Chapter 274
Garth swore, lifting his blade to deflect the stone arrow as it threatened to impale him. Sword raised high, he twisted with his hips as he activated Skyrend. Dozens of incoming projectiles were reduced to powder as Garth’s attack tore across the space in front of him, obliterating incoming attacks in a wave of destruction.
It was just the shift in momentum his team needed, as hundreds of baseball-sized flaming spheres materialized in the wake of Skyrend, descending upon the enemy fortification. Arianna followed closely behind, shrouded in both a golden glowing aura and crackling electricity; courtesy of Johannes and Mary Ellen. The boosting skills were unimpressive on their own, but the synergy when combined made Arianna a terror on the battlefield.
Of course, she’d need to be. The small moon they now surveyed used to be the site of an old Corthian Mining excavation, abandoned a few decades back after the vast majority of the resources had been stripped. Their scanners revealed signs of life, promising in the hunt for the missing Corthian Mining shuttle.
Unfortunately, the life signs turned out to be something altogether different; a whole colony of stoneclaw crabs. The little bastards and their variants were a plague across the universe, seeming to pop up out of nowhere and quickly multiplying. They lived off of the minerals in the soil and rock they consumed, and put it to use with stony projectiles and thick armor.
Garth caught up to Arianna quickly, preventing the sea of crabs from closing in behind her as her batons flashed. Her movements were impeccable, precise strikes backed by brutal force as she smashed through her opponents. As he joined, the two became a whirlwind of death, scattering the assembled crustaceans in a matter of moments
One of the downsides of Garth’s upgraded Air Blade was its wide area of effect, making it difficult to use when he had team members in the thick of battle. Fortunately, some talented smiths under Corthian Mining’s employ were able to get him a custom sword that was highly mana-conductive, the edge of the blade coated by a razor-sharp line of mana. Ordinary blades might chip or deflect off of the stony shells; Garth’s carved through with hardly any effort.
Soon, the engagement was done. Garth and Arianna stood in the middle of the ravaged battlefield, scorch marks and scattered pieces of stoneclaw crabs the only evidence of their fight. Johannes ran up to Arianna and began healing her, his attention focused on the light burns from Mary Ellen’s boosting skill.
“Not bad, Garth,” a voice behind him called out.
The grizzled veteran whipped around to see Skippy standing with his hands folded behind his head, a toothy grin revealing his pointed teeth. “I can tell you’ve been improving. Who knows, you might actually turn into a good opponent one of these days.”
“Nice to see you, too, Skippy,” Garth replied, ignoring the insults. “Any lucky finding the D Grade?”
From what they were able to tell, there was a D Grade presence deeper within one of the old quarries, and they’d been offered bounty pay to take it down. This was far from the only D Grade that the expedition encountered during their year away, though Garth was hopeful that Skippy would let him handle this one.
“Oh yeah, I tracked it down before coming here. It’s already been dealt with.” The skrell’s tone was dismissive, though the twinkle in his eye made it clear to Garth that Skippy knew it would frustrate him.
Garth let out an exasperated huff. “You promised me that my team and I could tackle the next one.”
“That was before I realized I was on the edge of Level 105. I couldn’t just delay something as important as my final D Grade skill, after all,” Skippy protested. “Besides, now that I have it, you and your team can try to take the next one.”
“And you expect me to believe that you’re not going to take the opportunity to test out your new skill?” Garth asked, eyebrow raised.
“Now that you mention it, it would be irresponsible not to get some field testing in,” Skippy said, the smile never leaving his face.
Garth just shook his head. “Do what you want. When the time comes, we’ll be ready.”
As frustrating as it was that he’d been unable to fight a single D Grade thus far, the progress his team made was still worth it. At this point, every single one of them was near the top of E Grade, and Garth was confident in at least Arianna and Joseph making it to D Grade. With luck, Mary Ellen and Johannes would get there, too.
Of course, that’s not to say that Garth was entirely stagnant. His path in D Grade had expanded beyond simple combat to focus on leadership. As his team gained power, so did Garth. Despite only fighting E Grades, he’d grown to Level 18, just a bit shy of his next skill upgrade.
Returning to the shuttle, Garth looked out at the asteroid as they took off. Between his contract work with Corthian Mining and the current expedition, he’d grown accustomed to the view out of the shuttles. Who could have guessed we’d be spending so much time in space? At times, it still felt surreal. The journey from frontier swordsman to the leader of Earth’s remnants had been a whirlwind; one that seemed to be as much luck as anything else.
He offered his team words of encouragement as they disembarked, then went to go make his report to Malcolm Corthus. The C Grade expedition leader was on a different ship, but made the time to take individual reports after each group completed an expedition. Malcolm had created a few separate canvasing teams, ensuring that multiple D Grades were present on each. Chester led the first squad with his awakened captains and the doctor, Randolph; Garth and Skippy were joint partners in the second, and a foreman Garth had yet to meet led the third.
It was a conservative approach, but one that Garth very much appreciated. Small, elite groups were perfect for canvassing and scouting, while the larger forces were prepared to jump into action after initial reports were in. Moreover, this approach also meant that Garth and his team were able to get early opportunities to progress.
The downside was that their overall canvassing speed was slow. In the nearly year that they’d been out, they covered just under a quarter of the potential search area. Garth knew they signed up for a long journey, but the longer they waited, the more difficult it became to hold onto hope. Other than the larger, populated worlds nearer the center, the other life they’d come across was universally hostile. The odds that a group of refugees and unawakened could survive the harsh environments was low. Even with the D Grade captain of the vessel, DeRosa, and Reynolds, they would be hard-pressed. Odds were much better that they’d all perished due to some sort of ship malfunction.
He pushed those thoughts away as he made his report to Malcolm, then retreated to his quarters. He had a message from Stephanie, letting him know that Gwen was doing well and missed him. Garth smiled, pulling up photos of the three of them from before his departure. She’d been a tremendous support as Garth stepped into leadership, offering companionship and counsel in equal measure. He wished she was here, but understood that her responsibilities kept her back home.
Enough sentimentalism, you’ve got work to do, Garth thought, bringing himself back to the work at hand. Even if he wasn’t actively gaining levels, there were still plenty of ways for him to keep moving forward. He ate, cleaned up, and then went to the flagship’s training grounds, where he checked out a dull version of his own sword.
Back on Earth, Garth had been considered a competent swordsman, trained by Central Defense to fight awakened beasts and handle outlaws as they came up. By Collective standards, however, he was a novice. Something he had worked hard to remedy since his arrival on the Hub.
He stepped into his private training chamber, a perk he’d earned courtesy of his rank, and loaded a holographic video. The image of an awakened swordmaster appeared, and Garth followed along as the image worked through a series of motions. The techniques sped up one after another, the blade moving in a blur of motion. For every movement that Garth missed, a flash of red lit up the room. Once he’d failed to replicate twenty motions, the projection stopped.
Garth reloaded the video, and began again. Quite a bit of his excess wealth had been invested in the training system, and to Garth it was worth every penny. To truly be able to compete at D Grade, he would need more than simply levels and attributes. From what Garth had seen, there was no substitute for real hard work. While he wouldn’t be upset if he had a lucky encounter or two, he had no intention of simply lying around until then.
Finally, after a few hours of intense training, he turned off the hologram and sheathed his practice blade. Garth thought back to Kyle’s rapid progress, the young man seeming to grow more powerful by leaps and bounds every time Garth saw him. It was frustrating and inspiring in equal measure, and Garth didn’t plan on getting left behind. For now, though, it was time to rest. Putting his equipment up, Garth was about to head back to his quarters when a voice called out to him from across the practice arena.
“You’re up late, Boltsbury.” Garth whirled around to see Skippy exiting his own training room. The skrell smiled broadly, hands folded behind his head. “You’ve been training, that’s good.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Skippy,” Garth replied coolly. “Now, do you need anything? I’m about to turn in for the night.”
“Nothing for now,” Skippy replied. “I just wanted to say that I see you training. Not that I think you would be much fun on your own, but seeing how hard you’re working, it might not be too long before you make a decent training partner.”
“If you’ve just gotten your last D Grade skill, I think it’s safe to say that I won’t put up much of a fight,” Garth said. From the few stories Kyle shared about the battle maniac, Garth was wary of indulging his more violent tendencies. Of course, he wasn’t lying about how a sparring match between them would go. The difference between upper and lower D Grade was night and day, after all.
“Maybe for now,” Skippy said. “But something tells me Mayhew might have been on to something back then. Rest up, Garth. We’ll hop in the sparring ring soon. I’ll even let you bring your team.” With that, the skrell left the training area, strolling leisurely through the halls.
It’s hard to believe that Kyle ever put up a fight against that thing, Garth thought, watching Skippy go. Kyle hadn’t been a much higher level than Garth was now, and while Skippy was weaker back then too, it was an impressive feat nonetheless. Part of him was curious about how a match between the two of them would go now. Something told Garth that Kyle was more than equipped to hold his own. Wherever you’re at, kid, I hope you’re doing alright.