Dawn, light filtering through. That moment between full darkness and early morning, the hour of the bear was it or something strange poetic like that. Funnily enough, the best time to practise his new skill, especially compared to full dark where there was too much darkness, not enough differentiation.
Later on, Arthur knew, it would be easier. He would grasp darkness and the gradiations in it, understand even black and night had shadows. For now, the dawn where light played across the horizon was perfect for his training.
He could feel it now, consistently. Not far, mostly around his own clothing, with brief glimpses outwards. It was not consistent, sharpened by the amount of shadows and distance from him, the deepness of a shadow, the degree of change. Maybe a few inches from his body, he could sense things, around his body.
Relearning how to understand, how to grasp a 360 degree view of the world took a bit of time and effort. Thankfully, training in a sparring circle, two or three on one had helped. Feeling pressure, the sense of hands and body moving out of sight of him, gaining a feel of where people were by instinct. Now, that secondary set of instincts were bolstered by the aura.
In time, Arthur knew, he’d grow more powerful, more confident in its use. In time, he would be able to track entire bodies and figures, because while it was called Shadow Sense, it wasn’t confined only to shadows, but extended all around.
A powerful technique that he kept running, Tower energy bleeding from him each moment he utilized it. Thankfully, the initial portion, the on-going aura was low cost and something he had mastered so that he could utilize this as he survived.
Heading downstairs, still holding onto the aura, having his meal with his backpack down by his side. Ready to go, because it was time to make a move. Now he just had to see what had happened to his spear. After half an hour of waiting, Arthur found himself drifting off, into himself as he paid attention to that sense. A form of peaceful meditation, that was interrupted by the sudden appearance and shifting of a spear landing beside him with a clatter and bounce.
“Here.” Dovgrey growled.
“Wrong side of the bed?”
“No bed,” Dovgrey growled, glaring at Arthur. “You bled too much on that damn thing.”
“I did?”
“And the monsters.”
Arthur frowned, uncertain what the turtle meant. He gestured impatiently for Arthur to just pick it up, so he did, allowing the notification from the Tower to filter through.
Sharp Black Spear of Wounding
Through continual use in an enchantment primed state, this sharp black spear has gained an additional property.
Enchantments: Sharp – Increased Penetration by 25%. Wounding – Creates a bleed effect on wounded creatures, dealing damage per second until wound closes.
Arthur blinked, reading the first line – the descriptive line. The Tower rarely added such descriptions, especially in the Beginner Tower because it was unnecessary and just more work. However, this time around, it seemed his constant use of the spear and taking his sweet time in actually firming up an enchantment had a secondary bonus.
“Huh. That why you struggled?” Arthur said.
“Of course. We’re supposed to only add one enchantment – and I was going to make it a good one.” Dovgrey looked pleased with himself as he continued. “I did, too. Then, the spear started reacting with the enchantment when I tried to seal it all, and I had to work extra hard. Made me use all of my powdered enchantment core!”
“Terima kasih,” Arthur said, standing up and hefting the weapon. No change in weight or balance either, at least not enough to make a difference. He could see how lines were now etched down the shaft, along the edge of the weapon head. New sigils and runes that utilized Tower energy to empower them, stored within the monster core that had been ground and sealed inside those lines.
Outside of the Tower, he might have to enhance and increase the energy stored in the spear itself after months, or maybe years. Depended on how well the Tinker had managed to do, the quality of his work. Unfortunately, Arthur wasn’t the person to ask about that – after all, this was the second enchanted weapon he’d ever seen up close.
"Well, that's fine." Dovgrey looked away, then after a moment looked at Arthur. "What are you planning on now? Finishing this floor?"
Arthur hesitated, considering. For all that he had complained about holding back on getting a second cultivation technique, not wanting to find the Hermit or learning because of that, he'd still picked up the aura. It had been the right choice, especially since he could now run two on-going effect. But now he was going to be constantly training that - did it make any sense to try to find the Hermit?
If not him, he could try for the Merchant. The problem was, he had paid out quite a bit to the Tinker already, and if the Merchant wasn't on this trail, he either had to retreat back to the start - a lot of time he couldn't afford to waste - or hope he was further ahead. And the chances of him being further ahead were quite low, unless he was further upwards where the trails joined together.
That was the most likely scenario, if Arthur had to guess. If he delayed long enough, he might catch the Merchant further up on the hill, if he was heading to the peak. And not going down. If he was going down, then Arthur was entirely out of luck already and nothing he chose would matter.
So it made very little, short-term, logical sense to go after the Hermit.
"Hermit." Arthur cocked an eyebrow. "Know where he is?"
"You sure?"
"Ya lah," Arthur said. "I have a week, probably, before things get really bad."
"I don't know where, but..." Dovgrey pointed towards the peak, where they had to go but further right, back the way they'd come but further up. "Somewhere along that line I'd say."
There were a lot of questions that could be asked of why the other was sure. On the other hand, looking a gift horse - or turtle - in the mouth seemed like a bad idea. He had a feeling some rules were being bent, and it was possible Dovgrey was lying to him. However, Arthur figured it worked for two reasons.
One, there was no reason for the Turtle to lie
And secondly, he was still heading to the peak.
"Thanks. I should get going then." Transfering the spear to his other hand, Arthur offered a hand shake, only for Dovgrey to do a horizontal handslap. Only quick reactions had him manage to repeat the actions without too much embaressment.
"To meeting in another Tower."
"In another Tower." Arthur echoed, flashing a smile.
Then, grabbing his spear, he made his way out. After all, he had new equipment to test and a Hermit to find.