MAZE - The Endless Quest 24 The Price Of A Skill

If she started the attack with the dagger sticking out, it became harder to correct the trajectory of the punch. On the other hand, if she tried to flick her wrist at the last moment, several other problems showed up. First, it required a considerable amount of strength to move the dagger against the air pressure. Second, she needed to be conscious of her movement, and of how close she was to the target.

The worst part was doing all that while moving around. It would be one thing to attack and reset. But she needed to attack already planning her next move.

"Mr. Greyson, I couldn't see the moves very well. Could you do them again? Maybe even a bit slower?"

Alex asked the teacher. A few recruits stared at her with surprised expressions. They also wanted a better look at the attacks, but none was willing to become a possible target for the teacher's wrath.

However, to their surprise, Mr. Greyson only nodded. "Aye, Ah'm doing this slower. Pay attention." He walked towards a silver dummy that all the recruits could see and proceeded to show the attacks. He even stopped at certain moments to explain when they should try to change the direction of the dagger or when to be careful not to lose your balance.

After a few minutes of explanations, the teacher stopped and turned around to his students. "Now, A'm attacking as I did before. But Ah won't hold back my speed. See how long ye can keep up."

Mr. Greyson began attacking the dummy, doing small variations on the same moves he had just shown the cla.s.s. Little by little, his attacks began to speed up. Even a few explorers joined in to watch his performance.

As the warrior speed up, it became harder to follow his movements. It reached a point where even the new explorers were having trouble seeing all the attacks.

Hera did her best to focus as much as she could in his movements. But not only his arm and hand, but his hips and legs as well. During the training on the previous day, she started to realize that each attack required more than just an arm swing. The moves were, in reality, an intricate connection of small twitches across the whole body.

As she concentrated on watching the teacher, the time around her seemed to slow down. Mr. Greyson's movements were clearer and more distinct. She could see his arm moving and how he used the back leg to give him some impulse while moving forward. Making hist attacks not only faster but also giving them more weight.

That lasted for ten seconds, and as soon as the movements regained their speed, Hera felt a sharp pain in her eyes. The pain was so intense that she stumbled back and fell on her knees. Blue, the only person who noticed Hera's fall, rushed towards her.

"Hera, what's wrong? Are you ok?" She kneeled beside Hera and reached out with one hand, trying to help the woman to have some footing.

"I'm ok. I just got a sharp pain in my eyes." Hera blinked a couple of times and tried to open her eyes again. Everything was blurry, everything besides a small blue box in front of her.

[All In] effects deactivated, the cooldown will now start
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"What?" Hera stared at the notification, while the rest of the world was coming back into focus. She never tried to use her skill, did she?

"What what Hera? Talk to me. you are really freaking me out here."

Blue spoke in a louder volume, without even realizing it. That made a few of the recruits, and the explorers, to move closer to the girls. They all looked curious about what happened.

"I... I think I used a skill, and for some reason, the skill hurt me." Blue stared at her, not knowing what to say.

Mr. Greyson approached the two of them. The girls didn't even realize that the teacher was aware of what happened.

"What's wrong, Hera?"

"Sorry, Mr. Greyson. I'm not sure. I was watching you and, then I felt a sharp pain behind my eye."

He kneeled and looked at her eyes. "Is that all? Did something happened before ye felt the pain?"

Hera shakes her head "No, I was watching your movements when you showed slowed down, but when you speeded up the pain hit me."

Blue leaned her head to the side. "But... he never slowed down, not after he began to move faster."

"She's right la.s.sie. Did something else happen? Or Ah just seemed slow for you?"

Hera looked at the teacher a bit panicked. "No, I never said you were slow. You just showed the moves slower at one point. Then the pain came and a notification about a skill that I have shown up. "

The teacher raised one eyebrow. "A skill ye have? Ye mean the All In one?"

Hera nodded.

Mr. Greyson got up and turned to the rest of the cla.s.s "Ye all just watched how to move, now get yer daggers and start practicing." He then turned back to Hera. "Come with me, Hera."

Being helped by both the teacher and Blue made Hera fell uncomfortable. She didn't want to bother anyone or get in the way of the training. She followed Mr. Greyson to the water cooler in the back of the training room.

He filled up a cup of water and gave it to her.

"To respect recruits' privacy we only have the name of the skill and some general idea of how it works. Could you tell me exactly what is the description of yer skill? I promise this will only be between the two of us."

Not sure of what is happening, Hera just nodded and pulled her status and went straight for the skill.

All In (Rank 1):

The user can increase one of its attributes to perform a single action,

As if all the available bonus points were allocated in the relevant attribute,

The attribute will have bonus increments and, at the same time,

reduce all other attributes to 11 (10 + level - 1) for 5 hours.

Value of attribute when the skill is used: 14.5

Cooldown: 36 hours

Remaining (35:56:22)

Hera read the description out loud to the teacher. She had read the description so many times by now that she knew it by heart. However, since Mr. Greyson had such a serious expression, it seemed like a better idea to read the description instead of just quoting it.

After hearing what the skill really did, the teacher got silent for a few moments.

"Ah get the gist of it. How many times have ye used this skill?"

"Only once, I guess twice now."

He nodded.

"Aye, tell me. What do you think yer skill does?"

Hera at the man with a confused expression and started to quote the description.

"Well... can increase one of its attributes to perform a single action, as if all the available bonus points were allocated in the relevant attribute."

Before she could continue, Mr. Greyson raised one hand, signaling her to stop.

"No la.s.sie, not what the skill says it does. What do you think it does?"

Hera took a while to understand the question, and even longer to come up with an answer.

"It makes me able to do things that I normally can't."

"Give me some examples"

Hera thought for a moment.

"Like, lifting a heavy box, or running faster than I can. Or maybe even making sure I don't hurt myself so much if I fall from a high place."

Mr. Greyson just stared at the girl.

"Then why did ye used the skill now?"

Hera looked at the teacher

"Because I couldn't see you." As soon as the words came out of her mouth, her eyes widened.

"Aye, it never said that this only works with big things. Ye might even use the skill if ye want to eat more than ye could. "

The teacher started laughing and Hera joined in. Imagining how strange was the idea of a skill that would help you eat more. After a few moments, they stopped.

"Now, ye need to be careful la.s.sie. If ye try to use the skill with something that ye can't handle without it ye might have some problems."

Hera nodded, that thought had crossed her mind a few times. If she was carrying something too heavy and the skill turned off, she could hurt herself very badly.

"Good, now let's get back. Even if yer attributes are lower ye still need to train."

Both of them walked back to the small arenas where the rest of the recruits were. Blue gave Hera a concerned look, and she just replied whit a smile and a thumb up.

"Alright, now A'm gonna set up yer training arenas." Mr. Greyson picked his tablet and started to tap. It took him a couple of minutes and many grunts, but he finally managed to activate the arenas.

A soft blue glow appeared at the edge of each arena where the recruits were. Shortly after a few white spheres appeared in the air inside the arenas.

"The first step, hit the spheres, they are all far apart, ye have to move to get them all. Also, if ye take too long to hit them all, they turn red. If they turn red, ye failed the attack."

Mark raised his hand before asking "Sorry Mr. Greyson, but I'm not sure I've understood. We need to hit them quickly when they show up?"

"No, laddie. When ye hit the first one a timer starts if ye take too long to hit them all, they turn red. If not, they just vanish and another set shows up."

Hearing what the teacher said, Hera started to move around the arena. Thinking about the ways she should attack. She counted how many steps the spheres were from one another, trying to figure out what would be the best route to take.

While she was still planing her move Mr. Greyson said

"What yer all waiting for. Go hit the dam things"

The recruits started attacking. Most of them went straight for the closest one without considering the full picture. Leo also had some trouble hitting all of the spheres before they turned red. Only one of the recruits manage to hit all of the targets without any of them turning red. When all three spheres disappeared from Alex arena, Hera couldn't help but smile. It was good to know that all of her friends had something special. At the same time, she felt a bit self-conscious. Could she end up holding them back? The last this she wanted was to be the reason why someone couldn't achieve their goals.

Taking a deep breath she focused on her targets picturing the steps she needed to take to optimize her time. Feeling she was ready, she slashed towards the first sphere.