Once the Granite Ent was hobbled, the rest of the fight was supposed to play out like clockwork. Blast used a surprising amount of energy, enough that I couldn’t simply spray out attacks without care. Patiently, I excavated each of the enemies with the much cheaper Mana Bolts at my disposal.
Normally, the rock monsters of the mountain would face me in this battle of attrition happily. They didn’t seem to feel pain, they were tireless, and without an ego. Due to this, the elementals had shown incredibly lacking cooperation. This changed when, once again, the mountain seemed to wake up. More than the previous rumbles of power, this one felt targeted. Right at me. My hairs stood on end and a shiver crawled up my spine at the feeling of being watched.
Dao and intent rose up against me, and the Shaleborn Drainer moved with remarkable proprioception. No more the janky and disjointed movements of a facade, it moved like a real human being and a masterful martial artist at that. Instead of flitting around the battlefield and taking my time, I was now being pushed towards the fallen Granite Ent.
At the same time, the Kalar apparently received a burst of inspiration. “If two big rocks don’t work,” its slow brain must have thought, “why not try four medium rocks?” I had to concede, it was a genius tactic. Doubly so when the Kalar didn’t throw all the rocks at once, but staggered the attacks. I dodged one, blocked the second and third with the staff form of the armament. The fourth rock caught me on the right elbow and broke something important.
My only saving grace was that the Ent was down for the count, regardless of the change, and that I wasn’t in the business of taking damage without retaliating. The energy threatened to falter as the pain ripped through my concentration, but the Blast I had gathered in my empty left hand was ready. “This is gonna suck,” I warned the Drainer as well as myself.
My hand fell onto its exposed core. The shower of Mana Bolts had done its job in opening up the solid shell of its exterior to the mana-filled crystal which was the true form of the elemental creatures. With a flash of blue, the Shaleborn Drainer fell apart, thousands of strings cut at once. I felt like I had just closed my fist around a grenade, and my fingers were ruined as payment. “Still all there,” I choked out defiantly as I counted the digits.
I had crippled the Granite Ent, so my only remaining danger was the Leadborn Kalar. When it came to a ranged battle, I wasn’t going to lose to this thing. I would Overwhelm. The word in my mind caused a ripple through my Dao Pool, the centre of the moon in the sky of my inner world. With that quiver came energy, the power of the Tempest in full. I took full control of the air around me, the entire flat arena under my command.
The elemental’s biology - or rather, geology - meant the specific nature of my attack would lose some effect but not enough to save the Kalar. I forced the air to surround me, while creating a vacuum elsewhere. This alone would be a devastating attack against biological beings, but the elementals obviously didn’t even notice. Still, there was a purpose.
Blast.
The arc of concentrated lightning leapt across the expanse between us. Compared to the speeds the skill normally travelled, this was a magnitude above and the resulting impact was magnified in turn. I was gathering a second burst to launch, but the single shot had done it. The battlefield instantly quieted, with only the Ent left standing and no more boulders being thrown.
I looked at my own hand. Not the mangled one. “It’s like a goddamn railgun. So sick.” I enjoyed keeping up an aura of flippant dominance and prestige around the members of The Ascent and later the population of the soon-to-be-renamed Ascentown. Having a grand chateau helped with that, but not as much as remaining stoic. I needed to have fun when I could otherwise that mask would crack.
So I revelled in being able to launch lightning from my hands, control the wind and generally act a menace in solitude. The Ent faced a barrage of Mana Bolts as I whittled away its layers of moving rock. I almost felt bad for it until I remembered it had nearly taken my eye with the only attack it landed. Once its crystal core was visible, I ended the fight and fell to my back.
I knew I couldn’t rest long. The feeling of being watched since the elementals jumped up a level in skill had not gone anywhere. I took deep breaths while watching the peak still above me. With the threat of the claimant still hanging over my head, it was difficult to feel the victory for what it was. It would have been impossible if not for the notification which finally came with the final skill.
Ding! Level up! +25 Attribute Points
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I moaned in relief as the pain my left arm and right hand receded to nothing. The damage visibly healed at a rate which looked and felt uncomfortable, however the fresh and unmarked skin made it all worth it. Ambient mana from all over flowed into me without effort, refilling my mana and rejuvenating my stamina. Within seconds, I was fresh like I had taken a nap. “Damn, I missed that. I’m definitely saving the next one for a special occasion.”
Name - Grant Kaeron Race - Stormborn (Grade 1) Level - 43
Title - Dragon Slayer
Fortitude - 65 Speed - 65 Mental - 473 Will - 230
Free attribute points: 25
Finally, level 43. The only question I needed to answer before finishing up here was where to place my attribute points. Did I continue to lean on my already prodigious Mental attribute or shore up my stats as I had been doing? With percentages added, including the 25% from the legendary Black Belt, my Fortitude and Speed were around 130, Will was at 550 and Mental was well over 1000. With the specifics being private, I didn’t know how this stacked up against others fully, but I knew it was a lot.
I doubted most people’s main attributes were at the level of even my tertiaries. If an individual in the area had over 400 in a stat, it would have been noticeable. They would have been forged in the same fires as I had, and no one so special had turned up since the arrival of the System. Except for me. I decided to treat myself.
It had been a while since my Mental attribute got stronger.
I dropped all 25 points into my main attribute and a cooling sensation flowed through my body. Certainly, the gains could have been felt more clearly if I placed the points into Fortitude or Speed but nothing compared to the 60 effective points I had just added at once. My mana felt like it had been remade, as though I had never used it properly until now.
Perhaps able to feel my elation, or just the shifts in mana upon my levelling, the world bucked. The mountain had truly woken up and I hastily activated my analysis to confirm my suspicions. Walking out of the spire like the rock was an illusion was the biggest moving shape I had seen on the mountain yet. Also, the most clearly defined in terms of appearance. There were two clear layers of rock, one for armour and the other it’s “skin”.
Boss Monster - Golem Prince - Level 79 (Claimant)
Wait, then what was the-
I stumbled as my question was answered by a piercing cry. I physically felt the vibrations through my bones, my teeth rattling in my skull. The sound could easily have been a rocket taking off next to my ear. I could only tell it was a bird’s cry from this close because the shadow fell over me as it descended from the spire.
Boss Monster - Flarehawk Monarch - Level 79 (Claimant)
Oh, how sweet for them. They teamed up. And here I am without Naea.
The Flarehawk had gorgeous plumage, oranges, reds and yellows, easily visible as it hovered in the air. It moved at impossible speeds, flitting like a hummingbird despite its body being the size of a buffalo. As far as wingspan, the Flarehawk would have been able to cover a city bus from end to end, easily reaching forty feet from tip to tip. Out of all the creatures I had seen, it was perhaps the one I found the most beautiful. Huge shame that it is trying to kill me, I mourned privately.
Unwilling to retreat just because the situation was dangerous, I decided to take this as a positive. “At least now I won’t have to do so many hunts!” The most difficult decision was where to start. I knew the golem would be wildly durable, but the Flarehawk could be just as problematic. For all I knew, it would be harder to put down than the rockman. Phoenix rules and all that.
High on the feeling of levelling up and excited to test myself against the very highest level of opponent, I rushed forward.
——————————————————
“Are you ready, Fledglings?”
“WE ARE ALWAYS READY, MA’AM!”
I nodded, proud of the instant response. While I wouldn’t admit it, I had been worried that I wouldn’t inspire the same confidence or obedience as Grant was able to. Sure, I knew he wasn’t a human anymore but he looked like one, for the most part. So long as you ignored the glowing lines when he cast spells. A tiny part of me feared that not being human, or the “right size”, it would be hard to command respect.
I needn’t have worried.
Power was all that really mattered. After a few sparring sessions in which I held back, and then specifically didn’t hold back, the point was well-made. Even fifteen on one, no one could land a spot of dust on me. I had mostly just done it for fun, but afterwards, I saw the respect I had wanted in the eyes of my charges.
Surprisingly, the number of trainees had actually risen since then.
Three squads of ten now stood at my command. One was the mage squad, led by Tom. He’d been a real standout over the last couple of days, losing all of his baby fat and refining his combat style. While Tom learned his skills quicker than others, Mana Bolt was simple enough that anyone who tried could learn it after a while. For the most part, the group was long-range and used their Aspects to accent the damage of their Mana Bolts. It was surprisingly effective.
Next was the bruisers, headed up by Harry. Him and nine other knuckleheads who were happy standing at the front and taking as much damage as possible. Some of them had learned types of healing magics to make themselves hardier, but for the most part they relied on shields and dodging. It was still coming together, but so long as they were supported, they were fine.
Which led to the final group. The healers were not damage dealers, but they were still the wildest of the three teams. In a lot of ways, I felt like healing was my role, so I moulded that group after me. “Healing isn’t just something to do after the fight,” I impressed upon them, “sometimes you need to get in, patch someone up and then get out without causing more work for others.” Each healer had a bruiser and a mage who would give their life for them before letting the healer fall, ideally.
I was still working that die-for-each-other attitude into them.
I wondered what Grant was up to, but didn’t distract him by asking. With how involved I had been planning and training the troops, as well as the drain it took on my mana to do so, I had barely been paying attention to the connection between me and Grant. He’d call if he found a claimant, anyway. “Let’s see if you’re ready for this,” I whispered gleefully while pouring mana into the training crystal. Every healer’s feet were suddenly dropped into the earth as elementals began to rise.
For some reason, they were the flavour of the day.