Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 145: Training Grounds

As Isaac headed towards the training ground, the first thing that jumped out at him was the field of energy that permeated the whole thing.

Without [Hunter’s Gaze], he might only have seen a fain bluish shimmer, but with its ability to read active [Skills], both the field and its purpose became clear as day.

It was a variation of [Training Isn’t Meant to Kill You] or something along those lines, something to ensure that the trainees waving around weapons with superhuman strength and using magical powers didn’t accidentally reduce each other to paste or total the training grounds on a daily basis.

It wasn’t something Isaac had access to despite [Hildebrand’s Heir] being a trainer [Class], but that made sense. As an [Heir] [Class], it was meant to facilitate its bearer stepping into the footsteps of their historical ‘forefathers’.

With someone like Hildebrand, that meant everything from training, travel to distant lands, politics, leading men into battle, and yes, fighting. Therefore, the [Skills] Isaac got were all over the place, not going nearly as deep into the training or fighting [Skill] tree as a more focused [Class] did, but that was actually fine. Sure, spreading oneself that thin on one’s final [Class] could lead to trouble, but Isaac still had a few Evolutions more to go. By grabbing a diverse set of [Skills] now, he could be assured that he had some for most situations, then focus again during later Evolutions.

So no, Isaac didn’t have a fancy [Skill] to make sure no one got hurt during training, nor could he get one, but then again, he didn’t need one because others could provide it. Things looked like they’d be going great … until Isaac stepped into the training field and the whole thing shrieked in protest, blue energy wrapping around both him and his sword, trying to slow him down.

Isaac sighed. He was pretty sure he already knew what was wrong, but he was going to test that out nonetheless. As he continued to push into and through the field, he reached down to his sword and hooked his middle and index fingers under the cross guard and drew it a couple on centimeters from its sheath.

Promptly, the energy field redoubled its efforts, focusing on the tiny portion of exposed blade to such a degree that even a standard human would have been able to see the light.

In essence, Isaac was so powerful that anything he did counted as dangerous, and Balmung’s very presence was considered a deadly threat, prompting a massive response. However, by the same metric, he was well beyond what the field could hope to stop, so he could just push through it, only somewhat inconvenienced. Hell, if he started swinging around his weapons, the training field might actually end up breaking.

“Ah, I’m so sorry Mr. Thoma, but I’m afraid the filed might not be up to handling you. We’ve had a similar problem with Arthur, er, Mr. Wells in the past. I’m afraid this simply will not work here, however, we can always relocate to the field outside. It will lack many of the amenities and protections we enjoy here, sadly, but it will be workable. Once again, I’m really very sorry, but …”

Isaac held up a hand to stop the flow of apologies.

“It’s not your fault. But before we relocate, there’s something I’d like to try. Please step back for a moment, would you?”

The trainer stepped back so quickly that an even slightly less capable man would have ended up on his ass, but there was a reason this guy was training others, he was a pro.

With the field now relatively clear, Isaac fully drew Balmung, and the field reacted. Blue light coalesced around the blade, bright enough that some people were forced to avert their eyes, and a high-pitched whine began to sound out, growing louder whenever he moved the weapon.

… everybody took a few more steps back at that display.

He might not have the training field [Skill], but he did have a training [Skill]. [Legacy of a True Warrior]. And he might be able to interface the two. There were [Skills] that were meant to work together like that, ones that allowed a high level fighter to interface with protective energies like that, empowering it with their own mana pool to make sure it could handle them.

[Legacy of a True Warrior] was meant to train people, and the training field was meant to be used for that purpose. If he was able to make those work together …

Tuning out the rest of the world, Isaac focused inwards, concentrating on his mana pool. Manually using it was pretty useless for a melee fighter like him, mostly being used by [Mages]. It was marginally useful activate some artefacts and the like, but only required a very slight amount of training. However, Isaac had learned the technique to a vastly higher degree before that was discovered, and never gotten any use out of it until now.

Normally, activating [Skills] was a matter of merely thinking about using them, as easy and instinctual as moving one’s little finger.

But it was possible to manually move mana into the [Skill’s] impression in one’s spiritual body and activate it the hard way. Within that spiritual form, every [Skill] was recorded, ready to be fed mana and used, sitting in a sea of mana, waiting to be used, either the traditional, or the manual way.

In essence, manual activation was akin a pre-[System] human lugging a 20 liter water drum up onto the top floor of an apartment building, then removing one’s tap from the wall and pouring the water into the back of the tap to get water out of it instead of, well, just leaving the damn thing in the wall and turning it on.

Incomparably more work for the exact same result. Normally, that was.

Here, though, there was something else involved. Isaac focused on both [Legacy of a True Warrior], feeding mana into the [Skill] that normally didn’t use any, all the while bringing mana into Balmung’s blade, touching the energy that was attempting to render his weapon safe. Normally, there was very little he could do with that, he had no ability to properly use raw mana, not for combat purposes, not for any others.

However, he was connecting similar [Skills], once that should have been fully working together, and along that bridge of energy, they began to resonate. Work together. Connect in ways they probably should have been able to but hadn’t.

Suddenly, mana began to slowly leak from Isaac while the pressure of the training field slackened off. In essence, the field was directly working with him, knowing he didn’t mean to attack and therefore wasn’t in a constant state of anticipating him making a cataclysmic move while also using his power to support itself when necessary.

“Ok, gimme another second.” Isaac announced and exploded into motion. He whirled through a kata at an insane speed, and anyone who decided to get too close would have been in serious danger if it hadn’t been for the training field. The energy was still there, but it was no longer actively fighting him, instead flowing along with him, ready to save anyone who might be hurt by him.

To finish off the whole affair, Isaac leaped into the air, then let himself fall back to the Earth like a meteor, slamming a [Legendary Blow] with a full five [Power Strikes] within into the dirt.

Instead of the explosion of dirt and dust that would have normally resulted from such an attack, however, there was only a brief flare of energy as the attack was prevented from wrecking the place. A brief glance at his mana pool, however, revealed that that stunt had been absurdly expensive. He was now down to less than two hundred points, having both used his strongest non-cooldown attack and had to pay to absorb all the damage it did.

But it worked, that was what mattered. Also, [Legacy of a True Warrior] had jumped up another two Levels, all the way to Level ten.

Legacy of a True Warrior (legendary, Level X)

Once upon a time, there was a man. A warrior, teacher to a legendary king, and his companion in all his adventures. And now, you hold that man’s legacy. His knowledge, his skills, his experience in combat both figurative and literal.

But even though Hildebrand’s personal achievements are hardly small, they pale in comparison to what his student achieved. As such, the core of this inheritance is all about training others.

Anyone you train will pick up all lessons at a vastly accelerated pace, a pace that will increase even further if the training is related to knightly endeavors, such as horse riding, medieval politics, or combat with traditional weapons (sword/axe/bow/spear).

But that is only the beginning of what you are now capable of. You may now impart the following Skills onto your students (these are weaker versions of your Class Skills, they can only be taught if you have the Skill yourself):

-Knightly Discipline (downgrade from Knightly Leader, enhances group coordination)

-Epic Blow (downgraded from Legendary Blow, allows the stacking of multiple identical Strike/Shot/Blows)

-Phantom Armor (downgrade from Fully Geared, allows for the storage of a single set of armor in an extradimensional space)

-Veteran’s Teachings (downgrade from Expert’s Knowledge, grants overall knowledge and the occasional flash of insight)

You may only teach 5 Skills per week, the number increases by one per Level in Legacy of a True Warrior.

Skills taught this week 0/15

However, there is one more way the Heir of Master Hildebrand can teach people. After reaching Level 10 in this Skill, the Heir may teach groups of up to five people at a time. This will only grant a rare Skill, rather than an epic one, but only use up a single timeslot.

Using a few hours of one-on-one training and 80% of a slot, the Skill can be upgraded to its full power.

In addition, this Skill allows the Heir to seamlessly interface with training Skills used by coworkers.

It still read the same as before, except for the last two paragraphs, those were new. Firstly, it would now let him teach small groups at the once. Sure, the efficiency might be lower, but it would help a lot in situations where he didn’t have enough slots for everyone.

The salient line, however, was the one that told him he could now seamlessly interface with any and all training [Skills] he encountered, no arduous five-minute long mana wrangling necessary.

“What … what just happened?” the man who’d greeted Isaac earlier stammered “My [Safe Training] [Skill] suddenly levelled up, and it’s working on you?”

“I interfaced it with my training [Skill] and it’s now drawing from my mana pool to protect you from me.” Isaac said, explaining everything and nothing.

“… huh?”

Not bursting out laughing at the puzzled and confused faces that gazed out at him was a struggle, but Isaac managed as he explained what he’d done, stressing that manually using mana was no game breaking ability or exploit. It couldn’t hurt anything by itself without a [Class] to support it, like Professor Kim’s [Mana Weaver], and could generally not even be projected outside the body. The only the reason Isaac had been able to use Balmung as a focus was that it was soulbound, and therefore a part of his body.

He didn’t doubt that at least a third of the people present would still try it out, but it was their time to waste. Fine tuning [Skills] like that was pretty much impossible without a very fortuitous set of circumstances.

Eventually, though, it was time to start the actual training.

“Alright everyone, grab a heater shield and an arming sword, then line up.” Isaac ordered, resulting in a disordered mess of people pushing and getting in each others’ way, a mess that would have driven anyone inclined towards order to madness.

But after five minutes of barking orders, fully drawing on Hildebrand’s experience, Isaac’s students were in a proper formation and prepared to be drilled in the art of medieval and [System] large scale tactics.

Things were starting to look up, and they were getting into formation properly faster and faster … and then it all fell apart again.

“Hey, I got a [Skill]!”

It was an odd occurrence, given that Isaac hadn’t actually started giving out [Sills] yet.

“What’s it called?” he asked.

“[Medieval Training]!” the excited man announced, opening the [System] window for all to see.

It was a basic [General Skill] that granted a learning boost to all [Skills] related to the stuff it was about, like medieval weapons training and yes, tactics. Isaac had had a hunch that something like this might happen, but he hadn’t quite been certain he’d manage to impart it. After all, this was the first time he’d taught people everything he knew. When teaching his colleagues, he’d mainly been focusing on imparting his [Skills], not general medieval-style training.

“All right, great job everyone.” Isaac clapped his hands, followed by several cheers “That means we can now go at it twice as hard.”

***

Congratulations, Hildebrand’s Heir, for granting the world another great warrior!

Under and thanks to your support and tutelage, Steff Cooke has claimed the Class of “Exemplar Knight”.

For crafting one of your students into a person of truly exemplary capabilities, you have gained 7,500 XP!

And then, he’d finally started pushing people over the Evolution thresholds. In the process, he’d also figured out the XP gain for training people worked. Basically, he’d get the amount of XP the student in question had used to hit the Level required for Evolution if said student gained a legendary [Class], half that for an epic [Class] and a quarter for a rare one. As for uncommon and common, they didn’t actually know due to the simple fact that none of his students had gotten [Classes] ranked so low.

In fact, Steff Cooke was the 7th student who’d evolved, finally giving him the XP to level up and gain the fifth [Skill] point needed to buy another [Skill]. The choice as to what to get was obvious, this time around.

Knightly Leader (legendary)

Many a tale has been told of a heroic knight, of the dragonslayer, the rightful king who returns from exile to bring peace and prosperity to his home. All of these tales focus on a single individual, the knight, yet that knight is never alone. He has pages, squires, comrades in arm and occasionally, a mentor that’s along for the ride.

This Skill is an essential component of leading a group of your fellows into combat.

Firstly, it allows for the creation of an official, System acknowledged party with all the advantages that entails (knowledge of each other’s health states, locating allies, XP sharing).

Secondly, it allows the user to draw upon all the experience about leading men that Master Hildebrand gathered over the course of his life, and apply it to the situation at hand. (this information has been updated to include the System, Classes and Skills)

Thirdly, any commands given by the user will be able to override irrational panic if necessary.

Finally, the user can remotely talk to party members up to five hundred meters away, with the distance increasing another one hundred meters per Level in this Skill.

Cost: 100 mana to establish, 300 mana per day to sustain

Basically, it was a solid leadership [Skill] for communication that also came with a massive knowledge boost when it came to applying Hildebrand’s knowledge to the situation at hand.

Not to mention that it let him override irrational panic, but only irrational panic. It wouldn’t force people to keep fighting when they knew they were about to die, but it would massively reduce the problems that came with leading inexperienced troops, the exact kinds of people he was teaching at the moment. Perhaps now it was time to send some of them against one of the [Knights] who’d already been at the third Evolution for a while? Maybe.

And at the end of the day, it was simply a fantastic [Skill], one with a myriad of applications, useful whenever he was working with others.

“Alright everyone, time to try something new.” Isaac called out, seeing his students go white at the suggestion.

“Now, let’s …”

Isaac’s next order was interrupted by his phone ringing. He’d set it to only let through certain important numbers and people knew not to call him unless he was needed right that instant, so this was bound to be a call he should answer.

“Sorry about that, please give me a second.”

“Isaac, someone attacked our offices.” Bailey said grimly, sounding more rattled than Isaac had ever heard him “Get back here as soon as possible.”