Slumrat Rising

Chapter 75: A Mage and a Gentleman

Merkovah stood in the empty concrete room. A cluster of straw dummies was in a corner, but that was about it.

“Let’s get started!” His voice echoed off the walls. “Etenesh, Jember, you are responsible for drawing up the ritual circles. We are going to start with-” He began rattling off a string of words that sounded like a coughing fit in the middle of a sea shanty, none of which Truth knew. Etenesh and Jember seemed to have no problems understanding it, however.

“You are a bit lucky. Etenesh has to master an enormous amount of rituals for her field of study, and Jember has to use an even more enormous amount of rituals to survive his field of study, so they are both very useful to have with us today.”

“Sorry, survive? I will admit, I don’t really understand what he majored in.” Truth asked.

“Apocalypticism. It is basically divine beings, usually angels, showing you visions of things. The past and present, generally. The key is that they show you visions of other levels of reality. So different tiers of Heaven, Hell, other, stranger places.” Etenesh said. She had dropped a heavy pouch filled with sand onto the floor and tied a long string to it. She was using it as a massive compass.

While she was drawing the circle, Jember got out what looked like surveying equipment. Some chalked string, a magnetic compass, and a bizarre-looking tube with a large glass ball on the end. Jember kept checking the time, peering down the tube and making tiny shifts to the ball. Truth shrugged. No idea what that was about.

“And that is very dangerous?” Truth asked. It didn’t sound dangerous, but every time Truth had seen an angel, it had been very dramatic.

“Not with the right precautions,” Jember said calmly, putting down the tube and tracing lines on the floor. Etenesh and Merkovah both violently shook their heads at that. Etenesh made eye contact and slowly drew her thumb across her throat.

“And you are very good at those precautions, right? Probably spend as much time studying them as anything else. Right?”

There was a pause.

“Sure,” Jember tentatively agreed.

“Teacher Merkovah, what exactly are we doing here?”

“Teaching you how to use your sword. I thought I would be teaching you some swordplay too, but there seems no point.”

Truth just shrugged at that.

“I must commend your trainers. Remarkably thorough.”

Truth silently agreed. Damn decent of the Army to let him try all those weapons. He heard from the other soldiers in the PMC that they had to beg to get training. Time on multiple weapons systems wasn’t even a dream.

“Instead, I will be teaching you how to use the inherent properties of the sword effectively. You may have noticed the holy fire and chanting.”

“It was a little hard to miss.”

“Yes, for me especially, as I had never seen it do that before.” Merkovah agreed wryly. “It wasn’t until after the fight that I realized that you were just treating the sword like a sharp piece of metal instead of the magical tool it is.”

Truth felt Etenesh’s eyes burning into the side of his skull. “My weapons experience has been overwhelmingly with ranged weapons. In melee, I mostly used a machete with basic reinforcement enchantments built into it.”

This seemed to throw Merkovah. The exorcist opened his mouth, closed it, stroked his long beard, opened his mouth again, closed it with a frown, and said, “Hmm.” There was a bit of a pause. The cousins kept on working. “Tommy, I think a couple of meter sticks are in the equipment bag. Grab them, please.” Truth shrugged and did so. Merkovah grabbed one and had Truth keep the other. He then had Truth back up two meters and a bit.

“Alright, here’s what I want to do. The game is to just touch the other person with the stick. Doesn’t matter where. BUT! These are comparatively fragile; if we moved them as fast as our bodies could, they would break without contact. So you must be slow and gentle enough to keep your weapon intact but fast and agile enough to score points.”

Truth nodded. It seemed like a fun little game.

“I should also add that the game's purpose is to learn about you, not to score points, so only attack with the stick,” Merkovah added. Wisely.

“Of course!” Truth said, fooling no one. He had made quite an impression already.

They reached out with their sticks and began a tentative fencing exchange. Truth quickly figured out how much the thing could tolerate and started working on scoring points. The old exorcist had been honest about his limitations. While he outclassed Truth in magic and muscle, his technique was fairly stiff. The old man truly was a spiritual warrior, not a physical one. Within a dozen exchanges, Truth had scored against Merkovah’s wrist and, within twenty, his chest. Then he went for the legs and feet, which was even more successful and had the old man grinning.

“Enough. I see. You really aren’t a swordsman. You had me fooled, but not the sword.” Merkovah chuckled.

“He isn’t? It looked like he had you beat.” Truth nearly fell over from the impudence in Jember’s voice.

“Hush! Although he did. He started with a conventional sword technique, slipped into a cane fighting technique, then incorporated lunges mostly used in sport fencing. His footwork likewise shifted to whatever best suited the mode of attack rather than being attached to one particular style. I had noticed it when we were clearing the demons, but I thought that was just a product of being on an actual battlefield. It seems not.”

Truth was surprised. He hadn’t realized he was doing that. It was just… what made sense. Certain things were just more effective, given how humans were shaped and jointed. There wasn’t a perfect answer to what the best technique was. There was just a good enough answer for right now.

“Yes, I think the sword figured out that you had no idea how to use it, so it was outputting as much physical and spiritual damage as possible.” Merkovah stroked his beard authoritatively. Then added, “Given the limitations of your level.”

“The sword is self-aware!?” Truth demanded.

“Oh no, not in the sense you are thinking of.” Merkovah waved him off. “You see, most people who use swords in combat have a specialized spell that works with their swords. Improves reflexes, healing, and all that, as well as attuning the weapon for the necessary cutting work. As you can imagine, many swords are enchanted with a variation on the Sharp spell.” Truth nodded at that.

“Well, running a spell and moving your body simultaneously takes a lot of focus. Magical swordsmen tend to be fairly rigid in their movements because they are focused on their spell as the force multiplier. Don’t have to worry about the perfect parry when you can cut through their sword.” Merkovah demonstrated with a chop.

“I guess I’m being slow- how does all this lead to the sword chanting and shooting out holy flames?”

“Not at all. No reason you would understand. The sword can recognize certain stimuli- that is, it responds to some things but not others. It responded to the demon ichor. It didn’t get any instructions for you on what to do, so it figured you were focused on running some other spells. It is a very good sword, so its enchantment is sophisticated enough for it to select an appropriate mode of attack unprompted. Not always the best attack and never the most efficient, but almost always viable. In the case of fighting insect demons, fire, and divine blessings were devastatingly effective.” Merkovah truly looked and sounded like a teacher now.

“That and Tommy making them fight each other while he picked them off one limb at a time,” Etenesh added.

“That too.” Merkovah agreed.

“So… what does that mean for using the sword?”

“Oh, simple. Your demon… ah. Spirit of Intellect designed the spell after a standard magic device utility spell?”

“Yes.”

“I never thought I would say this, but… don’t try to learn the spell. Let the spirit cast it.”

Everyone stopped and stared at Merkovah. He shrugged helplessly.

“You are just too damn effective as a combatant as is to justify splitting your attention to a tool spell. It is also manifestly not worth a spell slot for you to learn such a generic spell. So let the demon cast it, and you use it when needed.”

Truth thought he would have to think about that one a lot more later. “Won’t I be running Incisive at the same time as it is?”

“Yes, that is kind of my point. Have you fought with multiple spells stacked?”

“Of course. It turns into a sort of violent puzzle, where you have to stack all the pieces together in the right way, and your spells are how you move the pieces around. You have to move around, too, of course.”

That got him another searching look. “Do you not feel afraid in a fight?”

“Not since I broke through, now that I think about it. Go there, kill that. Let the details be someone else’s problem. Honestly, I’m not very bright. Sometimes it’s nice to have problems you can solve with violence.”

This had Merkovah frowning again.

“Young man-” Truth smiled again. “Mr. Wells. I have noticed you often insult your own intelligence. Kindly cease to do so. I have taught many students. You are not stupid.”

“I have been told by experts that I am.” Truth didn’t notice the cousins had stopped working and were looking at him quietly. He would have found their expressions hard to read.

“Mr. Wells, you are ignorant but not stupid. Your former employer requires its employees to undergo standardized testing, does it not? And you passed with a specialization in Talisman Maintenance, a skilled trade. I am not saying you are a genius, but you are plainly not stupid. It might be wise to ask yourself why you think you are stupid.”

Merkovah’s eyes seemed to bore through Truth, and the System had the uncanny sense that it was being glared at even as it hid in a spell aperture. “Yes, reflecting on that would be a very good idea. To be a mage and a gentleman is to have confidence while avoiding arrogance. To be ignorant is natural. To remain ignorant is truly foolish. You are learning about the world and yourself. You are not stupid. And you will learn to speak well of yourself. Consider this part of your studies alongside Incisive.”

“Yes, Teacher.” Truth didn’t know what he was feeling right now. All kinds of different emotions. He desperately wanted to believe Merkovah but knew the old monster was wrong. It sounded like something Thierrie or some other pimp would say. “The others don’t respect you, but me? I respect you. You are so beautiful, baby. I just need a little favor.”

“You have the Meditations as the basis of your body. Physical reinforcement spells are, therefore, unnecessary. Incisive will make you elusive in battle, armor you, and make your strikes increasingly lethal. Your third spell should be reserved for when you hit Level Four and can learn The Sword of Moshe. In the meantime, you can have the demon cast the utility spell for you.”

The exorcist turned towards Jember and Etenesh. “Is the ritual ready?”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Alright. This spell will summon a small but unending stream of imps and spirits. Use the utility spell to connect to your sword and slay them. Learn why even amongst mages, the sword is the weapon of heroes.”