The Way Ahead

Chapter 93a: On Tracks

“Okay, move it! Up and over it now!”

“I’m getting flashbacks,” Edwin muttered, but still complied. He barely brushed the side of the cart, his fingers passing within a few inches of its wall, before he yanked himself into the air, somersaulting over the entire carriage and landing on the other side.

He stumbled, not quite ready for the sudden change in motion that accompanied him landing perpendicular to the direction they were walking, but recovered quickly enough that he didn’t faceplant into the cobblestones.

From behind him, he heard the cheering and enthusiastic barking of his spectators, and Edwin felt a grin glit across his face.

“That was-”

“Disgraceful!”

“Not what I would have said.”

“But close enough, right?”

“No. I was going to say he’s doing magnificently! It is you who has the insatiable demands upon him.”

“He’s capable of so much, though!”

“He is also mortal! Good enough is good enough.”

“My standards aren’t insatiable, either! Edwin, tell Lefi my standards aren’t unreasonable.”

“Uh,” Edwin hesitated, “I decline to answer?”

Lefi and Inion carried on, descending into further bickering. He… genuinely couldn’t tell if it was in good humor or not, but he decided that he would assume it was.

“I’m also not sure,” he cut in, “how this is supposed to help me fight? Like don’t get me wrong, the tips you’ve given me on using my Flight for acrobatic stunts is cool and all, but it doesn’t seem that different from what Inion would have had me do last year.”

The two of them paused, and Lefi opened his mouth, then closed it again, “But of course I had a reason for you to perform such a stunt. What kind of mentor would I be if I merely had you perform random acrobatics for the sole purpose of watching you? No, of course not! Instead, I had the most marvelous of reasons….”

Lefi functionally hemmed and hawed for a minute before conviction entered his eyes and he firmly nodded at Edwin, “My reasons of course being that it will be quite useful later on, but for now I needed to ascertain the level of mobility you were most comfortable with!”

“…You just wanted to watch me flip over the carriage, didn’t you?”

“I... decline to answer.”

Inion just laughed.

They weren’t making as good of time as when it was just the three of them (Edwin, Inion, and Bill) alone, but Edwin didn’t really mind. It wasn’t like he was in any sort of rush, after all. Only being on the move for only half of each day. It wasn’t like he was really wasting the rest of the time anyway, just that he wasn’t continuing on in that time.

Now, the reasons which they stopped so early did vary slightly, but usually involved Yathal getting tired, them having some noteworthy place to check out, or Lefi wanting to give Edwin more training during the daytime hours.

Such as their current ‘exercise,’ which Edwin was mentally deeming Edwin-Pinata, but was perhaps more charitably described as ‘sparring.’

Lefi was wickedly good with pretty much every type of weapon he had on him, and considering the sheer amount of weapons- ranging from small blades to entire polearms, though the latter were usually kept on the cart- he had, that was really saying something. Forty different proficiency Skills were nothing to scoff at, it seemed, particularly when they overlapped in effect.

Edwin was rapidly finding the limits of his 30 Stamina. While he’d thought it was essentially unlimited at first, he had learned the hard way that was only true when Walking was in play. Granted, thanks to his Breathing skill he rarely had to catch his breath, but his muscles ached from raw exertion.

“What’s your stamina, anyway?” he accused Lefi, who seemed to still be at full energy.

The man just laughed, “Far more than you! I told you, Attributes are the greatest part of having hundreds of Skills!”

“Fine, don’t answer my question then.”

Lefi winked at him, “Now you’re getting it.”

“Getting what?”

“Come on, back up on your feet!” Lefi rapped Edwin’s toes with his stick, and he unsteadily rose once again.

With a titanic expenditure of will, he retrieved a stamina potion- talsanenris-based again, naturally- and downed it. Immediately, Edwin felt relief flood through his limbs and he took his stance once more.

“This time, focus more on trying to hit me with your potions. Last time, you had a really horrendous showing. And don’t forget your Skills! You shouldn’t be able to be tripped, not with Flight.”

Edwin didn’t voice his response, just glaring at the man. What was up with his teachers taking an inordinate amount of enjoyment from his pain? First Inion, now Lefi. Like he had even the slimmest chance to use any of his Skills, let alone figure out which ones to call upon mid-fight. He had almost fifty, if he didn’t plan out ahead of time which ones he would use when exactly, there was no way that he’d be able to chain them together in the way Lefi wanted him to.

He shoved aside the part of his mind that said Lefi must have the same problem as him ten times over and nodded to Inion, who was serving as ‘referee.’

Not that one was ever needed. That would imply he stood a chance.

“And…. Go!”

Edwin, even though he was waiting for it, had barely even processed the statement when Lefi was already on top of him. He stepped back, trying to get space between him and the adventurer. Longstrider flared, but before it could fully engage, Lefi had rapped his knee with the tip of his stick. The contact broke Edwin’s concentration, and he lost control over his Longstrider, the Skill sending him sprawling across the ground.

…the exact same result as the last ten times.

“Back up on your feet, my friend! Remember-”

“To focus on my potions and not trip! I know!” Edwin snapped, “You just don’t give me a chance!”

“Nonsense! You’re already far better than when we started!”

That… Edwin had to admit, was- embarrassingly enough- true. Even earlier today, he hadn’t yet managed to trigger so much as Longstrider before Lefi could knock him over and end the match.

“Can we do an attack round, at least?” Edwin pleaded, “I’m sick of landing on rocks. And I think we’ve well established you outspeed me by at least ten times.”

From the side, Yathal gave an agreeing cheer. While Edwin didn’t agree with why the little kid wanted Edwin to not worry about defense, he wouldn’t complain about the results. Basically, the boy and his dog wanted a fight to last more than three seconds, and attack rounds did tend to last longer than that.

“Hm. Very well, so be it,” Lefi tossed his stick to the side, where it fell slightly obscured in the short grass of their campsite.

Attack rounds were simple. Edwin was free to use all of his Skills and gear, move around as much as he wanted, attack from any angle, and his goal was to land a hit on Lefi’s torso or head.

Lefi, in turn, couldn’t move more than a half-step, was completely unarmed, and couldn’t press any attack, only follow up on openings Edwin gave him. He would win if he knocked Edwin on the ground, same as with any other bout.

It was exactly as one-sided as it sounded.

“And…. Go!”

Edwin slung one of the water-filled apparatite spheres they were using in lieu of his actual potions at Lefi’s torso, hoping to force at the very least a dodge while he closed the distance between them. Instead, Lefi intercepted the projectile- which had been moving at some seventy miles an hour if not more- perfectly, catching the ball and cradling it against his chest.

While not exactly the result he had been hoping for, Edwin still tried to press his opportunity, aiming the tip of his stick at the unarmored man’s chest, bringing around a dagger with his other hand, beginning to throw it where he predicted that Lefi would dodge.

Once again, though, he didn’t dodge. Instead, Lefi threw his held crystal sphere at Edwin’s stick. The two collided with a crack, and the ball disintegrated, leaving only a spray of water dousing the wooden weapon, nearly reaching Edwin’s hand. If it had been firevine or the like, the bout would have been functionally over as he’d need to extinguish his stick. Since it was just water, though, and he was still standing, Edwin pressed on.

His knife flashed through the air, corrected at the last second to aim where Lefi was instead of where he had anticipated, and his stick thrust towards the man’s side. Even though he knew better, he felt a bit triumphant seeing both attacks on their way to hitting him…

Lefi didn’t even pretend it was hard, and elbowed Edwin’s stick out of the way. Edwin had learned, though, and didn’t stumble from the interrupted attack. What he wasn’t anticipating, though, was the sudden clunk and corresponding impact from the end of his weapon, as his own thrown knife was intercepted by his attack. Somehow, Lefi had used Edwin’s second attack to block his first, and Edwin was equal parts frustrated and amazed at the action.

“How the heck did… never mind,” he wrenched his mind back on track and stepped back out of Lefi’s reach. He should have expected that going in fast wouldn’t accomplish anything, not with Lefi having at least ten times more of whatever Attributes governed speed than Edwin did. Wasn’t there a straight-up Speed attribute? He remembered Inion mentioning something along those lines at some point. Maybe Lefi would know how to get it? He’d have to ask later, as Edwin didn’t want to be rude and change the topic while they were sparring. Lefi deserved his full attention.

…Well, a good amount of his attention at least.

Hm.

Edwin tapped his stick against the ground, thinking of how to attack his mentor. Off to the side, Yathal booed at his lack of attacking, yelling something about how boring it was getting- Edwin didn’t pay much attention to the specifics. Well, fine then. He could step things up a bit while he formulated a plan. While he didn’t really expect it to work, Edwin stepped forward and tried to strike at Lefi with his stick, stabbing and slicing with his training weapon as through it were a sword.

Meanwhile, Lefi casually leaned out of the way of every strike. He made it look easy, or maybe just made Edwin look incompetent. Probably both, honestly, given the man had just closed his eyes. Now that was just insulting.

Edwin leveled a wide sweep at the adventurer. No way to dodge this unless he just jumped three feet in the air with his eyes closed and from a stationary position.

Even as Edwin made the attack he realized the mistake, and felt more resigned as he watched Lefi do exactly that, giving an olympic-level high jump over the stick, pulling himself two and a half meters (according to Numeracy) off the ground.

Edwin could use that! He refused to think about the possibility or impossibility of certain actions, but it was just the work of moments to figure out where Lefi would land, and he preemptively held his stick there.

True to the adventurer’s skills, though, he managed to twist midair- his eyes finally opening- such that he was reaching out to grab Edwin’s stick, trying to snatch it out of his grip.

Edwin pulled back his weapon before he could lose it, but consequently lost his perfect setup and Lefi managed to land back on the ground without incident, dodging a second ‘potion’ attack in the same fluid motion.

Honestly, it was straight-up unfair. How was he supposed to compete with a combat-trained gymnast?

Well, the obvious answer, he supposed, was to throw an attack that couldn’t be dodged at the guy.

Edwin fished out another ‘potion’ from his belt, and with narrowed eyes threw it up in the air, swinging his stick to hit the apparatite like it was a baseball. They connected and the container cracked, disintegrating into Skill light and scattering the water inside.

Lefi’s eyes widened and Edwin felt a moment of triumph as he felt like he had finally, finally managed to land a hit on…josei

The adventurer thrust a Skill-laden hand out, palm-striking the air, and Edwin saw and felt the air warp under the light blue Skill, a ripple passing through the area and intercepting all of the droplets of water. Wherever they met, the droplets erupted into mist suspended in the air, forming a wall of fog that was swiftly ripped apart by the faint breeze in their campsite.

“Oh, come on!” Edwin complained, “How are you so good at everything? What even was that?”

“Do not despair! You forced me to enter my second group of Skills! That’s progress!”

“Don’t patronize me!” he yelled back, throwing a barrage of apparatite throwing crystals at the man.

Even angry, Throwing Weapons assisted enough that they all went perfectly on-target. Of course, his annoyance at Lefi for so perfectly dodging every last one only continued to grow, until Lefi eventually decided enough was enough. He snagged one of the crystals out of midair and whipped it back at Edwin at even higher speeds than he was capable of.

Of course, dodging projectiles was child’s play for Edwin, but he only noticed the second projectile his way too late, after his face was in the perfect spot to intercept it.