Eternity 26

  Ben was a moment from making his selection, but he stopped at the last second. Eve looked at him curiously.

  Ben glanced thoughtfully at the Cherub Halberd Master that stood at attention nearby.

  “Actually, before I make my selection. I want to test something,” Ben said.

  Eve looked on with intrigue.

  “Test what?”

  Ben grinned.

  “I want to see just how strong my angels are, before they get even stronger,” Ben said.

  Eve looked between Ben and his cherub in interest and confusion. Instead of going towards the Orc fortress, Ben turned away and headed back towards the hidden passage that they came from. Eve hurried to follow.

  “This should be a good spot,” Ben said.

  Ben stopped at a spot in between the Orc Valley and the Orc fortress. It was about half way along the hilly passage that connected the two areas. The road was outside and elevated on a hill, but out of sight so that their activities wouldn’t be noticed by the orcs.

  “A good spot for what?” Eve typed.

  Ben turned to face Eve and his cherub.

  “The sparring session,” Ben said.

  As he spoke, Ben’s hand glowed. He summoned two additional cherubs of different kinds. One cherub held two daggers.

  [Cherub Dagger Master]

  The other cherub was a Cherub Warrior, which wielded a sword and shield.

  “You are going to fight your angels?” Eve asked.

  Ben nodded with an elated look in his eyes.

  “I am going to try. The upgrades on my class tree give a percentage increase to the faith-scaling of my summons. The angels get stronger the higher my faith attribute is. The first point of the skill tree will give a 25% increase to their strength. Before I do that, I want to see how strong they are now, so I can get a better idea of how big of a difference that 25% will make,” Ben said.

  Eve nodded in understanding. She looked at the three cherubs that stood in front of Ben. The Cherub Dagger Master hovered forward in front of Ben. The other two cherubs flew to the side to give Ben and the Dagger Master some space. Eve noted how the cherubs moved seemingly without receiving a command from Ben. It’s like they knew what he was thinking. Eve wondered how exactly that worked. She didn’t have too much time to think about it since Ben and the Dagger Master took fighting stances.

  “Should I turn off my Soul Link?” Eve texted.

  Ben shook his head.

  “Absolutely not. I don’t think I’ll survive without it,” Ben said.

  Eve was shocked.

  “Really?”

  Ben nodded and pointed the edge of his halberd towards the Dagger Master.

  “Yea, I think so, but there is only one way to find out. Come at me,” Ben said.

  Eve was taken off guard by the speed in which the Dagger Master moved. It was one thing to see their speed from afar, but another thing to see it so upclose. Ben barely had time to react.

  Ben parried the first blow, barely. The cherub spun to stop itself from being knocked off balance. Ben narrowly backed away to dodge the spinning blow that came next.

  Ben tried to strike back to put distance between the two, but the cherub was relentless. It successfully dodged Ben’s skillful strike and continued to move forward. Ben tried to move backwards but the cherub’s speed was overwhelming.

  Ben took his first hit. A grazing strike to the side that was aimed at his kidney. Even just dodging that strike was impressive. The Dagger Master was clearly faster than Ben. Much faster. The only reason Ben wasn’t instantly defeated was because of the difference in their level of skill. Ben was clearly more skilled and moved more efficiently. The dagger master was skilled as well, but Eve noticed clear inefficiencies in its movements and strikes.

  That surprised Eve. She had been familiar with combat in Eternity by watching streamers and videos, but not to this extent.

  Her mind could better comprehend the more subtle nuances of combat. The cherub hovered in the air, so it didn’t necessarily have footwork to critique, but it moved in a similar way that mimicked footwork. It moved like it was walking on air, so Eve was still able to notice the inefficiencies.

  “Am I getting better at following combat because of my new Combat Sense proficiency?" Eve thought.

  Eve continued to watch as the Dagger Master slowly chipped away at Ben’s health. Ben landed a few strikes of his own occasionally, but they were all glancing blows. The cherub dodged and blocked most of Ben’s strikes by virtue of the attribute difference between them. Eve understood the reason Ben was losing, given how much she analyzed his character sheet.

  Ben’s summons scaled directly with his faith score. All of their attributes were enhanced by his faith attribute. But Ben did not receive direct strength from his faith score. The Faith attribute enhanced his faith-based skills, like spells that he rarely used, and his summoning. As for his personal strength, it did nothing. As a result, Ben’s summons were stronger than him.

  The battle lasted for several minutes only because the three cherubs absorbed damage for Ben. The battle would have been much shorter if Eve turned off her Soul Link.

  “Arg, alright, that’s enough,” Ben said.

  The cherub landed a particular deep stab in Ben’s gut that made him cough up blood. Eve was alarmed. Ben was at around 20% health when the cherub pulled away. Eve immediately cast a healing spell on herself, which mended Ben’s wounds.

  “That still hurts like hell,” Ben said.

  Ben cradled his stomach with one hand even after the healing spell closed his wounds. The pain always lingered for a while after.

  “Maybe you should lower the pain-setting for this,” Eve typed.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  She was clearly worried even though Ben’s health was restored. Ben shook his head.

  “Combat isn’t the same with the pain-setting lowered. Lowering the setting dulls the senses, which has a big influence on the way we fight. We fight better when we fear pain,” Ben said.

  Eve wanted to argue, but she conceded. She hated seeing him in pain but she also wanted to respect his will.

  Ben took a moment to compose himself. He stood up straight and looked towards the Cherub Dagger Master.

  “My proficiency with daggers is one of my lowest proficiencies. Only Intermediate-level. I don’t like using daggers but I’ve practiced with them a modest amount. My angels clearly have my proficiencies, so I wanted to start with the weakest one first,” Ben said.

  While he gave that explanation, the Cherub Warrior flew forward to take the place of the Dagger Master.

  Eve frowned at something Ben said.

  “When did you have time to practice using daggers in game?” Eve texted.

  Ben paused and looked at Eve with a wide-eyed expression. He hesitated for just a moment before answering.

  “I practiced in real life. And you know the real life skill translates to proficiency growth and development in the game. That’s why there is a famous Japanese streamer that is already Advanced-level proficiency with a katana. And I am sure you know Marcus, the famous American streamer who was a former world champion professional boxer. He achieved Expert-level pugilism during the beta,” Ben said.

  That wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. Ben knew that his proficiencies came from his last life. Ben did practice with the dagger in real life, during the apocalypse. The explanation he gave made sense without having to explain the fact that he was a regressor. Eve nodded in understanding.

  “So, did you like…do HEMA or something?” Eve texted.

  Ben’s raised a brow.

  “I’m surprised you even know what HEMA is,” Ben said.

  Eve placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest proudly.

  “I’m a gamer girl. We are built different,” she texted.

  Ben chuckled at Eve’s antics. She was especially playful today and it was a nice change of pace from how timid she had been.

  “Point taken. And yea, you could say that,” Ben said.

  With that said, Ben prepared to fight the Cherub warrior. Without another moment of delay, the cherub warrior charged.

  The fight was noticeably more one-sided. Ben could hardly get past the cherub’s shield. The Cherub warrior was clearly more skilled than the Dagger Master. In addition, the presence of a shield, when wielded proficiently, was a good counter to Ben’s halberd. It allowed the Cherub Warrior to close the distance much more efficiently.

  Ben lasted about half as long against the Cherub Warrior as he did against the Dagger Master. The cherub warrior ended the fight with a decisive slash across Ben’s chest that knocked Ben off of his feat.

  “Ugh! Enough!” Ben said.

  The cherub warrior was in the middle of another slash when it suddenly froze and backed away. Eve immediately cast a heal on herself and ran over to Ben’s side.

  “Are you ok?” She texted.

  Ben sat up and cradled his chest where the slash had been before Eve’s healing made it disappear. Ben looked up to see Eve’s worried expression. He smirked, stood up, and brushed off some dirt from his armor.

  “I’m fine. I’ve had much worse,” Ben said.

  Eve fidgeted nervously.

  “Does it still hurt? Maybe we should take a break?” She texted.

  Ben noted Eve’s response. He gazed at her with a warm expression.

  “As long as you are here to heal me when I’m done, I can face anything,” Ben said.

  Eve immediately bowed her head as a huge blush appeared across her face. Ben smirked.

  “Too easy,” Ben thought.

  Ben walked past her to face the last cherub. The Cherub Halberd Master. Ben felt a shiver creep up his spine.

  “The Dagger Master was intermediate proficiency. The Warrior had advanced Sword and Shield proficiency. But this…this is going to be on a completely different level,” Ben thought.

  Eve could sense the tension. She looked between Ben and the Halberd Master. She couldn’t help how nervous she felt. She preemptively readied her healing spell.

  “Be careful,” she texted.

  Ben kept his eyes trained on the halberd master with a look of deep focus. He nodded in acknowledgment of her text but didn’t provide a verbal response. The silence was deafening as the Halberd Master readied its weapon.

  Then it charged. The result was decisive.

  10 seconds. Ben lasted 10 seconds before he was sent hurdling to the ground. The Halberd Master blocked Ben’s strike and twirled the axe-portion of its halberd expertly. It did so at such a weird angle that Ben simply did not have the time to block. The blade cleaved into Ben’s side.

  Without the extra player protection that Eternity provided, Ben would have probably been cleaved in half.

  The Halberd Master and the other cherubs' health plummeted. Ben would have been killed had it not been for the Soul Link.

  The Halberd Master did not pursue when Ben hit the ground. It was as if the Cherub already knew that the battle was over.

  Eve immediately healed Ben, but Ben didn’t get up. He layed on the ground and stared up at the morning sky in a daze.

  The pain was unbelievable. He was reduced from full health to near 0 with a single hit.

  Ben knew pain from his years living within the apocalypse. The hit he took hurt as bad as anything he could remember. Felt like he had been cleaved in half, without the actual result of being in two pieces.

  Despite the pain, Ben fixated on the brief encounter. The fight was decisive. He barely managed to block and parry a few blows before the final strike landed. It was simply too fast.

  It wasn’t necessarily that the Halberd Master was stronger or faster than the other cherubs. They all had the exact same attributes. The difference in skill was bigger than Ben realized.

  When the Dagger Master and Cherub Warrior fought, they used relatively conservative techniques because they expected their attacks to be at least partially dodged, blocked or deflected. They also knew that Ben had the capability to strike back, so those cherubs wisely struck a balance between defense and offense.

  The Halberd Master was under no such limitation. It’s skill was so absolute that when coupled with it’s superior attributes, it could allocate very minimal energy to defense. Its swing was at full power because it knew Ben wouldn’t be able to dodge or block it. Like a boxer throwing a hail mary punch against an amatuer, knowing that there would be no retaliation once the strike landed.

  Despite being in excruciating pain, Ben smiled. He learned something extremely important. That was worth the pain.

  “Ben? Ben!” Eve texted.

  Eve dropped to her knees and hovered over Ben with a look of deep concern. Ben was still in a daze. Eve bit into her bottom lip while frantically tending to his wounds. Given that he was so low health, Eve had to cast two healing spells, and a regeneration spell to get him back to full health. Still, Ben didn’t get up, instead he slowly turned his gaze to Eve.

  She was on the verge of tears.

  “Please don’t do this anymore,” she texted.

  She reached down to grab his hand in both of hers. Ben was stunned by the touch. The warmth and softness of her hand felt so real. It was indistinguishable from real life, such was the power of the max pain setting.

  Despite the pain, despite the pleasantness of Eve’s touch, something else stood out to Ben.

  “How do you know my name?” Ben asked.

  Eve froze when she heard that question. She quickly let go of Ben’s hand and looked away nervously.

  “I…your name is Beneiah. I’m typing. It’s just shorter,” Eve texted.

  She typed those words quickly, with shaky fingers. Ben let out an inward sigh of relief.

  “What was I thinking? Of course,” Ben thought.

  His brain wouldn’t let him take his intrusive thoughts any further.

  “Mind helping me up?” Ben asked.

  Eve immediately snapped to attention and reached down to assist him. Ben slowly stood. His body was healed, physically, but there was a phantom pain that still lingered. Ben grabbed his side and let out a deep breath.

  “Well, that was…productive,” Ben said.

  Eve pouted.

  “I don’t want you to do that anymore. I think you have proved your point,” Eve typed.

  Ben looked at her curiously.

  “My point?” Ben asked.

  “That your cherubs are ready for the Orc Fortress,” Eve typed.

  Ben smiled in approval.

  “Ah, you figured that out huh?”

  Eve placed her hands on her hips and pouted.

  “I’m smarter than I look,” she typed.

  Ben chuckled and nodded.

  “I can see that,” he said.

  Eve’s playful attitude faltered as she looked at Ben nervously.

  “So…you are done right?” Eve texted.

  Ben narrowed his eyes while staring at the Cherub Halberd Master intensely.

  “Almost.”

  Eve noticed a notification that suddenly appeared in front of Ben.

  [Congratulations on unlocking the Summoning Master Skill tree]

  [Skill Unlocked: Legion’s Might Level 1]

  [Effect: The Faith scaling of each of your summons increases by 25%]

  Ben dismissed his skill tree to bear witness to the glorious effect of his cherub’s upgrades. The three cherubs were engulfed in white light that made Eve and Ben cover their eyes. It lasted for a split second. When the light dissipated, the three cherubs emanated a perpetual radiant glow of power. It was subtle, but clearly noticeable. They looked different. More powerful. Eve felt a subtle pressure from the angels. It was as if gravity around them had increased by a fraction.

  Ben grinned wide and readied his halberd. His eyes focused on the newly empowered cherubs.

  “Round 2.”