of Carnage it is.”

“I think you and your friend have demonstrated excellent logic, Victor,” Gorz said.

“Heh, thanks, Gorz.” Victor scrolled to the option and touched the “select” button.

***Congratulations! You’ve refined your class: Herald of Carnage. Class skill gained: Project Spirit - Improved.***

***Project Spirit - Improved: Send forth a wave of your attuned Energy to negatively influence the minds of those in front of you. Energy cost: 200 Cooldown: Medium.***

“Hmm, that’s wild. I got a new spell that will use my attuned Energy to negatively impact those in front of me. How could my inspiration Energy affect others negatively?”

“I’m not sure; remember, I have no affinities.” Thayla shrugged.

“Victor, spiritual affinities, like other affinities, can be altered in your pathways to reflect different aspects of the same affinity. Imagine you had a water affinity; you could cast spells using liquid, ice, or vapor. With the right pattern, your inspiration-attuned Energy can be twisted into discouragement.”

“What about my rage?”

“Just as your rage can give you great strength and fortitude, it can be twisted to deliver madness without those benefits.”

“Damn! Good to know. We need to spend more time talking, Gorz.”

“Indeed, perhaps you’ll have more free time now that you’re sneaking through the deep delves and preparing to enter a dangerous dungeon.”

“Was that sarcasm, you little pinche?” Victor laughed, and Thayla gave him another strange look.

“Care to share the joke?”

“Did you enjoy my humor?” Gorz asked at the same time.

“Oh, just thinking about driving my enemies nuts while I hack at them with Lifedrinker.”

“Yeah, you definitely picked the right refinement. I’m glad you’re on my side.” She shook her head, then passed her wine bottle to Victor. Victor took the bottle with a grin and chugged a good third of it down. It wasn’t watery like the wine at the barracks, and Victor was no wine expert, but, to him, it was damn good.

“Doesn’t taste bad to me,” he said, passing it back to Thayla.

“I found a couple of crates of this stuff about a year ago—no idea how old it is.”

“Seriously?” Victor knew wine lasted a long time in the bottle, but the ruins down in the depths seemed ancient.

“Yes, the bottles are enchanted to preserve the contents. Lam didn’t know I found them, and I didn’t think she’d reward me enough to give them up.” She shrugged and took another drink.

“What are you gonna do? If we live through this shit and make it through that dungeon?” While he asked, Victor stood up and hefted a boulder about the size of a basketball, setting it in the center of the little tunnel they’d come through.

“I’m not thinking that far ahead. I doubt we’ll even get to the dungeon entrance—there’s stuff down here that even Lam won’t fight.”

“Come on,” Victor grunted, hefting another boulder and stacking it next to the first. “Be positive. Say we make it; where would you go?”

“Well, probably to Gelica first. If we live, there’s a good chance we’ll have some treasure from the dungeon and gain some levels. Gelica’s a big enough city where no one would notice a Shadeni woman coming into town to sell some things and resupply.” She watched, kicking her feet out while Victor piled yet another stone into the tunnel entrance. “Hope we don’t have to make a hasty exit that way.”

“Hah, you serious? Nothing hasty about me trying to worm through that tiny tunnel. I’d rather die on my feet than have something eat me from the ass up while I’m stuck in there.”

“Lovely image,” Thayla laughed.

“What about after Gelica? You got family? Got a home?”

“What’s with the interrogation? Let’s just take it one day at a time, alright? I don’t think you should know all my plans, anyway. Suppose they catch up to us and I get away, but you don’t? Think I want them going to my hometown looking for me?”

“Huh,” Victor stacked a fifth boulder into the little tunnel, completely blocking it off. “Alright, suit yourself.”

When he felt satisfied that anyone crawling through that tunnel would find progress nigh impossible, Victor sat down and ate some of his food. The sausage was fatty and salty, but it tasted delicious after all the hard work he’d been doing. While he sat and ate, he decided to spend his seven attribute points the same way he had the last few levels. He figured when he gained his first level as a Herald of Carnage, he could revisit the pattern. Besides, his current distribution gave him an even fifty strength—it felt good. “You want to sleep for a couple of hours?” he asked, closing his status display.

“Not really. I’m too wound up. Let’s put another few tunnels between us and whoever might be coming after us. I’m hoping that passage you filled up with rocks will discourage them enough, but you never know.” She stood and brushed herself off, then peered into the exit shaft. “This one widens up after just a few feet.”

“Alright, I’m right behind you,” Victor said, once again hefting Lifedrinker.