The Pinnacle Warrior

Muti made her way back to the rest of the party, her face obviously proud as she strutted. Astrid chuckled a little as she wiped the filth from her hammer. With how heavy the weapon was, it made weaker enemies literally explode if she hit them wrong, which was disgusting. Fortunately, with enough practice at this point, she was ready for it and was able to localize the splatter to places that were easily cleaned.

“Have you looked at what Skills are available to you yet?“ Astrid asked as Muti leaned against her. The Barbarian had become a much happier creature since getting her Class evolution options, and that was exhibited in how she displayed physical affection. All the time. To everyone. Fortunately, with her body’s strength, Astrid didn’t have to shift her stance as the even larger woman glommed onto her.

“I have already made my decision.”

“Already? You qualified for your evolution like 30 seconds ago! And you were in the middle of a fight. And while I know it wasn’t that challenging for anybody involved, still!” Astrid shook her head in disappointment. Then, she asked, “And what did you choose? I don’t know if I even want to know what other options were presented to you.”

“I passed over Sneak Attack at Bronze, Group Camouflage at Bronze, Mental Resistance at Bronze, and Evisceration, which was Untiered. Vital Strike doesn’t need any additional help from Sneak Attack as they serve much of the same purpose, Group Camouflage doesn’t suit our party’s needs, Mental Resistance is currently unnecessary with my Acuity and Self-Mastery growth, and Evisceration might be a good choice at a higher tier.” Muti gave her explanation, a grin obvious in her voice, though she kept it off of her face.

“I specifically said I didn’t want to hear those things.” Astrid grumbled. “But what did you actually choose? I don’t know if I would have turned down Mental Resistance or Evisceration, given that Metal Resistance or an equivalent is basically required at Steel tier and Evisceration is an advanced Skill.”

“I did not select those because I selected Dread Master at Bronze.” Muti’s face softened with a more tender smile as she said it.

“And what does that do?” Felix asked as he dragged his axe’s head through nearby brush to get the worst of the viscera from it.

“It is a Skill that allows me to share my Skills with my party. I can spend my mana to grant all of you a lower tier version of one of my Skills for a short time. For example, I could use Ambusher’s Aura to hide all of us, then, through Dread Master, give you all Vital Strike when we attack our enemy. That would use much of my mana, but it is just one possibility. Also, if I teach a child how to sneak, they will be offered a higher tier version of the Stealth Skill as an adult, once they gain their Class. If I had trained Felix with this Skill, he would almost certainly have been able to select Axemanship at Bronze at level 11. Finally, it also lowers the cost of all of my active Skills and mana use by 20%.”

“And that reduction isn’t only applied to Skills?“ Skandr asked, turning his attention away from going back into his spell experimentation. “Instead, it applies to all of your mana use?”

“If it is related to my Class.” Muti nodded.

“And that’s at Bronze.“ Astrid mused. “I wonder if it’ll get up to 50% at Adamantium and Arcanite.”

Muti shrugged, though Astrid couldn’t see it. Instead, she felt it as the Barbarian’s shoulder bumped into the back of her head.

“Do you think you’re going to try to teach us how to sneak? Because if you do, even if we don’t get any Skills, it might help us whenever we’re working together with your aura Skill.” Felix squinted as he said it.

“Yes,” Muti pushed off of Astrid to loom over Felix. He met her gaze as she continued, “I will teach you. I will teach you all to be hunters.”

“I don’t know if we’ll have any time to do that in the next month,” Astrid said, “but the question that we really need to answer is if you had the choice to evolve. Did you? Or did it just happen?”

“I chose it.” Muti nodded. “Though, the discomfort was… intense. Having my Skills change while I was trying to use them hurt. Even though they continued to exist for me, they are now different, and my body is no longer how it used to be.”

“If you’re saying that something hurt,” Benedict groaned, “I really don’t want to experience it. I’m happy to leave learning that lesson up to you. I’m glad that I didn’t get the opportunity to do that in this last fight, cause I might’ve tried it.”

“How close are you to finishing, by the way?” Astrid asked. “I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to what the actual levels of the monsters were.”

“I’m at nine of ten. So, soon.”

“In the next fight, then.” Astrid agreed. “Felix, how about you? You making any good progress?”

“I’m also at nine, but out of twenty. Once you and I start focusing on finishing our own quests, we’ll make pretty good progress, I’m sure. After all, I was keeping track, and there were four lizardfolk that were at least level 15. In the fight to get to the next floor, we’ll be able to get Benedict to evolve.”

“And I’ll be able to better experiment with my spell, now that I know being successful won’t force me to evolve.” Skandr nodded. “I’m positive that Storm Administration is focused on actually controlling the Skills I use and spells that I create. Since the spell I need for my evolution is one that isn’t a single effect but instead something that’s lasting, I’ll be controlling what the Skill does, which is, to my understanding, what Storm Administration is for. That way, I can get experience to ideally evolve it to Iron once I evolve. If not, I’ll take a different Skill at Bronze and keep working on them all…” He trailed off.

“Maybe I’m just a dumb Warrior,“ Astrid said, “but I’m not sure what you’re saying. Can you give me more firm examples on what you’re meaning about Storm Administration?”

“Okay.” Skandr sighed. “My quest is to create a spell that isn’t just a lightning bolt, or a lightning curtain, or whatever. Instead, it requires that I create something that I continue to put mana into to keep it going. A potential spell that I’ve been thinking about for a while has been basically creating a lightning storm that I control. Instead of it being a single strong attack, I’ll be able to use the storm as the origin for a lightning javelin or a lightning curtain or even, I hope, my lightning enchantment that I put on my knife before. Basically, it’ll be a nexus for my power.”

Astrid nodded, impressed. “And Storm Administration is the control of your spells. Like how you’ve tried to control your Lightning Bolts in the air, or things like that?”

“Precisely.”

“Sweet. Let me know if there’s anything you need me to do, and unless you do, I’m gonna focus on passing my quest. However, there’s something I care way more about right now than even progressing on my quest.”

“And what’s that?” Skandr asked, a little incredulous. The rest of the party seemed to share his sentiment, but she turned to Muti and spread her hands out in demand.

“When are you going to show us your equipment?”

Astrid could see Muti’s eyes wide and under her helmet, and she fumbled with her helm’s strap under her chin before she dropped it to the ground beside her.

“Can’t you just equip everything right now?” Felix asked.

“No,” Muti replied, “I need to put everything on before it is considered my equipment.

The Barbarian didn’t need to ask for help as Astrid stepped forward and helped her to quickly strip off her armor. Before long, she was in just a tight pair of shorts and her breastwrap. Astrid had stopped before that, leaving her in the padded breeches and woolen shirt she wore under her armor, but Muti had stripped herself past that immediately thereafter. She’d evidently peeked at her armor and knew what was going to need to be replaced. Evidently, nothing besides her personal articles of ordinary clothing would remain.

“Do you want me to help you arm yourself or do you want to put it on without help?” Astrid asked.

“I can think of no greater honor than to have my bound companions assist me in the equipping of my new armor. Would you grant me the pleasure?”

She didn’t just ask Astrid when she said that, turning her head as she said it and looking at the three men as well. Benedict seemed a little surprised to see her acceptance, but he didn’t snark or anything. Instead, he nodded and stepped forward. Felix seemed a little uncomfortable with it, but Skandr elbowed the Bodyguard, and he stopped his quiet hesitation. With a severity and a tenderness that surprised even her, Astrid led the party in putting Muti’s armor on her.

First came a fitted leather shirt that cinched up in the back. It was obviously for additional padding and impact absorption, but as Astrid tied the knot behind Muti’s neck, she also noted how it pulled Muti’s breasts almost flat to her chest and out of the way. A matching pair of leather pants went on below, again tying almost skintight to keep from catching on anything. It was obvious that this was a pair of undergarments meant for battle, and also that they were intended for use by someone with an Equipment Skill that’d allow the wearer to only have to put them on manually a single time. Astrid hadn’t ever thought about that, but, obviously, with an Equipment Skill, armor could be made much more finely and difficult to remove because its wearer only really had to go through the trouble of assembling the armor once. After that, they could use their Skill to immediately doff or don it, or even to hand it over to another to work on it.

Over her chest went her chest piece, which wasn’t quite a breastplate and was made from a vaguely iridescent black scale hide. Each scale shimmered as it was moved, and, strangely, that shimmering seemed to take on the appearance of whatever was behind it. Evidently, this was an improved version of the armor that the party had bought in Purcell for Muti. Multiple segments of thick black leather covered Muti’s shoulders, elbows, and hands with more of the scaled hide covering the area between the extra protection. The knuckles of her fingerless gloves were studded with what Astrid was pretty sure was manasteel. On Muti’s legs went a pair of pants of the same material, the outsides of her hips and her knees with thicker padding to help her protect herself. A pair of boots that went up nearly to her knees were painstakingly tied and tightened on each foot, the leather such a deep brown that it was almost maroon.

The three capstones were her two swords and her helmet. The helmet was the same dark metal as her knuckles’ studs, with an interesting design that, instead of having a full mask, had a webbing of one–centimeter–thick bars crossing over her face. An arrow could potentially pass through, but that was unlikely given how Muti never held still on the battlefield. The design allowed her to be able to maintain a nearly uninterrupted field of vision while also protecting her face. Then, there were her swords, both in similar designs to her current ones. The short sword was, with only the exception to the materials it was made from, a twin to her existing one. A straight blade, edged on both sides, a little bit shorter than 1 meter long. Like the helmet, knuckles, and her other sword, it was made of manasteel. When Astrid handed it over to Muti, she could tell that the blade was heavier than regular steel, but nowhere near as dense as her hammer. Just another mystery of one of the crafting Classes, she supposed.

The messer sword’s replacement was more of a surprise. Instead of maintaining the slight curve, Astrid recognized this as a strange version of a seax knife. Both sides of the sword were straight, with the bladed edge reaching maybe 7 centimeters further than the blunt side, and the blade was nearly twice as heavy as its more “ordinary” companion. The seax was shorter than its companion, maybe 80 centimeters long, but, as she hefted its weight, Muti was obviously very happy to continue to have two weapons for different purposes. On one hand, she had her chopping sword and on the other, a thinner, lighter blade for stabbing and slicing.

As the party belted the straight blade on Muti’s left hip and the seax on her right, Muti spread her arms out and spun in a slow circle, showing it off to the companions.

“Intimidating,” Benedict smiled.

“Impressive,” Skandr agreed.

“Perfect,” Astrid nodded.

“Beautiful,” Felix breathed.

Everybody but Muti looked at Felix with a slightly confused look, and he blushed and shook his head. Muti, however, grinned and took him into a firm hug.

“You understand beauty. Now, we shall go to get you all your Classes’ evolutions! I will help you dress, and we will demonstrate our glory to the Trials and to the world!”

Muti, seeming to enjoy the ability to, took the moment to dismiss her armor and, with a faint flash, was standing in just her breast wrap and breeches. She was only that way for less than a second before she shook her head and re-equipped herself. “Much better. Now, we go to hunt lizards!”

Felix nodded stiffly and followed without saying anything, and the rest of the party followed. After all, the party all wanted to experience that as well, regardless of awkwardness. However, Astrid still had more questions, and stepped closer to Muti. After just a few steps, she asked, “What does all the equipment do? Obviously, it’ll protect you, but does it give any attributes? And how many?”

Instead of answering, Muti reached into her spatial pouch and pulled out a sheet of paper. Astrid took it and read.

Greater cave mongoose leather underwear: naturally absorbs bludgeoning strikes. Has been further enchanted to strengthen that. Paired equipment. As a pair, provides: +3 to Power, +5 to Alacrity, +5 to Fortitude, +2 to Self-Mastery, +2 to Acumen.

Pit adder scale armor: naturally shifts to suit the surrounding colors. Can be supplied with mana to better fade into the surroundings. Top provides: +10 to Power, +5 to Alacrity, +10 to Fortitude, +5 to Magical Potency, +5 to Self-Mastery, +10 to Acumen. Bottom provides: +5 to Power, +15 to Alacrity, +5 to Fortitude, +5 to Magical Potency, +5 to Self-Mastery, +5 to Acumen.

Shadow Stalker boots: enchanted to walk silently and move quickly. Mana can be provided to its enchantments to enhance the wearer’s leaping ability. Provides: +2 to Power, +10 to Alacrity, +2 to Fortitude, +2 to Magical Potency.

Ambusher’s helm: made of manasteel. Enchanted to allow sound to pass through the helm to maintain awareness. Provides: +2 to Power, +10 to Fortitude, +5 to Magical Potency, +5 to Self-Mastery, +5 to Acumen.

Manasteel shortsword: made of manasteel, enchanted to hold its edge and pierce through flesh more easily. Provides: +3 to Power, +5 to Alacrity, +2 to Fortitude, +3 to Magical Potency.

Manasteel seax: made a manasteel, heavily compressed and enchanted to hold its edge while chopping through defenses and bone. +8 to Power, +3 to Alacrity, +2 to Fortitude, +3 to Magical Potency.

Total bonuses provided: +32 to Power, +43 to Alacrity, +36 to Fortitude, +23 to Magical Potency, +17 Self-Mastery, +22 Acumen. Time to acquire mana burns for rare Iron Class while fully equipped: one hour. Inadvisable to wear the entire set until level 30 as an uncommon Iron.

“There’s no discomfort as you’re wearing all this?” Astrid asked, swallowing around the dryness in her throat. “Since you have a very rare Class?”

“I have been mana burned before. I do not think that I will have any issues with this equipment.” Muti answered. She didn’t provide any additional information regarding why she had experienced that, but Astrid didn’t ask. Instead, she just nodded slowly and gestured towards Felix to read over the sheet as she resettled Skandr into a more comfortable position on her back. The nervous movement did nothing for the growing need to evolve in her belly.

“Then I really really want to evolve myself. That’s what, like 150 attribute points as a bonus? Plus, it helps you hide better and everything is enchanted? That’s crazy!” Astrid almost shook with excitement as she realized exactly what it was. She considered looking through her own spatial storage to find her paper, but held herself back only barely. Even reading it would get her too excited to rest until she finally evolved, and she needed to be at peak performance for this entire month.

Mentioning that number aloud seemed to pull Skandr out out of his stupor, and he shook off of her back. As soon as he was free, he hustled over to Felix’s side, where he read over the Bodyguard’s shoulder.

“173 total,” the mage reported, whistling through his teeth. “Makes me want to look at my own sheet. But I can’t let myself get distracted, can I?” He shook his head, patted his cheeks, and clambered back onto Astrid‘s back.

Then, with Muti strutting even more, they continued on their path towards the final fight of floor seven. Unsurprisingly, Benedict was right behind Muti, ready to do what was necessary for him to evolve as well.