Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lucan’s foot twisted into the dirt as he landed after a side leap. He rebalanced himself and hopped back into the center of his imagined star.

The difficulty of this imaginary skill was mainly in the instructed necessity of doing side and back leaps without turning, making them nearly instant.

Lucan had been doing this for a long time, however, and he’d begun to adapt to the athletic commitment needed. The book said that one had to leap to each point of the star once and return to the middle of the star as many times as they wished. So Lucan took to hopping between the points and the middle, and sometimes leaping between the points themselves directly.

After another round of hopping within the star, an amused voice spoke up behind him. “If you’re suffering from so much boredom that you’d make a fool of yourself, let me keep you company.”

Lucan let out a long-suffering sigh and turned around. “Winton,” he said. “What is it you want?”

Standing there, Winton leaned with his forearm on his sheathed sword. “You have received your Blessing, yes?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “And you seem to be keen on training your...flexibility,” he said, sorting a laugh. “Why don’t we test that training? A friendly spar.”

“A spar?” Lucan asked, incredulous.

“Yes, your father is supposed to be a great warrior. Let’s see if you’ve taken to his craft.”

Lucan winced. If his cousin was looking for the weakest spot to prod him, that was it, at least at the moment. Lucan wasn’t at all confident in his fighting skills. “I’m not certain it would be wise–”

“Nonsense!” Winton waved his worries away with a confident smile, untying his sheathe from his belt. “Come, it will be a friendly one.”

Lucan sighed, wondering if he could avoid the fight without sounding too frightened. Then he thought better of it. Winton already thought so little of their family and of him. To give him more arrows to loose at him would be foolish. So he decided to head for the training weapons rack.

“Where are you going?” Winton asked.

“I will bring the training weapons.”

Winton chuckled, loudly. “Fear not, I will not hurt you, little cousin. It will be a fight to subdual. Bring your real sword.”

Lucan stopped. “That would be dangerous,” he said, trying to ignore the ridicule in the title he was given.

Lucan gaped at the announcement. It was real. He hadn’t been duped. His father had been wrong. The book was authentic. The hand on his sword slackened as he consolidated the Skill and brought up his Elder Power.

Race: Human

Level: 1

Vital Orbs: 1

Mind and Body

Physique: Copper II 0/3

Spirit: Basic 0/1

Skills (1) 0/100

(Passive) Swordsmanship lv19: Apprentice

(Hybrid) 7-Point Star Dance lv1: Novice (0/1)

Lucan scrutinized his new skill. It was a Hybrid. They weren’t common but they weren’t extremely rare either. Some well-known skills like Analyze and Appraise were Hybrids. Lucan assumed that Lord Zesh had Analyze, as he had easily spotted Lucan’s Blessing upon arrival.

As far as Lucan knew, a Hybrid skill was a Passive skill that came with the advantages and drawbacks of an Active one. The advantage being the ability to improve their level with Vital Orbs. And the drawback being the limited amounts of uses per day based upon the level of the skill.

By virtue of earning the skill, Lucan knew how it worked, though he’d had an idea from the book anyway. One use of the skill would form an invisible star on the ground around him. He would be able to move incredibly quickly to each point of the star a single time. And he could return to the middle repeatedly as long as the skill was still working.

Lucan grinned. He’d learned a skill all on his own, most likely a special and rarely heard-of skill. Today might be a good day after all.

As if woken up by his own nagging mind, Lucan came to himself, removing the manifestation of his Elder Blessing to look across from himself at Winton. To his surprise, he didn’t see his second cousin, but saw Thomas’s back instead. The old steward was standing between them.

It appeared that he had been observing the fight and had interfered to give Lucan time to peruse his Blessing.