18 – Further Insights

“Just relax, Andy,” Violet said as he hesitated, looking back to the hole leading down into the tunnels. “Omar’s setting up rotating guard stations to make sure we don’t lose any ground down there. You get some rest; Bea told me you lost a lot of blood.”

Andy smiled wanly and nodded. “Okay. I should get something to eat—”

Lucy grabbed his shoulder, nudging him toward his trailer. “I’ll bring you some food.”

“You sure? I could—”

“I want to. I’m hungry too. Go lie down.”

“Right. Okay, thanks.” Andy turned and shambled down the lane, nodding and waving to folks who called out greetings. He’d left most of the crowd behind him, down in the stairwell room, where they were being introduced to the two newcomers and listening, again and again, to the wild tale of the giant toad battle.

As for the newcomers, Andy had learned their names were Benny and Janice, which made him smile, considering their draconic bloodlines. He couldn’t picture a dragon named Benny. Would they ever become dragons? Was that even what draconic meant? Of course, the questions were pointless; nobody had the answers.

The two were brother and sister and still maintained the story that they’d washed up in the underground lake after falling into a sinkhole a good ten miles away. Andy tried to imagine surviving in the dark, only able to see when they’d managed to get a driftwood fire going. It became a horror story when you added a giant, man-eating toad and hordes of huge rats to the mix. According to Benny, the two had gained some levels by killing rats, learned some magic, and were beginning to explore the tunnels when Andy and the others found them.

Back in the cavern, as he’d lain there, gathering his strength and waiting for Lucy to bring help, Andy had confronted Benny about the spell he’d been casting when Jace was talking to him. It turned out it was a noise-dampening spell, something that had kept him and his sister safe from predators down there in the dark. Of course, Andy felt rotten about having stabbed him, but luckily, the man was quick, his skin was tough, and Bea had fixed him up.

Thoughts like those occupied his mind as he walked through the park, and before he knew it, Andy reached his trailer and, five seconds later, collapsed onto his couch. He didn’t want to fall asleep waiting for Lucy, so he called up his status sheet and stared at the eight improvement points he was hoarding. It didn’t seem like he was going to run out anytime soon, so he figured he ought to spend some of them.

Andy’s eyes drifted past Spears, but then he looked back at it. He was assuming his cap was still four, but hadn’t his Critical Mastery broken that threshold because of his new Speed score and due to some hidden benefit of his Brimstone Stalker class? What if other skills were similarly affected? The fact that he was only now wondering that highlighted to Andy just how tired and busy he’d been. It seemed like an obvious question.

Without further ado, he tried to put a point into Spears, only to have the System feed him the same old message:

***You have reached a plateau in your development of Spear Fighting. While you may continue to use the skill effectively, further advancement is currently restricted. To progress beyond this point, you must engage in focused practice and demonstrate a breakthrough in technique, understanding, or creative application. Consider refining your existing forms or stances. Intentional practice against meaningful resistance is key. Good luck, Journeyman.***

What frustrated Andy was that he felt he had already done some of the things the System was suggesting. He’d gained some insight during his fights, hadn’t he? He shook his head, knowing he wasn’t being realistic. If he intended to make a breakthrough via practice, he’d need to spend hours or days—hell, maybe weeks or months—drilling with someone who was also skilled with the weapon. A couple of difficult fights weren’t going to do it.

Still, he figured it had been worth a try. Without too many other options, Andy put another point into Sneak Attack, and when it advanced to 4, he tried to apply another.

***Sneak Attack has reached its present advancement threshold. Further growth through mana infusion is locked. To ascend beyond this limit, you must discover alternate methods of identifying and capitalizing on your enemies’ vulnerabilities. The path ahead may present itself through repetition—or through insight born of innovation.***

“Insight born of innovation…” Andy muttered, trying to wrap his head around the System’s cryptic clue. Maybe it was the word “insight,” but when he looked over his skill list again and saw his “Butcher’s Insight” ability, a thought occurred to him, and he looked at the description for the skill:

Butcher’s Insight – Innate: With a perceptive eye, you strive to discern the most valuable or useful parts from the corpses of animals or monsters.

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He didn’t see anything to dissuade him, so Andy chased his vague idea and put a skill point into the ability. As warm tingles spread through his skull, sending shivers up and down his spine, he concentrated, searching his mind for newly implanted false memories or just sourceless knowledge that had anything to do with animal and monster anatomy and how one might butcher them. Just as he’d hoped, he found the knowledge there, lurking in his mind.

He could picture muscle groups, tendons, and cartilage. He could even picture the kinds of knives best suited for cutting and carving. He suddenly understood how flesh wanted to part, where to find the hidden seams between muscle and bone, and how to twist a blade so it slid through cartilage instead of grinding against it. He knew which organs to leave untouched, which glands were volatile, and which bones were worth saving. The insight didn’t feel learned so much as remembered, as if some older, rougher version of himself had spent years at the workbench, dressing carcasses by firelight and whispering what he knew into Andy’s ear.

“Wild…” he breathed, amazed by the density of the knowledge, though it was more breadth than depth—he knew a little about a lot of types of carcasses. Would another point help? Before exploring that idea, he followed up on his earlier hunch. He tried to put another point into, first Critical Mastery, and then, when he found he still couldn’t advance the ability, into Sneak Attack. Again, he was met with the soft-cap message.

With a shrug, Andy put another point into Butcher’s Insight. Again, he felt the warm tingles run through his skull, and again, he explored the new knowledge awaiting his conscious perusal. He smiled at the suddenly more explicit knowledge. He knew tricks for gathering venom glands, carving out acid sacks, removing mana-rich marrow, and tips and tricks for collecting a hundred other strange-sounding trophies.

Andy could picture bones and nerves; he understood where to find organs in common animals and dozens of monsters he’d never even seen before. He supposed that wasn’t so strange; it was like book knowledge—unpracticed but there. Still, he thought it would be weird when he came upon a manticore and recognized how to properly remove the thorn bladder from its tail.

With all of that new knowledge crowding his thoughts, Andy tried once again to put another point into Critical Mastery. When he saw the soft-cap message, he ground his teeth, frustrated, but tried Sneak Attack again, anyway. To his delight, it worked, and he received a new message from the System:

***Congratulations! You’ve transcended your prior threshold in Sneak Attack! Through the combined influence of your heightened Critical Mastery and Butcher’s Insight, you’ve gained a deeper understanding of flesh, structure, and weakness. Your strikes now carry greater precision whenever you catch your foes off-guard. Further advancement will require new discoveries and sharper insight.***

“Yes!” Andy punched a fist into his palm, unreasonably proud of his discovery; after all, he’d done nothing but apply Improvement Points to various skills. Still, it felt like a big deal, learning that some ceilings could be overcome or at least raised by the improvement of related abilities.

“Andy?” Lucy asked, knocking on the side of his open door.

“Yeah? Come in.”

He heard her feet on the steps, then she said, “You’re sitting in the dark. Don’t you have a lamp yet?”

“Nah. I don’t do much in here anyway, other than sit around staring at my status screen.”

She chuckled, coming to sit beside him on the couch. She had a couple of paper-wrapped bundles in her hands and passed one to him. “Sandwiches—peanut butter and honey.” As Andy, mouth already watering, began to unwrap his sandwich, she added, “It’s funny we call it that, huh?”

“What? Sandwich?”

“No! I mean the status screen. It’s not like we have a computer screen in front of us.”

“Yeah.” Andy shrugged. “I guess so. Sometimes I call it a status page

. I think the System even does that.” He frowned. “That’s weird, too, right? It’s not a book.”

Lucy nodded. “Just one of those things. Maybe display would be the most accurate, but who cares?” She unwrapped her sandwich, and they sat quietly for a minute or two, slowly chewing.

Andy’s brain was exploding with pleasure as his body soaked up the much-needed sugar and protein, so he didn’t mind the silence. After he was done with the first half, though, he forced himself to pause and said, “I learned something interesting about skill caps.”

Lucy swallowed, then reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an apple juice box, like one would usually expect a little kid to drink, and handed it to him. “Yeah?”

Andy took the box and unwrapped the little straw. “Yeah. It seems that improving related skills can sometimes raise the ceiling. Like, I just trained up my Butcher’s Insight ability, and it helped me with Sneak Attack.”

Lucy fished another juice box out of her coat and proceeded to jab the tiny straw into it. After she took a long sip, she said, “That makes a weird kind of sense. I wonder…” She trailed off, sipping her juice again.

“You wonder?”

“I wonder what kind of skill I could learn to help me get past my Bows ceiling.”

“You hit it?”

She nodded. “Six.”

“Seriously?” Andy whistled softly. “You must have been pretty damn good before the System came. I’m still stuck at four with Spears.”

She leaned back on the couch, juice box held to her chest as she closed her eyes. “I was good. It was the only thing I did that made me feel…normal, I guess.”

Andy joined her in leaning back, tugging his coffee table closer so he could kick his feet up. Lucy leaned into him, and he sighed happily, enjoying the close warmth of her. “I know I didn’t know you then, but I bet you were being hard on yourself. Do you mean the whole…not talking thing?”

He couldn’t see it, but he felt her head nod on his shoulder. “Yeah, I guess so. At the university, nobody knew me very well, so they all just assumed I was deaf. Nobody judged me. When I did well on the team, people knew me for that—not the other stuff.”

“Well…” Failing to think of any insightful or profound words, Andy just said, “That’s cool.”

Lucy huffed a soft laugh. “Yeah. It was cool.” Her words were murmured—almost whispers—and Andy could hear her breathing even out. She was falling or had fallen asleep. He smiled at the thought and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he’d joined her in slumber, unaware of the colorful, sparkling steam rising up from the floor by the couch.