The Power of Ten

“Wolverine Style is Anything Goes. It is pure brutal mastery of unarmed combat in all styles and forms. It is the art of fighting unarmed, as opposed to the art of using the Phoenix Claw, you understand? Hands, feet, fists, kicks, head, elbows, knees; wrench, bite, gouge, rip, tear... you use it all. It has no form because it uses whatever needs to be used. It is pure unbridled ferocity!

“You apply that to a Sword, and you have to be able to use a Sword in whatever way is needed to win. Adhering to one Style just means that your enemy knows your strength and can play against it. Parrying instead of trying to dodge, or wearing armor and not trying to dodge much at all,” she pointed out.

His lips pursed as he realized that some of the opponents he’d sparred with had done that completely deliberately, not just because it worked better. Fire Dancing was designed to catch the fast and elusive, but those who defended themselves or just relied on protection it had no advantage against whatsoever...

“So, you use multiple styles at one time in your Sword?” That hurt his brain. If she was smart enough to do that... what sort of genius was he dealing with?

“Seven Dragons Swordplay, yes. Way Masteries in Sun, Shadow, Moon, Fire, Ocean, Storm, and Crystal.”

His mouth went dry. He was sure that wasn’t possible. All sorts of Masters had attempted to use all the different types of chi, but it was impossible...

“Styles, not chi. I’m not Powered. Ki is both weaker and more flexible than chi in that regard.” She’d seen his confusion, and corrected it. “Seven Dragons of chi is not something any Powered can do, let alone someone with no chi.”

He breathed deeply in relief, for a moment wondering if he was dealing with some sort of monster. “No wonder your swordplay is so good!”

Sama said nothing. Double Ways in all Seven Dragons meant she was indeed terrifying to face. Armor, agility, mystical protections... she could cut through it all. A Powered trying to do the same would likely blow out their dantian from the imbalance of energies moving through them, but ki didn’t have any elemental bias to be imbalanced. She just used the style, not the Techniques, but separating that from chi bias was impossible once you started a dantian.

“So, what are you suggesting I do?” he finally asked after they continued walking along the lovely lake, realizing that he had no idea on where to go and how to progress. He wasn’t smart enough to be a good Caster... and his best Stat in that area was the same 13 Charisma tying him down here.

“You need to go back to your foundation. You aren’t going to get anywhere without playing to your true strengths... which is the fact you are naturally tough and strong. Powered tend to ignore their basic physicals in their rush to use magic or chi. It’s time for you to take a step back and do what humans have been doing throughout history. Just because they are simple and don’t toss Fire about doesn’t mean they were wrong.”

He didn’t say anything to that. He loved wielding chi, loved using Fire, and would love to learn the higher forms, being able to project fire, cut swathes of it, bring up an Elemental helper, and the like. But that seemed like a pipe dream...

“So, a Primos Class?”

She nodded. “Melee Levels will take you to Five with no problem, just on Stats. You can build on them to make it all the way to Eight or Nine if you like... and you can still pick up Dragon techniques as you go. As a matter of fact, Crystal Dragon Techniques are ideal.”

“Crystal? With Fire?” He was kind of agog. Crystal Dragon guys sat there and took the punishment doled out at them, and then retaliated with devastating blows. Fighting them was a dangerous dance of finding a weakness in their armor before one of their massive blows laid you out.

“They work amazingly well together. Crystal Dragons get stronger in their armor, Melees learn to use armor better, and the combination makes the armor almost weightless.”

She let that hang, and his eyes widened. “I could Fire Dance in armor?!” he blurted out.

“It looks very strange, but yes,” she confirmed. “It’s called the Volcano style.”

He’d seen vids of some Fire/Crystal stylists, but that was a case of switching back and forth between the styles, not really using them together seamlessly. The focus of Heavyfoot vs Hotfoot was hard to reconcile.

But Fire Dancing in armor... wouldn’t that be something...

“Furthermore, you’re ignoring the other side of your heritage. Pursue the path of a Melee, and you’re going to open some doors on the magical side of the equation. Minor magic is all you need to really make a difference at times.”

“Magic...” Magic required absolute mental ability, and he winced despite himself. It was his weak point. “What kind of magic?”

“Artificing.” He blinked. “You’re going to need it. Go to your dad, and tell him you need his direct help, not his money. You need to learn about steel.” He stared at her. “A Crystal Dragon has to make their own set of armor. There’s no way you’re going to Fire Dance in even something a dwarf makes for you. You’re going to have to learn to put magic and chi into the metal, and make it live.

“You are going to have to know steel. How to shape it, mold it, hammer it, carve it. How to put it together, and how to take it apart.

“It will change how you look at the world.

“Go to your dad. Ask him for his direct help, not his money. He’s a tool and die guy, he makes stuff out of metal. Moreover, he does it for Gritworks, so it’s done old school, by hand. He knows what you need to know. Moreover, he knows where you have to go to find out what you need to know that he doesn’t know.

“Learn the steel, and make the steel dance.”

Edward found himself looking at the sky, picturing his father’s face, so full of hope, willing to support him, drive him to be something special.

The path he was on was going nowhere. He needed his dad’s help to get there... and his dad’s help at what his dad was good at, not something the Powered did.

Not just his money!

“I’ll never get past the basics in Artifice Magic,” he admitted. He only had an 11 Intellect.

“Never say never. Never is a very long time. You would be surprised at what can become possible for a Powered.” He shot her an assessing look, wondering what that meant. “There are many roads for improvement, and if you can make it to Eight, Nine, or even Ten, lots of things open up.”

“I...” Eight? Like an elf? He didn’t dare dream of such a thing. Master Blaze was only a Seven, and considered one of the best Fire Dragons in the world! “I can take the basic classes for an Artificer. But I can’t get above One.”

“Take Battlemad and Arcane Archer Levels once you do.” He blinked. “Stack the Theurgic Levels on top. Sure, you won’t get to use the Tier II Infusions right off, but so what? Use the Slots for Extended I’s.

“Build to power!”

A strange sense of excitement, something that he hadn’t felt in years, ever since he hadn’t been able to progress higher, was building in his chest. “How do I advance as a Melee? I can’t use Wingblades with the Crystal style, right?”

“Draw them.” He flipped them out instantly, so fast they almost leapt into his hands. Valus, he loved these things! “Hold them together and say, My Brothers.”

Startled, he did so. “My Brothers!” he called out, and metal and leather flowed in his hands.

He gawked as the twenty-two inch blades flowed together, the hilts met, joined, lengthened. Almost a meter of straight silvery metal extended out of a double-hand pommel, the hilt fitting his two hands perfectly, and despite himself, he felt like he was still wielding his Wingblades in his hands...

“Your Brothers are with you,” she said, patting his shoulder.

“My Brothers are with me,” he repeated, as his fiery chi stole up the long length of the blade and set it aflame. Despite himself, he settled into his Stance, and began to cut about him, going through the forms with a sudden new enthusiasm.

“An arming sword is the only Sword that can be used in all the styles,” she said, watching him execute the basic katas with a critical eye. “However, the Crystal Dragon demands weight, which a mithral sword will not bring to the table. You will have to add some inserts, in the future... but you will add those yourself.”

He had never been the properly agile type, unable to Finesse the sword like a true Crazy Flame stylist. He found himself grinning despite himself. “Can I... can I learn the sword from you?” he dared to ask.

“Mmm. Tell you what. You take those Artificer classes. You get your dad to show you everything he knows about working metal. And you go into an arena and get the snot kicked out of you every day to get the Karma to pay for the Levels you need to be taking.

“Learn to use those Swords, and how to take a hit. To take lots of hits.

“You do that, and you can come back and learn how to use a sword from me, sure.”

“I’ll do it!” he swore, and began to laugh as he Danced through the Crazy Flame katas with his new long sword. “My Brothers are with me!”

Sama stood there and watched him find new enthusiasm. The ‘best’ teachers only wanted the most gifted students, not the ones they themselves had to work with to truly nurture and become great.

It was true, those who had the Talents and Stats could do anything the less-gifted could, faster and easier.

But the gifted didn’t need teachers like the average people did. Average people could become tremendously strong, if they knew the right paths to take and directions to go. In the end, Stat differences between normal humans tended to be fairly small, and it was Levels and foundation which became more and more important, minimizing the effect of birth. Yeah, the gifted would always be better... but as Levels progressed, that difference became smaller and smaller entirely.

The more average people were made strong, the stronger the world was.

She preferred teaching average people, because they knew what it was to be weak. While talented people were pushed to become stronger, sure, they were also lauded for their gifts, and tended to get arrogant. They didn’t know what it was like to be average.

Average people always had targets to shoot for, and if they couldn’t reach those targets themselves, they could at least try to stand equal to them.

She knew she was an outlier. She was tougher and stronger than an Amazon, had better mental Stats across the board, and six true Racial Class Levels which were ungodly powerful.

On the other hand, all her foundational memories were of gaining all those Class Levels originally as a normal human Hagchild, not as someone rocking a 28 Strength and 36 Con. She was very aware of how awesome such a high Stat line made her compared to a normal person.

A civilized society naturally valued mental ability over physical most of the time... but there was a reason strong men were respected and valued through history. Strength had its own set of useful applications, and one of the best was in melee combat.

Of course, she was biased against namby-pamby finesse fighters, so there was that. Just too many weaknesses in that kind of style of combat... and Edward here was definitely not optimized for it with his Stats, while the Crazy Flame style practically relied on it, specializing in getting Attacks of Opportunity for every cause under the sun. The higher the Dex score the better if you used Crazy Flame, and if you believed in yourself and weren’t too bright, hey, that only fed the flames more.

Berserkergang was a really simplified form of Earth and Fire chi, after all... But Edward didn’t have the necessary violent streak and rage in him to be a Berserker, so showing him that route was pointless. Given the way he was looking at My Brothers, having him learn the ropes as a Melee sword specialist should fit right in line with his personality... and someone like him would always do better fighting for others instead of for himself.

One more person saved from the pile of the mundane, Sama nodded to herself...