“That’s it,” Roman started with a mocking tone. “I think he’s finally lost it.”
“I think it was the sea water,” Ariyana chimed in. “He must have swallowed a lot of it. I haven’t seen him spit any out so he’s probably growing delusional.” Adding to the teasing, she placed a hand on her forehead and feigned distress as she added, “We tried to get to him in time, but alas…Barty and I didn’t make it.”
Barty let out a sad high pitch hiss as he lowered his head. That made everyone look at him with a surprised look before Ariyana placed both hands on the side of his face and said in a motherly tone, “Aw, Barty, we were just kidding. He is fine. See.”
Ariyana turned his head to have him look at Liam. Liam, for his part finally understanding what was going on, looked at him and waved with a slight smile. That smile turned into a frown as Ariyana jabbed, “Well…fine enough. We really can’t tell when it comes to him.”
Liam let out a protest as Barty looked to smile and let out a happy sound that was a mixture of a reptilian chirp and hiss. That made everyone burst out into a chuckle. After that Liam got up and everyone helped pull all the bodies together so Liam could harvest not just the Soul Orbs, but also whatever materials he could get from them.
As Liam did his thing they discussed the things that had happened during the fight, starting off with Artem and what had happened. Like Liam had suspected, Artem had fallen into a trance like state due to the Weak Healing Mist. The inspiration was mostly triggered from his shadowy shooting out the inky black water.
Liam had explained what had happened to cause that. Thanks to Mercer’s excellent questions, Liam was able to create a theory of what had happened and why the water had turned into an inky black liquid. At first they had nothing to go off of until they came across the Kelpie Splashling Liam and knocked out of the water with the dagger he had placed inside the shadow manipulated blob. They had seen the black veins that were still covering a good portion of the body.
As Liam harvested the creature they had discovered the meat, skin, and part of the bones that had come into contact with the dagger had something called Shadow Taint mixed into them. They were confused by that, but then Mercer theorized that there was a possibility that anything he placed within the shadowy blob could be infused with Shadow Mana.
The theory seemed sound especially when they explained the debuffs the Sharp Tooth Crocs gained after being covered with the inky black liquid that shot out like a geyser during the fight. Their theory was given some light as Eri decided to butt in.
Your theory is somewhat correct, but at the same time it’s also wrong. Well at least it’s wrong when it comes to certain types of things that enters the manipulated shadows. However, it is especially wrong since you all really don’t understand what is going on. Eri started.
“What do you mean?” Liam and Mercer asked.
Well, it all comes down to your understanding of magic. Since you all are still New Arrivals your understanding of magic is considered beginner level, but the truth is it’s at a level kids are at when they are starting off. Eri started to explain. It’s not your fault because you all had a late start, but many native people start learning magic at a very young age. The very first thing they start with when learning magic outside of Arcane is the Manipulation ability.
Mercer, as usual, pulled out his notebook as Eri continued, Let’s take Liam’s Shadow Manipulation for example. Through practicing it, he had gained new understandings and applications of Shadow Magic. He is starting to learn new ways to implement it. Slowly and surely through practicing and learning he will be able to start making new magics, however, that is still ways away. He’ll need to be around the premise of entering the Expert range of Shadow Magic. But that is something we can discuss another time.
For now through using Shadow Manipulation he is starting to learn the properties and possibilities of Shadow Magic. He is also learning how to enhance his Shadow Magic through the use of Shadow Manipulation, which is something only one of his race or similar to his race can achieve.
“His race?” Mercer questioned as he stopped writing. “You mean his Cait Sith?”
There was a pause for a brief moment before Eri replied, No. His other race. The one that allowed him to unlock Shadow Magic without needed to go through specific requirements. And before you ask, no. I will not tell you what that race is.
Mercer opened his mouth to ask another question, but stopped as Eri interrupted, Anyways going back to your theory. That shadow blob, as Liam likes to call it, has the potential to absorb magics and non-living objects within. Depending on what is absorbed within will depend on what is applied to it. Magical attacks infuse with the Shadow Mana and gain the properties Shadow Magic create. It also depends on what properties the caster currently understands of the type of mana that the magical ability will gain. Objects, like the dagger do not get infused but rather they are coated with the Shadow Mana.
They all looked confused by that statement. Eri knew the question they were all thinking and continued, There is a reason for this. Since Magical attacks are a one-time use when they are released outwards and since magical attacks are basically a mass of mana taking shape the Shadow Mana can easily infuse with it. There isn’t any barriers stopping the Shadow Mana from corrupting it or blending with it. Objects are different since there is a barrier that protects them from having just anything from infusing with them unless the person is a blacksmith and have the skills, however, there is no such thing within the shadow blob. So instead the Shadow Mana coats over the object and when the object hits something the Shadow Mana seeps or spreads around or within the area they collide with, expunging the coating.
If the Shadow Mana pierces flesh and remains in there, like with the Kelpie Splashling, then the Shadow Mana begins to taint the flesh, blood, muscles, or even the bones. Tainted objects are rare ingredients crafters like to use since they add special effects when using them during a process. However, keep in mind not all Manipulation abilities are like this. Majority o not create a taint like Shadow Mana because many Manipulation Types can’t absorb magical abilities or object. They do, however, have their own uses. Like Water Manipulation.
Artem’s attention grew even more as he heard Water Manipulation.
Artem. Your Water Sphere is a type of Water Manipulation. It has a different application, but it is still considered a Water Manipulation ability. You had a good idea trying to mix your Water Sphere and Healing Sphere; however, you weren’t applying it correctly. That is because you didn’t understand that you needed to apply percentages.
Artem’s brows furrowed as he asked, “What do you mean percentages?”
When it comes to mixing things with Water you need to know what percent of both the water and the other mana type. If you add too much Water Mana then the results are watered down not giving you the results you are hoping for. The same is for if you add to little water as well as the other mana type. Which is why I am impressed that through your trance you were able to find the right results that triggered your class evolution. Eri stated. Liam could hear the approval and respect in her voice.
“That’s right,” Ariyana and Roman said remembering that Artem showed off a new spell during the fight.
“I was wondering what was going on and how you suddenly had a new spell. Which by the way was bad ass,” Roman stated with a smile.
“So what did you get?” Blair asked as she looked at him.
Artem, growing a boyish grin as he was starting to get embarrassed, replied, “It’s called Mist Shield Cleric.”
“Mist Shield Cleric?” Mercer repeated as he opened a different notebook. He then asked, “What type of class is that?”
“From what I saw and understood. It’s a Healer tank type class that specializes in Mist Magic,” Artem stated. “I don’t have any penalties when I wear heavy armor like normal healers, but at the same time I’m not constrained to have to always run towards someone when they are hurt, and I need to use my healing. Well, except for my normal healing abilities, my Mist healing abilities can be used wherever I’m at. I can also use water like shields. I’m still learning what I can do though.”
You are going to have a long road to master your Mist Magic especially since you didn’t obtain it through the normal means. Eri chimed back in. My suggestion is you learn Air Magic through the Focus Point Air so you can apply air mana to it. It will help you in the long run. I also suggest you get Mist Manipulation so you can do what Liam is doing and learn better ways to apply your magic. Speaking of which…Ariyana. What you did was also worth praise. Reckless, but praiseworthy.
Liam’s eyes widened as he remembered what Ariyana did. He was curious how she was able to do it and asked, “How were you able to pull that off by the way?”
Ariyana looked uncomfortable as all eyes fell on her, but after a minute of silence she explained, “Well, after I started that training to reignite my Racial Abilities, I have started noticing that a connection between me and plants was starting to grow. I can’t do nearly as much as I want to do or should be able to do, but I thought that if maybe I channel Plant Mana and apply a spell through what I wish to do then I could make it happen. I wanted to try and trap the Alpha Mare Kelpie with Entangling Roots, but since I couldn’t detect any place I could have roots emerge to trap it with, I thought maybe I could use the trees. So I tried to split the spell to work from both sides. However, I also needed the trees to work with me and since my Racial Ability is still basically nonexistent, I needed to supplement that through another means.”
“So you thought that if you channeled Plant Mana it would help?” Liam asked.
Ariyana nodded. “It was working, but during my focus I forgot the most basic fundamental of magic…my Mana Pool. I wasn’t able to finish it…” Ariyana’s eyes widened as she realized something. She then looked at Liam and asked, “But you understood what I was trying to do…right?”
Liam scratched his cheek as he gave her a slight smile. “It took me a bit, but when I thought about what kind of spell you were using to do that I had a hunch and took action. After all, it was my role to fill in and take action where I believe I am best needed. That’s the role of the wild card right?”
Uncle Naro had come up to him and told him for now on he needed to be something called a Wild Card. The role of the Wild Card was to appear where they needed to be while also causing a bit of mayhem where enemies didn’t think he would be. There was more to the role, but for now he was trying to get that part down.
“Either way it helped,” Ariyana nodded. “But please…don’t do something like that again. My heart almost sank when I saw you fall into the water full of creatures. Luckily, Barty was already making his way to the water to get you, and I joined him, so he didn’t accidentally hurt you through his good intentions.”
Liam looked at Barty and gave him a smile. “Thanks again. I’ll make sure you get a nice reward for that.” Liam let out a laugh as Barty’s eyes looked like he was smiling while keeping his jaw wide open releasing a happy sound.
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Going back to that. While it was a good idea to do what you did, you were right about your Mana Pool. Something at that kind of scale is too much for the amount of mana you have. I suggest you wait until you get your Racial Benefits under control since I believe there is a chance you will get the Plant Manipulation ability through that. Once you find out if that will happen then do as I suggested Artem do. Practice and learn how you can apply it to better suit your abilities. Eri stated.
Ariyana nodded at that.
That should be all for now. Liam, keep practicing your Shadow Manipulation. That application of using your dagger with it has a lot of promise and I believe it will also help you when it comes time to start learning Mana Arts for your Weapon Skill Throwing Weapons. You should try to get some more practice in with your Soul Craft right now before leaving, but don’t waste too much time. You don’t want those on the outside to suspect anything. Eri informed.
Liam nodded. After the next thirty minutes Liam made two Soul Cores. He needed to start replenishing his Spirit Pool and didn’t want to waste too much since he wanted to practice something else during the next run. That run would require him to take on his Phantom Cat form.
After leaving the dungeon Artem and Key noticed the change in Artem and asked what had happened. After explaining what they went through during the final boss fight and revealed Artem’s class evolution, both Key and Uncle Naro were shocked and excited while Avery expressed how happy she was for him. They had informed them that they didn’t think he would receive a class like that, but it was good thing and showed a lot of promise.
Uncle Naro then looked at Liam. He noticed the curious look on his face and realized he had forgotten to tell the others about what he had gained. So when everyone calmed down from the excitement of Artem getting a new class, Liam revealed his new resources.
Liam saw the reaction of everyone that heard the moment he told Uncle Naro. Artem, Avery, Ariyana, Blair, Gimmel, Mercer, Roman, and Key looked shocked to hear the news. Uncle Naro on the other hand had a grin so wide Liam believed his head would split if it grew any wider. The man looked genuinely happy to hear Liam had unlocked the Hidden Crafter Class conditions.
That book Liam had received and looked into had mentioned about the resources, but it never stated how to get them nor that they were a hidden thing. He was excited to see how things would work out now that he had separate resource pools which prompted him to question more about them. To his surprise Uncle Naro had revealed that he would need to make a new type of potion called Crafter Mana Potion.
To be able to make something like that he would need to make a Crafter Mana Extract and use that when making a Mana Potion or a Stamina Potion. While this was easy, he was now faced with a new problem. He needed to make room and make sure he had plenty of these specific Mana and Stamina Potions while also making sure he had plenty of regular Mana and Stamina Potions. Not to mention he would need to reorganize his vial pouch and make sure he had enough room for each type and mark them, so he didn’t use the wrong potion during a vital moment. He let out a sigh and came to the conclusion he would need to get a new vial pouch or maybe even a second one.
Not wanting to dwell on it even more he decided to get ready for the next dungeon run with Avery. Uncle Naro told him they would talk more about how to best properly utilize these new resources as well as how to properly maintain them. He also made sure to make a point that he would be having Liam make these new potions after this run.
As they entered the dungeon Liam had missed that there was another person who was on the sandbank but was standing a bit aways from them all. If he had seen her he would have also seen the look on her face. A look that was a mixture of confusion and slight horror.
During this rest of the day Liam and the others ran through the dungeon as much as they could. Liam trained both his Crafter Combat style that he was slowly easing into and his new Phantom Cat Combat style that he was trying to put into practice. For the former he had to learn how and what spells effected which resource pool.
His first time testing things out he found out how much his Crafter abilities affected his Crafter Mana Pool. He had also discovered that when he used his Mana Type Hands they had different outcomes. When he summoned a Mana Type Hand the cost of creating them affected his Crafter Mana Pool, however, when he used them in a fight they affected his Crafter Stamina Bar.
Through some other testing he had also discovered that if he channeled a Mana Type before summoning a Mana Type Hand through the channeled mana that it would use his regular Mana Pool instead of his Crafter Mana Pool. However, if he had created them through that way the cost of using them still came from his Crafter Stamina Bar. While tracking the drainage of his Crafter Stamina Bar with his Mana Type Hands he found the drain was not as bad as when it was going through his regular Stamina Bar.
The next thing he tried out was his new combat style he was developing for his Phantom Cat. During his fights he went through each technique one by one. He tried to see how each one felt in real combat. The way his footwork felt, the way his daggers moved, and even the angles his throwing daggers flew. While testing everything out he was seeing the errors he had and the areas where he needed to improve. That wasn’t the only thing he noticed when he went through each fight. He noticed as he tested everything out that it all felt…wrong.
He wasn’t sure what it was or why he felt so off when trying them out. It was starting to bug him as he went through his fifth fight but chalked it up as using something new for the first time. During his breaks he tried to think back on what was going on, but no matter what he thought he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He even talked to Gimmel, but he had no clue what it was.
It was Mercer who had said something. Since Ariyana had stepped down for Avery this run, Mercer was the only one who acted as the Control Tower. That meant he watched Liam and Gimmel fight and noticed something during their fights. What he noticed was that their movements looked stiff. From the beginning to the moment they finished the technique, everything just looked like they were wooden or rather they were too focused on following an invisible path.
Gimmel and Liam asked him to elaborate more on what he meant by that. Mercer then explained that they looked like their bodies were following some path that they needed to follow to the tee and if they veered from it even if it was just a centimeter then they were force correcting themselves back to the path. While Mercer’s observations seemed confusing at first the more the two thought about it the more something nagged at the back of their minds.
It was only during their fights with the monsters in the second area when Liam was forced to do something that made his body feel better. He was moving to strike Mangrove Treant using a technique called Cutting the Deck. This technique had the user rush in daggers outstretched to pierce into the target and when they were driven in you would pull them out towards the sides creating a large wound.
However, before he could even get close enough to pierce the daggers through, his Danger Sense flare up along his side. He then noticed a few Barbed Slinger Corals had locked onto him and shot their barbed needles towards his midsection. He knew he had to stop his attack and get out of the way, but when he tried to stop he felt his back foot slip out from underneath him.
Panicking from the sudden mistake and not wanting face plant right in front of the monster, Liam used the momentum of both the fall and the speed he was going to placed his hands out, daggers still in his grip, and start to do a handspring. Liam felt his Danger Sense shift from his midsection to his right armpit area and top ribcage as his body began to flip.
His mind raced on what he could do to get out of this predicament. He couldn’t use Shadow Step since both of his feet were in the air, and if he continued with the handspring he would just collide the moment he got to his feet. He need to push off of something…An image of a technique Liam had seen in the book flashed in his mind. It was a technique he remembered seeing and wanting to try out, but since the ship was moving so much in so many different directions he couldn’t properly try it out. However, right now, in this exact moment he found himself in the perfect setting to try it out. The technique known as The Flying Stack.
As his legs started to fall over, he waited for the right moment to bend his arms and push off. He felt his feet touch the tree like body of the monster which allowed him to know when to bend his knees. Quickly after bending, he pushed off the monster which sent him flying at a twenty-five degree angle upwards and out of the way of the barbed needles. As he flew backwards into the air he found himself in the best position for the next step of the technique.
With a swift motion, Liam sheathed his two daggers before pulling out a throwing dagger in both hands, disregarded aiming and threw them down at his target, before pulling out two more and repeating these actions three more times before landing back down.
Liam didn’t stop there as he felt his body start to move on its own. He hadn’t realized that during these few seconds he had fallen into a Battle Zen. Continuing his momentum, Liam pulled the daggers out two at a time back to his hands. The moment they were in his grip, he threw them back at the creature as the next couple of daggers raced back to him.
His movements flowed well as he fell into another technique called Dagger Shuffling. His body didn’t stay in place but moved about as he dodged barbed needles and seaweed vines trying to trap him. Every now and then his body threw daggers at the Barbed Slinger Corals to stop their attacks while also continuing the Dagger Shuffle attack while trying to approach the Mangrove Treant that was getting pissed off at the continued onslaught of daggers raining upon it.
The tangled tree-like monster reached out to try and grab him once he got within arm’s reach, but missed as Liam threw all the daggers he was using up in the air and dropped his center of gravity before pushing off his feet, pulling out his Shadow Moon Daggers and executing the Cutting the Deck technique. The Mangrove Treant let out a loud shriek as Liam finished this last technique.
Mercer and the others called out a warning as they noticed his onslaught wasn’t enough to kill it off. However, before the monster could attack Liam, the daggers he had thrown above the creature’s head came raining down on it, finishing it off. The Battle Zen Liam had fallen into came to an end as he huffed and gasped for air, sweat dripping down his face.
While the others, already done with their monsters, yelled out their surprise at what Liam had done, Liam was already lost in his head. He was now starting to see what it was that he wasn’t understanding. While Gimmel had explained that the techniques provided to them were considered String combinations, Liam hadn’t fully grasped what that had meant and failed to see how he could properly connect the style together. However, thanks to a mistake he had almost made and falling into a Battle Zen, he was able to understand why everything felt so wrong.
“These techniques aren’t meant to stop,” Liam muttered as he stared at the daggers in his hands. “Nabal, you god damn freak. This fighting style is a Parkour fighting style that requires you to keep moving and change, no...adapt on the fly.” He breathed heavily as he turned his gaze towards Gimmel. He saw the recognition in his gaze as well. With a pained smile he shouted out to the teenager, “We’re going to need to work on our Stamina Endurance even more.”
The rest of the second run both Gimmel and Liam tried to work on stringing the techniques together. While they didn’t do as well as Liam had when he entered the Battle Zen, they were getting better and better. However, like Liam had mentioned earlier, their Stamina Bar drained quickly throughout each fight. They were learning that while this combat style required them to move around so much, they also needed to learn how to not make any wasteful movements as well as better management on their Stamina Bar.
For the rest of the day, except for Artem and Blair, they all took turns rotating a person out and in. Whenever Liam was in he harvested materials and gained a nice stock on stuff. Due to the overflow of materials and ingredients, Key had convince him to sell a good portion to her and her crew. She had to approach him though whenever Mercer wasn’t around.
She tried to avoid the Tiefling as much as she could when it came to trying to buy items from them after learning how good he was at not getting swindled by her and her charms. She had tried to ‘buy’ some of the loot they had received and when he gave her the price she was both appalled and shocked he knew what the true value of the items were and how he wouldn’t budge on lowering it.
She had tried plenty of tactics from saying she had taught him plenty of applications when it came to Water and Ice Magic to how she was allowing him on her ship. Mercer had tactfully countered that she was the one who had offered the lessons Free of Charge and that she had already proclaimed they were her guests. When she mentioned that she could just stop with the lessons Mercer only shrugged and said that it wouldn’t hurt him if she did since her methods with the two elements were better suited for Avery even though she was a Fire and Air focused Spellsword.
She was about to argue and say something along the lines of what if she just started charging Avery and how he wouldn’t do that to his teammate; However Mercer shut that down and stopped her before she could say anything by saying that if she had any thoughts around that line that he would just double the prices of the items and make sure Liam would as well with the materials he harvested. She was rather impressed by his stalwart attitude and commended him for sticking his grounds.
During the times Liam wasn’t inside the dungeon he spent his time crafting under Uncle Naro’s guidance. He had learned the new recipes he needed to have to make the two new Mana and Stamina Potions as well as got his Tailoring to level ten and his Construction to level nineteen. As he reached that level in his Focus Point Construction Craft, he saw how excited Uncle Naro was. He wouldn’t tell him why, but he knew something was probably going to happen once he reached level twenty in it.
Once night had fallen, they were all ordered to rest up for the night and were informed that they were going to leave first thing in the morning. However, after everyone disappeared towards their rooms, Liam made his way over to his training room. He wanted to surprise Uncle Naro in the morning by getting his Focus Point Construction Craft to level twenty, but before he could start a knock came from the door.
Curious to know who was still up, he called in whoever was on the other side. To his surprise it was Omira and Sebastean. Omira had a strange look on her face as she entered, but the look on Sebastean’s face told Liam something wasn’t right. Deciding to take caution, Liam asked, “Is everything alright you two?”
Omira stared at Liam for a long moment. The silence made him uncomfortable, and he was about to repeat his question, but stopped as Omira finally asked, “Why do you have strange smells lingering around you?”