Ssarak Dyreackthanose

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In the months following the year’s opening feast, Ssarak’s life experienced many changes, though this time, most were actually for the better. His training had brought him well into the intermediate stages of psychomancy. In addition to the normal classes, he had continued seeing Satori for private lessons to further increase his mastery of his blood. His wards had improved, his telepathy was more refined, and he had improved in the illusory tricks that could help protect him so he could work on breaking through enemy wards. The concepts of emotions and how they affected the mind were more familiar to him, which had been particularly useful in giving advice to Mar over her own struggles with emotion. He had progressed well in all of the abilities one would expect from an intermediate psychomancer, but one area in particular in which his private lessons had helped him improve was in his focused concentration. It was difficult for him to say why exactly, but the particular type of training for that aspect of his blood seemed to come more naturally to him. The concept of focusing all of his effort onto one, or a small number of tasks, of pushing himself to and beyond his limits, was something he had done for years in his physical training. To transfer those concepts to mental training was not as difficult as he had feared. In focused concentration, his abilities could be considered to be at expert level. 

In his personal life, Ssarak spent as much as he could of what free time he had with Meirin. Although, considering how busy his days tended to be, that amount of time was only just at an acceptable level for him. Much of that time was during his daily exercised, which Meirin had continued to join in. Otherwise, he simply took the time to be with her when they were both available. One of the negative effects of his full schedule, however, was that he had few opportunities for earning coin. His basic needs were taken care of, but he could do little else beyond simply maintaining his present lifestyle. However, during his last mission, he had discovered a strange sword with runic markings. Upon bringing the blade to Val, she informed him that they were slots where runes could be placed, all three of which were empty. Since the sword had no other importance, he had been able to keep it, and have the runes applied. Given that he did not have the coin to otherwise upgrade his equipment, he decided to select runes that would maximize the blade’s versatility. The first two were easy for him to decide upon; they were runes which allowed him the ability to manipulate the mass of the blade, and to change its form, much like with shapeshifting in vitamancy. With that, his blade could adapt to have the properties of any melee weapon he could use, or even properties not found in standard weapons. The third, and most recent rune applied was a rune of demon bane. It had been a more difficult choice, but considering that he had accepted a mission delving into the Ravine of Demons, and the greatest enemy of the College, Kudd, had an army of demons, it seemed as if it would be a good choice. Since he now had his sword, he had been able to sell both his poleaxe, and even his dagger, to allow for the purchase of a simple metal shield. Although, it left him with little left over. 

Currently, the mission upon which Ssarak was about to embark was not one he necessarily [i]wanted[/i] to be on, but one that he felt that he needed to be on. He would have much preferred to join Meirin on Lyn’s hunt, both to help Lyn, and to spend more time with Mei. But, the importance of what they would be doing on this mission had drawn him to it. Not to mention, the wealth Tyrael was offering would give him the gold to perhaps do something he had been wanting to do for a while now. It would be dangerous, but he was as prepared as he could be.

Ssarak stood at the ready, nearby to Tyrael. He was in his armor, helmet included, with his sword sheathed at his side with a lightened weight and his shield on his back. It was not the place he would carry the shield if he wanted to use it quickly, but he did not tend to use the shield unless a great deal of protection was needed, since his armor served much the same purpose. Having both hands free allowed him more options in how he could use his blade. He had with him bags with the basic supplies the College had given him, along with items he already had, such as water containers and the blanket off of his bed.