The next day, Breknir checked my healing spells.
"Rejuvenate and Cleanse are good," he said as I healed the cut on his hand, "and you have a good grasp of the spells already."
"Magic Perception helps," I smiled.
"Perhaps," he said with a mysterious smile, "you're cleared for healing and emergencies."
I nodded. This would hopefully lighten the load a bit on the current healers. I made my way towards the laboratory, potions weren't going to brew themselves. At the same time, I used my second partition to continue with spell development.
The first spell I developed was Arcane Strike, a touch range spell that used one of three elemental effects. Shock created a small burst of lightning to damage the target and paralyzed it for a moment. Frost was a burst of ice that slowed down the target. And Scorch was fire and would burn the target for some time after. Three status effects rolled into one spell.
The second one was Arcane Trap. It worked on a similar principle as the previous one, it left a small rune on a surface that would detonate when approached. The spell was meant as a means of battlefield control. Since I was primarily a ranged combatant, I needed a way to keep my enemies at bay.
Throughout the day, I crossed paths with Vel when I went to fetch fresh ingredients from the greenhouses. It seemed her teacher had given her a bit more breathing room to train at her own pace.
----------------------------------------
The next day, I had my first emergency.
The first sign that something had gone wrong was the blood curdling scream. I grabbed the emergency bag from behind the front desk as Breknir poked his head out of the consultation room.
"Go," he said.
I bolted out of the clinic at a full run and followed the cries of pain. I passed by a few workshops before stopping in front of the blacksmith. Eroan was on the ground clutching his bloody hand. Anlyth was next to him with a small medical bag open, he looked up as I stepped into the forge.
"What happened?" I asked.
"His hammer strike missed," the blacksmith said, "struck his hand instead. I've already cut the glove open."
I nodded and crouched next to Eroan. His hand was swollen almost beyond recognition.
How hard was that strike? The gloves are enchanted!
I cast Rejuvenation and pushed the spell towards the mangled hand. The feedback from the spell showed me exactly what was wrong, crushed bones and tissue, internal hemorrhage, nerve damage. I first applied Cleanse at the end to get rid of the blood and small shards of bone. Then I took control of the healing light and started to knit everything back together, relying on the medicine skill and my memory of anatomy to guide me.
It took several minutes to knit the hand back together. In the end, it looked as good as new. I pulled out potions from the emergency bag and slowly fed them to a dazed Eroan. His body was still in shock from the wound, the first potion eased him out of that state. I also gave him a potion to replenish the missing blood as well as a nutrient booster.
"There we go," I said, "all healed up."
"Th- Thanks Lis," he said.
"Pass by the clinic in a week for a checkup, or earlier if anything seems wrong," I smiled, "and try not to get hurt that badly too often."
"Y- Yeah," he nodded, "I'll be more careful, I promise."
----------------------------------------
The next few days after the hammer incident were quiet. Vel and I went about our days like normal. We also added some magic sessions in the evenings. I took that time to help Vel level up her nature magic skill and improve her array of spells, her primary focus was clearly on plant magic so we tailored the rest of her kit around defense and buff spells.
I also took some time to explore the possibilities of arcane magic more in depth. I created a Sleep spell as an experiment which worked well when I tested it on Vel. I also figured out a reconnaissance spell, it created a small scrying eye I could use to see through. The range wasn't phenomenal, around a hundred meters at most, but it was an interesting experiment. The last two were defensive in nature, Obscuring Mist used something similar to a shadow element spell to cover an area in a thick black mist, and Rejection, an omni-directional force spell to push enemies away.
> Skill Nature Magic has reached to rank 2, level 9
> Skill Arcane Magic has reached to rank 2, level 12
Experiments with Mystic Enhancement and Spell Strike also bore fruit.
The effects that could be applied to weapons and projectiles were interesting but at a low level, they were outclassed by Magic Strike. Touch range spells tended to be more powerful than their ranged counterparts, a tradeoff to compensate for the need to get close to your enemy, even at half power. The most viable enhancement was with the air element, it had a chance to repeat an attack. The second hit was less powerful than the first and didn't trigger Magic Strike twice but it was still impressive.
The body enhancement had no real surprises, each element had different effects. Earth increased defense, fire strength, and lava both at the same time. When active, it covered my skin in magic glyphs like a glowing full body tattoo. I found two elements that worked well. Ice, which was a combination of water and air, increased both agility and speed. Shadow, on the other hand, increased stealth.
> Skill Mystic Enhancement has reached to rank 1, level 6
> Skill Magic Combat has reached to rank 1, level 3
> Skill Magic Strike has reached to rank 1, level 5
At the end of the day, I checked my status. Progress over the week had been steady and I felt like I was probably ready for the trial.
Name
Liscura Van-Niu
Ancestry
Dark Elf
Status
Level 21 (Rank 2) | 29 Essence
Health: 690/690 (+93%/h)
Stamina: 910/910 (+125%/h)
Mana: 2640/2640 (+195%/h)
Focus: 30/134
Primary Class 1
Mystic Knight
Skills (3/10)
Magic Combat - Rank 1, Level 3
Magic Strike - Rank 1, Level 5
Mystic Enhancement - Rank 1, Level 6
Primary Class 2
Mystic Witch (+)
Skills (2/10)
Nature Magic - Rank 2, Level 9
Arcane Magic - Rank 2, Level 12
Spells
Nature: 3/3 major, 5/5 minor
Arcane: 3/3 major, 5/5 minor
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Secondary Class
[None]
Perks
Blessing of Gaia
Essence Mastery (Rank 1)
Essence Absorption (Rank 1)
Essence Well (Rank 1)
Mana Perception
Improved Senses
Night Vision (Rank 5)
General Skills
Combat Skills
Dagger Mastery - Rank 1, Level 15
Light Bow Mastery - Rank 2, Level 6
Knowledge Skills
Medicine - Rank 2, Level 24
Herbalism - Rank 2, Level 22
Alchemy - Rank 3, Level 25
Survival - Rank 2, Level 12
Utility Skills
Tracking - Rank 2, Level 6
Stealth - Rank 2, Level 8
Identify - Rank 2, Level 28
Meditation - Rank 2, Level 5
Mental Skills
Mental Mastery - Rank 1, Level 8 (5 FP)
Mental Library - Rank 1, Level 6 (5 FP)
Mental Acceleration - Rank 1, Level 3 (10 FP)
Mental Partition - Rank 1, Level 4 (10 FP)
Languages
Elven Language - Rank 4, Level 12
Human Language - Rank 2, Level 6
English Language - Rank 5, Level 6
Resistances
Poison Resistance - Rank 3, Level 5
Disease Resistance - Rank 2, Level 3
Attributes
Strength: 48, Agility: 68, Vitality: 45, Endurance: 57
Intelligence: 84, Wisdom: 73, Spirit: 72, Clarity: 61
The last thing I did was to check which skills were available for purchase for both classes. Mystic Knight had nothing but Mystic Witch looked to have unlocked some more skills. The class guides all said that the total number of skill levels in a class unlocked higher tiers of skills.
Metamagic (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES)
Active, Variable, 5 FP
Allows the alteration of spells on the fly.
Rank 1: Modify the intensity of a spell from 0% to 200%
Multicast (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES)
Passive, 5 FP/spell
Allows casting one additional spell per rank. (Current 2)
Animal Familiar (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES)
Passive, 15 FP/rank
Create a bond with an animal to act as your familiar.
The animal must be at least one rank below you when it enters the bond. Once it has become your familiar, the animal gains an increase to all of its mental attributes. A mental link is created with the Mystic to communicate and direct their familiar.
Your familiar gains experience while fighting alongside you and increases in level accordingly.
Your familiar starts with 2 skill slots and gains 1 skill slot for every 10 skill levels up to 6.
Monster Familiar (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES, Requires: Animal Familiar)
Passive
You can take a monster as a familiar after defeating them (<5% HP).
Shadow Familiar (Cost: 8 ES 6 ES, Requires: Animal Familiar, Shadow Magic, Replaces Animal Familiar)
You create a familiar from Shadow Magic instead of contracting with an animal. When you summon a familiar you can create a new template or use an existing template. The familiar intelligence is shared between templates.
You can keep 2 templates per skill rank.
Your familiar level is determined by the total number of skill levels.
Your familiar starts with 2 skill slots and gains 1 skill slot for every 10 skill levels up to 6.
The metamagic skills were finally available and I had enough essence to get them both and raise them to second rank. Those two skills were essential for any serious caster to get around the limitation of being able to cast only a single spell at once. The familiar was an interesting skill as well but I didn’t want to spread my build too thin. I would take Shadow Familiar later.
> Purchased Skill Metamagic for 6 ES
> Purchased Skill Multicast for 6 ES
> Raised Skill Metamagic to rank 2, level 2 for 7 ES (+21 levels)
> Raised Skill Multicast to rank 2, level 2 for 7 ES (+21 levels)
The second rank of metamagic allowed me to shrink or grow the range of a spell. That would be useful.
----------------------------------------
The day before the trial was set to start, Breknir told me to grab my gear and to meet him at the school. I was intrigued. What was he planning?
When we met back up, he led me towards one of the training grounds.
"Alea asked me to host a small magical combat demonstration," he said with a smile, "I thought it would be good practice for you."
"That would have been nice to know in advance," I grumbled.
"One does not always know when a fight is coming," he said.
We entered the small arena. The training dummies had been moved to a small area to the side. A dozen or so students were seated in the stone bleachers that sat near the entrance. A scout in armor was standing in the center of the arena. Alwin was the usual combat instructor for the older years.
"Al, how are you doing," Breknir greeted him with a pat on the shoulder.
"As usual," he shrugged, "I see you brought your apprentice."
"Yes, she starts her trial tomorrow," he said, "I wanted to see what she had in store before that."
Breknir was the kind of mentor that was very hands off. He always had excellent advice and guidance however, it was just his style.
"Hello students," he greeted the assembly with a smile, "most of you probably know me already. I know I do. As you might already know, Alwin asked me to visit to give a demonstration of combat magic. I'm a former adventurer." He pulled out a small silver plate from under his shirt. "Platinum ranked."
Murmurs spread around the assembled crowd.
He has the level for it, I thought, and that means he has visited the ninth level at least. Probably deeper.
"But maybe we can have a bit of fun. Who here thinks they can take on my apprentice?"
Oh Gaia. I mentally sighed.
The students started to talk among each other.
"She has a class." "She's barely level twenty." "And she's a healer." "Yeah, but it's Liscura." "My sister told me she fought a rank two taratect alone." "That's bullshit." "Yeah, no way that's true."
After some conversation, several students raised their hands.
Breknir hummed.
"Keryth, Paral, Cyran," he pointed at some of the students who had raised their hands, "come down here and get a weapon."
I have a bad feeling about it. I'm sure I'll have to fight all three at once.
I exchanged my arrows for training ones and exchanged my dagger for a training one.
"Everything in order?" Breknir asked.
"I'm ready," I said. "Who's going first?" I asked innocently.
The three started to debate among themselves but Breknir interrupted them.
"All three of you will fight her at the same time. To balance out the odds."
"What?" Cyran exclaimed.
I knew it. I rolled my eyes.
I pulled my bow out and readied an arrow. The two boys, Keryth and Cyran, had chosen swords. A long sword and a pair of shorter blades respectively. Paral, meanwhile, had opted for the bow and dagger like me.
"Do we have some time to …" Started Paral.
"No," Breknir interrupted her, "begin in three … two …"
The trio scrambled to get into position. Paral stayed behind and readied her bow while the other two spread out to try to flank me. Not the worst strategy.
"One …"
I raised my bow and prepared my attack. Glyphs appeared on the limbs of my bow, wind enhancement for projectile speed. I used Magic Strike to charge the arrow with an Arcane Strike, electric flavor.
"Go!"
I fired, not at Paral like they expected but at Keryth. The arrow struck faster than any of them could perceive and the boy went down, paralyzed by the lighting magic. I wasted no time and switched the enhancement to ice on myself. My barrier was already up before Paral fired and her arrow bounced off the unyielding blue panes.
In a few steps, I was near Keryth. A spell circle appeared at my feet and the packed dirt of the arena shifted like quicksand under the boy. In a few seconds, his body was entombed all the way up to his shoulders.
One down, two left.
Cyran was almost in close combat range, I used my improved speed to maneuver him between Paral and I, blocking her line of fire. I let the barrier drop and stepped forward to meet him. The surprise on his face was priceless. He tried to bring both of his weapons to bear on me but I used the limbs of my bow to block them. Niu bows were designed for it and there was a combat style designed around it.
I took advantage of his moment of surprise to switch my enhancement from ice to lava, the runes on my body changed from a frosty blue to an angry red, and delivered an Arcane Strike enhanced kick to his stomach. Cyran flew a few meters back and landed in a heap on the ground, the paralysis preventing him from attempting a recovery.
Paral had me in her sights, her arrow was ready and she fired the instant she got over her surprise. I cast Wind Overture and created a vortex of air in front of me which deflected the arrow. I followed it up with Frozen Melody at increased intensity. A dozen blunt shards of ice formed around me and flew at the archer.
She scrambled to dodge the improvised hail which gave me time to entomb a struggling Cyran into the ground. I stepped up to him and created a long and razor sharp lance of ice aimed at his head. His eyes widened at the sight.
"Surrender," I said to Paral.
She looked my way and froze when her eyes landed on the icicle.
"I surrender," she placed her bow on the ground and took a few steps back.
I waved my hand and the icicle crumbled into snow. I heard Cyran let out a sigh of relief. I used Melody of Earth once again and helped him get out of the hole. A quick look around showed me that Breknir had let Keryth out.
"Thank you for the fight," I bowed to him.
"Thank you for the fight," he bowed in kind. "You're one scary girl," he added with a small smile.
"If you want a rematch when you get your class," I winked.
"No chance," he laughed and left towards the small armory.
I bowed to my two other opponents as well. There weren't many fighting customs in the village but it was polite to thank your sparring partners. Everyone learned from a fight.