jorg

Leif nodded again, lowering his arm and standing up straighter. The big man didn't seem hostile, if the hazy feeling Leif was getting from the two from [Court Empath] was accurate he was just protective. Marcus was easier to read, he had gone from alarm to curiosity almost instantly.

The shorter man darted around the room, quickly inspecting the statues, then both archways. The floating purple orb following lazily behind. Finally he pulled out a strange metallic device with a blue glow. He waved it up and down as he moved near the walls.

Then, with no mechanism or giveaway Leif could notice he tapped a point, then the wall slid apart just like the other entrance.

Marcus waited for Sieg to catch up, then let the bigger man go in first. Leif stood in the pool of water, unsure what to do. The two men entered the passageway and vanished from sight. A minute later Marcus's orb popped back into the chamber, followed shortly by its owner.

"Passageway is collapsed. Not unexpected but a bit of a shame, using the maintenance tunnels to get this far was pretty lucky."

"We have no idea how difficult this room's challenge will be." Sieg huffed, entering after Marcus. "Ask your new friend if it knows anything."

Marcus beamed and turned to Leif. "We skipped the early floors when we found this maintenance key. The upper levels are crawling with goblins and we didn't want to get stabbed. Their boss did throw us down here but you can never be too knife safe around goblins. Anyway we slipped away and closed the entrances behind us." He looked up and grimaced. "Though maybe they'll come down through the hole…"

Leif was sweating internally. Not being able to talk was frustrating. He understood the words and instinctively knew if his body was capable he would have no problems. He tried making basic sounds but they just came out as unintelligible hisses.

Sieg frowned in his direction but the axe slung over the muscular man's shoulders didn't move.

"You know how this chamber works?" Marcus asked him. Leif shrugged and hissed again. He sighed then tried something different.

[Aura of Nobility] could be helpful here. He mentally and physically gestured at the javelin statue. Both men felt his aura and looked at the statue. It worked! Leif thought excitedly.

He walked over and pressed his one hand against the glowing statue. A moment later the phantom appeared and got into position.

"Huh." Marcus said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "What happens if you touch the projection? Sieg? Do the honours?"

Sieg glowered and turned to Leif. "Monster. Touch the projection."

Leif didn't have much of a choice. He reached out and poked the phantom in the arm. Both it and the statue flashed red, then the phantom flickered out of existence briefly before appearing nearby in the same combat stance.

Marcus clapped his hands together. "Training room! There's something similar in the academy right, Sieg?"

Sieg grunted. "In the Iron training halls from what I've heard, never seen, let alone used them."

"You need to copy the projections stance. Look, there's an axe one over there. One of us needs to complete whatever this is to unlock that," he pointed, "archway. No other way forward. And the further down we go the further away we get from the green horde"

Both spriggan and dark haired human looked to the archway, then back to each other. Leif nodded hesitantly.

"We must work together!" Marcus cheered, fist raised. "For united we will not be oppressed! The orc squatting in the city above us may have far, far too many goblins… But we have the power of justice, friendship, and no other choice!"

"Wonderful." Sieg muttered. "Because the last monster was so kind to us."

"Hey, he threw us down here instead of murdering us. It could have been worse."

Leif decided he had no idea what was going on, and would just go with the flow.

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Sieg cursed and threw his axe aside and crossed his arms. Marcus laughed from where he and Leif were watching.

"It's a whole lot less amusing when it's you failing." Sieg muttered, stepping out of the pool and recalling his axe with some sort of skill. The projection fuzzed away. After the first few stances the phantoms began to shift between forms with faster and faster movements. Sieg could only get a few repetitions in before losing the rhythm.

Leif motioned at Marcus with his aura, pointing at the statues. "Me?" Marcus asked. "I'm a mage, these are testing for martial prowess. Not my field of expertise." He scratched at his slight stubble. "Actually there's a statue with no weapons, maybe you should give it a try?"

Leif shrugged and stepped into the pool. He nudged the statue with a foot and the phantom appeared in a martial arts stance. Leif looked it up and down. Then at where he was pressing his mostly severed arm to his socket. It was healing but the process was agonisingly slow.

"Ah, right." Marcus said. "Maybe once you're healed huh? How are you doing that anyway? Is it a skill?"

Leif wasn't sure how to answer that with his limited communication abilities. He half nodded and half shrugged.

"Do you need sunlight? You're a plant monster right?"

He waved his head from side to side. Sunlight didn't seem to be entirely necessary but having it wouldn't hurt. What Leif really needed was sustenance.

How do I communicate this? Frustrated, he hissed. Without a tongue making complex sounds seemed to be impossible. Leif was quickly growing less than pleased with his current body as he spent time with the two humans. It had been a little over three hours since he had fallen through the roof.

Leif tried to push a sense of hunger, or eating out with his aura but by Marcus's confused expression he didn't succeed. He could point and vaguely gesture using the control granted from [Aura of Nobility] but anything more complex was impossible.

"Wasn't the fourth chamber partially overgrown with plants?" Sieg asked.

"Those were mushrooms, different type of life." Marcus shrugged.

"Really?" Doesn't really matter I suppose. Place will be flooded with goblins by now anyway."

Leif perked up at the mention of possible sources of vitality, especially goblins. He could eat those and maybe recover some of his wounded pride along with his arm. He tried to explain with his aura and head movements but neither human seemed to get it.

Fortunately he would be capable of a live demonstration in three… two…

A high pitched scream came from above, all three turned to see a small figure plummet out of the ceilings hole. It hit the ground with a sickening splat, sending waves rippling through the pond.

Red started staining the water. Before either human had reacted Leif had hopped into the pool and made his way next to the corpse. An ethereal golden root manifested from his shin and speared the corpse. Immediately it felt as though a weight was lifted off Leif's shoulders. Vitality surged through his body, mending his cracked bark and mostly reattaching his arm.

He picked up the shrivelled corpse and hauled it out of the water. "Oh." Marcus said. "That's what you wanted a goblin for…" The two humans shared a look. "Are you fully healed?"

Leif shook his head after testing his arms movements. Still stiff and partially painful to move.

"Going back is risky." Sieg pointed out.

"We'll need to head back up to the third chamber for the side exit anyway." Marcus countered.

Leif hissed. "Side exit?" He wanted to ask.

Marcus winked. "What the big green guy upstairs doesn't know can't hurt him. Besides, his goals for this place are idiotic anyway. There hasn't been a recorded use of a Mythstone in almost a millennium."

===

If a goblin shits in a dungeon hallway, but there's no one around to see it. Did it really happen? The answer to this particular question was inconclusive because a maintenance passageway entrance slid open nearby and three figures walked out.

They saw the goblin squatting in the hallway, loincloth hanging down at its knees. Marcus gagged but Leif didn't notice. He rushed the little monster and plastered its brain matter over the nearby wall with a single punch.

===

"I don't know much about monsters." Marcus said as the three returned to the statue chamber an hour and five dead goblins later. "I know you have skills and such. But do you have the system?"

Leif nodded and manifested a small golden branch in the palm of his now fully healed hand.

"That's a skill?" He asked. Leif nodded again. "I see, very interesting. I can tell you don't have any spell skills, my [Magus Intuition] skill would have told me.

Leif nodded again, not sure what a spell skill was.

"You have a name right? I know monsters with distinct personalities sometimes have names."

Nod.

"What I want to know." Sieg grumbled as he glanced at the spriggan. "Is why your aura feels like it wants to collect my taxes."

Marcus laughed. "It really does. Very similar to the noble students at The Academy. With a wig and uniform you'd fit right in."

Leif skipped a step. They knew? Or rather, could they tell what the origins of his aura skill was?

Leif desperately wanted to know more. Not being able to talk seriously sucks. He thought sourly. Instead he tried to radiate interest. He only partially knew what a noble was and whatever The Academy was, it sounded interesting.

Maybe there would be people there who might know who he had been. If I knew that I would have my first major clue! That thought made him pause, how would people react to what he was?

What would happen if these two found out what he used to be? Could they help him? Or would their reaction be negative? Unable to voice any questions he just nodded for Marcus to continue.

"The academy? We have a bit to go so I'll just talk." Marcus said happily.

===

As they passed through the twisting maze of side passages that Marcus and Sieg had mostly mapped out prior to his arrival, Leif learnt about a place called The Academy.

Located on an archipelago made of four islands in the southern sea, it was the pride and accomplishment of the inner empire. Marcus seemed more eager to explain the structure for lesson plans and the different facilities present on the four separate campuses than the broader details.

They made it to the hidden door leading into the statue chamber. Marcus tapped the wall with his strange device and they walked through.

A few minutes later Leif stood facing the martial arts projection. Its stance was wide and balance distributed evenly. Leif shifted to mimic the stance, it took several attempts before the phantom martial artist moved to a new stance, its movements slow and easy to follow.

Leif mimicked it as best he could but after a minute of attempts the projection flashed red, Back to the start, again and again and again.

===

A step forward followed by a short punch.

Red! Try again.

A wide stance with a twist.

Red! Try again.

"See. Harder than it looks." Sieg said as he munched on a bar of rations.

Despite the constant failure this was probably the most productive few hours of Leif's life. The projection was making him move in ways he hadn't even thought of. He even suspected it had adjusted the stances in relation to his unique physique.

"Well you've been training your whole life Sieg!" Marcus laughed. "And you have a combat comprehension skill! Hey Planty, how long have you been doing this?"

Punch, step, block, step, red.

He let out a hissing sigh and held up a single finger. Marcus turned to Sieg. "See, only one day!"

Leif shook his head and turned back to the projection. If only he had eyes in the back of his head, able to see his stances and movements from another perspective. That way he could notice the mistakes he was constantly making…

Wait a second.

He performed the opening part of a sequence and then… Red. He quickly stepped away and activated [Amber Awareness]. He could see a vague, indistinct amber outline of his body, feel how he had moved.

With a little practice maybe the skill would improve. If he could use the skill to perfect the stances, then repeatedly experience doing them correctly over and over…

Well, that was cheating wasn't it. No way it would be overly effective. Right? How fast could he realistically improve?

Six hours later…

===