Thinking the attack was the first step of our spar, I moved around the dirty debris with a quick burst of Haste, only to find Merownis mid-air after being caught unawares himself. My reaction had been a little too quick, as I spun back around to the epicentre and saw a massive leg puncture the ground. “That’s way too big,” I cursed, dropping the skill and falling into a casual formation with Merownis.

We shared a look which said the fight was merely postponed. “Whoever kills this thing will likely raise up a level,” Merownis quipped before jumping to the right and pushing me with his feet. The incoming leg was avoided and I rolled to my feet while whirling the staff and focusing. With its main body hidden, I couldn’t scan the creature to get a read on its level. A thick obstruction of dust was sticking to the opening in the ground like an intentional fog. From the stink of mana around it, that was precisely what was happening.

Strafing its position, I saw two of my ally’s projectiles puff uselessly into the dust. I caught Merownis’ eye and we moved to opposite sides of the creature. Wordlessly, we used our connection to coordinate our dodges. A few more useless Mana Bolts told me I needed to kick it up a notch. However, I wasn’t the aggressor here, and the scorpion made the first move.

I was forced into action. Although it couldn’t be seen, the scorpion within was more than able to lash out. The first appearance of its tail was only blocked by the Jingu Bang’s innate reactions. I fed it half of my mana regeneration, and the weapon happily collided with the creature’s powerful attacks. The shaft extended quickly and pushed the incoming attack straight up, forcing me to go from focused to serious. I had been caught by the scorpion’s poison before. It was paralytic and painful, but not enough to stop me unless I took too many at once.

A thick green glob, the size of my head, landed in the dirt behind me and I didn’t even need to look to know it was a lethal amount. The sizzling sound it made only made it more certain. “Don’t get hit by the stinger!” I shouted, reactivating Haste and running at the wall for leverage. The crowd had already dispersed for the most part, only the brave or foolish creatures remaining. I caught a glimpse of the orange fox watching on, imperious and unmoving.

Even with time being stretched with Haste, I couldn’t spare a moment. Battle was as much a mathematical equation as it was a dance of death. Time, minus mana, plus aggression equaled victory. Carefully using Dragonburn I spent forty mana on a bristling Mana Bolt, while avoiding letting the power seep into Haste. Pushing off the wall, I dodged another stab of the awful stinger and spun. Without my huge burst of speed, every attribute gained directed towards the motion, I would be dead.

That realisation was crystalline. My life was brittle. With speed, time was meaningless. With enough strength, reality itself would buckle. I grasped the fear of that moment and impressed the intent to destroy the scorpion. The bolt went rigid as the power inside was crushed into a fine point. Shrinking from the size of a baseball to a pebble, the power was compressed. The magical ball was heavy in my hand as I pushed against the dense air in the way and hurled the crystal bolt into the dust cloud. This one wouldn’t break apart.

I was blessed with a screech of pain from within the cloud as the bolt exploded. My mana won out over the scorpion’s finally and the obstruction was destroyed. A glistening silver body was waiting underneath, a more expressive set of features making up its face than I would have expected. Still reeling in pain, its many eyes were angrily scanning around. Gritting my teeth at the twenty mana cost, I analysed the enemy.

Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 26

Returning to normal speed, I slipped one long swee[ing leg and smashed it into the ground with the Jingu Bang. “Fucking thing isn’t even a boss monster?” I complained. With the strength it was exerting, that was honestly a surprise. My attack had done some visible damage, one of its six legs crippled where it connected to the body. The limb hung limp and useless at the Scorpion Prince’s side. Enough to slow the thing a little, but its lethality was mostly unchanged.

It spun on Merownis who had begun to pepper its back with mana projectiles. Even in the midst of battle, I couldn’t help being jealous. Merownis clearly had better control of his mana than I did, and probably more of it, too. Though his attacks seemed less powerful than a single Mana Bolt, from the barrage he was outputting, they cost nearly nothing. I would have to steal that technique.

With its main defence removed and its offence ineffectual, it was only a matter of time for the Scorpion Prince. Without the element of surprise, its fast movements were easier to follow now and we set about dismantling the remaining legs. Within a minute of the creature’s interruption, it had been slain, but I was running on empty and fell to the floor. The influx of experience, the Spirit gained from defeating the Scorpion Prince, shoved me into the next level. I was surprised. After the paltry amount of experience the giant scorpions had given me, my expectations had been off.

Smiling at the rush of energy and power into my veins, I found myself standing opposite Merownis. Between us, the tunnel left by the Scorpion Prince yawned open. “I got a level,” I continued smirking, “how about you?” A flash of indignation crossed the Sundercat’s features before being schooled back into place quickly.

“Such a weak creature would never be enough to grow in power,” the tigerman sniffed, recoiling from the scent of the area. I rolled my eyes and tapped the body to loot it. For the first time, a difficult battle hadn’t left me a ruined mess, so I was in good spirits even before the material gains.

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Would you like to loot Scorpion Prince (Level 26)?

Watching my inventory screen, my eyes bulged at the incoming items before taking them out of the pouch as quickly as possible and throwing them on my hands. Two were crafting materials, the silver carapace and the prince’s poison sac, but the third… Merownis saw me hoarding the loot and began to protest but I dismissed him. “You’d just tear them with your claws, I bet.” I was the party leader, wasn’t I?

Plus, Naea’s sparing use of Prestidigitation to clean my clothes hadn’t removed my inherent disgust of my current trousers. The battle had once again made them slick with blood, the viscous stuff clung to the material and I just grunted and ripped them off in one movement. “Just so you know,” Merownis drawled as I kicked off my self-made canvas shoes, “you’ll have to work harder than that to mate me.”

I paused my wardrobe change to show the cat the birds before continuing. Using a trick I had learned over my many filthy days, I took a water bottle from my inventory and splashed a little on my grimy legs. A layer of mana on the outside of my hand was more effective than any soap, and I scrubbed myself quickly. Another second later and I had shoved my legs through the soft fabric, barely holding back a sigh of pleasure. “If I wanted to mate, I’d sooner choose a scorpion,” I returned with a wink.

With an exaggerated expression of hurt, Merownis slumped to his knees. I stared at him with a straight face as he played out faux upset. I broke when he slapped the floor so hard I felt it in the shoes I had returned to my feet. For a while, there was no stopping the howling laughter which overcame us. It wasn’t the joke, it was the immense release of pressure from having company with no strings attached. Naea had made me belly laugh, too. It was a blessing to have friends in this awful place. “So, what do they do that made you so excited?” Merownis asked while sizing up the glittering corpse in the middle of the arena.

I beamed as I opened the item description again. I would have been over the moon with pretty much any clean clothing at this point, but the description had nearly brought a tear to my eye when I read it the first time. It was just perfect.

Item - Longstrider’s Leggings

The pilgrimage from the plains of Aggatal to the peak of Gigomagh was five times more deadly before the druids of Aggatal designed these leggings. With a simple enchantment for comfort and another for self-repair, the magic became common across the Tree.``

I stroked my own leg as gently as I would the Xaverweave Pouch, until that very accessory noticed and got jealous. Still in good humour, I chucked and obliged the well behaved thing. I barely felt its movements on my body as I fought now, the bag was incredibly capable of keeping itself from taking damage. I suspected it was helped along by a magical effect to disappear I could not yet sense. “And what do we do about this thing?” Merownis asked, gesturing to the fallen prince.

I scoffed. “Oh, that won’t be a problem. Actually, where is Naea?”

“Mine. MINE. MINE. mine, mineminemine, mine, MINE.” I quickly hip checked Merownis to the side as Naea shot through his previous position. For an awful instant, I caught a glimpse of her mouth widening before my better instincts forced me to look away. Avoiding the noises she made, I dove into my inner world for some quick maintenance and status screen inspection.

Mana Skills

Spirit Well (Max)

Unique

Mana Savant (Max)

Legendary

Heavy Blow (Level 3)

Common

Haste (Level 2)

Common

Mana Bolt (Level 3)

Common

Manasight (Level 3)

Common

Dragonburn (Level 1)

Rare

Due to the speed and strength of the prince, I hadn’t been able to level Heavy Blow up on its stupid, strong head. I could feel the skill getting closer to that next little boost, though. Mana Bolt had taken a slight jump, as had Manasight. The latter was likely from trying to pierce the Scorpion Prince’s veil of dust, while the former was obvious. The improvement to Haste had come in handy, though hard to tell just how much more effective the skill was due to the speed of the enemy. Not wanting to brave the real world just yet, I placed my attribute points, too.

Attribute Window

FP:10

Strength

19

Recovery

21

Resilience

21

Dexterity

12

Agility

19

Perception

17

Power

27

Regeneration

27

Command

33

I considered the spread of points. My Agility and Dexterity were at risk of falling behind… except was that true? I was already fast, and able to manoeuvre at the olympic gymnastic level. If I needed more speed or strength, I could facilitate those things with my mana skills. Before I could argue myself out of it, I placed all five points into Power and five into Regeneration. With another mage around, I was feeling competitive. With the nearly assured promise of further battle underground, excitement trilled inside.

Time to reclaim my speciality.