Kit Falbo
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MwN Chapter 38/78
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 14:25:21 +0000 UTCChapter Thirty-Eight
The after-dinner bath required bubbles. Harmony blew some into the air and used [Cold Touch] to freeze them without popping them. The skill exercise took a good amount of control. A distraction from the frustration she was holding in.
“I can't believe they were in their twenties.” Harmony moaned, unable to keep it contained.
“Mmm hmmm,” Ambrosia responded from across the room.
The tone of that response itched her newest skill, granting her too much awareness. “You knew?!”
“Lord Tyler’s levels were never that much of a secret. His idea of a challenge was usually around the size of his lunch and not the risks of a dungeon. When Max joined as an auxiliary to the staff we evaluated him fully. The others made sense.”
“I'm such a dunce.” Harmony waited for her friend to protest this and assure her this was not the case.
After a suitable amount of silence where that didn't happen, Ambrosia spoke up. “It's not like that would have changed any of the decisions you've made.”
It would have added perspective. That first fight with Max in the dungeon club. Their cockiness as they watched her solo the first floor. The sheer absurd confidence when what should have been a standard run showed hints of being weird rather than reasonable caution.
“Fine. I can still be annoyed.”
“Lady White can be any spectrum of emotion she wishes to be.”
Harmony gathered up a ball of bubbles in her hand. Froze them and hurled them in Ambrosia’s direction. Lacking mass they didn't go far and went splat on the floor.
Both girls started busting up laughing. “Okay, maybe I have been a bit prissy.”
“Lady White is prissy. Harm is a bundle of nerves who can't calm down. After you evolve. After you win the Ascendant Games we need to get you a nice long vacation.”
“I have no interest in winning the Ascendant Games. “
“Like you'll let any of those snots show you up. Max is not that bad most days, but he's still a snot.”
In some ways, the Ascendant Games were no different than when staff like Jessica challenged her with a grimy task at the manor. You stood tall and beat their expectations. Not that Bates would ever let her slack. And between hand spiders, gnomes, or some cursed item in Tyler’s collection it's not like being a servant didn’t have some deadly risk. Even those who thought she'd fail most warmed up.
“Fine. I will win it in your honor. Only if I can level quickly enough to qualify.”
“There's my Harm.”
A goal. Ambrosia certainly knew her well enough that consoling her over the fact she'd missed realizing what levels her former teammates were wouldn't work. At least when they finally entered the games they'd all be equals.
"Go get some sleep, Ambs. If Max isn't turning up tonight it will be in the morning."
Dressed for bed and two-thirds of the way into a dungeon Tactics 101 the knock she expected hours ago pulled Harmony away from the words. [Keen Investigative Awareness] was giving her new insights into the text. Often on things left unsaid by the author but implied
“Come in Max.”
The knight came in looking more drained and defeated than he had when old bones nearly wiped their party out. His pink hair was almost pale White, the glow it had adopted barely there. “I have news of the Ascendant Games, My lady.”
“How bad is the news if you look like that?”
“Oh, no. You don’t understand. Hemlock announced group dynamics will be fluid, some countries are sure to have teams and alliances. Not that there were any real details. After dinner Thorne made us do hours of trust exercises. And we're supposed to be back tomorrow. “
In weighing her options Harmony decided to be grateful rather than offended She wasn't invited. “I'm sure it was dreadful.”
“She had Len levitate us over the group and…”
“I’m sure you can tell me all about it after you tell me any important information you learned.”
With a twitch Max pulled out his notebook filled with notes so densely packed it was clear a scribe had written them.
“Guild master Hemlock isn’t playing nice. Thorne really hates him, you should hear some of the curse words she said under her breath. Hemlock is going to trickle out information, as part of his agreement with Ha’zel Ri. She muttered about how it was probably something he requested. This afternoon she got the notification that all of us were selected to represent our kingdom, bypassing more competent adventurers she’d already had lined up.”
"No wonder she was pissed. Having to deal with irate adventurers who missed out on this chance or the families of those who died trying to level up in time."
“First are the restrictions. No oath sworn servants, or chaining bonds, so if you take Adric then Bowe can’t go with you. We are limited to four total bonds out of these categories, pair bonds, primal bonds, summon bonds, fate bonds, theocratic bonds, astral bonds, polyamorous bonds, quantum bonds, Jamesian bonds, and protoplasmic bonds. I don't even know what more than half of these are. When I asked about polyamorous Bonds because that sounded interesting, Thorne smacked my hand like I was a child and said, no.”
Would Night count As a paired bond? Everyone knew about Adric. “I have at least one of those. What is Thorne saying about the bonds? And what about familiars.”
“I'm getting to that. You know Len was all over that. They don't count against your total. A complete cheat. Thorne will go over bonding options for us later. We're only to have three filled until we evolve because that choice could grant us one, one too many and you're disqualified. Most competitors will max their bonds.”
“How am I going to fill mine out?”
“That's all the information for now. Don't worry you've got a man on the inside. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for you.”
When did trying to win become so important? Frustration rising, she dismissed him to rest up for tomorrow's trials and training. Something she should do too. Dungeon Tactics 101 sat beside her bed, lying open mid-chapter. That needs to be finished and what's a few more chapters?
