[Requirements Met: New class ability unlocked]
[Combat Awareness] [Level 1]
[Hasten Rank up] [Level 1 > 2]
Sael was surprised and excited nonetheless. Not only had he unlocked a new skill, hasten one of his most powerful skills ranked up. Of course he only really had two active skills but still between Thrust and Hasten he felt the latter was the more powerful.
Quickly he opened up his Hasten to read the changes.
You have reached a milestone of physical ability and acquired the mental capacity to utilize it to its fullest for a short period. Able to temporarily push your body and senses to their peak for a short time.
100% increase in speed and mental acuity for 1 minutes. 24 hour cooldown.
Reading the skill he was torn, the percentage of increase had doubled but the duration had halved as well. He wasn't sure it was that much of an increase. Thinking on it a bit more he thought maybe it was better than his initial impression was. As his attributes had increased he noticed that the gains weren't linier but more exponential. Doubling say his strength didn't just make him twice as strong but many times stronger. So, since the skill must have required thirty points to rank up he was already considerably faster than he was when he got Hasten at twenty stats. The additional increase on top of that might not last as long but if he really was to increase his speed by that much it should be impressive.
Opening the Combat Awareness skill he read:
Your mental acuity has reached a level in which you can process sensory information even in the most intense of situations at the cost of mana.
Total awareness range ten feet. Mana drains five per minute.
Glancing up at his mana bar he saw he now had nine hundred mana which meant even if his mana couldn't regenerate during use that was up to three straight hours of combat awareness. He wasn't sure what exactly it did but if he were to guess it was like when he focused his senses out. If he was able to achieve that level of awareness during a fight he wouldn't have to worry about being attacked from behind or any other blind spot for that matter.
Laying in bed he swore first thing in the morning he was going to go test out his new abilities. But after laying there for what seemed like hours he slipped out of bed slowly unable to wait any longer. Silver's head popped up from Ara bunk and Sael placed his finger over his mouth. After a moment the pup hopped out of the bed and followed after him, shrugging Sael just left the barracks with his companion in tow.
Once out back he knelt down next to Silver. "Ok girl how about helping me test something out." The pup tilted her head one way then the other before giving a soft yip. "Good girl. So I want you to pounce on me. But don't just run straight at me. Try and ambush me! Do you understand." Again the pup just watched him before yipping again. Silver was smart but he wasn't sure if she was smart enough to go along with his plan. He figured there was only one way to find out. Backing up he closed his eyes and spun around a few times before activating the skill.
Despite his eyes being closed it was just like when he focused his senses out. He didn't see the area around him and yet even with his eyes closed he was certain he saw the area around him better than when he had them open. In his new vision he saw Silver creeping around him before lowering herself down and wiggling her rump before leaping at him. Eyes still closed he sidestepped the lunge and the surprised pup tumbled into the dirt. Getting back up she shook herself out then tried again.
After the fifth or sixth attempt Silver sat back on her haunches and whimpered out a whine that sounded a lot like a pout. Grinning he opened his eyes and knelt down to pat her. "Ahh don't feel bad. You helped me out a lot! Who's a good girl! Who's a good girl!" he rubbed behind her ears and scratched under her chin making her purr like a cat. Chuckling at the spectacle of the six legged puppy purring he scoops her up and carries her back into the barracks.
Gently he placed her in the bunk besides Ara and looked the tiny fairy over. She still looked pale and even in sleep her eyes had deep bags under them. Feeling another pang of guilt and figuring it wouldn't hurt with her asleep he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Forgetting he still had his combat awareness active he sensed movement and glanced over to see Nee watching him. He banged his head against the top bunk as he tried to straighten up in embarrassment waking up Ara. When she saw him standing next to her bed she just held out her arms and wiggled her fingers in a come hither manner. Cursing himself he quickly retreated to his own bunk to the humph of Ara's disappointment. He was most of the way asleep when his eyes shot open. "Damn it I still need a present!"
**********
Things settled into a new routine slowly. Ara and Nee seemed to get along though the atmosphere was always tense. Sael wasn't sure if it was a Winter vs Summer thing or the weird love triangle and he was too cowardly to ask. Beth avoided him using the excuse of still working on the new prototype armor and since he still hadn't found any sort of gift never pushed things. Instead he spent his days practicing his combat awareness and after discovering intelligence went up as he recovered lost mana started trying to calculate its ratio of gains. He hoped he could put a similar calculation to his vitality and perhaps even his other attributes gains.
As the days passed he started visiting Gregory trying to get more information about the Adventurer's Ball and how best to go about maximizing his profit from betting on himself. During their many visits he learned little useful information. Gregory only knew a few prominent competitor's names but not many details and his sage ability didn't seem to help much either other than giving him the names of a few of the competitors but no real information on them. On top of that Gregory kept trying to force him to take the rest of the guide to fairy seduction series. Sael reminded himself he only took them to humor Gregory every time he left with a new volume in his inventory.
Over all time passed rather quietly as Sael had no quest to work on and was already at the highest level he wanted to be for when the Adventurer's Ball happened. So he spent most of his time trying to train Silver and conversing with Nee. Just as on their trip over Nee proved to be an excellent companion and soon enough Silver took a liking to the Winter Fairy. This only seemed to raise the tensions between the two fairies and Ara still looked sleep deprived even as the days turned into weeks.
Still, he didn't simply sit around waiting for the adventurer's ball to roll around. He often went out and found Antger to try and grind various skills against. He still wasn't able to get any of his skills to go beyond nine but he managed to get most of them to that level. He also allowed Combat Awareness to run constantly until his mana drained then once fully reactivated it hoping to level both the skill and his intelligence at the same time.
Along that same train of thought he would often strip his armor and allow a pack of Antger to attack him freely. Not only was he hoping to level up his vitality by exploiting Summer's Vitality but he received an additional surprise when he gained Pain resistance as well. Unfortunately he wasn't able to locate any sources of strong poison. Plus, the one time he mentioned to the others the idea of setting himself on fire to try and gain fire resistance their horrified looks had guilted him into passing on the idea, for now.
Eventually the day they were to embark to Amalor for the ball was nearly upon them. Ara and Nee insisted they were coming. When asked Beth seemed to think it was stupid to even think she wasn't coming. She also assured him his new armor would be ready in time for their departure. So he was more than a little excited when she called him over the day before they were to leave.
"Ok, So first sorry it took so long. Second, Sorry I wasted most of the materials you gave me." She was standing behind the counter of the shop portion of her workshop.
Sael was nodding pleasantly, already telling her not to worry when she stated the second part. "Wait, what? Don't tell me you weren't able to make anything!" At her flustered look Sael bit his tongue reminding himself that his greed often overloaded his mouth.
"I said most. I did make something but it's not a full set like you wanted." Sael nodded, doing his best to look understanding. "Or a new chest pieces…." Sael nodded again stiffly, choking down his complaints.
"So…. what did you make." He asked while thinking. 'If she hands me a single bracer from that giant pelt I'ma lose my mind!'
"Ugh, Just let me show you." She reached down below the counter to get her prototype.