Chapter 31: Magical Burnout

The afternoon was getting late by this point. I guessed we had only a little bit until the sun began to set.

I went to Bonny to ask her about our next steps. As far as I could tell, we maybe had a few weeks until some dangerous war criminal came knocking on the door, then after that we had maybe a few more weeks before the war crimes were committed on us.

That didn’t give me much time to learn. Mana and magic appeared to be my modus operandi for interacting with the world.

Jimbo-no, as useful as he had been, was a terrible teacher and not well versed in the ways of magic. He may or may not have retreated to his room for the night for some recreational relaxation. Spinemess, while a mage, was still sleeping off the transformation, which seemed to have been physically taxing upon their body.

And no, Jellybee wasn’t much help with learning magic either.

The young witch was the best thing I had.

Bonny paced in the living room while I Leyline Knit in the rocking chair. I had gotten pretty good at Stitching new plots of dirt around the house while chatting. If I don’t say so myself.

Why thank you for noticing. You’re so sweet.

“First things first,” Bonny began. “If I’m going to be relying on you, I need to know what you’re capable of. This means all your stats. All your abilities. All your Minions. This includes your Skills, your Powers, your Traps, your Levels, your Weapons? I don’t know. Whatever you can do, I want to know. I don’t want any more surprise gooses on the loose or spooky, scary dryads emerging from cauldrons. I will not be chased by agents of chaos within my own home.

Granted, even after you tell me everything, the odds are likely that I won’t know much about what that everything entails until I do some research. I fully intend to do that whenever I get the chance in town, even if that means ordering books from abroad. In the meantime, we’ll work with what we have. The System can vary greatly from individual to individual, yet still has a logic that it follows. I presume this may be similar to how the System interacts with Dungeons.”

I raised my hand.

“Why are you doing that?” Bonny asked. She looked genuinely confused.

“It’s polite. It means I have a question,” I said.

“Then just… ask?”

I lowered my hand.

“There’s a lot here in all these screens and menus. It’s gonna take forever and a day. And I think I’m close to leveling up? Can we go over everything in the morning? By then I might have new choices to add to the long list.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She thought for a moment. “That seems reasonable. Can you at least go over some of the basics?”

I raised my hand again.

“Uh, yes?”

“What if I don’t know what the basics are?”

Bonny sighed. “Then we’ll cover the basics first.”

I started to raise my hand. I had a cheeky grin plastered across my lips. Jellybee and Jimbo-no were clearly starting to rub off on me.

She suddenly looked very tired. “No, just ask.” I immediately felt bad about my behavior. The poor gal had been through a lot recently.

“Last question. What’s a Pyreplace? And Witchpyre? Okay, that’s two questions, probably.”

Despite her apparent exhaustion, Bonny quickly shifted into teaching mode. I wondered if that came from experience or if that was an actual Skill she possessed. It almost sounded like she was reciting from a book.

“Witchpyre is the emanation of the soul, combusted by Mana. It is emerald green and evergreen, smokeless, and odorless. Notably, it can burn forever. Even on its own, it doesn’t require any physical fuel source besides what you put in initially. When it comes into contact with soft or organic materials, it will behave similarly to a normal fire. It will burn away flesh, wood, and coal. It is…” She trailed off.

Jellybee had invited himself to the lesson by taking a seat on the ground before her, arms wrapped around bent knees. To his credit, he was quiet and respectful about it. He looked up at her, enraptured, mushroom hat tilted all the way back.

"He’s fine. He’s taking a break. You were saying?”

“Where was I? Sorry, I lost track. Oh, now I remember. In summary, Witchpyre is dangerous. It’s a calling card of the undead. Don’t mess with it if you want others around you to keep their flesh. Pyreplaces are just fireplaces, but for Pyre. Easy enough?”

“But... you've still got flesh,” I pointed out. “In the past day you've set your eyes on fire twice already. And threw one of those green globs at Lucie."

"Yes. I did. Which is why it was stupid of me to enter the Dungeon alone." She coughed. “Lucie deserved it.” She coughed again.

"It was indeed a terrible idea. You have no idea how much of a mean old lady I can be."

She smiled at that, then shook her head. “Witchpyre can be controlled so it doesn’t always turn into regular flames. I am fortunately Skilled in controlling Witchpyre. Not everyone is. And even I could get overwhelmed easily if the Dungeon contained a horde of endless undead. When you stoke Witchpyre for too long your mind starts to slip. Over time, this can become more frequent as it takes a toll on your body and soul. That’s when mistakes are made.”

“Big deal. My mind slips every other sentence,” I laughed at my own joke.

“Not like that. When a mage’s mind slips it’s lethal. If they’re lucky, they’ll spontaneously combust. There is no warning. And no burial. They join the ranks of the undead immediately."

I inhaled sharply.

Jellybee gasped.

Bonny nodded solemnly. "Yeah…It's as bad as it sounds. It's called Burnout. It happens to the best of us..." Bonny trailed off.

I knew that look. Time to get back on track. “Okay,” I said.”So this Witchpyre. It reacts from Mana igniting it. I don’t know what I did, but my Core is surrounded by it. I never consciously ignited it with Mana.”

She thought for a moment. “Did someone die?”

“No, I don’t thin- Oh. Yeah, no, I killed someone. An undead guy. Sergeant Marshmallow or something like that. I wasn’t awake when it happened.”

“How in the hells… does that happen?”

“She fell from the sky,” Jellybee said.

“Amazing,” Bonny said. “I have the same question.”

“I know? Pretty hardcore of me, right?”

Bonny lowered her head and exhaled deeply in apparent revulsion. “And that’s my sign. I’m going to bed.” Bonny nodded to me, then trudged up the stairs to the master bedroom. “We’ll continue the lesson tomorrow. Goodnight, Ethel. Good luck on your leveling. Goodnight, Jellybee. Try to keep it down while I sleep.”

“Good night, Bonny. Sleep well.”