I wound up in the training room throwing knives at a target while jumping and rolling around. Not for any reason, just to alleviate some boredom. It was a lot easier than I thought, though my aim still wasn’t perfect. I could at least hit the target while moving, though, so it made me feel accomplished. Whenever I’d go collect them, I’d consider what to do next with the mountain of free points I had.
The obvious thing to do would be to bump all of the magic stats up to 30. I was worried it’d cause some kind of backlash like the other three stats did. Or did that happen because they all went up at once? It wasn’t a helpful thought, so I pushed it aside and instead focused on my ‘plan’ for lack of a better word.
I was going to try and get all of my stats to 30, since that was apparently a threshold. If what the message had said was true, they’d stop improving me physically then. I was curious if that meant I could dump points into them without problems… but that didn’t seem like a smart thing to test out. I’d stick to theory crafting.
When I got bored playing with my knives, which it had basically been playing, I pulled my Tonfas out of my storage. As I pulled them out, I considered the storage skill. I kicked at the space on a whim and my foot went through, almost causing me to stumble. I managed to control my fall to go away from it though. I closed it before anything dangerous could happen. Note to self: Do not accidentally step into the storage portal.
I went over the description again.
Spatial Closet
You are given access to a 5m by 5m by 5m space to store items. All items stored this way are stored in a vacuum and thus will be unchanged over time. Because it is a vacuum, living organisms cannot survive within including plants, animals, people, and anything that requires breathable air or light. Objects within can be damaged by other objects inside.
Most of what I’d put in had been books and weapons. I kept most of the throwing knives, a dagger, and I’d put the sword I’d worn the night before in there as well. There were a bunch of books in there as well, though now I guessed I could just put them in the Personal Library skill and not risk them.
I sighed and put the Tonfas back, carefully, and pulled out the books I’d put in there. They all felt cold, but otherwise in the condition I’d put them in there. I hadn’t been throwing anything around inside my storage yet, so they hadn’t been at risk. Adding them to the Personal Library trait was as simple as focusing on them. There wasn’t even a delay after a brief second an alert notified me that it was added.
I went around and added all the books in my room to it, and eventually came across one that couldn’t be added. Along the spine read Secret Desires and I looked it over. It had a black cover with red lettering on the spine. I’d ignored it, since it was next to Knot of Lust and Felyne Heat. I’d thought it was another monster fucker book.
I wasn’t too upset at having all of them in my library now. Some were pretty good if you skipped the… explicit scenes.
I pulled out Secret Desires and opened it.
Elias, is this stupid thing working?
Yes, it’s working and it’s not stupid.
Yes it is. Who puts secret on a secret journal?
Deal with it, brat.
I’m not a brat! You’re a brat!
I noticed it went on like that for a few pages. Mostly random stuff between who I assumed were Danielle and Elias. I’d have to go through it later, adding it to the mountainous list of other things to look through, and flipped closer to the end.
D: I’m going! He might be able to help.
E: He just wants to get in your pants.
D: And if he does, maybe that won’t be so bad. Chatterdeem is gross.
E: Danielle…
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D: How many times have we been over this? We aren’t supposed to use our real names in this. It’s a secret message book for a reason.
E: And I told you Queen of the Beasts is too long.
D: Sure Mr. Mystery.
E: I was fourteen.
D: I’ve got to go, I’ll let you know how big his dick was!
E: …ew
E: Are you there?
E: Danielle?
E: Oh shit, I just got my hands on the report, are you okay?!
E: Are you mad at me for something?
E: Are you getting this, did something happen to the book?
E: I’m sorry.
I blinked at the lines of text on the page. I rested my finger on the last line.
I agreed and opened a message to send to him.
Hey, just found the book. You okay?
I didn’t get a reply immediately. I considered looking through it some more, but something about doing that felt extremely personal after the last page. A violation of privacy that, even for someone I didn’t like, felt wrong. I put the hidden message book into my storage and tried to put it out of my mind.
I went back to the training room and just… lost myself. I just went through the various stances and movements I knew from Grimoire and whatever let me use Tonfas like I did. My movements with the staff and sword were smoother, and it was easier to move even the heavier training staffs now. The exercise pushed my concerns aside.
After a while, I started practicing without a weapon. I was having to stop myself from using the manipulation skills, but all of my fighting was around motion. I was running around, jumping, and even using the wall to bounce off of. Unlike my first time in this room, I was able to move with more grace and speed.
I was interrupted after a flip by a soft clapping sound from the doorway. Deacon was standing there, leaning against the wall and looking pleased with himself. “Looking good. Mobile fighters are a nightmare. Thinking of going for a Sneak or Trainee based class?”
I walked over to where a maid had set a towel and pitcher of water. I started to towel off, “Still not sure. Just swapped earlier and went with Outdoorsman first.”
Deacon put on a thoughtful expression, “I suppose that could be useful. What trait did they get again?”
“Backpacking. Easier to carry stuff and I got the Traction skill.” I responded automatically as I poured myself a glass of water. “Which is already rank 3 from messing around.”
“Useful skill. Anyone serious about traveling has it, so… huh.” He looked like he just realized something. “I wonder if they all took the Outdoorsman class first?”
I shrugged and drank from the glass. Like always, water after exercise tasted amazing. “Did you get everything taken care of?”
He nodded, “We’ll be in a group. Three more newbies and one more to act as chaperone with me, due to…” He raised his still missing arm. There was more just past his elbow, but he kept the end covered. “I am not looking forward to breaking a new hand in.”
I frowned, “Is it going to be that hard? You play an instrument usually, right?”
“Yea…” His face darkened briefly, so fast I thought I imagined it. But he broke into a smile, “I’ll play some for you when it gets fixed finally.”
“...would more PEC help them to grow it faster?” I asked.
His smile changed from trying to be happy to a soft appreciation, “I think I know why you’re asking, and thank you. Probably, but the cost for this was already covered. No need to spend more on it.”
I nodded, “Makes sense, I guess.” I took my time resting while thinking about things. “Do you know anything about the people coming with us?”
“Oh, yea one second.” He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper. “The trainees are Paige, Jason, and Zaion. Paige and Jason just advanced classes and need some practice but they’ve never really left the city. Zaion is an elf, like Grimoire not the other kind, and mostly studied magic. I was told he specialized in water magic so should be interesting.”
“Wait, there are other kinds of elves? And that’s what Grimoire is?” I hadn’t even thought to ask about something like that, though I’d been curious.
“Yea, though they’re all just grouped into the same batch because of their ears and enhanced senses. Most elves you see are ‘common elves’, though never call someone that.” He winced, “Made that mistake twice, because I didn’t learn my lesson the first time.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Weird.”
Deacon shrugged, “You got an issue with it, talk to the system. Gods above and below know you have more access to it than I do.”
I set my glass on the table with the pitcher and walked over to him, “So, who’s the last person on the list?”
“Hm? Oh!” He looked down, “Elayne. She’s a blademaster, so if anything too powerful gets involved she’ll be able to take it out while I keep everyone protected.”
“Elayne?” I asked again. “I wonder if she’s the one Danielle knew?”
He gave me a weird look, “Since when did you start talking in the third person?”
I rolled my eyes, “I do it to refer to before I was left for dead in an alley.”
Deacon winced, “Right. Makes sense, but.. Is that healthy? Separating yourself from… well yourself like that?”
“Deacon. Remember that name I mentioned before?”
He nodded.
“I feel closer to that one than I do to the other. And even that one doesn’t feel right.” I tried not to let some of the frustration from that show on my face, but I probably didn’t do as good a job as I thought.
He was quiet for a while. Then he reached out and rested a hand on my shoulder, “I didn’t realize.” A cheeky smile broke over his face, “Though it sounds like you just need to choose a new name for yourself.”
I stared up at him, dumbfounded. “Huh?”
“If they don’t fit, find one that does.” The hand on my shoulder moved quickly and rapped me twice on the side of my head, “Now, stop over thinking it and lets go get lunch. Your treat.”
I was so stunned, I didn’t even resist as he started tugging me towards the door. Why didn’t I think of that?