Chapter One-Hundred Fifty-Five

Chapter One-Hundred Fifty-Five

Berdol and the electric dire rat square off for a few moments, each measuring the other up. Im pretty confident the catkin will win without too much trouble, but I still pay attention to see if I can learn anything about how he fights and how his affinity works.

The rat isnt going to just give him the victory, though, and charges and releases a strong bolt of lightning! As soon as it starts to move, Berdol swiftly changes the position of his floating blades.

Chain Link! The lightning flies and catches the tip of one floating blade, flows down and arcs to the second, before arcing to the ground. The lightning makes a bit of a messy circle, but its still more than enough to ensure the energy cant reach him. Hes already moving before the lightshow is even finished, and gives the rat two slashes with the blades he holds, before following up with two slashes from the still-hot floating ones.

Flashing Steel!

After a barrage like that, the rat can only slump, defeated, and Berdol checks to see if theres anything hed like before he sheathes his blades. He looks around for a few moments before spotting Nova some distance away, watching him and waiting for him to follow her.

As he does, I consider how he handled the electricity. While I didnt exactly have any fancy tools to measure the magnetic fields, my gut says his metal affinity isnt magnetic or if it is, he cant use it to influence the electricity. If he could, he probably would have only needed one blade to direct the current. Instead, it looked to me like he simply gave the lightning a better path of least resistance to ground out.

I watch him fight a few other of my denizens, and I get the feeling hes just an experienced fighter, rather than someone who knows how electricity and magnetism work together. His whole style is about flowing motions and subtle setups. Its not much of a stretch to assume hes dealt with a few lightning attacks before and knows it likes metal better than just about anything.

Nova also watches him fight, and the bond is practically glowing with inspiration as she sees how he wields his affinity. Even a widow is no match for him, though he does treat the fight with care. He even pulls out two more blades to dance with, and I have trouble keeping track of all of them. So does the widow, who finds her webs sheared through before she can use them, and herself constantly harassed by flickering whispers of sharpness.

She manages to land a solid kick with two legs, sending him back and his held weapons flying. As she lunges forward, I almost tell her to stand down before Berdol smiles.

Irising End!

All six blades swoop in on separate arcs, like a brutal mix of a camera lens and a guillotine, and the widow falls with two thuds. Berdol exhales as he stands and wipes his blades clean. Hard to keep all those eyes looking where I want he mutters to himself. He considers the corpse for a few moments before continuing on. I dont know if he has any of the whatsit skill. What Fredies still picking up. Butchery? Field dressing! Yeah, I dont think he has that. I bet he knows how to mine, itd probably be a cakewalk for him with his affinity.

Onyx is nodding and already practicing the motion, not noticing as the catkin steps back a few paces and draws both his daggers once more.

Alright, lets do a spar. Make sure you pay attention to how I move. Daggers are a bit different from gauntlets, but you can probably fill in the gaps on your own. Ready?

The gremlin scion nods and takes her low stance, and Berdol smiles at his swift learner as he takes his own. From the start, I can see him holding back, moving much slower than against the widow. He scores several shallow cuts on Onyxs arm as he slips through her guard, teaching her where to tighten it up with the pain of experience.

While the transfer is a lot more muted than with my own scions, I can feel her having fun even with the pain, and Violet is having some conflicting emotions about it, too. Shes happy for her scion, though not very happy to see her hurt. As she slows from the wounds, Berdol speaks up once more.

I think thats enough practice for now. I hope we can practice some more later. One quick stab and Onyx dissipates like smoke in the wind. Violet is conflicted about that, too, but I think the countdown timer for Onyxs respawn helps ease her concern. Yeah, it was weird for me the first time Tiny ate it. Onyx will be fine. In fact, shell probably be itching to do it again, heh.

Teaching done, Nova leads the catkin to the lava tubes. He looks around in surprise as they get there. Huh, you really can tell when an area is a work in progress with him, cant you? It just feels like theres more to be done in here. Niches he hasnt filled yet.

Nova nods at that, then kinda awkwardly sits there, uncertain what to do next. Bardol looks a bit confused for a few seconds as well, before smiling in realization. Ah, right. Were here. Well can you show me around? The Seaside Forge thinks theres new metals to be had here.

Nova is uncertain if she should, or if shes even allowed to, so I pat the bond with some reassurances. Delvers are technically why I made the nodes, so theres no problem with her guiding him to at least a few of them, if she doesnt mind.

It seems she doesnt mind at all, and she eagerly shows him around. The crucible ants get an odd look from him, as do their nests. His interest is definitely piqued when he sees the special nodes. He uses his affinity to get a good chunk each of mythril and orichalcum ores to bring back, and I get a good chunk of mana from him finishing his quest.

Looks like his hunch was right. Youre going to be up to your ears in miners, he says with a chuckle, and laughs as Nova tilts her head in confusion. Or whatever you use to hear with, hah! Ill probably be down here more, too, once Hrunter explains the kind of things he can make with this stuff.

His quest complete, he bids her goodbye and makes his way back to the surface. Nova, rather than follow, decides to practice her own affinity. She makes a nice mess of the tunnel as she lobs bits of magma around, and Im looking forward to seeing what she can manage. I dont know if what Berdol was doing would be more or less dangerous with magma instead of steel, but I wouldnt want to be the target either way.