After Rue and I returned to the road, I took out my ATV and kept driving. The road wound along the not-cursed forest for three or four kilometers before cutting through it for another few. After about an hour, the road merged with another, and a few minutes later, we passed a horse cart. We connected to the regular road.

We drove for another half hour when I got a strong double warning—from my Perception and Luck. I slammed on the brakes, and the ATV screeched to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Two hundred meters ahead, an enormous tree fell, blocking the road. I got out of the ATV to check why the tree had fallen and see if I could move it when I felt danger behind me and instinctively ducked. An arrow flew over my head. It was so close that I felt the wind from its passing. Danger again from the same direction. I jumped sideways, and two bolts flew past me close together.

Men dressed in armor, swords in hand, ran from the forest on either side of the road toward me. I sensed another danger, this time from the side and lower. I dived onto the road, landing on my belly, and Mana Darts flew over me. The bandits ran closer, and my mind cleared.

Turn invisible and fly?

No! I need it as an ace in the hole.

I split my mind, casting Mana Shield and firing lightning at the men charging me. One fell, another collapsed when the bolt split. I heard Rue yelp, and my focus wavered. Dashing over, I saw two crossbow bolts stuck in him—shoulder and leg. I yanked them out and cast Healing Touch.

Danger.

I threw myself over Rue as bolts and mana darts hammered into my shield. My shield took three hits and shattered at the fourth. The backlash reverberated in my brain like a hammer, disorienting me momentarily. I shook my head and ordered Rue, “Get out of here.”

A Mana Dart hit my shoulder. It felt like someone splashed acid on me.

“Rue fight!”

I cast Healing Touch and a new shield and barked at Rue, “Yes, from behind. I don’t have time to argue.”

Three men came at me, trying to stab me with their swords. Jumping back, I fired lightning at two of them. The lightning hit one, but the other dodged aside. I pulled out my staff as two more rushed me. Swinging my staff in a wide arc, I hit both of them and heard a crack. One bent down, and another stabbed my leg with his sword. The Shield held. I struck his stomach with the staff, sending him flying back at least a meter. I twirled the staff around me in figure eight, front and back, with one hand and shot lightning with the other. The lightning hit one and split to strike two more.

Bolts, arrows, mana darts—flew at me from every direction. I dodged, twisting and turning. One bolt hit my shield. Two more darts. It held.

An arrow slammed into my shield. It shattered. A wave of agony crashed through my skull, blurring my vision. I staggered back, knees buckling, as the pain left my head spinning. For a second, everything was black spots and ringing in my ears.

I fumbled to recast Mana Shield. Another arrow grazed my arm, blood welling up. I forced myself to jump sideways as four Mana Darts shot toward me. One hit, and I cried out. My head throbbed—the backlash from the broken shield still ringing in my skull like drums, making every movement feel slower, heavier.

No time to think. Recast Mana Shield. Healing Touch. Jump. Four darts, close together. One hit. The shield held.

A pile of bodies already lay in front of me, restricting my movement. Stepping on them, I jumped forward to have more space to move. Sensing danger from multiple directions, I dove to the ground like a baseball player sliding for a base. I heard a shout and saw a bandit fall, a bolt in his leg. I rolled over, jumped to my feet, stored the staff, and continued shooting lightning in all directions. Some of them dodged the bolts, but they couldn’t get close to me. I kept firing lightning over and over. Sensing danger again, I dived to the ground near the bodies of the fallen and heard the thunk, thunk of bolts hitting the bodies. Two darts hit me. The shield held. One bandit used the opportunity to stab me in the side with his sword. The shield broke like a sledgehammer hitting my brain.

Son of a bitch, that hurt!

The sword felt like a lance of fire entered me, and my mind was whimpering in pain from the backlash. Pressing a hand to the wound, I felt the sticky blood. I cast Healing Touch and drew my swords. In a cross-motion, I cut off both of his legs at knee level. I jumped to my feet. My eyes darted around. Recast Mana Shield. Over ten bandits still circled me, but now they were more cautious.

Good. I could use that.

They stood in a loose circle around me, a few meters away. I tried to shoot them with lightning again, but they jumped aside. Again, I sensed danger from multiple directions and dove to the ground. Two of the bandits ran toward me, trying to stab me.

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I won’t fall for that twice.

While diving, I shot lightning from both hands, hitting them both. As I was about to jump to my feet, I sensed danger from the left side. I rolled to the right, and a bolt passed uncomfortably close to me, followed by Mana Darts.

I knew the general direction the bolts and darts were coming from. Without getting up, I rolled further to the side and raised my hands. The air thickened and hummed around me. With a sharp pull, I drew the wind into two tight vortexes. It roared to life, spinning cyclones that touched down according to my direction. One vortex spat out three people—two slammed into trees, and one crashed to the ground and continued rolling over and over. I felt danger from above and rolled away. Two bodies slammed into the road from above. One of them splattered a bit.

The rest of the bandits—only eight were still on their feet—turned to run away.

Not so fast.

I saw sparks of fire where my lightning struck. I ordered the wind to fan the fire and requested help from the flames. The wind responded immediately, but the fire needed to be coaxed three times before a wall of flame suddenly roared to life before the fleeing bandits. They stopped in their tracks and tried to escape to the other side. Another wall of fire blocked their path, creating a V shape.

They stood there, panicked, looking from side to side. I moved closer so they couldn’t dodge, then shot them one by one with lightning bolts. Some of the lightning arced and hit more than one. I panted heavily, looking around. Two walls of fire blazed on either side of me, and bodies were scattered on the ground. I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead, and some looked like a wolf had mauled them. Rue hadn’t been idle.

Feeling dizzy, I checked my mana—230/11,100. Lightning was effective, but drained a lot of mana. I dropped on my butt, my legs shaking from the effort. My chest was heaving, and sweat dripped down my face. Rue popped up beside me and gave me a lick, snapping me back to reality. I just sat there for a minute, letting the dizziness wear off, staring at the bodies and scorched ground around me.

After sitting there for ten minutes, I took a deep breath and got up. I checked the bandits one by one. When I turned one body that fell from the sky, I recognized the mage. It was the Truth Mage that questioned me for lord Damarion.

Son of a bitch!

There were twenty-three in all. Eighteen were dead—electrocuted, mauled, broken necks, squished from falling or from bleeding out. Five were still alive and unconscious. After verifying they wouldn’t die in the next few minutes, I took out the strongest industrial zip ties I had and zip-tied their wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees, and zip-tied their wrists to their ankles while they lay on their bellies.

My red light was flashing, but I ignored it for now. I had to figure out what to do. If I took the attackers to the nearest town, they would release them. Next time, Lord Damarion might send a larger group, better prepared to face an elemental wizard. On the other hand, I wasn’t an executioner. Killing them in cold blood didn’t sit right with me.

“Rue hear horse coming,” Rue warned.

I hurried between the attackers, stored all the bodies, and stored the ATV. Taking out the biggest bike trailer, I stacked the live ones in it like logs.

“Come on,” I said to Rue, dragging the trailer into the trees. The underbrush was too thick to go any further, so I lifted the trailer. To my surprise, it was easy to pick up. It was cumbersome and unwieldy, but the weight wasn’t an issue.

We continued walking into the trees for a few more minutes when one attacker woke up and started thrashing. It surprised me, and I dropped the trailer.

“Let us go now, or you’ll regret it!” he yelled.

“Why? Because Lord Damarion would be pissed? He’s already pissed, don’t you think?”

His eyes widened.

I nodded. “Yeah, I know who sent you.”

He started shouting, “May the pimms eat you! Blight upon your sigil! Ashes of the Elder Flame take you! May the shadows of the Old King swallow you whole!”

I picked up a lot of new and exciting curses.

Rue approached him, stuck his muzzle in the attacker’s face, and growled loudly. The attacker gulped and fell silent.

I picked up the trailer again, and we kept going. While trying to figure out what to do with them, I suddenly came up with an idea. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about it—it still might be an execution—but I decided to give it a shot.

When we got to a clearing, I put the trailer down and shot the awake attacker with a weak lightning bolt. After verifying he was still alive and only unconscious, I put the core on the ground and instructed it to open the house and create another room with a toilet and faucet on the ground floor. I didn’t feel like going up the stairs to check on them. When the house was open and the room ready, I cut their zip ties and threw them in one by one.

“Close the house,” I said.

The house closed.

“Open the house. Keep the new room locked.”

When the house was open, I approached the new room, told the core to open it, and checked on the attackers. They were alive and still unconscious.

Yes! It worked!

I put some food in the room and instructed the core, “Keep this room always locked. If they try to break free, shoot them with weak lightning defenses, but don’t kill them.”

After taking care of the attackers, I went to my room and took a long bath. I needed to relax fully. As I lay in the tub, I checked the flashing red light.

Class Upgrade

You have demonstrated what it takes to upgrade your Wizard Battle Master class.

Based on your demonstrated skills, your class will upgrade by one tier.

You have gained a new ability and will gain an additional new ability at every ten levels.

I checked my profile, and under Wizard Abilities, I found a new item: Mana Siphon [Novice].

I poked it and read the description:

Mana Siphon

Drain mana from your enemies to replenish your mana reserves.

Restores a portion of your mana based on the amount of damage inflicted on the target.

Well, it wasn’t earth-shattering or anything, but still nice. I gave the system a half-hearted thumbs-up.