Uninvited to every small thing.
She’d slither and splash,
Through doorways she'd crash,
Till they fled at the sound of her spring!
- Goldie Honorhide.
“So tell me about this Skill. It is an affinity skill, isn’t it?” Makara asked.
“I…” I didn’t know how much I wanted to tell her. Yoboc and Goldie knew about my affinity but didn’t know the details of Cosmic Aura or Void Sensing. They do know about Frigid Void. “It is from an affinity,” that much was obvious. “I am not going to explain the affinity to you, but it is not common, and I don’t want it to get out. The skill you are sensing is a sensing skill, so it won’t harm you.”
“It must be an affinity to do with the world and the magnetic field, or it wouldn’t affect my electrosensors,” Makara said. “But, that doesn’t fit your ice skill,” she thought a bit, “but your ice skill doesn’t have to be from your affinity. That is it, isn’t it?”
“I have said all I am going to say,” I said. I saw a slight nod from Yoboc. “Tell us about this cache you have found.”
“The entrance is underwater about 200m offshore. The entrance collapsed, and I think the collapse was triggered by one of the Blue Bastards traps. There are probably more traps further in, but we need to clear the entrance first. The bastard probably couldn’t clear the entrance while injured, and then you were collecting his loot, so he had to stop you. Or that is my current theory.”
“How am I supposed to help? I can’t breathe underwater,” I said.
“You said you had Breath Control. The entrance is only about 10m down, and your Breath Control will level and let you go down for longer. Now that I know you have sensing skills, I am sure you can sense the length of the tunnel and any more traps. Can you sense through rock?” she asked.
“Ordinary rock, yes,” I said.
She smiled, “I figured it would! Also, my gills filter oxygen from the water and feed it to my lungs so I can share oxygen with you. Mouth to mouth, so to speak.” she grinned widely showing her teeth and winked.
I looked at her rows of wicked teeth. I know my teeth are sharp, but hers look worse. I think this is a recipe for disaster.
I am also concerned that there are now two people who think it is funny to make sexual innuendos at me. They don’t do that to Yoboc. Why me? I decided to treat Makara like I treat Goldie and ignore it. I could also see Goldie was not happy about it. I am going to say it's not my problem. Yoboc is obviously the leader here. I will leave it to him.
“You haven’t said why you need me. You can clear it, can’t you?” I asked.
“Maybe. It will take time, and I think he overdid the trap if it was a trap that closed it.”
“We have time. It will be another four days before my shoulder heals,” I said.
“Five,” interjected Goldie.
“Five, I guess.”
Makara sighed and glanced around at each of us. “When a Shark Mer sets protections around its cache, the primary thing they are protecting it against is another Mer. Especially if it is underwater. Mer are good at enchanting. We all know the basics, and we use them to protect our caches. The enchantments will be set against Mer, and a non-Mer should not trigger them.”
“Should not?” I asked.
“I doubt the Blue Bastard went beyond the minimum,” she replied.
“You triggered the collapse, didn’t you?” Yoboc asked.
“No. It had already collapsed. I did try to clear a gap and, ah, made it worse.”
“Are you injured?” Yoboc asked. I couldn’t see any injuries.
“I had some bruises, but I gained a level in Hardened Scales,” She replied.
Yoboc decided to wait for my shoulder to heal. While he waited, he put Makara through her paces to assess her skill levels. Goldie was very pleased when he had her spar with Makara. Goldie was an axe specialist, whereas Makara had the spear at the journeyman level.
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Makara was weak at Unarmed Combat, merely mid-apprentice, so Goldie pounded her again and again and enjoyed it every time. I was used to towering over the dwarves and adjusting my Unarmed combat to suit. Makara wasn’t.
Apparently, Makara had Water Combat at Journeyman level and concentrated on that rather than unarmed Combat. Water Combat also synced well with her Journeyman Small Blades.
Makara might have complained a bit, but Yoboc was definitely in charge and reminded her this was a trial period.
Makara had more Journeyman Level Skills than me, but she was not too far ahead. Her Water Affinity gave her some skills none of us could replicate. While she could create water her skill level was low Apprentice. When you live in the ocean, you don’t need to create your own water.
Her Water Manipulation, however, was one of her highest skills. She also had something called a Water Surge that shot water out at high speeds. She mainly used it as a movement skill. Yoboc had her Create Water and then use that in her Water Surge as a weapon. She then added her Water Manipulation to narrow the water surge into a small, powerful stream. This was hard for her, and she was not used to operating outside of the ocean. Yoboc is good for her, and I think she is realising this.
I was spared the sparring because of my shoulders, but not the training. Yoboc insisted I level up my Breath Control. He lectured us all on Monster Lore and other races to raise our Sapient Lore. He concentrated on races we were likely to meet, especially Humans, Dwarves and Orcs. He had Makara tell us about various Mer in the area.
Yoboc had Goldie take me out to level my Plant, Herb and Animal Lore. Yoboc and I went out and I explained to him more fully about my Cosmic Aura, Frigid Void and Void Sensing. He was fascinated by how the cost of each skill was so greatly reduced if they were inside the Cosmic Aura. We tested it against Makara’s senses, and it was the Cosmic Aura that was creating a hole in her Electroreceptors, not any of the other skills.
“The Cosmic Aura is the key to your affinity skills,” Yoboc concluded. “Put all your effort into getting it to Journeyman Level.” Then he turned his gaze to Felix, “Felix has the affinity but none of the skills. That has to change. The bond between you will grow, and it should be getting easier and easier to learn from each other. Can you see what level his skills are at?”
I never used to be able to, but I realised that was before the bond hit apprentice level, and when I looked, the category was shown. There was no numbered level but I could see them at Apprentice and Journeyman Level. I shared it with Yoboc.
Bond
Felix. Huskie Dog.
Resistances: Cold, Pain, Heat,
Skills:
Apprentice:
Power Running, Bond
Journeyman:
Endurance Running, Team Leader,
Affinity:
Astral
“You are neglecting a powerful ally in Felix,” Yoboc said. “He has skills you can learn, and once you are healed, you are going to learn Endurance Running from him.”
That sounded like a lot of work.
“That may sound like a lot of work,” Yoboc said, “but it is not only a fantastic skill, it will grow your bond. You are also going to try learning the Team Leader skill from him. This will take longer, but I am going to start putting you in charge of the others for different tasks, and I want you to lean on your bond as you do that and sense the skills guidance.
“For the next few days, you are going to teach him some skills,” Yoboc continued. “You really will only be able to teach him skills that you have levelled to Journeyman. As your bond grows, you will be able to teach high apprentice skills, but not yet. What skills do you have at Journeyman level that you think would be easy for him to learn? Bring the skill to mind and lean on your bond for how easy it might be.”
I did that. I could almost sense Felix through the bond. “Sprint, Nightsight, Olfactory, Stealth and Arctic Camouflage, in that order.” I noticed the bond levelled just from that. It had not really levelled since getting to Apprentice, and I guess that's because I was not really using it.
“Sprint makes sense, as running is his speciality. I'm surprised he does not have Nightsight, and Olfactory is also common in canine bonds. I suspect they don’t want dogs trained to pull sleds to be too aware of what is around them and get distracted. I want you to concentrate on those three. They should be relatively easy for Felix to learn. That will grow your bond, and once you get Cosmic Aura to Journeyman Level, you can also teach that.”
“Will Felix learn affinity skills on his own?” I asked.
“He certainly can. Whether he is motivated to do so is the key here. Start with the normal skills and see if that enthuses him, then see if he wants to learn Figid Void. He will be learning it on his own, but he can sense you using it through the bond, which will help. It should be easier for him to understand than Cosmic Aura.”
I spent a lot of the five days with Felix, and a lot of that was at night. When I practised my Breath Control, Felix waited on the shore. I tried encouraging him to create an ice platform and join me, but I was unsuccessful.
Felix was also reluctant to Sprint. I didn’t push it, as I figured that if I was going to learn Endurance Running, that would be the ideal time to teach him Sprint. Felix did pick up Nightsight and Olfactory really quickly. They were levelling through the Novice levels rapidly. Felix has a natural ability in these areas. I think this is the same as our affinity. Both Felix and I had a natural ability in this area, so we learned and levelled faster. It is probably also the same with Makara and her water affinity.
I got my Breath Control to Apprentice before the end of the five days. Breath Control has two components. The first was the size of the breath I could take, and my Physical Strength controlled that. It is almost like the air was compressed in. The second was how efficiently I could use that breath, and my Physical Agility controlled that. These were two of my highest attributes, so at Level 5 when it got to apprentice level, I could hold almost 20% more air and use it 16% more efficiently.
I also spent a lot of time mapping the stars.