Chapter 10 Growth

  Two years later…

  At age 15 we were considered near adults, all of our group was waiting for the end of the year when we would get our classes in the coming of age ceremony, my birthday was in the fall, so it was only a few months away. For my birthday I was gifted a short sword, with it me and my party had slain a low leveled wolf, wounded by something else in the forest, our teamwork was coming along, and Jean had mellowed out in the last year. Our roles now clear, Jean was the second in command, should I be unavailable, my leadership skill and ability to keep things on track being more than enough to convince him over the last year.

  Jean and I were both the same height once we stopped growing, Derek being a full head above the both of us, Sarah was a bit shorter than me, so average height for a woman, and Alice was easily the shortest of us all, standing at a mere 5 feet she was almost comically small when next to Derek. The last two years had allowed us all to get basic equipment. From saving and a few birthday gifts, our stunt with the bee hive years earlier and a bit of haggling from Derek of all people had led us to being nearly fully equipped. Jean favored a longsword, Sarah had a dagger for self protection, and Alice had no weapon at all, instead favoring a small shield to keep herself safe. Derek had a large bastard sword, favoring the range it gave. For armor, all of us had some variation of leather armor, Derek had managed to haggle to get some metal arm bracers and some metal plates riveted to his chest piece, but that was all.

  The last year me Jean and Derek had spent some time together, working on archery and sparring, Jean became more competent with our dedicated training and Derek had become immovable in his defense, his offense was lacking however. It was on one of these days that we both gained the archery skill.

  [Skill learnt! Archery- tired of getting stabbed? Try poking holes in your enemies at a distance! Small boost in accuracy and penetrative power with all bows]

  Derek however held zero affinity for projectile weapons, so we ended up giving up on the endeavor, his earth magic had grown to normal proficiency over the years so it wasn't worth worrying about. Derek had somehow managed to get the Deflect skill though, so he was still reliable.

  The next day when we held our pre training meeting we had an important topic to talk about, something that would dictate our future.

  “So, the coming of age ceremony is in two months.”

  I say while pacing back and forth.

  “And when we come of age we'll finally make our debut as a mercenary party, so. Does anyone have any idea of what our party name should be?”

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  I stop and turn to everyone sat in a row beneath the small tree, our hideout having gotten a bit cramped from us all getting older.

  Jean raises his hand.

  “The Flame blades!”

  Everyone shakes their head, and Derek sighs.

  “Jean, only the two of us can imbue fire into our blades, we can all use at least basic flame magic. But that's like saying everyone can cook.”

  It had been well established that only Derek and Alice had any skills in cooking, Alice having actually gotten the basic form of the skill a year ago, she was the daughter to the bakers after all.

  Alice raised her hand next.

  “How about the wild animals?”

  We considered it for a moment.

  “I think I'll have to veto that.”

  Derek said quietly.

  “It makes us sound like mere beasts.”

  I snap as a revelation comes to me.

  “How about ‘tails of fortune?”

  I see the others juggle the idea in their heads for a moment, before I get a few nods, Jean looking a bit grumpy but still agreeing.

  “Tails of fortune it is, I thought it was fitting, we're all beast kin after all. Now, let's get some sparring done, this time without any weapons, strictly hand to hand. I know you wont like it Alice but you have to be able to protect yourself.”

  Alice looks on with a small pout, she was our healer first and foremost, and she disliked participating in violence.

  We all walked out to our training field, where we paired up, and I began to demonstrate some of the moves from my beast style arts, primarily the more offensive ones, there was only one grapple in the full set, it was more like a judo throw then anything else, so we left that for last. Sarah excelled as she already had beast style arts, we had trained together on it since we were barely 13, with me hoping to get the second level of the skill to no avail. We continued on for the day, until I felt like the others could reliably throw a punch or a kick should they be separated from their weapons. Alice actually got a skill from this, basic martial arts, and once she got the moves down, she was practically giddy, raising the brows of everyone.

  I took the opposite of Alice as she began throwing jabs and hooks at the air, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  “Guess our pure hearted healer found that bit of darkness she was so worried about.”

  Jean says from the side.

  “Well I got the skill in one afternoon Jean! Who wouldn't be excited to find they had such an affinity for a skill?”

  Alice retorts.

  “Alright.” I butt in. “Come at me, I want to see how well you flow between moves.”

  Alice nods, then comes at me, her foot doing a quick kick at my shins, I move my leg out of the way and weave between her moves, she keeps the pressure up, jabs, a hook, and then an ax kick, as she brings down her leg I grab it, using a basic throw from beast style arts. She lands on the ground softly, tumbling, using her basic acrobatics to get back up.

  “That was pretty good Alice, if you were faster I might have been in trouble. Though be careful with your kicks, you're small so it was easy to toss you.”

  Alice shakes some of the dirt off her tunic, a smile still on her face.

  “I thank my most gracious teacher for the lesson.” Alice bows jokingly, making Derrick chuckle quietly.

  “Alright, I want to have a one on one with everyone, we dont know if we'll ever need this, but its better to be safe than sorry later.”

  I take turns with everyone, no one else coming close to Alice's raw talent, Sarah's movements are awkward as she shifts through beast arts, functional but awkward, Derek and Jean are decent, but lacking when it comes to putting pressure on me. After we finish training a new skill pops up, Derek also got the skill as we were sparring, he says so later.

  [New skill learnt! Basic Dodge-tired of getting wallopped by your foes? Well, how about you don't get hit to begin with? Gives a small bonus to dodging and evading all manner of attacks.]