The Pinnacle Warrior

“It would appear that you have now seen every option that is available to you. If you don’t mind, this old man might have some advice. Of course, only if it isn’t an imposition.“ Greely‘s voice cut through Astrid‘s musing, causing her to pull her head from looking at the ceiling to instead look at him. He didn’t say anything more, waiting for any response to come his way.

“Sure.” Astrid gave her answer and looked at the old man and waited for whatever advice he had to give.

“You don’t know where you will be five, ten, or twenty years from now. There’s no way for anyone to know this, whether a Dungeoneer, a Prophet, a Soothsayer, or a Precognizant. I doubt you’ve heard of that last one, that is exclusively an Adamantium tier or above Class limited to very few. Regardless, even at that level, there isn’t a Skill or attribute that will allow you to know the future. You can guess, and you can guess correctly, but there is no knowledge.”

Astrid waited for him to continue, but the old Druid followed up with pure silence, nothing more. After squinting at him for a few seconds, she shook her head, settled back into looking at the ceiling, and said, “Thanks.”

Before she could lose herself in her thoughts again, Greely spoke again. “You’re allowed to ask questions. It’s the best way that anybody has to learn. I will not become a sudden fount of knowledge without knowing what you want to know.”

“Okayyy.” Astrid drew out the response, trying to figure out what the old man wanted. Finally, she asked, “What do you mean by that? I already knew that I didn’t know the future, that’s why making the choice is hard. I don’t know which of the options presented is the best one to me because I don’t know what’s coming. Three of the four boons would be great, and I can see value in each, even the one I don’t want. I think I’ve narrowed it down to two different options, but I have no idea which of the two I should focus more on. They’re both great, both would help me in my long-term goals, one seems maybe slightly better suited to the long-term, while the other could potentially be the same while also giving more benefits in the shorter term, and I’m stuck here deciding which of the good options is the best.”

“Do you think yourself wise?“ Greely asked the question, not in an unkind tone, though he did appear to have a secondary reason .for asking what Astrid considered to be a stupid question

“I’ve met some idiots, I don’t think I’m one of them,“ Astrid chuckled, “but I’ve met some real smart people, and I know I’m not one of them either. Not wise, not an idiot, trying my best.”

“Perhaps wiser than most, if you’re able to recognize that much.“ Greely smiled softly as he nodded, the crows’ feet at the corners of his eyes pulling his lids to mostly cover his milky eyes. “Do you think yourself wiser than the Great One?”

“Absolutely not.” Astrid scoffed.

“Then you should trust in the Great One’s designs instead of your own judgment in most things. You may make mistakes, but I haven’t heard of the Great One erring even a single time. As an example, you’ve made no secret while within these walls that you did not want to be a Warrior before your Bestowal, correct?”

“Yes.” Astrid answered, knowing where the statement was going, but unable to tell him to stop talking after she asked him for advice.

“And you find marvelous success as one. One can not reach my age and my tier by thinking of yourself as the greatest authority in your path forward. There is precious little we can truly decide for ourselves, and trusting in another alleviates the difficulties derived from making bad decisions. I do not doubt you would have been an amazingly competent Spellblade as you hoped, were you to have received it. In fact, perhaps that path will open up to you once again after you have learned lessons as you are. And if you gain the opportunity to see paths you once dreamed of, you would regret having made choices as a child that would disqualify you from fulfilling your goals as an adult.”

Astrid pursed her lips and nodded, ready to accept the words for what they were. Then, the old man, for the first time that she had seen, stepped around his desk. He walked with a steady gait, though hunched and deliberate. When he had fully made his way around the hedges, he continued walking forward until he stood before Astrid. Bowed down with age and responsibility as he was, the sitting Astrid was as tall as Greely, though the old man carried with him a presence that couldn’t be underestimated.

“I trust that the Class evolutions that are offered to you when you reach Iron in the near future will suit you. I’ve seen the way you work and lead, and I am excited to see the delver you continue to become.” He leaned in and winked with a soft smile as he stage whispered, “I’m hoping to see a rare Class for you.”

Astrid nodded before she then asked, just to make sure she understood, “With evolving a Class, Potentiation could grant its additional growth even to an extra extraordinary Class, right?”

Greely’s eyes completely disappeared in the broad smile that cracked his face, but he nodded as he continued chuckling. “Don’t get your hopes too high, but yes. If you were to choose the Boon of Potentiation and then acquire an extraordinary Class, you would gain 46 attribute points every level solely from your Class. I have never seen that happen in my two centuries of life, and, in fact, the only extraordinary Class that I’ve seen achieved was at the evolution from Mithril to Adamantium. Keep these limitations in mind, but I admire your aspirations.“

Astrid tried to temper her expectations with the reality that Class rarities tended to build on the rarity of the one that preceded them. Beyond that, she was stunned by the realization that Greely was over 200 years old. Could he be Mithril instead of Steel, as she’d suspected? That was beside the point, but Astrid‘s mind reeled for a few short seconds as she thought about the possibilities. She shook her head and moved on, nodding her thanks. Greely continued smiling but remained standing in front of her, as if he was waiting for another question. Astrid didn’t have one and sat uncomfortably, looking directly into the old man’s eyes for several seconds before, out of discomfort, she blurted out, “Were you talking about the Boon of Ascension?”

“I can’t say that I understand your question, little one.”

Despite herself, Astrid felt her hand slap her forehead before she even thought about it. She’d gone ahead and asked a question simply because the old man put the tiniest bit of pressure on her. Her attempts at subtlety were gone, and Astrid sighed as she clarified, “Was your advice about choosing and letting the Great One decide trying to keep me from choosing the Boon of Ascension?”

“Astrid Warrior. Neither of those names are ones I gave you, and the second is the one that the Great One itself bestowed upon you. I would not presume to tell you what to do at any point ever.“ Greely’s smile faded as he spoke with an overbearing severity. “I am not your father or grandfather, and I have no right to give you commands through that thought process, and I wouldn’t demand any such things from you even if I was your ancestor. I am not the Great One, and I refuse to stand between it and its plan for you. I have merely counseled you to give trust to the Great One and its designs. I can give you additional information if you ask for it, I can clarify the way that you might aspire to greater heights, but I will never tell you what I think you should do. If you don’t think yourself wise enough to see the future, perhaps trust in the one greater than all of us that knows everything. More than that, I cannot and will not say.”

Astrid grunted in dissatisfaction. She didn’t want to be told what to do, but some real advice, other than being told that, yeah, she didn’t know things, would be nice. Obviously, Greely wasn’t going to provide that, and she just needed to accept that reality.

“Have you ever gained a boon from the Great One?” She asked on a whim.

“Yes.“ Greely answered, giving a smile that promised that he knew the question that was coming as a follow up. Astrid knew what his answer was going to be, but still couldn’t help but ask.

“What was it?”

“That is between me and the Great One.”

His tone was firm and final, and Astrid asked, changing her tack, “In the longer term, since we’re talking about it anyways, what can I do to ensure that I get higher rarity Classes? All I’ve ever really been told is that you shouldn’t just get experience for experience’s sake, that if you kill a bunch of easy monsters or get carried through the Dungeon, you’ll end up with weak Skills and evolutions. With that in mind, I figure I need to focus on putting myself through difficult experiences to show the Great One that I’m worthy, things like that, but that isn’t anywhere close to specific. Is there anything measurable that I’ll be able to do that can help me and my party to take the right steps on this path?”

“From what I have seen of you, you are following every piece of advice anybody would ordinarily give.” Greely continued his measured speaking as he answered. “Train, delve, be dedicated. It’s been nearly a decade since I last saw a party as committed to the Dungeon as you and your party are. The only additional piece of advice that I would give, and this is the same advice that I give to everybody who asks for me to give them advice, is to experiment more. There is no harm that will come about from trying new things, and there is much to be gained from it. Familiarity breeds competence, but experimentation breeds change. If the change that is brought about is unfavorable to you, simply return to your previous ways and look for another way to improve. However, many quickly find that experimentation leads to greater height than before. You are not so limited as you may believe.”

Astrid pursed her lips, thinking about the advice, and nodded several times as she thought it through. Once she was done doing that, Greely continued staring at her, but Astrid felt like she had already learned her lesson, and retained that last little bit of secrecy, not mentioning her potential selection of the Boon of Sublimation. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. Finally, the old man smiled once again and turned to return to his desk. He groaned softly as he settled into his chair, and at last, Astrid remembered that Muti was in the room. The Rogue had watched the old man the entire time he’d been moving, and Astrid only realized as the Druid sat down that Muti had grown more tense since seeing how the Greely walked.

Astrid was about to stand up when the Guild Representative spoke one more time, making her stumble a little as she hesitated between standing and sitting back down. Going off of the self–satisfied smile on his face, he’d done so deliberately. “One last thing.”

She eventually decided to just sit down and listen to the final piece of advice. “Don’t think that this will be the only opportunity you get to potentially receive a boon from the Great One. You should try your hardest to get to level 20 in the next eight weeks, and if so, then you will see what other opportunities are available to promising delvers.”

“Eight weeks? I thought we had six?“ Astrid surged to her feet and couldn’t help but exclaim as the old man raised his eyebrows at her outburst.

“I’m not sure who told you,” he chuckled, “but they were operating off of a different timeline and less complete information than I am. If your entire party is level 20 by the time eight weeks have passed from today, you will have my recommendation to enter the Wandering Trials. You are only being given this opportunity because the other party to whom I extended this offer was unwilling to promise that they would be able to do so in time. Do you believe your party is capable of touching on the threshold to Iron in eight weeks?”

“I was hesitant but hopeful to get there in six. Eight, we can do, absolutely.“ Astrid said, looking at Muti. The Barbarian nodded in agreement and then the two both stood to walk out of the room. Two extra weeks? That gave the party effectively two weeks per level. That was doable. They just needed to… spend even more time in the dungeon. Astrid reminded herself of the new requirement of experience for her next level. Doing the mental maths, that was 126,000 experience that she would need to gain in the next eight weeks. Astrid stood there squinting and thinking for a second before Greely spoke.

“15,750 experience a week or 2,250 experience a day. There will be no breaks for you to be able to achieve this goal. Ideally, you’ll get another 30,000 experience beyond that to ensure that you are close to getting your Class quests when it’s time to leave.”

Astrid looked at Muti, who grinned and subconsciously thumbed at the scabbed clump of blood on the tip of her braid. Astrid knew what that meant, and she nodded in agreement with the other woman’s confidence. With enough dedication, Astrid was confident they could push even to almost 3000 experience a day. Then she thought about it even a little bit more, and pushed that thought from her head. Instead, she refocused on maybe just getting to 2500 a day.

Annoying thoughts of math, and what to do daily filled her mind, and Astrid strode from the office, thinking she’d also made the decision for her boon. With her first step, she ran into Skandr, Felix, and Benedict as they walked out of Lily‘s office.

“Bright and early tomorrow?“ Skandr asked as they made eye contact.

“Maybe even dark and early. Get some rest, we have a little bit more time, but just enough to make this possible.” Then, they all made their way to their rooms, and Astrid briefly interfaced with the Great One’s offered boons.

Would you like to confirm that your selected level 16 Boon is: Boon of Potentiation?

Astrid  swallowed once before she answered, “Yes.”

Despite knowing that the boon wouldn’t do anything for her for the next four levels, Astrid had expected to feel something change. She got nothing, and instead got changed, took a very quick bath, and retired to sleep. After all, the boon wasn’t going to do anything for her until she actually got to level 20 and selected her Class quest. Now she just needed to get there.