“Everyone step away,” Jacob says. “Let it just be.”

  Boomgar and Zibrek look confused.

  “How are we going to win, then?” Zibrek asks, confused.

  We’re not. Not this first one.

  “You’ll have to trust me on this. But, before we move on, let me tell you something,” Jacob smiles. “Do you know what the Grimoire Extraordinaire is?”

  Both widen their eyes.

  “Well, lad,” Boomgar says, stunned, “that explains everything.”

  “You…” Zibrek looks down. “No wonder you’re a much better Guide even when it comes to purely technical things.”

  “Yeah,” Jacob says. “Glad you both immediately understood. Now, that means I know that both of you have Rainbow Skills.”

  That’s the second time both are speechless.

  “Boomgar, Kinetic Overlord, a Support Skill that allows you to store, redirect, and use the energy of moving objects,” Jacob says slowly. “Zibrek, Convergence Point… I’ll just read the description because I don’t fully understand it: You may designate a system you are directly interacting with. While active, all components, forces, and tolerances within that system align toward a single optimal configuration, preventing deviation and minimizing error.”

  Zibrek spins toward Boomgar, “Kinetic Overlord?! YOU?!”

  “CONVERGENCE POINT?! LASS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

  Jacob had initially thought that he would have to talk them both into perhaps reconsidering their own Classes. Princess Naar’ethra had said that Zibrek had made a poor choice in Class, but Jacob, after some thinking and research, had found out that the same was true for Boomgar as well.

  Yet, looking at them, about to jump at each other’s throat, suddenly makes everything much easier for Jacob.

  “I don’t even really understand Zibrek’s Rainbow Skill,” Jacob says, feigning stupidity while looking at Boomgar. He knows that it has been hard enough for Zibrek that he became a Guide of the Champions in her place.

  Boomgar drops all his mannerism and simply rubs his face with one hand, from the forehead to the tip of his beard, struggling to find the words. “Of all the Skills that you could have had… Convergence Point…” Boomgar takes a deep breath. “Zibrek knows why I’m reacting like this.”

  And so, Jacob turns now to look at Zibrek, who crosses her arms.

  “Just because I have a Skill, it doesn’t mean I must use it in whatever way it’s meant to be used. Convergence Point is a great tool for an Engineering-oriented Class and a Guide. It can definitely be used as a Guide to make the battlefield more—”

  “Lass,” Boomgar interrupts her. “Both my people and your people have a long history of Convergence Point users. What did all the users of such a Skill become? What type of Class?”

  “You have a Skill meant for overwhelming physical fighting, Boomgar. You’re supposed to be a skirmisher and you’re a bomb thrower.”

  Oh? She’s fighting back. Now, though, if Boomgar refutes that and doesn’t admit—

  “I was born with terrible coordination and my legs are short even for a Dwarf,” Boomgar suddenly says, looking away, toward one of the walls. “I embarrassed myself every time I tried to use Kinetic Overlord the way it’s meant to be used.”

  Hearing the bitterness in Boomgar’s tone, understanding that apparently his choice doesn’t come from some personal bias, but from the inability to tame the Skill, Zibrek now hesitates.

  “I…” Zibrek sighs and turns toward Jacob, changing topic. “Convergence Point is a Skill that’s known to be the crown jewel of a gunslinger’s arsenal.”

  “Gunslinger like the red Goblin guy?” Jacob asks.

  Zibrek nods.

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  “It can be used to effectively guarantee a hit. It’s not as simple as it sounds, but there are no absolute aim Skills out there. Otherwise, gunslingers would be invincible. Convergence Point is as close as it gets.”

  “She has the strongest Rainbow Skill any gunslinger could ever hope for,” Boomgar says. “And you have the light build of a Goblin Gunslinger. Why aren’t you one?”

  Zibrek closes her eyes, not saying anything.

  “You don’t like the Class?” Jacob asks, curious.

  “When I was a young child, before I started training to be a Guide,” Zibrek opens her eyes and moves them from Jacob to Boomgar, “I used to dream of becoming a Gunslinger. But my talents for Guiding were always larger than the ones for Gunslinging. I never had the aptitude of a great shooter. Therefore, I started training to be an Engineer. In a fortunate and very random encounter, I found this Rainbow Skill… But it was too late. I already had my Gold Ranked Class then. This was just a few years ago.”

  “Too late?” Boomgar frowns. “The life of Champions is usually measured in centuries, lass. Why would it be too late? And if you need anyone to forge barrels for you to shoot people dead… thanks to my Skill I’m also a very capable Blacksmith. I could forge your weapons myself.”

  Zibrek hesitates.

  “Boomgar,” Jacob interjects. “You can modify the intensity of your bombs with your Rainbow Skill, but Zibrek said you’d be better suited to be a skirmisher. What does she mean?”

  “Well, lad,” Boomgar says with a pinch of shame in his voice, “Kinetic Overlord has always been a Duelist’s dream. You can impart incredible power with any part of your body without breaking it. Let me just show you with a minor bomb.”

  Boomgar takes out what looks like a giant bomb and both Zibrek and Jacob starts taking many steps backward.

  “Don’t be scared,” the Dwarf laughs. “The bigger they are, the smaller the explosion.”

  Jacob doubts that, but then Boomgar simply ignites the bomb. Instead of exploding, something looking like a spherical orange halo appears around Boomgar’s hand and the explosion disappears into nothing.

  Boomgar takes a deep breath and flexes his short legs. Jacob suddenly doesn’t see Boomgar anymore, but two explosions sound from the other side of the room. One is a sonic-boom, and the other is Boomgar cracking the stone and now bleeding from his arms and legs.

  “Dammit,” Boomgar says, coughing out debris. “I thought I had the strength of this under control. It appears not. Well, how was that, lad?”

  Jacob frowns.

  “I didn’t even see you move.”

  “Kinetic Overlord allows him to absorb incredible amounts of explosive power, of movement. He could neutralize blows, redirect their energy. He could be a nightmare without end for his enemies,” Zibrek says. “His Rainbow Skill, Jacob, is terrifying. It’s like being crowned King of Duels overnight the same moment you get it.”

  “As you’ve seen, I lack the physical abilities to pull it off.”

  Jacob scratches his chin.

  “And if you did have the ability to pull it off, would you pursue that path?”

  Boomgar shuffles his feet, somehow shy.

  “Lad, I like exploding things. If they go boom, I’m happy. With this Skill, I could explode things with my hands as well as I do with bombs. Are you asking me whether, if I was really able to, I would be delivering slap that make your face explode? Of course I would.”

  “Your problem is something I can solve, Boomgar. Well, another person and I, to be honest. But we could use you starting to try and readjust. If you have this in your arsenal and the only fear you have is to not be good enough, you can rely on me.”

  Boomgar purses his lips together and closes in on Jacob, giving him a hard pat on the shoulder

  “Hell, lad, I’ve already lost my title, what else do I have to lose? As long as things keep going boom, I’ll follow your stupid ideas.”

  Jacob hesitates.

  He’s not really sure how to communicate with Zibrek. Their relationship has always been partially weird since she is the one who was supposed to be the Guide and Jacob, an absolute nobody in name, snagged the title under her nose.

  “Lass, you lost your title, you’re nothing now,” Boomgar says. “I know you’re prideful and you want to be a Champion, a Guide, and whatever. But, can I ask something?”

  “Are you going to bake another insult in your question?” Zibrek replies with a piqued tone, making Jacob flinch on the sidelines.

  “No,” Boomgar shakes his head. “If you enjoyed the idea of being a gunslinger, then, why not give a try?”

  Boomgar looks at the ceiling of the forge, “lad, I suppose we’re done tinkering, right?”

  “Yes,” Jacob says.

  “Then, let me forge something real quick,” Boomgar takes a hammer out of nowhere.

  An Interspatial ring, Jacob lifts an eyebrow.

  “I didn’t know you were that rich, Boomgar,” Jacob smiles. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t really share where I come fram, lad. Anyway, I’ll be making that girl a proper Mana-based gun, otherwise, she’ll just keep running her mouth. Any objections here?”

  Jacob stays silent and watches in complete marvel at Boomgar actually working solution to get Zibrek to change. He had worked up a speech in his head, a whole thing about dignity, honor, and whatever. But apparently, Boomgar solved the problem all by himself.

  “Alright then,” Boomgar cracks his neck. “Let me show you what a Dwarf can do with a hammer.”