Chapter 92 – A Matter of Trust
Chapter 92 - A Matter of Trust
”I can totally understand if she just says no.” ~Shallies Mythernal”So, to start, the root of all your problems is the habits that you have formed in your meditation,” Shallies explained. She had brought Yoshelle in the same training fields that her students always used. “They’re not bad habits, per se, but they’re in direct conflict with The Perpetual Method.”
“Like meditating by staying still,” Yoshelle cited. She sat on the ground just like what the Shalliesters Party had always done during lessons. “It’s what’s taught in every Academy, though.”
“Because it’s the easiest way to accumulate and purify mana.” Shallies lifted a finger. “Without movement, there’s no extra factor involved. But it doesn’t give you any of the necessary foundations to be able to achieve a complete hold with your entire mana reserves.
“While when you move and meditate at the same time, your body becomes hyper-aware of all of your mana, which is the most important step in The Perpetual method.”
“So it’s impossible to take a hold of all of your mana without moving?” Yoshelle asked, tilting her head. “Or is the moving just to help with the meditation?”
“It’s technically possible to be able to hold all of your mana with just the normal meditation. But it takes an extreme amount of focus and luck. You’ll barely notice it, to the point that you might assume that it was just your imagination playing tricks on you. Sometimes, you might even be able to achieve it in extreme conditions, like when your life is on the line and you have no choice but to rely on yourself. That’s what Godkiller Bernadette told me when I was learning. So, yeah. Moving helps with this type meditation. Plus, once you’re used to it, you’ll have a better hold of your mana even while fighting.”
“But what exactly is the difference whether you’re able to hold all of your mana or not?" Yoshelle asked. “When we use Skills or Spells, they don’t use all of our mana. In fact, we practice using even less mana with them.”
Shallies pondered for a moment, trying to shuffle through all of the comparisons and analogies that she had used in the past to answer that very question.
“The simplest I can probably boil it down to is using a water tank example.” Shallies opened her System Console to show a visual of a transparent water tank with a faucet near the bottom. “The tank, in this example, is your mana capacity. The water, of course, is your mana. And the faucet opens whenever you use a Spell or Skill. Let’s just say that this faucet can change shape depending on how you practice your efficiency with your Skills.
“In normal meditation, you simply fill up the water over time. If you have a lot of mana, whenever you open the faucet, you’ll notice how easy it is to use your Skills. There is some form of improved results just simply based on the amount of mana you have in your reservoir, which here is represented by the water pressure because of the water’s weight. The less water you have, the lower the pressure, which is where you’ll notice some performance issues when you’re using your Skills.”
“Yeah, I get it so far,” Yoshelle said, nodding along. “That’s why we try not to go below half our capacity whenever we can.”
“That’s right,” Shallies agreed. “Whenever you’re half or below half, you use a mana potion to get you back to full.”
“Yep.”
“Now, The Perpetual Method allows you full control of your entire mana reserves. Imagine, there’s an invisible layer at the top and bottom of this water tank. And whenever you open the faucet to use your Skills, you’re also pushing on both of those layers. Not only will you have a consistent water pressure throughout your entire mana capacity, you also get to control that water pressure as precisely as you want.
“Again, how efficient and powerful you want your Skills’ output to be depends on how you sculpt your faucet. But with The Perpetual Method, you can always amplify that effect significantly. I know it’s not the perfect analogy for it, but it should give you an idea, right?”
“It does.” But rather than nod or smile, the Elemental Archmage sighed instead. “Even if I do understand the theory behind it, it still doesn’t make learning it any easier.”
“Well, understanding the reason’s always half the battle,” Shallies said. “And there’s no better way to change your habits, apart from making new ones that are more compatible with The Perpetual Method.”
“And I’ll do that by training, right?”
“Yes.” Shallies smiled, telegraphing a proposal in her mind. “But since you’re already a high-level Hero Class doubler, I think you can handle a rougher sort of training than what I can give my students. That is, if you’re interested.”
“I am!” Yoshelle said immediately. “Very much! Please!”
“Now, hold on. I haven’t even told you what the training is and why I’m recommending it.”
“I’m sure it’ll work!”
“While it will most likely work, for sure, there’s every chance that you might not go through with it.”
Yoshelle’s face was determined. She leaned in, bringing her fists in front of her as if to show her determination. “I promise I can do it! Whatever it takes!”
“Just let me explain it first,” Shallies said quickly, holding Yoshelle by the shoulders to keep her in place. “It’s not going to hurt you to know what you’ll be going through.”
Still excited and giddy, Yoshelle went back to sit on the ground.
“The training is incredibly dangerous. And it requires you to put your absolute faith not just in yourself, but also in me. I’ll bring you to the skies, and you’ll have to practice your meditation as you fall. You’ll deal with the temptation of The Perpetual Method and maintain it without flinching.
“You’re not allowed to fly or slow your fall. You’re not allowed to use Skills. When you do, we’ll stop the training. Your only focus will be to meditate using The Perpetual Method.”
“But you’ll catch me, right?” Yoshelle asked, her smile slowly fading away.
“That’s why I’m asking you to trust me.”
All of the excitement left the Guild Princess as her shoulders slumped. Shallies understood. While she had no real intention to let any harm come to this person willing to learn her secrets, trusting someone with one’s life was a different matter altogether.
They had only known each other for a couple of weeks. Any sane person would decline this suggestion. And Shallies wouldn’t blame them for choosing that.
But then again, the people that always seemed to find her, whether they knew of her true identity or not, weren’t always those she would consider sane.
Yoshelle let out another sigh, longer than the previous ones she had done before. She clenched her fist. And with a determined look, she said her next words without hesitation.
“I’ll do it!”
“We can probably rest here,” Grace said after scouting the immediate vicinity. “We only have about nine hours left before the day ends, though. If we’re not worried about sleep, then we can use all of that.”
They were in the middle of the specialized Dungeon. As promised, they were challenged in such a way that required all fifteen of them to cooperate in order to tackle the challenges safely. Obstacles, packs of monsters, and even Mini-Bosses. All fake, but it didn’t mean that their attacks were also of that nature. All it took was a single blow on Ren’s shield for everyone to confirm that they were just as real as any other monster out there.
With Damascus’ inclusion of the special condition, the Shalliesters Party couldn’t break off from the group and finish the rest of the Dungeon themselves. Doing so would be an instant failure. But Grace concluded that their strength with just the three of them wouldn’t be able to finish the challenges anyway. While she had saved some of the other people during their time in this place, so did they help her in turn.
Grace realized this, and once again, the nagging feeling at the back of her head came creeping out. She pushed it down, unwilling to entertain the thought of dealing with this Dungeon on her own. She knew she wasn’t strong enough.
But her new teammates weren’t helping the situation.
“Damascus isn’t really expecting us to finish this Dungeon today, you know,” said one of them. A guy with tremendously sleek and shiny black hair. His armor was many times more expensive than what Grace was wearing, just by the sheer aesthetics of it, if nothing else. But the way he was sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily, diminished any sort of regal air he was trying to muster for himself. “He’s just saying that to make us look incompetent.”
Grace looked at Ren and Tayin, and the two returned those stares. Then they observed the rest of their teammates.
“Yeah, we probably pushed way more than we should for a single day,” the halfling concluded.
All twelve teammates were exhausted. While some were recovering faster than others, there were at least three people who obviously didn’t have any Skill similar to Mana Energy.
“If my estimates are correct, we’re also almost at the Dungeon Boss Lair, too,” Tayin added, looking at her Star Map. “We’ve gone through a good chunk of the Dungeon, so this black spot right here should be the lair.”
Grace looked, and by her estimates, the location Tayin was pointing at was only about a half an hour’s march.
“What if you guys go get your sleep?” Ren suggested after studying the Star Map. “We’re not one-hundred percent sure, but if Tayin’s correct, we really only need an hour to kill the Dungeon Boss. Get five-or-something hours of sleep, we’ll wake you guys up, then we can make our attempt.”
“If we finish it today, we’ll prove to Damascus that we’re better than he thinks we are,” Grace added, trying to raise the crowd’s expectations. “And if we can’t, then we’ll just try again.”
“Aren’t you guys tired?” said another in the crowd. A female half-elf with intricate armor plates layered over a magical cloak. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail to make sure it didn’t interfere with the bow and quiver on her back. “We went here right after the obstacle course, yet you guys are still going.”
Grace scratched her head. She didn’t want to share her Skill information to the others, and her partymates seemed to agree. Doing so might just earn them some unwarranted resentment and envy.
“We have a really good mentor,” Tayin said finally. At least, that piece of information was already known by everyone. “We can keep going for at least a day and a half if we really apply ourselves.”
“I wish I had that level of stamina,” said the same sleek-haired guy. “You guys are pretty lucky. But you shouldn’t be treating us like we’ve had that same level of upbringing.”
Grace stopped one of her eyebrows from rising. She stopped herself before mentioning their expensive weapons and armors. She stopped before the matter escalated. Tayin was doing the same, she noticed. But Ren, as the calm and collected vanguard that he was, took those words without even flinching.
“That’s why we’re suggesting that you all sleep first,” he said. “We’ll also rest, but we’ll keep watch to make sure everyone’s safe. Since there’s three of us, if we can’t deal with an ambush or something, then one of us will wake you up. We all have to sleep anyway, we’re just asking you to take it earlier so we can deal with the Dungeon Boss earlier and hopefully surpass our supervisor’s expectations.”
“Yeah,” Tayin followed up, quickly recovering from being verbally stunned. “Doesn’t the guild reward members who exceed their expectations?”
The question caused a round of discussion within the other members, and based on what Grace could hear, the halfling seemed to have tugged on a good argument.
“If they do, what’s in it for you?” asked the sleek-haired guy. “You’re not part of the guild, and you have your contracts.”
“Our mentor will reward us,” Grace said, making up a white lie. Though, in her perspective, the training next day would be the reward. And she wouldn’t be able to get it if they were still stuck in this Dungeon come morning. “Exceeding the supervisor’s expectations also exceeds hers.”
“They’re really up for it, James,” said the half-elf lady to the sleek-haired guy. “And you have to admit, they’ve done more in this Dungeon than we have. And they’re lower level than us, so that makes us a lot worse than them by comparison. We’re getting rest, we’re getting sleep. I don’t think it’s a bad deal.”
“Fine,” James said. “But just because you said it, Phyl’swen. We’ll have a light dinner, then sleep.”
At that, everyone went and retrieved small rations for their dinner. The Shalliesters Party received the same before entering the Dungeon. So they all ate together.
“Nice touch on that reward argument,” Phyl’swen said to them after everyone had finished their meals. “You probably wouldn’t have convinced the others without it.”
“We like rewards,” Tayin said proudly. “So we thought you guys might too.”
“Yeah. We do. But is it really alright to leave the watch to you guys? As part elf, I don’t really have to sleep that much.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Grace said. “But you’re free to join us once you’re rested.”
“Alright. I’ll see you in a couple of hours, then.”
As Phyl’swen left, the Shalliesters Party agreed to make a surround around the area. That meant they had to communicate with System Consoles. But they also agreed to practice The Perpetual Method, so after a few exchanges of words through the console, they all stopped chatting to train.
Grace was assigned the southern path, the one they came from earlier. The other two navigated the conversation so that she wouldn’t have any chance to argue. But she had no intention of doing so in the first place. She wanted to train, so didn’t mind getting assigned the direction that would least likely have any potential for an ambush.
Hours went by as she trained. She could maintain The Perpetual Method now while walking. And rather than push herself to a run, she decided to just keep maintaining her current training in order to get used to the sensation more.
And when something moved out from the bushes not too far from her, she knew she had made the right choice.
Five kobolds suddenly appeared, weapons raised as they dashed towards her.
Grace didn’t falter. She let go of her meditation and smiled.