He sat there for at least 30 minutes before he even thought of leaving the hidden room. He was sure the villains would have left immediately as they had made quite the ruckus, ut he wasn't taking any chances. When he was sure the coast was clear he hit the switch for the hallway door.
He could immediately hear people talking from down the hall in the Cathedral. He crept out slowly, making sure no one saw him and no one else was in the hallway. He made his way down the hall and looked in. No one was looking his way so he walked in.
The first thing he noticed as he walked closer was the body of the young man who been held captive. He was gray, like all life had been drained from him. He had bleld from his nose and ears a bit, but looked like he was asleep otherwise.
"Hey! Who are you?!" A large man in well used but high quality looking steel plate armor asked as he'd noticed Nyes and began stalking toward him.
Before he could speak someone else said "Thats the young man from earlier I told you about Zafas. Stop scaring him. He was probably drawn out by all the commotion."
The warrior, Zafas, stopped but told Nyes "You need to get back in your room. Sun's not up for over 2 hours yet and we don't want you here in this mess." Saying that he turned back around and began speaking to one of the others 8 people in the room, fully expecting to be obeyed.
Nyes turned to leave but Thedroe caught up to him. "I'll walk you back. Dark deeds are afootthis night."
"Actually, I got up because I'm starving. Any chance we could grab something before I go back to my room?" May as well fix at least one small problem before he began pondering his tremendous change in fate.
"Certainly. I could use some sitey myself at this hour." So he led them to the kitchens. The place was huge and Nyes knew he'd be horribly lost if he tried to navigate himself.
They entered the kitchens and found a short, matronly woman already there setting out ingredients. "Why are you in my kitchen?" Her tone was one of annoyance and reluctant acceptance.
"Helga, be nice. This young man is famished and I told him we'd get him a little something before he went back to bed. He's therapy that got Advancement today AND he just saw the dead man in the Cathedral. Help the lad out."
Her face immediately softened. "Oh you poor dear. Let me get you some cheese and sausages. Maybe a little bread. I'd offer more but we haven't started cooking anything yet I'm afraid." Helga started getting things for him. "And I'll bet you want some sitey, you know, since you're here anyway?"
A guilty smile appeared on Thedroe's face "Well if it wouldn't be too much trouble?"
"Ha! You have a problem with that stuff you old goat. As much as you drink can't be healthy, but surely. Since you're here and all." She chuckled as she put a pot of water on one of the stoves to boil.
"What happened to that man? The one in the Cathedral. He was dead right?" Nyes asked, figuring playing dumb was his best bet here.
"We don't know. All we know is someone was in there, we heard a loud clang and some rumbling and by the time anyone reached the Cathedral he was lying there dead. Did you know him? He was in the group you awakened with earlier."
"No. I recognized him from earlier but I'd never seen him before today."
"Well whoever did this will regret being born when Zafas catches up with them. He's the High Templar of Halcis. He'll make sure they Lady's scales are balanced or burn the world to ash trying." Thedroe said this as if it was a forgone conclusion that the killer/s would be caught.
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"Thats good." They paused as Helga brought over a platter of cheese and sausage with bread and water plus a cup of sitey. "I wanted to asked about my skill. Has anyone ever managed to figure out how to gain another skill after getting it?"
Thedroe looked apologetic as he said "I'm afraid not. About 300 years ago the crown prince got the skill. The king at the time was devastated. He turned every scholar in the kingdom toward researching a way for his son to gain skills. They spent 10 years trying before they gave up and spent half the kingdom's wealth in doing it. The poor prince killed himself and the king was overthrown."
"Many others over the years have tried as well. Not one has ever succeeded. Best to give up on that hope now and move on as best you can. I can tell you it does get easier if you look for meaning in other ways."
Nyes stared at hom for a second before asking "What if someone did? What if someone got a skill that allowed them to keep getting others?"
"Well..... I suppose that would be amazing great feat. Their name would go down in history. They'd also likely die soon thereafter if it was the skill holder themselves that figured it out. Can't imagine the powers of the world allowing someone with Advancement to run amok if they could gain skills like everyone else. The gods allseem to agree, except for the mad god of chaos of course."
"They'd kill me?!" Nyes was beginning to feel terror edge out his hope from earlier.
"Well if you were discovered before you got powerful enough to defend yourself sure. That is if you could pull it off in the first place."
"I spent plenty of time thinking the same thoughts as you are right now. The greatest minds in history have tried to to do what you're talking about and, to a man, they've all failed. No need to fret over the impossible lad." Thedroe had meant that as a comfort. It was actually a useful warning.
He'd have to level secretly. Keep it to himself if he wanted to survive. If what he suspected was true anyway. He might be getting his hopes up for nothing. Wasn't this the perfect time to test it though?
He stopped talking and golfed down his food. It helped that he was famished. Thedroe and Helga chatted a bit as he ate.
"Would you like some more dear"?
"No ma'am. I'm feeling pretty sleep now that I'm full. Plus I've had one burner of a day."
"Language young man. This is a church after all." Thedroe admonished gently.
"Sorry sir."
"Oh none of that. Just call me Thedroe. Everyone does."
"Right. Thedroe. Well thank you for the food Helga." He went to shake her hand but she pulled him into a hug.
"You're welcome lad. Now off with you. You need sleep and I've worked to do."
He was nt listening though. He was looking at the notification he'd gotten from toughing her.
Mimic activated. Choose one of Helga's skills to Mimic- Cooking, Cleaning, Sewing, Endurance, Alchemy, or Espionage.
He quickly picked one he wanted, noting her odd mix of skills.
Endurance selected. Duration 10 minutes.
"You alright lad?" Helga asked.
Realizing he'd spaced out there for a moment while in his notifications he stammered "Oh, uh yeah. Sorry the day just caught up to me is all."
"Let me get you back to your room then. Thanks Helga."
She waved without looking up as she'd already gone back to prepping the kitchen for the day. Thedroe walked him back to his room in silence until he got to the door. "Get some sleep Nyes. You'll feel better tomorrow."
Nodding thanks Nyes entered his room and sat down on the cot. He pulled up his notifications again looking them over. He still had 5 minutes left on his borrowed Endurance. Next he tried activating Advancement on his Mimiced skill.
Advancing Endurance. 24 hours remaining.
It began counting down as he watched. Feeling giddy he knew it would work he began punching his arms in the air while stifling his shouts. He had awoken path forward! He spent a couple of minutes thinking about his future until...
Advancement canceled. Target skill no longer available.
The timer on his Mimiced skill had ended. His gut dropped for a moment, then he thought he'd just need to improve his Advancement. You got a perk to skills when getting them and at levels 25, 50, 75, and 100. The first four perks were typical and the fifth was said to be more powerful as a capstone perk.
He opened up his list of level one perks.
Steady Advance- Stops time from increasing subsequent skill levels.
That was the only available perk for Advancement but it was exactly what he was looking for. He picked it immediately. Perks tended to floow along the same vein, meaning that the next perk would likely have something to do with the time it took to Advanvce too. He just had to wait for another 24 days to see if he was correct.
