The Art of the Pendulum
The next day. Morning.
"Skills the System judges are split into grades according to their level, but sharing a grade doesn't mean they're truly skills of the same caliber."
I listened with my whole body stiff and aching, and Jerik's words struck me as coming out of nowhere.
"Yes. Well. That much I know."
My Thrust, for instance, was a Common-grade skill, but so was an ordinary spear art. And of course my Thrust—nothing more than one piece of a spear art—was the inferior copy.
"But why bring that up now...?"
"You wanted an attribute, so the plan was to drill a simple motion into you fast and turn it into a skill you could actually use in a fight. That was Thrust, and Advance-and-Retreat Steps."
"...Yes. I know. I agreed to it."
"But you've already raised both of those skills to their level cap."
"...I have, haven't I?"
"Even if you're going to evolve a skill, better to evolve a better one, wouldn't you say?"
"That's obvious, but...?"
I was just starting to wonder what he was driving at.
"I taught you pieces split off from my own spear art, so those two skills can become one."
"Ah...?"
"You've been using them almost at the same time in real combat. Now that they've hit their level cap, practice alone ought to be enough to fuse them into a spear art. That's what I wanted to tell you."
"Ah!"
Only then did it click.
"Stay out of the Labyrinth for a while. Focus on combining those two skills into one."
"Whoa..."
"You were going to sell the Ruler's Dignity ability stone, raise the money, swap your gear, and then head into the Labyrinth anyway, weren't you? It won't sell easily, so while you wait to hear from the merchant guild, train."
"...Yes. Thank you for the advice, Master."
"It's only common sense."
With that, Jerik clapped me on the shoulder and turned away.
From then on I threw myself into training to fuse the two skills, calling up everything I'd been through in the Labyrinth. And it was easier than I'd expected.
On the second day, exactly.
Whoosh.
Crack.
I slipped one step back, then drove forward in a single long stride, and the ripping sound of the thrust that followed rang out louder than ever. It was the tiniest fragment of the spear art Kirk had shown me in the Labyrinth—evasion, a charge, and a thrust, three motions so plain it was almost embarrassing to call them a spear art. Even so, the chain of them clearly worked.
It isn't perfect, but if I have a frontliner, this is a spear art made for hunting openings at their side.
For someone as unpolished as I was, it fit perfectly. The moment footwork and thrust locked together in my head as a single idea—
Thrust (Common — Lv. 10) and Advance-and-Retreat Steps (Common — Lv. 10) are merging into a single skill.
"Oh!"
Crack.
The focus broke in that instant, but I smiled anyway. It was a shame the grade hadn't risen, though I'd expected as much. What mattered more was that the basics I'd thought of as one attack skill and one evasion skill had become a single technique.
A Summoner does best by focusing on and raising only a few skills.
What I'd recommend is about three: an attack, a mana cultivation method, and a defense or evasion technique.
Following Master Jerik's counsel, the three-skill spearman build I'd sketched out now had one skill slot to spare.
Since it's a spear art that's nothing but thrusts... a technique specialized in evasion—in footwork. Is there somewhere I could learn one?
I was happily turning that over when—
"Hyung! Word came from the merchant guild!"
Kirk arrived with good news at the perfect moment.
"Truth is, there were so many buyers that I kept raising the price and dragged it out two more days. Hobgoblins keep growing rarer, so I wanted to push the price as high as I could, but... well, as you know, the people who want this ability stone tend to be of a certain station, haha. So I couldn't string it out forever."
"I understand."
At the words of Pederson, District 9 branch manager of the Goldman Merchant Guild, Jerik nodded in front of us.
"Still, we managed a fairly good price. The Ruler's Dignity ability stone has been out of circulation for a long time, so I narrowed it to two options."
At that, all of us leaned in.
"First: pure gold. Count Deckard's house has expressed a willingness to purchase it for 1,200 Gold."
"Hup!?"
"Whoa!"
Jerik kept his expression in check, but Kirk and I couldn't hold the gasps back. No wonder—the price we knew was roughly five or six hundred Gold, so this was more than double.
"That's how scarce the Ruler's Dignity ability stone has been lately. And the next offer is a little ambiguous, in my view..."
"Ambiguous?"
"...Because it meets the condition Lord Jerik set."
Master Jerik had set a condition? When our eyes turned to him—
"House Volante offered nine hundred Gold, along with instruction in the fundamentals of their secret footwork."
"Good. We'll take that."
Before either of us could get a word out, Jerik nodded first.
"Master?"
"Teacher?"
"Kirk takes six hundred Gold, and Char receives three hundred Gold plus the footwork instruction. You see what that means?"
For a moment I tilted my head. Then my eyes went wide. This offer was entirely for me.
"Thank you, Master!"
"If you understand, that's enough."
No matter how famous a noble house, a mere foundational technique held little value to a native. Put bluntly, Kirk—who would inherit the true essence of Jerik, once an adventurer of the fiftieth floor—had no particular reason to learn it. But I, a Summoner, was different.
If I can learn it properly, I can evolve it with skill points.
And the timing—right when I'd created Pendulum Spear Art and one slot in the skill build I'd planned had opened up, a condition like this fell into place. All of it was Jerik's consideration.
"Thank you, Master. I think it would be better if you just kept the three hundred Gold."
"Me too, me too, Teacher!"
"Enough. I've got plenty of money, you brats!"
Once again it struck me how lucky I was to have met Jerik.
I'll repay you. Someday. Without fail.
I was still brimming with gratitude when—
"Um, my commission is ten percent..."
Merchant Pederson's perfectly fair claim took a little of the shine off the moment.
"Even if it's only the basics, it's a technique of a distinguished noble house, so it'll take a month at least. I'll have Kirk find a separate Labyrinth party."
"Yes. That's how it should be."
Kirk was already a powerhouse beyond the level displayed on him.
Generally, floor and level scale pretty closely.
Even without a class, it was strange that he was running with me at all. No matter how fast I was growing, the gap in real combat power was still huge. More than that, Kirk had no reason to wait a whole month on my account.
"First, going to House Volante comes after I combine the two skills and make a spear art..."
"I already succeeded."
"...Hm? Already?"
"Yes."
"...Huh."
Jerik looked me up and down in silence, let out a hollow laugh, and nodded.
"All right. House Volante is in District 4, so send word ahead, then go. Mind your manners properly."
"Of course."
And so the Labyrinth exploration I'd thought would stretch on and on was called off. For a very good reason.
There was something I had to do before that, though.
"Could you tell me a good place to buy gear?"
"You got the money, and you're off to buy equipment already?"
"Yes. If I show up at a noble house in this gear, won't they turn me away at the door?"
"...Right. Good thinking. Honestly, if you're going to fight up close, ordinary leather armor is dangerous. Even on the lower floors."
"Yes. This time I'm thinking of picking something sturdy for armor. Especially the boots. Something I can trust."
At that, Jerik snorted a laugh.
"Right. You've been complaining about your shoes since the start. A smithy I'd recommend is..."
Just before he could finish—
"Excuse me. If you're looking for good footwear, might you have any interest in artifact boots?"
Pederson, who had drawn close before I'd noticed, added something astonishing.
"Artifact boots? Here, in District 9?"
"Yes. We recently handled a commission for a high-grade adventurer here, and as payment they gave us an artifact. Quite the awkward thing to move. We couldn't exactly refuse it, either."
"A high-grade adventurer? Here?"
I asked, unconvinced.
"Well, the rules say I shouldn't speak of another client's identity, but... the Drake Guild, which has been on quite the rise lately..."
The moment I heard that, a name came to mind.
"Giggs?"
"Mr. Giggs?"
"Oh!? You know him?"
Pederson brightened at our answers. I decided to look at the item first, and the moment I saw it I was impressed.
"Oh."
Boots of blue and yellow leather, shedding a faint glow—they looked rather splendid. Pederson broke into a beaming smile.
"Well, as you can see, the finish is excellent. Made from the hide of a thunder bison that appears around the thirtieth floor, they have greater durability than steel boots and are extremely comfortable besides. They also come with auto-fitting and self-repair, so if you just infuse them with mana regularly, they're a luxury you can use semi-permanently."
"Oh..."
"Try them on."
"Oh, may I?"
I was slipping the pair on as if spellbound when Jerik cut in.
"So. A function that actually helps in a fight?"
"Well, as I said, they're leather, yet stronger than steel boots, so they protect all the way up the shins for certain..."
"That's a given for an artifact. Another effect."
At that, the smile on Pederson's face stiffened awkwardly.
"...Well, I understand they have an ability that recovers fatigue in the feet."
"That's it?"
"...As I said, auto-fitting, and self-repair."
"So they were noble boots, not combat boots."
"...Ahem. Still, the quality is certain."
Under Jerik's successive criticisms, Pederson's face gradually hardened.
"Char, no need to look any further. This is a waste of money."
Even when Jerik said that, I couldn't bring myself to obey.
Th-this can't be.
Soft, plush cushioning. In this barbaric world, a comfort I thought I'd never feel again—the ease of proper athletic shoes—had my feet in its grip. Just moving a little, I could clearly feel them wrap my feet completely and cut the fatigue. Next to rough leather shoes, it was like drifting on a cloud.
If they'd made functional sneakers tailored exactly to my feet back in the modern world, would it have felt like this?
Even accounting for how my senses had dulled over nearly a year and a half, that was what I thought.
"Char, I said let's go."
"Ah, um..."
The moment I took the artifact boots off and put my old leather shoes back on, I felt myself crash wretchedly back to earth. Forget cushioning—I could feel every pebble in the road, such a contrast with a moment before that going barefoot seemed like it might be better.
No. This. I can never go back.
The instant I tasted a comfort beyond even modern civilization, if only for a moment, I had no choices left. If I let these boots go, wouldn't I honestly be better off walking barefoot? My reason went looking for excuses on its own.
"You're saying they're stronger than steel?"
"Yes! Of course! They don't even crack, so they'll absorb blunt impacts better than steel boots, too."
"Char."
"Master, I can't wear many artifacts that affect physical ability or mana anyway, can I? If I find something better later, I can switch."
"And that's a reason to buy this expensive luxury now? Didn't you nearly die because your gear was trash?"
"Which is why I'm buying much better gear. With these, at least my soles and shins won't get punched through, right?"
"Do you even know what an artifact costs...?"
"One hundred Gold! I'll take exactly one hundred Gold."
Jerik paused at that. Seeing his face, I knew at once: for an artifact, this was a very cheap price.
"Master, even with what's left I think I can still get the rest of my gear..."
"Even so..."
"Ninety Gold. I can't go any lower. I'm already taking a loss!"
"..."
Jerik's expression wavered even more.
"Deal! I'll take them."
Before he could say another word, I handed over the coin pouch.