The small ball in front of them seemed to contain a liquid, held in a thin envelope. Only a mouth and a pair of eyes disturbed the surface. Remio asked the professor:
"Is it?...
- Yes, it is a Porime and you are going to confront it. With my advice of course! Wait, where did I put it?" he mumbled, searching his pockets for an unknown object. Here it is. Here, it is a document recapitulating all on what you need to know on this monster.
He handed him a new document scribbled with a vague representation of the creature. Remio once again fought off laughter as he scanned the information.
Name: Ordinary Porime
Life: 12/12
Attack: 8 (normal)
Armor: 100 (global)
Once he had read the sheet, he summarized it to check his good understanding:
"So, he has the same armor as me but his attack is much weaker since he attacks less hard and less fast. Especially that the difference of life point is incomparable... Am I right?"
"About, be careful, he has no notion of efficiency for the attack him on the other hand, so he will inflict you 8 of damages to every attack. But otherwise, unless you're a total failure, which you don't seem to be, you'll be fine. I'll be watching you, ready to intervene if necessary, and I'll tell you what needs to be corrected."
"Very well, in this case, I go there."
He approached the monster who looked at him with curiosity. He drew his knife. The creature froze, understanding the threat. It reacted by adopting an aggressive behavior, rushing at Remio. The latter, who hesitated to attack the cute little ball, decided to fight.
He sliced right in front of him, while the Porime continued its way, hitting him and knocking him down. He let out a cry under the pain, nothing insurmountable but his brutality surprised him.
Remio knew exactly how much the impact had cost him in life. Not that a number floated before his eyes or a voice announced this loss, he knew it as simply as he knew his first name. So, he had only 44 points of life left.
He did the calculations in his head to find the same result. He also took the opportunity to estimate the damage suffered by his opponent at 5, so it only had 7 life points.
He smiled. The combination of the physical stress and the necessary intellectual work stimulated him. For the first time in his life, he concentrated entirely on one task without thinking about anything else.
He stood up and came face to face with the creature. This time he chose to take the initiative and charged at his opponent, his blade straight ahead, both hands on the handle. The Porime reacted in an unexpected way by taking a short leap to the side.
Remio missed his target and stopped one meter behind it. Without him being able to turn around, the creature attacked again, taking away another 6 points of life.
Wounded in his pride, he concentrated on his opponent's attitude to find a possible flaw. He noticed that when it stayed on the spot, it produced short jumps, leaving it vulnerable for a few tenths of a second.
He impressed the movement with his foot and when he judged the right moment, he rushed on the Porime. This one reacted but too late, undergoing the attack without the possibility of a retort.
Only 2 points of life left, Remio counted, satisfied with his action. Without waiting for the creature to recover from his previous attack, he waved his blade once again, piercing his opponent one last time.
The Porime burst like a balloon filled with water. The only trace of its existence besides the wet ground was a light crystal shard that Remio took hold of with curiosity.
When the fight was over, the professor, who had not lost a bit, arrived at his side. The latter exclaimed:
" Well done man, you've done well. Well, there's a lot of work to do, but you did well for your first time."
"Thank you," murmured Remio, unaccustomed to receiving compliments.
"First of all, you understood their weakness, which is a good start, and then you exploited it. That's really the basis of Yocus combat, observation. When you face a new monster, you have to detect its strengths and weaknesses. Oh, and one last thing, your second attack... Don't ever do that again, it's suicidal. You have the right to miss an attack, but you mustn't let your opponent take advantage of it without risk, as happened."
"Understood, I will be careful next time..."
"Don't be depressed, I've seen much worse if that makes you feel better. After a few fights against these creatures, you'll get the hang of it and you'll just make mincemeat of them. Well, did you get what the creature dropped?"
"The crystal? Yes," he said, holding up the crystal.
"Good. Every monster in Yocus has a core, and this is Porime's core. It's really essential to your progress for two reasons. Firstly, it is part of the process of making items like your armor or your weapon. Secondly, it allows you to go up a grade and therefore to improve yourself."
This last sentence attracted Remio's attention:
"How?"
"Haha, a little patience, I'm coming. Follow me, we'll go back to the city I'm showing you."
They left the field and walked to the city to the rhythm of the teacher's explanations. He partly dampened Remio's enthusiasm by pointing out that the gain in power was very gradual, especially since if he died, which happened quite often, he would have to start all over again.
Thus, the importance more than pure strength, he had to concentrate on what he would always keep: knowledge.
Back to the city of departure, he guided him to a building with an ambiguous shape: a temple. The rich ornaments on the façade and the flow of the crowd attested to its importance. They stood at the end of a line that moved at a steady pace, much to Remio's relief.
In barely ten minutes of waiting, they arrived at the interior, which was also richly decorated with statutes representing mythological figures.
A smell of incense perfumed the room while candles lit up the temple. Far from the icy silence of the churches, the noise of the discussions continued even in its enclosure.
A man in a robe pointed them in a direction that caused Remio to be confused. The teacher signaled to the priest that they were together and joined him to explain the situation:
"As you can see, because of the crowds, there is a priest in charge of crowd control. He directed us to that altar over there. For now, do as I say, I'll explain later, otherwise we'll cause a traffic jam."
Remio nodded and followed the professor to the designated area. There, the professor told him to put the core of the Porime on the altar and to put his hands on the place marked by a symbol. Immediately, a light illuminated the crystal causing it to dissolve.
The phenomenon lasted until it disappeared completely. At that moment, the professor walked away, taking Remio with him.
Outside, they finally talked about what had happened:
"What was the point of all this?"
"You were able to gain a grade just like that! If we go back to our starting point you can check, but I think you already know that, don't you?"
Indeed, just as his hit points had increased, he knew that his rank had increased. When he concentrated, he felt that he had recovered all his life points and even that they had increased by 5. When he checked with the teacher, the latter smiled:
"Indeed, all the novice grades increase the total life points by 5."
Remio laughed yellow, disappointed by the result, which was below his expectations.
"How do we know what each grade brings?"
"I'm sorry I didn't bring a checklist... But you should have one on the altar."
He held back his irritation. He could have informed her earlier anyway... Anyway, it doesn't change anything to her situation. The professor added:
"If you ever find yourself with items you don't need, you can put them in a box in the departure building. The academy will take possession of them, which will give you points for the classification."
"What ranking?" Remio asked, worried by this word.
"There is a ranking that allows you to obtain certain advantages in the academy and to compare yourself with the others. It has almost no impact on your marks, if that makes you feel better. Think of it more as a tool to motivate the students in a playful way," the teacher said with a big smile.
"I see," nodded Remio, cautious about the reality of these explanations.
"Well, if all is well, I'll let you get your hands on some Porimes. Let's say there are two hours left, and at the end of them you have to reach grade 5. That will require nine cores in total. If you can do that, I'll consider that you've given them to me, so you'll make up for some of the time you're behind the others in your score. What do you say?"
With a gleam of determination in his eyes, Remio accepted the challenge and hurried back to the Porimes field.