Traversing their way through the forest, Lee, Neia, and Ruven, make good time towards Neldam. Along the way, Lee kept thinking of ways to make his air based speed buff work.
I don’t actually know what would cause someone to have increased speed.
Lee then tries to think of a way to affect not the person itself, but an area around the person. His way of blocking air resistance and drag seemed to be a decent starting point, but in the end fruitless.
Two hours eventually pass with Lee attempting various ways to create a movement buff. Lee, frustrated, decides to ask Neia for some ideas. “Neia, I’ve tried all that I can think of, but I don’t think I have the knowledge to magically enhance someone. Do you have any ideas? Maybe you have been affected by a buff before? What did it feel like?”
Neia slows her pace down while responding. “I don’t think I've been affected by a movement buff before, but I’ve been buffed in various other ways. The feeling of having your resistances buffed feels like your mana changes to protect you from an element.” Neia pauses, thinking for a moment, but eventually shakes her head. “It’s hard to explain, that’s the best I can put it into words.” She continues trekking forwards, leaving Lee contemplating what she said.
Mana changed? Can spells affect a person's mana? Deciding to test this, Lee attempts another spell. Focusing on his internal mana and finding the breezy air, he tries to envelope his own mana in and around himself, focusing on the feeling of air, a gentle breeze, and freedom to go in any direction. Suddenly, Lee began to stumble, his speed had increased slightly.
Spell Created!
Spell Name: Swiftness.
Spell Description: This spell eradicates air resistance, allowing the target to move swiftly. Harnessing the very currents around them, this spell transforms resistance into a backdraft, increasing movement speed. Effectiveness varies depending on the environment.
Duration: 5 Minutes.
Cooldown: 1 Minute.
Lee stumbles and falls face first onto the forest floor, crumpling the leaves beneath him. Neia turns quickly, hearing the sound of Lee falling. Looking down at him, her lips curl ever so slightly and she asks. “What are you doing?”
Ruven bursts into laughter, having seen the full display of Lee’s faceplant. “I think he got his spell to work but he didn’t seem prepared for the effects.” Ruven barely finishes the sentence between his laughs.
Lee tries to stand up, but overcompensates and falls on his ass. Red in the face from embarrassment, Lee exclaims “This spell fucking sucks! I can’t control my body.” Neia, now chuckling from Lee’s misfortune, leans over him and says. “Use your spell on me. It can’t be that bad.” Lee casts Swiftness on Neia, hoping to see her eat dirt as well.
Neia jumps up and down on her tiptoes testing the spell's effects. “Not bad, I like the way it feels. Wait here for a moment.” She turns and gets into a sprinter's starting position. No less than two seconds later, Neia springs forth sprinting ahead through the trees, creating a colorful swirl of fallen leaves in her wake.
Jaw to the floor, Lee looks on in surprise, as Neia was flawlessly sprinting without losing balance or stumbling. Ruven must have seen his look, as he speaks. “Your dexterity is too low to effectively use the effects of your spell.” Lee glances at Ruven, seeing him with arms crossed watching Neia sprint. “It’s a good spell, even I can see that. Don’t feel too bad or pressured into raising your agility just to use this spell. You can always create a spell for your own personal movement.” Lee turns back around and sees that Neia has started on her return. Lee guesses that she is roughly twenty percent faster.
Once Neia stops near them, she has a giant smile on her face. Turning, she stares at Lee with her green glowing eyes full of excitement. “If we get into a fight you must use this spell on me. I can’t wait to try it out.” Neia finishes, still slightly bobbing on her toes. Lee decides to not ruin her fun, and informs her on the duration. She simply nods with her smile plastered on her face.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shoots through Lee’s back, causing him to lurch forward in his sitting position. In no time at all, the jovial smile on Neia's face disappears and turns fierce as he hears Ruven shout “Goblins!”
-32 HP: 103/135
Gasping and still under the effects of his own spell, which is hampering his movements, Lee uses his Gale Burst spell to launch himself towards a nearby tree to use as cover. The spell did just as he wanted, as Lee slammed into the nearby Amethyst Willow, and avoided two more arrows arriving at his previous location.
Ruven wastes no time, with a face full of determination, he unslings his bow and launches arrows into the forest. Lee follows the arrows and finally see’s the Goblins. The group of Goblins was much larger than Lee anticipated, more than twenty Goblins and two Hobgoblins. Lee quickly uses his new spell Swiftness on Ruven, then proceeds to cast his other newest spell, Blind on one of the two Hobgoblins.
Meanwhile, Neia unleashes one of her icy spell grenades into the group, killing and maiming a handful, as she dashes toward the blind Hobgoblin with her increased speed, dipping and dodging incoming projectiles.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Lee hears more projectiles impact the tree he is hiding behind. Quickly, Lee reaches for his back and grabs hold of the arrow shaft. Letting out a slow deep breath, Lee yanks the arrow shaft out of his back, eliciting a scream of pain.
-3 100/135
Lee’s injury is now free of any obstructions and starts to heal passively with his ability Healer’s Touch. Turning his head to look at his allies, Lee see’s Ruven side stepping incoming projectiles as he himself launches his own. Lee decides to use one of his new Class given skills, Medical Attention.
Medical Attention - This skill allows you to see a representation of others current HP and MP. May also be used to diagnose patients.
In an instant, two small bars, one red, and one blue, appear above Ruven and Lee intuitively knows that the red represents HP and the blue MP. The MP bar is roughly 75% full. The HP is completely full. Determining that Ruven is fine, he swings his gaze towards Neia. Her HP bar is full and her mana is around 60%.
Lee, determining that his allies are okay, decides to go on the offensive. Searching for wounded goblins with his new Medical Attention skill, he decides to finish them off with Earthen Strikes. Every second, Lee launches a chunk of earth into a wounded Goblin, crushing their skulls and ending their life or damaging them even more by leaving gaping wounds along their green bumpy bodies. It appears that a well placed Earthen Strike does around one-third to half of a Goblins HP bar.
By this time Neia reached the group of enemies. Unsheathing her blades, she does a rapid cross slash, cutting the Goblin in her path into four chunks of meat without even slowing down. Sprinting through the falling gore of the goblin, Neia sprints directly for the blind Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin is screeching and rubbing his eyes with his palms in confusion as Neia’s twin sickles slice into its abdomen, opening its stomach and enabling gravity to release its insides outwards.
The other Hobgoblin, seeing that its group is being dismantled, flies into a rage. Grabbing its knotted wooden club and raising it high above its head, the Hobgoblin jumps towards Neia, looking to smash her into the ground.
Neia, stops near instantly, and launches herself backwards, narrowly avoiding the club crashing down. Earth, sticks, and leaves, get launched outwards from the impact. Neia, instead of matching the Hobgoblin, ignores it, she turns and begins butchering the normal Goblins around her. Each swing of her sickle blades removes an appendage or head from a goblin.
Ruven, Lee, and Neia slaughter all of the normal goblins over the course of the next thirty seconds, while Neia dances and avoids the lumbering Hobgoblin chasing after her.
Once the last normal goblin has been felled, Neia instantly changes direction and charges the last remaining enemy, while shouting out. “It’s level 32! Hit it!”
Lee, having heard the shout, launched three Icicle Spears. Each spear of ice pierced the Hobgoblin a few inches. Ruven launched a series of arrows aimed at the legs of the Hobgoblin, bringing it to its knees.
Neia, seeing an opportunity, swings around the side of the Hob, and coats her sickle blades in frost. In but a moment she swings for the neck.
After the attack, Lee see’s that her mana has dropped to 20%, she doesn’t even look back as the head slowly slides off the neck, leaving behind frozen flesh, not enabling blood to pour forth from the wound.
You are now level 6! Three stat points available.
Neia, coated in gore and with fierce eyes, reaches Lee and Ruven and says. “That was not a normal group. No groups that large should be anywhere near this close to Neldam. We will loot and make haste towards Neldam to report.” She finishes speaking, with a tone that brooks no argument. Lee hastily nods and Ruven looks serious.
Lee begins to walk towards the gore ridden patch of forest to loot the dead bodies. Lee turns and vomits until there is nothing left in his stomach.
I forgot how fucked up this world is.
Lee takes a moment to recover. Ruven stops by on his way towards the bodies and gives Lee a pitying look. “Sadly, you get used to it. Hunting for food is one thing. Killing monsters is another.”A few minutes later, they all finished looting the corpses, having received only a few coins.
Neia stores the loot in her Bag of Holding, she then looks at Lee eyes fierce and determined, says. “We will not stop on our way back. So prepare for a longer trek through the night, a group that size should not be anywhere near here, so we will report to the Council of Elders.” She turns and starts towards Neldam, leading Lee and Ruven through the night.
A short while later, Lee decides to check his status to see how much XP was gained.
Name: Lee Barnes
HP: 135/135
MP 215/215
Level: 6
XP 200/2400
Titles:
Genesis of Healing*
Miracle Worker*
Class: Miracle Worker.
Profession: Otherworldly Academic
In Magic's Favor.
STATS:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 10
Wisdom: 13
Intelligence: 17
Luck: 10
Unused Points: 3
Skills:
Spells:
Abilities:
Skills:
Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth, Mana Manipulation, Speed Reading, Mana Dispersion, Medical Attention, Miraculous Return, Healer’s Beacon, Hidden Miracle, Alter Status.
Spells:
Basic: Earthen Strike, Gale burst, Wall of Winds, Orb of Light, Darken, Conjure Water, Blind, Swiftness.
Advanced: Mend Wounds, Icicle Spear, Touch of Remission, Purifying Light.
Expert: Glacial Cascade.
Master:
Synthesized:
Abilities:
Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache, Arcane Synthesis.