Chapter 7.2 - The Referee

Serin lay awake that night. The world around him continued to get more involved, more complex, and more dangerous. The Northern Kingdoms had not just gone quiet but had gone to Armistice with the GWA. The GWA had begun their containment policy against Haven, signs of 'Suffer not the Alien'. And strange reports were coming from his long range observation team outside Morat of the Sarween Technocracy. It seems Serin had miscalculated when he had given the go ahead for Kira to create a new nation, as it had handed back the pacification field rights back to the Sarween Government. Kira Marquest was no longer a citizen of Sarween when she made her new nation, therefore she held no patent rights within her old country. This was giving Sarween time to recover. And it seems that from the outside, they had learned from their failures, and were taking full advantage of the hordes of monsters that spewed from Morat. It was becoming a sharpening stone for their troops, just as Haven's dungeon was for them.

Serin could not sleep. Not even with Olma hugging his arm, and Avea taking care of the children in another room. Serin was aware that he needed to improve, and he didn't have the time. He knew he rarely leveled up, as the last time he had was on level 51 of the dungeon, and it had almost killed him. He tried to find worthy opponents in the training dungeon, but by his estimation he would have to go down hundreds of floors, as the Misfits had reached level 67 of the Training dungeon and when they used their dungeon ticket, their guide Ferrah did not permit them past level 11 of the capital dungeon.

Serin needed a way to increase the difficulty of the creatures in the Training Dungeon, or a way to jump down floors. Neither was available to him.

Serin lay awake until the sun rose.

***

Serin took the day to go talk to his mentor and dear friend Jericho. Serin was aware he may be powerful, but he was not omnipotent. Jericho might have the answers he sought, and if not, Jericho did live in a pub, and they could at least enjoy a drink together.

Serin explained his situation to Jericho, and Jericho understood. "Sounds like raw power is getting in the way of you gaining expertise."

Serin sipped, "Yeah, but there isn't a way to reduce my stats by any significant amount."

Jericho smiled, "I swear boy your luck will never not leave me feeling a bit bothered. Out of all the days you could have talked to me about this problem, you chose today. You seem to control coincidence."

Serin looked confused and Jericho continued. "Thanks to that healer Mondjaeger we have recently awakened someone who might help."

***

The Forgotten Warrior Project was a volunteer group. It was mostly made up of younger healers that spent time using their regeneration skill to bring a body from Jericho's old guild back to full form. They had raised two members so far, and while Jasper was useful in leading the Post Death Syndrome support group and teaching scouting and wild craft to students, Fast Eddie had not responded as successfully. It had taken over a year for the tremors and nightmares to go away. After that, Serin decided that until they could fully recover one of their Forgotten Warriors, they would not raise another. So the job of regeneration was handed from the top rank healers to those just entering the craft. It allowed them to learn their skill without risk of ending life, and also slowed the process. It just so happened that a few days before Serin went to Jericho, they had been approved to raise another forgotten Warrior.

His name was Ref.

Ref was not a fighter. His class was 'Arbiter', but most of his old friends called him a 'diplomancer' as a joke. Ref was a liaison first, strategist second, and support mage third.

In fact, Ref had very little in the way of offensive magics. Instead, Ref could cast two very powerful spells, and he was an expert in them, to such a degree that he didn't need much else to fight. He had built his entire fighting style around it.

The first was [stasis] which froze its target in magical amber, making it unable to fight, but also unable to move or be attacked. If ref was in trouble, he usually just activated [stasis] on his attackers and ran away, or on himself if the need was dire, as he could maintain stasis for roughly a month before his mana ran out.

His other magic was the one that would help Serin. Serin, now sitting with Ref and Jericho, listened to Ref's explanation. "It's called [Dampen]. If it is used it can lower the power of a target by 10 levels, however" and Ref smiled, "My main job was running the Fighter's school under King Yuri of the Mont Kingdom, before this whole mess with the Grand General. The power of the spell [Dampen] can be greatly increased if the target is willing. I could effectively lower your power, skills, magic, and abilities down to someone of level 10."

Serin looked at Ref, "Why would I agree to that? Sounds like an easy way to get killed by my enemies."

Ref laughed. "You misunderstand. There are a few caveats to the voluntary version of the spell. Should your Health reach zero, the spell is negated, and all your stats are raised. What might have been a fatal wound is recalculated against your true self, and then applied. A slashed neck might be a scratch on your cheek. And then to answer why,"

Ref smiled, "You have power. There is no doubt. But other than that fancy rifle you carry, you have no expertise. I have heard you might rely on one or two spells in a pinch. But your power is more of a 'one and done' effect, which while great against a titan or any other single force, You need to learn to use everything within your class to be successful."

Serin raised an eyebrow, "I am Boundless."

Ref laughed, "even doubly so then. Your class is much harder because you have too much available to you. How about this. I will offer my services of dampening at the training dungeon. This can be my new job. The cost of dampening a person will be 10 times their level in credits." Serin asked, "How long does it last?" Ref smiled, "until you take a wound that would drop you to 0 health."

Serin was taken aback. Jericho smiled, "It will be like old times boy. You can then study under all of those citizens of yours that specialized in one or two combat arts, while you learned such silly things as crafting flying autocannons and moving mountains."

Serin nodded. He was excited. First, it would be a way to improve himself, as Ref explained being dampened to level 10 greatly increased how well he improved his skills, since the enemies he fought affected this. It also allowed him to gain experience from creatures he previously outleveled. although it wouldn't be enough to rank him up quickly, experience was still experience.

But Serin smiled. Learning Archery from Rachel. Clean Dark spells from Allister, the sword from Jericho, Entomancy from Peter, Daggers from Stem's people, thrown weapons from Jasper, Aberrant Magic with Olma, the ability to spend personal time with the friends and family he has made in his long road to today made him happy.

***