One after another, the many glowing pebbles winked out leaving a single area illuminated in the otherwise dark forest. The moon was out but precious little of its light filtered through the tree canopy above the campsite. Peace and tranquility returned to the forest. Only the sounds of insects chirping and the low-burning campfire crackling disturbed the silence.
Rory had traded places with Silas and now the reporter was keeping the angel company. The bearded man had no great urge to chat. He’d spoken a little at first. Mostly she’d asked him about various forest animals they saw. Knowing about Zlithian culture had not prepared her for the sounds squirrels made.
Eventually the questions ran out and a comfortable silence fell into place between the two. Brivaria didn’t mind as she was now looking at skill descriptions via her System screens. Three levels meant two choices for skills. It was time to pick. She looked up the skills Balthazar had suggested.
Grasping Gale (Active)
Learn to manipulate the world around you via the wind. You can push, pull, or otherwise interact with creatures and objects at a distance with the wind. Intensity and cost scale with arcane.
Skyclad (Active)
Generate a current of wind that can carry you into the air. Speed and cost scale with arcane.
Wind Accompaniment (Passive)
Whenever you move, you will feel a light wind supporting your movement. This wind will not affect objects around you but will enable you to move faster and easier, potentially reducing stamina costs where applicable.
She considered each of them. Grasping Gale was a very limited, wind-aligned version of telekinesis. It would always be worse than actual telekinesis or shaping magic but wind combined well with a lot of other skills and spells to create a much more versatile set of abilities.
Skyclad would give her an alternate form of flight, if a weaker one. It resembled the Headwind and Tailwind skills from Winged Templar. Where those relied on the user having wings, skills like Skyclad did not thus making them more applicable for non-winged folk. Wings were just another qualification point for skills and classes in addition to the usual suspects such as attributes and level. Brivaria was certain there was a better class than Sky Dancer for winged folks but she didn’t have it. It did make her wonder how shapeshifting would affect class options but she dismissed the thought as her thoughts were wandering.
Finally Wind Accompaniment looked incredibly helpful. Dodging the black blades a couple hours earlier had eaten into the angel’s stamina. Situations like that could easily run her out of stamina because she had so little to begin with. Shaving even one point of stamina off those kinds of quick movements would let her stretch her abysmal 72 stamina further. As it was, the boar brothers likely had twice her stamina along with their own skills to reduce how much they used. She had some catching up to do.
Morning was getting ever closer with each passing minute. With it would come the brutal traveling pace the gaborn favored. Precisely that in mind, Brivaria selected Wind Accompaniment as her first skill. That would make her life better right now.
You have gained the skill Wind Accompaniment.
Tailwind has merged with Wind Accompaniment into Current Control.
Current Control (Active)
You may call upon the wind as you desire to aid yourself and your allies or menace your foes. Intensity and cost scale with arcane, duration scales with spirit, reach scales with presence.
Oh no. Brivaria hadn’t thought about Tailwind merging with one of the skills in Sky Dancer. Maybe if she’d taken Grasping Gale first then this wouldn’t have happened. The plan for her skills was already scuffed. What was she supposed to do with her second skill? She could take Skyclad and let it merge with Lesser Flight. It wasn’t the best merged skill she could get but if she could no longer have the triple merge skill then she’d take a pair of double merges.
You have gained the skill Skyclad.
Sky Step has merged with Skyclad into Wind Formation.
Wind Formation (Active)
Your ability to control your form extends to the winds you manipulate. You may craft and shape the wind around you into that which you desire. Complexity and cost scale with arcane, size scales with presence.
That wasn’t even the right merged skill. Two skills merged into the wrong skill. Brivaria stared at the System message positively agog. Nothing had gone right. The angel read the description for Wind Formation and then comprehension of what had happened dawned upon her.
Lesser Shapeshifting had done this. She’d gotten a different skill because she possessed that one. The blonde girl wasn’t upset, not really anyway. These skills looked good too but she’d been looking forward to trying out Guiding Winds. She could still take Grasping Gale at level 26 and hope for it to come out of a skill merge but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t work out the way she wanted or expected. She’d need to look through the rest of the class’ skill list and her racial skills to see if there was something more appealing.
Dismissing the System screens, Brivaria stretched and stood up. Current Control went to work immediately. She felt a little lighter and every move she made came a little easier. Sky Step had merged with Skyclad but the angel could still walk on air with Wind Formation. The effects of the previous skills hadn’t disappeared entirely but they were different now.
The winged girl really wanted to spend an hour experimenting with her new skills to at least begin feeling out their new capabilities and limits but she didn’t have the time. She couldn’t afford to interrupt her own Rest timer. Unlike the others, if she did anything the System considered strenuous with mana or stamina then it would immediately reset to four hours and she wouldn’t be fully recovered by the time they set out.
Fortunately, she could tell some things right away. The main difference between Current Control and Wind Formation was that Current Control involved flowing wind and Wind Formation involved comparatively static or unmoving wind. The uses for the former were obvious to Brivaria. They were akin to traditional wind magic. The latter was more exotic, to her anyway. Wind walls were the only things she could think of but surely there was more to the skill than that.
She squished the urge to experiment into a small ball and pushed it aside. Dawn arrived everyone began waking up. They’d gotten differing amounts of sleep so some of them like Rory were up right on time while Kseniya and Duncan slept in. Trixie had gotten very worked up and not gone back to sleep immediately so Brivaria went into her tent to be there when the golden sunchaser woke up.
Trixie was dreaming and paddling her paws on the cushion the angel purchased in town. When she woke up, her eyes settled on the angel. She yawned but her tail immediately started wagging. When the dog didn’t rise immediately, Brivaria decided that meant morning pets were in order. She scritched the dog behind the ears and the tail wagged faster.
On an impulse, the angel used Healing Touch. More and more often she did that for her canine companion. She was ever cognizant of the dog being expected to keep up with leveled adventurers and wanted to give Trixie all the help she could manage. To Brivaria’s surprise, she felt a couple points of mana disappear as the skill healed the dog. She could have sworn she healed Trixie before bed.
“Oh I’m sorry, girl. I meant to heal you last night. I’m so sorry. Did your sleep not help?” If the dog hadn’t fully recovered after last night’s ambush then today would be especially hard on her. Brivaria was starting to frown when Trixie got up and nuzzled her. She hugged her precious golden and the two emerged from their tent.
Deciding to see if she could make Trixie’s day a little easier, she tried to include Trixie with her Current Control and found that she could. It cost no mana which was even better. With a bit of focus, the angel decided she could likely empower one other person with the skill before it started draining her mana supply. Trixie, who was now mysteriously lighter and faster, got the zoomies.
“Morning, little angel. Your cute, cute doggy seems very excited about the day,” Kseniya commented between bites of a small dried ration. Brivaria smiled.
“I’ve got a new skill after last night’s battle. The skill makes it easier to move around. It costs no mana to affect three people or two people and one Trixie with it. I need to experiment more to see what all it can do but I think I’ll get a lot of use out of it.” The angel joined the circle around the fire as those so inclined ate their breakfast. Duncan stared at the angel with a single eyebrow raised as she explained her new skill.
“I gained two levels last night. Making so much progress in a single day, a night even. It’s…” Nyx trailed off as she tried to find words to describe what she was feeling. Duncan found them for her.
“Addicting. That’s what it is. Risking your life gets you far more progress than skill training alone. I’ve seen more than one get addicted to those little notifications from the System. The hurl themselves into danger after danger until they find the one situation they can’t get themselves out of. They relied too much on their skills. When those failed, they had nothing left. Adventuring is a fast way to power and an even faster way to the grave. It takes a lifetime of good decisions to rise in power but only a single poor one to lose it all.” The gaborn looked around the camp before continuing, making sure everyone was paying attention. They were.
“And so we’ve decision to make. We’re one day from Pemburne. The directions from the cat put our destination two days away. If we keep going, we’re going to encounter a lot more of those things from last night. This is forest is far more dangerous than the guild believes. I believe it very unlikely an experienced group of hunters would be prepared to take on 50 of those things in the middle of the night let alone whatever created them. If anyone doesn’t feel comfortable going ahead then we can march back to town and get the request upgraded to silver rank.” The boar finished his speech and an uneasy silence fell over the group.
Brivaria looked from person to person. Rory was unreadable and didn’t seem inclined to speak. Kseniya was nonplussed. The angel knew her friend would want to continue to discover what happened to Amon. Even so, the serpent mage was holding back. Silas chose to break the silence.
“I will go with whatever the group decides. Stay or press on, I will abide. My goal is to have a story to tell which I will have either way.” The reporter finished speaking and then looked pointedly at Nyx. All attention went to the cat girl. Brivaria wondered how Silas did that. On the previous day he’d easily moved the conversation around from person to person directing peoples’ attentions with ease. This was no different. Even Brivaria found herself looking toward Nyx.
“I want to find my brother.” The earlier mirth at leveling was absent from Nyx’s voice as she now spoke. “I know it’s dangerous but there were so many of those things last night and we won with only a couple, small injuries. We’re even stronger today. Brivaria and I both have new skills. I’d like to keep going.” She looked to Brivaria then everyone else did. The angel realized it was her turn to speak.
“I-” she was interrupted as Trixie put her head on the angel’s lap. Everyone had stopped paying attention to the dog so now she was back to her favorite playmate, tail wagging as usual. Two big eyes looked up at the winged girl and Brivaria gently pet the dog. “That is, we’re fine with continuing on. I’ve fought advanced manaspawn and fleshspawn in the past. We’ll want to destroy any groups we find and proceed more slowly. The thing we should to avoid is running ourselves out of resources and getting ambushed while trying to recover. Manaspawn are often the weakest, least threatening thing to come out of these situations so there are potentially much more dangerous foes in our path.”
“What are ‘these situations’,” Nyx asked.
“The System grants skills and spells that let you channel mana a certain way,” the angel began, “so if you cast the Firebolt spell then you get a Firebolt. Some people are inclined to reverse-engineer these spells so they can create new spells. Sometimes they start with an existing spell and sometimes they start from scratch with the objective of creating an entirely new effect. This always ends badly.” Kseniya nodded her head at the winged girl’s words.
“Yes, one of the first things I was taught was to never create or borrow spells. When the System gives you a spell, it’s specifically for you. Even a spell as simple as Produce Light can be very different from caster to caster. Spells are not swords to be traded between spellcasters, you know? Even if I watch the little angel cast one of her spells, I will never cast it as she does because I am not her. I do not have her history nor her unique mana flow.” Kseniya sighed. “Many do not understand this. Several students die every year at mage academies because they are fools. My people call these half-formed, unpredictable effects ‘Wild Magic’ and we do our best to explain how dangerous it is to arrogant, young hatchlings who think they know better.”
“So Wild Magic created these manaspawn. Does that mean we need to follow them back to their source?” Nyx asked.
“No. Not right now,” Duncan clarified as eyes turned to him. “Our first goal is finding the missing hunters, specifically the cat’s brother. If we need to find the source of this Wild Magic to do that then we’ll do what we have to do. I’m not having us poke the hornet’s nest any more than we need to. Now, let’s go over skills, specifically new ones gained after last night’s kerfuffle. We’re in a lot more danger than we thought and I want to know what you lot can do.”
They spent a good 40 minutes just going over skills and abilities. Everyone had gotten some looks at what the party could do in the night before. Duncan and Rory were excellent at drawing attention to themselves and luring foes to them. It was born out of their need to do that for expedient Rockwar hunting. Silas had some rogue and scoundrel-aligned skills that made his attacks more lethal. He carried a sword and buckler for proper melee but a single jab with his dagger to an unwary foe could remove a lot of health. It would be far more effective if he was allowed to do what he’d done the previous night.
Kseniya passed on talking more about herself saying most of her spells weren’t nearly as useful against constructs as living creatures. Brivaria wondered about that but she trusted the lamia’s judgment. Nyx was excited to share her new skill. It was called Kinetic Discharge. Everyone looked at the cat blankly until she explained it.
Kinetic Discharge (Active)
You may store a portion of the energy expended while moving or using skills then release it upon demand. Efficiency scales with physique, storage scales with endurance and spirit.
“Daft cat, why’d you go and pick something like that?” Rory shook his head and Nyx’s excitement dimmed.
“Why don’t we test it out while we’re on the move? Walking around for hours will generate a lot of the energy the skill needs. We’ll be able to see it in action and figure out how to use it,” Brivaria suggested. Duncan nodded and Nyx smiled again though not quite as enthusiastically as before the surly gaborn spoke.
“That sounds like a fine idea. What was your new skill?” Silas asked the angel and the group’s eyes focused on her.
“Current Control,” she repeated what she’d mentioned earlier about how it worked. Duncan heard her the first time and the boar man now had a suggestion.
“Keep it on yourself and your dog. You’ll need the stamina savings. Also I think the cat should be the third person you boost when possible. She picked a difficult skill to use. Something like that will get one, maybe two uses in a battle. With your help, she might get an additional use,” Duncan suggested.
“Oh that sounds fun. Our abilities will work together!” Nyx’s mood and tail rose at the possibility of getting to use her new skill sooner and more often. Brivaria returned the catfolk’s smile and activated Current Control on Nyx.
“Wow, I feel lighter already.” Nyx was delighted as she spoke. She sprang up and into the air. It wasn’t an amazing jump but it was higher than she’d have gone without the skill’s help. Everyone watched the excited girl jump around enjoying her own zoomies as Trixie had earlier. It was only out of the corner of the angel’s eyes did she notice Duncan wasn’t watching Nyx. He was watching Brivaria.
The moment passed and soon the group broke camp. Their plan for monsters going forward was loosely what they’d done the previous night. Duncan and Rory would attract attention. Silas and Kseniya would attack. Nyx would try not to get killed and Brivaria would heal anyone who was injured.
The angel was encouraged to stay out of the fighting and use her spells only when it was necessary. It chafed a bit however she could see the logic. They didn’t need her out of mana if someone got seriously injured or if they ran into the metal manaspawn that were incredibly hard to damage with weapons. This was also what she signed up to do back at Pemburne. She’d stick to what they’d discussed.
The second day of the journey was far more exciting the first. The adventurers ran into another group of 20 manaspawn soon after they set out. They had all the grace of drunken zombies as they waddled through the woods toward the adventurers. Fully armed and in broad daylight, fighting the things became a trivial task. They were as dumb as, well, rocks.
The angel spent a little mana on Current Control to give Nyx and Trixie a bigger boost. It wasn’t strictly necessary but it made both safer and let Nyx be that much more effective in combat. Kinetic Discharge wasn’t that impressive. The most it could do was shattering the manaspawn made of wood in a single strike. Truthfully that wasn’t especially useful since those were the easiest for anyone in their group to destroy. Despite that, it was meaningful to the catfolk girl as she felt like she was contributing and Brivaria decided that was worth the mana she spent.
They ran into four more packs of manaspawn throughout the day. The third pack was as large as the one from the night before and Brivaria was forced to cull the pack with castings of Withering Ray. That was the most excitement the angel saw. When the sun started descending into the horizon, the blonde healer still had over half her mana. Both she and Nyx had gained yet another level as well.
You have reached level 25.
Gained +1 Physique, +1 Endurance, +2 Arcane, +2 Spirit, +1 Awareness, +2 Presence.
The adventurers steadily moved toward the hunter camp Nyx’s brother was reported to be using before his disappearance. They would reach it the following day. Everyone was enthusiastic about how many monsters the group slew throughout the second day and no one wanted to ruin the mood by openly talking about the fact that the odds of finding anyone alive grew slimmer with each roaming pack of monsters they encountered.
Brivaria was getting worried for different reasons. This was a lot of manaspawn. If she was conservative in her estimate and said the 150 or so monsters the group put down to date was one quarter of the total then that still meant an event capable of unleashing enough magic to produce 600 manaspawn had occurred in this forest. More realistic numbers could put the total at over twice that number. Her smile had started to fall while everyone was celebrating and across the camp she met Duncan’s eyes. The boar man was looking her way again. Very deliberately his eyes went from the angel to the group then back to the angel; he shook his head.
The odd scene was broken as Trixie padded up to the sitting angel and made the “Feed me!” whine. The golden hound had specific whines for food, water, stinky business, and attention. The angel was familiar with them all. Trixie was given her food and water while the angel withdrew plates of piping hot food for herself and the lamia. Rory offered to pay for one of them and was shot down by Kseniya. Meanwhile Nyx gave Brivaria the cat-equivalent of puppy dog eyes. That was a significantly more effective tactic so the angel shared her fish with the catfolk girl. It was less of an imposition than the catfolk girl realized.
The proprietor of the Pemburne restaurant Brivaria had gotten the meals from seemed to realize the angel was a very good patron to have. She bought a lot of meals at once, enough for herself and Kseniya, then paid the entire bill instantly and without hesitation. He’d advised the kitchen to go extra on the portion sizes to make a good impression. The result was that each plate was more than Brivaria could eat on her own. Giving part of the meal to Nyx wasn’t simply generosity, it was avoiding food waste.
Kseniya had no such problems finishing her plate and even added a few of her own packed rations to the meal. Her tail was large and it took more food to fill her up than anyone else in the group. At one point it looked as if the boars would comment on the lamia’s appetite but her orange eyes drifted over to the “two piggies” and they wisely choice discretion as the better part of valor.
Brivaria healed Trixie before bed. The dog was so happy and so energetic all the time yet she was also losing health over time. The angel wished there was a real healer to look at Trixie and see what was going on. She was afraid it was related to the dog licking at the blue goop from the previous night. The idea that her adorable, golden friend was sick worried at her thoughts. The winged girl did what she could ensuring that Trixie was happy, safe, and restored as best the angel could do on her own.
Once the dog was snoring peacefully, the angel left the tent and returned to the campfire. Duncan was there having opted to take first watch. He nodded to her and said nothing. It was only after everyone was finally asleep did the gaborn speak.
“Good job today.” The boar’s voice was quiet. It was enough to get the girl’s attention away from the book she was reading. Duncan was technically the only one on watch so the angel would read using a very small light to pass the time. “How much mana did you end up with?”
“Just over two thirds.” The angel didn’t use numbers. Talking about one’s class name, exact levels, or how many points one had for their stats was considered taboo in the regional society. She went with it because exact numbers hadn’t been needed so far. Duncan nodded at her answer, evidently finding it acceptable.
“Most copper rank adventurers don’t have the restraint to conserve mana or stamina. The day after getting a new skill they’ll run themselves out of mana and stamina playing with it unless someone like me gets after them. You can follow orders, you’ve got at least half a dozen or more useful skills including a healing skill, group enhancement skill, and inventory skill. If not for the fact that you have less stamina than the cat, I’d swear you were a silver rank masquerading as copper for some unfathomable reason. As it is you could walk into any city adventurers guild in a hundred miles, raise your hand, and receive a group invitation from every bronze team in the region. What are you doing in the armpit of this backwater region?” Brivaria blinked. It was the most words she’d heard Duncan speak.
“My circumstances are strange but I’m here because I saw this request on the Keaton guild board. Hunters were going missing and no one wanted to look for them. I want to help the people who are missing… or give their families closure.” She spoke the last part quietly, not wanting to say it aloud for fear that speaking it would make it into reality.
“I don’t know if the cat has realized it yet. Her brother probably isn’t coming home. Same with the snake and her friend though that one seems to know the score.” Duncan’s words caused the angel to wince.
“Maybe so. Or maybe she’s just trying to keep her hopes alive. I’m not going to be the one to take those away from her.” Duncan smiled beneath his snout.
“Me neither. Glad we’re on the same page. And before I forget, go ahead and start flinging more of those rays in combat. If we can get into that many fights and not even take you below two thirds then you can afford to spend a little more. We just don’t want a situation where you’re completely out.” Brivaria nodded, more than happy to oblige that request.
Name: Brivaria
Race: Angel
Class: Sky Dancer
Level: 25
Stats: Health 58/58, Mana 105/105, Stamina 74/74
Attributes: Physique 45, Endurance 29, Arcane 50, Spirit 53, Awareness 29, Presence 55
Active Skills: Current Control, Healing Touch, Holy Bulwark, Wind Formation
Passive Skills: Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Lingering Decay, Rest, Traits (Angel)
Magic: Light of Decay