“So,” Barti spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. “What rules were you thinking?”
“Well, seeing as you are quite a number of levels above me, how about limiting your skills and levels to what one might have access to at my level.” Michael replied without hesitation.
Barti nodded. “I can do that. But in return, how about we also keep from any ultimates our classes might have.”
“What,” Micheal scoffed though he was shrugging. “You don’t want to go against my patron. Not sure you can take him?”
“Not really,” Barti spoke casually as if he wasn’t afraid of whatever, or whoever, that was. “I just don’t feel like doing so during a friendly match is all. If that will be all.” He waited until Michael nodded in affirmation before speaking again, “Mindi, give us a countdown please.”
“Ok.” She shouted as she jumped to her feet. “On the count of three. Three,” The two of them seemed to relax. Michael pulled out a giant shield I had never seen him use. It was made of a darker metal and taller than him. In his other hand, he held a sword half his height and nearly a hand length in width. Given the gleam coming off the metal, it was likely made of something similar to my Chisa Katana. Though it was a bit shinier and the light looked closer to a pure white.
Barti just pulled out a dark red sword that I recognized. “Wait, what the hell is that?” Jeremiah seemed to growl. Looking over at the five of them, I realized each of Michael’s party was in just as much shock.
Unsurprisingly, neither Mindi nor Tindi were affected by the swords' appearance. Likely having seen it before now. “Two,” Mindi yelled out. It seemed like she was giving both parties a ton of time to prepare and break out their weapons before starting the fight.
I ignored the question and focused on the two people in the ring while I picked up yet another sandwich. Biting and swallowing half of it in one go. Barti held his sword to the side. Not even bothering to hold it in a ready position. Michael must have seen this as a challenge because he roared “Don’t you think I am worthy of you at least trying?”
The elf didn’t bother to respond. “One,” Mindi called out as she crouched down. Her right hand made contact with the stone circle embedded into the dirt. As soon as it did, a loud gong rang out. Barti didn’t move, instead letting Michael come to him. Michael either didn’t care or took it as a challenge because he charged right at the elf.
He couldn’t have been moving all that fast because I could still see and track the man as he charged. His shield held to the side as he lifted his sword high over his head. As soon as he got within striking range, dirt, dust, and stones flew as he planted his feet into the dirt. His sword using the momentum to accelerate at its target.
Barti stepped to one side and let the sword pass him by. As the sword missed him, Michael managed to maintain its momentum by pivoting on one foot. Turning the vertical strike into a horizontal one. Barti lifted his sword up and tilted it just enough to deflect the blow.
With the attack thwarted, Michael screamed out. It wasn’t the typical scream of rage, but something else. Something about the yell had every bit of my attention focused on him. A need to attack him growing inside me. Thankfully, the sharp spicy flavor of the meaty sandwich was enough to remind me of where I was.
Barti, on the other hand, struck out. His sword blurred as it jabbed at Michael. Michael took the hit, using it to push himself back as he said something. It was either a spell or a skill because his body started to shimmer. The light around him brightened into a dim rainbow of colors. He took another hit as the ground for fifty feet around him started to glow an off-white color.
Michael took blow after blow. Hitting his shield, sword, and even his flesh, yet he didn’t respond. He didn’t strike back. It was almost like he was waiting for something. What that was, I had no clue.
A dozen seconds, and a good amount of hits, later, the glowing field surrounding Michael’s body shattered. At the same moment, the feeling I had to go and attack Michael finally vanished. Whatever skill that had caused it likely disappearing. It must have also stopped affecting Barti as the elf jumped back a good distance.
Michael roared in fury before gesturing into the air. Pulling something from it and into himself. All at once, his body started to glow again. Reds and gold swirling around his form as he dropped his shield and once again charged at the elf.
This time, his attack was much much faster. His body was practically a smear through the air as he ran. His sword, having left a smear of metal following his path, vanished as he swung it. Barti managed to get his sword up and into the way. The two swords met edge to edge. While it looked like Barti was just holding him back, something told me it was the opposite.
Unfortunately for Michael, Barti had only been using his sword and speed up until now. While I could make out the haze that is mana in the world around us, whatever Barti was doing had the mana practically becoming as solid to my eyes as the girls around me. As one, the ground exploded with plants. Most grasped at Michael while others whipped out. Striking him as hard as they could.
Judging by the fact that he wasn’t moving, Michael either didn’t feel the attacks or didn’t care. As if they could see this, the plants all backed off. I didn’t know what they were doing until something brown stabbed out of the ground and into the sky. Only stopping when it hit something high above.
As suddenly as the first one came out, four more join it. While I couldn’t tell what they were from this distance, judging by Michael’s reaction, they were likely dangerous as hell. He tried to jump back to get away from the things, but they didn’t let him. Spikes stabbed out from the two he tried to pass through, blocking his way.
“How is this following the rules?” He called out as he moved to the center of the five plants.
“This is one of the first skills I got as a Master of Plants.”
“Wait,” Michael yelled but Barti ignored him. With a simple hand gesture, one that he likely didn’t need, the plants stabbed spikes in Michael’s direction.
“STOP!” Mindi called, though judging by the lack of screams or yelling, Barti hadn't actually hurt Michael in that last attack. As if they had been used up and burned, the plants crumbled into dust and vanished with the wind, leaving Michael standing there, eyes wide.
Barti didn’t seem to care. He just turned and walked toward our group, leaving Michael to stand there. When he got close enough to talk normally, he asked me “How many different skills did you manage to catch?”
I had no clue why he was asking that question, but I figured he had a reason so I gave it some real thought. He looked to have used two. One for each set of plants he grew. As for Michael, I had to think back. There was the one to pull our attention to him. The one to make the ground glow. The one to make himself glow. Then there was the one where he pulled something from the air before glowing another color. Finally, I answered, “Two from you and four from Michael.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He shook his head, looking a bit disappointed at my answer. “Try one from me and six from my opponent.” That surprised me. Not only that he had a powerful skill that was able to defeat Michael so easily, but that I had missed two skills that Michael had used. “Then again, it isn’t your fault you didn’t see those skills. He tried to make a few look like one skill. Now, do you know why I asked you this question?”
“Not really,” I answered before taking a big bite of my last sandwich.
“If you can recognize a skill as it is being used, you are more likely to find a counter for it.” He started. “For example, did you feel the need to attack Michael during the fight?” I nodded, not able to talk around a mouth full of food. “That was a skill to pull everyone's attention to him. It is a good skill for a defender to have. Just set him near the front to take the damage while everyone else kills the target.”
“Then we have the shield ability of his.” Barti continued. “If I didn’t miss my guess, it allows him to shield someone from a set amount of damage.”
“Oi,” Michael called as he got closer to our group. “Don’t go giving away my secrets.”
Barti waved him off, saying, “Just being able to see the skills as well as the effects is enough to give you an advantage.” He gestured back at the ground that was still glowing an off-white color. “Notice the ground over there. When he cast that, I felt like I was wading through quicksand. While it wasn’t much, it might have been an issue if he wasn’t the only person attacking.”
“If you are going to tell him so much about my skills, why don’t you tell us how your skill works? Hmm?”
“Simple,” Barti answered him. “It allows me to call forth plants from the ground. To defend or attack as needed.”
Michael looked skeptical, “That can't be all there is to it. If it was then tell me where those giant plants came from. They didn’t look native to this region.”
“Oh, they’re not.” The elf said, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. “Those were plants from my home village. I planted them as I pulled you out of your circle.”
“If that were the case, they wouldn’t have been positioned so perfectly. You must have cheated.”
“Nope,” Barti’s grin grew. “Did you think that I called the first set of plants forth to hold you? Those weak things would have stood little chance against anyone here. Not in those numbers or without quite a bit of mana backing them.” Michael’s face told me that he wasn’t happy to hear that. “Those served as a distraction while other plants moved the seeds into position.”
While Michael had been playing the game one turn at a time, the elf had been looking dozens of moves ahead. The moment Michael realized that he had been outplayed, his face fell. “Hey,” Mindi said from where she stood by the circle. “If you two are done. Can Jeremiah and I face off?”
That caught Michael’s attention. He sounded a bit hesitant as he answered. “Sure.”
“Good.” She jumped, a malicious gleam glinting in her eye. “About time I taught this idiot what a real mage can do.”
“Hah,” Jeremiah called back as they both started for the center. “In your dreams. Rules?”
“Basic spells only.”
“Water and air elements only.”
“No,” she shook her head. “Any of the six basic elements.”
“I can only use those two.”
“And I cannot use wind,” When I heard that, I thought back to when she had shown me magic. She had been hovering over the ground. Suspended in the air. So either she was lying or bending the truth. Not that I would say anything.
Tindi must have seen something on my face because she whispered to me. “She can use wind, but only the most basic spells and they cost a ton of mana.”
“Why?” I whispered back.
“Because her affinity for it is so low. It is practically zero for wind.” What Tindi said reminded me of something I recalled seeing on one of the many screens in my interface. Pulling it up, I found what I was looking for.
Element:
Affinity:
Spell Cost:
Spell Effect:
Fire
51
95%
120%
Earth
5
120%
70%
Water
8
110%
80%
Air
7
110%
80%
Light
17
100%
100%
Dark
30
100%
105%
Yep, just as I thought. Judging by this, my next best element to work on would be dark. Though, I was sure that there were two other elements. Space and Time I think. Wonder what my affinities for them would be. What could time even do? Space I got. But time seemed a bit broken. I mean, it isn’t like one could use it to turn time in either direction or something. No computer ever made would be able to do that.
The sound of a bell ringing pulled me out of my thoughts and to the scene in front of me. Both stayed where they were standing. While it looked like Jeremiah muttered something, Mindi simply pointed a finger and released a spell.
A ball of water formed and shot in his direction. Jeremiah dropped to the ground just as whatever spell he cast finished. It was a ball of water, looking no different than Mindi’s. It flung itself at her. Unlike him, she just flicked a hand.
A flicker of fire flew from her hand. Catching the ball before it could reach her. The two exploded into steam. Without waiting for him to react, she flicked a hand up. A pillar of stone rose in front of her.
At first, I thought it was a wall to stop a spell I couldn’t see, but she started to tap various parts of it. Jeremiah must have seen something about the stone that he didn’t like because he began to cast in earnest. Balls of water. Torrents of wind. Anything and everything he could cast, he did. Nothing got through the stone wall.
After one last tap, she rested her hand against the stone wall. Head bowed as she ignored the world around her as she concentrated on something. Without warning, the wall exploded outward. Steam billowing out as shards flew in Jeremiah’s direction. For his part, he fell to the ground. His knees and arms tucking in as he tried to protect himself from all the projectiles. Something about the motion of those projectiles told me that she was directing them somehow.
I must have not been the only one to notice as Michael called an end to the match. “STOP!” Mindi did something and all the stones that were coming around for another pass stopped in midair before falling harmlessly to the ground.
“You cheated!” Was the first thing Jeremiah said as he got up. His face red with anger.
“Nope.” Mindi’s voice was calm. “The earth spell I used was one to form walls. I just modified it to create little pockets and to strengthen the back side. Add some water and heat and this is what you get.”
“She created a claymore mine with magic,” Patric said to Michael. Judging by how quietly he had spoken, he probably didn’t mean for anyone else to hear him. Michael nodded at this.
“ARGG!” Jeremiah didn’t seem like he cared. “I demand a rematch.”
“Nope.” Mindi popped the p as she walked in our direction.
“Jeremiah,” Michael called out. “Since you seem so fired up. It is your turn against Kyren.”
Quickly finishing the last of the food on my plate, I got up and put it in the pile of dirty dishes before making my way onto the field. “Same rules?” Jeremiah asked. Something about how he said this told me that he was going to try and pull something underhanded. That or he thought I would not be able to beat him. Given that I only knew a few spells, it was likely.
Before I agreed with him, I gestured Michael over. The moment he was close enough to hear me without Jeremiah being able to overhear my question, I asked, “Can I use an enhancement spell on myself and attack him physically, or is that against the rules?”
Judging by his soft chuckle, he could see what I was getting at. “As it is a basic spell. I don’t see any issue with it. Just no weapons.”
“What are you planning!” Jeremiah yelled as Michael walked back to the edge of the circle and I made my way to my starting position.
“You will find out in a minute,” Was all I said as I got into position.