It was just as magical watching the silver dart wink into existence the second time as it had been the first. Well, technically, it would always be magical, since Nick was literally casting a spell. But in this case, the word referred to the feelings that the sight evoked within him, filling him to the brim with the most curious sense of awe.
He watched the dart’s mercurial dance for a good fifteen seconds before forcibly breaking his gaze. The dart circling around his head was on a timer, and it was time for spell to meet lizard with extreme prejudice. This situation made Nick realize that he had left one rather relevant question off his list. How do I target and fire the spell?
For once, he found himself glad that he was alone on the island and that only the birds and bees could witness his efforts. Otherwise, the next series of events would have been utterly mortifying instead of merely profoundly embarrassing. He began by simply willing the dart to fire, or more specifically, he spoke the word fire within his mind. Despite an overwhelming sense of anticipation, nothing happened.
Figuring that since he was up in a tree, it didn’t really matter if the komo knew Nick was there, he decided to move on to the shonen approach, which felt oddly appropriate considering the situation. He proceeded to intone the name of the spell while making various throwing gestures, trying to sound as badass as possible while willing the dart to move. “Mana Dart. Maaaana Daaaart. Mana Dart!”
Nick tried and failed a hundred times over the next four and a half minutes. Of course, the komo heard him right away. The big lizard came running, hissing in fury while circling the tree. Around attempt number eighty-five, the lizard stopped to stare at him. It gave Nick a look that clearly implied that he was the dumbest creature the komo had ever seen. By this point, the spell was beginning to fade out of existence, and he was growing increasingly frustrated.
He had just tried making a finger gun while saying “pew,” then moved on to literally begging the spell to work, when Nick finally stumbled onto the trick to firing the dart. He was looking right at the center of the komo’s scaley forehead while imagining how satisfying it would be to watch the dart fly straight as an arrow and blast the lizard between the eyes when the chrome-colored projectile abruptly shot forth, following the same path that Nick had envisioned.
The komo did not react to the streaking mote of light until the dart struck the top of its head and vanished without a trace. It was at this point that he learned that his Mana Darts did indeed inflict pain. Because the komo let out an ear-piercing scream, convulsing for a good ten seconds before regaining control over its body.
Despite a brief but intense infusion of pain, the komo appeared unaffected by the spell. It hissed in red rage before throwing itself at the base of the tree over and over again, scaling the bark through sheer effort of will. Shit. Komos can climb after all. They just suck at it. While the lizard continued its furious ascent, Nick drew his sword from his pack, then tossed both the sword and his bag to the ground.
He took three seconds to summon a second Mana Dart, then leapt down to retrieve his weapon. Nick had just enough time to rearm himself and take his stance before the komo realized that he had relocated. At this point, the beast looked almost happy, jaws spread wide as it charged straight for his position. Before the komo could close the distance, he locked his gaze onto its head, visualizing the dart following the same trajectory he had used before.
To his delight, the dart shot forth, just as Nick had hoped. As he had deduced, the spell needed both a precise target and an angle of approach before it would fire. None of the commands did anything. I probably don’t need to say the spell’s name to cast it either. In the two seconds that it took for these thoughts to pass through his mind, the dart arrived at its intended target.
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Only this time, things didn’t go according to plan. Nick expected the dart to stun the komo long enough for him to land a solid slash, but that was not how events played out.
What happened was that the komo’s eyes tracked the incoming missile… and it leapt to one side just before the spell made contact. The sliver of silver streaked past before disappearing into the dark earth below. Crap. The darts can be guided, but they aren’t capable of homing… This was all the time for reflection that Nick had before the enraged predator leapt for his throat.
He brought his blade to bear just in time, scoring a shallow slash along the komo’s flank after the lizard used its claws to block the sword and land by his side. It was a good opportunity to try casting the spell mid-battle, so he took a defensive stance and activated the ability, hoping that he had enough mana to conjure three darts back-to-back.
Mana Dar—
Before he could finish gathering his will, the lizard lunged, unleashing a fierce barrage of tooth and claw. Only Nick’s numerous encounters with these beasts, along with his new levels and daily training, allowed him to endure the komo’s wrath while keeping his skin intact. Well, mostly intact. As usual, he had already taken a few light scratches from the lizard’s natural weaponry.
Eventually, the beast began to tire, although Nick had grown quite weary by this point as well. After failing to land a bite aimed at his knees, the komo opened some space to recover its energy. He finally had a few uninterrupted seconds to concentrate. Mana Dart, he willed, and a fresh dart blinked into existence.
Ready to end the fight, he tried casting the spell one more time so that he could test directing two darts at once. This time, instead of completing the spell, Nick felt a strange sensation pulsing below his heart. It reminded him a bit of what it felt like when he accidentally stuck the hose of his vacuum cleaner against his skin, as if something had tried to suck energy out of his core, but the container was empty. It was accompanied by a wave of disorientation, which only lasted for a heartbeat.
Three-dart limit, Nick noted. Combat casting works fine, but it takes most of my attention. Meaning that there are advantages to both saving my mana for when I need it and pre-casting the spell before a fight begins. There seem to be consequences to running completely out of mana as well, but I’ll have to explore that later. It’s time to conclude today’s experiment.
He only had one more test that he wanted to run before he was done. He raised his sword above him in a two-handed grip, then gave the dart its marching orders.
The komo looked confused when the dart shot straight up, disappearing among the treetops as it streaked away from the battlefield. The beast quickly shook off its bewilderment and took advantage of the opening by charging in low, barreling straight for Nick’s undefended stomach.
Just before the komo’s jaws came snapping shut, a streak of silver descended from the canopy like a miniature meteorite plummeting from the heavens. The dart’s trajectory carried it beyond the komo’s field of view, just as Nick had visualized. While the beefy lizard was busy closing the distance, his spell had shot up to its maximum range of fifteen feet, then turned around and come straight down, targeting the komo’s back center mass.
Once again, the magical missile disappeared into the komo’s body without leaving a mark behind. It wound up stunning the beast for exactly two and a half seconds, the second application proving less effective than the first. But it was more than enough time for Nick to take aim and bring the sword streaking down, with the weight of his body behind it. The razored edge met the komo’s extended neck and cleaved straight through, severing flesh and bone in turn before erupting out the other side in a ruddy plume of gore.
It seems the dart can follow a tight arc but not reverse its momentum on a dime. Fifteen feet is the limit of my control, not the maximum distance that the dart can travel. Nick analyzed the results of his experiment as he went to work butchering the komo’s corpse, collecting enough nasty meat to last him through the next few days. He had gained some incredibly useful information, and there was a great deal more to discover through further testing, but not today.
Before it grew any later, Nick needed to explore the highlands. While he had no idea how badly the lurk had been injured during the intense melee with the sleepshroom, it seemed likely that the beast would be out of commission for at least a day, offering him the best chance to survey the region he would get before time ran out.
He stopped by his cave long enough to grill up a pair of lizard legs, then shoved them into his pack and set off to the north. Nick was ready to scout the highlands as thoroughly as he could before he was forced to call it a day by the setting sun.