Luke Everhart
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Chapter 181 - Falling Behind
🕑 Added 2025-01-22 12:04:10 +0000 UTCStrangled shouts and constrained grunting made Gad look up from her weight lifting routine. She already knew what she was going to see, but was still unable to not put down her weights and walk over to the handrail to look down, to the training grounds of the Tanks Hall.
“Put your backs into it!” an instructor roared. “Push!”
Below, a line of thick, heavy tanks groaned in reply, and pushed harder against the line of ethereal, yet solid and very real, golden tower shields blocking their path.
“Come on! Harder! Harder!”
Beyond the struggling tanks and alongside the translucent golden shields, Tun stood with an impavid, braced posture. He was locked in place, and the dark gray and black spotted scales of his head glistened with sweat in between his head spikes.
He’s not even moving, Gad noticed, with both approval and a touch of jealousy. The translucent shields were reminiscent of the same massive kind she had seen the navy apprentice tanks using, and Gad had learned that they were called tower shields.
“And… Stop!” the instructor called from below.
The other tanks eased off the golden shields with sighs and groans of relief, and Tun straightened his back and deactivated his newest skill, [Phalanx of Safeguarding]. The skill allowed him to create four shields of aura, mirroring his own, real and new tower shield, creating two shields on either side of his real one. These skill shields acted just as normal shields would, but of course, the morsvar still needed to be strong enough to hold the increased pressure of blocking off the enemy with his five shields, which was something that Tun’s instructor was working on.
In silence, Tun dropped to one knee, hanging his head low and breathing hard, and the instructor leaned down next to him to speak with the exhausted tank.
Gad lifted her eyes from the two of them, and scanned the rest of the Tank’s Hall from her vantage point atop the metal walkways where the gymnasium was set up to strengthen the tank apprentices.
In one corner, an altei had turned her body and uniform into a dark blue, matt metal of some form. Another tank circled her, probing her metallic body with glancing blows but none seemed to be having any effect.
Nearby, another tank hesitantly circled his opponent, who seemed to have sprouted two sharp, yellowish and vicious looking bone spikes that curved up from his shoulder blades. Every time the two of them locked shields, one of the bone spikes would dart over the shields, lancing for his head or shoulder, and he would be forced to jump back again.
Earth, rock and metal, but also fire, blood, and bone, and many, many more, Gad thought, as she scanned the training grounds. Her eyes easily picked off the new and flashy skills being tested and displayed by those who had unlocked their affinities, and who were now seeing the first results of their much anticipated path’ course corrections.
There’s even shadow… she thought, considering another tank.
The woman held her shield aloof, almost taunting her opponent to step closer and come and get her. But the tank facing her was understandably hesitant as she stared at the shifting circle of shadows that spread from and covered her opponents’ feet.
Gad observed their encounter and winced as the affinity-less tank stepped onto the shadows, and immediately swayed sideways, thrown off by whatever status effect those eerie shadows had as they latched onto her feet and ankles.
Gad sighed and returned to her bicep curls. There was nothing she could do now other than to keep training, keep getting gains and strengthen her body to make full use of her attributes, and hope that her affinity would reveal itself to her soon. Without it, she was stuck with her lackluster Climbing skills. And with nothing better to do than to lift the weights, Gad scanned her still unchanged list of skills as she pumped the irons.
-[ Skills
Active
Shield Barricade 2 (Taunt/Buff): Cover behind your shield, generating a wave of AOE threat in a 40-feet radius (can be resisted). While the skill is active, your [Strength] and [Toughness] are increased by 5 points, and all damage received is further decreased by 10%. Cooldown 30 minutes. Costs 20 stamina. - Common
Shield Call 2 (Taunt):
Single Target (Taunt): Bang your weapon against your shield, letting your call rang loud and clear while you stare at your target. The enemy will be taunted, abandoning any other targets to focus on you. Target must be within sight. 2 charges. Cooldown 30 seconds per charge. Costs 10 stamina. Warning: Skill may be resisted. - Common
Multi-Target (Taunt): Bang your weapon against your shield, letting your call rang loud and clear, focusing your will to draw all within a 20-foot radius to focus their attacks on you. The enemy will be taunted, abandoning any other targets to focus on you. 1 charge. Cooldown 30 seconds per charge. Costs 35 stamina. Warning: Skill may be resisted. - Common
Meditation (Aura/Recovery): recharge your aura through deep breathing and the emptying of your mind. Through this, it is possible to access a sense of… (No more information available) - Common
Passive
Threatening Hits (Aggro Gen.): There is true might and deadly intent behind each and every one of your blows. Each carries with it the promise of death, and you are a threat that cannot be ignored. Each hit generates a small and stackable amount of aggro. Effect triggers automatically during combat, and consumes a steady stream of stamina. - Common
Aura Pathways 2 (Aura): True form of the [Aura Channels] skill. [Aura Pathways] spread out and reach throughout the body, connecting your aura core to every part of your physical being. The higher the level of the pathways, the higher its quality, allowing the user to better cycle their aura, in higher quantities, and with lesser and lesser loss of aura through leakage. - Common
Mastery 2 (Aura): The amount of aura that you can cycle and control all at once. Each journey is its own. Currently, 40 aura points. Warning: While you can reach for more aura, it will be extremely difficult, and carries with it potentially very serious risks - Common
Dark Vision (Enhancement): As one born in the deepest darkness, you will always be able to see well through the dark. - Common
Toughened Constitution (Environmental/Enhancement): You have been close to toxic, poisonous, spent aetherium your whole life. You have inhaled the killing fumes. You have withstood the all-melting fires… Your body has endured much, and has become toughened thanks to it. Reduces damage taken by 10% (does not include mental or psychic damage). - Uncommon ]-
She grunted and closed the list.
It was not that the skills were bad per se. In fact, they were perfectly good tanking skills, being composed of a mix of aggro management and survivability enhancement capabilities, which were the basic tools a tank needed to perform its role. With them, Gad had protected the party across the B-Nex and in their latest fight, at the den. And the [Toughened Constitution] passive had been an extremely pleasant surprise to receive with her post-Ceremony gains.
However… The skills weren’t exactly great. With only two single target charges and one multi-target one, each taking thirty seconds of cooldown, her [Shield Call] skill limited her aggro capabilities in large scale battles like the Ceremony and the den. And even on smaller battles, a lot happened in just a couple of seconds, much less half a minute, and while it didn’t happen a lot, the enemy was capable of resisting her taunts, especially the multi-target one… Which meant not only a used taunt charge, but a wasted one when it happened.
And her [Shield Barricade] skill, with its full half an hour of cooldown meant that she needed to be extremely cautious of when she used the skill, knowing that she would be locked from using it for the following thirty minutes. In a quick battle, as they had commonly faced in the Climb, that made the skill only usable once. Besides that, while the AOE aggro wave was excellent, the extra 5 points in [Strength] and [Toughness] that had been lifesaving in the Climb were barely even felt now. With her large [Constitution*] granting her a comfortable 610 points of HP, alongside her much smaller, but still very much significant 34 points in [Toughness], the extra 5 points were, for the most part, not ground shaking to say the least.
And while such defenses were impressive by the party’s standards, they were just average amongst the other tank apprentices. Plenty of them even had [Toughened Constitution] just like she did, having been trolley pushers just like she had.
Even her passive [Threatening Hits] felt lackluster, forcing her to constantly swap between enemies to keep her aggro up and the party safe. And it was a dangerous thing to do, juggling her attention between multiple enemies like that. Luckily, her [Awareness] attribute was greatly helping her out with that, and sometimes, it felt like she had multiple sets of eyes, and her [Perception] wasn’t bad to have either. But she didn’t have Nar’s [Speed], [Agility], [Reflex], [Instinct] or [NPC], which was starting to seriously hinder her as the enemy got stronger… Meaning, either she quickly improved, or she needed to start tanking in a different way, moving past the normal “sword and board” as the instructors like to call the combination of a one-handed weapon and a shield.
She grit her teeth against the burning pain of the rep and forced herself to keep going, demanding more from her muscles.
She was being harsh on herself. Her skills were pretty much the same as everyone without an affinity in the Tanks Hall, and her performance was more than acceptable. Where she lacked, was in comparison to those who had unlocked their affinities… And that perhaps was what had her so frustrated, for the base skill set of the auramancer tank failed in one, very crucial, and spectacular way. It made absolutely no use of her aura whatsoever.
How could she be an [Auramancer Shield Warrior] without any actual aura combat skills? For that matter, she hadn’t made any [Aura*] gains since the Ceremony, and was still stuck at the same 59 points of it, the lowest in the party.
True, she could cycle her aura into her shield and her mace again, and she was making respectable progress in her combat cycling. And while this helped hold her ground, it was not enough. She needed more. She needed her affinity to unlock.
Without it, and without improved and new aura skills, there was no way she was going to be able to keep up with the new and powerful skills that the others in the party were starting to display.
Especially Mul’s fire, she thought.
She could still feel that blazing heat on her face, coming off the brawler as he enraged. She had felt it even through her aura armor, and she had been powerless to match the tremendous amount of aggro that the lengos had exuded from just his very, burning presence. If not for that hideous, and horrendous suppressor that had been forced upon the brawler, there was no way she could operate as a tank in the same party as him.
And what effect would Jul’s fear debuffs have on the enemy? What havoc would Viy cause with her yet to be understood affinity? Or Rel’s mighty blood focused, repentance path? Or Kur, whose debuffs would now hit the enemies’ mind directly?
And soon, Tuk and Cen would gain their affinities as well, and there was not a single shred of doubt in her mind that the two of them would become even more DPS monsters than they already were, especially given Cen’s desperate beam of pure aura…
And then there’s Nar, she sighed, and put down the weights.
Nar was building something much beyond her ability to foresee. It was slow going now, yes, but she wasn’t sure for how long… Or when he would suddenly explode and leap much further than all of them. Nar’s path was going to be a sight to behold, and she almost dreaded the day he would unlock his affinity, for she doubted there was a tank out there that would be able to keep up with his Champion path and aggro.
Especially not me. Not like this, at least, she thought, as she leaned over the railing to look down again.
Tun was going at it once more, the tank apprentices opposite him having been cycled out by fresh ones.
I need something like that, she thought. Something that can keep up with the others… Something that can keep us all safe out here.
Unfortunately, all she could do for the moment was continue her training and conditioning, and continue to learn and study the ways of the tank, and hope that she would be capable enough to keep the party safe until she finally unlocked her affinity.
Comments
Lucas Onderwater
Oops! Sorry for the delay there! We have one more, bigger chapter with Tuk and Rel's POV in the Ranged Hall tomorrow, and then it's back to Nar's POV. And apologies for the delay in replying to the comments! I'm currently throwing every free minute into writing, but I will get to them! I hope everyone's been enjoying seeing the Scimitar and faculty, and the tidbids of worldbuilding, from the other's perspective! All the best!
