*****Previously*****
“May I use Inspect on you?” I ask as the newest Pathwalker finishes her Evolution. I’ve been itching to find out ever since the sparks started to dim, but I’ve managed not to ask until she’s had a bit of time to reaccustomed herself to her new body.
She’s very slim, even by Pathwalker standards, and short too. If experience indicates anything, she should have a lot of mana to spend.
Of course, she answers, her clicks and grunts noticeably lighter. I cast Inspect, closing my eyes as the results filter back in. Making them appear before me, I interpret them for the new Pathwalker and the others standing around us, as eager to know as I am.
“Well, you have a lot of mana,” I tell her thoughtfully, my guess confirmed. “More than River, even.” That’s a surprise as River previously had the largest mana pool among the Pathwalkers, not knocked off that pedestal even by Happy and Hunter’s Evolutions. “But you’ve got practically no stamina and your health pool is very small too.” I look at her in concern. “You need to be careful.” She has less health even than me – only three hundred units of it. For a Tier two with no healing abilities, that’s worrying. “As for your special Abilities…” I frown, pulling up the information I received from Inspect. “You have one called Reflect, and another called Enhance.”
That seems accurate, comments Yells thoughtfully. Then she looks up at me. Throw something at me, she requests. I frown in confusion.
“What? Like a rock?”
She sways her tail back and forth in their version of a shrug.
That will do well enough.
I eye her carefully. I suppose that if I don’t throw it hard, it shouldn’t do any damage that I can’t heal.
“Alright,” I say, picking up a rock from the ground. I toss it gently towards her, aiming to tap her shoulder. She lifts her hand and the rock bounces off, returning back to me with more force than I would have expected it to considering it hit flesh.
Again, she says. I comply and the rock bounces off her palm again. This time, the rock almost makes it halfway between us. Again, but this time put some force behind it, please, Yells asks.
I hesitate, but then remind myself that I can heal her afterwards if necessary. I don’t use full force, but I do put enough behind it to cause a heavy bruise. This time when the rock bounces back, I’m barely fast enough to avoid it. In my surprise, my eyebrows almost disappear into my hairline – finally regrown after the Red Skull incident due to Raven’s acidic mana.
A shout of pain does ring out, but from behind me, not from Yells.
My apologies, Yells calls to the injured samuran, wincing. After quickly healing the damage caused by the rock – which somehow managed to embed itself into the unprepared Unevolved’s shoulder – I look up at Yells.
“What was that?”
*****Now*****
As it turns out, Yells’ new abilities are both very powerful, and very restricted. She’s almost solely good at combat but she has the potential to be very, very good. I, along with most of the other Pathwalkers, managed to beat her in a fight, but I suspect that as she becomes better with her abilities, that will become more and more difficult.
In essence, her ability to reflect is just that. It’s like she can hold a mirror up which rebounds any attack on her, both physical and magical. The stronger the attack, the more of her mana it takes to reflect it. Apparently she can choose not to reflect the whole attack, but then she risks getting hit by some of it. Enhance is also very simple: she can choose to dedicate more mana into the reflection and actually multiply its damage.
It makes her a very difficult opponent to land a blow on – for a time. It’s good for her that she has a high mana pool as she needs it to have a chance of outlasting her opponent. It means she will have to become a very strategic and agile fighter, aware of which attacks she wants to avoid, reflect, and enhance. She also needs to be very aware of her environment as her Reflection doesn’t do anything to undirected environmental effects.
Joy managed to trip her up and pin her down by baiting her to move onto a prepared mat which the older samuran then wove around her. Flower was able to do something similar. Windy and Tarra also managed to win against her, the former creating a tornado around her and pulling the air from around her head. Since it wasn’t a direct attack, Yells wasn’t able to do anything about it and suffocated. Similarly, Tarra threw enough capsules containing poisonous gas that Yells was overcome. Sticks lost, though – her trick of throwing a bunch of roots to grow definitely backfired on her. Literally. She got wrapped up in her own roots which, though she was able to cancel the effect making them grow, was enough distraction to let Yells get in close and knock her out.
Of the newer Pathwalkers, River didn’t succeed against her, nor did Happy – their own type of magic is almost entirely offensive. Plus, their physical attacks couldn't get through and were instead reflected straight back at them. Hunter managed to get her with a rune combination which stuck her feet to the ground – it was considered enough for a win on Hunter’s side. Dusty did similar to Windy, wrapping her head in a bubble of water until she half-drowned. I dropped her into a pit which I closed up around her, then surrounded her with fire until she fell unconscious from oxygen loss. Poison probably would have worked if I’d managed to get it in her. Working out ways to avoid being trapped in a position where she will be suffocated is definitely something she needs to prioritise.
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Not having anything in terms of offensive magic is another disadvantage, but she’s already finding ways around that. I’ve seen her experimenting with multiple ranged weapons: throwing them at herself and then shooting them away with Reflect and Enhance. Combined with poison, it might work quite well.
That was the most recent mini-ranking fight, sorely needed for the samurans who love to know exactly where they are in the hierarchy. Instead of going the whole hog like they did with me, they decided that as long as no new Pathwalker defeated me or new Warrior defeated Shrieks, they would just test the newcomer rather than have the additional battle of the top Warrior against the top Pathalker or Pathwalkers.
I didn’t mind the fighting too much. I got a chance to practise using Earth-Shaping in combat, something that will stand me in good stead for later. I’ve also been sparring a lot with the Warriors – mostly how to properly use the weapons I’ve been trying to wield. That’s one reason I’ve gained so much in terms of combat levels. The fights helped me solidify my mixed style a little more too.
On my way through the village, my attention is suddenly attracted by a loud noise rapidly followed by the hisses of angry samurans. Sighing, I change direction. What’s happened now? Kalanthia will have to wait.
Going somewhere? The mental voice, accompanied by a couple of clicks and a quick grunt, draws my attention to the side.
“River,” I say happily, my irritation at needing to investigate whatever’s happening immediately disappearing at the sight of my favourite samuran. I may have made friends with several other samurans, but River was my first samuran friend. I’m looking forward to the journey if only to be able to spend a few days with less to distract us all from just having a good time. “Tarra finally released you from prison, eh?”
River hisses with amusement.
She can be a bit of a prey-driver, that’s true, she admits, coming closer. But we’ve finished the last of our concoctions. Between you and me, she leans close enough that her muzzle almost reaches my ear, I think she’s rather looking forward to being able to show the other herbalists up at the festival.
I raise my eyebrows, tilting my head so I can see both her eyes at the same time.
“There are other herbalists? Are there many duplicated abilities?” River steps a little away and sways her tail in a shrug.
Not exactly, but certain themes are common. Shaping wood, shaping earth, shaping water, controlling the wind, being able to make healing or enhancing concoctions….all of those tend to be represented at least once at the festival, and often more than once. At least, that’s what Herbalist says. Apparently there are currently five Pathwalkers, including her, who have some sort of potion-making ability, though they aren’t necessarily the same as Herbalist’s ability.
“Huh,” I say, not having really discussed details like that yet. We’ve talked about the fights for the other villages and how to travel down to the location, but not a huge amount about what to expect when there. I figured we could use the twenty or so days it will take us to travel to do that.
What are you doing? she inquires next, reminding me.
“Didn’t you hear the ruckus going on from over there?” I wave vaguely in the direction I was going. “I thought I’d better go and check it out. Then, apparently, I need to go and try to dissuade Kalanthia from joining us on the trip.” I grimace.
Looking at River, I see that she realises, probably better than me even, what complications that could bring, even though there are also benefits to it. Having a Tier three along would probably make the journey a little safer if our trip from Kalanthia’s cave to the den was anything to go by.
Well. She doesn’t seem to know what to say. I can only wish you luck in that. Great Kalanthia doesn’t seem the kind of being who is easily dissuaded, though I know you’ve managed in the past – fortunately for myself and my village, she adds. Oddly enough, her words are slightly heartening. Because it’s true – I have managed to change her mind from time to time. But first…
“I’d welcome the company,” I admit. Then I wink. “Especially yours.”
She hisses in amusement again as we start walking.
Charmer. It’s a shame you are not a Warrior or I’d definitely choose you to fertilise my eggs, Markus.
This isn’t the first time she’s made a similar comment. Though I was rather disturbed the first time I heard it, now I find myself more amused than anything else at the idea. I don’t doubt that there’s truth to her words, but it’s difficult to see how anything more than our platonic friendship could ever happen between us. We’re just too different.
Sure, Flesh-Shaping could potentially change me enough to take the ‘Warrior’ position, but even with as much practice as I’ve got with my Skill, I’m reticent to even attempt such innate changes for fear that I’d mess something up and not be able to return it to the way it was. I don’t want anyone messing with my bits – not even myself.
Besides, it’s not just a physical problem; it’s a mental one too. River and I have different ideas about what makes a relationship and I probably have a better relationship with her now as a friend than I would as a ‘Warrior to fertilise her eggs’.
That aside, there’s the big factor that although I like, really like River as a person,and I’m definitely pent up from months here with nothing but my hand…I’m not into crocodiles. And no, the samurans aren’t crocodiles, but with their crocodilian heads, claws, scales, and tails, they look like a more upright cross between a T-Rex and a humanoid crocodile.
And yes, I could change River to look like my ideal woman, but I don't want to for the same reasons that I don’t want to mess with my own bits. Plus, I don’t think it would help our relationship if I require my partner to change so much – I’ve seen how that worked out with Lucy, and there I was only expecting her to accept that my job came ahead of her most of the time. Expecting her to have changed her body in any way would have seen her leave much earlier, I’m sure.
No, I’d rather keep what I already have – a relationship which, when we see what’s caused the outburst of hisses and grunts, has us reacting almost identically.
“Trouble,” we sigh together.