The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

“Wait, so when I teach Ame our ‘Battlefield Triage’ spell, she’ll only get a weak version of it?” I asked, and Oracle nodded.

“The spell she learns will have the same basic capabilities, but the overall spell we use is compounded by our joint knowledge, so ours will do more than she can with it. The greatest spells are always self-created. Those learned from others, even if from Spellbooks, are always another’s knowledge grafted onto you, and some bits just don’t stick.”

“Crap. Okay then, I guess we can leave it at that for now for the farmers. Who else are we looking at today?” I asked Cai, and he flipped to another section.

“Warriors,” he said bluntly. “They can be a lot more expensive to train. I’ve spoken to Barrett, and he’s told me about his training. It seems the best way to teach a group of warriors is by a warrior, basically."

"If a soldier is trained to teach their skills, then they can, over time, teach a group to use them as well. That’s common sense, I know, but certain abilities, such as ‘Recover’ or ‘Charge’ can also be taught, provided the trainer is a high enough level in both teaching and in the skill needed. I’d suggest we talk to various fighters, mainly Barrett and the Mer, and see what abilities they have.” Oracle moved out from the shelves again, carrying a single small black skill book. I glanced at it and nodded to her in approval.

“I suppose we might as well include this for now. We have several skill books on fighting styles, mainly armed, but some unarmed as well. As soon as we can get things a bit more secure here, and get my brain fixed, I’m going to use at least one of these books, and begin giving classes. It’ll be a small cadre at first, probably only to three or four people, but they’ll then assist me as we teach more. While I want everyone to be able to fight primarily with a weapon of their choice, I also want everyone to be able to defend themselves. Unarmed Combat is about learning to fight without relying on anything else. In my world, I studied a lot of different arts over the years, and many taught you to take the enemy’s weapon and use it on them. I want everyone that lives here to be able to do that, and more. I won’t have them being victims, not again.”

“I believe you will have a lot of volunteers for that, Jax,” Cai said quietly.

“I hope so, my friend. Now, Barrett and Flux; I know they’ve both got a background in fighting, and some training. Has either of them got any experience…”

“Flux has experience both in training small groups and in teaching particular fighting styles,” Cai interrupted me with a smile. “He’s actually asked when you train, as I think he’s decided he’s going to help you.”

“Oh crap,” I muttered, having seen Flux fight. While I knew I had a lot to learn, I also just knew that training under Flux would be painful. Everything he did had an economy of movement that was just beautiful and terrifying to watch. If he was a machine, fighting simply and perfectly, regular, exact movements, and all… I was more of a pissed off cat, full of hissing, spitting, manic energy.

“Yes, he asked me to tell you to be sure to meet him after you’re done to discuss training together, and that he was looking forward to payback for leaving him to ‘that woman’.” At that, Oracle burst out laughing before covering her mouth quickly and trying to pretend she’d done no such thing.

“This is gonna fucking hurt, isn’t it?” I muttered, dropping my head into my hands, and shaking it slowly. “Just when I had gotten free of the training as well. Dammit. Okay, then I guess I’ll speak to him myself about training our people and teaching them some skills.”

“I imagine so, yes… moving on!” Cai said with a wide smile on his face, and I glared at him. “I think the crafting group is next. We have a lot of my former fellow slaves that have expressed an interest in learning to craft. Some, such as Elan and Frank, will be useful, as they wish to set up a tanning and leatherworking area between them, and with Milosh being a leatherworker already, I think they will make a good group."

"Once the hunters begin bringing in skins for them to work on, I’d suggest a skinning primer for them if you have one?” Oracle spun away and returned quickly with a pair of basic skill books that covered the basics. I ordered that one be kept back and passed him the other.

“Okay, I’ll ensure the right person gets this. The other crafts are mainly ones they can learn the basics of themselves, such as woodworking, or ones that we would be better off waiting on, as the trip to recruit from the village might save us from using a valuable skill book on someone less suited to it. The only group that I’d still like you to consider, though, is the engineers. They have pledged loyalty and are highly skilled individuals, but most of them are self-taught. The mana engines and other flight systems of the airships are constantly being refined, as they’ve only been really in use for the last twenty or so years. Do you have anything that might be useful to them?”

I turned and noticed that Oracle had already gathered an armful of books and was staggering over with them.

“Well, we will soon see, I guess,” I said, getting up and helping Oracle with the stack. “Also, before we get into this, I need an artist. Do we have any?”

“What kind of artist?” Cai asked, a little nonplussed, and I grinned at him.

“Someone who’s great at drawing and painting, preferably,” I said, and he frowned in thought, nodding