CHAPTER 21 - A SUSPICIOUS AMOUNT OF RATS (2/2)

I focused on the sack of e-potatoes, carefully lifting one out.

The battle had started a few minutes ago.

An assortment of dangerous looking spells flew from each member of the group, keeping the endless wave of raggles at bay. Winter, a brittle wooden staff in her hand, called down destructive rays of light from the sky that came crashing down on the unsuspecting raggles, throwing them around and shearing through their flesh. Mox and Raul alternated between shooting fiery blasts and hurling large boulders, covering each other when one needed to regenerate their xera. Jay simply flew above the creatures, hurling them away whenever they got close enough. Edith was the only one who still held a melee weapon. He swung around a massive steel double headed battle axe, cleaving straight through the masses of raggles. Those that escaped the deadly swings were burnt to a crisp from the fire that emerged from his body. Kearan stood quietly to my left, leaning against the tree. His eyes were closed but sweat trickled down his forehead as I heard him muttering in frustration. In the very middle of it all, right beside me, was Verity, who shot arrow after arrow that exploded into an acidic liquid on contact.

And even with all of these veteraned warriors, the army of raggles showed no sign of stopping.

Up to this point, I’d simply been watching in awe at the incredible display of magic at its finest, and not assisting with the battle at all.

‘Come on, June. We can do this! We can do this!’

Pumped up, I drew the e-potato backwards and on the count of three, flung it as far as I could into the mass of raggles.

‘Xera transfer!’ I shouted out loud in excitement.

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

“Stop shouting.” Kearan said calmly, his eyes still shut.

‘Uh- sorry…’ I replied meekly. Why hadn’t it worked?

‘Xera transfer!’ I whispered this time.

Still, nothing happened.

‘Hnnnrrrrghhhhh! Why. Won’t. This. Fucking. Thing. Work?’

“I said, stop shouting.” Kearan said again, more agitated this time.

I took a deep breath in and called out my skill window for xera transfer. Why hadn’t it worked? It’d worked the previous time. I was down to thirty five potatoes. I couldn’t afford to waste any more.

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Xera Transfer

Lvl: 1/10

Category: Path

Type: Active

Xera Cost: Interchangeable

Enables the user to transfer xera in limited amounts to other people or beings. Xera can only be transferred from the user of the skill to a recipient. To transfer xera, you must either be touching or within a three centimetre radius of the recipient.

This skill is compatible with {Germinate} and {Weak Telekinesis}.

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I skimmed through the information until I got to the last sentence.

To transfer xera, you must either be touching or within a three centimeter radius of the recipient.

This had to be some kind of joke. My only attack skill, thwarted by a stupid requirement?

‘Think, June, think.’ My other skills weren’t restricted like this. Yes, there may have been cooldowns, but they were nowhere near as useless as this one. Was there a loophole of some sort? Something that made me able to make the potato explode after I’d thrown it.

Then all of a sudden, it hit me.

Excitedly, I drew out another e-potato from the bag and instead of drawing it back to throw, I moved it forward. The further away from me it was, the less of a ‘grip’ I felt on it. Just a little more. Just a little more.

Just when I felt my control over it slipping, I thought two words.

‘Xera transfer.’

Boom.

‘Yes!’ I leapt up in delight and did a little spin.

Why did it work?

The very first e-potato I’d used xera transfer on today was evidence enough. It’d exploded when I activated the skill, even though it’d clearly been more than three centimetres away at the time. I also hadn’t been in ‘direct’ contact with it either.

But if that were the case, how had I made it explode?

The answer was simple.

Telekinesis.

Back, way back, when I first came out on this adventure, my skill ‘Super Duper Weak Telekinesis’ had evolved. It allowed me to move my own body like it was my own body. Instead of having to imagine a ‘force’ pushing or pulling an object, it was like an invisible ‘hand’ moving it.

Yes, it wasn’t physical contact with the e-potato, but it was mental contact.

And that still counted, apparently.

I smiled smugly to myself. What could I say? Maybe I was a genius, after all.

Now pumped up, I grabbed two e-potatoes out of the bag at once. It would definitely be harder to control, but all I had to do was hold out until it reached a raggle. One e-potato hadn’t created a big-enough explosion to actually kill the creature, only stun it. Hopefully two would do the job.

‘Go… go… go… go…’ I muttered quietly, directing the e-potatoes onto an unsuspecting raggle.

‘Now! Xera transfer!’

The explosion was much larger than before, even blasting the surrounding creatures away. The target had no chance.

[You have slain a raggle.]

[Raggles Slain: 1/15]

‘Yes!’ I whispered this time, seeing the flicker of irritation pass through Kearan’s tense facial features. What was he even doing, anyways?

I didn’t ask, though, because that was one raggle down. Just fourteen more needed to finish the quest.

And twenty eight e-potatoes left.

It was go time.

Without any further hesitation, I pulled out the sack of e-potatoes and tossed it on the ground in front of the horse. I jumped off and rolled a little further away from safety.

The closer I was to the line of raggles, the less distance I needed to levitate my potatoes. The less distance I needed to levitate my potatoes, the easier it was for me to control them.

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Besides, everyone else was doing a solid job in holding the hoard back that I wasn’t particularly worried about anything breaking through.

“Kearan… Hurry! We’re all running low on xera and won’t be able to hold them back for much longer!” Jay shouted from the air.

Well, that was unfortunate. I took what I just said back.

“Almost done.” Keraan replied calmly.

‘Done doing what?’ I asked.

He ignored me.

‘Oh, come on! I thought we were over this ignoring each other thing!’ Grumbling, I took another two e-potatoes out of the bag and sent them flying at a nearby raggle.

Boom.

[You have slain a raggle.]

[Raggles Slain: 2/15]

Twenty six e-potatoes left.

Luckily for me, my xera regenerated almost instantly, allowing me to continue sending out exploding potatoes at the monsters.

[Raggles Slain: 3/15]

[Raggles Slain: 4/15]

[Raggles Slain: 5/15]

[Raggles Slain: 6/15]

[Raggles Slain: 7/15]

[Raggles Slain: 8/15]

[Raggles Slain: 9/15]

[Raggles Slain: 10/15]

[Raggles Slain: 11/15]

[Raggles Slain: 12/15]

[Raggles Slain: 13/15]

[Raggles Slain: 14/15]

And finally, the last one-

Whoomp.

All of a sudden, the constant screeching and chittering from the raggles died away and the e-potatoes I was levitating dropped into the swarm without exploding.

‘No!’ I shouted in frustration, but it was too late. They were consumed by the frenzied creatures in mere seconds.

So focused on the loss of the two e-potatoes, I failed to notice the raggles had stopped in their tracks, held back by some invisible force. They scrambled over each other crazily in an attempt to reach us, but the barrier stopped them from coming any further. As I turned around, I watched everyone cease their casting, no longer needing to attack to keep the monsters at bay.

I spun around again, searching for the source of this protective barrier. Everyone had slumped to the floor, exhausted and drenched in sweat. Now I knew their weakness. Sure, they were strong- incredibly so, but they didn’t fare well in long, drawn out battles.

Only Kearan remained standing, distributing small glass vials filled with a blue liquid.

‘Kearan! Kearan! Did you do this?’ I asked, flying up to him.

He nodded. “I casted a barrier which should hold them out until we’ve all recovered. It’s not very stable, though, so once everyone’s xera replenishes, I’ll create a gate out of here…”

Kearan sighed and seemed to hesitate.

‘What’s the problem?’

“For every element of magic, there are tiers. Winter probably told you this, but the higher tier the spell is, the more difficult and the more xera it will consume. A travel gate, which is a teleportation spell, is an intermediate third tier spell. It’s incredibly difficult and I’ll be put under a lot of mental strain and physical strain. The risk of permanent injury is high without enough support. Also, I won’t be able to guarantee exactly where we’ll end up- not to mention that I won’t be able to hold it open for long.

‘But… then let’s just not do that? Surely there’s some other way out of here.’

“Do the raggles look like they’ll stop attacking any time soon?”

‘Ah… right.’ I mumbled.

But Kearan wasn’t done yet. “By the way, I hope you’ve noticed that this isn’t natural. Raggles won’t usually attack humans in such large groups, if at all. Someone’s probably behind this.”

‘Wait, so you’re saying someone purposely did this? These raggles are under someone’s command?’

He shrugged, before going back to get more of those blue vials. “Guess we’ll find out.”

Now that was shocking and all, but I had another problem.

I still hadn’t completed my quest. I cursed. Just one more raggle was all I needed. Just one more darn raggle.

Also, I only had a measly three e-potatoes left. Enough for only a single attempt.

Oh yeah, another issue. I couldn’t move anything with my telekinesis outside the barrier from inside the barrier. That meant I would need to actually leave the barrier if I wanted to complete the quest.

What a pain.

‘Argh!’ It would’ve been easier to just give up now, but that would result in loss of faith and I might never get to see what the first ascension was. Who knew when my next path quest would generate?

I made up my mind. Someway or another, I was going to complete this quest. I had simply come too far to end it like this.

So, sneakily, I removed the white ribbon around my body and tied it to one of the e-potatoes. Then, I took the other two e-potatoes and rolled them slowly away from everyone to the edge of the border.

As I got closer, I watched the disgusting, rabid raggles crawl over each other and blanched. They were truly horrifying creatures. So focused on my task, I didn’t notice a pink potato creeping up on me.

‘What are you doing, papa?’ Cherry asked, making me jump.

‘Uh, um… uh, um…’ I stuttered, trying to find a suitable reason. ‘Just… going for a leak?’ I offered, immediately regretting saying that.

‘But you can’t…’ Cherry’s voice trailed off as she flew away. ‘Nevermind. Winnie told me not to follow you when you do strange things.’

‘Haaah.’ I sighed slowly. That was a close one.

Now. Back to business.

Checking around one last time and satisfied no one had noticed me, I hovered upwards about a few metres. I didn’t want to accidentally get myself mauled alive by these creatures after all.

I took one more look at the resting company before pushing my way through the barrier and into the open. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to use any effort at all, as the barrier must have been made to allow people to exit, but not enter.

The ear deafening screeching rose in pitch as the raggles spotted me.

‘Here goes nothing.’ I whispered to myself and pushed the two e-potatoes downward.

‘Xera transfer.’

Boom.

[You have slain a raggle.]

[Raggles Slain: 15/15]

[You have completed the quest {Kill Raggles}.]

[Distributing quest rewards…]

[You have ascended.]

[You have unlocked the ‘Race’ skill {Hull}.]

‘Yes!’ I shouted in delight as I fell down into the grasp of the raggles.

Wait. Fell?

Why was I falling?

Desperately, I tried to use telekinesis to re-activate my flight.

But it was too late.

I was already in the claws of a scorched, blackened and most importantly, enraged, raggle.

‘Fly! Fly!’ I screamed, trying over and over again to move upwards and push the monsters away.

However, my attempts were futile. Every time I flung a creature away, another one had already taken its place. My telekinesis wasn’t strong enough to push all of them off me at once.

Potato regeneration was already kicking in, healing the lacerations the raggles inflicted with their deadly sharp claws.

No.

If I fell unconscious here, I’d surely been torn into pieces before I could heal completely, let alone before anyone saved me.

Frantically, I opened up my status window to search for anything that could help me.

___________________________________________

Winston June

Title: L’Der Potato (Stage 2)

Race: Potato

Path: Path to Potato Godhood

Faith: 102

Xera: 100/100

Path Skills:

* [Divine Being] (Passive) {Maxed}

* [Xera Transfer] (Active) {3/10}

* [Potato God’s Eye] (Passive) {Maxed}

L’Der Skills:

* [Set Quest] (Active) {N/A}

Race Skills:

* [Germinate] (Active) {7/30}

* [Potato Battery] (Passive) {8/40}

* [Potato Body] (Active) {1/20}

* [Hull] (Active) {1/10}

Misc. Skills:

* [Mind Speech] (Active) {14/20}

* [Not So Weak Telekinesis] (Active) 3/5}

* [Area Of Awareness] (Passive) {17/25}

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And I found myself staring at a new skill I’d never used before. Potato body. I had no idea what it did, how it worked, or even if it’d work.

I had no other choice. Nothing else could save me now.

‘Potato body!’ I shouted in despair.

For a second, nothing happened, but then a white glow surrounded me and a sharp pain emerged from my core, similar to the one I’d experienced the first time I used germinate. I couldn’t help it. I screamed for a good, long second.

All of a sudden, a blast of fire came from my right, and a gust of air from my left, knocking away the majority of the raggles that pinned me down. Grunting, someone grabbed me from behind and yanked me back into the confines of the protective barrier.

We sunk to the ground, huffing and puffing.

I turned around and faced Edith and Jay, who stared at me in confusion and looked like they wanted to say something.

‘Thank you-’ I began, but below me caught my attention

Something I never thought I’d see again.

Two pale hands, extending from slightly muscular arms, connected to… me.