Damn it. This wasn't what raiding was meant to be about. This sort of intrigue. The obscurity of what they faced. It was meant to be cut and dry, it was meant to be simple. He couldn't imagine the famed Gorm, who had led his brother, worrying over any intrigue of this sort. Gorm was a model Yarmdon Commander, one that prized instinct above strategy, and he'd done remarkably well off it.
Vol looked back over his shoulder to watch as Nolan and his men headed off. Then he looked back to Blackbeard, amongst his raiders, playfully snatching a shield off one of his men as he showed him the proper way to hold it. Why was it that both sights seemed complicated now?
He sighed. Even the System had gone silent. Strength. Maybe he could solve his problems by going for greater strength. Maybe he could upgrade his axe skills before the battle, so that he would do well no matter what faced. That seemed to be right. It seemed to be a good plan. The System was being quiet with him, and he was finding that he sorely missed the direction that it had given him.
There was something about having a quest to fulfil that had helped keep his mind at ease. As the quest had died down, so too had his ease. It was worrying. Now, the only quest that he had was 'Gain Control of the Crooked-Tooth Raiders'. A quest whose steps were currently locked to him.
Just how was he meant to go about doing that? He'd hardly been able to speak to the men before today. It was only through a demonstration of his strength – which had been set up by Blackbeard – that they'd even bothered to speak to him.
Right. It was strength that had won him that. Strength… The quest promised future rewards. He could trust in it. The System had always given him some sort of improvement as a result of following its quests. Maybe… Maybe he should take the quest that it had given him seriously, even lacking the information that he had?
Maybe he could work to improve his position amongst the men. But he didn't know how to do that. Not without strength.
Two trains of thought aligned, and Vol relented. He hated thinking so much about so little. He assured himself that all he needed to do to progress with that quest – he wasn't even about to think about how impossible it was – was get stronger, and prove himself to the men. As Jok said, Glory was decided by the people.
Chapter 7 – The First Raid
The day of the raid had arrived far quicker than any of the men were really ready for. Blackbeard had done what he could these past few days, wading amongst them, trying to strike their confidence up, and turn them into a fighting force, but there was only so much that they could do with drills.
They needed victories, or so the man himself had said. It was victories that formed a strong force. He was just laying the groundwork for those victories to happen.
As the men trained in the streets, and the children played at copying them, Vol flung himself into the training with the same vigour. When lunch rolled around, and Blackbeard gave them the rest of the day to themselves, so that they might rest for the upcoming battle, Vol threw himself into more training.
!! SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!
SKILL 'AXE THROW – BASIC' HAS ACHIEVED THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF MASTERY POINTS. 5/5…
EVOLUTION COMMENCING
SKILL 'AXE THROW-BASIC' HAS EVOLVED INTO LONG-RANGED AXE TECHNIQUES 1/10!
THE VESSEL SEES GREATER WORTH AN AXE THROW THAN A MERE IMPROVEMENT IN ACCURACY. HE'S NOW ABLE TO HIT HIS MARK CONFIDENTLY AT RESPECTABLE RANGES, AND BEGINS TO SEE HOW AXE THROWS CAN BE INCORPORATED INTO FLUID COMBAT.
The System once again announced the evolution of a new skill. It seemed to do it in a different manner each time, depending on what mood struck it, but the wording stayed mostly the same, so there was never any real confusion for Vol.
The evolution of the axe throw struck him with a degree more curiosity than the rest had, though. For one, the mastery requirements to upgrade it further were extensive. And unlike the other skills, it hadn't upgraded to an intermediate version, it had instead evolved into something more general.
He wasn't quite sure what the worth of that evolution would be. Greater fluidity was what it claimed, but how would that work in practice? He didn't have much time to figure that out. They were due to begin their journey just before midday. That was an hour away, and Vol was getting in what little bit of training he could before then.
It had taken him far longer to evolve his axe throw than he would have liked, despite what the System had taught him, about the value of approaching the training from different angles, through different variations and with harder problems.
During the same time, He'd also managed to upgrade his Sidestep skill mastery from 3/5 to 4/5.
He'd eagerly hoped for more quests, more chances to improve his stats, but the System had remained silent on that front. All he was able to do was improve his skills, with the hope that when he did receive quests, the rewards from them would be even stronger than they had been before.
The rest of the men had readied themselves for the coming raid in their own ways, following the commands of Blackbeard loosely, doing what he asked them to do in whatever lazy sort of way they could. That included the training, and then the upkeep of their kit.
During those training sessions after lunch, when Vol trained by himself, he never caught a glimpse of the others attempting the same. They laughed, and joked, for the most part, but there was still a nervous tension in the air.
Vol finished up the last of his training, with sweat on his brow. Gods, he felt good. This was the very sort of thing that he'd been dreaming about for years, and now he was sure that he was strong enough to make the most of it.