Chapter 95: Chapter 95

A good teacher also knew when to be a good student.

Orodan was now embracing this saying as Zukelmux’s ferocious barrage of thrusts came his way. And in his hands?

Nothing more than a humble spear.

“T-teacher! Your abilities with the spear are unfathomable for one who does not even possess the skill for it!” his goblin protege exclaimed in shock mid-combat.

Orodan met each of Zukelmux’s thrusts—strength and speed moderated of course—with his own counter barrage, seeking to divert each incoming stab off of its line of attack by nudging the spearhead off course.

“I’ve been told that I have something of a proclivity for martial pursuits,” Orodan replied.

“Understatement of the era,” Zaessythra chimed in.

In a sense, it was understandable. After all, where Orodan had his own System, everyone else used the standard one empowered by the Eldritch Boundless One. A system where repetition and insights were rewarded yes, but the System often functioned as a crutch, hindering true understanding. Now while a truly skilled and insightful practitioner could overcome this and solidify real understanding from the basics, most did not.

Orodan however, was one of the few that did. Even when he’d lost his System, it hadn’t affected his ability to fight in close quarters at all. Rather, it might have even improved it.

And given how much of a natural he was at melee combat, and his existing Sword Mastery and Halberd Mastery… the next System message came as no surprise.

[New Skill → Spear Mastery 36 (Apprentice)]

Saying that his spear work suddenly got better would have been a lie. Rather, his System simply caught up and recognized his existing level of skill with the weapon. A natural result since he’d been using his sword one-handed for the longest time and had Adept-level Halberd Mastery too. Using spear and shield like Zukelmux did was nothing difficult for him.

Orodan’s skill surprised Zukelmux who momentarily drew back. Of course, he received no reprieve as a familiar halberdier lunged in to fill the gap. An Elite-level spear user, replaced by a Grandmaster halberdier.

“Did you obtain the skill for it?” Adeltaj asked, coming in with his own thrusts which Orodan faced an uphill battle against. With his strength and speed moderated, facing a Grandmaster halberdier with just Apprentice-level Spear Mastery was difficult. Multiple times he had attacks collide against him, simply skittering off the ridiculous toughness of his body

[Spear Mastery 36 → Spear Mastery 37]

Difficult, but beneficial.

“I did. Apprentice-level upon acquisition,” Orodan replied.

“Good. About what I expected, slightly better even, given your existing skills and talent,” the old Simarji spoke. “But do not let it get to your head. We have more weapon skills to cover.”

“More weapon skills? Are you to make me a savant with each and every weapon now?” Orodan asked, continuing the exchange of blows which Zukelmux was now forced to make some distance from due to its high level. “Always happy to learn.”

[Spear Mastery 37 → Spear Mastery 38]

“Yes and no. You will take up the weapons best suited to your particular style of combat. Swords, axes, spears, halberds, hammers… these are best suited to you. Though I have no doubts in your ability to turn them towards your signature brutality, whips, rapiers and war fans can come later,” Adeltaj explained while continuing to press Orodan hard.

Orodan took three more blows, harmless of course, before he accepted that going toe-to-toe against a Grandmaster while limiting himself to the Apprentice-level wasn’t going to work.

Last loop, in Greenvale, he’d thrown himself against the metallic gauntlet of a cocky adventurer. And what he’d been attempting to hone at the time… perhaps it wasn’t impossible.

It was utterly illogical, but not impossible. Not for him who had done the impossible enough times already.

“Ready your halberd, bring the strongest Phoenix Strike you have to bear against me,” Orodan demanded, tone sharp.

Edrosic and Aliya who’d been sparring, and Wainroach who’d been somersaulting through a brazier of fire, all took the hint and quickly scrambled into the opening for Orodan’s dimensional ring which he’d set up as a hideaway in case he and Adeltaj truly needed to cut loose.

And here, in the deep center of the Aenechean Forest where numerous dual and triple Grandmaster creatures had been frightened away by Orodan’s presence? There was no better place to train such a thing.

Adeltaj’s assault was ferocious—knowing the extent of Orodan’s power and having the time loops verified to him meant the old Grandmaster held nothing back. And while the attack of a Grandmaster was nothing to Orodan, the real challenge came from the self-imposed restriction that his power was not to exceed the Apprentice-level himself.

Insanity. It was akin to adding one and one together and hoping to get three.

Orodan had surmounted wide gaps in power before. But nothing akin to a four tier jump of Apprentice to Grandmaster. And even then it would be through amplifying himself or his attack in some manner, by making his Apprentice-level power hit harder than any Apprentice should.

But this? This was illogic personified. Attempting to hit a Grandmaster-level attack with nothing but Apprentice-level power. No power increase, no skilled maneuvers, no redirection of the force.

Just weakness against strength. It was futility itself.

No wonder he’d failed in what he was aiming for against that adventurer in Greenvale.

Indeed, Orodan’s fist collided against Adeltaj’s Phoenix Strike and the surrounding fifteen miles of Aenechean Forest vanished in a flash. However, the force of his fist was utterly blown backwards, and Adeltaj’s attack only rebounded harshly against Orodan’s raw toughness rather than because the old Simarji had lost the exchange.

“Ridiculous… how can the body of a human being be so tough? Even though I won the clash it feels as though my reward was running into an unstoppable wall…” the old halberdier muttered. “Even monsters of the depths and the deep ocean do not have such tough flesh.”

But Orodan could only frown as he stared at his fist.

There was an answer. A way to do the impossible. He refused to believe otherwise!

He didn’t know what it was yet, but as many loops as it took, he would insist on this mad experiment.

“Body Tempering,” Orodan answered. “I’ve painstakingly honed Body Tempering to a high degree. It’s also what amplifies each level of Physical Fitness that I have. Alongside Absolute Body Composition.”

“Fascinating… I can see no other way through which a human being can bridge the gap between themselves and a dragon’s physicality,” Adeltaj spoke. “Short of Bloodlines or body transformations of course.”

Orodan had no Bloodline, and the one body transformation into some sort of weird half-dragon hybrid that he’d attempted, he had rejected. His current form was forged through hard work and the sweat of his own brow.

A bell rang, and Old Man Hannegan stepped out the protected opening of the dimensional ring’s space.

“Made a right mess of things I see. Plenty of good lumber and resources you two have vaporized,” the old foreman said and then threw Orodan a chisel, mason’s hammer and wedges and shims. “Well? What are you waiting for? The time for roughhousing’s over, it’s time for honest labor now.”

Orodan nodded and picked the tools up. This was the regimen of training they’d decided upon in-between Aliya and Edrosic’s classes. Zukelmux’s tribe was still settling upon House Simarji lands but soon the goblin would also be joining an academy as well. But once classes were out for the day? Training.

Which meant training not just for them, but him too.

A warrior needed more than just battle to hone their mind, and Old Man Hannegan was in charge of training Orodan in the basics of many such crafts. How the old foreman knew so many skills, Orodan didn’t know. The man was no expert in any of them, but if there was ever a true jack-of-all-trades, it would be Gregory Hannegan.

There were none better suited to teaching the basics of crafting skills than he.

Aliya and Edrosic came out and began sparring once more, and Zukelmux received instruction alongside brief exchanges of steel against Adeltaj Simarji. All while Orodan had a decent-sized circular rock tossed in front of him.

“Cut that into a rectangular slab for me.”

His bare hands flexed, about to prepare it by carving it through brute force, only for the old man to glare at him.

“What?” Orodan asked.

“No! No cheating or using your muscle.” he scolded. “Pick up that hammer and chisel and use those wedges and shims like a proper stonecutter. I didn’t have you read that manual on the art for you to just go and act like a barbarian.”

A fair point. Better to work on the basics the intended way first. Using his bare hands, which he planned on doing eventually, didn’t remove the benefit of learning the intended way first.

Mason hammer in his right hand, chisel in his left, Orodan aligned the tools and began hitting the high points off of the rock, beginning to shape one side into a flat plane. And frankly… his existing Jewelcrafting skill helped him a lot here as the mechanics behind cutting, polishing and preparing a jewel weren’t all too dissimilar from cutting stone.

The only difference was that rocks were big. Even the largest jewel he’d worked with had been the size of his palm, whereas even this small boulder was as large as his arm. And while Orodan had no problem manually carving and evening the entire thing out, it would have been a waste of time—and from the look on Old Man Hannegan’s face, he was expected to use the wedges and shims.

Many shortcuts he could have taken, he refused to. To truly learn Stonecutting from the ground up meant engaging in every facet of the craft like a proper stonecutter would. He used a piece of chalk to mark out the dimensions where he intended to flatten it and the hammer and chisel were subsequently used to drill small holes along the chalked lines. These holes then had shims inserted and the wedges hammered in-between them, encouraging the rock to crack cleanly along the designated lines.

Five minutes of work later…

…the rock trembled and cleanly split along the designated lines.

“Quite the time-saver is it not? Not like Jewelcrafting where wedges and shims aren’t really an option,” Old Man Hannegan chimed in, watching Orodan’s progress as he organized supplies and mixtures for polishing stone off to the side. “Getting the rock to break on its own is one of the biggest ways to cut down on labor time.”

“I imagine it would be. Given the size of the stones making up the walls of Karilsgard, I reckon stonecutters are typically working with rocks a lot bigger than mine,” Orodan said, beginning the process of flattening the rough and newly created sides of the rock.

“It’s also a more laborious process than you think. Nearest quarry’s in Scarmorrow, and they have a lot of workers toiling away from dawn till dusk to supply the county’s stone needs,” the old man said. “Lot of academy students and martial types work there too, hoping to gain levels in Physical Fitness.”

Indeed, quarries required a suitable location and much infrastructure and labor to operate. And while Burgher Ignatius, enterprising businessfolk and the county construction association had frequently lobbied to allow for the building of one along the side of Mount Castarian… House Argon had always shut it down.

Needless to say, there was no quarry or mason in Ogdenborough, but Scarmorrow did have one, and Old Man Hannegan had said that once his basic training in acquiring the skill was complete, he would go there to pursue further education.

But for now, the steady hammering and chiseling of rock was all he knew.

Alongside occasionally flicking broken off rock splinters towards Edrosic and Aliya when either of them were getting too complacent.

“I’ve got you now! Take this!-hrk!”

Aliya’s haughty monologue was cut off as a rough bit of rock hit her in the knee, causing her to falter and catch Edrosic’s shield bash to the face.

“Reserve your dramatic proclamations until after you’ve landed the blow,” Orodan chided, not taking his eyes away from his craft. “While you might’ve gotten away with that while fighting monsters, it’s a little different when facing a h.uman opponent.”

Aliya was good, very good. A true weapon savant, nearing the Apprentice-level of Staff Mastery at the age of eight. But being good with a particular weapon wasn’t the same as being good at fighting. Something he intended to teach her painstakingly.

His students continued their training, and Orodan continued his cutting of the stone. He meticulously flattened and polished the surface of the rock, continuing until at last a perfect rectangular stone plate was before him.

[New Skill → Stonecutting 17]

As expected, Stonecutting and Jewelcrafting weren’t too far off from one another. His existing understanding of how to shape, clean and polish a valuable gemstone was quite transferable to the art of shaping rock.

With this, he could not only mine rock from the earth, but also shape it, allowing for the construction of mighty stone structures. That was the realm of Masonry however, which was a separate skill Old Man Hannegan intended to teach him.

“I have it,” Orodan declared. “Started off at level 17.”

“Level 17? That’s over halfway to Apprentice… not bad at all. I see the existing Jewelcrafting helped,” Old Man Hannegan said. “They’re different skills, but ones sharing a lot of the core concepts.”

“Still, they do differ at the higher levels. I doubt a Grandmaster Jewelcrafter could cut and prepare the stones used to build the walls of Karilsgard, and likewise I can’t see a Stonecutter of equivalent level using their knowledge of rock to prepare the jewels needed for high-level enchantments and mana batteries,” Orodan said, getting a nod of affirmation from the old man. “I’ll need to develop both of them in tandem.”

“Of course. Self-improvement is a life long goal. But this is a fine start. We’ll have to get you working on Masonry next, and from there on you’ll visit the quarries of Scarmorrow for your training,” the old foreman replied. “For now, take some time to decompress… or knowing you, train something else. I have to get the books on masonry out. Stuffing all my belongings into this dimensional ring is convenient, but it doesn’t solve the problem of finding where the hells I put things any more than having it in my house’s drawers did.”

Orodan agreed with that, though thought the old man grumbled a bit much at the convenience of having a storage ring. Old Hannegan went inside the dimensional space of the ring, the sounds of rummaging heard. And he looked down at his finished product, the result of Stonecutting.

This rectangular stone plate, cut and polished by his own hands, would be a good thing to cook upon. A swift and casual cast of Time Reversal restored the forest he and Adeltaj damaged in their duel, prompting everyone to look at him agape for a moment before Adeltaj barked at them to resume their fights.

Following the restoration, he began picking edible roots, berries and herbs out of the ground. The Identify skill was quite useful for anyone foraging and gathering things out in the wilds. But Orodan felt it was a cheap cop out of learning how to manually identify things through knowledge and intuition. Vision of Purity too helped as quality assurance and a final safeguard to prevent him poisoning those he would be cooking for. But really, he’d gotten an education in Bluefire Academy, and Alastaia was his home, not some foreign world.

It would be embarrassing if Orodan couldn’t manually tell edible from poison around these parts.

[Gathering 39 → Gathering 40]

It had been a while since he had gained in this skill. How long had it been since he last cooked something? Perhaps he could serve Zukelmux some food this time?

Aliya stopped mid-fight, her face turning quite green as Orodan cracked the head of a palm-sized beetle and then proceeded to pry its shell off and put it to the side.

“T-teacher… are we… are we expected to eat that?” the girl asked, trembling and receiving a good thwack upon the head from Edrosic for the distraction.

“The Themrell Beetle?” Edrosic called out, recognizing the insect. “We learned to eat them during militia basic if necessary. Rather unsavory little things…”

“That’s only partially true. They do taste rather dodgy when eaten raw, but when chewed together with the astragon plant, the pungent taste is neutralized,” Orodan said, recalling some particularly harsh winters on the streets during his childhood where he’d had to try different combinations to get by. “Cooking them together only enhances the flavor.”

“H-how about we don’t eat that at all?” Aliya asked, more terrified of the prospect of eating whatever was being cooked than any harsh training.

“You’re too picky an eater…” Orodan criticized. “Besides, the shell and the astragon plants I picked grind together quite well.”

Wainroach nervously rubbed her front legs together, hesitating briefly before she made the next pass through the brazier of flame.

“What? I’m not going to cook you, that would be vile. No cooking and eating of sapient beings,” Orodan assured. “Cockroaches don’t taste too good either. Then again, from what the records of demonkind indicate, neither do humans or the mortal races. Too much bone and not enough meat, or so they say. So you can rest easy knowing we both likely taste miserable.”

“Oh? I can add a few good spices to the-” Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel⦿fire.net

Zukelmux’s offer was interrupted by Adeltaj Simarji who gave the poor goblin a thrashing.

Still, soon enough the food was roasting over a hot stone plate, Candleflame underneath for a slow cook, when Old Man Hannegan returned.

“Begun cooking already?” the old foreman muttered, returning with a manual on masonry. “Well, I suppose it’s better that rock be put to good use than tossed to the forest. How’s it holding up under the heat?”

“Passably… but, this rock, it’s-”

“Good Gods above, if you say something’s dirty one more time!” Old Man Hannegan chastised. “Let me guess, you’re going to turn it into a fancy jewel? Something so profound it’s suited to wiping the arse of the High Burgher himself?”

That just sounded uncomfortable and a bit painful. Why would anyone use a jewel for that?

“…I was actually going to say that it could be refined so that only one sort of mineral is present within it. The imperfections, faults and granular structure fixed,” Orodan clarified. “Maybe it could transfer heat better then.”

“Right… well if that unfair skill of yours can actually do something like that, then you’d be capable of making a lot of gold. Just purify tons of rock so that only trace bits of ore, minerals and valuable elements remain,” the old man said. “But you’d still have to pick the right sort of rock. Not all stone has every sort of ore or mineral in it. That’s the realm of earth mages, a lot of whom use the Prospecting skill, but also have an education in geology.”

“Teach me. I want to learn it all.”

“Alright, alright. Hold your horses for a moment and let’s do Masonry first. I’ll have to see if I have any instructional manuals on Prospecting…” his teacher muttered before gesturing towards the sacks he brought out. “Slaked lime, sand and water. Putting rocks together isn’t too hard, but understanding how to make the mortar binding them is the foundation of Masonry.”

Indeed, Orodan had read about how this worked. Heating limestone in a kiln produced slaked lime, which could then be mixed with sand of the right composition and water in order to make mortar, which was the binding for all construction used in the Republic of Aden. Of course, there were nuances to it, and magic used at certain parts of the process depending on the quality of the building being made and the amount of money involved, but in general, even the cheapest buildings made of brick and stone still used mortar made of lime. It was the basic ingredient, and although fancier things such as volcanic ash and other binding supplements could be added, lime was the foundation of it all.

As was the sand of course. Grains which were too large? The mortar would have a hard time binding. Grain which was too fine? Risk of weak mortar. Orodan hadn’t known until he’d read about it, but Masonry was a bit more complex than he had expected.

And from the look of it, the old man was intending on having him mix the slaked lime, sand and water himself in order to get to laying stones.

“You brought slaked lime? How do you even have such things laying around? Surely you didn’t drag all these materials about yourself?” Orodan asked.

“A graybeard like me? Not at all. I simply put Edrosic and the girl to work in moving the sacks and barrels. I’d have asked your goblin friend too, but he’s a bit strong to get anything out of it. Now get to work. You’re an Elite-level alchemist aren’t you? This part should be easy.”

And indeed it was. Expensive buildings had an alchemist in charge of mortar mixing anyways, and Orodan thought it best to learn the process from the ground up.

The slaked lime was in an easy to use dry powder form and Orodan saw no issue with with the river sand itself, although a glance with Vision of Purity told him that while acceptable… it was still of poorer quality than he’d like.

“No. Tuck that unfair skill of yours away. You’ll first do it the manual way like everyone else. And after you’ve acquired the skill you can do whatever ridiculous antics you regularly get up to,” the old man interrupted. “Just manual alchemy and hard work.”

Fair enough. In fact, knowing the standard process by hand could only be a good thing for when he expanded past that.

He mixed the slaked lime with the provided river sand—chosen for its suitable grain quality—and Orodan formed the mixture into a hill-shaped pile. From there, like a volcano, he scooped a decent hollow at the center of this hill, and into that began slowly adding water.

As expected, the water began blending into the formerly dry mixture, creating a thick paste. This was it. This was the mortar he knew and had seen laborers and construction workers use all his life. Bluefire’s alchemy education had taught students in theory how to mix mortar; the concept was nothing new to him. But the practical experience of mixing it himself for the first time filled him with a sense of utter satisfaction and pride. Yes, fighting was fantastic, but something about learning a new craft, a foundational aspect of society, was almost as good as getting into a good brawl. It hearkened back to his longtime dream of reaching the Grandmaster-level in every skill one day.

The water flowed and Orodan had to use the provided shovel to gradually scoop dry portions onto the water; a cycle of thorough mixing. It was a gradual process, and he kept a close watch upon the mixture the entire way. Much like making a potion, this pile of mortar was his alchemy cauldron, and the shovel his ladle.

[Alchemy 73 → Alchemy 74]

Orodan laughed, the thrill of learning filling him. The level gain only cemented the notion in his mind that the basics were important and could truly take one very far. Here he was, an Elite-level alchemist, having gained a level for the utterly basic act of mixing mortar for construction.

Now this was training.

“Hmm… not bad! Good eye, breaking up the clumps and ensuring even consistency all throughout,” Old Man Hannegan praised.

“This is no different to mixing a potion. Even without being allowed to use my Domain of Perfect Cleaning… the basics of Alchemy do not stop being relevant,” he replied, stirring the wet paste and ensuring proper consistency all throughout. “Still, the sand and slaked lime you gave me aren’t perfectly pure. And neither is this water. I could make a truly perfect mortar if you’d but allow it.”

“And rob you of the manual experience which everyone else has to face first? Besides… I’m a selfish old codger,” the old man replied, much to Orodan’s confusion. “I want to see with my own eyes how you flabbergast the quarrymaster in Scarmorrow when we head there tomorrow. Have to keep myself amused somehow!”

The meal cooked, the mortar mixed, and Orodan pulled some decent-sized pre-cut stones out of the sacks. Had Aliya and Edrosic helped the old man haul these? Good training.

“Now slap those stones together and use the trowel to spread the mortar evenly between them. Go on, I know you have a steady hand.”

And Orodan did. His existing Laboring and Tool Mastery helped smooth things out drastically. Even if he chose to cut the connection he had to his System’s central knowledge glyph, his raw experience throughout the loops across all his crafts made him a deft hand at manual tool usage.

The stones were put together, the mortar holding up well too. And in less than five minutes, a small pillar was erected. And with it… success.

[New Skill → Masonry 7]

“Well I’ll be… this is some decent work Orodan! Why it could even-”

“Not good enough. I need to do better,” Orodan declared. “I see all the faults and impurities with just the naked eye.”

Indeed, to him the faults were many. the imperfect stones which he hadn’t cut himself, the passable but not quite-so-good mortar and the binding of the mortar to the stone wasn’t quite as good as he’d like.

Yes, he’d beaten Calledro’s Average, but this was normal when he had an Apprentice-level Construction skill, an Elite-level Alchemy skill and was an Adept Laborer and Tool Elite. Combined with his quick mind and theoretical study? Of course that hundred hour rule didn’t apply to him. It was meant for untrained novices starting off with no other relevant skills, attributes or study.

“Was this why you had me study all those manuals beforehand?” Orodan asked, suddenly looking at the old foreman who only gave him a toothy smile. “You’re devious… cleverer than I thought. You sure you weren’t an academy teacher somewhere?”

“Who do you think taught you Laboring you fool? I know a thing or two about helping people catch onto a skill quickly,” the old man said. “Now, take a break and finish up that thing you have cooking. I never thought I’d say this… but it’s starting to smell quite decent. I deserve a bite after all that.”

And Orodan would ensure that this old foreman more than got one. Acquiring Stonecutting and Masonry this quickly while also having a foundational understanding of the basics was fantastic. Hells, why hadn’t he approached Old Man Hannegan more often?

With the time loops proven beyond a doubt, the old foreman was more willing to tag along and help Orodan with learning. Plus, the man just had a weird knack for knowing people, places and things in the simpler parts of society. While this mentor of his might not have an answer for the cosmic problems he faced… he doubted even Adeltaj Simarji quite knew where a particular town guild’s supply of ink for their calligraphers came from. Old Man Hannegan though, knew such small and ridiculous things.

And the little things when stacked up, could lead to something quite big.

“Orodan? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh? Nothing… nothing…” Orodan muttered, and under his breath could say only one thing. “Profound…”

With Masonry acquired, Orodan finished up the hot meal he had cooking upon the stone. And as Old Man Hannegan had said, the smell was quite nice. Enough so that even Adeltaj’s nose was visibly twitching.

Aliya and Edrosic were the first to approach after their spar, having wrapped up. The little staff prodigy had honestly kept Edrosic pressured with her skill. And Edrosic himself who had no Apprentice combat skills, had a difficult time dealing with some of her crisp techniques.

Of course, physicality mattered. Which was to say that Edrosic’s Physical Fitness of 11 went a lot farther in the body of a grown man than Aliya’s lower Physical Fitness in her tiny frame did. In several exchanges, she’d been overpowered and thrown about easily by Edrosic. She was good at fighting monsters, but against a human opponent who would happily exploit the strength advantage, she struggled to adapt. Orodan made sure to put an extra serving upon her plate. Girl needed to eat.

Zukelmux though, had done quite well in standing his ground against Adeltaj. Despite the fact that the old halberdier was holding back immensely. Still, the goblin could jump a level and fight Masters, so the amount Adeltaj had held back wasn’t drastic.

And Wainroach looked as though she was nearing the secret to understanding fire, given how she spent longer and longer bathing in it each pass.

And everyone was now sat down upon the grass, surrounding the rock plate which had a healthy amount of food upon it. Even Aliya, who had seemed positively sick at the thought of touching insects… looked quite hungry. The smell spoke for itself.

“Oh? If you cook food more often I might just work overtime in training you,” Adeltaj spoke. “I admit, I haven’t had this particular species of beetle before.”

“I… does it… will it actually taste good?” Aliya shyly asked.

“Teacher! The honored Grandmaster interrupted me, but I believe this could be improved with a serving of Death Roach shell boiled down for a broth!” Zukelmux excitedly suggested.

That did sound like a good idea.

“Your weird ideas used to disgust me… but then I had your Cooking.”

Orodan did feel bad about the fact that Zaessythra had no body, but that would be rectified. With the course he was on, that was his priority goal. The tome Almyra had given him, Orodan had been studying it here and there. And the secrets within were profound.

It gave him faith that remaining on the path of these concepts was the right idea.

But as for the matter of food? It was Old Man Hannegan who took the first bite.

[Cooking 48 → Cooking 49]

And the old foreman’s eyes widened. And he immediately began grabbing for another beetle lathered in astragon plant sauce.

“D-delicious!” Old Man Hannegan exclaimed.

Edrosic and Zukelmux were next and both rushed to grab a roast beetle which they popped into their mouths. Both had looks of satisfaction upon their faces. Aliya too followed and was more than pleasantly surprised. And Wainroach swiftly pounced and tackled one of the beetles, far larger than her off to the grass and began munching upon it territorially.

Which just left Adeltaj Simarji…

…who greedily yanked four beetles up and threw them all into his mouth.

“For such a normally reserved old man to act so shameless…” Orodan muttered. “I can just cook another plate up you know?”

“How often does an old man like me get to enjoy such good food?” the halberdier shot back. “Blame only yourself for making something delectable!”

“You lot… at least chew your food…”

They’d all stopped listening to him of course. With no cutlery or plates of their own, even Aliya was shoveling the beetles into her mouth now. Did they truly taste so good?

It was interesting to consider that once upon a time he’d been wanting for food; too weak to head too far outside of town to get wild stuff. And now? He didn’t even need to eat and he had a skill through which he could feed others. He was certain that the wild-eyed and desperate Orodan who had been Aliya’s age would have been fighting for every piece right about now. It would have been a sad and savage sight indeed.

Of course, being able to feed others now felt nice.

Around him, his students, Old Man Hannegan and Adeltaj weren’t so shameless as to wipe the entire plate clean without leaving him a singular scrap. And he had the last remaining beetle in his hands as he popped it in, savoring the taste.

[Gourmand 26 → Gourmand 27]

He wasn’t sure if anyone else would have felt it, but he knew his body intimately enough to detect the most brief but subtle enrichment of his cells. As though just the taste of this crunchy and hearty beetle had added a new life experience to his soul, made him cling just a little bit harder to life and his desire to savor all of it.

With Fenton’s orb in hand, with Almyra’s book containing its secrets and the people who he’d known across many loops now alongside him, Orodan too felt as though he’d gotten a new lease on life.

He truly did intend to savor and experience all of it.

Zukelmux had utterly smashed his way past Oxhead Academy’s entrance test. It really didn’t surprise Orodan; in fact, he’d advised that the goblin go straight to Bluefire rather than waste his time at a mere county martial academy. And among the counties, Volarbury’s martial academy wasn’t anything too special either, with Exerston and Vondarius counties having academies of renown just beneath that of Bluefire.

Of course, the real culprit had been the old halberdier Adeltaj Simarji who had wanted to get some amusement from seeking Zukelmux beat everyone black and blue. Truly… that old man had a shameless side to him.

With the Rising Spears clan settled upon House Simarji’s lands and Aliya, Edrosic and Zukelmux’s educations secured, Orodan’s current set of obligations had narrowed, and he could now truly focus on what mattered.

Which was the task of amusing this other shameless old man who was accompanying him. That and honing his stone-craft related skills.

Scarmorrow was the closest town to Ogdenborough, and the residents of Orodan’s hometown often went there to visit the local temple since theirs had none. A temple, a healing house for the poor and some minor hunting and fishing industries aside… the town’s main economy came from the procurement of construction material.

Specifically, stone. And the quarry before them certainly had access to a lot of it, being up against cliffs which were made of high-quality granite.

“A bit out of the way isn’t it?” Orodan asked as they neared the quarry, the loud noises of stone being crushed, struck and worked reverberating through the air for a good distance. “Then again, who wants to sleep near this? I had a hard enough time getting any sleep thanks to those stupid harpies.”

It had been additional motivation, back then, to increase his Physical Fitness so that he didn’t need as much of it.

“What do you care about the harpies now? You could buy yourself an entire manor in Trumbetton if you so chose. Have you gotten in touch with that coin-sniffer Esgarius about receiving a payout for your products?” the old man asked.

“Not yet, though if I have need for gold I certainly will. Although I’m not sure if I’d like to have him along in the orb…” Orodan muttered, just slightly concerned about the repercussions of letting someone that greedy loose with the knowledge of the future. “Can’t have the Republic’s economy crashing within a few days.”

“Good point. Come, let’s speak to the overseer here,” Old Man Hannegan said, leading him down the sloping path cut into the cliff, allowing workers to descend.

The overseer for the quarry, a stern-faced woman, was putting quill to paper and writing a report at her open-air desk when the two of them approached. The woman seemed to recognize Orodan’s old mentor too.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“If it isn’t old graybeard Hannegan!” the woman barked with a boisterous laugh, quite contrary to her earlier stern expression. “I thought you already had enough stone for that warehouse of yours. Got another job lined up already you industrious old coot?”

“Who’s an old coot?! You’ve been inhaling too much of this rock dust and it’s gotten into your skull!” the old man protested, but not unfondly. “And no, just here to seek work. Or rather, my student here is.”

“Student? I begged you to take me on full-time for months and now you have some nobody learning under you? The unfairness of life…” she grumbled, although her tone changed and the woman sounded more than a little intimidated when she craned her neck up to look at Orodan. “Well… damn. What do they feed you? What business have you got teaching a soldier-sort like him? Not much to learn about fighting or killing men around these parts.”

“I’m not here to fight or kill anyone. It’s stone which interests me; I’m here to improve my Stonecutting and Masonry skills,” Orodan spoke. “With maybe a spot of Mining and picking up some Prospecting too.”

“Hm… I see. You’re one of them types who comes by to train skills besides killing folk? I can respect that,” the woman said as she got to her feet. “House Stenguard has majority ownership of the quarry, but House Firesword’s a business partner. Burgher Ignatius provides the on-duty earth mage and guards for our workers, so things run rather smooth around here. That being said, if it’s the opportunity to develop your skills that you’re looking for… plenty of work to be done around here. Want to mine rock or cut stone first?”

“Mining sounds fine,” Orodan replied. It was an important skill, not just as a craft, but when he activated Combat Mastery and drew upon its insights. He’d slain Avraxas using it in tandem with a cavalcade of other skills.

“Right then, section four. The supervisor there can get you a pickaxe. Hope you’ve got a high-level of Physical Fitness because we’re behind on orders, way too many construction projects demanding construction-quality stone, especially out in Exerston County for their walls,” the overseer directed. “Section four’s also where we send people like you—the fighter types here to use this as training. Easier for you lot to work among yourselves than terrify the rest of my unfortunate miners.”

Orodan simply nodded and set off. It looked as though the old man intended to stay and catch up with this woman too.

It was a large quarry; with only Loviaston having a much smaller one, this was possibly the largest one in the county from what he’d heard. Which meant that the cliff face was demarcated into sections for quarrying rock. And his section, section four, looked to have less workers than the rest. Although the Physical Fitness level of these few ‘workers’ was a lot higher.

“Haah! Feel the sting of Haragos the World-Splitter!”

“This weirdo… will he never shut up?”

Already, Orodan could see why those who came by to use the quarry for training were kept separate. The supervisor noticed his approach too, and walked up, eyeing the sword and shield on him.

“Oh? A warrior? You’re in the right place. We’re behind on quota and Exerston County needs rubble for their roads.”

“Rubble?” Orodan asked. “Is that what this section’s for?”

“Indeed sir. It is important work to which your skills will be greatly contributing! Why, unlike a warrior such as yourself, our civilian workers simply cannot strike the much harder stone with adequate force.”

Orodan looked closely and frowned. What nonsense was this man spouting? The rock all across this quarry had the same material density and toughness.

“How about you give me the real answer?” Orodan asked. Politely.

“T-that is…! Er… look, sir. I don’t want to cause any trouble with you, but my superiors make the decisions not me. Most of you… the soldier and academy student types, don’t have the highest Mining skill. N-not that it’s in any way a criticism! It just means you have more important things to focus upon!”

Orodan could now see where the man was going with this. A glance to the side showed skilled miners striking the stone at marked points, or using wedges and shims like a stonecutter would in tandem with the pickaxe. Unlike the rubble and debris being produced at section four, the other sections crewed by professional workers were extracting solid blocks of workable stone which could be used for construction.

The rubble here in contrast could only be used to pave poorer roads, lay stonebeds or cobble walls in places where quality didn’t matter as much as the fact that a wall of some sort was there. To that end he could see why this flatterer was here, to massage the egos of adventurers, martial students and soldier-sorts like him, so that their higher strength could still be of some benefit.

And even then he could clearly sense the two Elite-level guards playing a card game on the high point of the cliffs who had their eyes on him. As expected, a quarry with significant investment which returned much profit wouldn’t simply be left to fend for itself.

Still, this all worked just fine for Orodan. They wanted him to extract rubble? Sounded like a good warm-up. And if they didn’t think him skilled enough to work the other sections of the quarry? He would just have to prove them wrong.

He grabbed one of the provided pickaxes and walked up to the cliff face.

Smooth granite. A rock most durable which was used in construction all throughout the Republic. And mining it were two people. One, a relatively quiet woman who was looking most irritated by the man next to her. That man, one who used not a pickaxe but a large two-handed warpick, was proudly yelling about how his pick would destroy the world itself. And hearing him Orodan could understand why the martials had been separated to a section of their own.

“Oh! We have another challenger? I Haragos the World-Splitter shall induct this rookie into the ways of-”

[Mining 35 → Mining 36]

Orodan’s first swing crumpled a fifth of the cliff face and caused a large amount of rubble to begin cascading down.

“D-damn! A rockslide! Take cover!”

Being subtle? Hiding his strength? He had no time for that.

His next swing caused a further shower of rock and rubble to rain down as he sheared right into the cliff face. He was massively holding back of course. A full-force swing with the pickaxe and he’d actually mine the entire planet down to the core World-Splitter was yammering about earlier.

Of course… the problem now was that with just two swings he’d caused massive amounts of rubble to accumulate at the face of their section, blocking further attempts at mining until the material was cleared.

“By the Gods! Hey get some laborers over here! Start loading this stuff into the carts!” the supervisor bellowed out, causing their previously inactive section to become swarmed with workers.

Upon the overlooking top of the cliff he could see the overseer’s mouth agape and Old Man Hannegan with an amused grin. The two Elite-level guards present as insurance were more than a little wary now too. Certainly, neither of them could destroy a fifth of an entire cliff face with just the swing of a pickaxe.

Orodan looked at the workers scrambling to load the rubble in and decided that they were too slow. Thus he began helping.

Large scoops of rubble were thrown into large horse-drawn carts at a speed the other laborers simply couldn’t match. Where they had to perhaps collect a few stones, or lift a particularly large one, he simply hurled them like pebbles, causing the carts to creak ominously as they landed.

“S-sir! You’ll break the carts!” the supervisor frantically warned.

“Shoddy craftsmanship on them. Worry not, I’ll help rectify that after the first trip.”

Loading rocks into a cart was something he’d done plenty of during his early days working under Old Man Hannegan before the loops. Yet even then, when doing it in volume and for an entire cliff face section he’d shattered? It took a while.

Fifteen minutes of labor which rewarded him.

[Laboring 57 → Laboring 58]

Every cart and horse in the quarry was now at section four. And it still wasn’t enough for one trip.

“You,” Orodan called out the supervisor. “Are there no more carts?”

“W-we have ten more carts but not enough horses my lord!”

“I’m not a lord,” Orodan corrected. “And bring those empty carts here immediately.”

As asked, they did so and those were loaded up too. He then untied the horses, attached the ropes from the carts all around himself, and began walking up the sloping path carved into the cliffside leading up.

[Towing 4 → Towing 8]

[Laboring 58 → Laboring 59]

The gains were immediate due to the sheer difficulty of the task. Not because his physical might was challenged, but because the ropes were unsteady, the carts creaking, and each cart got in the way of the other as they were being pulled along the road. It must have seemed a ridiculous sight, for a single man to be pulling twenty carts behind him, and it certainly was if the expressions on many of the workers’ faces were any indicator.

The requisite strength was of no concern to someone who could crack planets. In fact just level 40 of Physical Fitness would have been enough. But the delicate exertion of force was the tricky part. Too forceful a step and a rope might snap. Too slight a move and the cart would not budge. He had to remain aware of the integrity of the carts too while also ensuring none of the rubble fell out.

It was some fantastic training in coordinating his own strength though.

Orodan was nothing if not familiar with labor and physical exertion however. He knew his body well and could closely track each rock atop the precariously loaded piles. With each step, he minutely corrected and adjusted, tracking how the rocks wobbled and ensuring that none of them fell off during the trip.

The walk which would have taken an equivalent convoy of horses twenty minutes, was finished in less than ten. Granite was a heavy and dense rock too, so the workers would ordinarily have had to avoid loading a cart fully lest the horses struggle or be unable to pull it up the incline. Of course, Orodan had cared little and loaded the carts up entirely since he was the one doing the pulling.

And the singular trip had brought his Towing to 15 and Laboring to 60.

“Mister Wainwright! Please, put it here! Put it here! We can take over!” the overseer insisted, suddenly a lot more tolerant of Orodan and her previous distaste gone entirely. “Hey you lot! Get to assorting that rubble! Get it to the earth mage and under the crusher after!”

This was no scrambling workshop producing slop, but a well-oiled operation which funneled the county’s demand for stone. Workers immediately left their current tasks in an orderly manner. Those laborers assisting the stonecutters in their section of the quarry immediately left their tasks in order to help out, and one by one the carts were shifted. And before Orodan could wonder how these laborers with far lower Physical Fitness than even an Apprentice were going to move the rubble from cart to pile in an orderly fashion… the on-duty earth mage stepped in.

The young woman was an Adept, likely trained through the county’s local magic academy rather than Bluefire. Even then, while Oxhead was considered a poor choice for martial students, Hearthlight Academy for mages wasn’t bad and the occasional magical student from other areas would come to Volarbury County just to attend. Naturally, this meant that the county’s mages were just a step better than its warriors, and the woman proved it by summoning seven earth golems which began hauling the rubble off of the carts.

These golems moved the extracted material under a mechanism—a giant mechanical rod which struck downwards with extreme force—meant to crush the rock down further.

“Earth golems? I’ll need to learn that spell sometime…” Orodan muttered. Having golems capable of moving materials and handing him things would certainly cut down on the amount of time it took him to craft things multi-step objects.

“Y-you want to learn this?” the mage asked, overhearing him. “You just shattered an entire cliff face and got that section shut down…!”

“Perhaps, but I already have the secret to acquiring more brute force. Something which adds utility would be appreciated,” Orodan replied.

“Earth golems? Hells, you want to learn how our stonecutters and masons work? You want lessons from our miners? We’ll give you all of that!” the overseer exclaimed, in an exceedingly good mood. “You just met a bunch of our quotas for the month in ten minutes. We were already behind by a week, do you know how bad things were?”

“I do not… and I’m surprised it took me coming along to smash the cliff face. Could the Burgher have not sent an Elite or hired a Master to acquire the rubble you need?”

Then again, House Firesword had no Masters of their own, and the average Elite wasn’t nearly as physically strong as Orodan. Those that did have skills capable of immense destruction might have done a little too much damage. If anything, he was underselling the value of his own Apprentice-level Mining skill.

“What? Which other Elites have any proficiency in the Mining skill? And hiring a Master would cost far too much and cut into the bottom line,” the woman replied, knowing the existence of them. “Burgher Ignatius is busy with other ventures, particularly those related to Jerestir and his house’s expeditions into the Aenechean Forest. And as always, he’s busy attempting to find talented youth to sponsor.”

Which about lined up with what he knew from past loops. Burgher Ignatius was the only Elite in a fading house whose Grandmaster was being controlled by Agathor. With not even Master-level support, the man must have been spread thin.

“Just seems a bit careless for the Burgher to allow his quarry to remain behind schedule by an entire week,” Orodan remarked.

“He is a business partner of significant wealth but not the decision maker, that would be House Stenguard, who I work for. And believe me, Mister Wainwright, it is quite difficult to acquire the services of someone capable of what you just did,” the woman said and then turned to Old Man Hannegan. “I don’t understand how in the seven hells you’re involved in teaching this esteemed warrior. He must be a Master at minimum.”

And Old Man Hannegan of course had a gleeful and all-too-happy grin upon his face, soaking in the amusement.

“He’s my mentor,” Orodan clarified, causing many of the nearby workers and the overseer to now look at the old foreman differently. “Took me under his wing long ago when nobody else would. Even now he teaches me things I mightn’t have known of otherwise. But we are getting off course. Your stone, I wish to help cut and shape it. Whatever labor is involved in the process, I wish to participate in it.”

“You do? You’re not here for just physical training then? What am I saying? Of course you aren’t. With how easily you devastated the cliff face for section four I doubt this will even train your Physical Fitness,” the overseer replied. “Very well, let us walk you through the process of preparing the rubble we extracted thanks to you. Lot of rock you’ve given us, but this creates something of a bottleneck we hope your talents can resolve quickly too.”

“A bottleneck?” Orodan asked. “I know that this rubble’s often used patch up roads and lay the foundations for buildings, but I wasn’t aware it needed more processing beyond just that.”

“You’re learning Masonry too? Where’s someone like you even get the time for all this?” she asked, bewildered. But one look at Old Man Hannegan walking alongside him clarified things. “Right, having the old codger around helps I suppose. And aye, there’s a bit more to it than just hitting a granite cliff hard enough to cause a rockslide. Impressive as it is and as much labor as you’ve saved us, we still need to process the rock. Which involves throwing it under the crusher and having Siegwyna, our earth mage, evaluate the quality of it.”

Contrary to what the layman might have thought there was quality control involved with even something as base as the rubble and shave-off from a quarry and its associated stonecutting operations. The manuals and books he’d been reading had been quite clear on that, and on how much work went into preparing stone. Yes, quarries extracted and then prepared construction-quality blocks of stone which were the most prized product to come out of them. But the rubble too was useful in a variety of things. Road-laying, housing foundations, basic walls to keep livestock penned in, and even fortifying river embankments to prevent the erosion of workable farmland. And of course, mixing in during the process of mortar-making in order to get a stronger product.

Naturally, this required the rock to be processed. The first step of which involved the crusher, the giant enchanted mechanism which pulverized rock and saved a lot of gold on manual labor and mana costs.

“Quite shrewd. The mana simply lifts the weight up and then gravity and the heavy and dense hammerhead does the rest,” Orodan commented. “Hmm… takes more energy to control the force for lower settings than it does to deliver a full force blow, does it not?”

He was sure Fenton could have a superior device made within fifteen minutes. Hells he missed that foolish lad.

“I’m no enchanter, but the energy battery does drain quicker if we’re delivering lower-force strikes than not,” the woman spoke as they now stood directly beneath the crusher. “Now. You said you want to help? The carts unload the rubble near the crusher, but sorting and then deciding which stones need to go under the hammer takes times, and it takes muscle. We could use your might here Mister Wainwright.”

As she said, the earth mage was assessing the grades and sizes of each chunk alongside a team of laborers. It seemed a waste to have a mage talented in earth magic simply watch and assess rock—something any stoneworker or laborer with a trained eye could do. That was, until Orodan noticed mana flowing into the mage’s eyes as she picked out specific bits of rock and separated them from the pile.

Vision of Purity caught it too. These bits of rubble… were the ones which had no fault lines at all. They were durable, strong. Orodan’s pickaxe and the subsequent rockslide hadn’t caused any grievous damage to them; there was no risk that they would fracture or split under pressure. These rocks then, were high-quality rubble to be used for constructing the good stuff. Not buildings perhaps, as these weren’t prepared granite blocks. But the difference between a high-quality foundation and a low-quality one would become apparent over the years.

“So let me get this straight. Whatever rubble is left after your earth mage picks the good bits out, you then throw under the crusher for processing?”

“Yes, that’s exactly so. The high-quality rock fetches a good price and the towns are always asking for this when expanding the road networks. Can’t have shabby foundations for a main road bearing plenty of cart and carriage traffic. And… is that a broom? What are-”

Orodan’s broom lashed out, the concept of Cleanliness utterly bending to his violent will for such a small task.

And all the rubble stacked and gathered at the foot of the crusher was utterly purified.

Faults, impurities, structural weaknesses. All cleansed away. Too little for a skill level gain, as expected when he was now battling over a concept with rival Embodiers.

Naturally, the earth mage and overseer froze at the sight, and Old Man Hannegan began madly laughing.

“We… we have nothing to put under the crusher anymore…” one of the workers muttered. “These are all perfect bits of rubble now.”

“These rocks are… they’re perfect…” the mage muttered, unable to find her words for a while until she finally schooled herself. “How have you done this? Even a Master-level earth mage would not be able to transform this many rocks in so perfect a manner. My Earth Mastery isn’t anywhere near enough to do to a single rock what you just did with tons upon tons of them. Are you a hidden Master from Bluefire? A secret agent of the Burgher here to evaluate us?”

“I’m no mage from Bluefire nor am I an agent of the Burgher. And tt wasn’t earth magic… just cleaning,” Orodan answered. “Now then, the next step of the process.”

“Cleaning? Cleaning? The next step of the process involves me contacting Lord Gerace… because you’ll be the end of me with these displays!” the overseer protested. “Old Hannegan, where the hells did you find this man? He’s wearing the militia uniform too, so how in the world did they ever loan him to you? What sort of weird skill is that? Who are you?”

They were acting a little too dramatic in Orodan’s opinion. And the mischievous old fogey who’d accompanied him here was having a little too much fun at the spectacle.

The conversation devolved into a bunch of hand-wringing, boasting from Old Man Hannegan and arguments about what should be done about the wealth of perfect granite rubble they had. And finally, the overseer asked him a simple question.

Could he repeat that feat with the prepared blocks of granite that the quarry had stacked away? The answer was an obvious yes.

And so Orodan walked over to the storage area, and a brief flash of Domain of Perfect Cleaning proved that claim as well.

Naturally, if his earlier display had utterly flabbergasted the unfortunate overseer, this display had her trembling like a leaf in the wind. And he could practically see the woman salivating at the sight of all the rows of arrayed and purified granite blocks.

“While I do enjoy cleaning, it’s really not what I’m here for. I gained no levels in the skill from doing that,” Orodan mentioned. “Can we get to stonecutting already?”

“O-of course! Of course! Anything you would like!” she forced out, at an utter loss for words. “S-send him to the stonecutters, have Kalin show him the ropes and have him work under Master Varnok himself!”

“Ma’am, but Master Varnok is currently busy cutting the-”

“Get to it! Do you want to offend the Master we have here?!”

He wasn’t a Master, but felt it unnecessary to correct the assumption.

And so Orodan was unceremoniously led away by a pair of supervisors who had halted their work in order to personally escort him around. With just a few acts of mining and cleaning, he had become the center of the entire quarry’s attention. Whatever he wanted to learn, from the looks of it, he would now get.

He was brought to the area where the stonecutters worked, and the entire operation was now working overtime to process the stone Orodan had purified. The crusher, whose loud slams of metal upon rock had previously echoed through the quarry, now lay inert as there was no demand for it at this time. It wasn’t that there was no need for it, but that he’d created so much pure granite that the existing workforce had now been redirected to process only that.

And throwing pure rocks, even rubble, under the crusher… was a horrid waste of excellent material. It would have to be manually processed for maximal return. Which certainly increased the workload by a tremendous amount… but from the way the overseer had been salivating at the sight, the effort looked more than worth it.

Groups of stonecutters—hard-working men and women whose hands and faces were covered with rock dust—were arranged in rows, each of them with their own workstation. And at the very center of this workspace was a raised platform. Upon it, a giant stone being worked upon by multiple assistants at its periphery, while a stout and focused dwarf delicately touched up the center.

It was a strange sight, to watch multiple stonecutters tap away at the same giant stone. It was particularly high-quality granite too; as close to being pure as something in nature could get. And from the way the others deferred to him, the dwarf was clearly the most experienced stonecutter and leader of the endeavor.

While Orodan usually had a good instinctive read on how powerful someone was in combat, the same couldn’t be said for the relative skill level of a crafter. Still, just from the look of it, this dwarf might just have been the best stonecutter Orodan had ever seen. Evident given how far ahead in skill he was compared to the assisting stonecutters who were no slouches themselves.

It made sense that the head stonecutter would be a dwarf. The older stonework of Novar’s Peak in the Empire was done by the dwarves as a gift of friendship, and a species didn’t live underground without becoming very good at shaping rock.

And this dwarf? He was very, very good.

“You’re cutting it in such a way that the grain is aligned to resist damage…” Orodan muttered. Not magic but raw stonecutting ability. This was a true master.

“Huh? Who’s this?” the dwarf muttered without even looking back. “Kalin, deal with the visitor, I cannot be distracted!”

The assistant, Kalin, was an Adept stonecutter. And a man Orodan had met before. This was Aliya’s father.

“Your daughter is doing well at Oxhead. I’m told she gives some of the first-year students a good fight. Truly exceptional for an eight-year old,” Orodan spoke, taking a step back from the surly dwarf who seemed intently focused on the giant stone.

“Mister Wainwright? Why it’s good to see you! Aliya tells me regularly about her classes and the things you’ve been teaching her,” the man replied and then looked confused. “But what are you doing here? Has… has something happened?”

“If by something happening you mean the quarry being turned upside down, then you would be right,” one of the supervisors escorting Orodan spoke up. “All that special rock the rest of the cutters have been assigned? His doing.”

“Truly? I see Aliya is in good hands. I wasn’t aware you were an accomplished earth mage.”

He briefly thought to dispute that, but then realized that he did in fact have the Earthen Construct skill. Which technically made him a user of earth magic. Though the ‘accomplished’ part of the moniker could be disputed.

“Boss wants you to take him under your wing Kalin. Teach him Stonecutting,” the supervisor said.

“Stonecutting? Well… I suppose I can lend a hand. If you’ll come with me Mister Wainwright…”

And so, Orodan’s journey on the path to shaping stone truly began.

Though he had a feeling that getting that dwarf to pay him any heed would be a matter taking more than one loop.

As expected, while he’d gained a lot of levels in Stonecutting and clearly impressed Kalin and many of the other stonecutters, he still hadn’t been able to draw the eye of the dwarf Master working upon the giant rock at the center.

The supervisors had tried to inform the dwarf, Master Varnok, of what he’d down, but Orodan had quickly silenced them and insisted they not bother him. He wasn’t the sort to wave his sword or flex his power merely for the sake of getting attention. He would accept no less than time, hard work, and a few loops of effort to catch that dwarf’s eye through his own Stonecutting skill. He saw this as a challenge and a benchmark to overcome; it would be proof of his progress when he finally succeeded.

Still, cutting stone at a quarry was excellent practice. And the skill now sat at level 19 over the day of work. Yes, he could’ve done absurd things such as cleaning more rocks, using magic or bring other skills into it. But until Orodan felt he’d mastered the basics, he did not want to jump ahead.

He was somewhat stubborn like that.

Old Man Hannegan had gone off to Greenvale to meet with Lord Gerace Stenguard in order to open up some further learning oppirtunities for Orodan in this loop, and now he, Adeltaj and the rest of his students were in the same clearing they used in the Aenechean Forest for training.

And he was in the middle of a duel, though without his usual weapons.

Spears and halberds, at least tangentially, had some relation to a sword. A spear could stab, and a halberd could stab, cut and hook. There was some degree of transference between the three weapon types.

But the club was a different matter.

Yes, Orodan wielded his sword one-handed just as he was this club, but the difference in balance, handling and the fact that there was no cutting or stabbing involved meant he faced a weapon which was mostly novel.

Yes, he had existing levels in Club Mastery, but he hadn’t particularly cared for it during the non-lethal combatives portion of militia basic training. And if there was any melee skill he had where the System’s crutch was quite evident, it would be this. Without the connection to his System’s central glyph of knowledge, the club felt awkward and clumsy in his hand.

“You can swing a sword around with such deftness but a club stumps you?” Adeltaj asked while continuing to pressure Orodan’s guard with swift thrusts of the halberd. “Come now, where’s that martial talent?”

“It’s an odd weapon. And I can’t exactly bring violence to bear when I’m sparring,” he replied. “I need something to cut loose on.”

And he did, aiming not for Adeltaj but a nearby tree.

[Club Mastery 15 → Club Mastery 17]

His strike was horrifyingly fast, ruthless and violent. The club in his hand was little more than an implement of crushing brutality as the wood mangled and shattered under the blow.

He’d held back of course, but even under the shackles of self-restraint the sheer vehemence of the blow was felt by everyone in the clearing. The strike had caused all to feel the oppresion of imminent murder.

“A good strike for a warrior. A miserable strike by the standards of a club wielder,” Adeltaj praised and critiqued, and the old halberdier was right too.

If he channelled his inner violence and love for brutal combat, then the club could be used just fine. But he wasn’t really using a club per se, but a mere blunt bludgeoning tool. The handling and weight distribution didn’t really matter to his level of strength, but unless he learned and mastered the intricacies of accounting for the heft, he wouldn’t truly learn the weapon.

And although Orodan’s personal lens of savagery and aggression painted how he approached combat, it didn’t change the fact that the sword was no instrument of pure brutishness. But the club was. It was more similar to his fists in a way, and just by using it he felt a strange crossover of unarmed and sword technique.

But this… this was important. A sword was well-balanced, fluid and agile. A club was not. Just by using the club he was already learning to better appreciate the subtle weight mechanics behind his own sword. The weight mechanics behind his own punches. Adeltaj was truly a genius teacher of martial combat, forcing him to train in different weapons.

“Break. Go spar Zukelmux now,” Adeltaj directed. “An easier target will perhaps help you temper your blows and understand the club better.”

Zukelmux finished bullying Aliya and Edrosic in a two-on-one, and Adeltaj stepped in to send Zukelmux his way while directing Edrosic and Aliya to spar among themselves for a round. Whenever the time came to spar either him or Adeltaj, the goblin warrior looked quite eager.

In the Novar’s Peak long loop, Orodan had trained Zukelmux and come to learn that he was a true prodigy. An Elite that could step a tier up to fight at the peak of the Master-level. It was no surprise then that his strongest student was heads and shoulders above Aliya and Edrosic when it came to fighting. Much like Orodan himself, Zukelmux was a natural warrior and took to battle like a sponge to water. Among everyone he’d ever taught, this goblin was doubtlessly the best pure fighter of them all.

“Teacher, it is an honor to spar you again. Please hold nothing back!”

“If I did that the planet is getting turned to dust,” Orodan dryly replied, causing the goblin to stammer in embarrassment.

“T-that’s not what I meant! I mean, feel free to go all-out within the bounds of your restraint. If you beat upon Aliya or Edrosic, they might not be as capable of weathering it. But I? I welcome the challenge!”

That did seem like an interesting exercise.

“Do you know what you ask for Zukelmux? Are you sure you’re ready to be subject to a brutal beating?” Orodan asked, trying to give him fair warning. “I’m aware that Oxhead has taught you some basic spells for self-healing, but if you really want me to cut loose… it’s going to hurt.”

“Teacher. Much like yourself, I too am a warrior. To face adversity, to be the shield which stands between the wicked and the weak, that is my role in life,” his student explained. “Coddling me would only cause me to feel disrespected. Now please, do me the honor of this spar. I wish to develop my self-healing abilities under true pressure. Till first knockdown?”

“Very well. I don’t think you and I have had a proper fight yet,” Orodan said, dropping his shield and hefting the club over his shoulder. It was a gesture of violence, and he could see the goblin’s eyes narrow in concentration and mental readying. “Come, Zukelmux. Let us converse in the language of warriors.”

Zukelmux was a good fighter, a measured and even one who played cautiously and liked to read situations before committing to an optimal plan of approach. If anything, facing the goblin was a nightmare for any roguish sorts or those who enjoyed using feints, subterfuge and tricks. There was no opening to exploit, no gap or weakness of the stance to target. Just a cautious, mobile wall of shield and spear whose head was on a swivel. For Aliya and Edrosic who had to spar him, it must’ve been a true exercise in frustration as tricks and ploys didn’t work at all. It forced them to improve their fundamentals.

Accordingly, the goblin lunged forward, but it was a cautious thing, footwork even while sending a probing thrust out. Such initial exchanges were entirely normal in a melee fight as warriors tested range and gauged their opponents habits and tells.

But in contrast to the cautious and tactical Zukelmux, Orodan was a berserker.

The cautious spear thrust was met by a brutal jab of the club, a crude approximation of what a sword thrust would be.

[Club Mastery 17 → Club Mastery 18]

Sparks erupted, and despite Orodan exactly matching Zukelmux’s strength, the spear with its longer reach, less mass and lower leverage at point of impact was easily forced back. But the goblin was a natural fighter, allowing the overpowered spear’s momentum to slide it along his grip as he attempted to take a step back and reset distance.

This, Orodan decided, was not to be.

“I’ll have to have you fight a Demonic Berserker or two. They certainly wouldn’t let you comfortably reset position or maintain a safe distance while you poke them to death,” Orodan instructed, lunging in and smashing his club against the goblin’s shield. A counter-thrust designed to punish his aggression came in. But Orodan angled his body—accepted what would have been a jagged cut on a regular person but simply skittered off his skin—and allowed the spear to enter under his armpit where he trapped it.

Spear trapped, Zukelmux was now in a bad position as Orodan’s right hand with club in it hung overhead. Only the goblin’s shield stood in the way. And a feral grin of savagery emerged upon his face as he looked down upon the shorter goblin.

“Let’s test that shield arm.”

Orodan's left hand held his student's spear in place while his right brought the club down upon the shield. Once, twice, and then repeatedly. Like a maddened monkey pounding a hard-shelled fruit with a rock, Orodan hammered Zukelmux's shield, forcing the goblin to drop it or allow his shoulder to eventually break.

Yet, defiantly, his student held on. He was… using this for training!

“Hahahah! Excellent! Excellent!” Orodan exclaimed. “You’ve always been the best fighter among all those I’ve taught. Hold on and weather the barrage, Zukelmux!”

And despite the grunts of pain, the goblin did. Orodan gained another level in Club Mastery with how many unanswered blows to the shield his student allowed him to deliver.

The shield began denting after the sixtieth blow, and he heard the faint sound of a shoulder joint popping as his student’s arm finally lowered, if unwillingly

“M-monstrous!” Zukelmux gasped as his face was revealed behind the now lowered shield. Yet the expression wasn’t one of unhappiness. “I must train even harder to be worthy of your expectations teacher!”

And while some might have thought that the end of it, or might have perhas expected a gentle knockdown… Orodan felt that would have been disrespectful of the goblin who had weathered the assault well. And by the look on his student’s face, the warrior wanted no less than for Orodan to cut loose.

And frankly… Zukelmux did say he wanted to practice his self-healing magic.

[Club Mastery 19 → Club Mastery 20]

A sickening crunch echoed throughout the clearing, with Aliya and Edrosic turning pale and halting their spar at the sight. Even Wainroach who was doing cartwheels across a burning brazier had stopped for a moment.

The club had left a sizeable and bloody dent upon the goblin’s skull, and Orodan had to admit he felt quite bad… but that look of excited defiance on his student’s face was still there. It would have been a fatal injury for the untrained, but having one’s skull shattered wasn’t immediately lethal for those with decent Physical Fitness.

The follow up swing to the ribs cracked them, and a final uppercutting arc met his student’s chin sending the goblin flying up a hundred metres before he finally came down.

A knockdown and the end of the spar. Evident as the bloody and crumpled goblin gasped and struggled to breathe.

Orodan immediately sat down next to him, placing a hand upon his shoulder.

“D-dont… I will not learn unless I am allowed to heal myself,” Zukelmux said as he sat himself up and began channeling healing magic. “Thank you for the lesson teacher.”

And although his own healing wouldn’t be nececessary, he kept the hand upon his student’s shoulder there all the same. To let him know that he was there.

“Are you alright? I can’t say I enjoyed breaking your head… but to hold back would have been disrespectful to you. One of my mentors would often savage me the same way,” Orodan said, thinking of how Arvayne had trained him. “Hells, even old Adeltaj here killed me once he learned I was in a time loop.”

“Truly?” Zukelmux asked, his injuries looking visibly better by the second as he poured mana into the self-healing spells. “Then I walk in your footsteps with this sort of training.”

“I don’t know if you want to walk in my footsteps exactly, Zukelmux. I’ve been through a fair number of ordeals, not all of the endings to them happy ones. My hands are stained with plenty of blood.”

“But you went through them all the same did you not? And look at you now, returned and helping those who mean much to you,” the goblin defended. “I… I aspire to acquire strength like you have. I want to protect my tribe, to guard the innocent and the defenseless. To smite evil and avenge my family.”

“And you shall. Even without me teaching you, I have little doubt you would have been strong enough to do all those things,” Orodan assured. In fact, given time and the opportunity to grow he expected Zukelmux would have surpassed even the Grandmaster of that clan of depths moles. “You are doing well.”

“Will… will you do the same with them?” the goblin asked, glancing at Aliya and Edrosic somewhat protectively. “They may not-”

“Hells no. You don’t work on clay and metal the same way. I’m aware that they’d break if put under the same sort of rigor,” Orodan assuaged. “Aliya sought out adventure, Edrosic came from a stable home. But you and I? We were shaped by violence and loss. What works for us will not work for them. Their learning must be more gradual.”

[Teaching 87 → Teaching 88]

Really? It felt as though the knowledge rune was mocking him with that gain. Though with Zukelmux fully healing himself, perhaps it had been that which caused the gain.

“I see… that is good,” the goblin breathed, relieved. “Teacher Orodan, if it is not too bold of me, might I ask a question?”

“You don’t have to ask permission to ask a question Zukelmux. It’s my role as a teacher to answer,” Orodan immediately clarified.

He found the silly notion of being cryptic to be idiotic. If he wanted them to find an answer or try something themselves, he would simply say so up front. Orodan had been blessed by mostly good teachers all throughout the loops. And although he’d learned much from Alovardo Balmento, he’d succeeded despite the corrupted madman’s eccentric teaching methods.

“Very well, thank you. Then, I shall be bold and ask about these time loops Parthus and the old craftmaster speak about,” the goblin asked. “You said it during our fight too. You taught me before.”

“I did. You have always been an excellent warrior and a student any teacher would be proud to have.”

“Teacher… I am unworthy of such praise I have not even earned yet!” Zukelmux insisted.

“But you have, Zukelmux. And I believe you have much more to learn. Especially without the silly limitation of the loop ending for everyone else but me,” Orodan said as he pulled out a familiar device.

“An… orb? It looks beautifully crafted,” the goblin muttered.

“It was made by the greatest enchanter I have ever known. But with this… perhaps our training need not be interrupted so coldly.”

The goblin could only stare as Orodan explained more about what it did and made him an offer.

He had little doubt his student would say yes. And besides him and the people he’d already collected, Orodan had one more upon Alastaia who he wanted to bring into the fold.

“Feel like asking if we’re there yet again?”

“N-no… no! I’ll never ask that question again!” Edrosic frantically promised, covered in mud and bites. “Why, I enjoy this journey so much!”

“Your wisdom knows no bounds teacher. Already I can see how much surer Parthus’s steps have become thanks to your constant tests and challenges,” Zukelmux spoke. “He might even acquire Venom Resistance at this rate.”

“Ugh… I don’t think Grandmaster Adeltaj would approve of this course of training…” Parthus muttered.

“He in fact would. Haven’t I told you how he killed me for the sake of training? Or how he had me training for days straight until I was forced to develop a method of squeezing more power out of the soul?” Orodan posed. “If anything, he wanted to come along but I insisted he recover.”

Recover from a titanic spar they’d had just before Orodan departed. The old halberdier had become a dual-Grandmaster after that bout, but it had surely wreaked havoc upon his body to unlock and utilize the Mythical skill.

“It’s simply good training. I don’t see you complaining about all the skill levels you’re gaining Edrosic,” Orodan said as he intentionally wandered into a particularly nasty marsh pit covered in tall reeds.

His fellow militia man grumbled but shut his mouth after that.

Zukelmux happily followed him inside. Aliya was next, a little hesitant but determined. And Edrosic looked positively miserable at having to follow the trio of mad nutcases strolling about a nasty marsh.

But it came with gains.

[Pathfinding 60 → Pathfinding 61]

Orodan wasn’t intentionally getting lost in the wildest and most savage habitats for nothing. It was for the sake of developing his Pathfinding skill even further. The deep wilds of Inuan, away from even the less-trodden roads, were completely untamed and full of dangerous flora and fauna which had lived there for a while.

And while it couldn’t quite affect him—as his body was too tough and resistant to the toxins, insects and animals—it did impact Edrosic and Aliya quite harshly.

The little girl’s hand shot out and chopped a venomous and stinging bloodfly in half. It was palm-sized and she’d suffered bites aplenty already. And while one might have expected that the child of the group would complain or be unwilling to weather such a hostile environment, it was far from the case. Aliya was gleeful as she slew the bloodfly, the grin on her face one of excited aggression. She was loving every second of this adventure away from home.

Hells, Orodan initially had to stop her from running off too deep into the wilds by herself. Of course, he then realized that allowing her to rush off for random exploration would be excellent training for Parthus and Zukelmux, so he’d made Aliya the unofficial secondary trek leader. If she ran a certain way, everyone had to follow. Orodan simply kept the group on-course.

Her mother had been less than thrilled about the journey, and even her father had seemed worried. But the amulet around her neck which verified her living status and allowed them to communicate with her at all times certainly helped. And Kalin seemed a lot more trusting of Orodan to teach his little girl after he and the man had cut stone together.

Zukelmux too was doing quite well, functioning as the primary guardian. Anything above the Adept-level which showed up, the goblin would engage and kill. Orodan had even encouraged him to briefly try a few exchanges of melee against a sapient tree at the Grandmaster-level at the deep center of the marsh. The goblin had been overwhelmed but had learned much from that encounter before Orodan stepped in, gave the tree a light smack and then apologized for coming in and disturbing its rest.

Edrosic of course, was struggling the most. It was clear to see that the man didn’t want to be here in the slightest. Even his memories from the alternate timeline were struggling to give him motivation to trudge through such a desolate place. Still, the man refused to abandon his comrades or fall behind.

Sure, he’d whined a bit too much about whether they were at their destination yet—for which Orodan had simply thrown him right into a deep mud pit which had lightly venomous snakes—but Parthus was doing a lot better than the man thought himself capable of. The lack of confidence and feelings of insecurity whenever Edrosic looked at Aliya and Zukelmux were quite apparent, even to them. But this journey, Orodan felt, was critical to helping his fellow militia man develop some pride in himself.

And Wainroach? Wainroach was probably the most adaptable being Orodan had seen. The current marshes? The deep woodlands they’d trekked through earlier? The rocky hills they’d traversed before that? She had somehow known how to find food and the right path forward at every opportunity. Frankly, Edrosic who’d had a hard time warming up to Wainroach in the past, now found himself liking her the most. Her guidance in getting the group back on course and choosing the safest routes was the only thing giving Parthus a reprieve from Aliya’s mad moments of random exploration.

And the most ridiculous thing about her? She now knew the basic Candleflame spell.

Yes, Orodan had successfully and inadvertently caused his cockroach student to teach herself Candleflame due to how often he had her rolling through flames and attempting to temper her shell with fire. She still hadn’t acquired Fire Resistance, but he had little doubt she would be acquiring Fire Magic Mastery far quicker than the resistance equivalent.

And while her body was small and her mana pool meagre, Candleflame was an excellent spell to start with since the expenditure was minuscule and dependent on the body of the caster. Her flame was tiny; a human equivalent flame would be larger coming off an average man’s finger. But hers? Even tinier due to her proportions. Not useful against any human-sized foe in combat… but lethal against insects once she got atop them and burrowed the flame into their sensitive bits.

Indeed, another reason Edrosic quite liked Wainroach was due to her remaining upon the man’s shoulder and using that as a staging point to leap off and onto any bloodflies which threatened him. From there, the offending bloodfly would be cooked to death quickly once a tiny Candleflame was held in its crevices.

Just as human mages couldn’t match the scale and power of a dragon, Wainroach was also not on the level of an equivalent human mage. This, he decided, would have to be rectified. Of course, she did have a cheap way of matching a human mage, albeit at a cost to her body.

As a giant Apprentice-level crocodile burst out of a nearby mud pit, Wainroach leapt right into its mouth, naturally capable of surviving the acidic and dirty environment. And Orodan felt the pull of connection from his soul as his Blessing was used to draw power.

A flame the size of a house erupted from its mouth, instantly cooking the crocodile and turning it to ash. All that was left after… was an exhausted Wainroach who had clearly drawn a bit too much power from the Blessing. Edrosic scooped her up and deposited her upon his shoulder, but Orodan had a feeling she’d be out of commission for at least an hour after that feat of overdrawing.

Even Orodan got slightly nervous sometimes with how much power she happily pulled from him to fuel her fire magic spells. It was a natural limitation of her species that he would need to stringently work upon. But frankly, in having to teach her, he might also have to learn new things. And a small flame wasn’t a disadvantage either.

Perhaps she was capable of feats of precision a human could only dream of.

All in all, he’d forced his students to fight the worst of the worst within these marshes, gotten them intentionally lost plenty of times, and often threw them right into surprise situations which required them to fight their way out.

“We had a similar regimen on Vylrystia for the hatchlings. We had to fly ten-thousand miles across hostile territory before returning to our roost.”

That sounded like an excellent survival training exercise in his opinion. Perhaps with anti-air batteries along the way to keep their flying skills sharp?

Still, it had been a good day of training. Particularly as they exited the marsh and were now on a cliff overlooking the west wall of Anthus. The sounds of artillery, battle and the braying hordes of monsters below were indication enough that they were near the city. An energy well city was after all, always under constant siege.

Bands of monsters periodically grouped together and tried their luck at assailing the wall in the hopes of getting through. And while Orodan could understand the aerial monsters trying their luck and hopefully managing to make it into the well, he wasn’t entirely sure why the ground-based monsters would so suicidally charge the walls.

The answer came to him as Wainroach and Zukelmux both began looking and acting ecstatic.

“T-teacher… this feeling is… sublime!” the goblin uttered. And Wainroach who was giddy and had recovered far faster than he’d projected was also in agreement.

Right. World energy was addictive it seemed. Particularly for monsters and creatures who could absorb it.

Goblins—who Orodan had learned long ago possessed a dual nature as mortal and monster—would doubtlessly be affected by world energy. Same thing with a cockroach like Wainroach. If anything, it was a unique disadvantage the mortal races faced, unable to use world energy. Orodan himself had sidestepped the issue entirely by producing more than enough power of his own which fueled his growth and allowed him to do absurd things. But the fact remained that a goblin like Zukelmux had higher growth rate as a result of being able to utilize world energy naturally.

And it was this gleeful absorption of world energy that had these monsters furiously assaulting the walls of Anthus.

“Focus, Zukelmux. If it’s energy you need, I can grant you what Wainroach has later,” Orodan said, causing the goblin to snap out of it. “For now… we need to enter the town.”

“And how, pray tell… are we meant to do that? That’s an entire army of monsters!” Parthus exclaimed. “I doubt we’ll even be able to contest a single smaller group of them.”

“How else? Go in and start fighting. Hmm… that’s a nice group of minotaurs there… perhaps I should throw you int-”

“No! No! No need! Charge! We’ll slay them all!” Edrosic suddenly barked, rushing forward and desperate to avoid being thrown in.

Zukelmux and Aliya followed, and the melee was on.

With his strongest student present, Orodan had no doubts about their safety. The spear and shield wielding goblin would protect them all. And of course, Orodan’s eye was closely watching the fight as well. Any monster which threatened to strike a truly fatal blow… would be dealt with by his own hand.

But his primary attention was devoted to another form of training.

[Earthen Construct 29 → Earthen Construct 31]

If Wainroach’s magic was on a smaller scale in comparison to that of a human mage, then Orodan’s was on a scale where even dragons could not compete.

The pillar of earth, two miles tall, rose into the air. And proceeded to come down onto a large portion of the attacking monster horde.

“C-cover! Take cover!”

“What cover will help against that?!”

“Flee! The earth rises up to swallow us whole!”

The monsters ran to get out of the falling pillar’s path, and Orodan had only one declaration to make as he approached the energy well city of Anthus.

“Destartes! I come seeking tutelage!” Orodan yelled. “I’m in a time loop and will help you overthrow the Republic in exchange!”

Even Zaessythra, normally used to his antics, was entirely shocked silent by the proclamation. A diplomatic meeting? A secret letter? Who had the time for all that? Just blurt out the conspiracy these people had been cultivating for years now.

The only way Orodan knew was forward and with the old mage on his side, he could truly begin diversifying the basics.