Chapter 74

  Evaluating the Rookie

  (Vivienne Voyou)

  (Ten Minutes Ago)

  Vivienne Voyou knew that fighting was a young person’s game. That many people spent time going to the wastelands first, before even daring to tackle a rift. Even for well maintained teams, there were issues that could always come into play.

  Take for instance, Mr. Yi recklessly charging in to strike at a beast before they delivered an initial strike. Worse, that strike was enough to send Mr. Yi flying away and make it so that Vivienne could only watch as her beloved Christoph had to fend off the giant monster alone. Worse, the monster had all but pinned him in place. From a distance, she could hear the metallic clangs of tail and scales striking against his axe. Which he was never supposed to use in such a way, but always chose to do so regardless.

  Yet, it’s the new girl, the complete stranger to the team, someone who showed absolutely no fear in the face of danger that charged forward. When Vivienne had first entered a rift, an alternate dimension of time and space that both mirrored the real world and showed alternate views of the same world, Vivienne had been nearly scared out of her wits. The entire place so eerie that everything was off, her rhythm, the sounds reverberating back to her ears, and even her instruments all sounded off to her. As if she was hearing and seeing the world through the lens of the dead.

  While Madame Bloom had reassured Vivienne, that her apprentice was made of stronger stuff she had doubts. Even when it was pointed out that the apprentice was raised in the true DiVoratore way. A method that could make most people go mad due to such close ties to the spirits, but for a fully awakened DiVoratore, going into a spirit realm was supposedly nothing. Which the Apprentice showed by her unmistakable poise and presence.

  Vivienne had heard the tales from the old countries, about how powerful the DiVoratore family was and how instrumental they were in quelling most of the original outbreaks. But after generations of the new house DiVoratore, Vivienne was not impressed.

  Only after witnessing the girl sing firsthand did Vivienne realize that she had talent. She was one of those any set gems, that is a gem that is so big and beautiful that it could be polished to fit into any piece of jewelry.

  Given how pathetic the last few generations of DiVoratore had been at healing, it was assumed that the apprentice would be the same. That by Vivienne taking her in, she would give her a chance to shine. A chance that she wouldn’t get elsewhere.

  Unfortunately, Vivienne was only the second to realize her true potential. Despite having her in her class and her showing occasional flashes, it wasn’t until earlier this week that Vivienne even saw the true spark of potential within her. But by then it was already too late as the General had also seen her and made her moves.

  Seeing the apprentice move now, her body glowing with a sheen of green light, it was clear that she was talented magically. Possibly even more talent than even the General, though the general would never admit that, but it was clear from her words and the way she pulled in every resource available that she expected great things from this apprentice.

  The same apprentice who took it on herself to now charge forward and recklessly strike at the beast’s broadside. Her glowing death to spirit blade being held out at full distance from her body. At first Vivienne had been skeptical that such an effect even worked the way Madame Bloom described for the DiVoratore had never killed spirits in all the time she had been here. Yet, seeing the power first hand, the power of the true DiVoratore bloodline was undeniable. Normally the idea of hunting down spirits was an arduous process of draining the area of spirit energy, which could be done a number of ways. The easiest way would be to pump in life or nature magic in abundance to the area and slowly morph the spirit energy away.

  A feat that was made even more impressive by the way she effortlessly slid on the ice and even managed to build up speed before striking her glowing death to spirit blade right at the monster.

  Flash. There was a distinct burst of light as the blade sank in seamlessly. No, not just seamlessly, but there was no resistance, no friction, not even Mr. Yi had managed to strike at the beast that easily. Then her purposefully dropping to the ground and dragging her blade to cause a jagged wound on the beast’s side was impressive thinking.

  For a moment, Vivienne panicked, as she just managed to slide under the tail strike. A strike that if it struck would have forced the small girl directly into the open and expecting maw of the giant alligator. But instead she not only ducked under, but then had the wherewithal to immediately jump up, grab the end of the beast’s flicking tail and be thrown out of danger.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Vivienne watched as the crazy apprentice slid her way to safety. Seeing her body slide to the side, Vivienne was momentarily shocked and found her body moving towards the girl, stopping a moment later when she spun up to her knees and began healing herself immediately. Only once she stopped sliding was Vivienne able to turn and look at the rest of the battle. Though by this point, Christoph and Mr. Yi had taken full advantage of the opening provided to deal damage. It didn’t hurt that, after the girl’s strike, the beast crumpled inward, protecting that wound and barely mustering any sort of defense against Christoph who had two free strikes to the opposite side. Then as it slowly tried to defend its open flank against Christoph, that is when Mr. Yi arrived just in time to slice off the tail, before Christoph got a slash at the beat’s turning neck.

  Only once the head was completely severed did Vivienne and Markan both let out sighs of relief. He was the first to speak, “it took them a bit to get their coordination back, but once they did it was impressive.”

  “They wouldn’t have had that chance had our healer not stepped up,” Vivienne added, not knowing whether to praise or punish the healer’s actions. Opting instead to leave her actions up to how she came back. If she was cocky, then they would all knock her down a peg. But even when they did, they couldn’t deny that she had been instrumental.

  “How much do you think she got for her contribution points in the battle?” Markan asked, while Christoph dragged the corpse of the large monster on the, as for now, still frozen ice.

  “I don’t know, how much did you get?” Vivienne asked, trying to get everyone else to check their newly available statuses first.

  “Oh right, now that the Boss is gone, we can finally check our status screens,” Markan stated as he stared off into space and saw his contributions.

  “That is literally what Boss stands for, if you remember,” Vivienne added, choosing to check her own contributions herself before the others arrived.

  ***

  (Catarine Bloom)

  (Present)

  “So, how do you think that went?” Even now Mr. Yi’s words rolled through my mind. I stood there head bowed, after giving possibly the most honest rebuke of myself possible. Even now, my words flash through my mind like a montage of my summarized failures.

  “I broke formation, leaving behind two teammates that were clearly exhausted and defenseless against any monsters that we might have missed. Then I charged forward, recklessly joining a battle that I had no chance of contributing to, without providing a cheap shot. One that ended up with me getting lucky that I only had several broken ribs. Then I ended up being thrown from the fight, where my entire purpose as the group’s healer was negated due to my having first to heal myself, then crawl my way to safety.”

  Even now, the phantom pains of my cracked ribs still haunt me, though my body is healed, my mind still tells me that such pain should still exist, it’s odd. After a second of me thinking about my own pain, I shake my head and instantly rush over towards Mr. Karl first.

  “Oh, and I still haven’t healed you all of your wounds,” I commented rushing forward to provide healing to Mr. Karl. He has a few hairline fractures in his hands, fingers, and a cracked forearm, and some deep tissue damage, but overall in relatively good health.

  “Thanks lass,” Mr. Karl coos out after he lets out a slight sigh of relief at the pain being gone. I can see a look of care and maybe something deeper in that gaze. Not the creepy look of a stalker, but maybe a father or parental figure who has found some respect at how one of their children has grown before their eyes. Seeing that look, I decide to set him straight.

  “It’s Degenerate, Favorite degenerate, not lass, not kiddo, not some other random pet name. Degenerate, and don’t you forget it,” I scold while giving a firm by clearly weak off hand punch to his chest.

  “Whoa there Killer—” Mr. Karl begins, holding up his hands to protest and playfully rub at the spot where I just punched. Then he catches himself at my glare, “I mean Degenerate First Class.”

  “Better,” I respond and with that I turn to focus on Mr. Yi.

  I can tell by the slight shifting shadow of Mr. Karl behind me and the muted response that Markan has, that they are conversing through known movements behind me. But I am already on Mr. Yi who while seeming stoic does let out his hand relatively quickly for me to begin working on.

  Starting with Mr. Yi I realize why he didn’t struggle and instead stood stoically as this was likely the only position he could hold that wouldn’t cause undue pain or stress on his body. He had taken more than one strike from the beast’s massive tail. His smaller frame was seemingly more hollow and less able to take a strike than Mr. Karl’s massive frame.

  “Ahh,” Mr. Yi’s body let out an audible sigh of relief from the healing energy coursing through his body. At his release, everyone turned to look at Mr. Yi, looks of shock and incredulity on his face. Seeing their reaction and realizing what he had done, he looked sheepish for a moment before responding. “I too need to get better at dodging.”

  “Told you to switch for a battleaxe, the bigger the battleaxe, the bigger the shield you also have,” Mr. Karl stated as he pulled out his now sheathed battle axe. Turning the blade forward first, “see here is the attack side.”

  Then he proceeded to turn the blade one-handed to show just how broad the axe he was using was, “then the defense side. All those tiny little swords might look flashy, but they can’t do anything compared to a true axe master.”

  Watching him move his axe, I suddenly understood how his stress fractures were formed and why he was relatively less injured by comparison to Mr. Yi. While Mr. Yi had likely used his sword to deflect some of the beast’s tail, it could still wrap around and strike the sword master from the side. By comparison the broad shape of the battle-axe allowed for better blocking, but less ability to dodge attacks.

  Hearing the Mr. Karl’s taunting words, Mr. Yi just let out a sigh and shook his head then turning to me spoke, “realize that I will teach you to respect all weapons equally. While I too have my favorite weapon, realize that by choosing one to fully master you often take on certain qualities that become associated with your weapon.”

  “He’s right, like when you fully devote yourself to the battleaxe, you become super strong, smart, and handsome,” Mr. Karl added.

  Mr. Yi just rolled his eyes at the comment.

  “Hey, we can all tell her the importance of weapons in the future, but I think we are missing the most important thing right now,” Markan noted a slight sense of urgency to his words.

  “Go on?” Madame Voyou asked, raising one elegant eyebrow in question.

  “We haven’t seen what her Skills can do to a Boss monster core,” Markan interjected, pointing to the still fully intact oversized alligator corpse. There was a brief moment, before Mr. Karl and Mr. Yi’s faces lit up with recognition.

  “Right,” they cried out in unison and began eagerly cutting into the giant monster corpse.

  Seeing the two going back to work, I felt this was as good of a moment as any to ask a question that I had been thinking about for a while. Turning to face Madame Voyou, I just had to look at her for her to be able to read me like a book.

  “You have a question?”

  Nodding, I responded, “yes, why do you call the giant alligator a boss?”

  “Oh, that’s right, you are new,” Madame Voyou looked first confused, and then surprised by the question as she responded.

  “Yes, it is actually an acronym for Bestiary—” Markan began.