Dinner was a blast, and the crew loved Olivia. We talked about our adventure but left out the part about the soulless legion. As we sat around the cleared table, I asked Olivia if she wanted to join our team. Having cleared it with Xantcha ahead of time, we didn't know what her class did, but we were interested and had some slots to fill. This dinner was also the send-off for Trila, as she was heading back to her university tomorrow. As the day turned to dusk, it was the cue to head out, so we thought it would be nice to walk Olivia back to the scholar's tower.
On the walk to take Olivia back to her guild, we approached the gate that connects the city of Urza to the city of Nadja. We heard a commotion that sounded like people shouting. It looked like some kind of religious organization was having a protest, calling the portal blasphemous and stating that the portals should only be used by the one true God, the Sower. Most of the time, I don't pay attention to what religious proselytizers say, but something about this name, the Sower, struck a chord in me. After about a minute of watching the protest, I noticed one of them holding some kind of bowling ball-shaped sphere made of a material so black that light could not escape from it. The man raised it above his head as if it weighed nothing and rocketed it at the portal. It fired off like a missile, hitting dead center.
I took a moment to scan the man: Cultist of the Sower, Level 136. That was all I got from the information, and it was a good thing that I did because the whole group exploded into gory bits from the wall of lightning bolts that smashed into them. Whatever protection killed that group of people did not stop the orb from smashing into the portal.
The moment the glassy orb made contact with the portal, a ripple of black oil spread across its surface. The whole 25-ft portal seemed to oscillate between pitch black and the vibrant city on the other side. With a final shudder and a large ripple, the portal snapped to pitch black. After a moment, the black changed to reveal a wasteland barely lit by the moon, covered in inky blackness. Once I saw that, I knew this could not be good. So I shouted, “Everybody who can't fight, run!” In stunned silence, my voice rang like a whip crack, shaking the people out of their stupor. Most people obeyed, and those who could not fight ran. This seemed to spark something in the monsters on the other side of the gate, which were now starting to take shape. It was at this moment that the system decided to give us a quest:
Invasion of Urza
Difficulty: Heroic
Quest Description: Six portals have been corrupted and need to be cleansed or closed.
Type: Invasion quest
Rewards: Up to 100k XP based on participation, 500 SP to the person/party that closes a portal, 1% increased drop rate of items per elite monster slain collectively.
Failure Conditions: 1. The city loses 50% of its population. 2. All portals are not closed within 24 hours.
All the portals were corrupted. What are these failure conditions? Oh my, look at those rewards. I turn to the party and say, “Do we stay and fight, or do we run? I will fight.” Everyone in the party votes to fight. Olivia votes to run, which is understandable until she looks around at the people in everyday clothes. Realizing that she could help these people, she changes her vote to stay and fight. The next thing I know, she is by my side, saying, “I have a plan that should help funnel the monsters toward us and away from the city. I am going to need to use your mana, though.” I nod and offer her my hand. She takes it, and I feel a chunk of my mana pool drain away. I pull out a mana potion, drink it, and ask what spell she is casting. She shouts, “A massive version of an earthen bulwark. It creates a wall of earth that is 10 feet thick and 1000 feet long. It lasts for 1 hour."
Olivia's Wall of Earth takes the shape of an old-school keyhole. The bottom of the keyhole has a small opening for the people who were trapped when the wall went up. The bottom of the keyhole is pointing at the central tower, hopefully directing the monsters away from the civilians. My mana is restored by the potion I used. I cast Contour Nature to create a ramp to the top of the wall so that the nearest people can escape. Once the stairs are complete, I construct a secondary smaller wall in front of the portal.
Looking into the darkness of the rift, I see a large lumbering beast that appears to be moving slowly. I have a sinking feeling that we cannot contend with that beast. Staring into the portal, I get a perfect view of the five human-shaped beings that swoop down from the sky. They fly through the portal before I can raise an alarm. Once they are free of the portal horizon, they fly straight up. I manage to scan one of them, and it sends a spike of fear into my guts.
Archbishop of Oblivion
Level: 400
HP: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?
A sound like a thunderclap explodes above us. This boom repeats ten more times before I can understand what is happening. Gazing up into the dusky light, I can make out the war that is raging above. People clad in armor battle with the humanoid figures that emit black smoke. A shout from the front at the portal alerts me to the impending wave of monsters. As the first monster crosses the threshold, I scan it. The creature is medium-sized, resembling a cross between a velociraptor and a scorpion. Its entire body is covered in black chitin, with two large claw pincers and a stinger tail.
Oblivion spawn
Level: 30
HP: 1500
Mana: 200
Stamina: 600
A medium-sized monster whose form is derived from the original planet's apex predator. These monsters hail from the world of Algenthnax.
"Well, that is not good," I give the party a rundown on the monster's stats, more to reassure myself than to provide them with probably already known information. I'm positioned on the wall at the bottom of the longest point. I observe as the first wave of monsters is crushed beneath the power of all the mages who have lined up along the walls. At some point, while I was focused on the portal, people start to fill up the walls that Olivia created.
Over 50 mages encircle the portal, most of them being seasoned adventurers. I can overhear what they are saying. “ we will fire spells in a staggered formation just follow my lead,” they say catching me listening in. They know to stagger their shots with the mages to the left and right, allowing every other mage to fire at once. After watching the first wave of shots go out, I fall into their pattern. Next to me are Trilla and Olivia.
“I am not going to be much good fighting like this. None of my class spells are offensive. What should I do?” Olivia asks.
“You should find Xantcha and Amurak. They will know how to use your spells to the best effect. Failing that, they should know where to direct you,” I say to Olivia, then turning to Trila. I say while putting on my last piece of armor, “Every 2 minutes, I want us to combine our spells to create that explosive stone effect. Do you agree?”
"Okay, I will do just that. Hopefully, I can help out. Stay safe; it would suck to get so close and die here," Olivia says as she rushes off to Xatcha.
"That sounds great to me," Trila says with a grim look. "This does not look good; I hope that we can stop it."
I pull out my naginata while waiting for my turn, as the monsters finally break through the first wall that I hastily constructed. I throw on a mage's armor for 1000 MP, giving me an additional 500 HP. I unleash my magma bomb spell at the first group that comes into range. Right on the heels of my flaming bomb, a ball of frozen death hurtles and meets it in the air right over the monsters. The explosion is even stronger than the last time. I turn to Trila while casting a set of magic missiles.
"Wow, that was even cooler than last time. Do you think you can do that again?" I ask.
"You bet I can, and unlike you, I can do it more than once every 2 minutes. That was way bigger than what I expected. I thought we might get more spikes and less raw explosive power," she says while throwing out spell after spell.
The impact of our spells wipes a 15-ft. area clean, but in a blink, it is full of monsters. In the meantime, I cast my magic missile, triggering the novice effect Arcane missiles, costing me 90 mana per spell on every other cast to try and conserve mana. Wave after wave of monsters come rushing through the portal, most dying before they can even reach the wall. Around the fifth wave, I realize that crowd control would be handy, so I cast Summon Plant elemental. I notice an oddity after the seventh wave; monsters that have been dead for more than a minute dissolve, leaving no bodies in their wake. After 20 minutes of fighting like this, we have gone through 8 waves without seeing an end in sight.
On the 9th wave, we see the first elites. They are hulking versions of the Oblivion spawn, except they look more like a T-rex and are 2 times the size, putting them at a solid 15 feet tall. Scanning them gives similar information.
Elite Oblivion spawn
Level: 40
HP: 8400
Mana: 600
Stamina: 1200
The elites have more than 5 times the HP pool. "That HP is ridiculous. Focus fire on the elites," I shout to all mages in the area. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a whole pack of 10 elites comes rampaging out of the portal. This wave of elites manages to get the first of the Oblivion spawn to the walls, and they proceed to start climbing immediately, with melee fighters spacing between each of the mages to handle the small number of spawns that reach the top of the walls. It takes over 6 minutes for the mages to bring down the pack of 10 elites. Having cast my spells in such rapid succession, I'm left with very low MP. I drink down a Mana potion in an attempt to regain some amount of mana before the next wave starts.
The tenth wave is where it all starts to go wrong. The tide of Oblivion spawn is starting to wane, but now we're seeing an uptick in elites. This time, 20 elites come through the portal, followed by what I can only call a raid boss. This creature is over 30 feet tall and is covered in strips of cloth that are blacker than night. The strips blowing in the wind give it an almost liquid shape. It is carrying a massive version of the same orb that was used to corrupt the portal at the start of this whole event. Once it is fully out of the portal, it turns toward us, pulls back, and throws the sphere. It sails over us to impact the side of the tower. I flick my eyes back to the raid boss and scan it. What I get back makes me sick to my stomach.
Herald of Oblivion
Level: 200 (Raid Boss)
HP: 200,000
MP: ??
SP: ??
As the ball smashes into the side of the tower, a barrier springs into life to arrest the movement of the sphere. It does not deflect it; instead, the orb gets lodged into the shield and stays in place where it is impacted. Out of the corner of my eye, I see another orb sailing up into the air to strike the shield in the same way. To confirm what I already know is going to happen next, I look to the left and see the same happening over there. This makes me wonder what these orbs are for and if they need all six. As if the system could read my mind, I get a new quest.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Save the Tower of Urza
Difficulty: Legendary
Quest Description: The Tower of Urza is under assault. This tower has stood as a resting place for many evils that have been sealed away. Close all portals so you can stop the spell the Herald is casting. The spell will be completed in 3 minutes.
Rewards: 100,000 XP, Legendary Class item, 250 SP
Fail Condition: If one of the Herald completes the spell.
"Oh no, two hundred thousand hit points," I whisper into the midst of the ongoing battle. I search the area to find my party. They are engaged with one Elite. I shout at the team, "We need to close the portal so we can stop the Herald." Xantcha looks at me and shouts back, "You and Trila go shut it down. We will hold the line." I hesitate to leave my team, but I know that if we don't close this portal, we will fail. So, gritting my teeth, I turn away from the battle to make my way closer to the portal. As I reach the section of the wall closest to the portal, I'm about to jump when a figure lands right next to me. Clad in Crimson plate ornately decorated with swoops and swirls of inlaid gold and silver, they remove their helmet to reveal their face. It is Olkeka, the Blade of Rage.
“Hey, long time no see. You're a sight for sore eyes,” I say, giving her a big smile. “Are you here to close the portal or to kill the Herald?” I ask.
“I am here to kill, kill, kill. I lack the magical knowledge to close the portal, so I will leave that up to you and your party. Leave the elites to me.” Olkeka says.
“What about the Archbishops?” I ask.
“We killed them all. The four that came out of this portal headed for the council chambers. My team met them halfway and killed them all. Go on ahead to the portal. I will free the rest of your party to take up the rear.” Olkeka says.
Something about that does not sound right. I put it to the back of my mind for now. I signal Trila to follow as we run to the portal. We take about five steps before Olkeka blasts off from behind us, rocketing past us and into the melee. She enters like a whirlwind of blades and blood. It is only now that I see her wielding a massive hammer like it's a twig she found on the road. After a couple of seconds, the way forward is clear as she switches her hammer out for a large sword and shield. Wondering why she would switch to a more defensive fighting style, I look to the portal and see a wave of over 100 elites rushing it.
Rushing around to the backside of the portal, Trila and I look at it, not knowing what we are doing. I activate Arcane Sight in a vain attempt to glimpse where the power for the portal is coming from. Dialing back the power so I can see is a trick I worked on during the 12-day trip. I spent most of that trip with it active so that I can control the level at which I see the mana. Examining the base of the portal, I see that there are ten massive conduits leading to something underground. I use Seismic Perception from Contour Nature to see what is underground. It is ten large crystal banks that are connected as one whole unit to the bottom of this platform. I look to Trila and say, “Quickly, what do you know about portals?”
“Um, not a lot. I barely passed that class when I took it at the academy. Portals have some really big downsides, like mana consumption, being locationally locked, magical interference, and only allowing a single connection to a place. Often, portals are opened and closed. To have one open all the time, it must have a mana supply to collect and channel the localized mana,” Trila says.
“Okay, so looking at the weaknesses: mana supply, can't move, disrupt the magical field, and the last one is not applicable. The structure is too solid to disrupt the mana flow. Plus, the Sower might supply mana. I can affect the magical field on a level that would only help the portal, so that leaves us locationally locked. Does that mean it can't move or should not move?” I say.
“I mean can't, unless it is built into a special city that is flying. Portals take a ton of time to craft because of all the math that goes into where the portal is located. That is one of the reasons why I never wanted to be a portal specialist. We have to take everything into consideration: location, height, weather, and magical field readings,” Trila says.
“Ok, ok, ok,” I say, my mind racing. “Height? Why height?”
“Height of the teleportation hub from the core of the planet. There are so many spells that use that as a base for the location. The system often shortens the math when a person casts the spell. For constructs like this, the math is set in stone, literally. The location of the spell form is locked in position. What are you thinking?”
“I am thinking that I might be able to move the ground underneath the platform enough to change the height. So the math for the location is wrong and trip some safeties. There is no way someone makes something like this and does not take safety into account. Can you give me mana?”
“No, it is a class-restricted ability,” Trila says
“Then I need you to get me, Olivia. She has the power. I am going to need all the mana I can get. Olivia should be on the backlines.” As she runs off to get Olivia, I start the process of digging down underneath the 10-foot-wide platform. It turns out to be easier in one way and harder in a different way completely. The more difficult reason is that the stone that makes up the platform does not allow me to affect the Earth within five feet of any side of the platform. So I have to shape the hole to be wider by 2 ft on each side. The way in which it is easier is that once we get past the 5 ft mark, the Earth becomes very soft, making it less mana-intensive than I thought it would be. Keeping my eye on the timer, we have just under 2 minutes left. I am able to dig down about 5 ft before I run out of mana. Downing a mana potion makes me feel like I'm going to pass out from taking too many potions back to back.
The pair arrived around 2 minutes later. Olivia says, “I can drain and feed between the three of us. We should have enough mana. Trila explained the plan, and I don't have a spell to do what you are planning. So we will power your spell. Are you ready?”
I nod my head and brace for the pain that is going to come from pushing out this much mana. Like a wave reaching the highest point on the beach, I am both overwhelmed and refreshed. The surge of new and foreign mana into my body is enough of a rush to make me feel like I am high. The power at my fingertips is greater than anything I have ever wielded before. There is clarity in wielding so much power, and in that moment of clarity, I remember what was nagging me. I shout to Olkeka, “Olkeka! There were 5 Archbishops, not 4!” and that was all the words I had to spare, for the power forces me to use it unless it kills me.
Pumping an insane amount of mana into Contour Nature, the Earth moves like a backhoe plowing through the underground structure I was creating. I had made a shaft 5 ft down. With all this extra mana, I was able to dig another 10 ft before I could force the structure down into the hole. Using the mana of others was intoxicating. I found that I loved feeling that much power in my hands. I used more of it to collapse one side of the earth underneath and to the right side, causing the earth in that area to slide into the hole. The platform really wanted to stay in place. It did not move for the longest 10 heartbeats of my life. Then it just tipped into the hole once it realized that there was nothing to support it. It dropped 15 feet to the ground, and the portal hung in the air for a couple of seconds, then it popped like a soap bubble. Looking at the clock, we had 45 seconds left. I looked across the gaping hole at the herald and used a scan again to show the HP of the beast. It had 44,800 HP, and that was when I knew we could not win with 40 seconds left.
The second Olkeka saw that the portal was down, she charged her strongest move and rushed the beast. Her first strike took 10k off the boss, the second was less at 8k. 10 hits into the combo, the boss was left with 5000 HP. I had hoped that the boss was going to die. The whole combo took 15 seconds, and if we dealt 5k damage in 25 seconds we could kill that boss and save the tower. Hope springs to life in my chest, we can do this, we are doing this.
Launching itself out of a side street, the Archbishop arrived. It flew across space trying to reach the herald. It reached the herald in two pieces. When it moved past Olkeka, she lashed out so fast that I didn't even see her move. Not only did she do a staggering amount of damage, but she also positioned herself to intercept the Archbishop. She had me in awe. The Archbishop, at the feet of the Herald, reached up and spoke to the beast, “Oh, seer of all, ender of all, and purist of all, grant my dying wish to protect your creature of burden by turning away all blows. Celestial Shell.” The Archbishop shouts with his dying breath as its body turns into light and flows into the shell.
Celestial Shell: Grants the target a shell that lasts for 30 seconds, protecting the target from any damage, controlling, and impairing effects.
Olkeka roars, "No!" and then proceeds to smash her hammer into the shell over and over and over again. Nothing changes; the shell is just sitting there, immune to damage and unaffected by any crowd-controlling effects. Knowing that I can't do anything, I start to move toward the shell, casting the largest magma bomb. Still, nothing happens to the shell; every mage on the wall throws spells at it, but it remains impervious. The closer I get to the shield, the better view I have of what lies beyond. The herald is just standing there, casting its spell, and I can tell that the spell is about to be ready. In an impotent rage, I lash out with my large maul, pouring all that I have into the ability of Rippling Mountain. I even pull out my mana well and try to suck the spell up, but nothing happens.
As the seconds tick down, I approach Olkeka. "Is there anything that we can do? Anything at all," I ask desperately. She shakes her head and says, "Sometimes you try your hardest and you still lose. They were one step ahead of us today. All we can do now is survive what's coming." I look at the shell as the quest timer counts down to zero.
As the timer hits zero, the herald starts to get sucked into the spell, leaving just the shell and an orb of pure darkness, and then the shell winks out, leaving a small black orb that launches toward the tower.
As it impacts the orbs that encircle the tower, an inky blackness oozes across the surface. It climbs the tower, growing faster until the whole tower is enveloped. Once completed, the tower folds in on itself, collapsing into a black hole no larger than the size of my hand. Once the mini black hole consumes the whole tower, it just vanishes, leaving a massive crater in the ground where the tower used to stand, providing everybody in the clearing a clear view of all the other portals, one of which is open. Looking at the portal, I can see the body of the herald on the other side, but in the distance, I can see a tower that was not there before.
“Hey Olkeka, does that look like the Tower of Urza over there inside the last portal?” I ask.
“Oh fuck, that can’t be good. I know some of the artifacts that were sealed in there. We are so damned screwed,” Olkeka says as the portal winks out.
As we stand on the battlefield, we all receive the same notification.
You have failed the quest Save the Tower of Urza. For failing the quest, the city suffers a -50% reduction in production and building for 7 days. The tower has fallen into the grasp of the Sower. Items that were stored in the tower will bolster the strength of the Sower's armies.
Congratulations, you have completed the quest Invasion of Urza. Based on your contributions, you have been awarded 83,000 XP. For being a party that closed the portal, you were awarded 500 SP. The victors have collectively slain 443 elite monsters, granting a 443% increased drop rate of items from monster slaying. You can collect the items in the stream interface.
I read over the notifications in a daze. I have never channeled that much magic throughout that fight, and we failed to save the tower. As I stand there, I hear shouts of alarm and cries of despair. This shakes me out of the downhill slide before I could get into any self-recrimination. I did the best I could, and still, I failed; all I can do is find a way to improve and move on. With steps lighter than they should be after such a loss, I head toward the sounds of people in need. Running around the city helping people makes me realize that Olivia's Wall of Earth saved so many lives.
The area around each of the portals is wrecked—the homes, shops, and all buildings damaged or completely destroyed. As I rush from area to area, I use Conture Nature to find the people that are trapped and free them. Then I use Healing Roots to stabilize the most critically injured. The death toll is staggering. Using the Seismic Perception rank bonus from Conture Nature, I can see all the dead that were crushed by the falling rubble. There were a couple of fights with monsters that were hiding. Those were dealt with swiftly. This continues for hours until I am relieved of the job by a squad of gold-ranked adventurers. At the end of the night, once every person is healed and the monster-slaying is done. I lean against a building and waited for my team to find me.
After taking some time to sort out my state of mind, I realized that I had just walked off the road and sat down there, lost in thought. I hadn't even noticed that someone had come up to me and was trying to get my attention for the past 5 minutes. He told me that the council wanted to see me. After letting him know that I would be there shortly, I looked at my notifications.
Congratulations, you have gone from level 28 to 31. You gain 60 intelligence and 120 wisdom. You have 15 unspent attribute points to allocate and 75% skill progress that needs to be assigned the next time you rest.
Congratulations, the following spells, and skills have leveled up: Magma Bomb from level 8 to 13, Contour Nature from level 25 to 31, Healing Essence Roots from level 16 to 21, Revitalizing Restoration from level 1 to 6, Rippling Mountain from level 1 to 3, Summon Plant elemental from level 6 to 10, Channeling from level 5 to 17, Perception from level 3 to 10, and Arcane sight from level 10 to 14.
Your spell Contour Nature has reached the student rank. You have been awarded 2,500 XP and have the choice of one rank bonus.
Earth Shifter: Reduces the cost of moving soil while increasing the affected area by up to twice the base rates.
Stabilize: Increases the stability of the affected area once the spell is no longer channeled.
Dynamic Will: Reduces the cost of manipulating all materials. Allows for easier formation of a desired shape.
Your skill Channeling has reached the novice rank. You have been awarded 1,000 XP and the following rank bonus: Energy Conduit.
Energy Conduit: Allows for the channeling of outside mana sources while increasing the rate and decreasing the loss of mana.
“Look at those gains! I'm going to have to find more void spawn to kill,” I say to the empty street. Now to choose the rank bonus. I like the look of Earth Shifter and Stabilize, both will help me move Earth more effectively, but they seem a bit narrow for this early in the skill progression. I see the reduction from Dynamic Will being more impactful across all materials, so I go with that. Having picked my rank bonus, I decide not to delve into the rewards waiting in the stream menu. With that out of the way, I make my way to the council chambers.