CHAPTER 105

After a moment, Tom realised that the entire group, excluding the sentries and the couple of the people still in the tutorial funk were watching him. He couldn’t blame them. This portal outside the actual fights was the most interesting thing that had occurred and for the crafters the portal probably was the most fascinating source of entertainment yet. He tried to keep his face impassive as he focused on the details of the spell that he had received. Hard to move, it was a tier zero spell and one of those that got stronger with every spell level you got.

They were notoriously tough to level because it could take fifty levels or a decade of continual use before the spell was effective in combat, but he was not getting it at level one. Instead, thanks to the armour the spell was gifted to him at his highest proficiency, a ridiculous 256. Thank you very much challenge trial! That by itself would have been enough, but his legendary title also applied to it. That meant…

Threshold bonus 512 - Active spell. For an extra forty mana, become immovable and immune to all collision damage for 1 second. Cannot be used offensively (Title: Stage Advancement (Earth))

A five hundred and twelve threshold bonus was available as well. It and the other bonuses made the pretty innocuous Spell something that could become another deadly niche component of his growing spell set. The days of relying on Spark and his technical experience were rapidly receding in his rear-view mirror.

The possibilities he could extract from the spell ran through him. His mind considering all the ways he could abuse the new tool. There was the simple stuff such as positioning. Now, if he impeded a heavy monster’s charge, he could disrupt it effectively. Basic tanking one-on-one maneuvers like what Legen had done to stop that lizard and, unlike most tanks he could reduce the damage to zero.

Then there was the 256 skill.

Threshold bonus 256 - Active Spell. For fifty mana, double effective weight and improved damage resistance for five seconds.

He could imagine throwing himself off a cliff and landing on someone, knees pointed downwards. What would happen then? He would hit with fourteen times his mass, receive ninety percent damage mitigation and then have the pants’ extreme resistance to blunt force damage activate to mitigate any of the remaining residual damage.

None of the consequences of being a human catapult ball would affect him, but what he landed on would be in a different situation.

If his knees hit just right, he could carve in a giant’s skull and barely get hurt. Until he tested it, he couldn’t say anything in absolutes but theoretically it should work and his gut, which he trusted, told him it would be absolutely devastating on the right enemy.

Alternatively, he could use a spike stone shield on his knees to create an even greater effect. One that his legs rested on and then instead of hitting with the blunt force of his kneecap he would do piercing damage. Hell, mid-flight Remote Earth Manipulation could grow a meter-long spike attached to his knees or he could get one forged out of enchanted metal and shift in place from his soul storage. His weight would apply in either case, and providing the point was sharp it could punch through anything.

With a thought, the pants vanished into his soul space and then re-materialised on his legs. He immediately switched on the Hard to Move. Nothing felt different, but he was sure someone at some stage would brush against him and be embarrassed when they bounced off after all he was standing right next to the loot portal that still existed which told him that at least one person had not collected their reward yet.

Beside him, Everlyn was frowning as she examined a knife that she had got. She saw his look. “It’s a butcher’s blade. Grants a fair few passive skills to improve skinning animals.” She pouted.

“You wanted something for fighting.”

“Of course I wanted something for fighting. Armour or an affinity stone to raise skill levels or even a spell. You get anything good?” Her eyes dropped to his pants. They widened.

Before he could respond, she reached out and pushed him hard in the chest.

A smile blossomed on her face. “I knew you would have it activated.”

Tom hardly felt it.

“Incredible. It’s like I’m pushing on a brick wall.”

“It helps when it comes in with an effective skill level of 256.”

“I know. If a normal person could do that, then the spell would be tier three or four spell at least if not higher.”

“Like spark I came in with. That was tier zero but deadly.”

“Yes, yes,” Michael said, slapping him on the back. “We know you’re amazing. Will it help in four days?”

Tom shrugged. “Against something like goblins, nope. But if we’re fighting things that charge us then, maybe.”

“It all helps. I’m going to run a community meeting in a half an hour. Can you two take the northwest walls?”

“You don’t want us causing problems at the meeting?” Everlyn asked.

“No, I know both of you don’t want to be at the meeting.”

“True,” Everlyn agreed. “Sure we’ll reluctantly accept the watch positions.”

Michael patted them both on their shoulders. “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

With a rueful smile, he pretended to tighten a nonexistent tie and went to face the mob.

They turned and left for their watch positions. When they got up there, Tom created two seats for them. There was a low buzz of conversation behind them, but apart from that everything was still and the weather was perfect. Sunny with a slight breeze. “It’s peaceful up here.”

“You had to say that, didn’t you?” She pointed at three lizards that were lumbering towards them.

“Yes, I had already noticed it, which meant you’ve probably been tracking it for a couple of minutes.”

“Nah only half, they emerged out of a valley of some type.”

“Are they the same type as the others?”

Everlyn shook her head. “Physically a lot weaker and they’re pack creatures rather than solitary.”

“Easy to kill then.”

“Yep, especially from a distance, they’re barely armoured. However, melee will have a harder job because they have a nasty fire breath attack.”

The three of them had definitely spotted or sensed the human interlopers because they were heading directly at the fortifications. Everlyn had stood, so he joined her, putting an arm over her shoulders. She was studying them.

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“Can you kill them with your arrows?”

“Maybe.” She did not sound convinced about that. “I’ll need to use power shot. I’m not sure if it will take one or multiple arrows to kill them. It’s not clear to my scouting. We should shout the alarm.”

“Why?” Tom looked pointedly up at the three meteorites still spinning over his head.

“How much power have they lost?”

“Forty percent but I think they are still overkill.”

The creatures were trundling towards them each of them almost two metres high, but even though they appeared to be plodding their size meant they were eating up the distance.

“I guess we’re taking them.” Everlyn said with a nervous laugh.

“They’re dumb aren’t they.” Tom clarified.

She nodded.

With a flick of his energy, three meteorites shot off. He directed the missiles at the leading two and hope they wouldn’t be able to evade them. The rocks grew larger as they flew over the football field distance that still separated them from the lizards. The reduction in the spell’s power was apparent. Despite these lizards being further away, they did not grow anywhere near as large as previously.

Tom mentally shrugged. Even depleted in power, they were still worthwhile. They had grown to be over a metre wide and even as dumb as they were the monsters saw the attack coming and tried to dodge sideways, but the balls of molten rock were spaced four metres apart. Too close for the bulky lizards to slip through and distributed over almost ten metres, burning edge to edge when you considered the thickness of the actual meteorites, which was too wide for them to dodge around. One got hit in its lower body and was tossed like a giant had kicked it, while the other one got struck by two stones simultaneously. It had given up trying to go around and had switched to attempting to squeeze between the individual rocks, a decision that had disastrous consequences for it. One struck its neck the other on its hindquarters. The force of the near simultaneous blows blew it into multiple chunks.

Gloriously violent. A wonderful spell, at least when he controlled it.

Everlyn had her bow out, and he could see the strain on her face. Power thrummed down the wood and an aqua glow intensified around the arrow. The last lizard kept charging, eating the distance up till it was only fifty metres away from the wall. Nervously Tom created a softball sized rock and prepared to throw it but was not sure it was large enough to stop something this size.

Crack.

The arrow blazed away and struck the lizard right between the eyes.

Boom!

The strike produced a shock wave; it was like a modern missile, admittedly, a small one had hit the creature’s face. Its head and neck were blown up, with bits going everywhere.

Behind them, they heard people running up the steps.

“No need for alarm.” Tom called out, but they ignored him. In moments, over thirty fighters shared the fortifications, looking out across at the dead lizards. “Go finish your meeting. We’ll kill anything that comes near.”

Slowly, the fighters drawn by the loud explosions started heading back down with a babble of conversation.

“How did those two become so strong?”

“Did you see the one with the head blown off?”

“The one further away was in pieces?”

Underneath them, he heard Michael yelling for order.

Everlyn’s bow disappeared, and she sat down, chuckling. “I’ve been wanting to use that at full power since I got the bow.” She frowned and tugged on the stone chair.

“It’s fused to the wall.”

She stood up, glared at him. Then a smile poked through. “You’re either obtuse or playing a very dangerous game.”

“Probably the first,” he said carefully.

She sighed in exasperation. “I knew the seat was rock. I was trying to show that I wanted the seats to move closer together.”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Tom concentrated his mind reaching out to the rock. He imagined the new shape, and the stone leapt to his command partially flowing from the existing seats with the rest of requirements created by his magic. His mind connected with the rock and it shaped out into a classic stone bench.

“My lady.” He offered with a wave.

Everlyn sat and frowned. Then stood. “Can you make it less rock like?”

Tom shook his head and studied the stone seat. Curiously, he prodded his Remote Earth Manipulation. Mentally, he tested the spells boundaries. Move, shift, less dense, more dense, change the structure, but nothing that was not crystalline. “Not with my current knowledge. Maybe I can create some dirt? In time, interlinking links of stone might resemble something soft.” He mused quietly.

“Not like that..” She sat down on the hard rock, patting the seat next to her and then leant forward. “Follow me.”

Tom her saw eyes go blank and hastily followed and found himself in Everlyn’s system room, but it was a featureless version.

“Sit,” Everlyn waved at a rock seat identical to what he had created. It was a slab with sharp edges.

Tom sat cautiously and then once he was down Everlyn sat next to him and then suddenly the bench started moving. A back popped up, but the seat was too narrow, so it widened till he could lean back comfortably. Edges became rounded and then a slight slope appeared on the seat, which somehow made it all more comfortable. The height of the seat increased, so while his legs did not dangle, his knees were no longer poking up. Everlyn nodded in satisfaction. “Any other changes?”

“Maybe a little higher.”

The seat shifted into a slighter better position. Everlyn stood up, pulling Tom with him. “Will you remember what it looks like?”

“Yes.”

The world shifted, and he found himself back in the real world. Their brief detour had been for less than half a minute, but it was enough of a dereliction of their sentry duties that Everlyn leapt to her feet and studied the surrounds with activated abilities. “Stop admiring my butt and give me my chair.”

Tom laughed and then lamented having a girlfriend with the observational skills she had. He turned his focus to the rock under him. It changed shape, mirroring what Everlyn had done. Edges disappeared, a back rest flowed up from the base, rounded to give lower back support. It became comfortable almost immediately and although it was rock; it was a lot more pleasant. Though a couple of cushions would definitely improve things.

Everlyn settled in the sight beside him. “Good job,” she patted him on the leg and then leant into his shoulder. They could hear the sounds of vigorous discussion going along below them.

“They’re not going to decide anything?”

“Michael’s not trying to get them to agree to anything.” Everlyn told him. “He is just getting them adjusted to the idea of staying longer. It won’t require a hard sell. The tutorial was a harsh master. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to experience its stick. If I didn’t continually progress, then I got burnt, every time. I’m not sure Existentia is the same, but I’m also not confident it’s not. Everyone of us spent ten plus years striving continuously to improve and become stronger. Experiencing a few more rounds of this event is the best way to guarantee that. They’ll all want to stay.”

“What’s that?” She pointed to the lizard carcasses.

“Shouldn’t I be asking that?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re no fun.”

“Umm, it’s over a hundred metres away. I don’t have your long distance sight.”

“Not as good as mine, sure, but with your vitality, it’s superhuman. You should be able to see enough.” She turned to look worriedly at him.

“Fine. I can see …” he stopped talking. “It appears to be a flying lizard with a hooked beak.”

“Bloody weird.” Everlyn agreed.

“The fact it’s eating the dead lizard suggests to me that it’s some sort of scavenger.”

Everlyn pointed up. High above, there were lots of dots.

“All the same.”

She nodded.

“And they’re about to come down and they’re letting this one test to see if it’s safe.”

“Yep.” She smiled at him.

“And you want the extra experience.”

“Would you believe…. in crafting materials?” she asked hopefully.

“No.”

“For both of us?”

“Still no, but I’ll give you my share.”

Everlyn pointed in the other direction. “Do you see that slightly pink rock? Why don’t you see if you can hit it?”

Tom looked at it and smiled. He could see why Everlyn had suggested it. The rock was at the same distance as the two furthest lizard corpses, and he could practice accuracy at the range needed without scaring away the skittish scavagers. For a moment, he considered using his skill to demonstrate capability, but he stopped himself. The better he got at throwing with his own abilities the less the Skill would have to do itself. A rock appeared in his hand as he launched it, going for a full baseball pitch. Magic took it and the rock flew further than it ever should have and it crashed down ten metres short of the spot he was aiming at.

Everlyn giggled next to him. “Good job with not cheating.”

“I figured technical skill was more important than levels at the moment.”

“I agree.”

Tom flexed his muscles extravagantly and produced another conjured rock. This one was marginally larger and instead of aiming straight for the rock he tried to loop the throw slightly and it flew forty metres too far. He shot a glance at Everlyn. There was a slight flash of a smirk and her eyes were sparkling. “Was that a smile?”

“No.” Her eyes were comically wide and way too innocent.

He created another rock and threw her a quick look before throwing, this time she was not watching him and instead was keeping an eye on the gathering scavengers in the sky. He threw again, and the rock slammed five metres to the right and short of the target.

Everlyn reacted to the noise. “It’s easy Tom.” Her bow went up, string back to her cheek. “Like this.”

Crack.

The arrow slammed dead centre into the target. “See.” An enormous crack radiated out from the impact and almost split the boulder in half.

Wordlessly, Tom offered her a rock.

“I wish, but I don’t have a throwing skill.” She said apologetically.

“Of course you don’t and that’s the only reason.”

“I’m happy to let you check my status skill.” She said haughtily. “I’m much too well trained to resort to throwing rocks”.

He noticed another the winged lizard coming down to eat. Everlyn saw it as well. “Come on, keep practicing. The entire flock will come down shortly.”