Four days passed in relative idleness. Will was content to spend his time honing his third-level spells. The modest quarters he had been given were also nice compared to sleeping on the road.
He stayed at the castle and waited for orders, but he hadn't been paid a single copper yet. He had demonstrated Magic Arrow and the 2nd-level spell Minor Lightning, but the lieutenant general only promised to pay him after his first battle.
The man called his casting slow. That was something inavoidable because Will didn't want to reveal his ability to slot spells. He had to go through both the preparatory phase and the trigger every time he demonstrated a spell.
Curiously, what they called his magical endurance did merit a passing positive note. It seemed like there was some kind of mana limit beginners usually suffered from.
All in all, he was deemed better than an apprentice, and they said Will would be entitled to a compensation of thirty silver per battle, provided that the lieutenant was satisfied with his performance in a real combat situation.
It was a bit shifty, but Will accepted it for now.
Finally, Will received a deployment order. A company was to ride out to catch a raiding party that had been sighted.
Will got ready by placing a potion bottle inside his belt pocket, one in the pocket of his new tunic, and three wrapped in some cloth and stuffed in a box within his backpack.
That left his inventory slots free for bigger items, such as the quarterstaff he didn't want to reveal needlessly, a stack of extra food and a stack of jars filled with water, and perhaps most importantly, a thick mattress.
Will had been lent a horse by the garrison, and he hoped this one would live. The whole group of forty men was on horseback, and soon they were making good progress along a meager road leading to some smaller border town not too far away.
"Didn't you say the enemy would be around a hundred men?" Will asked out when the progression slowed down for an uphill stretch, and the cacophony of the hooves banging against the dry ground became a little quieter.
"I did," Limul answered beside him, riding on his own, slightly smaller horse.
"Well, I just realized that there's only forty of us. Aren't we at a disadvantage?"
"On the contrary. The enemy will stand no chance."
Will had noticed that the fighting men around them were all tall and heavily built. Everyone wore chainmail shirts with some additional plate covering their chests and stomachs. Most of them wore some plate protecting the legs and forearms as well.
He and the dwarven mage were almost as heavily armored themselves. Will had noticed armor didn't affect his spellcasting unless it truly restricted his movements, so it seemed like a good idea to wear some.
Still, his original build had relied on his 16 Dexterity and the Dodge feat for survivability. Based on that, Will knew that he had to keep an eye on how well he could truly move around wearing armor.
"I guess we have the better troops, then?"
"Overwhelmingly so," the dwarf confirmed. "This is a reactive force; not some normal unit."
A scout that had raced ahead earlier approached from the front. Unlike the others, he didn't wear any armor and only carried a bow.
"Enemy sighted!" he shouted multiple times when he got within hearing distance.
"Halt!" the lieutenant commanded, and Will hurried to rein in his horse as did the others around him.
"I got their rear scout. I think he was the only one they had," the scout explained when he got closer.
"The main force is less than a mile away. When we crest the hill, they'll see us."
"Very good. Take a rest, soldier."
The lieutenant then raised his voice to address everyone. "Men! Get off your horses and water them! Get their coats damp as well! In five minutes, we ride at full speed!"
Soon, they rode for battle.
Will felt the familiar nervousness rising again.
The warriors rode ahead while Will and Limul stayed at the back. When they got close enough, the warriors dismounted, and the unarmored, riderless horses turned around and calmly ran further back, passing the mages by again. Will guessed they had been trained for the simple maneuver.
The armored warriors kept marching on foot.
Will saw the enemy, who had arranged a defensive formation across the road and some ways into the adjacent shrublands. A couple dozen crossbowmen were lined up at the front, who raised their weapons when their leader gave a command.
They fired a volley of bolts at the incoming men.
Will watched his allies' reaction intently.
The three men in the front had raised their tower shields and slowed down their advance while bracing for impact. The rest of the men walking in a line behind them got to take advantage of the cover provided by the vanguard.
Bolts slammed into the shields and didn't seem to accomplish too much.
Just one of the three men turned around and started limping back toward the mages and the lieutenant general. There was a bolt lodged in his armored shin.
The enemy crossbowmen dropped their ranged weapons to brandish melee weapons and shields instead.
The soldiers on Will's side begun spreading out to engage the whole enemy front, not letting any hostiles get to their two mages too easily.
"Shouldn't we be doing something?" Will asked.
"Wait for the command," Limul advised him.
"Mages! Fire!" the lieutenant finally shouted from the back of his horse, and Will was happy to begin casting.
He wasn't accomplishing all that much, given how his orders were to simply pelt the enemy with his level-one Magic Arrows, while his level-two Minor Lightning had been rejected by the lieutenant due to its long preparation time, even if it was pretty strong.
Which was fine. Will was a lot better at using the lower-level spell, anyway. It was supposed to scale pretty well with his caster level, so it made sense to invest more training hours on it.
The enemy was larger in individual size and better equipped than the goblins had been. Will's spell had got somewhat stronger, but it couldn't penetrate steel plate.
Still, there was a nice, loud ringing sound when his glowing arrow hit a well-made helmet, and such a hit would invariably daze the victim for a while, if not immediately knock them unconscious.
Sometimes he only managed to strike at the torso, where the spell didn't do much unless it struck an unarmored spot. Even then, he never missed. An ineffective hit still disturbed the frontliners and created openings for his allies to abuse.
Limul in turn was casting his spell of choice three times for each glowing arrow from Will. He was propelling rocks from the roadside at the enemy with just enough accuracy to avoid friendly fire.
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After some two minutes of intense casting, the dwarf wiped sweat from his brow and picked up his waterskin to take a quick swig.
"I wonder why they haven't routed yet," he spoke before continuing his bombardment at a slower rate.
Suddenly, a shrill whistle was heard from ahead, and a glowing streak flew past the enemy line, striking one of the fighters on Will's side.
The man who had been directly hit exploded in pieces, while the others near the impact point were sent flying. The enemy fighters had reacted to the whistle and jumped back, avoiding casualties.
"Goblinshagger!" Limul cursed. "They have a big mage!" he shouted.
A few pieces of the victim's armor rained down with clatter. Most of the other men around the impact point were getting up, but a few seemed to have trouble doing so.
"They sure got us," the dwarf continued in a lower voice. "I'm already running out of mana."
Will had already forgotten his nervousness, but the emotion now raised its ugly head again in a way that couldn't be ignored.
"Should we... try something else?"
"If you can see their mage, do what you want. Otherwise, it's better to stick to our orders." The dwarf took out his waterskin once more. He seemed to have given up casting his spell for now.
A streak of light was seen again, and another explosion rang out. This time, there was no warning whistle.
It struck the ground near someone again, and they were sent flying, but not with as much momentum as previously. The explosion clearly wasn't as powerful as the previous one.
"He's got to be right behind their fighters," Will thought aloud. He then hesitated briefly before continuing. "I have one big spell, but I can only use it once."
"Think you can get him?"
"With luck, I might. But I would certainly get a lot of the others."
"You can try. Avoid hurting our own men."
"I will."
Will wanted to respond to the explosions with a Fireball spell, of which he had one slotted for emergencies.
I should mask it somehow. He felt nervous and wanted to win the battle right now, but rationality still prevailed.
Instead of a Fireball, Will began casting the level-two spell Absorb Elements. He hadn't really had any practice with it yet, so it would take some time.
After a little over two minutes, a few sparkles could be seen around Will, and he felt a comfortable, invisible blanket hugging him. Now, if an explosion struck near him, he at least shouldn't take any burns.
Without a break, he continued to cast his next spell.
Firaball (III) triggered.
A glowing, fist-sized ember flew from his palms at a low angle. It was fast, and perhaps due to its speed it felt a little sluggish to maneuver, but otherwise it obeyed his will perfectly as he guided it over the front line.
The ember struck the ground close to where he thought the enemy mage might be.
There were also several enemy fighters around the spot, enjoying the short breather they had previously earned.
The larger force didn't consist of scrubs, but they were still just normal soldiers, who had to continuously rotate their frontline in order to contend with the skilled fast-response company.
Rather than a forceful explosion like the enemy mage's spell, an expanding, semispherical firestorm engulfed everyone within twenty feet from its epicenter.
A cacophony of screaming erupted from the fire, which kept going on even when the fire dissipated within just a second, leaving behind only small fires here and there where flammable materials had ignited.
More than a few people rolled on the ground, screaming. Some people further from the center remained upright, but they had become sooty-faced and probably lost their eyebrows. All of them were hastily patting at their smoldering clothes.
Two of the men near the center managed to get up in after a while, while two stayed down. Even the two that still moved only took a few unsteady steps before dropping to the ground again.
Will's allies who saw the display began roaring triumphantly and redoubled their efforts. Those who were too far to glimpse the details of the commotion soon joined in on the battle cries, knowing that whatever happened was something good for their side.
"Oh my," Limul commented. He stared at the fallout of the spell for a moment, then turned his gaze at Will. "How are you still standing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Aren't you mana-drained after such an expenditure?"
"Oh."
Will felt perfectly normal. Should I be fainting or something?
"A little, perhaps," he chose to say aloud.
"Now, I want to show one of my finishers, too. It could be stupid, but then again it might just work," the dwarf pondered aloud.
"Alright, here goes."
He cast his spell for some fiteen seconds, and the earth suddenly sank under the feet of two enemy combatants, making them lose their balance and become briefly stuck in the ground. They first shouted in fright and then screamed in terror when they got promptly hacked to death by their opponents.
"Nice," Will complimented politely. His Fireball had obviously been much stronger. "Feel like fainting yet?"
"Well, if I had to cast two more of those right now, I might," the dwarf answered.
Their allies started to advance pretty quick after the double shock-and-awe display. The enemy routed soon after, leaving behind three carts of supplies and/or stolen loot. Will didn't care to inspect them.
"So, do you think I've earned a proper wage?"
---
A couple of weeks later, Will the Wizard was a happy owner of two gold coins.
He watched them glint under the moonlight and dreamed. "One day, I'm going to have so many of you I can take a swim in my treasury."
He put the coins back in the inventory when there was a knock on his door.
"Are you awake?"
"Yeah!"
"A special job for you! Pack your stuff!"
"At this time?!"
Will and only Will was sent to fulfill some special request. The scout who had escorted him turned around, taking Will's now riderless horse with him.
Will sighed and walked through the open gate of the unimpressive palisade in front of him. Inside, there were a handful of wooden buildings. A large stone tower rose in the middle of the slightly cramped space.
"Magister Albrecht will see you immediately," the watchman who'd opened the gate for him spoke.
Will yawned as he slowly climbed up the stairs. It was an hour or two after midnight. The slow and careful night ride from the castle town had only taken some five hours, so the distance was probably under 50 miles.
He was met with a tall, thin, and bespectacled man near the top of the tower. The watchman kept climbing—probably all the way onto the rooftop.
"Good!" the scholarly man spoke. "You're in time! I have a little project underway, here. Sadly, I had miscalculated its volatility and ran out of stabilizers."
"Sir? What kind of project?" Will didn't exactly like the sound of the word 'volatile' in this context.
"Never mind the details! Your task is easy. You just need to prepare the reagents and prime some solutions."
Well, this is a problem. Will didn't have any idea about any reagents. He only had his spells. Outside of that, he was Will the welder from Earth.
"Sir, I'm afraid you have got the wrong person for that. I don't know any alchemy at all."
"What? I specifically asked for an academy graduate!"
"Look, I'm terribly sorry about that, but I had to lie a little to get a job. All I was ever taught is spellcasting!"
"If that is so, we're screwed. My setup is about to blow up if it isn't stabilized soon. The whole tower will no doubt collapse and... I'm going to have to put the blame on you."
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me think for a moment."
The bespectacled man raised his eyebrows.
"Oh? Did you suddenly remember your alchemy lessons after all? That would be very good for us both."
"No, but I think I have something else."
Will scrolled through his spells until he came across a 4th level spell listed as "Temporal Stasis, Minor." It was another one of those crappy DLC spells that only had a few forced applications within the DLC campaign, and none outside of it.
In this world, however, spells like it had more potential.
"How much time do we have?"
"Six hours, maybe."
"Good. I need half an hour. Where's this thing that's about to go boom?"
The man took him inside a room where a massive magic circle glowed on the floor, and some kind of large and delicate glass construct was suspended in the air right in the middle of it. A clear pink liquid and a deep green, murky liquid were slowly flowing through the twists and turns of the construct.
"This needs to be refilled soon, and I need to be tending to it almost constantly. However, I'm running out of the solutions, and the spellstone hasn't stabilized yet."
"Alright. Let's do this." Will took a deep breath and mentally accepted the headache a 4th level spell would inevitably cause.
The man watched curiously as Will begunt o chant and weaved his magic, but left after a minute to fetch some more liquids to pour into his floating device of madness and proceeded to pull on glass valves and rotate some little screws to adjust the flow.
His spell was finally ready after some twenty-five minutes, and Will tried to force the rhythmical beat of his headache out of his mind.
Will didn't feel like he could afford to speak, so pulled the older mage away from his device with one hand while the other held the trigger-ready spell.
The fact that he could deviate that much without feeling like the spell was about to slip away was perhaps thanks to his Melee Mage feat, which gave some flexibility to his tolerance margins.
He then put his hand right next to his target and released the spell with a few short syllables.
The flow of the liquids inside the floating device froze, and their vivid colors turned into a dull gray.
Will knocked his fingernail on the delicate glass. It feld solid but didn't ring like glass should.
"It should be pretty much impervious to anything, now, but I wouldn't try a hammer."
"Remarkable..." the man next to him whispered.
"How come you know temporal magic at such a young age? I'm hundred and ten and I never... quite found the time for it, if you pardon me."
He had round ears, yet he didn't really look much older than sixty. Given that he was clearly some kind of alchemist wizard, longevity didn't necessarily go against typical C&M canon.
"I-- My late master taught me a little," Will lied.
"Your spell doesn't seem like it's simple," he gazed into Will's eyes with an intense stare. He felt uneasy to be scrutinized like that.
"Trust me, I can only cast the spell. The theory behind it is beyond my comprehension."
"Now, my head hurts and I'm sleepy," Will changed the topic. "I think I may need to renew the spell in an hour or two. Can you handle the rest for now?"
"Of course, of course." The old man agreed, still looking a little flummoxed.