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AR Chapter 386
🕑 Added 2025-05-13 04:05:20 +0000 UTCAs far as I could tell, there wasn’t any [Skill] for using a spear. At least, not one I’d gained in the past days. I could feel that I was getting more competent and comfortable with the weapon, but I knew that, in terms of skill, I would be far outclassed by anyone who’d held a weapon for more than a year or two. That I’d only spent a couple weeks actually practicing with the weapon, and that without a tutor or anyone who knew what they were doing to teach me, was enough. I had the intrinsic understanding of how to hold and wield the weapon through… wherever I got it. Then, I just held it and struck at a log in ways that seemed to make sense. The shafts of the spears were frequently broken by doing this, though.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Ytte had provided a surplus of spears to me. She’d caught up on most of the largest duties she’d needed to do, and another three Khatif had appeared that gained the ability to use magic just like she could. As such, the exterior walls were back to a semblance of their strength of ages past. In addition, another Keel had joined the Kha’Tal’s ranks. Basit, the Kha’Tal I’d gotten the name from after months of having seen her, had joined the upper echelons of the country. Even so, she didn’t want to have attention on her, or even really to interact outside of her caste. Basit’s focus was on guiding her caste to support me specifically. She made no secret of that, how her support was for my continued leadership.
My mind wandered as I continued to practice, and I shoved the thoughts away. Instead, I listened to my instincts and tempered them with what I knew about creatures’ weak points. Using [Combatant’s Bloodlust], I could feel where the wood was weak and my attacks would splinter and destroy it, but I didn’t indulge that. That I still hadn’t evolved the [Skill] was grating on me, but I knew the time was nigh at hand. Instead, I needed to take my practice into the field. There’d been no indication of the Misti Hawar’s approach, and I wanted to have another weapon in my hand, literally, when I fought the elites of the people who’d helped to destroy my own.
“Brutus!” I called. He knew what I was asking for, and walked forward as I set my sharp, stone-headed spear to the side. Instead, I grabbed one that had a regular stone on its tip to merely mimic the weight of a regular spear. Then, once Brutus flared his frills to acknowledge that he was ready, I dipped deeper into [Combatant’s Bloodlust] and attacked.
Thrust. Sweep. Retreat.
The movements came easily to me as Brutus attacked me. I continued to maintain a distance as he tried to disarm me. The strengths of the spear were obvious to me, even though I longed to pit my own strength against his own. Instead, I used the weapon to its advantage, scoring hits on Brutus as I stayed back and kept the much larger Keel from engaging on his terms.
How to use this on the Misti Hawar filled my mind as we sparred. They’d been able to hide from the Keel. I stabbed. I knew from personal experience that that was an immensely difficult task. I cut Brutus's arm shallowly. That meant hiding from our eyes as well as thermal vision. Fell back into a ready position. Dampening sound would probably be important as well. Stab. Could it be that they really attacked like the shadow wyrms? [Quaking Claw] through the spear. If their magic was like that, then… how would we ensure that they couldn’t kill us and retreat quickly? I stopped my movements. A more intelligent shadow wyrm could kill dozens, and I don’t know if we’d be able to stop them.
So how could we mitigate that? With our abilities to see in the dark, we never posted lights at the walls at night. There simply wasn’t any reason. When the wyrms had been active, though, we’d instituted some rules about torches on the walls at night.
I tossed the spear into a nearby pile of them and looked around. Sakkit was nearby, tending to some of my people that’d gotten wounds in various ways. He was still Khatif, but as a Sou’Tal healer, he was, frankly, more valuable than most others. Making sure he continued to gain proficiency in healing, and healing many people, was one of my personal greatest goals. He looked at me as I left the training grounds, something that I’d come to realize were different from the fighting pits. I waved him off as I continued onward.
This fight against the Misti Hawar wouldn’t begin as a war, but it would lead to one, even if it wasn’t with them. Would it be the Hordes? The Indlovu? Could the Veratocracy find us this far away? Would the Wilds decide that it was time to hone themselves against their Fahvalo? It didn’t matter. Whatever our future enemy would be, I would ensure that my people were ready.
“Is there anything you’ve learned that we should institute in our own practices?” Brutus asked as we walked to find Shemira.
“Just continue leveraging the power of the spear when you use it.” I answered. “If a spear breaks in a fight, of course we’ll engage with fang and claw, but while we have the weapons, we must use them as they are intended to be. Do you know the progress on making bows? I know we’re basically done with the slings.”
“There hasn’t been any meaningful progress with the bows.” Brutus confirmed what I didn't want to hear. “There haven’t been any cases of someone learning how to use the slings in a way that would justify using them over throwing a rock.”
“Hadn’t Foire been focusing on that?” I asked. I’d spoken with him directly about it, so he’d have to have been working on it.
“I haven’t spoken with him for a couple of days.” Brutus flicked his tail. “He’s been out of the city without returning, so far as I know.”
“Then we’ll ask him when he returns. Shemira!” I called as we arrived near the person we were looking for.
“Yes, Zaaktif?” The Militia’s Superintendent bowed as I came close.
“I’ve had an idea that merits thought. The Misti Hawar. They were able to sneak up on the Keel that existed before. We know of something that can do the same.”
“The wyrms.” Shemira breathed out, immediately understanding what I was saying. “Torches on the wall will be immediately instituted.”
“That’ll be for the best.” I confirmed. “I hope that isn’t the case, as if so, they’ll be a much harder foe to deal with than we’d expected, but it makes sense to prepare for it. You’ll be in charge of ensuring the streets are well-lit at night as well. If you need the assistance of one of the other leaders of the city, you have my permission to use my authority to gain that assistance.”
“Very well, Zaaktif.” She bowed. “Thank you.”
“Now go.” I commanded. “I need to find Foire.”
Comments
No_Creative_Name
Log needs rewriting and has been done. That was a scene that was edited originally and that just missed it. With the torch thing... I though that it was only while the wyrms were active. Checking.
Veldorn
" I cut deep into the log. " He goes from sparring with Brutus to sparring with a log suddenly. "“Torches on the wall will be immediately instituted.”" Didn't he say they already made rules about that?
