Joe spent the next couple of weeks of travel with more intense training than before. His evenings were spent reading through the new books he bought, which improved his Reading skill to level 6 as well as his Tongue of All ability to rank 3. An unexpected benefit of improving his Reading skill was that he was better able to remember things he had read back on Earth.
Being able to recall more of his knowledge as an electrical engineer helped immensely with his other project. After Joe had gotten as much as he could from his books he began to use his sketchbook and journal to jot down ideas, plans, circuit designs, and other whims that came to him on how he could use his spells in different ways with technological assistance.
His Deflection Field spell improved to level 5 through his hard work, and as such gained a new description, but this change was unlike the ones he got for his other spells.
Deflection Field (Level 5). This spell has two different versions.
In the first version this spell acts like armor for the caster. The myth that manachlorian flow is blocked by restrictive clothing likely originated from the kind of protection this spell provides. Casters simply have no need for additional armor while this spell is active. At its current level the spell will last for 5 minutes.
In the second version the caster can ward an area against intrusion. Sufficient force can breach the field, but so long as it remains it will restore itself from ambient manachlorian energy. Designated creatures can pass through the perimeter without effect. A breach in the field will alert the caster in their mind, waking them if asleep. The maximum area that can be warded is the spell level multiplied by the caster's Intelligence in cubic meters. At its current level the spell will last for 5 hours.
WARNING: The two versions are not compatible. The personal field will immediately end if passing through the ward and cannot be cast while inside a warded area.
Mana cost: 10 mana per casting of the personal version, or 100 mana per casting of the ward.
Two versions of the same spell was rather novel. Joe wondered if other spells would do that in the future, as all of his spells were due for more changes at future levels. Even though it wasn't strong enough to last an entire night, Joe made sure to set up a Deflection Field around his camp sites in the evening to help him rest more securely.
After three weeks of travel and training Joe had raised his Climbing to 5, his Mana Channeling and Stamina Growth to 12, Cooking to 6, Stealth to 4, Alchemy to 3, and Listening to 8. The Cold Snap spell was also up to level 4, and with his Intelligence gains it could affect nearly two meters around Joe in all directions. He was also able to finally get to level 6 in his class. He put the extra points into Intelligence, as usual, and picked the Backtrack spell he skipped last level.
Backtrack (Level 1). This spell allows the caster to teleport to any location they have been before, within range of the spell. The range is the caster's Intelligence multiplied by the spell level in meters.
Mana cost: 50 mana
So the spell can't be used to get back to any town he's been as he could walk further than its range in less than an hour, but it was just level 1. Hopefully higher levels, as well as more training in Intelligence-based skills, will make up for that, as he could see being able to travel between Trenos and Rust's Edge within a day to be extremely useful.
Training Backtrack wasn't too difficult once Joe did some experiments to test the ins and outs of it. For all of his tests he limited the destination to no more than a few meters from his present location. He wanted to see what kind of load he could take with him when he teleported. He picked up a large rock cast Backtrack and found it came with him with no problems. He tried to use Minor Levitation on the rock while he cast Backtrack. The rock did not move, but since he was still within range of his Minor Levitation the rock maintained its position in the air. He tried casting Backtrack to its limit, which was outside the limit of Minor Levitation and felt the spell end as soon as he teleported.
He also wanted to test something often cautioned by pop culture about teleportation. Joe walked up to a tree facing it directly with his hands slightly outstretched. Then he picked up the rock again and held it out and cast Backtrack to take him right back to the tree. As soon as he appeared next to the tree he was immediately pushed back. It wasn't a lot of force, but enough to ensure that the rock and tree no longer occupied the same space. No damage could be see on either of them, which meant Joe couldn't use his spell as a weapon.
Late the following day Joe was thinking of looking for a place to set up camp for the night when he heard screams and cries of people and horses. The current terrain was rather rocky, with outcroppings rising on both sides of the road. The sounds were coming from around a bend ahead. Before he could get closer a horse charged through and to avoid a collision with it he cast Minor Levitation to drag his handcart out of the way and hung on to the handles so it would drag him to safety, too.
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Joe used his X-Ray Sight from his hat and looked through the rocky walls to see what was happening. It looked like a caravan was being attacked by a group from the rocks above the road. The fight didn't last very long with the caravan's guards being crippled immediately and the horses killed or cut free, preventing them from running with their goods.
Ending the X-Ray Sight to preserve his Stamina, Joe used his Listening to determine what was going on. It sounded like the bandits were threatening the caravan members, telling them to give up and stand away from their belongings. If they complied they would be allowed to go with their lives. Joe meditated to regain his spent mana and stamina while he waited for the bandits to finish their looting.
He would occasionally use X-Ray Sight again to keep tabs on how much they'd accomplished, as well as check the status of the caravan members. Didn't look like any of them were in critical condition. He counted 8 bandits doing the looting, with another 4 keeping watch over the others. While he was watching he noticed one of the 4 lookouts, a crocodillian based on the snout emerging from the hood, gestured to one of the looters and then pointed at a young elven man.
The looter put his load down and walked over to the young man. “The boss says you might have skills that could benefit us. Congratulations, you work for us now.” The bandit then grabbed the young man roughly by his neck and lifted him off the ground and pushed him up towards the watchers, specifically to the one who made the gesture in the first place, who was taking out a set of manacles.
One of the other men of the caravan jumped up and started yelling, “No! Take me instead. Let my son go and I'll do anything you want.”
The presumed boss pulled back his hood showing off his bright yellow eyes and large mouth full of teeth. “You don't have anything we want. But your son has potential, as he's still under 18, if my senses aren't wrong. We can mold him into whatever we want. If he complies, he gets to live. Now, sit back down and wait this out or you'll be buried next to those horses.”
The elf didn't do as instructed and instead rushed towards the bandits, eliciting a response from the boss. The crocodillian man dropped the now manacled teen, quickly hopped over him, grabbed the father by his right shoulder, and stabbed a dagger into his chest. Joe hadn't even seen the dagger, it just seemed to appear in his hand as he began the stab. The man bled out rather quickly, his heart getting hit. The bandit boss knew what he was doing.
Joe put a Deflection Field around his cart and started climbing up the rock wall between himself and the bandits. He didn't want to fight them all out in the open, but he needed to find out where they were going. Something else Joe picked up on about the bandits. Even though there were many different races and both men and women among them, they all wore similar outfits, like they were uniforms or something.
After they took all they wanted from the caravan, including one of the wagons to hold it all, they climbed back up the rocks and an orc woman pushed the whole wagon up as if it weighed no more than a sack. Joe marked all twelve bandits with his Target Sight ability. He'd never marked that many creatures at once, but it worked. He'd have to actively meditate in order to not run out of stamina while he went back to the road courtesy of Backtrack to see if the survivors needed any immediate help.
As he rounded the bend in the road to get to the ambush location he held his empty hands up as he got into their view so they could see he had no weapons. “My name is Joe, I overheard what happened, and I want to help. I don't have much time before I have to go back to get to tracking them, but I can heal the wounded.”
A blonde human woman spoke up, “Healing? I didn't think felinoids could be druids.”
“Druid? No, I'm a mage,” Joe responded.
Confusion and shock rippled throughout the survivors as they began speaking among themselves, but Joe's Listening skill let him pick up on the incredulity many of them felt, questioning if they should allow him near them after they already lost so much.
Finally one of the caravan guards with a crudely bandaged, blood-covered leg cried out, “Can you help me? They hit my leg with arrows and I can't stand any more.”
“I'll be honest, I don't think my spell is leveled enough to repair the problem in your leg, but it will close all your wounds at least, so you can travel to someone who can fix it.”
Joe went to the man and cast Healing Touch on him. He felt something different this time, a cleansing power at work that never had to activate before. It was clearly the new function to cure toxins or diseases. There must have been something on their arrows. The man's eyes lit up and he gently stood back up putting weight on his previously injured leg.
“I was afraid they had damaged your muscles or tendons, but it looks like it was a poison. My magic can fix that, at least.”
Before long Joe had healed all the injured in the caravan. The small expenditure of mana for each casting of the spell was immediately refilled by his ongoing meditation to keep his stamina from draining before he found the bandits.
“Okay, that should do for now, I need to go before I lose the mark I placed on them. Stay here if you can, I'll try to return before morning.”
With that Joe cast Backtrack again and went back to the spot he teleported from before to catch up to the bandits. It didn't look like they left any behind to keep an eye out for followers, probably expecting their show of murdering that father to dissuade that idea from the people.
Joe understood what it meant to be a father. He was going to avenge that man and rescue the boy. After all, what use is magic power if you're not going to do good with it?