Chapter 63: Modification

The odd collection of Elites that were called here from the Bureau of Elite Development seemed like a cheerful bunch to Karl, and even more so after they were given no real restrictions on how to deal with the two new recruits. They were all used to working in pairs, which was so they had someone to watch their back as much as it was intended to prevent corruption, as the Colonel had suggested, so giving them a warrior and mage combo was perfect for their preferred fighting style. "I think that what we should start with is actually more of a skills' development than tactics. Normally, we would work with students about to graduate, so they would have a half dozen skills in their repertoire, but I am assuming that you two both only have one each." One of the warriors in civilian clothing suggested. "I have two now, thanks to Overlord Drake, and Prince Axel gave Dana a Golem spell book. Plus, she knows Fog in addition to her base magic missile already." Karl explained. The man looked impressed, and turned to the ginger haired female soldier beside him. "It looks like they really are on the path to fame, they're meeting all the right people already." "Don't mind Josh, he's jealous that you got to meet the Prince. You can call me Anise, and I will be helping you with your adaptation skills. One of the most important things you can do with your abilities is learning new ways to use them. The more creative you can be with them, the more useful even the basic skills will become. For example, the Fog spell. It's not considered one of the more powerful spells, but did you know that you can condense it in just a ring to create a solid visual barrier? That alone will give you a huge advantage in combat, as you can block off the view of your enemies while you escape. If you block a spot in an alley, it becomes much easier to run into a building without being followed. Anything pursuing you will have to guess which building you went into. Or you can cast it over the outside of a moving vehicle and make them crash." She explained. Dana was shocked by that last suggestion. "Do the elites get into conflicts with other people a lot?" She asked. "We do. Most of the Elites are a different story, but the teams here don't just guide the other Elites toward more power, but away from taking the wrong paths in life. Sometimes we will be sent to deal with Elites gone rogue, drunkards and abusers. But the same techniques can be used against intelligent monsters. For example, the Mythril Tiger. They're smarter than most people you will meet, and if you want to lose them once they're following you, it will take a lot of effort. The full-grown ones are on the strong side of Commander Rank, and even two on one, it can be difficult for Elites at the same rank to take them out unless they're caught in the open." Anise agreed. Karl didn't quite understand the crossover between this conversation and his own skills. Rend and Shred seemed pretty simple, but the versatility of Fog seemed to be pretty high if you could use it to blind the target. That would take some real practice, but as long as it was possible, then there shouldn't be a problem for Dana to figure it out. The mages took Dana off to one side of the room to explain whatever they wanted to do first, while the other half of the group gathered around Karl. "Alright, we're going to try something different. Have you ever attempted to just hold Rend on your hands?" One of the men asked. "Yeah, that's not a problem. I can hold it in place on the gauntlets for as long as I need." Karl agreed, and coated his hands in the Rend attack, lighting up the claws of the Gauntlet with faint violet light. "Nice, you understand the basic concept that we're going for then. What you want to do is learn to set it in place somewhere, and not have it move. Think of it like a string, or a snare being placed." The soldier suggested. Karl conferred with Hawk, who thought that it should be possible, but if they wanted it to stay on an object that wasn't attached to their own body, they would have to see it. "Alright, I think I can do it." Karl agreed, and then focused on creating a Rend attack that crossed the space between two pillars, using them as anchors to keep it in place, the same way that he wrapped it around his gloves to enhance the claws. "Oh, that is superb. Well done. Now, to see if it actually works or just looks like it does." He tossed a metal bar against the thin beam of light, and it cleanly cut in half, clattering to the ground in two pieces. Karl gasped in shock. "That's brutal. I can see how that would be an incredibly dangerous way to use this ability. The only problem is that if I don't watch it to keep it in place, it won't stay. Rend doesn't want to be stationary, and Shred is even more violent. I doubt that I could keep that one stable at all." "That's fine. The more practical uses of this skill modification training are to create snares and trip lines for passing monsters and to stop them from following you. If you can learn to do multiple stationary traps, you can block a path well enough that a pursuer won't be able to just step or jump over, and you will have time to either regroup or get away." "Alright, that is good enough for me. Not dying is always priority one." Karl agreed. "I take it you came from the woods, where there are a lot of monsters?" One of the civilian dressed women asked. "Nope, the mines, where we're always worried about the roof collapsing on us a kilometre underground." Karl replied with a chuckle. "So, not dying is priority one. Getting the job done is priority two."