Chapter 64: Staying Simple
As the sun descended horizon, the defense against the second wave hung over their heads like a 10 ton weight from Tom & Jerry.
They would utilize the wide clearing around the tower—it was the way adventurers usually fought. While defensive positions were strong in non-magic combat, essence users had large area-of-effect spells, over-the-top weapons, and teleportation and charge attacks that instantly closed gaps. To magic, tight spaces was more of a detriment than a benefit.
Smaller defensive buildings had been erected within the circle in the cardinal directions, where injured adventurers could evacuate to safety. Within were also battlefield supplies for those without inventories and needed to refresh. Nara and John’s looting for the south tower had produced an excess of supplies. Nara was happy to donate the healing unguents and excess potions she didn’t need. Real battle had removed her gamer instinct of hoarding items, and they needed to combine their strengths to overcome the trial.
Nara was on the first shift to kill all the bronze rank monsters she dosed, but later would go to sleeping. She had been running on empty for a while. She managed to sleep on top of Thanatos on the way there, fashioning a simple astral construct saddle-bed to sleep in. Killing the monsters was the first challenge, but the second challenge was managing the energy of all the iron rankers here.
Some whiny noble-born adventurers had made a fuss of not being catered to, but Conrad quickly silenced any opposition from them.
“If I, your greater, has no compunctions over the quality of my lodging, what right do you provincial nobles have to complain in my presence?”
Just words wasn’t enough to silence the truly indignant, but after his version of civility didn’t work, Conrad enthusiastically used violence. After the first five nobles had their faces rearranged to those of a botched plastic surgery operation, the rest fell into line. They had no rich family here to complain and cry too, and found their posturing without power was expediently dealt with not only by Conrad, but by other heavy handed adventurers.
Others would have been glad to change the terrain of their faces, but Conrad took it upon himself. He was from a greater background, and the prideful adventurers (noble or otherwise) could only grit their teeth and stomp their feet against an opponent they couldn’t retaliate against outside of the trial. This may have been a part of Conrad’s nobility and his creed.
Sen seemed to be taking notes.
“No…you don’t have to follow his example,” Nara said, glancing at him with concern.
“He makes some compelling points,” Sen said. “I should utilize what advantages I have as your team leader more fully.”
“Doesn’t your family have a non-intervention policy or something?”
“On the surface, perhaps. I intend to investigate more. That rule may be its own test. Encio utilizes his background more subtly, in a masterful way that allows him to utilize private connections,” He pumped a fist at his side, “I have much to learn.”
“You know, my world kind of has a saying about that.”
“What’s that?”
“Kindness can land out into bad situations that being an asshole could have avoided.”
He gave her a strange look, “And you’ve done that?”
“I don’t think I’ve been given the chance to be an asshole yet, but I want to try it out.”
“You want to try out ‘being an asshole’. I can’t say I approve.”
“Now, don’t give me that look. I said my character wasn’t tested.”
“You intend to insert yourself into situations to test your own character.”
“Not exactly, but I’d rather know how I react—how I want to react—in a less desperate situation before trialing myself on a more difficult one. Reactions, like anything, can be trained. Hypothetically, I may think I want to be the hero only to find out I’m not suited for it at all. Better I find out with something small I can step away from, then something large I cannot. But that’s a positive example.”
“You speak of death.”
“Aliyah’s right that you’re intuitive. Are you sure you can’t read minds?”
“I cannot,” he denied seriously, “You have said previously you are untested, and that you were an ordinary person on your world. To take this world’s ordinary, most do not kill others. Am I correct?”
“Well,” Nara sighed, “I don’t think there’s any ‘easing into’ killing others. But if I hesitate on the first time, I want it to be in a situation where lives are not at stake. Have you killed people Sen?”
“I have,” Sen confirmed, “Raiders from the north occasionally attack the villages at the outskirts of the Arlang territory. While growing up in the Arlang territory, my relatives and I have gone out on patrol to defend the people.”
“How’s that like in this world…did you hesitate?”
Nara felt a bit awkward asking him such sensitive questions, but Sen didn’t mind.
“I did not. For those of my family, those who are enemies and allies are clear cut. There is no reason to hesitate when killing enemies.”
“Hm.”
“What is it? Do you disagree?”
“Well no. I just hope it stays that simple for the rest of our lives.”
This time, Nara fought together with her team. John stood aways back towards a defensive line, where many other healers stood. The frontline was filled with melee adventurers, already smashing their weapons and fists into the first early bird monsters.
Nara had already looped around, killing off any affliction bronze rank monsters and re-afflicting any newly spawned ones, then returned to her team. Eufemia opted to copy Aliyah’s mana burst and Sen’s Relentless Assault, a common special attack of the Might Essence.
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Ability: [Relentless Assault]
Essence: Might
Special Attack
Cost: Low stamina, increasing with each successive attack.
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Each use of this attack in quick succession increases the damage of this attack. Damage is of the same type caused by a normal attack.
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When the cost of Relentless Assault grew too high to sustain, Eufemia swapped to John’s Solar Judgement and unloaded seven shells of explosive fire power. The weapon had a five minute cooldown for its special ammo, even if Eufemia didn’t have it actively conjured.
Monsters dashed from the tree line. Some fast and ravenous, some at a slithering crawl. It was Nara’s job to target the stronger monsters of the crowd, or quickly get rid of or impede troublesome targets. The damage nullification of Dream’s Wake combined with node teleport meant that Nara served as a decent interceptor for non-area attacks.
“Mantle of celestial flames, protect and burn.”
John started off with a cast of Celestial Flame Mantle. The boon lasted long enough that he could maintain it on around two targets at a time. As rank increased, the duration and strength of abilities such as boons also increased. For now, he could maintain two, but later, he may be able to set the entire team on fire, in a good, divine blessing of fire sort of way, and not in a self-immolation sort of way.
His targets for this fight was Beorn and Sen. They were lit ablaze with flames of white and gold. To Sen, the fire was warm and gentle, even calming. He felt he was embraced by a warm hug. In contrast, the white-gold flames that glowed upon his staff seared any enemy he so much as grazed.
“Transform zeal into power,” Sen chanted, pulling back his weapon for a large strike utilizing his sole spell and another common special attack, Unstoppable force.
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Ability: [Explosive Zeal]
Essence: Zeal
Spell (boon)
Incantation: “Transform zeal into power.”
Cost: Moderate mana
Cooldown: 1 minute
Effect (Iron): Bestow a boon of explosive energy. The next special attack or spell has greatly increased area of effect and deals increased resonating-force damage, damaging everything with the area of impact.
Ability: [Unstoppable Force]
Awakening Stone: Might
Special Attack
Cost: High mana and extreme stamina
Cooldown: 1 minute
Effect (Iron): Melee attack with massive momentum, dealing large amounts of additional resonating-force and disruptive-force damage. Requires a heavy weapon.
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His wide swing was explosively powerful. Enemies directly struct were obliterated, bursting like bubbles within magma. The attacked echoed out, a shockwave of force impacting the monsters to his front. They were blown back, mangled but still alive. He didn’t worry about them. Alive as they were, they’d be quickly finished by any incidental damage.
That combination was Sen’s single most powerful attack, but also resource expensive. With the combined effect of many auras, Sen’s stamina and mana regeneration were beyond their normal values. He could sustain it.
As monsters continued to pour out around them from the jungle, area of effect abilities were the name of the game. They were the most effective tool at killing swaths of monsters, a tool Nara sorely lacked. However, judging from her own abilities so far, she doubted she’d gain any either.
Umbral Wolf, aka Thanatos, was the closest thing to an area of effect ability she had. His flames speared enemies, lighting them on fire with an ominous, glowing black flame. Thanatos was utilizing his full capabilities, tearing at monsters with his teeth and claws. He constantly shifted sizes, like Jack-Jack from the Incredibles, becoming small to avoid monster attacks from above or large to shake off clingers. Beorn was much the same, but he intentionally shoved himself up against monsters to set them on fire, using his own body as a battering ram and barreling into the crowd like a bowling ball.
Now fighting with his own team, Encio didn’t have a small platoon of mana generators providing mana for him, although Aliyah’s abilities helped.
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Ability: [Arcane Orb]
Essence: Gathering
Conjuration
Cost: Low mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Conjure a floating orb that can hold mana. Mana drained from abilities is stored in the orb which can be redistributed to allies. The orb passively regenerates mana until it reaches its capacity. If destroyed, gain all the mana stored by the orb.
Ability: [Mana Siphon]
Essence: Gathering
Conjuration (trap)
Cost: Low mana-per-second
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Create an orb of magic that siphons mana from all nearby enemies, with mana drain increasing the closer the enemy is. When destroyed or displaced, the orb releases a wave of resonating-force damage increasing in distance and damage with mana siphoned, then bestows the mana onto nearby allies. If no allies are nearby, the mana is returned to the caster. Only one mana siphon can exist at a time.
Ability: [Archmage’s Decree]
Essence: Master
Aura
Cost: None
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Enemies within aura suffer a slight mana drain effect. Gain the drained mana.
Ability: [Crystallize Mana]
Essence: Magic
Conjuration (recovery)
Cost: None
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Create a crystal that floats around you, accelerating mana recovery. Crystal is impervious to damage, but vulnerable to dispel effects. If dispelled, crystals grant an immediate burst of mana. You can have a single mana crystal at a time.
Ability: [Eldritch Imbalance]
Essence: Magic
Spell (drain, magic, channel)
Cost: Low mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Drain mana from the target for as long as the spell is channeled. Level of drain scales higher based on the target's current mana relative to their maximum mana.
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Aliyah’s slew of mana generating abilities could fund her own spells, with extra to spare. With so many enemies in her aura, Aliyah’s aura was draining a great amount of mana from monsters, even as they were being pulverized. Aliyah’s combination of Magic, Gathering, and Adept for the Master confluence was a flexible combination that could lean a variety of directions. In her case, she served as both a ranged magical attacker and as a mana generator. Runic racial abilities predisposed runics towards spellcasting roles in general.
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Racial Ability: [Spellborn]
Increased max mana.
Racial Ability: [Wellspring]
Increased mana recovery.
Racial Ability: [Spell Aptitude]
You are more likely to awaken spells than other ability types. Your spells have increased effect.
Racial Ability: [Magic Affinity]
Effects with magic sub-type are enhanced. Boons received with the magic sub-type are enhanced. Increased resistance to same magic sub-type effects.
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Combined with Nara and Encio’s own aura, Encio made do. However, he adopted a hybrid fighting style that he rarely used at iron rank but had nonetheless thoroughly trained for.
Encio’s most basic ability was Sword Wave, a special attack that produced a wave of cutting force like a fantasy martial artist. It was but a fraction of the damage of his two mainstay special attacks, but a cheap one he could use on every attack. He saved his mobility abilities, weaving in and out of enemies with expert sword strikes that butchered limbs with well-practiced skills. Rarely, he used Between the Raindrops, an ability that found use in melee situations when he needed to conserve his mana overall.
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Ability: [Between the Raindrops]
Essence: Swift
Special Ability (movement)
Cost: High mana-per-second and high stamina-per-second
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Increased reflexes and spatial awareness.
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It was also an expensive ability, but Encio had the skill to use it only when necessary to weave through those narrow dodge windows with little additional effort. Compared to his time manipulation ability, Eternal Moment, which was a mentally taxing ability. Slipping in an out of greatly accelerated time stream nauseated even their own users. For time abilities without a cooldown, they were rarely used more often than those with one.
Encio didn’t so much as dance as reap. Each attack missed his usual teasing charm, sharp and efficient. He expended only the energy needed to cleave through each monster, accurately judging the toughness of their defenses and easiest location to deal extreme damage.
“You are exceptional,” Sen complimented through team voice chat, “Even in my family I’ve never seen such weapon mastery.”
“I have a few years on you,” Encio said with surprising modesty, “As long as you all continue to train, you all will reach this level. Mastery is an inevitability so long as you pursue it.”
“Ah, so you consider yourself a master,” said Eufemia, “And I thought you had a splinter of humility.”
“Of course. I could hardly be anything less but the best. Humility? Once you reach my level, could you humble yourself? I think you cannot, miss Teresina.”
“Oh, you did not ‘miss Teresina’ me. How dare you.”
“How dare I? What can you do about it? Beat me in a sparring match?”
“I’ll find something, mister Aciano, keep your princely collar clean and wait.”
“Try to surprise me, Eufemia. That would be a gift on its own. I await your present."
Eufemia roared, ripping apart a monster with a considerably clumsier sword strike, using the same sword and shield she had copied before. She seemed to be cursing under her breath, but a fierce smile played across her lips. She couldn’t help but liked him, he danced delicately on the line of being a condescending asshole and being fun and daring.
Eufemia could use a little jibe and attitude while wading through the blood and flesh of monsters for hours on end. It broke up the mental monotony, and kept her mind active.
Before she knew it, she had already gotten used to the activities of adventurers. To all of them, it was exposure therapy—those that struggled with battle rapidly improved. For Nara too, the Way of the Dancer sword style that excelled against many opponents made rapid improvements. She didn’t slip though monsters water slipped around rocks in a stream.
She was more eel through open fingers, but she’d take what she could get.