“I can’t believe he fucking left us!” Vee hissed, slamming her back into the wood behind her. Javed muttered some agreement under his breath and then cursed, kicking at the wagon they were contained within. Their arms and legs were bound but they could wiggle. None of them fancied tumbling from the wagon, considering the speed they were moving.
Their transport hurtled along at an uncomfortable pace, though there was little turbulence in the ride. Serge couldn’t see anything about the interior which would suggest enchantments or the like, but the craft was clearly magical in nature. It was fascinating, or it would be, if they weren’t trussed up like a game bird in a snare. The other three voices gripes about their situation, and curses towards their “supposed leader.”
Serge clicked his tongue. “Are you stupid fucking children or warriors of a new world?” He asked sharply. Before anyone could piss him off more by answering his rhetorical question, he continued. “It is pathetic to be so useless in the moment that we become a burden, all the worse to act like we are owed anything when we could do nothing for ourselves.”
The others might have reached Serge’s point of view eventually, but he had no patience to let them meander there. As the only fully fledged Tier One of their group, he was particularly frustrated about being dispatched so easily. When no one spoke, Serge kept going. “Does the kobold hold your hand while you sleep to keep you from nightmares, too? This place is a dungeon, a test of our skills. That is not simply a thing of killing, clearly. We have to be smarter.”
To now, every single dungeon without fail had been as simple as “kill anything you see which moves, take anything shiny and then get out.” An entire living, breathing city with sapient beings was so far beyond anything they had expected to find. When there were giant wolves pouncing at you, it was easy to cut them down. It wasn’t so simple to hurt someone if you thought they were just doing their job.
But so what?
“This is not our world, nor is it even a world at all. It is a collection of magic pushed together by the System in a way we are unequipped to understand. That doesn’t apply to this situation. Think. We save ourselves.” Serge nodded, hoping he had said enough and yet feeling like he had spoken for far too long. None of their four were actually friends, though Javed and Toulou were obviously connected by blood. Serge wasn’t actually their leader and yet…
He saw three suddenly serious faces and was surprisingly touched by the immediacy on which they came around. One face, however, wasn’t looking at Serge for direction. Javed was staring off into a distance which simply wasn’t there. His brother tried to rouse him but I quieted him quickly. All three had been on the cusp for a while, but only Serge himself had made the final jump in understanding needed to grasp the Dao.
Javed was breaking through.
Unlike Vee, who had found her Aspect of Earth nearly immediately, and Toulou, who had been given the first Aspect the pair came across, Javed was a “late bloomer”, so to speak. He had only received his Aspect once the group had arrived in the newly formed city in the desert. Some were calling it Kobold City but everyone in the party agreed that was the worst name ever.
The city lord had needed a healer, and sought out Toulou to join him in his dungeoneering. He had already collected Serge and Vee, but when they had said it was stupid to go without someone who could heal them, it looked like Izaark had only considered it once they suggested it. When he had asked who the pair knew, they had only been able to point the little purple dragon man to Toulou.
It became clear quickly that Javed wouldn’t let his brother go anywhere without his protection, even when said brother was now a magical being far surpassing his own strengths. The elder brother had joined them in their first dungeon, and had found his Aspect within. Serge had been surprised when the city lord, who had done all the work in clearing the dungeon, simply nodded and asked if he could watch the absorption.
Now, Javed was the second of their quartet to evolve. His Aspect of Shadows was as perfect as one could get for a generally sneaky guy who let his brother shine while he sat in the back. “I exist in between,” Javed said in a quiet whisper. The wagon buckled and Serge winced. Toulou and Vee were still slack jawed at the evolution but, impossibly, it wasn’t the most important thing.
What was most pressing was the slowing of their wagon, the impending approach of the two guards up front and the need for action. Thankfully, with Javed’s evolution came strength. While Serge was already Tier One, and had the bindings to prove it, Javed’s bindings couldn’t hold him as his power swelled. The dim inside of the transport started to gather around him as the restraints were thrown aside.
The man’s ochre skin began to lose its colour as what little light there was tried to avoid his touch. With a flick of his hand, the other tethers were pulled from their group. Serge nodded at the standing man, covered in shadows, and began to churn his inner power. Enchantments on their wrist and leg restraints had choked their mana but now they were free. His core began to move around his spiritual boundaries.
Everyone’s magic is different, the Aspects further increasing the separation. Javed and Toulou were brothers, but their lives, outlooks and goals were different. They were their own people. Although they had not reached the breakthrough to create their Dao Pools, their hemomantic healer and geomantic mage both had an aura of their own, a magical signature created by the movement and power of their mana and will.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
So, Serge couldn’t describe or even truly conceptualise how it felt to generate mana for the others. He couldn’t explain that for Toulou, there was no difference between his own blood and mana, both of which he created faster than most, his heart a wellspring for the liquid. Nor did he know that for Vee, her mana felt like a hundred bees all buzzing around and it was when she grounded the flighty energy that she channelled her power. At a push, he likely could have guessed that Javed had no idea how to control his new energy, like Serge hadn’t to begin with.
He understood it now. All around him, a shell of power grew more and more tangible. Mindset was important in the use of mana and Dao. If you were freezing cold, it would be more difficult to generate the magic of fire and so on. The mage would have to focus on the more intangible concepts behind the flames in this instance, the drive of flame to exist or something along those lines.
Trapped in the back of a wagon, being taken to a strange holding cell by people who thought they owned the world just because they existed within it? That was almost too on the nose for the esoteric ideas behind Serge’s Dao. He felt his core continue to pick up speed as his Dao and mana both fell into perfect sync, rotating around with ever increasing speed.
“Revolution,” Serge breathed out as the wagon’s doors were thrown open. There was no opportunity to plan, so Serge did the only thing he could. Not giving himself time to think, he launched himself forward with the momentum of a rock thrown from a sling. From there, it was pure chaos as things devolved into a desperate battle.
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I commended myself for my patience as I watched the wagon stop moving through the streets below. I soothed my pride from the hit it had taken in my tactical retreat. I may have beaten one sentinel, but the weight of power from the group which had approached was too much. The group had been taken only moments after I slipped away.
I had been forced to literally bury myself in the dirt under a bush, glad for my massively increased strength but also fearful. My spirit was strong enough to be noticeable to the guards and I grasped at the energy which surrounded my soul with panic. Something intrinsic inside of me fought my actions but my soul acquiesced quickly, my aura shrinking to a pinprick.
Once the guards were happy they had all of the culprits, they piled them into a transport and began to take them somewhere. I assumed towards a jail, but maybe it would have been some other, worse destination. In any case, they weren’t going to reach their desired terminus. I had thought it would be down to me attacking them, but it looked like my little party was going to look after themselves.
It warmed my cold blood to see.
There was a ripple in the air, a dense ping of magic that surged from the back of the wagon. It was a new scent altogether and I smiled, wondering which of the three had broken through. From the way the colour drained out of the surrounding area, giving way to darkness, I assumed it was the stealthy Javed who needed congratulations. In my vantage point, hidden by the mushroom shaped penthouse I stood atop, I decided to settle in and see what they could do.
I rarely watched the group fight, as when they joined me for my dungeon runs I usually blasted through the simply designed spaces with overwhelming force. It was interesting, then, to see their surprisingly well-polished teamwork. Considering the two guards leading the weird wagon were only a touch weaker than the one I had killed, judging by my read of their spirit, it wasn’t supposed to be an easy fight.
Even though the technique was completely new, the four captives capitalised on the darkness inside the wagon immediately. To now, Javed hadn’t been able to control shadows, but he had been able to slip into them and out of a nearby one. Immensely cool the first few times I saw him do it, then dull once I realised jumping would get me further than he could go, faster than he could do it.
The guards had thrown open the doors at the back of the wagon and hesitated. The daylight from outside didn’t pierce the magical darkness within. As a thick arm, wider than a human’s torso, punched out from the pitch blackness in the wagon, my eyes widened. Well, damn, I mused, back to feeling jealous. Shadow arms? Really? The large appendage struck the chest of one guard, sending him sprawling, then grasped the other around the ankle as he tried to create some distance.
I tried to remember what Guidance Stones Javed had used, and whether his evolution to Tier One had given him new abilities, or changed the ones he already had. Questions for later, but between the newly minted Javed, the slightly stronger Serge and the two tier Zero, my help wasn’t needed. I was free to muse on my thoughts and pay attention to the surrounding area.
The little party that could below finished off the two guards and began leaving the vehicle with trepidation and caution. They threw the bodies into the wagon just in time for more guards to approach. Quiet as they may have been, the evolution from Tier Zero to One wasn’t and there was nothing they could do. Several powers began to descend at once and I waited for the right moment.
The scene set itself nicely. Four guards, apparently the standard number for their groups, approached the wagon quickly. Three of my four charges left the confines of the wagon, Javed still inside. I frowned, but was committed all the same. I flexed my Aspect, churning my mana and stretching my spirit into the new second tier of power I had gained. It felt uncomfortable and rigid, like a weight too heavy for my arms to move fluidly. Once all the pieces had lined up, I dropped.
Self-indulgence was an important part of living life to the fullest, after all.
I landed with a craterous impact which caused even the Tier Ones to wobble. A moment after my arrival, another, larger, crash resonated. The force was literally staggering, and even I had to pause for a moment. My own strength hadn’t risen that much, and yet… I quickly realised what had occurred, bringing a feral smile to my lips.
While I hadn’t risen to Grade E, I could have. Or at least, as far as the Tier One power inside of me was concerned, I could. Being a dual cultivator made for some strange interactions between my magic. Being on both sides of a bottleneck is bizarre, but the System doesn’t care about strangeness. Divergent Strike was specifically worded. “Any strike which lands on an enemy has a chance to deal maximum damage possible.”
As I spent a little too long pondering the power, the nerve of the guards returned and they attacked. My draconic blood roared in delight. I sprang into action, ready to see the newly upgraded effect of Divergent Strike on a Tier One. Close behind me, the party also moved into action to support me. The local militia were easily dealt with, and the five of us escaped before any more trouble arrived.
With five guards now killed, the truth of their situation was setting in. I looked at Javed and Serge, both now level 31, and nodded. The other two would hopefully figure out their dao over the course of this dungeon but either way, there was a palpable energy of progression which had been missing for a while. “You two better keep up,” I pointed at Toulou and Vee, “it’s time to grind.”