Sacrifice Mage-Chapter 27: Training

I wasn’t expecting the sheer enthusiasm with which Escinca took to the subject. Yesterday, I hadn’t explained how exactly I had beaten the Scarthrall, just that I had. The Elder had run with it anyway.
Now, he looked like I had confirmed the suspicions he had already been harbouring.
“Emulation, is it?” Escinca’s smile turned into a short laugh. “You keep on surprising me with your discoveries, Ross! It’s rather remarkable the Affixes you keep coming across.”
“Doesn’t look like you’re that surprised, if I’m being honest.”
“Well, Hamsik did mention something about you turning
into
a Thrall, so I came up with some guesses as to how.”
I grumbled as I pretended to eat my insect porridge. That bastard half-vampire.
“Emulation is an excellent Affix to acquire,” Escinca said. “But you must be aware of its limits to make the most of it.”
I nodded serious. This was what I was here for. “What sort of limits?”
“Some things you have probably already guessed and are implied. For instance, you emulated a Scarthrall by…”
“Sacrificing its heart,” I said.
“By Sacrificing its heart.” He paused. “That is an
incredible
feat for one who’s still in Iron. But anyway, you Sacrificed a living being’s heart to
become
a certain version of the living being. Where
living being
is the keyword.”
Oh
. “I see what you mean. I can’t just emulate any old thing, magical or otherwise. It has to be something sentient.”
“Correct. Something that is or was alive.” He frowned as he finished up his food. “It’s a dangerous Affix to acquire, and for most people, I would have cautioned against it. You can see how it leads to temptation, yes? It is one of the easy paths to darkness for a cultist.”
I could see it. So far, I had Sacrificed the heart of a vampire to become the vampire. But that led to a lot of possibilities. For instance, what if I Sacrificed Kostis’s heart? Would I suddenly get all his might and prowess for a while? The notification had read inherent racial power or potency or something along those lines. But there had to be a way to improve it, to make it more granular to the individual
being
Sacrificed.
And that was the path Escinca was warning me about. The one that would lead me astray in an effort to seek greater and greater power.
“I’ll be careful about not… going overboard,” I promised.
The Elder smiled at me. “I am certain you will. And that you will find good use for it.” He cleared his throat. “On a slightly more positive note, the other limit to Emulation is the exact part of your target that you Sacrifice. You Sacrificed a heart and therefore, acquired
all
the inherent racial powers of a Scarthrall, yes?”
“I did.”
“If you had Sacrificed something else, say a hand or a leg, the results would have been quite different.”
I blinked. That made sense. Now I felt lucky again. It was fortunate that I hadn’t ripped off a more minor body part to receive a more diminished reward, which definitely wouldn’t have allowed me to win against the Scarthrall as easily as I had.
A part of me also wondered if I could have killed the Scarthrall by tearing off chunks of it and Sacrificing them one by one. There was always the possibility that he would just regenerate the parts I offered up as tribute to my Aspect, but also, I was sure I could perform Sacrifice faster than the monster could regenerate.
What I wasn’t sure of was whether the Weave would even allow me to Sacrifice every single part that I tore off. Could I Sacrifice a Thrall’s head, even when it was alive and talking and actively regenerating? Would the Aspect not accept the last remaining piece of the vampire?
I shook my head. A morbid part of me almost wanted to experiment and find out, but answers like that weren’t necessary
right now
. Maybe if I got to find another Thrall again at some point…
The thought of it made me shudder, though.
“Slightly tangential, Elder,” I said. “But can I Sacrifice something like my sleep? I can already Sacrifice my food, though I suppose I do that
before
I
actually swallow it. Also, what about things like Attributes and their ranks?”
“You… Sacrifice the food?”
Uh oh. I was caught. Deciding to go along with it, I explained the reward I got. “No hunger and lots of energy is really helpful.”
“Yes, I’d assume so.” The Elder didn’t seem to mind too much that I wasn’t technically eating. “Things like sleep need a different Affix called Experientiality, which you won’t acquire easily, unfortunately. It’s rather difficult to find. As for things like Attributes and Ranks, I haven’t seen anyone able to Sacrifice things so directly given by the Weave before.”
I nodded. Interesting things to ponder. We finished our food. I was still a little surprised at how Sacrificing my meals meant I just didn’t need traditional nutrition at all. No hunger, no thirst, no muscles feeling weary or head feeling woozy from long stretches of foodlessness. Nothing. No salivating at the prospect of eating, either.
I supposed it helped that any food here was really just insects and the rare mushroom.
We headed out for the day’s excursions. I was determined to carry out some more training, to become strong enough to fight and beat Scarthralls without needing to rely on Sacrificing their hearts or heads or whatever. Learning the Aspect of Light would have helped with that delightfully, but that wasn’t going to happen till I ranked up my Path.
Basically, I had to focus on what I already had and train
hard
.
For the time being, Escinca gave us Blessed daggers. They would apparently channel divine sunlight if we encountered more Thralls.
But first, I had cult duties to perform. I made sure to have Gravity modifying my weight all day—combining its casts with Sacrifice to double the effect while conserving my mana—as I accompanied Escinca through Ring Four. He had promised he would provide Blessings as safeguards against the Thralls, and I went with him for support.
People were happy to see us. Not only Escinca, who did the important stuff with Blessing, but me too.
“Thrall-hunter!” one man said after inviting us in for the Blessing process. Escinca was bathing everyone and everything in the small room of the house with golden light. “We got the stake jus’ like you said!”
The strange title made my muscles tingle. What an odd thing to call someone. It wasn’t like I was alone in killing Thralls. Hamsik had probably ripped several more to shreds, and so had the guards and the Earth Cult.
But the look in the man’s eyes held real conviction. He showed me a crude but pointed length of wood. Definitely serviceable as a stake.
I nodded with an encouraging smile. “Just make sure you know how to use it, though I hope it never comes to that.”
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“Hopefully,” Escinca said, now done. “It won’t. Farewell, and fair fortune.”
We went to other houses and received similar reactions. One woman asked me to recount my entire fight against the Scarthrall. Another kid told me in no uncertain terms how exactly my fight had gone and how I had won. There had been quite a bit of embellishment there. I was pretty sure I hadn’t flown through the air like Superman.
And so we continued, visiting most locations in our neighbourhood to take care of the Blessing and safeguarding. Everyone was sticking to the common-sense advice that had been doled out. No going anywhere except in groups, and no opening doors to strangers.
They were fearful, occasionally overcautious, but they were determined to survive. That was all that mattered.
I received a new rank in Fervour when we were done for the day.
[ Rank Up!
Your Fervour Attributes has risen by one Rank.
Fervour
: Iron VII
]
It had taken the majority of the day to take care of the immediate neighbourhood of the temple. Escinca needed a bit of time to conduct the Blessings properly. We weren’t fully done when we returned to the temple. I had to keep him company for the entire duration as Hamsik was gone and Aurier was spending time at Gutran’s smithy.
But thankfully, not the next day.
“I see you are antsy to be off,” Escinca said the next morning as we were about to head out. “So I won’t keep you.”
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” I asked.
“Positive. I am Gold-ranked, after all.”
I laughed shortly. Escinca’s appearance and mannerisms might be genial, but he was experienced and strong. “Fair enough.”
“Farewell and fair fortune. Try not to get lost along the way.”
“Wait, how’d you know about that?”
Escinca smiled as he left. He didn’t answer. Sly geezer. Gutran had probably told him about the times I had ended up at the smithy when I had been attempting to go somewhere else.
This time, I ended up near the Ration House while trying to go to Gutran’s place. It was annoying, but I was a little used to it. Plus, the Rakshasa proprietor spotted me and came over.
“I know things are difficult over there,” he said, wringing his hands together. “But I want you to tell Escinca that I will have things ready soon. We will deliver the shipment, free of charge.”
I nodded after a moment. “Forgive me for saying this, but you weren’t this… generous before.” He had been the opposite of generous. I hadn’t called him out on it nor had I verified if it really was the case, but I was pretty certain we were being overcharged before I had asked the proprietor to take the funds directly from the Council allocation.
His face slowly changed. I couldn’t tell what his expression was supposed to represent. Rakshasas with their pinched mouths and hairs turning into horns were still too unfamiliar to me. “Is it a crime for me to be generous then?”
“Not at all. I was merely curious because last time we met here, you were very… businesslike.”
His mouth worked a bit like he was biting down on curse. I probably shouldn’t have pushed the way I was doing, but since I was here already, why not?
“The Council,” he gritted out. “They… asked me to… make amends. Which is what I’m doing.”
“And there it is. Thank you for being honest.”
The Rakshasa scowled some more. “The deliveries will be sent by end of day tomorrow.” And with that, he was gone, leaving me free to resume my journey towards my actual destination.
I made it to Gutran’s after a while. Aurier was still there, working hard under his master’s careful direction.
“Yes, fold it like that,” Gutran guided. “Remember who you’re making this for. Remember the people relying on you.”
Aurier nodded, focused and determined, clearly resisting the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Strangely, the heat didn’t seem to be affecting Gutran at all, even though I too was already starting to feel a little too warm. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Gutran bothered by the heat the last time I had been inside the smithy either. Maybe Scalekin were naturally resistant to it.
I greeted Gutran with a smile when he finally came over. “The deal stands.”
He returned my smile. “So it does. I appreciate the new business, Ross, although…”
“Although what?”
“Well, I’ve never had orders for
stakes
before…”
Aurier and I both laughed at that.
Gutran just sighed, though he didn’t seem to mind that much. “A lot of folks also aren’t exactly affluent, so I’ve needed to adjust my pricing and, well, effort spent accordingly.” His eyes held the same impression. It wasn’t
ideal
, but unlike what I had done with the Ration House proprietor, Gutran wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Nevertheless, business
is
business, and I’m glad to be making things that can help.”
“Is Aurier…?” I asked, not sure how to phrase the question.
“He is,” Gutran said. “Aurier is in charge of completing some of the orders I’ve received from Ring Four. One of the best ways to keep costs down
and
give my wayward apprentice here some real impetus to improve.”
I nodded. Aurier’s weapons were going to be used by actual people. With that kind of stakes, there wasn’t any room for him to be wayward, as Gutran put it.
They weren’t just making stakes. Quite a few people had asked for spears and other weapons that could be wielded easily without a great deal of training. Some had even requested armour.
I was a bit surprised anyone from Ring Four could actually afford all that, even with some made by an apprentice instead of a master. But maybe armaments in this world didn’t necessarily cost a great fortune. In fact, turned out that I could get a decent sword, shield and a full set of plate armour from Gutran at regular price with about one month’s stipend from the cult.
That honestly felt kind of cheap. It made me wonder what other smithies charged for their craft.
We moved onto my training next. I admitted that my main goal was growing strong enough to defeat Scarthralls with my own power. Gutran nodded understandingly, his dark grey scales glimmering in the low light of the forge.
“Improving yourself and ranking up your Aspects and all that is all well and good,” he said. “But you also need to learn to fight properly.”
“I agree. In fact, I was training with Aurier about it not that along ago.”
Aurier flushed, though he was already pretty red from working on his smithing. “I was just giving Ross some of the basic pointers I picked up from you, master. It’s nothing special.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “I appreciated it a lot. It helped me against the Thrall too.”
Gutran nodded like that was only natural. “It’s good that you’ve begun learning and even applying them. But you must practice them until they are ingrained in your soul. So today, since we’ve already worked on your Attributes, that’s what we’ll do. And afterwards, once I’m satisfied you know
how
to fight, I might start giving some pointers about weapons specifically.”
I nodded. That was good motivation for me, because I
was
interested in getting good with at least some weapons. Bare fist and pure strength might be enough, but I might come across situations where I needed the extra utility a specific armament provided.
Plus, with how Gravity worked, I was
really
interested in seeing how I could combine it with the right weapon.
So, we began training.
It was definitely more advanced than the tips Aurier had shared. Gutran had me using a shield and armour, all of it weighed with Infusion down to help raise my ranks. I learned about when to block, how to just space myself correctly before blocks and after attacks. I practiced how to stay mobile so that I could dodge when I needed to.
A part of it was repeating the same kind of moves and manoeuvres until they really were muscle memory. Until I didn’t even have to think to execute them.
It wouldn’t be truly integral to my thought process during combat in just one day, of course. I’d have to return for more training sessions and practice it on my own as often as I could. But I could already see the difference after just that one day of training.
Mostly because the other part of training was recognizing certain tells during combat. Gutran personally showed me what kinds of motion foretold what sort of attack. Shoulder drops and hip twists leading to strong strikes, tilting chests suggesting a lunge or charge, lifting heels to indicate sudden motion, different shifts of feet to indicate retreat or aggression or plain dodging.
There were quite a few things Gutran showed me. I had to admit I was never going to remember all of those. All I really learned was that fighting could get stupidly complicated. But, as Gutran himself said, repetition was the mother of learning. I’d learn it all in due time.
I spent most of the day practicing and learning with Gutran just like that. He apparently didn’t mind taking a break from his smithing to give me pointers or show me something new.
At one point, Aurier wanted to train too. I was happy to help him, or would have been, had Gutran allowed it. Instead, the Scalekin smith posed a question.
“Do you want to be a fighter, Aurier?” he asked. “Or do you actually want to be a smith?”
“What’s stopping him from being both?” I asked back when Aurier looked like he wasn’t going to reply. Poor guy really did have confidence issues.
“Time. I would never discourage anyone from bettering their ability to protect themselves and their loved ones. But right now, Aurier is short on time. He knows much of the basics I’ve shown you, Ross. All he lacks is practice. But he can do that once there aren’t people relying on his—on
our
—ability to provide them with the tools necessary to survive.”
That had a strong grain of logic to it. I didn’t necessarily
like
it, but Gutran was ultimately the master, and I had to admit that Aurier was far from defenceless.
By the time I was done that day, I didn’t get any handy notifications of new ranks. Disappointing, but not unexpected. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get any new ranks with a few more days of similar training either. Higher ranks really were harder to get.
That was fine. Because next day, we got the missive we were looking for from the guards.
It was time to interrogate the vampire.