“Really, Kiresula?” Arikan asked, obviously done with her antics.
Kiresula shrugged: “There was no convenient ledge to shove him off off.”
Arikan shook his head: “I can see why you attacked its air supply, but completely covering the thing in dirt? Aren’t you afraid you'll run out of magic points?”
Kiresula shrugged: “Not really and not here. We are so deep in broken magic that I need to make sure to have the resources to absorb enough of it. I am running Serenity, basically, my version of Placidity, at any moment we are walking. I can be generous with my magic here.”
Arikan shook his head: “Then, why do you not use any attacks that actually cause damage?”
Kiresula blushed: “I don’t really have many strong combat spells. Normally, I either empower others or use the terrain. But I can do strikes with heat and cold.”
Arikan looked at her intently: “This needs to change. Seriously, get some offensive spells so you don’t need to think about ledges and pits all the time!”
Kiresula nodded vaguely and checked her notifications.
Class Achievement: Reached Level 4 of your Seferian Mage class.
60 stat points assigned, 5 free stat points.
You have gained the skill: Sense of place
Class Achievement: Reached Level 6 of your Elemental-Somatic Mage class.
60 stat points assigned, 5 free stat points.
You have gained the spell: Bubble
As she concentrated on the new skill, she was surprised: It gave her a sense of where she had been that was much better than anything she ever had before. If she needed to find the fastest way to where the horses were left, she was reasonably certain that she could do so. It was as if she was mapping her environment much better. This in combination with her elemental awarenesses as well as her botanical awareness made her feel like sight was no longer the most important way to find her way around.
She then tried to use the [Bubble] spell and caused a bubble of clear water to appear in her hands. Drinkable water, that was according to her elemental awareness very pure. She could maintain the bubble as long as it was in contact with her. As soon as she tried to throw the bubble, it lost all integrity.
Arikan looked at this and frowned: “You have not gotten a good level up then?”
Kiresula shook her head: “It is awesome for travelling. Even if a waterskin breaks, I have something to drink and for others to drink.”
Arikan shook his head: “One spell for two level ups seems bad.”
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Kiresula shook her head: “One spell and a passive skill that allows me to find my way around better. I cannot complain.”
Arikan nodded: “I understand that there are classes with different focuses, but you seem to be the weakest level 10 that I encountered.”
Kiresula nodded: “Against groundsnarlers, sure.”
Arikan shook his head: “Not just against them. Try one of your elemental punches against me.”
Kiresula hit him with an [Ice Punch] onto his hand which he held in front of himself.
Arikan shook his head: “You have good technique punching, but the elemental component is barely there.”
Kiresula thought about this. So far, it always was enough to make people instinctively move away, but it didn’t do a lot of damage. Then she thought about the elemental beetle spell that had ranks. As they went after another group of groundsnarlers, Kiresula thought more about the spell. It required 8 Seren to cast and was one of the few spells with fixed costs. But was there a way to upchannel it? She started pacing, murmuring to herself considering the flow of magic and eventually reached an idea about how it was supposed to look. She tried to cast an [Ice Strike] at 11 Seren. Just as she did, Kju winced in pain. The spell fizzled out at the same moment. Kiresula went to Kju and asked: “What happened?”
Kju looked at her wide-eyed and asked: “I would like to ask you the same: What happened? I felt like the system was very clear in saying No to whatever you did and it did so so clearly that this hurt me. Can you, like, not keep doing this?”
Kiresula nodded: “I wondered if it was possible to upchannel the [Ice Punch] and [Fire Punch].”
Kju looked at her, then his eyes defocused. “Get your level up to 10 in this class. You need relevant resistances in order to gain the ability to upchannel.”
Kiresula nodded: “That makes sense. I guess four more levels to go then?”
Kju smiled: “Sounds good, yeah!”
Over the rest of the day, the group fought more groundsnarlers. When there were no groups, Shtiljit held down one of them and one of the glitchlings fought the thing. When they returned to the horses, Kiresula had slain dozens of groundsnarlers who were held down and gained 3 more levels in both classes and gained more spells, all quite niche, but spells that resonated with her. She smiled as she led the group through the swamp, moving with the speed and experience of someone who was able to read the territory like a book. Arikan was initially concerned when Kiresula suggested leading them back, but she noticed that he relaxed. Suddenly, Kiresula stopped and turned to Shtiljit: “Can you do it again? There’s another one of them.”
Shtiljit looked unhappy: “I can try. But I am pretty much out of magic points. I cannot restore any around here. Like, not a single one! It is miserable! Are you sure there’s a snarler around?”
Kiresula nodded: “Over there, behind the bushes, there is a depression in the ground. That’s where something groundsnarler-shaped is compacting the soil affecting the state of the plants there.”
Shtiljit raised an eyebrow: “Really? Is this something you know?”
Kiresula eagerly confirmed: “It’s a skill that I have.”
Shtiljit looked tiredly: “You want to do this, right?”
Kiresula nodded: “I would like to get to level 10, yeah.”
Shtiljit raised an eyebrow and asked: “I thought you were level 10 when you came here. Have you delevelled?”
Kiresula shook her head: “I have not and it’s a bit of a longer story.”
Shtiljit responded slightly defensively: “I am just curious.”
Kiresula felt bad about having to keep mum and said: “It’s not related to you. It’s related to things that could get you sanctioned if you knew.”
Shtiljit nodded and moved towards the small hollow and upon seeing the injured groundsnarler nursing its bleeding hind legs made an impressed noise.
Kiresula waited for his hand signal and then moved soil onto the creature and used the water from her bubble spell to throw water at the ground to help compact it better and to make it harder for the creature to breathe. She eventually ran out of magic and stopped, panting, feeling like she used the fruit of the forbidden dungeon. She used Serenity, hoping that she wouldn’t need to shovel more soil onto the creature that caused her so much trouble. Then she saw the notifications and smiled. Tomorrow, she planned on having a talk with Arikan.