The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

"Congratulations on defeating the first three waves of the Battodo Trial!" said Hiroto, "It is not an easy challenge for new swordsmen, and as a reward you may have additional sword EXP. This will allow you to develop your skills further. Your next task will be to face the boss, Athur. The boss room can be found in the corner of a small garden to the South-West of Kruxol, which I have marked on your maps, and you will need to dig up four swords hidden in the garden's soil before the boss' door unlocks. It will be easier to do this with a team of three people, so please wait until your third partner returns."

Crucis checked on his light sword skill tree, since he had obtained 12 skill points from Hiroto's reward. He saw several available options:

[Nimble (passive) | Increases your Agility by 100.]

[Cost: 3 points.] [Mordhau | Active skill, hold the sword by the blade and strike using the hilt. Delivers a strong, blunt blow.]

[Cost: 7 points.] [Thrash | Allows you to hack crudely with your sword at a surface, most useful for breaking through obstacles like vines and branches. Strikes 3 times.]

[Cost: 2 points.] [Hard/soft (passive) | When blades are crossed, allows the user to alter how much pressure they are putting on the opponent's blade.]

[Cost: 2 points.] [Blade Strike | Active skill, strikes at the opponent's blade to displace it.]

[Cost: 5 points.] [Balanced Strike (passive) | Using your knowledge of Warding allows you to launch attacks more comfortably from various positions, 5% increase to movement speed of sword skills.]

[Cost: 5 points.]

The [Balanced Strike] passive was an obvious choice here, and Crucis took it immediately. It was a clear advancement in the technique of all other sword skills, and he had been aiming to unlock it soon.

He found the [Nimble] skill interesting, as it would make his character faster even when using another weapon. He quickly scanned the skill tree for further Agility boosts of this sort, and saw that by getting [Hard/soft] he would progress towards unlocking a small cluster of Agility-boosting moves, including [Agile Hands] which boosted Agility in a fight, and [Slick] which gave a solid 300 Agility boost. He reflected that these passive skills were probably a way for Strength-based warriors to get the speed necessary for effective swordfighting. However, he decided that he could take advantage of such skills, and increase his already-high Agility to exaggerated extents. Looking further down the tree, he saw a few skills which gave very high Agility and Dexterity boosts, but they were gated behind a [Dual-Wielding] skill that required a costly 70 skill points to activate. Since the sword was not his primary weapon, advancing that far would leave him few points left for other skills. However, he decided that it might be worth saving up some skill points over time, to get these Agility-boosting passive skills.

As he was scanning the skill tree, he noticed that a move named [Wrath Strike] could be unlocked soon, by following a branch beginning at [Nimble]. It looked to be an effective, fast strike with a long range, targetting the head and neck region. This would be useful as a way to threaten weaker opponents quickly. He spent 5 points to gain the [Nimble] passive, increasing his speed slightly, and the [Hard/soft] passive, then used his remaining points to gain the [Thrash] skill. While [Thrash] would be less damaging in battle than a clean strike, and wasn't that effective in the context of a swordfight, Crucis assumed that he could find some use for it.

He considered whether there were any other measures in place to help high-Strength warriors to increase their Agility quickly. He recalled that many warriors trained their archery skills up to a very low level, in case they could get an extra early strike from range before fighting an opponent. Due to archers typically being a high-Dexterity class, some boosts to Dexterity were likely to be included in early archery skills, though perhaps not direct Agility increases. However, these archery skills could be used to develop basic skills in Hunting, a tradeskill which involved the pursuit of rare game to gain valuable materials, and was mostly practiced in large, designated areas. Further, he had heard that there was a quest early on which gave an Agility boost while it was active, and involved delivering a letter to an NPC near Kruxol in a short time-frame. Many players had used it as a source of high early EXP, but he hadn't been able to find the quest-giver when he was exploring the town just after starting. Perhaps he would have better luck searching now.

While he was looking through his character page, DigdugMan walked up to him.

"Hi. Do you know what the point of the Hard-or-soft skill is? I was wondering if it would be worth getting," asked the Mage.

"You should definitely get it," said Crucis, "because it leads to a couple of passive skills that increase INT, like [Judgement] and [Clash Feeling]."

"Ah, good catch. Yes, it does sound good for Mages. But what does it do, is it of any use by itself?"

Crucis looked around, and motioned the Mage towards a corner of the [Kruxol Sword Training] building. He picked up a wooden practice sword, marked as a [Bokken], and faced the Mage.

"Pick up one of these, then strike my sword from your left," said Crucis, "I'll try and show what this skill does."

"Sure thing."

DigdugMan picked up the wooden sword, and swung it slowly and casually until both [Bokken] were clashing on Crucis' right side.

"Since you are just hovering your sword there," Crucis said, "I can apply pressure and move your sword to the side."

He used the [Hard/soft] skill to apply [Hard] pressure against the Mage's lax grip, pushing the Mage's sword further to the right side.

"This could give me space for an attack," continued Crucis, "but now try applying more pressure to my sword." He brought his practice sword near his ankles on the right side.

DigdugMan pressed his sword more firmly against Crucis' wooden sword on the right, and Crucis then switched to [Soft] pressure. DigdugMan's sword slipped forwards past the bottom of Crucis' blade, but Crucis had stepped to the left side and held his practice sword up facing DigdugMan.

"If you are applying pressure, then I can give way a bit and you will keep moving," explained Crucis, "If you aren't, then I can apply pressure. It's basically a way to manipulate the fight, for example when blades clash. You can use the opponent's pressure to divert their blade into a position which favours you. It's probably quite effective here, since this is a video game and people will mostly just chain hard cuts and slashes which can be diverted wide easily."

"How do you mean?"

"Say someone attacks low or to the side, then you block it. You can allow their sword to slide away downwards or sideways, under your sword, and then get a free strike at their head."

"That makes more sense, thanks. By the way, are you planning to enter the Kruxol Arena in a few days?" asked the Mage.

"I mean, it's not like I'm going to be busy IRL," laughed Crucis, "Yeah, sure, do you need a team?"

"Yep. I didn't get to join a Guild yet, but I am pledged to the GildedKnights. They don't have many players to spare, however. Their bigger players are mostly not in Kruxol, and everyone left is still trying to cajole their way into a big player's team."

"Ah yes, I have heard of that Guild. So you can't find anyone else to join us in there?"

"I know one guy who's up for joining. He's named LuegoLuego, and is a warrior. His level's not that high, similar to GemsBond, and he has been asking around for people joining the event. He has some good equipment due to the Guild, so he seems like a good shout unless you have a better alternative?"

"Alternative? Hm. Does he have a brother named Mario?" quipped Crucis.

"Ha, not that I know of. His name is because he's Hispanic, I think, and was brought here by another player named Ligate who's his friend. Ligate is currently a bit battle-shy, so Luego doesn't have a team."

"Do you know much about the guy's skills in battle?"

"Honestly? Nope, I haven't seen much of him, only a few PvE fights. I think he's a bit tanky, he got some good armour from our leader. He's a bit aggressive in fights, but seemingly plays well."

"I see. Well, I guess we don't have many options. Maybe we can try to ask GemsBond if he's interested, and if he is then we can ask Luego to duel him to decide who joins the team. I heard that a few Guilds were using duels to audition for the teams. At least we'd be able to quickly figure out how good he is at fighting."

"Duels based on Arena rules, first to one-third HP loses? Yeah, I could try asking. Our Guild has a small, hidden alcove near Kruxol where players duel, outside of a safe zone but generally untroubled by gankers. I saw Luego at the entrance to it a couple of times, so he'd probably be up for it. Guilds have some armbands that prevent team-kills, that is, they don't let you kill Guildmates who are also wearing them. So I could always loan one to DigdugMan temporarily."

"That sounds great. Tell Luego that you have a team with a player near level 50, and I asked for interested players to duel so that you could figure out how good they are at this kind of fighting."

"Sure, sure. Anyway, the next mission is down South, is it safe there?"

"I can always scout the area, and meet you at the entrance of the woods after checking if there are dangerous players or bosses around. I'll head off in a couple of minutes." Crucis was glad to get an excuse to check out the mysterious imitation cottage South-West of Kruxol.

"We still have 45 minutes, but sure, if you want to figure out the directions. Thanks."

Crucis nodded, and saw that DigdugMan had become silent. He guessed that the Mage was looking through the sword skill tree, which he had asked about earlier.

"By the way," Crucis said, "Tell GemsBond to take Warding and Low feet once he revives. We'll need him to be stronger for the next quest."

"Oh, sure thing," said the Mage as he briefly looked up.

While strengthening the Knight for the boss battle would be useful, Crucis actually intended to strengthen him for the fight against LuegoLuego as well. He wanted to make sure that both combatants got down to fairly low HP. While he wasn't that sure about which player was stronger, he wasn't that keen to associate heavily with GildedKnights again, and didn't want Ligate to scrutinise the fight since Crucis might be recognised.

As Crucis left the [Kruxol Sword Training] building, heading towards the South-West of Kruxol, he was surprised by a quiet, lisping voice.

"Hey, sir! You look like you're learning to swordfight! But isn't that dull? Why not learn the art of ceremonial swordfighting, so that you can take part in Kruxol swordfighting shows? With some fancy spins and flourishes, you will impress the audience!"

Crucis looked over, and saw that the voice belonged to an NPC named [Obi], who wore a long, flat moustache and had a slightly hunched back. Crucis was about to reject the offer, not interested in the swordfighting shows which were little more than a circus, but then realised that most participants he had glimpsed in those shows were warriors. This meant that, to keep up with the flashy spins and showmanship, these warriors would probably need Agility boosts. While Crucis was reluctant to waste skill points on useless abilities, he decided to check if these abilities unlocked Agility boosts, and if not he could reallocate the skill points. As long as a player hadn't developed beyond beginner level in a skill, the points could still be easily reallocated.

After he accepted Obi's request, the NPC brought his hand forwards with the back of the palm towards Crucis, then withdrew his sword from its sheath and flicked it in Crucis' direction in one motion, finally spinning it in a wide circle. He asked Crucis to also try a spin. Crucis saw that he had unlocked the [Circle spin] skill, and quickly whipped his sword in a wide circle, much to Obi's approval.

Crucis saw that this skill unlocked a new skill tree, that appeared alongside the normal long sword skill tree. This new skill tree was full of several ceremonial moves, but learning most of them would be a waste of skill points. While these skills could lead to success in swordfighting shows, and perhaps allow players to join a travelling act, it would still ultimately limit how much a player could develop in fights and other skills. However, more to Crucis' interest, a short way down the tree there were a few clumps of high Agility boosts.

"Now strike my blade, and then spin away," said Obi, holding his sword out vertically.

Using the [Hard/soft] skill to soften his blow, Crucis struck his blade diagonally across Obi's sword, and as it flew backwards from the clash he used the [Circle spin] skill to cycle his wrist to the side and spin the sword in a circle on his right side. He brought it back to pointing at Obi.

"Well done," said his sleazy mentor, "Now that you have unlocked the [Rebound spin] skill, you have two choices which will allow you to use this in a fight sequence. Choose wisely, and clash with my weapon when you are done."

Crucis saw that he could now choose between the [Wheel Strike Sequence] and the [Idle Spiral]. Neither was useful, but he saw that the [Wheel Strike Sequence] would lead him to a hefty 300 Agility boost. He chose that.

Lifting his sword to strike Obi's, he activated [Wheel Strike Sequence], and Obi did the same. Their blades whirred in a circling motion and clashed into each other, in a sequence where Crucis saw that even an inexperienced fighter could have easily hit a dangerous thrust past the opponent's circling blade. Obi seemed to find this effective, and told Crucis to develop his skills until he had activated a skill which involved spinning the body.

Crucis quickly activated the [Ceremonial Flair] passive skill, which gave him 300 Agility, and the [Whirling Blade] skill which increased his Agility by 2% when attacking with a blade, whether with sword or dagger. Finally, he unlocked the [Whirl] skill, which involved a near-circular turn during battle that flowed into an attack. This would be a strange move in an actual fight, as it would turn your back to the opponent and allow them to strike easily. Regardless, after he had learnt it, Obi slowly struck towards him, and then he spun 270 degrees to the right 270 degrees and struck casually at Obi from the left in a flowing motion. Obi parried the hit.

"I must go for now, but I will see you soon if you come around this neighbourhood again for more sword practice. If you are finding it difficult to pull off these moves, then use the bonus passive skills to boost Agility. Practice your skills!" said Obi, slinking effortlessly into a nearby alley and disappearing.

Crucis was slightly bemused after that lesson in useless skills, but saw that he could gain a few Agility boosts if he developed his skills towards a part of the ceremonial sword skill tree that involved combining skills into longer sequences. He used his remaining skill points on developing in that direction, gaining the [Spinning strike] active skill and a [Flow] passive skill that increased Agility by 100, and allowed you to use ceremonial sword skills with little pause in between. Although this session had involved some worthless skills, the Agility gain of 400 was very high and came at a cheap cost. The [Whirling Blade] passive was also valuable. He decided that he could develop further in this skill tree in order to gain the early Agility boosts, which Obi said were for players who did not have enough Agility, and then could stop instead of developing advanced techniques. After all, as an Assassin, could he really have enough Agility?

He saw a system message:

[Hiroto has evaluated your performance at the tasks set so far, and you may now return to him to claim further rewards.]

Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't reached the South of Kruxol yet. He skipped quickly back into the [Kruxol Sword Training] building, and walked up to Hiroto.

"Congratulations! For surviving the tasks so far, and not requiring too many tries, you have been awarded bonus sword EXP," said Hiroto.

Crucis saw that DigdugMan was also there to collect rewards, so Crucis moved out of the way to let DigdugMan talk to the trainer undisturbed. Checking through his character sheet, Crucis saw that he had gained 30 points for sword skills. This was enough to unlock the [Wrath strike] skill, which he promptly did, along with a couple of other skills necessary to reach [Wrath strike] on the skill tree. This included a skill named [Sweeping high cut], a near-horizontal cut from the side at almost above head-height, and three passive skills which increased the power of the basic [Slash]. He felt like he would have several new attacking options. Practicing these skills, he found that the [Wrath strike] was a long, heaved diagonal cut from the top-right which approached the opponent's head. He found himself having to haul the sword from behind him, pointing left, to a position in front of his face. However, he noticed that it was a fast movement, swinging the sword like a lever around his right shoulder, and along with follow-up attacks it could easily endanger an unprepared opponent.

He had also obtained a few skill points for the Assassin class, and used these to increase his [Black Spot] skill to level 8, and unlock the [Speed Demon] skill which increased movement speed by 10% for 2 seconds during combat. It could only be activated after ten seconds of combat had elapsed. He increased this skill to level 4, giving a 14% speed increase.

After depositing his items in the Storage building, he set off for the woods in the South-West.