“What even was that?” I asked, still overwhelmed by the spectacle Bobbie put on a moment ago and the feeling of nearly dying from a head-on collision with an enormous pile of fallen trees.

“My spear.” Bobbie replied simply, still focused on trees and other obstacles ahead of us as she continued to lead us deeper into the forest on her dwarven-made chopper.

“Thank you for stating the obvious, but seriously just how strong are you? Or was that all because of the spear you threw?” I asked her, genuinely curious to know more about how her weapon worked, and anything she was willing to tell me about her abilities.

“Well, my spear is pretty awesome, but everything you saw from that throw is pretty much just down to my skills and classes.” Bobbie revealed. “And a generous helping of experience, and recklessness added in to spice things up a bit.”

That was an understatement.

“So, um, you obviously don’t have to, but would you be willing to tell me anything about your own classes and skills? Because honestly, after seeing you blow up what was probably the equivalent of a dozen fully grown trees piled together, I still feel like a pretty weak nobody.”

“Well, you are still pretty weak, at least compared to me, or any other supernaturals who are at least my level.” Bobbie told me casually, but there wasn’t any mocking and ridicule in her words, just her calmly stating how things were. “But, that’s why we’re out here right? To get you your levels and give your stats a little kick in the ass to get them goin’.”

“Uh, r-right.” I replied with deflated enthusiasm.

“Come on, don’t be so glum new girl. Here, I’ll tell you a bit about my abilities, that should pique your interest right?” She said in a cautious but playful tone.

“Oh. Yeah, that would be really awesome, I still have so much to learn, and any insight about classes and skills you can…” I said starting to build up momentum for an even longer ramble before I was interrupted.

“Slow down back there, sheesh. I’m the one who is supposed to be going at crazy speeds, not you and your word spew.” Bobbie said with a laugh. “Anyways, my current classes are… wait hold up. I think I’ve spotted our mark.”

“Oh frick…” I said morosely, not relishing the thought of having to fight some big forest drake or any other monster really.

I turned my head to look where Bobbie’s head was angled, and high up in the sky, way up above us was a small winged greenish creature flying slightly perpendicular to our current course.

I knew that while it looked small and unassuming now while it was so far away, once it got closer, that tiny little creature would get much, much bigger.

This was going to suck.

“Here, instead of telling you, why don’t I just show you.” Bobbie said, reaching back into her clothes again and pulling out the shrunken form of her spear before extending it to its full length at her side. “Keep my seat warm for me, won’t you new girl?”

This was all Bobbie said before her body rocketed straight up and off of her motorcycle and up into the air, leaving me stunned at the sight and horrified at being left alone on this motorcycle still moving at incredibly fast speeds.

Glancing up quickly to see what became of Bobbie, I saw her form quickly shrinking in size as she moved higher and higher up into the sky and toward the flying monster.

“Fricking frick!” I shouted to myself and this crazy girl who probably couldn’t even hear me, and if she could she probably wasn’t even paying attention. I scooted up to where Bobbie had sat and started trying to quickly figure out how to slow this crazy contraption down before it killed me.

But no matter how much my head darted about looking, and my hands and feet started frantically pressing levers and buttons, nothing about the bike behavior seemed to change. In fact, it seemed to still be doing just fine at dodging and weaving around the trees, bushes, and other obstacles that were in our path.

Frick, did this bike have some kind of autopilot function?

Relaxing ever so slightly, I looked back up just in time to see Bobbie’s now tiny form now cresting the arc of her leap just above the now aware and very agitated forest drake.

As the beast turned around to face the small creature that dared approach it, Bobbie redirected herself midair somehow, and then shot herself straight at the angry reptile so fast it didn’t even have a chance to bite or claw at her.

Bobbie did get her chance though.

Her blue metal spear, now shining brightly from the sunlight in the open air, whirled in two concentric vertical circles around herself, keeping her body at the center.

The drake let out a loud roar of pain, as two brief sprays of blood erupted from its large reptilian wings.

It was all I could do to even make out that much from so far below them on the ground.

As the drake then began to flail about and tumble downward through the air, she continued her slow but steady descent back in the direction of me and her bike.

‘She crippled the drake’s wings’ I thought to myself. ‘It won't be able to fly anymore.’

As I was making that mental observation, I watched the now visibly larger beast tumble and spin as it crashed like a meteor into the forested canopy below and then impacted with a loud deafening *KABOOOM*.

Woah. Maybe this fight wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

“Scoot you’re butt back. I don’t want to land on you and smoosh you.” Bobbie called out to me loudly from above, as she quickly began to draw close.

Doing as she said, and scooching back to where I had been, Bobbie landed a comparatively mild *thump*, as she seated herself exactly as she had been before jumping and taking off into the sky.

“So yeah, that’s some of what I can do.” She said as she looked back at me with a smirk.

Bobbie didn’t really wait for a reply from me, not that I even had one to give, as she began to slow her bike down rapidly and bring it to an abrupt but seemingly safe halt.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Okay then.” Bobbie said. “The show’s all yours now new girl.”

Bobbie gracefully dismounted her bike, and then turned to look back at me while she patiently rested spear on her shoulder.

“R-right, frick.” I said despondently.

“Come on now, you got this.” Bobbie said to me with a quick clap on my shoulder with her free hand. “Besides, I’ll be nearby watching you the whole time.”

With that, Bobbie did another inhumanly fast jump up into the air as she landed on a nearby branch and slowly began to settle herself down on it, presumable to watch me fumble about fighting this giant monstrosity.

“Frick.” I said again, this time very quietly and just to myself.

‘You can do this Jenni. You have to do this.’ I told myself silently in my head, trying to psyche myself up a bit.

Taking another quick steadying breath, I made my way toward where the drake had made its loud impact with the ground. The signs and location were still readily visible given the large billowing cloud of debris that still wafting into the air from where it had so elegantly landed.

Coming out into a new and somewhat sizable clearing, I got my first close-up look at the large, at least semi-truck sized, Lesser Forest Drake.

Lesser Forest Drake- Lvl 46

A fearsome predator that is equally adept at prowling the skies as it is the shadowy woodlands of its preferred hunting grounds. Despite its smaller size compared to its larger relatives, its lethal efficiency and cunning make it a formidable adversary while it is on the hunt in its wooded domain.

“W-why is the text in red?” I asked out loud, not anticipating a response.

“It’s ‘cause it’s a higher rank than you!” Bobbie shouted down to me from her comfortable perch up on her tree branch.

“Doesn’t that mean it’s way stronger than me then?” I asked fearfully.

“Oh yeah, for sure. Way, way stronger.” Bobbie cheerfully agreed. “But its wings are clipped, and look how injured it is.”

Doing as she instructed, I turned to look at the large green-scaled monstrosity as it slowly tried to lift itself up out of the dirt and roots from being half buried in the ground after its impact.

“Like I said, you got this.” Bobbie repeated.

Trying to trust and believe in Bobbie’s words, I continued my slow march closer to the huge, dangerous, but heavily injured beast.

Just as it lifted its head up to start looking around and regain its bearings, its long and scaly reptilian snout inevitably turned in my direction.

Just as it did though, I let loose with my first salvo.

Nights Swift Arrow

Shadows Sharp Bite

Darkness strikes down all that I see.

“Shadow Bolts!” I shouted at the still confused but angry reptile.

After completing the necessary hand movements and chanting, a trio of inky black bolts shot out and impacted in quick succession with the scaly snout that had been pointed in my direction.

After three sizzling pops occurred from their impact, the forest drake recoiled and hissed angrily at my attack. Its head whipped back quicker this time to look in my direction, and its eyes narrowed and now focused in on me as well.

“Oohhh. I think you made it mad.” Bobbie heckled from up above.

“Thanks, captain obvious.” I shouted back, annoyed but still somehow comforted by the company. Probably cause she could just one-shot this thing if I messed up super badly.

Now fully back up on its two hind legs, it angled its huge body in my direction and began to slowly crouch low.

“It’ll be charging next, get ready.” Bobbie shouted, this time words sounding more serious and urgent.

“Frick.” I complained as I started to move further back and away from the big hostile lizard. All the while my hands began to move at a feverish pace to prepare for my next spell.

Shadows we wield

Light and dark embrace

Our barrier revealed

“Chromatic Shield!” I shouted after completing my chant, my hand gestures, and activating my Eyes of Night skill to buff the strength of my magic even more.

A little trick I’d learn in my late-night magic practice sessions, was that in addition to improving the strength of my shadow magic, my Eyes of Night Skill also let me get a clearer view through the normally obscured inky black energy field that made up my shield spell.

This provided me just enough visibility to now see a large angry reptile charging straight for me.

“F-frick!” I shouted helplessly as I braced myself behind my upraised spell shield.

*Ka-Kraaak*

The drake’s impact with my shield felt like being hit by a moving car. I was lucky I was still standing afterwards, I was not so lucky in that the speed and force of the drake had completely shattered my spell, and the still-moving lizard collided into my side with the remaining energy of its charge.

“Gaaaah!” I yelled out in pain, pressing my hand to my side instinctively as I continued to backpedal away from the drake as it began to turn back around towards me again.

“Don’t try to block an attack like that head on, dumbass!” Bobbie shouted down at me from her perch. “Angle your shield so you deflect and redirect its attack away from you!”

“How!” I yelled back angrily.

“Tssk, you're the brainy nerd here. Think of it like a geometry problem or something, I don’t know.” She shouted back at me irritably.

Hmm, like a geometry problem huh. Yeah, that was something I could work with, but thinking of it more like a physics problem instead seems more appropriate. A force coming at a 90-degree angle versus coming at a smaller angle like say…

As my brain started to process and consider different angles and solutions to my situation Bobbie started shouting down at me again.

“It’s going to charge at you again dumbass, do more spells and less standing around like some dorky scarecrow.” She heckled at me loudly.

“F-frick, fine.” I replied somewhat bitterly at being distracted from my though process, but after seeing the Forest drake readying itself for another charge, I quietly forgave Bobbie for any offense.

Quickly, I chanted and cast another spell at the large monster, this time not to hurt it, but to blind it.

Grasp of Darkness

Shroud of Gloom

Let the veil of shadows descend

“Eye Fog!”

As the spell connected with the beast's head, it paused in its charge briefly, confused at what had happened to it.

However, after a brief few seconds, it turned its head back in my direction again and began to tense its hind legs for another charge.

“It can still see me! How?” I yelled at the monster as well as Bobbie.

The beast's eyes were clearly covered by the telltale black fog, yet it seemed mostly unperturbed by their presence.

“A lot of stronger monsters can utilize more than one sense to fight effectively. In this case, it can likely smell and or hear you.” Bobbie sagely explained. “Nice try though.”

“Frick.” I complained bitterly as it began its charge.

Guess I’ll get to apply the physics-based solution to the shield problem sooner than I thought.

…

Our barrier revealed

“Chromatic Shield!”

At the last moment before impact, I sidestepped the path of the beast's charge slightly and redirected the spell’s barrier to a more angled direction relative to the drake’s path of impact. Ideally, it would work like Bobbie explained, the beast glancing off and harmlessly away from me.

That was exactly what happened, at first