Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 44: Welcome to the Warriors Association: Part Two
"Uhm...Pey. Could you fill me in on what I missed back there?"
It was Melissa who asked Peyton this question almost immediately after they had left Chadwick’s office. It seemed as if something had been weighing on her mind.
"What do you mean?" Peyton queried.
"Well, I get that it’s unheard of for a Warrior to possess a Skill Ranked four Ranks above their own so an F-Rank having an A-Rank Skill isn’t exactly something to scoff at, but it’s just one A-Rank Skill, right? He could’ve just gotten lucky after obtaining a Class no one really knew anything about other than that it was the weakest in the world. So what exactly is so special about Raid that the boss, an S-Rank Warrior would say that he’s never seen anyone with as much potential as him? Not to mention, when he asked you, all you said was that he was weird, what exactly did you mean by that?"
"It was a B-Rank Skill just earlier today though." Peyton thought. "He advanced it to A-Rank in a single day. He did, in a few measly hours, something that usually takes S-Rank Warriors months to achieve."
"Melissa."
"...uh-oh, you’re using my actual name. You only ever do that when the situation is that serious." Said Melissa in response.
"Because it is. You remember the three Levels at which Special Attacks, Skills and Spells can affect the world, right?" Asked Peyton. This would’ve been a stupid question if she had asked it genuinely, for it was obvious to the two of them that whatever the answer to this question was, Melissa, being a high level Warrior more so experienced than even Peyton, knew it. Hence there was no valid reason to ask such a question, unless it was for the purpose of carrying a very detailed and serious conversation. Otherwise, Melissa would’ve been very offended, if anything. Having knowing this, Melissa answered the question with honest sincerity, intentionally ignoring its obvious rhetorical nature.
"Of course, the Three Affect Levels. There’s the first Level, Physical, the second, Spiritual, and finally the third, Conceptual." Melissa explained. "Low level A-Ranks whose Mana Capacity Stat is less than halfway through to reaching the A-Rank Maximum, along with all Warriors Ranked E-Rank to B-Rank can only affect the world on a Physical Level with their powers. High Ranked A-Ranks like you and me, however, whose Mana Capacity Stat has gone passed halfway through to reaching the A-Rank Maximum, have the ability to launch Spells, Skills and Special Attacks that affect the world on a Spiritual Level, the same is true for all S-Rank Warriors as well.
Meanwhile, the Eighteen Generals and the Six Emperors are the only Warriors in the world who have abilities that can affect reality on a Conceptual Level. Still though, including the Eighteen Generals and Six Emperors, no Warrior in the world has been found to possess a single Spell, Skill or Special Attack that affects reality on two or more Levels at the same time."
"Exactly. At least, that’s what I believed as well...until that walking cheat code came along." Said Peyton.
"What do you mean?" Asked Melissa with a curious tone.
"You know what my Truth-Seeking Eyes Skill does, right?"
"Yeah, it basically makes you a living polygraph, right?"
"Please be serious."
"Fiiine." Melissa said with a sigh. "Being able to tell when someone’s lying is only a fraction of what it’s capable of, right? With a single glance, you can find out just about everything about anything, but what does that have to do with-"
"When I was in that Dungeon with Raid." Peyton interrupted. "During his fight with the Boss, he used a Special Attack, I activated my Truth-Seeking Eyes Skill on pure instinct alone before he launched it and man was it truly ’special’. We’ve long since believed that there’re only three Levels to which our abilities as Warriors affect the world and that they can’t do so at two or more Levels simultaneously at that. It’s said that any and all aftereffects that occur from an ability affecting the world on either one of the three Levels are just that, aftereffects, and therefore cannot be counted as additional affects on reality by the ability in question."
"And even if they were to be counted..."
"They’d be classified as ’’affects’’ that only occur when an ability affects the world on a Spiritual or Conceptual Level, and not on a Physical one. Something like a second-hand affect, since it’s impossible to have an aftereffect that tempers with reality on a higher Level from an ability whose initial affect was that of on a lower Level."
"Meaning that it’d still be impossible to have an ability that goes from affecting the world on a Physical Level to affecting it on a Spiritual Level, or from a Spiritual Level to a Conceptual Level."
"Exactly, this has always been a fact every Warrior in the world knew. Basically common sense, but Raid practically destroyed said-common sense for me in that Dungeon. You see, not only did his attack on the Dungeon Boss affect reality on all three Levels simultaneously, when I used my Skill on it to analyze it, I also sensed a fourth Level."
"What!?" Melissa couldn’t help but be shocked. It was unthinkable, unbelievable, but she had no choice but to believe it. After all, the person who was telling her all this was the one person she trusted more than anyone else in the entire world. More than even Chadwick. She knew Peyton, she had no reason to lie about something like that, and she wasn’t so clumsy that she’d make a mistake. Among all the A-Ranked Warriors working in the Niger Branch of the Warriors Association, Peyton was the only one who could rival Melissa in a duel. "A Special Attack that affects the world on all Levels simultaneously. And a fourth Level to boot. Is that even-"
"Possible? It shouldn’t be...but I know what I saw." Said Peyton.
"Then... What exactly is this ’new’ Level?" Asked a curious Melissa.
"That’s just it. I have no idea. My Skill couldn’t find out anything about this unknown Level. I could only briefly sense it. That there was something else that Raid’s attack was doing to reality. As to what that something was, there was nothing. It was almost as if the Level itself was something way beyond my understanding and beyond what my Skill could find out."
"You’re starting to scare me."
"Join the club. I’m pretty terrified myself and that’s not even all."
"There’s more!?"
"Oh yeah, sister. There’s more."
Melissa was slowly getting more and more exhausted as she listened to Peyton. They took an elevator to the 14th Floor, where the training rooms were as Peyton continued explaining.
"After he defeated the Goblin Lord, the Dungeon Boss..." She said. "I was still a bit out of it so I decided to use my Truth-Seeking Eyes Skill on him instead. As usual, I couldn’t see his Skills and Stats due to the restrictions of the System, but in addition to that, unlike when I use it on other people, I couldn’t find out anything else about him other than the basic stuff. His measurements, name, the fact that he’s a 19 year old black male and that he’s an F-Rank Warrior. Instead, in place of the unlimited amount of information that would’ve been, all I could sense was darkness, a void, an endless emptiness that stretched far beyond anything I could ever imagine. And then, when I looked at him, he didn’t react. He couldn’t tell that I was analyzing him, which means..."
"...that he unconsciously resisted your Skill. The only SSS-Rank Skill in the world that’s owned by an A-Rank. A Skill not even the Eighteen Generals or the Six Emperors can resist."
"Exactly. I can tell you the exact number of cells or atoms that make up a person with a single look. Or the nature of their soul. Their physical capabilities. Whether they’re good or evil. The type of life they’ve lived. The experiences they’ve had. Everything about their past. Their thoughts and memories. Their hopes and dreams. Their likes, dislikes and personality. Their most deep-seated of secrets. Their desires and their greatest fears. All that and more. As the name entails, my eyes seek the truth in everything they see. But I couldn’t see any of that in Raid. It was almost as if there was no truth to seek. And that right there, is why I said he was weird..."
...
"Uhm...Melly? What’s wrong?" Peyton stopped to ask noticing that Melissa wasn’t walking on the same pace as she was anymore. She simply stood behind while looking down.
"Pey?" She said.
"Yeah?" Peyton replied with a confused look directed at her friend.
"I don’t wanna fight him anymore." Melissa looked at Peyton. She had her usual somewhat dim expression, except now her eyes were slightly teary.
This was her true personality as a Warrior. She was strong. Really strong. As strong as Peyton, but she had a tendency to look down on herself when it came to battle, even as she fought opponents weaker than her. And even as she mostly wore a slight dim expression on her face, she was a really playful person, and very kindhearted. She cared deeply about all who were close to her.
"I know what you mean." Peyton said in an attempt to comfort Melissa. "I myself would hate to have to fight him too. Thing is...I think he might want to fight me. I got the sense that he was somewhat of a battle junkie when he fought the Goblin Lord...but you’ve got nothing to worry about, I don’t think he’d intentionally hurt you, and despite what you may think, you’ve proven countless times how much of a powerhouse you are."
"... Okay, but if your boyfriend ends up killing me, you’re taking responsibility." Melissa finally calmed down to take a jab at Peyton.
"He’s not my boyfriend!" Peyton lashed out in embarrassment.
"Yeah, but you want him to be, right?"
"N-no I don’t! Shut up!" She lashed out again, her cheeks turning redder by the second.
"God, you’re easy." Said Melissa.
"... Now I definitely want Raid to give you a beating." Peyton smirked.
"Ouch." Replied Melissa. "You really do hate me, don’t you?" She asked.
"Yes." Answered Peyton.
"Well... I still love you with all of me, my adorable little sister." Said Melissa.
"I know." Peyton replied.
They had arrived at Training Room 7 in the 14th Floor. They went inside and started prepping for the spar.
*******
I had finished dressing up, and I have to say, I looked good.
"But if I’m being honest. I look good in anything. Even my burnt clothes were a vibe."
"I can tell by that look on your face alone how much you’re feeling yourself right now." Said Chadwick.
"Seriously. If you keep figuring me out so perfectly like that, I’ll start to get scared. Don’t tell me you have some weird mind reading Skill like Peyton too." I said in retaliation.
"Nah kid, you’re just easy. Not to mention, you’re a lot more like ’him’ than I think you care to realize." He replied.
"Whoa, careful there old man, or you’ll cause me to have an identity crisis."
"’Old man’? Listen, I know I look older than him but it’s no secret that he’s definitely lived longer. Just call me Uncle Chadwick from now on, okay?"
"Do you think old man-Gam wanted me to call him ’old man-Gam’? You don’t get to pick what I call you, that’s just not how it works." I said.
"I would think that it is in my case since I control your paycheck." He gave me a genuine looking smile as he said that. Genuine ’looking’. Not actually genuine.
"Uncle Chadwick!" I said enthusiastically. "Tch, that sly devil!" I thought. "Have I told you just how mighty fine you look today?" I added.
"I don’t believe you have." He replied. "Do I really?" He asked condescendingly.
"Of course." I replied. "Why good sir, you don’t look a day over sixty! That’s in Warrior years by the way."
"Ah, what a respectful young nephew you are. Yes. Now then, let’s see how good you fight."
"... Alright." I followed him as he walked towards the right side back corner of his office.
"Is that...?"
"I told you, I have just about everything in this office."
It was one of those teleportation elevators.
"To think he’s got his own personal elevator to take him to any floor he wants in the building. Managers really do live it up, don’t they?"
We then stepped on to the cylinder surface of the elevator as the control panel popped up. Chadwick pressed the button to the 14th Floor and we were there in an instant.
"That’s gonna take some getting used to." I thought while we existed the elevator and then started walking around, passing multiple Training Rooms, namely 1 through 6, until we arrived at Training Room 7.
He then unlocked the room using retinal scan as its doors slid open. We entered and saw Peyton and Melissa chatting while sitting on a large surface arena situated in the middle of the entire room, taking most of its space. On one side of the arena, was a large variety of weapons placed very neatly and orderly. There were spears, swords, shields, daggers, etc...
They weren’t Magic Weapons so they had no Grades and Stages meaning anyone could use them.
Opposite to the entrance and where the weapons were placed, were seating arrangements similar to those in sport stadiums.
Chadwick and I then walked over to Peyton and Melissa.
"Heyyo." I said raising my hand.
"Oh, look at you." Peyton sized me up.
"I know, right? I look good, don’t I?" I fished for a compliment. Sadly, her reply solidified that I’d have not a single catch.
"Well we can’t have you getting your ass kicked in terrible get up, now can we?"
"Mean."
"Okay Pey, I gotta ask...just whose side are you on exactly...?" Melissa joined in on the conversation. "Didn’t you say that you wanted me to get beat up by Raid a few minutes ago?"
"No way, she said that?" I asked looking at Melissa.
"Yeah..." She answered. "She also had a lot of other things to say about you."
"Oh god. Not bad things I hope."
"Try terrifying..."
"Hm?"
"Terrifying? What about me is terrifying?" I then looked at Peyton as she looked back at me. "... Just what lies did you spout to her about me you big oaf?"
"... Just the truth. Or at least as I know it, anyway." She answered nonchalantly.
"Now I don’t even wanna know anymore. Whatever, let’s just get this show on the road." I went to check out the weapons. Melissa followed while Peyton and Chadwick got off the arena to go the seating arrangements on the side.
There were lots of weapons to choose from but what I picked instead must’ve caught everybody off guard.
"I didn’t expect you to pick a spear." Said Melissa.
"What did you think I’d pick?"
"Well, Peyton told me you regularly used archery and a blade you created this one time so I thought it’d be around that area."
"Yeah, I wanted to test a new Skill of mine then. It’s the same now too."
"I feel slightly insulted by that. Do you think of me as some sort of practice dummy?"
"Please don’t look at it like that. You’re the first A-Rank I’ll be fighting, if I trained with somebody weaker than you, I’d be wasting my time."
"Well when you put it like that, I feel compelled to not disappoint. So... I won’t hold back." She declared, picking a longsword from the weaponry and performing a sideways slash with it. It was big, almost the same size as her but she handled it like a stick. A freaking stick!
Wind gushed violently as a result of her slash, as if to convey the amount of force it had in it.
"Fucking monster."
"Heh." I chuckled. "Thanks for that. Please, don’t hold back on my sake. Even if you may end up killing me. If I can’t beat you at your best, then that’d just mean that I’m all talk."
"... She was right. You are a junkie."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
We climbed back up on the arena and took our positions.
Chadwick then spoke.
"Alright, the rules are simple. Use of Spells and Special Attacks is prohibited, only Skills are allowed. The winner is decided when one has disarmed their opponent and/or has them in a near fatal position. Now then. Begin!" He declared.
As soon he did, Melissa was gone. I looked around. I couldn’t see her but I could still sense her.
I looked up and there she was, above me, coming down at an incredible speed. Her sword in tow, ready to deliver her first attack, a downward slash.
~Ting!~
~Clank!~
~Screech!~
The sounds of metal clashing against metal echoed throughout the entire room, followed by a screech as the two objects slid roughly against each other. It was her longsword and my spear. I had countered her slash with the spear immediately after activating the newly obtained Lancer Skill in addition to Cultivator, Astral Unification, Soul-Piercing Eyes and Bladework.
I quickly acted immediately after that and side flipped over Melissa then backed away to create some distance.
"Amazing, I had to activate that many Skills just to counter a single attack. An A-Rank, huh? What a monster. Truly. I can only imagine what S-Ranks are capable of. But it’s crazy, I don’t feel threatened at all. Rather..."
I felt excited. My hands were shaking, along with the spear.
"Ever since becoming a Warrior, I never felt a single challenge. Looking back on it now, everything was a tad too easy..." I thought. "Yeah, I need this. To know how far I’ve gone, and how much further I can go!"
Activating Hypermove, which quadrupled my speed, I dashed quickly toward Melissa. She did the same. We clashed.
Our weapons bumped off one another.
~Clank!~
"Incredible." Said Melissa. "I can tell from the color of the Mana surrounding your weapon that it’s an E-Rank Skill you’re using but it’s countering my A-Rank sword Skill so perfectly. How are you doing that?" She asked.
"I’m using other higher Ranked Skills to support it." I answered.
"Wow, I never even thought that was something that could be done, unless it was a Spell or a Special Attack. Using multiple Skills for a single purpose like that." She commended as we fought.
"Thanks." I replied.
She was launching a large number of slashes continually. While I simply parried and dodged them.
I made sure to keep a favorable distance since I was using a spear. As we kept fighting, she kept getting faster and more vicious. I was slowly losing my ground as she gradually gained more of hers. She wasn’t even using just her sword anymore. As soon as she got close enough, she would attempt to punch and kick me. I dodged every attack with expertise but it was obvious that I wouldn’t last long if I didn’t rethink my strategy. I would attempt to create some distance, but every time I did, she would quickly dash towards me to cover it then keep her assault.
"Smart. She’s taking advantage of my shortcomings with using the spear. Not to mention...she’s annoyingly fast. Her speed’s already way over a hundred times that of sound." I kept dodging her attacks. The spear was losing its usefulness what with always being forced to fight in close range.
"I can’t let that happen... If I can’t use the spear then I can’t advance the new Skill to a higher Rank."
She launched a large horizontal slash as I was lost in thought, I did a side flip to dodge it. As soon as I landed, I caught a glimpse of a big sharp object approaching me at the corner of my eye. It was her longsword.
"Again!?" She had gotten even faster. I guessed she might’ve had a few A-Rank Skills activated.
"Maybe even S-Rank. She was already immeasurably faster than the Goblin Lord ever was the moment this fight started, and now this!?" I activated Treasure Hunt and Fury of Dantian for the simple purpose of increasing my Mana Capacity and perception speed, circulating my Mana across my whole body to increase my physical capabilities.
Doing that, I dodged her second slash by ducking down as her sword cut off some of my hair.
"My beautiful spike!" I screamed internally. "That’s it! I’m done messing around!" I activated Item Space. Then waved my spear behind me with my right hand and clenched my left fist to deliver a punch to her stomach. She immediately countered it by placing her longsword over her stomach. The force of the impact catapulted her 5+ meters away from me. I then started concentrating, circulating my Mana.
"Nine whole Skills. This is it. That challenge I’ve been looking for. I can feel it. This is exhilarating, I’m excited."
I made Lancer the main running system, drew out as much Mana as I could with Cultivator and Item Space, used Astral Unification to synergize that Mana, used Fury of Dantian to gather it all in my Dantian, and used Astral Unification again to synergize the Bladework Skill, Treasure Hunt Skill, Soul-Piercing Eyes Skill and Hypermove Skill to drastically increase my overall Stats as well as improve my perception speed. I was in full gear. A large amount of Mana was surging from within me, everyone in the room felt it. Most of all Melissa.
"You don’t have just one A-Rank Skill, do you?" She asked as she looked at me.
"No." I answered. I was glowing. My Mana was overflowing, it was too much that it couldn’t be contained within my body as it was, so everyone saw it. The intense orange light enveloping my entire body.
".... Do you still wish to continue?" Asked Melissa.
I thought it over. I really didn’t expect her to ask me something like that but oddly enough, I understood why...
And as for my answer...
