Chapter 62: A Beauty’s Heart
Nara was assigned three tasks by Qingxi. The first: Kill any bronze rank monsters she had afflicted hours earlier. The second: Afflict any bronze rank monsters sufficiently far from the tower that her afflictions may have an impact later. And the third: Serve as light reconnaissance.
Other scout and skirmisher types like Nara were also making their rounds through the jungle, taking out any monsters they could. Qingxi was cautious—the monster waves may be the only danger, or something else may be lying in wait.
Nara launched herself further out, flying like superman. She was occasionally besieged by flying monsters—speed attracted and irritated monsters. This was part of the reason for Erras’ slow transportation development. Unless you were an adventurer, or had an adventurer escort, traveling at higher speeds was dangerous. Portals were the safest form of transportation, but also the most expensive.
With her fully stacked Integrity boon, the mana recovery boost and cost down boons from the food, and the effect of Moonlight Raiment increasing the effect of mana recovery, Nara could node jump liberally. She felt like a trapeze acrobat, flying across the air with hit and run strikes that used speed and momentum to tear the wings off of fliers with a damage enhanced strike.
She felt a bit like Chell from Portal, shooting through dimensions with continual velocity. She had to watch herself to ensure that she didn’t accidentally tangle herself and plummet into the jungle with a monster, but a quick phase shift would extricate herself from that situation.
She felt a little guilty for enjoying herself so much when those back at the tower were in a desperate battle against waves of monsters. She had always thought those that did extreme sports back on Earth were a little crazy. Why risk your life for temporary pleasure? She understood them now. Blitzing through the sky in a deadly sword dance with savage monsters lit her cold blood ablaze with excitement.
There was no way she could return to an ordinary life on Earth. It was already impossible for her. The mundane 8 to 5, sitting in front of a screen accomplishing nothing for herself but her paycheck, wearing down her joints then inevitably fighting for workers comp when the company denied all culpability. Adventuring wasn’t her calling—she hadn’t immediately fallen in love with it. She knew for every exciting ruins exploration there would be a devastated village. Adventurers embraced the good with the bad.
She found her next target, the bronze rank monster. She made a passing attack with Thanatos, then quickly escaped before bronze rank speed and power swatted her out of the sky like an irritant fly. She repeated this for a few more she found on the outskirts of her patrol area. She was skirting what Qingxi roughly established as South tower territory. Nara detected a scout from a different tower, who she quickly flagged down for a chat.
“That was surprising,” the scout stared at her then flickered her eyes back towards the sky, “How are you moving that fast?”
“Abusing game mechanics.”
“What?”
“Never mind that, do you know a Sen Arlang, Aliyah Sahar, Eufemia Teresina, or Encio Aciano at your tower?”
“We do, actually.”
“All four of them?”
“I’ve heard of Sen and Encio. Other two, I don’t remember.”
“That’s good enough, thanks.”
“Have you heard of a Mirabelle Lucelle? Or a Sveinn Jokull?”
“Yeah, the first one, not the second. But he’s probably fine. Mirabelle seemed calm, so Sveinn is probably fine.”
“Thanks, friend.”
“Nara Edea. You?”
“Katia Ronuu. Pleasure.”
Katia was an elf with soft brown hair pulled into a tight bun, giving her a neat and sharp impression. She wasn’t speaking the same language as the Sanshi locals, but Nara’s translation power handled it all for her.
“One other thing, before you go.”
“What’s up?”
“There is deliberation within our tower whether to move this day or the next to the main tower.”
“Why not move tomorrow?”
“The smaller towers are easier to defend. If only one group moves, they are caught out with move area to defend but the same amount of defenders. Our tower intends to move tomorrow. They regard it as the best move, and hope that other towers reach the same conclusion.”
“I’ll pass on the message to our tower leader.”
“Much appreciated.”
Nara made a beeline back towards her tower, contacting Qingxi once she was within communication range.
“Qingxi, there’s news. The West tower plans to move to the large tower tomorrow. They hope other towers do the same.”
“I had some reservations, but if the other towers make the same move, that’s the best plan,” Qingxi said, “I will have Osal move closer to the East tower and attempt contact. Continue with your other two objectives.”
“Roger roger.”
“I don’t know why you keep saying that; I don’t know what it means.”
For many of the iron rankers participating in the trial, this was the first time they had participated in just a large scale and endurance battle. The inexperienced ran out of mana and stamina first, and retreated back within the tower to recover mana.
Qingxi expected this. She, like Sen, had a thorough education in battle tactics. She devised a shift system of two shifts. The first shift had exhausted itself quickly; hopefully the second shift would learn from their mistake.
The battle was proceeding more or less as expected, but Qingxi wondered if she had done enough. It was a few hours into the battle, and they had still kept control of the ground floor. Although the monsters charged at their tower, they had no coordination nor tactics. As long as the defensive line was held, they could keep the entire tower at daybreak. It was a relief they didn’t need to commit to a harried, retreating ascension through the tower. Once they lost the ground floor, they’d lose all other floor far quicker in comparison.
*****
John’s past as an intelligence officer of the NCA had its hectic moments, but it couldn’t compare to the chaos he experienced now. John didn’t have the advantage elves had when it came to healing magic. The Life Bolt of an elf compared to his healed a greater portion, enhanced by their Life Affinity Racial Ability , which increased the effect of abilities with a positive effect on life, and Spell Affinity, which increased the power of their spells. Elves often became healers for this reason, although the Racial Ability would evolve out of it if they chose to go a different path.
At the very least, John’s conjured armor, Life Preservation Garb, provided a similar effect.
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Ability: [Life Preservation Garb]
Essence: Life
Conjuration (armor)
Cost: High mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Conjure armor that offers high physical protection.
* Cost of healing abilities and cleansing abilities is decreased.
* The effect of abilities with a positive effect on life is increased.
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His armor was like most other adventurers—made of practical leathers and heavy cloths, with thin metal like scales, in a fashion similar to chainmail, added to protect his vitals. It was primarily brown and white with accents of red. It came with a heavy overcoat, in a sort of Nordic style.
He was on the ground floor with the rest of the melee fighters, healing them while also providing supplementary firepower. Solar Judgement was a powerful weapon—if he wasn’t using all seven shots every five minutes it was a waste. Unlike a non-magic shotgun, when he pulled the trigger, everything in a large conical area extending out from his shotgun was blasted with damage and fire. Small or weak monsters were killed outright, a mess of scorched flesh and crushed from the force of the shot.
At first John had cast Bolster at every available moment. The ability didn’t have a cooldown, and it was low cost. However, he soon ran into the same mana management issues that many of his allies were experiencing.
John didn’t have much combat experience; he was a fresh new adventurer like many others—the freshest you could be and still attend this trial. A year ago, mana and magic hadn’t even existed, and now he was contemplating midst battle against a horde of monsters at midnight which magical abilities he needed to prioritize using in order to preserve mana for the next few hours.
Absorbing Shield was more expensive that Burst Shield. He learned that it was better to let some non-lethal attacks through and let the adventurer take the hit. At first, he had tried to block every attack; His instinct as a father told him none of the children should be taking on any injuries, but he quickly learned that wasn’t mana efficient. If he had no mana, he couldn’t heal anyone when it mattered. They’d need to take some hits, for their own good. Even thinking that felt so wrong to John, but for this situation it was the truth.
Melee fighters were often more durable. It was hard to judge, but he learnt by visual cues and general ability trends which adventurers were robust enough to take the hit. In fact, some adventurers wanted to take light hits, growing stronger in a berserker rage like the Incredible Hulk—Nara fell adjacently into this category, since light hits triggered her Refresh ability, while Sen was solidly within it thanks to his ability Karmic Warrior. Those, he could leave alone until they ran low on life force.
He thought he’d feel out of place—40 year old father of two, desk job, on the battlefield slaying monsters? But he fell into step with his younger companions. His essences had de-aged him, and he only looked his thirties. There were a few other old souls: a woman with glowing gauntlets pummeled monsters with her fists of light, her hair similarly glowing. She jumped on a monster, holding it down as she caved in its skull with her hands. Then, the picked up its already-dead carcass, enhanced it with a white glow, and threw the monster which bowled over monsters like pins in a bowling alley.
Superheroes are all older, John thought absentmindedly, so she fits in surprisingly well.
John wondered if he was Bruce Banner, but he wasn’t smart enough to be Bruce Banner. Was there even a medic superhero? His familiar Beorn was more Hulk than he was. He sighed, holding a monster down with his foot then shooting it point-blank with a normal shotgun shot of Solar Judgement. He’d need to wait another 3 minutes for his sunfire flak shots to regenerate.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The night wore on. John, as part of the first shift retreated back into the tower as the second shift stepped forward to take their place. He stayed on the lower floors, where his aura provided valuable boosts to Power and Recovery. Adventurers laid out on small cots, blankets, mattresses, and sleeping bags, getting what rest they could before they had to go and fight off the horde again; Light soundproofing magic muffled the battle outside, but didn’t rid it entirely. Higher rank adventurers might be able to manage continuous fighting for hours, but they still couldn’t yet. The physical toll was one thing, but the mental toll was another.
A quick ritual room had been set up upstairs, and a few ritualists, either studied or skill-booked, where quickly performing awakening stone rituals for those that wanted it. The trial gave relevant awakening stones, so they were willing to use what they received.
*****
The battle at the West Tower progressed much the same as the South tower. When adopting a bunker strategy against a wave of monsters that lasted for hours, supplementary tactics were limited. The difference was teams were separated and fragmented. Iron rankers struggled to work with completely new temporary team members, where the details and intricacies of their abilities were unknown. Encio was identified as a powerful force, and support oriented essence users that boosted damage, regenerated mana, and decreased cooldowns quickly centered around him, allowing him to repeatedly use his most powerful group clearing ability, Vorpal Slash. Sen’s team hadn’t much experience together as a group, so working with entirely new members wasn’t too different than what they did already.
Eufemia wielded Encio’s weapon, his mirror image in abilities. A swath of enemies was cleared out, but they kept pouring out of the jungle in an incessant swarm. Aliyah and a few other ritualists had created an impromptu defensive perimeter, and any monsters that entered the barrier were slowed. Within the barrier their attacks were enhanced; Vorpal Slash cut through them like a swordfish through the waves.
The ground was a frenzy. Partial, impromptu teams formed. Adventurers with earth and metal shaping powers made rough ground bunkers. Mage and healer types stayed within the bunkers for safety while supporting their teammates from within. While not on Encio’s level, Aliyah was also a destructive force, thanks to her bread and butter spell, Mana Burst.
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Ability: [Mana Burst]
Essence: Gathering
Spell
Incantation: “Mana, burst forth.”
Cost: Moderate mana
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Effect (Iron): Briefly gather mana at a location, the detonate it, dealing large disruptive-force and explosive damage in an area.
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It was a simple spell that created an explosion at an area after a delay. It was powerful and convenient in swarms of monsters, where the slowly moving mass had room to dodge. Against essence users, it was harder to hit, since the gathering magic was easily detected. However, it’s disadvantages came with a corresponding increase in firepower unmatched for a moderate cost, low cooldown spell: It was like a missile impacted the ground; explosions pocketed dirt and flung monster body parts.
Eufemia stabbed another monster with the Whirlwind Blade in her hand, white blade dripping with dark blood. Encio’s abilities were powerful, but they had long downtimes; She was beginning to understand their detriments while she had initially immediately gravitated towards them. She gradually realized the skill Encio employed, keeping his mana in check…when he didn’t have a whole group of essence users dedicated to pumping him up with mana like an artillery array.
Since she only had one ability to copy a special attack, this meant she had no more special attacks available. Unless you had an ability set that boosted every attack, like Nara and her afflictions, special attacks greatly surpassed the power of ordinary attacks, especially against monsters with no clear lethal weak points. She felt a bit useless, futilely cutting away at the horde with a blade she was still unskilled with, occasionally firing off a Light Ray to bore small holes in a monster. She felt weak compared to high she had experienced earlier, slaying those cliff snakes with a single wave.
Iron rank essence users had over-inflated egos. Hers ego had certainly burst ever too quickly, and Eufemia felt a bit cheated. Her other abilities, most of those within her Refracting Essence, had useful effects that shone against singular strong monsters, but were mostly invisible in their workings. Against a swarm that was dying too quick to even attack, those abilities were useless.
In her distraction, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a monster. She had overextended a bit in order to maximize her killing power with Vorpal Slash, but she had no time to regret. It was a bronze rank monster—a whark--a weak one, the type that spawn in groups. It was small, like a hyena, with dark glimmering fish scales that wrapped around its legs then transitioned to mangy, matted fur.
She was pinned beneath it, its jaws snapping at her throat, bronze rank power pressing down on her. Its mouth was ringed with teeth like a shark. Hot, stinky saliva dripped down on her face as its blood stained teeth desperately struggled for her throat with the passion of a hyena straining a at fresh carcass just out of reach.
Eufemia contemplated using her escape token in this moment. The experience of uselessness combined with fear for her life crept into her mind in a dark fog. There was nothing wrong with escape. Her teammates would even give her their leftover awakening stones.
The thought of using someone’s ‘leftovers’ gave her pause.
Eufemia Teresina was nobody’s leftover. When did she begin to expect handouts from those around her? She had a chance to prove her worth to a team that certainly deserved her best. She had escaped Nekroz, known for its isolation, with a know-nothing outworlder. A brainless monster? She could handle it.
The Whirlwind Blade wasn’t cutting it. Eufemia transformed Silver Gleam into Sen’s staff, Searing Cold. It was a heavy weapon, so she couldn’t use it effectively. Eufemia pressed the end of the staff into the monster, and turned on its blazing edge. The Whartol leapt back, fur singed. The Whark mouth opened like a grotesque, unfolding flower, rings of teeth almost vibrating in outrage. It’s body was smaller than a wolf, although it shared similarities. Its legs ended in two-toed talons that had torn out pockets of fresh from Eufemia’s shoulders, now slick with blood.
Eufemia scrambled to her feet and transformed the staff into a buckler and sword combo she copied from another nearby adventurer. The repeated transformations ate her mana, but allies made mana abundant.
“So, you’re struggling Eufemia, big deal,” she muttered to herself, “The Nekroz escapee afraid of a little challenge? Magic has gotten to me.”
If she, a barely one-month new adventurer, didn’t struggle, than why would anyone bother training? She was astounded at her own arrogance. She wasn’t some hot shot, some years-trained scion of generational skill and knowledge. She was used to scrounging on the streets, and pulling desperate stunts for survival. Fighting for her life against a more powerful opponent to earn the big reward was just her style. No risk, no reward. Eufemia knew the rules of the game.
“It’s made me soft,” she snarled. She readied her short blade, “Come, you mangy mutt. I’ll show you the no-holds-barred fighting that survived those blood-stained streets. I’d say I’d skin you and make a nice fur pelt out of you, but even the homeless, grime-covered orphans of Nekroz wouldn’t even want you as a blanket.”
Another Mana Burst erupted off to the side, and Eufemia copied it with a new ability she had awakened with an Awakening Stone of the Echo.
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Ability: [Mirror Magic]
Essence: Refracting
Special Ability
Cost: Varies
Cooldown: Varies
Effect (Iron): For a short time after a nearby ally uses a spell, you may use the same spell one time. The strength of the spell you cast is based on your attributes and the rank of this ability, not those of the original caster. This may make your version of the spell higher or lower rank than the original, including losing or gaining additional effects from higher ranks. This ability has the same cost and cooldown as the original spell.
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The burst solidly landed at the head of the Whark, causing it to reel momentarily. Eufemia dashed in, making use of her inherent celestine swiftness.
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Racial Ability: [Celestial Swiftness]
Increased speed and reflexes.
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She swung her buckler, knocking against the head of the monster in repeated aggressive fury. Eufemia was the bottom of iron rank, even against a weak bronze rank monster she should struggle, but the combined aura effects of all adventurers within range was one of the most notable benefits of fighting in team battles, and part of the notoriety and strength of essence users as a whole.
The Whark was still bronze rank. It bronze free of Eufemia’s aggressive, but ultimately weak attacks, stepping back to lunge at her, except it passed through an illusion—it was Eufemia’s Echo Spirit. Eufemia had teleported behind it, predicting its basic thought process. She may have lost to Encio in a battle of wits that day, but a just-born magic lump wasn’t going to show her up.
She transformed her weapon into a bow that fired off nets of resilient spider webs. As Nara said, transforming weapons were awesome, if not mana costly.
With the Whark briefly pinned in place, she unleashed Wrath of the Magister, one of Aliyah’s spells that Eufemia copied with Prodigious Sorcerer.
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Ability: [Wrath of the Magister]
Essence: Master
Spell (fire, magic, curse, poison, wounding, ice, dimension)
Incantation: "Feel the power of reality remade." / “Feel the annihilation of reality unmade.”
Cost: Moderate mana plus additional mana per effect.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Effect (Iron): Lock a prismatic beam onto an enemy. Expend additional mana to alter the target’s reality, using any combination of the available color effects. This cannot be used in conjunction with the other variant of this spell, which requires an alternate incantation. This effect has a moderate mana cost and a one minute cooldown.
Effect (Iron): Lock a prismatic beam onto an enemy. Expend additional mana to unmake reality in a localized area, creating an annihilating void sphere inside the target. This effect requires magic to be channeled into the target at an extreme mana cost until sufficient mana has been channeled to trigger the effect.
* [Red] (high mana): Target’s temperature is significantly increased (frost burn if combined with blue).
* [Yellow] (high mana): Target’s abilities have increased mana cost.
* [Pink] (moderate mana): Target’s resistances are reduced.
* [Green] (moderate mana): Target’s blood is poisonous to itself.
* [Purple] (very high mana): Expending mana harms the target.
* [Orange] (very high mana): Target suffers increased damage from all sources.
* [Blue] (high mana): Target’s temperature is significantly decreased (frost burn if combined with red).
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She poured her mana into it, cursing inwardly at the extreme mana expenditure to activate all of the available effects simultaneously.
“Feel the power of reality remade.”
A powerful prismatic beam engulfed the Whark, and annihilated all the other monsters in its path.
Still, it hung onto life, the trademark of the supernatural resilience that bronze rank monsters and above possessed. A single blast of Wrath of the Magister from Aliyah would’ve killed any iron rank monsters; Eufemia didn’t know if her inability to finish off the whark with that was the disadvantage of her jack-of-all-trades skillset, or just the norm of bronze rank monsters.
She fired another spider-web net from her bow, then teleported to the monster with the movement ability she had copied from Encio, Flicker.
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Ability: [Flicker]
Essence: Swift
Special Ability (dimension, movement)
Cost: Low mana and low stamina
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Effect (Iron): Move instantaneously a short distance away. Does not interrupt channeling abilities.
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The monster was close to her to begin with, so that was enough to instantly close the gap. She transformed Silver Gleam into an axe, and began to butcher at the monster in a mad, desperate flurry of slashes. It lacked the elegance Eufemia often portrayed, but that was all an act to her anyway.
If elegance was needed to enchant, beguile, in order to win, she used it. If savagery necessary, Eufemia would embody a berserker.
She stood, chest heaving, splattered with blood from head to toe.
“Uh, Sen, that’s your teammate, right?” An adventurer spoke, glancing partially with fear and partially with worry.
“Yes.”
“Is she alright? In…multiple ways?”
“She is perfectly fine.”
“Perfectly fine? Look.”
Eufemia glowed with an iron grey light, one which indicated an ability evolution.
“Do you think triggering a racial ability evolution is alright?”
“If she needed the help, I would have helped her,” Sen said.
“How can you possibly know that?”
“She knows I’m here,” Sen said, “She would have asked.”
Eufemia did know that Sen was there. She knew that Encio and Aliyah were nearby as well. Whether or not they would have heard her over the chaos of battle was another matter, but Sen would not let the lives of his teammates slip away. Much of his team was still young in their experience, himself included. He didn’t worry about Encio much, but he was careful with everyone else. The opportunity to push themselves in such relative safety—the escape token, accessible healers—was hard to come by, and one that should be grasped when possible. While passing the trial was one objective, for Sen, the objective was growth. Win or lose, the important lesson was to learn.
Eufemia wanted to challenge herself. She had been initially placated by her new teammates on the adaptability of her abilities, but only now was she truly beginning to understand their limitations and appreciate their strengths. What her abilities required of her was the judgement of what ability to use with what timing.
She was covered in blood, but she didn’t feel gross in the slightest. She felt revitalized. It was a weak bronze rank monster, the bottom of its rank, and she had been boosted by the auras of all those around her.
Still, she had slayed a bronze rank monster by herself, and she felt new power resonate within her.
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Racial Ability: [Reality Transmutation]
Transfigured from [Special Ability Affinity].
More likely to awaken Special Abilities than other ability types of essence abilities; Special Abilities have increased effect. This is a legacy effect of [Special Ability Affinity].
Enemies do not gain additional resistance and damage reduction against your abilities for being higher rank.
Abilities that duplicate conjurations can now duplicate crafted objects as if they were conjurations. You do not gain additional effects if the ability that copied the object is higher rank than the copied object. Duplication abilities have reduced cost.
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She didn’t have Nara’s Guide ability to tell her the details, but she instinctually knew its effects. All other essences users operated on instinct; Nara’s ability was useful but non vital, nor was it a complete translation of reality. There were many details and restrictions that her ability left unsaid.
In her bloodstained hands she held John’s Solar Judgement. A weapon, despite not understanding its construction, that she had grown to love due to its easy-to-use nature and high instantaneous firepower. It may be easy to use, but Eufemia was well aware of the value of on-demand explosives.
“Oh, you make a beauty’s heart sigh,” she said, shameless in her self-praise. She gazed fondly at the shotgun, “You and me, it’s time to blow their minds.”