Grendeeny and I discussed into the evening...
I hadn't noticed how much time elapsed...
Time flies when you have fun...
Currently, we were having tea at Grendeenyʼs favorite spot in the social affairs yard.
A belvedere, of a roofed, detached porch-like structure.
We had to make fresh cups of tea since the previous set was a touch lukewarm, not as ideal as when it's hot.
"So, I've been meaning to ask, did you want to be part of the organizational stuff for the Sword Mage Tournament?" she must've hard news about me being involved, most likely from Luciana.
"Yeah, I saw it as a way to offer support to Rose my class representative." I responded just before taking a mouthful of tea, seeing as it helped increase magical energy Grendeeny believed it would be of some help to me. Sweet, she cared.
"Well it does sound like Rose is the big favorite to win the rookie bracket this year.. Why wouldn't she be, she's the daughter of the great House Lunette after all."
A question came to mind after hearing Grendeenyʼs thoughts on how Rosemarie would progress. It reminded me of something.
Alaric once told me that the three powerful houses were Lunette, Steiner and Zelgrydn respectively, and I'd already seen Rose and Grendeeny from the first two houses but none from the last. I decided to convey my thoughts to her.
"Since you mentioned it, is there even anybody from the Zelgrydn house at this academy? I hardly ever hear anything about them."
As a popular family I should've heard one or two things about someone attending the school who descends from that lineage. But not once had I come across it.
"That's because the Zelgrydn family attend the as Verox academy and their eldest daughter is the same age as us... Between you and me, she's a strong contender this year so Rose had better have a trick or two up her sleeve..."
I could tell there was a tradition for the children of the three strongest noble houses and it had to deal with their eldest child taking part in crowd-attracting tournaments.
Maybe it was a way for noble families to ascertain superiority among their class.
"Wait, does that mean you participated in the tournament last year?" I inquired. Then back to my tea I took another enjoyable sip. Grendeeny stopped taking her tea after she heard my question, she then told me.
"Participate? I won it silly."
I was surprised, I had absolutely no idea that she was that strong. I mean she absolutely didn't look it for the most part.
I stared at her a bit surprised although I shouldn't be, after all she was a year above me in class so definitely she's picked up a lot of experience. If she won the rookie bracket last year that ultimately meant she was the best student in her class during the first year. And maybe even currently.
I decided to ask on tips that would help, what tricks she used in her rookie year and how exactly she won the tournament.
"How'd you win it though?"
She sipped her tea, silent.
"Come on, tell me, with your charms?" flattery got me everywhere.
She chuckled.
"Well I didn't really have much luck with a sword in my rookie year, but thanks to my Unique Skill— Composite helped me through it all, and maybe a bit of luck.."
This was the first time I'd ever heard the word "unique skill" and I had one, best known as [Oracle Engine]; Scentia. A Tier A+ unique skill.
It was this skill that differentiated our magical capacity from one another, whereas two people use the exact same number of spells, the unique skill determines how they are able to hack the situation and max their chances out.
Not everyone was born with a unique skill, and most develop it at a very old age. Grendeeny was one of those lucky enough to acquire hers at a young age.
I raised a brow to relate my confusion with what she meant by Unique Skill.
"Come again?" I asked.
"Oh, you guys haven't been taught that yet, I forgot. Well it's a type of skill developed in relation to the users archetype: how they behave, and perceive things... My skill was able to make numerous abilities from two or more, and I'd only learnt three at the time, but Composite made me develop thirteen more.."
"Okay, that's quite entertaining..." Indeed, it was.
"Thank you... it's something I cherish a lot." she told me. Placing her hand gently upon her breast.
"Can you show it to me?" I politely asked.
She was a bit reluctant, "Hmm. I don't know.."
"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" I indicated the cherry via a comical gesture.
She had no choice but to accept.
She demonstrated her unique skill for me with a simple example involving a stick with a sharp end.
She related the stick to a spear and conveyed that, in use of a spear one can either learn to throw with power or trajectory.
"Now watch that apple over there..." the apple was slightly out of range and position. If one were to throw with power the force wouldn't allow for an accurate hit.
But then, seated on the chair as she drunk her tea, she nonchalantly threw the stick with immense power that the air was superficially displaced. For a moment it looked like it wasn't going to hit it's mark but at the last second it rotated vehemently before changing directions to perforate the apple.
What! That was a combination of power and trajectory, the catalyst to propagate this possibility was rotation.
A catalyst was the most crucial part of her skill. She had no problem telling me the basics of her skill after all it wouldn't give me an advantage against her.
That's what she thought at least, so did I.
[ Unique Skill ---> Oracle Engine ]
Activating...
[ Analytical Appraisal ---> Unique Skill ]
Processing...
[ Subject Unique Skill ---> Composite ]
80%... 90%... 100%...
[>> New unique skill acquired ---> Composite <<]
I didn't believe what I'd heard from Scentia but just from seeing her do what she did, and a little talk on her skill, I had just acquired her unique skill.
I did nothing other than smile awkwardly, I knew Scentia could do lots of things but copying something unique to one's archetype seemed unrealistic, should I have been able to do that? So far, to get stronger I've been reading and observing many others perform magic spells.
A lazy way to get stronger, yes, but it wasn't exactly cheating, my [Analytical Appraisal] allowed me to get the complete comprehension of any spell I would ever encounter.
Now, I could do it for other phenomena. I seriously had to dig deeper into my abilities and see more of what I could do.
"T-That's awesome!"
I almost forgot she was here, I started clapping to show how very impressed I was.
And she only laughed while we resumed our discussion. I still had sometime before I'd have to take my leave.