Leo gritted his teeth as he kept drawing from the crystal. His quest hadn’t updated yet, so he wasn’t done, or he was doing it wrong.
“The golden-white bar is still increasing,” Leo thought as his veins lit up with white light. “But, my mana bar is dropping. What’s going on? Am I replacing my mana with Light mana?”
The sun was setting by the time he finished. With a final burst of pain, the light flowed through his veins and settled somewhere around his solar plexus. His blue mana bar disappeared, and the light mana bar remained.
[Quest objective completed: Draw from the Crystal 1/1.]
[Mana Control has reached level 4.]
“Alright,” Leo grimaced as he felt a burning sensation near his stomach. “That’s done. Now, what?”
Leo saw Leandra sitting by the edge and walked over.
“How’re you holding up?” he asked as he sat beside her.
“Urgh,” she shook her head and sighed. “Not well. It’s hard to-. I can’t get it out of my head.”
“I can imagine,” Leo sighed. “It’s a difficult thing to see someone dying. Even worse if it’s to save yourself, I imagine.”
“Yeah,” Leandra looked at Leo. “Have you-?”
“Yeah,” Leo grimaced. “I saw my dad die when I was young. Robbery gone wrong.”
“Oh,” Leandra’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry.”
“Hah, not your fault,” Leo shook his head. “And, it was a long time ago. I had the benefit of a calm and nurturing environment to help me cope and process, but we don’t have that here. I’ve noticed you seem well enough when we’re doing something. Maybe you should try to busy yourself?”
“Yeah,” she agreed but bit her lip. “But that only pushes it off to the next time I find some calm. Then, it comes rushing back.”
“Well,” Leo rubbed his hands together. “If you process a small part of it each time, it will eventually become bearable.”
“But, that feels wrong, somehow,” Leandra frowned. “Why should I get to move on? Why should I be spared from this hurt?”
“Because if you don’t, then I don’t think you’ll survive, Leandra,” Leo frowned. “A moment's distraction can mean your death and ours. Paul died, and it’s tragic, but we need to survive, if for no other reason than to remember him. There’s an old saying: No one is truly dead who has someone to remember them. Also: You die twice. Once when your physical body perishes, and the second when your name is spoken the last time. Forgive me if I misremembered, but that’s the gist of them, at least.”
Leandra didn’t speak, but she looked deep in thought. Leo smiled, squeezed her shoulder and rose.
A sound drew his attention, and he looked off the side of the pyramid. His eyes widened.
Three creatures were stealthily climbing the side of the pyramid. They were scaled, had long tails, two legs and two arms, and lizard-like heads. One of them looked up and met his eyes. Its slitted eyes narrowed, and it hissed. The other two snapped their heads up and immediately dashed up the side.
“Shit!” Leo exclaimed. “Attack!”
He raised his hand, pointed and activated Mana Bolt. Instead of the normal blue bolt, a streak of golden light shot from his finger and struck the leading lizardman in the chest. Its eyes widened, and Leo heard a gurgle before it fell backwards and tumbled down the pyramid.
An arrow sprouted from the neck of a second lizardman, but it climbed a few more feet before it collapsed, heaving for breath and trembling.
A second mana bolt struck the third creature and took it down.
[Your party has slain three Lizardmen. Experience awarded.]
[Level up!]*2
Ethan rushed up the staircase, swords at the ready, but grumbled when he saw Leo and Leandra calm down.
“What happened?” he asked. Leo scratched his neck.
“None of us kept watch,” he grimaced. “I heard a sound and looked over the edge, and there they were. Three lizardmen.”
“Aw, man,” Ethan grumbled. “And I missed the fight.”
“Yeah, well,” Leo frowned as he looked out at the darkening jungle. “I doubt it’s the last time we see them.”
“Right,” Ethan nodded. “I think I want to check things out on my own. I haven’t had any success down in the pyramid. I think I need a more tense situation.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ethan,” Leo argued. “If something happens out there, we may be unable to help.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Ethan grimaced. “You’re attacking from range. I need to get close. Like now, the enemies are dead before I get there. And I can’t expect you to let some of them pass and risk yourselves so that I can fight.”
“Right,” Leo sighed. “Just-. Don’t go too far; come running back if something goes wrong.”
“Sure,” Ethan nodded and rolled his shoulders. Without further ado, Ethan rushed down the pyramid.
“We should keep watch this time,” Leo mumbled to Leandra. She smirked and nodded.
“Yeah,” she said as she stood on the edge, looking out.
Leo walked to the other side and reflected on the fight.
“My mana bolt used my Light mana since I don’t have normal mana anymore,” he frowned. “The bolts were far stronger than before, I think. My mana bar is three-quarters full. Let’s see how quickly it recovers.”
Darkness fell over the jungle, and Leo came to a worrying realisation after an hour.
“It’s not recovering,” he frowned. “What do I do?”
It took him a moment to realise a solution, and he turned to the shining crystal behind him. He stepped closer, touched it, and a rush of light flooded through him. Leo gritted his teeth and watched as his mana bar shot to full in seconds.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Alright,” he thought. “So, I can recover mana from the crystal but must remain here. If I run out while out in the jungle or something, I’m useless.”
He shook his head and returned to his post.
“Let’s just get through the night,” he grumbled, bringing up his character sheet. “New levels and stat points. I need mana, and I hope I can figure out a way to recover mana naturally, so Intelligence and Wisdom, four points each, leaving me with two. I can put them into Constitution like I’ve done so far, but I wonder what Charisma does.”
He put four points into Intelligence and Wisdom and two points into Charisma and felt the rush of energy flow through him. He felt no difference from the points into Charisma, though.
“Perhaps it’s not something obvious?” Leo wondered. “I’ll figure it out, eventually.”
Name
Leo Raynor
Race
Human
Class
Mage
Level
7
Stats
Strength
12
Dexterity
12
Constitution
14
Intelligence
20
Wisdom
20
Charisma
12
Skills
Mana Bolt
3
Mana Barrier
3
Mana Control
4
Mana Beam
1
“Looking better,” Leo mused with a smile. “Still weak, though. A part of me wants something to show up so I can level up more.”
He sighed and returned to keeping watch.
A few hours later, Leo saw Ethan running out of the forest. Five lizardmen were hot on his heels. Leo’s eyes widened, and he shouted over his shoulder.
“Ethan’s back! He needs help,” he said, hearing Leandra react quickly and rush over. Leo raised his staff, which he’d picked up, and cast Mana Bolt several times in succession. Each bolt aimed at different lizardmen, and two creatures dropped in seconds. The others dodged or powered through the pain and kept up the chase.
Leandra fired arrows rapidly and took down another three, among those Leo had injured, but more lizardmen poured from the jungle.
Ethan had reached the pyramid's base and scrambled up as a horn sounded in the distance. All around the pyramid, Leo saw lizardmen rush out of the jungle. His eyes widened, and his breathing hitched, but he gritted his teeth and cast Mana Beam.
He swung his staff in a wide, horizontal arc as a radiant beam erupted. It carved a path through the lizardmen and made them hesitate.
Ethan reached the top of the pyramid just as Leo’s mana bottomed out, and the beam winked out.
“Go!” Leo hissed. “Down into the corridor.”
The others nodded and rushed off, but Leo stopped and put his hand on the crystal. A rush of mana flooded him and filled his mana bar. Leo saw the crystal dim noticeably, and the scrabbling sounds from all around told him that the lizardmen were now climbing.
The moment his mana bar was full, he dashed down the stairs. He met Leandra and Ethan at the bottom and positioned himself by the entrance to the chamber.
“I’ll use Mana Barrier,” he said. “Leandra, you fire above it, and Ethan, you stand by the wall and strike when you can. I’m not sure how long this will hold, so make the most of it.”
The others nodded and got into position.
It didn’t take long for the lizardmen to show up, but the narrow corridor served its purpose. They could only approach one by one.
Leandra fired arrow after arrow, dropping lizardmen one by one.
Each dead lizardman obstructed the next, slowing them down until they got close enough, and Leo cast Mana Barrier.
A shimmering pane of golden glass manifested before Leo, and he stepped back as a lizardman’s claw slashed inches from his face.
“It’s holding,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know how long I can keep it up, so get started.”
Ethan leaned out from the side, stabbing and swinging, dodging claws and fangs.
Leandra kept firing arrows, but Leo saw her quiver running low after a few minutes.
His barrier held but was starting to show cracks, and it drew on Leo’s mana to repair itself.
“I guess that answers that question,” Leo grumbled. “It draws mana to repair. Alright, let’s limit the flow.”
He activated Mana Control and tried to stem the mana flow to the skill.
“I don’t need to stop it from repairing, but I need to ensure it doesn’t drain everything I have.”
Cracks appeared as lizardmen attacked the barrier, fell onto it, and slammed their bulk into it.
“They’re rabid monsters!” Ethan shouted as he stabbed. “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know,” Leandra shook her head as she fired the last arrow. “I’m out!”
“Alright,” Leo had an idea. “Get ready to rush forward.”
Without waiting for a response, he pushed Mana into the barrier. The sudden rush of mana caused a blinding light to form in the cracks, and the entire pane exploded outwards. The shards of radiant light dug into the lizardmen. A lot of them dropped dead, but others rushed forward to take their place.
Leo cast Mana Beam and fired it straight down the corridor. His mana dropped precipitously, but he kept it up until he was hitting the monsters near the stairs, and Leo began running forward.
Lizardmen rushed down the stairs and got cut up by the Mana Beam. Leandra followed behind Leo and picked up every arrow she could find. Many of them were broken, but a few could still be fired.
Once she’d picked up everything she could, they were about to retreat again when Ethan rushed past.
“It won’t work, Leo,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “If you run out of mana, we’re done for.”
“Yeah,” Leo said as he neared empty. “But we can’t hold the top of the pyramid either.”
“I know,” Ethan lamented as he cut down a lizard that got past Leo’s beam.
“So, we head deeper,” Leo said, moving backwards. “We head into the pyramid. The corridors are narrow enough that we should be able to kite them along.”
They reached the chamber once more, and Leo cast Mana Barrier again. The group got to work and quickly removed one of the barricades. They threw the rocks in front of the exit, further hampering the lizardmen, and rushed down the now-open corridor.
“Ethan, once Leandra runs out of arrows, give her one of your swords,” Leo said. “The narrow corridors will make it harder to use both, anyway; without arrows, she can’t do much. Once I run out of mana, I’ll start bashing with my staff. We’ll take turns, alright?”
“Yeah,” they both nodded as Leo looked back. His barrier broke, and the monsters rushed into the chamber, following them. “Let’s do this.”