Dressed to Kill 2: A Monster Seamstress LitRPG, page 17
“Stick to this workshop, work quietly, and don’t disrupt our shifts, and I’ll ensure a completely blind eye is turned to this room. Understand?”
I nodded yes.
Chapter 17
Classes ramped up. So did training.
The monsters started to get bigger in Practical Combat. The first four days featured the tiny, crystalline golems which represented no real danger to the students.
It was Friday when they released the wolves.
“Annabelle,” Sir Stonehart called my teammate to the front of the classroom. I had seen her fight a lot by now, in Study Hall. She didn’t demonstrate much at all in class. All four monsters had been taken out with the same technique, with the same form, struck the same way and defeated in a single blow. I didn’t know what her class was; she rushed monsters barehanded with a trail of burning light behind her.
In Study Hall, she used brass knuckles.
The entire class was quiet as she was called to the stage, the first of the students to fight the wolves. She said nothing, just stared forward with the same bored expression. Out of all the students in Study Hall, she was the only one who had turned down every invite to dinner or hangouts after. She was also the only one to ever have missed a day.
I knew almost nothing about her.
In the cages, wolves identical to the ones in the heart of Stitch gnawed at the bars of their cages, forms of muscle bulky beneath thick black fur. They were absolutely rabid, foaming and leaking drool where their teeth cut marks into the metal of their cages. Their eyes were a brilliant yellow.
Anna stared at them with the same bored expression she used on the teacher.
“When facing a real monster, it is important not to cower. You must take the offensive. And you must not be caught by surprise.”
The porter carrying the cage for the first wolf opened it at the word “surprise.”
The wolf howled as it stepped free from its cage. It was injured; they had likely damaged the monster when capturing it. Anna tensed the same exact way she always did. Her muscles bulged, visible where her sleeves rolled back. With a calm, steady exhale, she stepped forward.
She left behind a golden blur as she raised her right hand and brought it down with a sickening crunch. The wolf hit the floor and died. The fight was no different than her fights against the golems.
It was just as quick and just as brutal.
The instructor paused for a moment.
“Efficient technique.”
Much of the rest of the class struggled to fight the wolf, with a few of them even receiving bites from the monster. The instructor was fully capable of stopping that from happening; he was letting it happen on purpose before stopping the wolf from inflicting serious damage.
Like a vicious form of exposure training.
I ran a needle through the monster’s head without any issue.
“Impressive force,” Sir Stonehart commented.
Of the entire class, only a handful received positive comments.
At night, after Study Hall, I had been slowly working on converting the leftover materials from seven entire goat kills into sets. The materials were hard to work with; I had to ask Vivienne for help to figure out how to use the workshop.
The advanced atelier had all kinds of fancy equipment, much of it buried unused in storage or under pop-up panels in the floor. This included grounding cables that drained the slowly building electricity from the goats’ fur.
The dense black fur constantly accumulated a static charge, a magical property seemingly embedded in the material. The smaller the piece, the slower it accumulated, and the lower the maximum charge.
It would have been a waste to use it on the Hunter pattern. I didn’t have a better pattern to spend it on, and I needed to do something to continue leveling while working through classes. Our Study Hall team still wasn’t ready for expeditions yet.
To maximize the experience I gained from the high-level resources and hopefully make the most of the set, I had to invest it into the Houndsmaster pattern. I doubted it would reward me with useful skills, but the attributes alone would hopefully make up for it.
I almost finished the first set. Both it and the materials now stayed in the workshop instead of my own bedroom. When I first lifted the remaining goat leather from my luggage, the shock had cost me three health, and left a tiny scorch mark on the floor.
I moved a rug to cover it.
I’d likely finish the Houndsmaster set after Study Hall tonight.
Elara came up with a way to counter my hanging strings after only two more fights. She was able to project thinner, faster barriers, and moved much more frequently in combat, making it harder for me to set up my traps. I still won more than half our matches, especially once I started using Stealth mid-fight.
Most of us ended Study Hall covered in sweat. But it wasn’t the only thing that changed.
Adrian had brought in more furniture. Tables for working. When we weren’t sparring, Elara, Adrian and Cedric helped with everyone’s homework. And not just buying it, either—they actually taught the basic concepts.
“Gwen?” Adrian asked as soon as I entered.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to try sparring with Anna tonight?”
I looked over to her.
So far, Anna had easily defeated everyone she sparred with in a single shot. She had worked her way through almost everyone in the room. The only people to give her trouble were Adrian, Cedric, and Elara of course.
Even then, she maintained a near perfect fifty–fifty win–loss record against them.
“Sure.”
It sounded exciting. Could I beat her?
After the first night of Study Hall, Adrian had the ceiling covered in a layer of foam as well. It meant I could throw my needles wherever I wanted.
I wasn’t shy about preparing the battlefield beforehand. What I really needed to do was to spend some time to add something to the bottom of the threads—more needles, or some kind of weight to manipulate for attacks using Thread Mastery.
I raised my training rapier to Anna, who stood in the same pose she used every time she launched her attack.
When the field fuzzed to life, she shot forward, unstoppably fast, a rush of gold shooting toward me.
I used [Running Stitch].
Anna shifted to the left, sliding over the air. Her eyes widened by the smallest margin as my arm followed her with superhuman speed. There was a flash of purple. Anna kicked off of me, sending me back with a grunt, then landed on the other side of the arena.
Her head tilted to the side in an uncanny movement.
“What was that?” she asked.
“It’s my skill,” I said.
“It must be new,” Anna said.
“Uh … no.” I blinked. “I’ve had this skill since before I came to the Academy.”
Anna shook her head. Even in combat, she wore her hair down.
“That’s not what I meant. Show me it again?” Anna said.
She stood and entered her pose. I shrugged and waved to Adrian that we were going again. He gave me a thumbs-up.
“I think that kick is going to leave a bruise,” I said. When Anna kicked off me, it didn’t take any health away. “Was that a movement skill?”
Anna nodded her head slowly.
The more time I spent in the Academy, the more I noticed how strange Anna’s abilities were. She was both confident and powerful. I was starting to be able to determine whether or not someone had started leveling just by watching them fight. And Anna had clearly leveled.
We fought again. This time, I was more proactive. The moment the fight started, I ducked low, grabbing the network of thread on the ground and creating a tripwire. Anna jumped over it—and me. I threw a needle past her, tugging on the thread to wrap it around an arm. She grabbed it and pulled, bringing me forward and off balance.
I activated [Running Stitch] preemptively. This time, before Anna even reached me, she jumped, kicking off midair. There was a flash of gold where her foot hit the air and she landed some distance away, staring at my needle—rapier.
My [Running Stitch] deactivated and we stared at each other for a moment.
“Interesting. Your skill’s pursuit has a limited maximum range? Or is it active as long as you’re near me?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Let’s find out.”
Anna rushed me. A new cast of [Running Stitch] brought my sword up to meet her again. She backed just out of range. I followed her, running forward. My rapier dashed toward her. She dodged in flashes of gold light.
“It can run indefinitely?” Anna asked, calmly dodging each attack and walking back. “Fascinating.”
Anna blurred.
I felt Anna’s blow through the purple shield as she shot forward. The world turned upside down. I slid across the mat. Everything flashed purple. The barrier around the training area fuzzed out, and I could hear talking from the other side, though it was muffled as if it came through a thin wall.
“Oh! Sorry!”
I wheezed, trying to recover my breath. She stood over me, hair hanging down like a halo around her face. I took her hand and rose to my knees, leaning over. Then I checked my status. Despite how badly that hurt, I didn’t lose any health.
The barrier wound down. Anna looked genuinely concerned. She patted my back.
“Come on. I’ll help you over to the bench.”
I leaned on her as she helped me take a seat. Adrian stared with visible concern. Anna cringed.
“Sorry, again,” she said.
“It’s alright,” I said. “What level are you? If you don’t mind …”
“I can’t tell you that,” Anna said.
“Fine. But you owe me for that one.” I rubbed my ribs.
“I’ll do a day’s worth of homework for you,” Anna said, smiling wryly.
“Come to dinner with us,” I replied. I was fascinated by Anna’s skills and background. She had clearly been through a lot. I wanted to know more about her. Besides that, we needed to build a rapport with our entire team. She was the only one not engaging in our other team-building exercises.
Anna looked uncomfortable about it.
“It’s okay,” Sandy said. “Adrian pays.”
“Alright,” Anna agreed.
I recovered from my bruised ribs by working on classwork. Realm management and economics involved reading and writing reports from a huge, multi-volume textbook that discussed the economies of various cities. This volume was only a few years old.
Our Study Hall session was interrupted by pounding knocks on the door. I looked at Sandy who shrugged, then over to Adrian, who was tense. He crossed the room, opening the door just a sliver to answer.
“Ah,” Adrian said, opening the door the rest of the way.
In walked Marcus.
The Noble was one of Adrian’s foremost connections at the Academy, not only helping us secure this warehouse but also getting Gerald home after finding him a forge.
Marcus was in bad shape. He practically limped into the room. His hair was now buzz-cut short, and he had a black eye. Bandages slipped out of the edges of his clothes—not a Noble Academy uniform.
“You look like you got trampled on,” Adrian observed, shutting the door.
“Enchantment still working?” Marcus asked, brushing past Adrian. He manipulated the controls for the enchantment, turning off the noise. Training had ended for the night; whatever attack Anna hit me with had drained too much of its power to continue using it.
Marcus walked into the fizzling field and shouted his lungs out. It sounded very far away through the sound suppression in the training field.
It was an awkward moment. The room stared on. A second later, he limped back out.
“Sorry about that,” Marcus said. “I need your help.”
The comment was directed specifically at Adrian.
“What are you working on?”
Marcus sighed. “Special Environmental Hazards: Advanced Hunting Three.”
Adrian nodded along.
“What did your team decide on?”
“We’re hunting an electrical monster a full day’s march away. We didn’t expect electrical attacks to bypass our protections. Can you help?”
“I can ask around,” Adrian said. “Meet us for dinner tonight.”
Marcus scanned the room. Then nodded.
“Same place as usual?”
Adrian smiled. “Yep. Dragon’s Den.”
Not everyone came to dinner every night for our little group session. Plenty of people had to catch up on homework. For several Nobles, their first introduction to math was in Economics class. It was not a good environment for learning fundamentals.
It was still simpler than algebra, though.
“How is your Economics class going, Anna?” I asked. She walked with me and Sandy to the Dragon’s Den—the diner that Adrian frequented. It wasn’t a first-class place—it was a favorite of Chosen and even commoners.
“It’s fascinating to see the way our Nobility manages the realm. Their economic theories are … interesting. The impact that stratified classes have on functional economics is fascinating.”
Yeah, she wasn’t having any issues.
“Did House Gloomwood give you economics lessons?”
Anna hesitated.
“Yes. They were more than generous in my upbringing.”
It was cold out in the late evening. The sun was setting beyond the wall, but oil lamps kept the city alive. Industry was constantly bustling here. Noble teams often used the Academy as a resupply point and a place to acquire new gear; it was the last stop before a deeper dive into the dungeon, and to maintain a third-tier city, the dungeon dives never ended.
Gerald wasn’t with us tonight. He was headed over to the workshop that Adrian had helped him secure.
I wanted to ask Anna what class she had. But she would probably reply by asking what mine was. If she answered at all. She was sketchy about her stats. She seemed almost traumatized.
“So … you’re a mage,” I said.
“You’re a fencer,” she agreed.
I wasn’t good at this. Luckily, we were already at the Dragon’s Den.
“Adrian, I want the roasted drake again,” Sandy said.
“You didn’t eat the whole thing last time. You took it home! Where did you even store that?”
“I need another,” Sandy said.
The Dragon’s Den was, in a word, sticky. Dozens of people crowded the multistory haunt. The bottom floor featured gambling tables of dubious legality; but the law was what the local Nobles decided, for the most part, and this place was filled with young Nobles new to their way of life. The center of the building was a huge, open column, with every floor above looking down over balconies. The glass roof at the top was dirty, letting in stained light.
The entire place was orange from oil lamps and alive with the noise of a hundred conversations. It took us several minutes to reach an actual table we could sit at, finding one available on the third floor after stopping every few steps for Adrian to greet someone or another. We brushed away the trash that was left behind by the previous diners. The serving staff hadn’t gotten there before us. I stared down into the crowd below. Shouts and jeers rang out around a roulette table.
“Can I steal some of your roasted drake?” I asked Sandy. I was tying back my hair. This entire place was way too gross.
But the food was good.
“Sure!” Sandy said. “Only if you share your dish with me.”
“What should I get?” I asked, resisting the urge to lean on the table.
“Another roasted drake.” Sandy nodded sagely.
“No!” Adrian interrupted a conversation he was having a table away from us to shout back.
I laughed.
“Is there a menu?” Anna asked. She spread her hands on the table.
“Server!” Adrian shouted over the crowd. “Menu?” he asked.
An employee rushed over, pulling out a notepad—a scribe, rather than an actual server—and began to write everything that was currently available. Their hands blurred over the page, and in a few seconds, they had finished. When they tore the page free, they tore the pages under it, too. A copy of the menu appeared on all the pages.
It was probably a similar skill to my own Pattern Mirroring, applying the labor across multiple pages.
The server smiled.
“What can I get for you today? Drinks?”
“There’s no roasted drake today?” Sandy exclaimed.
“We’re all out.” The server hesitated. “There may be more tomorrow?”
The menu of the Dragon’s Den wasn’t set. They acquired huge quantities of meat from the many abattoirs in the city, and what they had available changed from day to day, and even from hour to hour.
When we ordered, the scribe copied our order to a notepad. I knew from asking last time that the order was being transcribed to another page inside the kitchen, where they would start preparing the meal before we even finished ordering.
It was a little cool.
After the server left and everyone in a two-mile radius had greeted Adrian, he sat down and turned to me.
“Gwen,” he said.
I already knew what this was about.
“Marcus’s request,” I said. “You don’t have connections to get equipment?” I asked out of curiosity. I was more than willing to fleece every last merit I could out of Marcus. And Adrian.
Adrian smiled wryly.
“I do. But what I would be acquiring would be top-level gear—sets made for people with dozens and dozens or even over a hundred levels. And the cost for that …”
“You want me to get something cheaper.”
Adrian took a long drink. It was beer. They served alcohol to the often freshly eighteen-year-old students in the Academy who had just unlocked access to vast magical power. It felt like a bad idea.
“Yes. Something cheaper and highly specific. I could get something cheaper by sending mail back home, but the travel time makes it unpreferable. So … can your connection make something with lightning resistance?”
I already had something half-made.
