“I wonder,” Levi said thoughtfully as Caleb and Sue made their way down into the combat arena. “Have you learned any support techniques during Combat Training?”
“You mean specifically for supporting others?” Aida shook her head. “Not really, we’re always focused on offensive capabilities, and what little defense we learn is for ourselves.”
Levi hummed thoughtfully, and she glanced at him suspiciously. “What are you thinking?”
“This is just something I’ve heard the Adventurer Affiliates discuss, but apparently there are some combat Healers who also use techniques like Mana Shield on their teammates?”
Aida frowned as she thought. Now that he mentioned it, she remembered Healer Luk had said something about that…what was it?
“You have to keep track of your members at all times - a good Healer keeps their party members healthy, but an excellent Healer anticipates and prevents their members from requiring Healing in the first place.”
Aida clapped her hands together. “Ah, I remember Healer Luk said something about that! Using Mana Shield and Defense Up on someone else. She said it was hard, though…”
“This might be a good time to try using those skills on Caleb,” Levi suggested. “While he’s still fresh and can tank some hits from Suelina if either of you mess up.”
Aida balked. “But…I don’t even know the theory behind doing that…”
Unprompted, a blue notification box popped up in front of her face.
You have enough RP to learn a new Skill. Please select from the following:
1. Party Defense Up (Lv1) - Costs 100 RP to learn. Cast Defense Up on up to four other party members within a 20ft radius.
2. Party Mana Shield (Lv1) - Costs 100 RP to learn. Cast Mana Shield on up to four other party members within a 20ft radius.
Total RP: 282
A second notification box popped up right as Aida was about to select Party Defense Up (Lv1) out of curiosity.
Party Skills provide support to your teammates when you fight together. The higher your base level Individual skill, the less mana is required to cast the corresponding Party skill, and the more effective the skill is. The higher your Party skill, the longer the duration and casting range.
“Well?” Levi asked impatiently, waving his hand in her face. “Do you want me to go see if Healer Luk is available to teach you or not?”
“No, it’s okay,” Aida decided. “I think I’ve got it. HEY!”
Aida waved at Sue and Caleb as she vaulted over the wall into the combat ring. “Caleb! Levi just suggested I try something out…”
“What’s wrong?” Sue called as she jogged over.
“I’m going to try using Defense Up and Mana Shield on Caleb,” Aida informed Sue. Caleb tilted his head, intrigued. “That way, maybe I can still leech some practice off of you two instead of just waiting until Caleb gets hurt or something.” Sue clapped her hands together while Caleb tilted his head the other way.
“Should I still use Defense Up and Mana Shield on my own?” Caleb asked dubiously. “My main purpose for this sparring session was so I could improve my defenses myself…”
“Maybe we can try using both together?” Aida asked. Stacking the defensive effects together should be logical - Caleb would hopefully become impenetrable. “I haven’t tried casting it on someone else before, so chances are my shield wouldn’t help you much anyway…”
“That makes sense.” Caleb nodded. “That also allows Suelina to fully exert her power.”
“This is such a wonderful idea!” Sue cheered as she twirled, her golden locks floating around her in an elegant halo. “I’ll hold myself back less!”
“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here,” Levi said warily, approaching cautiously. “Aida doesn’t know how to do it yet, so we don’t know if it will work.”
“No, it will work,” Aida said confidently. “The strength of my technique may be questionable, but I’ll at least be able to give Caleb a small boost.”
Caleb shrugged as Sue nodded affirmatively, giving Aida a thumbs up. Levi acquiesced, dipping his head and lifting a hand in surrender.
Aida pointed her wand at Caleb, her tongue between her teeth. Party Defense Up. Party Mana Shield. She felt her body sag a bit as the mana surged from her, wrapping around Caleb’s body and inserting into his own mana.
With Aida’s improved mana control, she was instinctively more careful about keeping her mana within its bounds: she helped boost Caleb's muscles alongside his own mana, but kept her mana wrapped in a protective layer to prevent them from accidentally crossing into each other's flows.
Same thing with Mana Shield: she fell into the rhythm of Caleb’s own Mana Shield flow, and where some of his mana layers were thin or had openings, she patched up his shield. Caleb nodded in appreciation as Sue let out a small “ooo,” able to sense the buff Aida provided.
Aida retreated, leaving only Sue and Caleb in the ring. “Okay, let’s give it a shot!”
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As Sue and Caleb faced each other, Levi took his place next to Aida. “What was that?”
“I did what you suggested: I used Party Defense Up and Mana Shield on Caleb.”
“But you said you didn’t know how to do it!”
“I figured it out.”
“In a single minute? Without an explanation from anyone else?” Levi asked skeptically. Sue started sending some fireballs that Caleb dodged easily as a warmup.
“I was successful, was I not?” Aida asked, gesturing at the ring. Caleb was still evading Sue’s attacks with ease, making no moves to counter. Sue was smiling, adding more curves and breaking up the rhythm of fireballs she sent towards Caleb.
As far as responding to Levi’s question…she had to admit to herself here their friendship still hadn’t recovered to the point where she felt she could tell him everything anymore. Why did he need to know the specifics of her video game system?
Levi sighed. “I guess you really are a genius. That’s the only explanation. But at least you’re friendlier than Ezra.”
Before Aida could respond, she flinched as a slice of flame struck Caleb, dissipating harmlessly against his shield. “Oh, that didn’t feel good.”
Even though Aida didn’t bear the brunt of the attack, she had felt her Mana Shield on Caleb absorb some of the fire, evaporating into the air like steam.
“That attack was Sue getting into the groove,” Levi observed. “Not one of her big ones yet.”
“That’s reassuring,” Aida muttered. She aimed her wand at Caleb, funneling some more mana into Caleb’s shield to replenish what was lost before she began Mana Cycling. “At least I can still train while being on the sidelines.”
“This is an interesting training tactic,” Levi mused, growing a stout leafy bush for himself and Aida to sit on. “I think I should pick up this Party skill also.”
I wonder if I can learn Party Mana Surge, too, Aida mused as she watched Caleb begin moving faster in order to keep up with Sue’s attacks. She had moved from small fireballs to waves of flame, forcing him to traverse greater distances in order to dodge her attacks.
Obligingly, Party Mana Surge (Lv1) appeared in her Unlearned Skills list, but this time costing 150 RP. What?!
Party Mana Surge allows you to connect with your party members to supplement their speed and strength. A higher base level of Mana Surge would translate to increased efficiency in Party Mana Surge, allowing you to maintain a steady pool of mana for party members to draw from and preventing them from overdrawing.
Skimming through the rest of the explanation of how the skill worked, Aida begrudgingly acknowledged Party Mana Surge’s price tag was reasonable. Efficiency was an important factor in casting a useful Mana Surge, as Aida had learned early on; she didn’t have the mana capacity to wastefully flood her own body with mana, let alone multiple other teammates. Even though the skill box’s words were perfectly polite and reasonable, she got the feeling it was looking at her reproachfully for being stingy with her RP, in light of how much of a shortcut it provided for her. It’s already helping me skip several steps to insert my mana into someone else safely…asking someone else to teach me would take a really long time.
Aida gasped as Sue crashed into Caleb, the two of them blurring into hand-to-hand combat too fast for the eye to see. She couldn’t describe the specifics of what was happening, but she could feel the pounding Sue gave Caleb as she smashed his body, her mana supporting Caleb’s Defense Up crumbling under the abuse.
“It’s okay to let go, Aida,” Levi said urgently. She didn’t realize she had fallen forward on her seat, and he was now supporting her shoulders. “Caleb’s defense is holding up fine, so don’t try to keep up with them.”
“Sue just busted through the mana shield like nothing,” Aida mumbled, relaxing as she released her mana from Caleb. “Has she always been like this, or is this after her power-up in the Western Woods?”
Levi lifted his worried eyes from her face to the arena, assessing. “She’s still fighting at the same level as the beginning of this sun cycle. But Caleb’s still looking pretty fresh, so your support brought him a long way.”
Aida closed her eyes, breathing deeply through her nose to encourage her Mana Cycling. I got stronger, but still not strong enough to withstand Sue’s barrage.
Levi’s words were encouraging, but if anything it painted an even grimmer picture of how desolate Wyndia’s fate was. As a mana practitioner, she was part of the minority that had the ability to actually face off against monsters. And after several more moon cycles of training, Aida felt more confident in her mana usage and elemental manipulation, and she was certain she could perform decently well in a team - or at least, she wouldn’t be the one dragging everyone down.
But as an average practitioner - not a bottom-of-the-class practitioner - she had no chance of surviving even for a moment against Sue. And Sue, by all accounts, barely survived whatever The Evil did to her. Even if Sue was supposed to save the world…what would happen to everybody as she developed her strength and searched for it? There weren’t enough of them to hold off the monster attacks, which were getting more frequent and powerful.
Post-graduation life is going to be a lot more stressful than I thought…
“Okay, let’s move back to the viewing seats,” Levi said hastily, dragging Aida from her stool. “Caleb and Sue are getting a little too reckless now.”
The earth trembled as Aida and Levi put distance between themselves and the fight, Caleb finally pulling his element out to defend against Sue’s powerful attacks. I’m so glad I don’t ever have to face Sue, Aida thought grimly as she stumbled her way up the steps.
“Levi, what are you doing?” Lara was standing at the top of the stairs, gazing out at the ring where Sue and Caleb were still fighting. “Hello, Aida.”
“We’re putting ourselves a safe distance away from Suelina,” Levi responded. “What are you doing, Lara?”
“I ran into my cousin, and he proposed a ‘friendly’ match,” Lara said grimly, delicately pointing over her shoulder with her chin. “And since I didn’t have anything else going on…”
Dev stepped out right behind Lara, a faint smirk on his face. He was flanked by his own friends, all of them wearing various expressions of excitement and wariness. Behind the boys floated Lara’s younger friends, barely able to contain their excitement.
“Really? What’s the occasion?” Aida looked at Dev, and his eyes glimmered as he looked at her.
“As Lara said, it’s just a friendly match to see how much she has improved in Class 1.” His tone was polite, but there was an undercurrent of challenge in his voice. Aida frowned as Dev’s words about being satisfied with being perceived to be “worse” than Lara floated to the forefront of her mind. What is he trying to achieve?
“I see. Well, have fun with your match,” Levi said, bowing as he allowed Lara and Dev to pass them into the ring.
“What’s going on? Why is Dev fighting all of a sudden?” Aida asked as she sidled over to Shon and Abedi. Myk answered for them.
“We made a bet.” He eyed her beadily. “Did you not talk to Dev about it?”
Aida shook her head. “Nothing about a bet.” Myk smirked.
“Well, let’s just see how the bet goes then.”