Zoe grinned. It was the first time that she could remember where she managed to blow past the intermediary step of getting the manipulation skill first, and all done just before the end of the day as promised.
Andrew stared at her, blinking his eyes. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” Zoe laughed, causing another small flash of light in front of her. “I absolutely did.”
Andrew groaned. “You better make this one day I get with you worth my time then.”
“I’ll do my very best! What do you wanna do tomorrow?” Zoe asked. “There’s literally nowhere you could go in the dungeon with me that would be dangerous for you, so whatever you wanna do is on the table.”
“Think I could take out the boss on my own, with you protecting me, then?” Andrew asked.
“Hmmm,” Zoe pondered. His light magic was already rather ineffective against the fire elementals. Keeping him safe throughout the fight would be simple enough, and killing the boss if something went wrong would be a walk in the park for her at this point.
But even given unlimited time, would he be able to kill it? Zoe wasn’t sure. His magic seemed strong, the light burned into the rubble behind elementals like a powerful laser through styrofoam. But most of the destructive power of the light seemed to just pass through the somewhat translucent flames of the elementals.
“Why did you come here?" Zoe asked. ”You seem uniquely built to not be good at this kind of dungeon. Why wouldn’t you have gone somewhere else?"
“It’s a tale as old as time, isn’t it? Some rampant beast wandering through the wilderness destroying everything in its path. What if I run into a fire elemental in my travels? What if I run into something else that counters my light? At least here, I’m somewhat safe. I can try things, experiment. Learn the limits of my magic and be better prepared in a true emergency.” Andrew answered.
“So you just want to try and find some way to burn fire with light?" Zoe asked.
Andrew chuckled. “Something like that, I guess. It works, somewhat. They seem to have a physical form, but I’m not sure what’s actually doing the damage, or why. I’m hoping to learn that, here.”
Zoe nodded. “Well I think the boss would be probably a bad idea until you better understand that. I could keep you safe, but I don’t think you’d be able to actually kill it.”
Andrew nodded. “I thought as much.”
“If you want to, then we can. I’m yours for tomorrow, but I don’t think you’ll be able to do it.” Zoe said.
Andrew waved his hand. “No, that’s fine. If you don’t think I can do it, then we’ll just continue with what we were doing. But all hands on deck for tomorrow, no getting distracted with my light magic.”
“Yup. I’m all yours tomorrow. Whatever you wanna do.” Zoe said.
“Lets go deeper in, I want to try my hand at some higher level elementals. Maybe some different colours, see how they react to my light. You have any ideas?” Andrew asked.
Zoe shook her head. “I just use water. Works really well on them.”
Andrew laughed. “Right, right. Well I can’t really infuse water into my light.”
“Why not?” Zoe asked.
“Because it’s light?” Andrew asked with a wary chuckle.
“Yeah, but light is made up of photons. Which are things. You could, in theory, enchant your light photons with some water skill, maybe?" Zoe suggested.
“You want me to enchant light? Do you have any idea how hard that would be?” Andrew asked.
“Pretty damn hard, yeah. I know. I haven’t even enchanted water, and light sounds way worse than that. But if you really want to make your light better, doing it at least once might get you a light enchanter class that would make it easier, possibly? And then you’d have a much larger selection of things you can do in the future, too. Not just water.” Zoe said.
“I suppose, but I’d have to learn how to enchant things first. And then figure out how to enchant my light, and then get to my next cap and hope that the system graces me with a powerful enchanting class that I’ll actually enjoy? Doesn’t really help me in the now, but maybe I’ll keep it in mind.” Andrew said.
“I highly recommend it. I find having a good enchanting class makes me much more versatile, but also to be fair I’m not sure if I could enchant light or not either, even with my enchanting class.” Zoe responded.
Andrew nodded and set up his bedroll in the corner of the small ruined building they had set up in. An old furniture store by Zoe’s estimation, though all of the furniture on display now seemed misshapen. Chairs with six legs and uneven seats, tables with flimsy wooden sheets that didn’t look like they’d be able to support even a dinner plate set too far away from the far too thick legs.
“Are you alright with taking first watch?" Andrew asked.
“I’m alright with watching all night. I don’t need to sleep.” Zoe said.
“You sure?" Andrew asked.”
“Yup.” Zoe nodded. “No worries, you make sure you’re well rested for tomorrow.”
Andrew slid into his bedroll and Zoe teleported up to the roof of the building they were in as he drifted off to sleep.
Nighttime in Flester’s Might was, in a word, beautiful. The majority of those delving into the dungeon either left to rest in Inkley, or set up camp in one of the numerous buildings throughout the dungeon which left the fire elementals that roamed the city free of any disruptions. As they drifted through the streets and through the buildings, they cast their colourful flickering lights across the city, like worn out neon signs beckoning her in to its bountiful loot.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Zoe turned her attention to her new skill and created dozens of her own tiny flickers of light that flashed around her. It was fun, but it wasn’t the same as what Andrew was doing. He created so many different colours, and lasting wisps of light that almost looked like her own perception of mana that danced around him.
All Zoe could do was create tiny, bright flashes. Even just creating a small ball of light that stuck around long enough for her to try and move it seemed impossible, let alone managing to enchant one with something or even just fire off a beam to scorch a distant pile of rubble.
She continued throwing herself at the wall, and each flash of light seemed to burn a little brighter than the previous. Each one burned into her retina just a little bit longer as she managed to create a light that stuck for almost a full second.
It was different to anything she’d experienced before. With Earth, she created a pile of rock, and it kept itself together. She didn’t need to expend any mana to force each and every individual particle of the rock together. It was a rock, it did that on its own.
Even with her Gales skill, the particles in the air moved together. If she pushed some of the wind around, the rest of the wind followed along with it. They stuck together, they moved together. But with her Light skill, the moment she even noticed something happening, it all fell apart.
Zoe sat and stared up at the night sky for a while, wondering why the Light skill felt so different. Was it something she was doing? Something different about the skill? The sun had just begun to crest on the horizon by the time she had a useful thought.
If she created a flame in her hand with her Fire skill, then when she saw the fire in her hand, it would still be in her hand. She could see the flame and react to it. If it raged out of control, she could watch it and dial it in. If it threatened to die out, she could push more mana into it and watch it flare up.
Light was different. She couldn’t watch it and react to it, since the very act of seeing the light she created was proof she’d lost control of it already. If she relied on her eyes to react to what the light was doing, she’d be reacting to where it used to be, not where it was. She needed to feel the light through her skill, and ideally, never see it at all until she let go of it.
Zoe closed her eyes and focused on her Light skill, feeling all of the light that bounced around her. It was overwhelming to feel it all. The light coming from the sun, bouncing off of not just walls, but tiny particles that floated through the air.
She wasn’t just feeling the presence of light, as some abstract concept, she realized. She could feel each and every individual photon around her, and there were millions of them, travelling at speeds far faster than she could process. Just the briefest blips of information fed to her through her new skill, when she focused on it.
Zoe shook her head. Millions didn’t do it justice. She didn’t have a word to describe how many there were. The sun’s rays blasted down at her, but each of the many elementals that wandered through the town were firing off their own, and they all bounced through the sky, off tiny particles she couldn’t see but could feel the light reacting to.
It was an incredible experience, she found. And gave her all the more respect for the control that Andrew had over light. He could manage all of that while dealing with the absolute mess of information the Light skill provided him with? Or did one of his classes help parse the information, break it down into more manageable pieces?
Zoe noticed Andrew beginning to stir in his bedroll below and teleported back down before he woke up. He rolled over and scratched his head as he yawned and looked at Zoe.
“Good morning. Anything happen?" Andrew asked. He stood up and stored his bedroll away as he stretched out his neck and legs.
Zoe shook her head. “No. I played with the light skill a bit though. You’re very impressive, you know that?”
Andrew chuckled. “Most people don’t like light magic for that reason. My advice? Stick to what you’re already good at. Mastering light could take a lifetime and you’re already more than capable of handling yourself.”
“Well, a lifetime just so happens to be something I have an abundance of. I think I’ll throw myself at it at some point or another. Really, I just wanted it so I could enchant things and make nice lights for my home. I think that it’s good enough already at that. Maybe.” Zoe said.
Andrew nodded. “Whatever floats your goat, I suppose. But lets get going, I’ve only got you for a day now so I’m gonna make it worth my time.”
Zoe laughed. “Sure thing, lead the way.”
Andrew packed up the rest of their camp in his bag and they set out back into the dungeon streets. They made their way closer to the center as Andrew struggled against the elementals even more. Zoe had to remind herself not to focus on his magic with her new skill, as tempting as it was to see what was hidden beneath the visible light. Keeping him alive while also parsing through an entirely new system of information fed to her through a brand new skill would have been a very small risk, if she was being fair to herself.
But any amount of risk was too high for her to feel comfortable about the decision. If something happened to him because she was distracted with something she could just as well do at a later date? She’d never be able to forgive herself.
The second day with Andrew passed much more productively — at lest for Andrew, with him even gaining a few very welcome levels. By the end of the day, his magic even seemed much more effective at damaging the elementals. Much of the light still passed through the elementals, but the light that did seemed dimmer on the other side of them somehow.
“I can take you to the dungeon boss if you want. We can kill it, get some rewards. Payment for teaching me the skill, if you want?" Zoe asked as the sun set over the dungeon.
Andrew shook his head. “No, but thank you. I’ve no need for the rewards, and I would derive no satisfaction from somebody else killing it for me. Today was wonderful though, so thank you. You were a much bigger help than I expected. I thought I might get a level or two in a week, but I got five today alone! Thank you.”
Zoe shook her head. “No, thank you. This was very little for how much you helped me, to be honest. You want a ride back to Foizo?"
“Sure, thanks.” Andrew answered.
Zoe grabbed his hand and Cosmic Stepped the two of them out of the dungeon and into the air, catching them on a small platform of earth that floated over the road back to Foizo. She dropped Andrew off at the gate and said her goodbyes, then ran back home and teleported inside to her bedroom.
“Hey!” Zoe called out when she arrived.
“Hello? Zoe?" Emma shouted back. ”You’re back early.“
Zoe’s door opened as Emma walked in holding Fennel to her chest.
“Yeah, well I made a bet with Andrew that I’d be able to learn the skill in a day. If I did, my stay got shortened to a week.” Zoe said.
“And you learned the light skill?" Emma asked.
“I did!” Zoe grinned.
“Does it make a good enchantment?" Emma asked.
“I haven’t tried yet. I was waiting to try it with you.” Zoe said.
“Well go on then, what’s it do?” Emma asked.
Zoe summoned a small ball of gray earth and enchanted it with Light, Meditation and Enchanting. The ball glowed with a dim white light in her hand, casting a massive shadow of her hand on the floor below.
“A little dim, but maybe we can use a better material for it.” Emma said.
“Or we could make a bunch of smaller ones and put them in something together. I think it’s fine.” Zoe said.
“Then we have lights! Real lights! Not these flickering things. They’re great, but this is going to be way better.” Emma laughed as she tapped on one of the stone lanterns hanging from the wall.