Paragon of Skills

Chapter 269

Thalric Ashenvale walks down the stairs of the Sleeping Goose Inn holding the banister with both hands.

He has a pervasive soreness across his entire body even though Mr. Cabbage only healed, or partially-healed, his leg. The weird cold sensation in his left leg has gone, though. He can't believe it.

For the first time in two months, he is not in pain.

There's a smell of rotten onions on the ground floor of the inn, and he finds Doran and Maelin, nursing two cups of ale. They look up the moment Thalric appears at the bottom of the stairs.

"WELL WELL WELL," Maelin announces to the entire common room. "If it isn't the protégé of the great Mr. Cabbage."

A few heads turn. A drunk in the corner snickers without knowing why.

Thalric walks over to their table.

He sits down.

He picks up Doran's cup of ale and drinks all of it in one swallow.

"How did it go?" Doran asks, mildly.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine."

"How was the master?"

"Effective."

Doran's eyebrows draw together.

Maelin leans forward. "What did he have you do? Sweep his floor? Carry his slop bucket? Recite the alphabet? Tell us everything, Thalric. Don't leave out a single humiliating —"

"He hopped me on one leg and his assistant kicked me in the thigh to resolve a Mana Vein blockage I have been suffering for longer than two months."

Maelin's mouth stops moving.

"He what."

"You heard me."

"He kicked you."

"Yes."

"And you let him."

"Yes."

"Why."

"The kick fixed me, Maelin."

Doran, on the other side, sets down his dice.

"Thalric. Stand up."

"Doran, I don't —"

"Stand up."

Thalric stands up.

Doran walks around the table. He stops in front of Thalric and puts both hands on his shoulders. He squeezes the left one. He runs his thumb along the seam where the shoulder meets the neck. He pushes his palm against the muscle below Thalric's collarbone.

Thalric does not flinch.

Two months ago, even a polite touch in that exact spot had made him grit his teeth and look away.

Doran takes his hands back.

"The pain had spread up to your teeth," Doran says, very quietly.

Thalric had given some insight to his friends. They are the only ones who knew.

"I know."

"You told me you stopped attacking with your left arm because of a cold."

"I lied."

"Yes. I knew you were lying when you said it. I just couldn't figure out what about. Mother of mercy. Mr. Cabbage fixed this? Mr. Cabbage?"

Maelin makes a noise that is half outrage and half panic.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT. Hold on. The bet."

"Maelin. Shut up."

"You lost a bet. The whole point of the bet was —"

"I'm going to swear my apprenticeship to him."

At their table, three men go very still.

"You're going to what."

"I'm going to fire Master Brendev."

"You can't fire Master Brendev. Master Brendev is the most respected —"

"Master Brendev would have killed me."

"Thalric, that is a very serious—"

"Mr. Cabbage diagnosed this on sight. Master Brendev told me I was being soft. Mr. Cabbage told me my Mana Vein was three weeks from rupture. Mr. Cabbage was right. So I am going to fire Master Brendev, swear myself to Mr. Cabbage."

Maelin and Doran stare at him.

"You're serious," Maelin says, finally.

"Yes."

"You are actually serious. About the worst Tutor on the—"

"He is not the worst Tutor in Ashenmere. He is, as far as I can tell, the only competent Tutor in Ashenmere. Everyone else, including my master, is either an idiot or a fraud. I am leaving the bet table now. I am going to my family's house. I am going to inform my parents that I am leaving Master Brendev's Tutelage. I am going to come back in a week."

He pauses.

"You are welcome to come check. I will not, however, be offering any other entertainment."

He turns and walks out of the inn.

The door swings shut behind him.

Maelin breaks first.

"...What just happened."

"He's gone insane."

"I'm going to go find Lyssaena."

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Maelin blinks at him. "Lyssaena?"

Doran is already standing up.

"Yes."

"Why."

"Because Thalric just lost his mind."

"...You're going to send Lyssaena to Mr. Cabbage."

"Yes."

"She is not going to be polite to a man called Mr. Cabbage."

"Maelin, I'm not sure what this man has done, but I suspect that Thalric was just swindled. Lyssaena is the best of us. She'll know what to do with Mr. Cabbage."

Maelin closes his mouth.

He stands up too.

"I'll come with you."

***

Above the kitchen, in the room with the warped door, Jacob Cloud lies flat on the bed and stares at the ceiling.

Lancelot is on the floor, finishing the last of the ham.

The water is, mostly, drying.

"Boss."

"Mm."

"You should look at your sheet."

"I know my sheet, Lancelot."

"You haven't looked at your sheet since the spell. Your sheet might be different."

"My sheet is not different. I've been checking my channels every day."

"That's not the same as looking at the sheet."

Jacob exhales through his nose.

He has not opened his Status Sheet in the eleven days since the Headmaster healed him after the tournament. He has known what the changes are. He has felt them in the way his Mana moves, in the way the Grimoire opens to pages he has never asked for, in the way the First Seal of Baalrek's sword hums faintly under the scabbard.

He has not wanted to look because looking would make it real.

But Lancelot is right. He should know what he has before whatever they're walking into in the magical mine starts demanding he know it.

He closes his eyes.

"Status."

The sheet unfolds in his mind's eye.

Name: Jacob Cloud

Class: Architect of Ruin – Lv. 390

Core Skills:

Hellraiser Sword – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Offensive, Debuff, Control)

Baal's Cage – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Control)

The Devil's Engine – Lv. 100 (True Diamond – Constitution)

Curse of Fire – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Affliction)

Heavenly Balance – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Control)

Baptism of Blood and Fire – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Support)

Tribulation of the Damned – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Offensive)

First Step of Mephistus – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Movement)

Hellish Reversal – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Debuff)

Infernal Well – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Constitution)

Embrace of Darkness – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Control)

Diavolo Hypercut – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Offensive)

Domain of Ruin and Bones – Lv. 100 (Diamond – Domain)

The Primordial Grimoire (Rainbow – Support)

Class Skills:

Furnace Core (Passive) – Lv. 100

Cinder Rot (Active) – Lv. 100

Ash Fever (Active) – Lv. 100

Blight of Embers (Active) – Lv. 100

Smoldering Blood (Active) – Lv. 100

Armor of Cinders (Active) – Lv. 100

Architect's Ruin (Passive) – Lv. 100

Attributes:

Strength (STR): 1,805

Dexterity (DEX): 2,322

Endurance (END): 1,703

Vitality (VIT): 2,322

Intelligence (INT): 3,344

Spirit (SPI): 3,344

Wisdom (WIS): 2,639

Charisma (CHA): 18

Luck (LCK): 10

Other Skills:

Minor Cookery – Lv. 35 (Iron)

Greater Night Vision – Lv. 100 (Gold)

Light – Lv. 100 (Bronze)

Expert Pickaxe Mastery – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Greater Mineral Sense – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Vibrational Hyperawareness – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Platinum Grip – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Expert Endurance – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Expert Strength – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Greater Striking Rhythm – Lv. 100 (Platinum)

Jacob's greatest Skill, The Grimoire Extraordinaire, evolved into the Primordial Grimoire during the duel against Iskara and Nimirea. The rest of his Skills were maxed during the trial he partook with Iskara against all the hordes of monsters Liuthkrav threw at him.

The one Skill he has not managed to upgrade to True Diamond is Heavenly Balance

Jacob opens his eyes and sits up.

He looks at Lancelot for a long second.

Then he stands, picks up his cloak, and slings it over his shoulders.

"Get up. We're going to the market."

"For what."

"For ingredients. For that guy, Thalric. The clog needs three ingredients at minimum. That's what the... you know. I'd like to be able to get everything we need before he comes back so we can get into the mine before whoever's been planting things in this city notices a Tutor is standing out because of you."

"Boss."

"And while we're there I want to scan for Skill Crystals. We left in a hurry. I haven't really put much thought into whether I need anything other than Heavenly Balance to upgrade to True Diamond before pushing for a Class Evolution."

"Boss."

Jacob stops, one arm in his cloak.

"What."

Lancelot does not answer with words. He just looks at Jacob with the patient, slightly worried expression of a man who has seen his friend ignore everything that happened barely a few weeks ago.

Jacob holds his gaze for a moment.

Then he finishes the cloak and walks to the door.

"The market," he says.

Lancelot gets up and follows him.

***

The Ashenmere market is a long crooked spine of stalls and awnings that runs from the eastern gate to the river bank, and by midday it is the loudest place in the city.

Jacob walks through it slowly. His Primordial Magic disguise is doing the slow steady work of making his face uninteresting. People look at him and slide their eyes past him without registering him. Lance, two paces behind, draws more attention, mostly because he keeps stopping at every food stall and breathing in audibly through his nose.

"Lance."

"I'm sniffing."

"I am aware that you are sniffing."

"Sniffing isn't buying."

"Sniffing is a precursor to buying."

"Lance."

"Mm."

"We are on a mission."

Jacob sighs and relents, fishing for silver coins in his pockets, "Ok, you can buy two snacks."

"Three snacks."

"Two."

"Two and a wrap."

"Lance."

"Two and a wrap, with a side of those candied nuts."

"Get out of my sight."

Lance peels off toward a stall selling small skewered meats, beaming.

Jacob walks on alone.

The Grimoire scans everything Jacob looks at on the stalls.

When he had examined Thalric the day before, the Grimoire had given him this:

[Grimoire Analysis]

[Thalric Ashenvale. Diamond Rank. Body Cultivation Specialist.]

[7 Flaws detected. 1 Critical Flaw Detected.]

[Critical Flaw: Left Main Femoral Mana Vein — chronic obstruction. Calcified scar tissue from failed self-repair. Flow redirected into Secondary Lateral Veins. Full rupture under combat-level circulation within three to five weeks.]

[The Fix: Stage One — targeted kinetic shock to opposing leg to dislodge calcification. Stage Two — reagent compound applied to Mana Vein wall. Required: Ashfire Root (powdered), Crystallized Vein Moss, one drop of Silvered Marrow Oil. Must be administered within seven days of Stage One.]

Jacob had kicked Stage One loose yesterday through Lance. Stage Two needs those three reagents, and he does not have any of them.

Three stalls where the herbs and powders and bundled roots carry a trace mana signature that does not belong to them. Faint. The kind of thing only the Grimoire would catch. The residue of a hand that has touched the goods recently and left an imprint of something other.

The signature is...

[Grimoire Analysis: Trace Mana Signature — Corruption detected. Origin: God of Monsters, Asmodeus.]

Jacob's stomach drops.

He keeps walking. His face does not change. His pace does not change.

So Orrivane was right.

And it is showing up at three specific stalls, all in the eastern half of the market, all within four streets of the entrance to the magical mine.

Jacob walks past the first of the three now.

The Grimoire scans as he passes.

Jacob's pace, which has not changed, is suddenly carrying him much further into the market than he had planned to go. He stops at a stall that has nothing to do with the mission — an old man selling brass cookware — and leans against the counter and pretends to examine a small kettle.

A commotion at the next stall over breaks his concentration. A woman in a merchant's apron is shouting a name with reverence in it.

"Master Velnaris arrives in two days! Two days! Make your appointments now! He'll be at the Lily Hall! Reduced rates for the people of Ashenmere! Master Velnaris himself will appraise reagents and treat ailments! Two days!"

Jacob's head turns slightly.

"Master Velnaris, the most famous herbalist, he'll come for public appraisals soon!"

'Lance' reappears at his elbow, chewing on something.

"Boss. There's a man selling sugared dough at the river end."

"Lance."

"It smells incredible."

"We're heading back."

"Boss, the dough."

"I need to go retrieve the Tutor token tomorrow morning. The Guild needs paperwork. Then, we'll need to go to Lily Hall in two days. I didn't find what we need. But I suspect there's going to be plenty of sellers gathering around at Lily Hall."