Bjorn looked up at the sky, or at least what he could see between the dense canopy. It looked like it was about time to return to the city. There was the last of his hunt’s hands to collect; he found and killed thirteen of the crawling stalkers, which was more than enough to finally return home. This contract was only ten, so there should be some bonus that would surely make up for him showing up a little earlier than expected.
Bjorn was in a good mood working and doing something besides sitting around and watching people really eased his mind. He felt like it was a distraction, sure, but having a job made him feel more human. He couldn’t wait until he could actually speak, which was impossible for him now. However, whether through some learned magic or simply if he decides to continue being a familiar, he will gain the ability. The first Prince and Princess’ dragons assured him of that when they spoke.
“We’re going back after we get the hands,” Bjorn said mentally.
“Whoo! We will finally be able to take a bath!” Failsafe responded, “This crawler’s blood feels weird, like being dipped in static electricity.”
Bjorn walked over to the first downed creature, easily bit off its hand, and placed it in the animal carrier on his side. Then moved on to the next.
“You know what, I was trying to place it, and that sounds exactly right,” Bjorn said. “It's like getting thousands of little zaps every second. Weird, I guess it is the mana holding the monsters together finally breaking down now that it is dead.”
“Monsters are basically magic constructs. The more powerful ones are living creatures, but these are just faux lives made by dirty magic that clung together. They're practically the monster equivalent of mud. Good combat practice, though.”
“How close until we level up?” Bjorn asked.
“Oh, nowhere near that, and we aren’t going to from these little guys,” Failsafe said.
“What? Why?” Bjorn asked.
“The level of experience we get from them is too low. The highest level we have faced so far was thirteen, less than half your level. The lower the level of our enemies are to us, the less experience we gain. The higher they are relative to us, the more we gain.”
“Why is that?” Bjorn questions. “Shouldn’t lower-level creatures gain us the same level of experience?”
“Yeah, and you can even say that they do. The problem lies in the quality of their mana and experience relative to you. The stronger a mage, or in your case, a magic beast, is, the more refined their mana becomes. It also changes their bodies, making them into a factory of some of the purest mana there is, especially when they are at the height of their power. You can almost say that extremely powerful mages and magical beasts are the same as monsters. At some point, we are going to pass a threshold in which the majority of our body is replaced with mana and faux flesh.”
“What in the Infernal Planes? How do you know that?” Bjorn questioned.
“I listen when Tanisha reads to us after you go to sleep,” Failsafe said smugly, “She usually reads for an hour or two after you doze off.”
“So, I remember her talking about how mage bodies get more resistant to previously fatal injuries. Is that why?”
“Yep. If you were to stab a mage at level one hundred in the heart, it would hurt, yeah, but most likely not kill them unless their health regeneration was painfully low. Do the same to a level two hundred if you can, and they will shunt it off like a splinter. It is the reason you kill a mage by cutting off their head. You can overcome a mage's insane vitality by just piling on damage. Our venom does that quite effectively. I am sure Thyra would have been able to heal from anything, including decapitation if we hadn’t poisoned her first.”
She would have grown a new head?” Bjorn asked.
“No, probably not, but maybe,” Failsafe didn’t sound too confident in that answer, so he moved on, “More than likely, she would have just been able to reattach it, but our poison killed her brain, spine, and nervous system.”
Bjorn picked up the last hand and tugged on the connection to Tanisha. He could feel where she was and could also tell that she was extremely frustrated about something. Maybe a potion not going right or something to that effect. Bjorn had gotten quite adept at recognizing her emotions and wondered if it was the same for her with his emotions. She had been acting extremely affectionate today when he was in a bad mood.
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“Maybe we can hunt another one of those horned deer really quickly as a gift for Tanisha. She really liked the venison, and I think she is having a hard day,” Bjorn said.
“I am all for it. But aren’t we supposed to be back before nightfall or something like that?”
“We don’t have the same restriction. I can already pick out the scent of a deer nearby anyway, so we’ll have plenty of time.”
Bjorn closed in on the luminara horned deer; it was none the wiser of his presence. He wasn’t going to risk it running off, so as soon as he was sure it was in range, he roared, infusing the aether into the sound. The deer froze in place, unable to move, as Bjorn darted in a sprint towards it and tackled the doe to the ground.
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Intimidation Roar
Aether Cost: 1
Infuse aether into your roar to paralyze anyone who hears it. Your roar can paralyze humanoid magic constructs as long as they are connected to a magic caster. Paralysis duration depends on the distance and level disparity between you and the target. Those bound to you are immune to this effect.
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He killed the animal as quickly as he could without venom, and he was happy with his kill. They found a long time ago that people could eat things he used his venom on, but it did change the taste of the meat. The doe was smaller than the buck he managed to kill a few days ago, but that would make it easier to carry on his back.
He felt his connection to Tanisha and was happy to see that the hunt actually brought him closer to the town. He guessed it would be at least an hour before he arrived. It was already sunset, but it didn’t really matter. The curfew didn’t affect animals, so he would be able to get in regardless.
After some finagling, he was able to balance the dead deer on his back, and he started walking in the direction of the town. He and Failsafe were discussing a news system Failsafe should implement. Bjorn had thought of it after their last conversation about experience.
“You already can tell how close I am to the next level, and you know how much experience I get, so can you make it?” Bjorn asked.
“It should be possible; it is going to take some time, though,” Failsafe responded thoughtfully, “Actually, if I add it to your current first page, adding numbers or a percentage to your next level should be easy. The numbers would get out of hand quickly.”
“How so?”
“Each level requires twice the experience of the previous level. It is what unlocks the threshold. It doesn’t mean you are twice as strong. But if I start at one hundred in forteen levels, going by the numbers, you will need 1,638,400, and it only goes up exponentially from there.”
“Percentages then?” Bjorn asked.
“Percentages then,” Failsafe agreed, “I will get to working on it after we get home.”
The forest went quiet as Bjorn continued on his solitary journey. It was dark, but because of his night vision, it was as clear as it had been during the day. Bjorn stopped walking and looked around, which confused Failsafe. Something wasn’t quite right, though he didn’t know why. His instincts were telling him to run, that there was something out here, and it was dangerous. He looked around, and each of his heads faced a different direction.
In the briefest moment, he saw something: a figure to his right, covered head to toe in natural camouflage. It seemed to all happen in slow motion as he realized the figure was a person, and he just loosed an arrow charged with some type of power. He ducked his heads, but not fast enough as arrows simultaneously took out two of his three heads while a fourth arrow slammed into his side. The heads that were stuck fell limp, and he crumpled to the ground.
Bjorn realized that the only reason he wasn’t dead was that the metal plates in the new harness helped absorb some of the impact from the arrow that would have struck his heart. There was pain and confusion as Bjorn felt more arrows pepper his body. He balled up, protecting his last head, which was his left one. As quickly as he could, he jumped out of the line of fire but couldn’t run. He noticed that the hunters targeted his joints.
“Bjorn, are you okay?” Failsafe yelled.
“Not now, can you see anything?” Bjorn asked as he limped.
He pulled as much magic as he could from his core and unleashed a wave of white, hot Plague Fire that rushed out, torching trees and anything in its path. He focused the fire into a beam of heat and moved his head in any direction he saw the assailants. In its focused form, it not only scorched anything it touched but also cut through trees and the ground like a high-powered plasma beam. The forest in all directions was alight with the aetheric blaze.
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Plague Fire Breath
Aether Cost: 8
With your left head, you can breathe a plume of superheated toxin, which will ignite enemies and infect them with your neurotoxin. Flames retain toxicity until you release the spell. Plague Fire will spread like normal fire.
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Bjorn had to pull the deer from his back. The sheer number of arrows pinned it to him, and he had to pull those out with it. He had ripped the arrows from his joints so he could run, though all he could muster at the moment would better be described as an enthusiastic hobble. He didn’t see his assailants but knew they were at the very edge of his range with his flames as if they knew how far his attack would reach.
When he was surrounded, the only place he hadn’t seen anyone was directly behind him. He turned and moved as fast as he could. The raging inferno that the surrounding forest had become was giving him cover. Bjorn found out very quickly that while he had a higher tolerance to fire than a human or wendigo, he was most certainly not immune to his flames. The toxin wouldn’t affect him, of course, but fire was still fire.