As Gregory took off his eyepatch and smiled widely, Kelsey, Lisa, and Owen were able to see two perfectly healthy, dark brown eyes staring back at them.
All three of them burst into cheers of excitement. Kelsey leapt off her seated position on the bed and wrapped Gregory in a powerful hug. “Hell yes! Hell yes! I am so glad that worked!” Kelsey screamed in excitement.
Gregory patted her on the back. “Thank ye Kel, I never thought I’d be able to see out of me left eye again…” A single tear running down his cheek, which he quickly wiped away with the handkerchief he pulled from a pocket.
“My pleasure.” Kelsey said happily as she released the ex-guild master from her hug. “You are going to have one hell of a learning curve I’d reckon. I'll be you've gotten pretty used to fighting with only one eye.” she said with a small laugh.
Owen shot Gregory a jovial grin. "Don't worry, Lisa and I can whip you into shape in no time." Then, with a serious and heartfelt tone, he continued. "Welcome back, brother."
Gregory nodded solemnly. “Good to be back."
Letting out a short cough, Gregory stood up and stretched his arms, clearly trying to push away the seriousness of the moment. "Ye, getting used to having depth perception again will be a challenge.” he said as he picked up his cutlass and walked in the direction of the stone platform. "Come on, we have some work to do."
“No magic!” Kelsey yelled out as he walked away.
As Gregory walked away stoically, Lisa and Owen followed, with Lisa buzzing with excitement. It was strange for Kelsey, watching them adjust to everything so quickly. They worked so well together and had such a strong bond. Kelsey was technically part of their party, but she always felt like an outsider; like a fourth wheel. It made sense, really. Gregory and Owen were brothers, and Lisa was in a relationship with Owen so it made sense that they would be closer with one another than her.
It also didn't help that she spent so much time away from them and had passed them in levels so quickly. Whenever they talked, it was clear there was some barrier between them that hadn't existed when she had first met them back near Whitebranch. It was almost as if they had drifted apart while Kelsey had focused on her goal of Immortality.
Hopefully they'll catch up soon... Gods, I really hope they get True Classes and can burn through Gold rank in a month or so like I did. Maybe that would make things less weird... Either way, I really need to spend more quality time with them, outside of leveling up and adventuring. I know they're planning on taking a longer vacation, maybe I should join them, put off some of the other stuff I've got going on...
If I don't, I might end up losing them...
Kelsey pulled herself out of her somewhat depressing thoughts and brought herself back to reality so she could watch as Gregory, Lisa, and Owen squared off from one another in preparation to begin their sparring.
The trio spent the next three and a half hours getting used to their new Mageblood bodies. It took much longer than anticipated for Gregory to get used to having two eyes again as he had been so accustomed to fighting with one. Every time he swung his cutlass, his blade was always in just the wrong place, mere centimeters off, but it was enough for Lisa and Owen to take advantage of.
Watching them spar was still very interesting. Kelsey knew that Gregory was a water creator, and it showed in the way he fought. Out of the three of them, he was far and away the least talented with his melee weapon. He was okay, but Kelsey thought that she might even be better than him, which was saying something considering how bad Kelsey was with her saber.
Thanks to the fact that he was nearly thirty levels higher, he was still able to hold his own against them. It was also clear that if he had access to his water magic, he would have been able to win the fight against both of them quite easily.
He was the only combat capable creator out of the three of them, and he fought like he had access to his magic, always backing away and creating distance when he really should be trying to create an opening. He had the kind of habits that were probably really useful when he could use his skills, but were nothing but a detriment during a melee only fight.
Thankfully, during this sparring, the group finally got their first taste of what Mageblood regeneration was really like. During one of his fights, Gregory completely missed a block against Lisa’s glaive, and she was able to stab him deep in the shoulder.
It was the kind of injury that would have been crippling before, and Lisa reacted as if it were, dropping her weapon and apologizing profusely. But Gregory instantly stepped back, activated his Mageblood regeneration, and was ready to get back in the fight within twenty seconds.
Lisa picked up her glaive, somewhat embarrassed at forgetting about their regeneration, and rejoined the fight as soon as Gregory was ready.
Once they were finally done and Gregory felt ready to have a real fight, the trio walked up to Kelsey with giant smiles on their faces.
“Kelsey… I can’t explain to you how amazing this new Mageblood body is…” Lisa said in wonder. “I know you have had it since level 1, but… it's hard to describe. It almost feels like getting an extra advancement that you hadn’t been expecting…”
“We’ve lived on this planet for several decades, and none of us thought a body like this was even possible… It’s incredible.” Owen said in agreement.
“Aye… I do feel like cleaning up blood and buying new clothes is going to become a much more frequent occurrence though.” Gregory said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Kelsey laughed. “Actually yeah, you’ll be buying a ton of new clothes and armor all the time likely… unless I’m around of course.” she said as she waved her hand, destroying the blood covering Gregory’s shoulder. She then used her other skills to repair his clothing and armor that was damaged in the fight.
As she did this, she immediately felt a twinge of pain in her head from using mana. “Alright everyone, time for the main event.” she said as she opened the portal back to the real world.
The trio looked confused at her comment but followed her through the portal and back into Kelsey’s large tent sitting inside The Burrow.
“Main event? What do you mean, Kel?” Lisa asked.
Kelsey flashed them a giant grin. “You know how I could always tell exactly how much mana I used? Turns out, it's not a random talent I have. It’s a function of the Mageblood body itself, go ahead, try it out.” she said as she sat down on the bed.
Gregory was the first to act, immediately as Kelsey finished her sentence, he had a ball of water floating in front of him, both eyes wide in amazement.
Lisa and Owen followed shortly after. Owen created a small ball of water in front of himself, but Lisa was the real surprise. She created a small disk of stone and spun it around her fingers playfully.
“You figured out Minor Earth Creation too!?” Kelsey shouted in excitement.
Lisa looked up and grinned. “Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Light, and last but not least, Shadow.”
Kelsey stared at her smiling blonde friend. “You learned six separate creation magics in the past month?” Kelsey asked, shocked. “How did the rest of you do?”
Smiles broke out on both Owen and Gregory’s faces as they both held up five on their hands. “We learned the manipulation skills for all of them too.” Owen answered smugly.
Kelsey was blown away by their progress. “That’s incredible, how?”
“Well, ye were gone longer than expected, so we just practiced practically all day every day, and shared our tips with one another. Yer training on sensing mana usage was incredibly helpful.” Gregory answered distractedly. He was still incredibly focused on the water moving in front of him.
“Your advancements are going to be incredible. I promise.” Kelsey said, feeling extremely satisfied. “Hell, you might be offered a class like the Magus.”
Lisa looked skeptical. “Didn’t it have the requirement of ‘You shall walk alone’? Doesn’t that sort of imply… that you will walk… alone? How can we get a class like that?”
Kelsey nodded. “I think that line references having one class. I have reason to believe that singular powerful classes that disallow other classes will all have that kind of message in them.” she answered confidently.
She knew that saying that would make her friends question how she got ahold of such information, but it was a calculated choice of words.
Owen and Gregory looked at Kelsey quizzically.
“What reason do you have to believe that?” Owen asked suspiciously.
Kelsey felt like they were inferring, correctly, that their mother had been involved in Kelsey learning that information.
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She looked at them with a small grin. “Sorry, can’t say.”
Owen and Gregory nodded knowingly, but Lisa was clearly confused. “What, why? What is going on?” she asked.
“Our mother.” Owen answered simply. “She loves her oaths.”
“I see… Well, it doesn’t matter I suppose. Our classes are going to be awesome either way.” Lisa said confidently. “Are we ready to go pass into gold?” she asked excitedly.
“One second, before you go. Do any of you have the Magesight skill, or do you just have mana sight?” Kelsey asked seriously.
They all three shook their heads in unison.
“Damn, alright never mind. I was hoping to get you the Eye of the Magus skill as well, but we’ll just have to find another way to evolve your identify skill.”
“That’s all, Lisa is itching to go, so let’s not make her keep waiting.” Kelsey said happily.
Owen and Gregory nodded and they all three walked out of the tent. Lisa had turned around and started walking the moment Kelsey said the words ‘never mind’.
Excitedly, Kelsey followed them, interested to see how they would choose to pass through to gold.
As they exited the tent, Kelsey’s domain expanded to fill The Burrow, and she quickly scanned the area until she found Leon. Good, he’s here.
He was standing around a fire, chatting with some of his guild members.
Kelsey quickly looked in his direction, physically. As she did, he moved his head towards her as well, in clear sign that he saw her.
She mouthed the words; ‘I will come to see you.’ as she did some miming with her hands to get the point across.
Leon nodded his head in understanding and went back to talking with his guild mates.
The trio quickly led Kelsey down the stairs all the way to floor 9 where the level range was 130 - 145. If Kelsey remembered correctly, this was a jungle biome with a species of large monkeys that used stone magic.
Interesting choice…
She thought that Owen and Lisa likely would have struggled on this floor if they were alone, but with Gregory, it shouldn’t be an issue since his primary class was already well above level 100.
As they entered, Kelsey's memory of the floor was confirmed, and she saw dozens of Stone Monkey’s swinging between the large vines on the trees above.
Gregory took the lead, walking confidently towards the monsters. As one of them got into range, Gregory created a handful of water whips that surrounded him in a protective manner and then raised his hand, shooting a bolt of water directly at one of the nearby monkeys that was swinging through the air.
The monkey was hit with the water bolt, it was flung off course and slammed into a nearby tree, creating a spiderweb of cracks along the bark.
Kelsey could hear it howl in pain as it hit the tree. She almost felt bad for the monster. It was clear that Gregory's opening attack was nothing more than a casual opening shot.
Owen and Lisa both drew their weapons and moved to help Gregory. Owen stood beside his brother, shield at the ready, and Lisa was behind them both, her glaive poised for an opportune strike.
The monkey recovered quickly, picking itself up and pulling itself out of the damaged tree. Dropping down to the ground below, it immediately manipulated the stone beneath its feet, creating a wave of earth that the monkey was able to ride like a surfboard on the ocean towards its targets.
It wouldn’t have an opportunity to get close though as Owen lifted his left hand, palm facing outward, and shot an incredibly powerful bolt of lightning directly at the monkey’s feet. Kelsey had always wondered why he used a shield that strapped on rather than one he held. I guess I found my answer. Very cool.
Lightning was one of the elements Kelsey had never really used in combat. She didn’t really know why; it was incredibly fast and powerful, but she never really found good opportunities to fight with it. Although, to be fair, she didn’t love how much noise it made. I’ll have to start trying it more often… Can't let a little bit of loud noise stop me from using a useful tool.
The following explosion was incredibly loud, as Kelsey had expected, and dozens of the monkeys around them reacted quickly, immediately making their way towards the sound.
Kelsey was worried for a moment, until she saw the faces of her friends. They were smiling, ready and excited. That must have been their plan all along. They want to draw out more monkeys.
The trio burst into action, Gregory copied the first monkey, creating a wave of water under his feet that he rode around, the water whips following beside him like an extension of his body.
Lisa moved after him, her incredible dexterity making her physically the fastest of the three. She ran up to the monkey that Owen had hit with the lightning bolt and quickly finished it off with a quick slash of her glaive.
Owen, for his part, followed Lisa closely, sending smaller blasts of lighting at any monkey that got too close.
It was clear that Gregory, being a much higher level, was the linchpin of their group. He quickly wrapped up any of the monkeys that got too close with one of his water whips, and then Lisa or Owen would run up and finish the job.
As she saw them in action, Kelsey was incredibly impressed by the whips of water. She remembered that one of the Thorn Wolves she fought in the Mageblood forest used that exact style of fighting, and it was probably the most difficult fight she had up until her battle with the minotaur king.
I wonder if I can make steel whips… she thought to herself. Then, she had an epiphany. Back when she was learning her creation magic, she had accidentally created a metal material that was as strong as steel, but as flexible as a rope, like a steel cable. She remembered thinking that it may be useful someday. I think I just found a use for it. That’s another thing going in the ‘I need to try that when I get some time’ pile.
As excited as she was about the thought of steel whips, she went back to focusing on the fight in front of her. She had already gotten one great idea, maybe her party would give her another.
The defensive capabilities of Owen were incredible to watch. He had activated his static levitation skill and was now skating along the ground, intercepting any and all stone magic attacks the monkey’s sent towards his team, deflecting them easily. This meant that both of his allies were able to focus almost entirely on offense.
In fact, he was so good at his job, that none of them needed to activate Mageblood regeneration.
Lisa was their attacker. Any monkey that she could reach would be dead moments later. Her glaive moved much faster than the slow, earth-based monkeys could react, and she was able to slip her blade in between any defenses they tried to create. She was deadly.
The entire fight took less than ten minutes. Gregory was the first to reach his advancement, and once he did, he sat back and just used his water to help defend his party, intentionally fighting as little as possible.
Lisa was the second. She was significantly more threatening than Owen was, and thus was able to secure more solo kills faster than he could. After Gregory had backed off, she had taken up the mantle as the primary offense, weaving in and out of the monkey’s defenses like a whirlwind.
Owen followed less than a minute later, smiling excitedly when he got his notification.
Owen killed significantly less than the other two… why is he finished so quickly? Does defending your team really give you that much contribution for leveling?
I suppose it makes sense. If the system really is just a gateway to the power of the soul, as long as you’re following your path, you should be gaining experience. His path is protection… interesting…
After the three of them had reached their advancement level, there were still a few dozen monkeys left, as more and more had continuously streamed in due to Owen’s bombastic use of lightning magic.
“Hey guys, don’t kill them, I want to try something.” Kelsey said when she saw they were all done leveling.
Smiling to herself in excitement. Kelsey accessed her Parallel Thoughts skill and moved all but one of them from her domain, information flooding into her head as she did so.
Once her excess minds were free, she activated the skill with a simple intention. ‘Kill the monkeys’.
As she did, she felt her mana begin moving on its own. Her body didn’t move a hair, but her mana was spent nonetheless as dozens of telekinetic spears popped into existence around her and were launched towards the monkeys with mechanical precision.
Each one was launched at an individual monkey with perfect accuracy and every single monkey that was within her line of sight was instantly killed by her autonomous skills.
She did some quick estimating and thought that she would be able to achieve that level of accuracy against about one fifth of the monkeys within range. Since she had five extra consciousnesses, she guessed that her estimation was correct.
It also told her that the other streams of consciousness were just as proficient with her magic as she was.
Oh yeah… now I get it…
She paused, thinking about how her Senses of the Magus had spiked when she read the skill.
With this ability, I’ll be able to deal with multiple enemies much more easily. I’m not sure how effective it will be against a single stronger opponent, but I will give it a shot next time I find myself in a real fight. I usually use all of my mana when fighting so it's not like my other consciousnesses would even have mana to play with.
She was extremely pleased with such a successful test run of her new Parallel Thinking skill and was incredibly excited to spend a few hours testing it once she got back to the Mageblood forest.
Kelsey pulled herself out of her thoughts and saw her three friends staring at her in shock. “New skill… I’ll explain everything once we’re back at my cabin.” Kelsey said reassuringly.
“Kelsey, why is it that every time you’re gone for twenty seconds you come back to us with some crazy new shit that none of us have ever heard of?” Lisa asked a hint of what Kelsey thought might be genuine annoyance in her voice.
Kelsey put up her hands defensively. “Hey, this one was kind of sorta intentional, I swear. Like I said, I’ll explain it once we all get back. I actually owe Gwen an explanation about it too.”
“Anyways, have you all decided if you want to do your advancement here, or in the forest?” Kelsey asked, trying to change the subject.
They all looked at each other briefly before answering in unison. “Forest.”
Kelsey smiled guiltily. They were probably very tired of living in The Trial. They had all expected to already be on vacation by now.
“Alright, I’ll send you back. I need to talk to Leon, and then I need to pick up my brother and his family. After that, I’ll be back.” Kelsey said. “Do you have anything in the tent that you need to bring? Or can I warp you from here?”
They all discussed the question for a few seconds before Owen answered. “Here is fine. That stuff will be here when we get back. No big deal. They’re mostly your books anyways.”
Kelsey nodded. “Alright. Well, I hope you guys get some amazing classes, and I hope you have cool stuff to show me when I get back.”
They all smiled excitedly. “We will.” Lisa said confidently.
Kelsey activated her warp skill, said her goodbyes, and teleported her friends back to her cabin.