Chapter 22
Sheynan and the guys spent a few hours giving me a tour of the Holy Capital. As the human capital city, it functioned like a normal real-world city. There were employment offices, banks, shops, flea markets, and hostels.
At the bank, I gave Trace the bag of ancient coins I'd promised, opened a savings account so I could have an item vault, then used the remainder of my ancient coins to trade for a private stock of the cryptocoins Trace had told me about. I hadn't thought I'd be able to do it because I wasn't eighteen yet, but the teller said my account had been normal authority levels. I guessed it was a side effect of my parents turning off parental control. I was now permitted to make those kinds of trades.
We returned to the tour afterward with the main purpose of my visit dealt with. The guys took great pains to make the tour interesting for me. However, the only fantastical locations were the Adventurer's Guild, the Holy Academy, and the Holy Cathedral.
I initially wanted to attend the Holy Academy since Trace claimed they taught real-world math and science using magic, but the cost in gold was high per session.
"It's fun for the first few session, but then you realize it's just a flashier version of a cram school," Shey said, making a dissatisfied face at the sprawling building. "It's not like they inject the knowledge straight into your brain. That would be too easy."
The Cathedral was much more interesting. It had the Hall of the Gods where players could receive a random temporary blessing by praying. They also had several class trainers on hand to guide people, so I was able to pick up a few new skills.
From the High Priest, I learned a palpating technique for removing the poison from flesh—a common hazard in the ocean. The Warrior and Archer on staff taught a pair of simple finishing moves for my spear. From an Inquisitor (Assassin), I learned a footwork technique called 'Panther Steps'.
And from the Mage loitering on one of the balcony levels, I learned a passive skill meant to improve my ability to sense magic. According to him, the reason I was having trouble training Aetheric Cultivation was due to another skill I'd learned—Stealth. Stealth was a passive skill that never turned off. How effectively I used it depended entirely on how well I understood the concept of stealth.
Apparently, I didn't understand it at all, because I hadn't realized one of the skill's effects was to interfere with something the Cathedral Mage called an Aetheric Field.
"Have you ever felt it when someone was watching you?" the NPC asked. "That's something we call an extrasensory effect. It's a bane for any fighter who relies on stealth. A thicker Aetheric Field makes it harder for those effects to leak out. Of course, it also makes it harder for you to connect with the magic around you, which is why Mages prefer to hide by wrapping themselves in illusions rather than learn the same type of stealth Assassins use."
After learning "Clarity of the Third Eye", the biggest problem with the Sage class became more obvious to me. We were truly were 'jacks of all trades, masters of none.' There weren't enough hours to train in the growing number of skills I was accumulating and there was no way to tell how the skills would interact at higher levels.
My character profile was a complete mess.
{Jayladon Typhoon – Level 0
Attributes:
Vitality 692
Constitution 1988
Strength 1851
Agility 1304
Wisdom 155
Intelligence 120
Dexterity 276
----
Hidden Attributes:
Charm ?? (+175)
Luck ?? (+5)
Natural Camouflage ?? (+540)
-----
Equipped:
[Mother-of-Steel Imbued Fishing Spear][Sea Dragon King's Crown][Kelp Dorsal Fin][Kelp Imbued Atlantean Scale Bracers][Kelp Imbued Atlantean Mother-of-Steel Scale Leggings][Sea Dragon King's Tail Fin Belt][Sea Dragon King's Anchors][Sea Dragon King's Earring]
-----
Skills:
(Racial)
Eyes of the Sea King Lv 4, Psychic Sonar Lv 3
(Sage)
Novice Spirit Linguist Lv 0, Bardic Empathy Lv 0
(Warrior)
Novice Weapon Proficiency: Spear Lv 2, Spear Slash Lv 3, Spear Bash Lv 2, Pole Kick Lv 1, Impale Lv 3, Spear Descent Lv 0
(Mage)
Aetheric Cultivation Lv 0, Electric cloud Lv 1, Icespout Lv 0, Earthspike Lv 0, Clarity of the Third Eye Lv 0
(Assassin)
Novice Weapon Proficiency: Knife Lv 0, Stab Lv 3, Parry Lv 4, Gut Lv 2, Stealth Lv 1, Panther Steps Lv 0
(Archer)
Tracking Lv 0, Danger Sense Lv 2, Spear Throw Lv 1
(Cleric)
First Aid Lv 1, Drain Poison Lv 0
(Tradeskills)
...See tradeskill menu for details}
I was going to get trashed at the Tournament unless I spent some time training and improving the skills I already possessed.
"Um," I said hesitantly, interrupting a random argument the guys were having over the chest size of a particular NPC nun. "If you guys don't mind, can we jump to the section of the tour where you show me how to connect with the party's storefront? This is fun and all, but I don't really want to get tied up exploring the Holy Capital when there's still a lot for me to do in the Cerulean Lagoon. I'm sure everyone wants to get back to their quests, too."
"I guess we can do that," Trace replied. "The only things left are a few landmarks and the Arena."
Marshall waved his hands in the air to get our attention. "Going to the Arena is a bad idea. Hanna's group might be there training and they still haven't forgiven us for beating them at the tournament."
That only made some of the guys want to go more.
While they argued over it, Harris turned to me and commented, "Too bad you weren't at the Tournament. We could have used the extra manpower to round out our second team."
"I was there. I won the singles division by default."
The argument the guys were having in the background about going to the arena slowed to a grinding halt as my words penetrated. Eight sets of eyes turned to me.
"You won?" Shey gasped. "You— You, you— Does that mean you're playing in a capsule right now?"
I nodded. They exploded in disbelief, falling over each other to ask me if they could visit and try it out. I didn't give them a definitive answer.
"What do you mean you won by default?" Marshall asked, rubbing his thick brow in confusion. "There were loads of people who signed up for the Tournament."
With a shrug, I explained, "But all the ones who signed up for Singles surrendered. I guess no one was paying attention to what other people were doing because there were only three of us who agreed to fight once the dust settled. And the other two didn't want the capsule for whatever reason, so they gave first place to me."
They fell silent again and I tried not to wriggle under their disbelieving stares. It was Shey who broke the tension. He stepped up to my side, grabbed my arm, and started rubbing his face against my shoulder.
I gaped at him. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Seeing if your luck will rub off," he replied as if it should be obvious.
I snorted and shoved him off. "I'm not as lucky as you might think, because now I have to fight in the next level of the Tournament. I haven't been playing as long as everyone else and no amount of training will let me become a kung fu master overnight, which means I'm guaranteed to get my tailfin kicked. That's why I want to get back to exploring. At the very least, I might improve my attributes a little more so I won't be a complete embarrassment."
Trace shook his head like I was being naive. "Isn't it pointless to improve attributes? Everyone has to wear the tournament uniform."
"Not those attributes," I replied. "I'm not talking about improving my gear. I mean my base attributes. They go up when I explore deeper areas of the ocean because of the water pressure. And considering I just found a new area where the seafloor drops by a few hundred feet, I really want to get back to it."
Takumi pounced on my back, acting like a spoiled little kid wanting a piggyback ride—something I didn't think he'd ever do in the real world. "I'll come with you," he exclaimed. "I always wanted to explore the ocean."
"We have diving suits at the shop," Reese said. "Casper was telling me how he got a good deal on a bulk shipment from an NPC."
As more and more of them spoke up, imparting their intention to tag along, I didn't try to talk them out of it. The ocean area was big enough for a hundred thousand players to comfortably explore. Having to share it with a measly eight players wouldn't affect me at all.
"Suit yourself."