Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 41

"I think that's enough for today."

Laying flat on the ground, Severance rolled his head to the side so he could watch Dhin approach. The young clansman looked pristine, without a rumple in his dark clothing or a single hair out of place in the little knot at the nape of his neck.

Clearly, a full thirty minutes of absolute thrashing Severance hadn't even caused him much exertion. Severance, on the other hand, felt like he'd been trampled by a herd of krakos.

This wasn't exactly what he'd expected when he first logged in and found Dhin waiting for him. "Come with me," the clansman had said. "I'm going to teach you something."

And so Severance had, both eager and curious to see what Dhin had in mind. He should have known better.

"But all you did was try to kill me," Severance grumbled. "I didn't learn anything."

"Wrong." Dhin's shadow fell across him, blocking out some of the annoyingly bright sunlight. "You learned a very important lesson."

Severance scoffed. "What? That you enjoy stabbing innocent people?"

"Ha, no. What you learned was how to take a beating!"

Severance stared at him. He was starting to suspect that there was something tragically wrong with Dhin's brain. Or maybe, the problem was...

"I think you spend too much time with Maun. Both of you are crazy." Groaning, Severance pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"No, I think the word you're looking for is brilliant."

Nope, totally crazy is right. Severance kept that thought to himself. It was better to not poke mentally unstable people with sharp sticks, after all. He got to his feet before attempting to brush the grime off his clothes.

It quickly became obvious he was just wasting his time since one couldn't exactly brush away rips or blood. He gave up on that idea. It was just easier to change his clothes, so he pulled the spare set of basic clan attire out of Inventory.

Dhin whistled. "That really is a nifty trick. How much can you store away like that?"

Severance glanced over at him. Then he turned his back and pulled off his ruined shirt. "I don't know. I've never really reached a limit."

"You Outsiders are really unfair, you know that?"

"Says the guy who can effortlessly murder me at any time."

"Oh, come on, don't be so dramatic. You're a lot better than when I first trained with you."

Tugging on a clean shirt, Severance rolled his eyes. Was that what Dhin called it now? The clansman was no doubt referring to the time where he'd helped Severance level up to 30. That had been nothing more than sheer brutality, where Dhin had taken full advantage of the Outsider's ability to learn through experience.

Today hadn't been so fruitful, however. Severance had only gained a single point in vitality along with a strong sense of helplessness. Skills weren't very useful when your target could easily evade them.

"I don't feel any better," Severance muttered.

He smoothed down the bottom of the long shirt and then quickly changed his pants. After tucking everything in and buckling his boots, he tossed the dirty clothes in Inventory. When he got back to the House, he'd take them to the laundry room and pick up another clean set.

He turned to find Dhin watching him with a serious expression.

"Now what is it?"

"I think," Dhin said slowly, "that you'll never be a strong fighter."