The day was a long, fruitful, constant display of hunting and killing.
My main problem was running out of targets. Thankfully, Fireborn had considerably less loot about them most of the time, and what loot we collected I promptly Item Teleported out when it reached the awkward level so we wouldn’t have to haul it around. Since I could cheaply and easily restore the Slots used, this actually resulted in even more loot being taken at times, as I gathered it all up with either TK III or Phantom Servants, then whisked it off to those waiting to process it in Boulder or Detroit, as the case might be.
The only breaks in the action were moving from area to area, finding new things to fight, and any healing or buffing to be done. I was a lot more free with the latter, too, since I could get the Slots back so easily with just a flight of Shards or two.
It wasn’t that our killing efficiency increased with just the three of us, but it ate up more time, since I wasn’t in a hurry to just slaughter large numbers. The lads made sure nothing got close as I raked the Fireborn with Shards, and then whatever secondary spell I was working on. Burning vivus flowed back into Clavus, was turned into ki, and restored what I was using up.
A couple Castings of Shards ripping through the weaker creatures was generally enough to fill up even a mostly-depleted Pool, which meant we were all constantly operating at close to our best. The Mick, of course, complained that he felt itchy being Buffed with so much Sanctified Magic, but he got over it when he realized he really could rampage through the lesser Elementals with nigh impunity, and even the bigger ones weren’t a threat he had to worry about one on one... especially if I softened them up first.
Master Fred just stoically shot everything, and if he needed to hack, he jumped in and did that, too.
If they all converged on us, a Sanctified Cryoclasm inflicted mass Area of Effect cold damage on all the things, making them pretty easy to clean up with Shards, Guns, or Swords. If it was something bigger, such as the rhino-sized or larger Elementals, a focused Shards spell could still blow it out of existence and condense the crystalline fiery Cores they were leaving behind, which we were rapidly filling Sleipner’s side car with.
The Mick wasn’t fighting living things, Elementals being made of fire and all that, but he didn’t mind a whit. I was doing most of the killing, but he was getting equal shares Karma and loot with our Fellowship in effect, so he just concentrated on making sure nothing got close to me so I could make him tons of money and Levels. Even if we weren’t focusing on the money, I was in a situation where I didn’t have to let any of it go to waste, so... I didn’t.
Itemized bundles of firemetals, weapons, and armor were being Item Teleported away after every encounter with brassmen, ifrit, azer, and salamanders. I’d recharge all the spells in the next fight without fail.
The Mick was also happy when I spent an hour doing nothing but Energizing gemstones during a fight. Shards reaped, gemstones glowed, rinse and repeat. Glowing, glittering gemstones I’d carved up in downtime joined the sparkling mound in Sleipner’s sidecar, and our hunts and killing continued.
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The Charlands covered over a hundred thousand square miles of rough terrain, and the numbers of Fireborn climbed rapidly as we went further in. Swarms of burning insects, bats, birds, and the like became more common as the temperature rose, and flowing rivers of lava streamed away from burning fountains of the same coming from far underground, flowing for a distance over the black rock of the landscape before sometimes vanishing from view, at other times pouring slowly into an advancing volcanic glacier of lava, claiming more land from Nature for Fire.
We painted the black magma white with vivus. Sinking into the Land, it caused the expansion of Fire to begin to slow in the immediate area... and as we continued to kill, I could sense it start slowing even more.
Elementals in all their forms, animalistic or amorphous, died, and the energy they were made of was fed to the Land, not returning to the flames below. The Elementals served as living anchors for the influence of this unnatural spread of flaming energy, so getting rid of them naturally slowed its advance.
Keeping them out of a cycle of reincarnation made this slowing of their growth effectively permanent, changing a +1 on their side to a +1 on ours, doubling up the effect.
There was no tanking fight, nor a need for one. This was a fight for rep counts.
The Mick was doing the same, using the Magus path. It was pricey for him, as he was building up Monk and Magus levels together, going for the Ghost Ki power, but he wasn’t intending to apply it to Shards.
After all, focusing spells through Smior generated crits and kills, too, and helped avoid the rampant slaughter aspect with the additional insulation of an actual Weapon there.
I used Greater Magic Weapon to make his Katana Coldphasing, so he could easily reap the smaller Elementals with a single blow, which would easily trigger Ghost Ki reaping. From there, he could use it to replace spells slowly but surely, especially those that he was releasing through his Sword.
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A Magus could Cast like a normal Caster, but they specialized in spells released through their Weapons. I could do that, but I was primarily a ranged Caster, artillery, not a striker. The Mick getting off unlimited Energy Grasp attacks of bloody hue was definitely a thing, and he was working on his rep counts relentlessly, leaving only a couple emergency Slots for himself and the major Casting to me. The insulation of Smior would certainly help combat any addictive tendencies of the effect.
He was days off it happening, of course, even gaining a Level a day... but the simple fact that he was still reaping a Level a day was utterly astonishing to him, and he had realized just how beneficial all this combat was for him.
Being a Fuilcroi enforcer had never been this beneficial. What did he need them for?
Frozen bloodstars, writhing crimson lightning, and spreading super-corrosive scarlet acids spread from the milk-white length of Smior as he spent his Valences and Slots one by one, slow and methodical, studying the spell and building towards the Arcane Thesis of it from its Signature Spell status. There were a trio of touch spells he was alternating the use of with Metas, tracking his rep counts, and anticipating being able to get his counts that much faster.
Master Fred was just shooting and tanking, continuing to do his thing, an eye towards our defense more than all-out offense, but simply being able to erect Walls of cold fire on demand meant he could easily have been supremely dangerous on offense against the Fireborn.
Sleipner wanted to join in on the fun, too, since I had Repair spells from Artificing that could easily fix him if he was damaged. He made his tires and alicorn Coldphasing; watching him charging and running down various Elementals, or rearing up and coming down on them like a quarter-ton freezing buzzsaw, was entertaining to see.
Kiting back against Swarms and hordes, overloading the bigger creatures with offense, ignoring the rapidly rising air temperature with various forms of Resistance working at great intensity, we moved from camp to camp of the creatures quickly, and generally speaking, we didn’t leave much alive behind us.
Our first day of fighting ended about noon, with the only real pause the Salute to Aru.
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Even The Mick’s superhuman physique was strained by so much constant fighting. He chowed down the manna I had brought up with abandon, despite wanting some really bloody steaks to savor. The Spirit Beasts that were so wonderful to dine on were sadly no more, and Fireborn didn’t leave anything but ash behind, for the most part, their blood cooling to basically slime if it wasn’t above boiling.
He had tried azer and ifrit blood, protected by his fire resistance, and remarked that both had too much sulfur in them to be palatable, which was a great pity. Acquired taste, maybe in the future...
Manna had the unique effect of also providing for all dietary needs, including energy. So, despite just having a 15,000+ calorie day, manna just broke down and gave him back everything he needed, and would sit in his gut and provide him enough until the next morning.
It was similar to being Sustained, you just needed someone who could Cast Divine magic to take advantage of it. Enter Miss Cast Everything, no?
“I ken yer focus on Rep Counts now,” The Mick admitted somewhat ruefully as we sat in a fresh new cave Shaped out of a random lava mound cooled down and sitting there like a lump.
All three of us were using Infusing Patterns to work on items, burning up gemstones or spoils off Fireborn, preferably the latter.
“Proper name, Lord Mick. The TYRANNY of rep counts!” I corrected him mildly.
“Aye,” he admitted. “I’m thinking how long it would take to just Weird things correctly for Energy Grasp, and...” he trailed off and shook his head, pulling out his newest notebook and looking at his notes. “Just the basic Metas... then by energy types... increasing cost and Valences...” He looked up at me over the spectacles he put on whenever he did wizard-scholarly things. “Even being able to unbind Valences down with Arcane Theurge Levels, that is a horribly long time to get things done.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Even my method only works if there’s something to fight. Otherwise, it’s just blow all your Valences and Pool on the desired count, Meditate, sit around and be useless until Renewal, do it again... and make sure you have plenty of Gear around to protect yourself in case something happens in the meantime.”
“I’ve something of an advantage in that area,” he admitted. “Know ye of a II Valence improved Energy Grasp?”
“Not as such. When you build up Energy Grasp, its effects rapidly exceed just energy transformation and start exhibiting different effects as you increase in Valences. So, you get Fiery Grasp, Shocking Grasp, Icy Touch, and the like, increasing as you go up in Valences. As a pure spell, it doesn’t scale as well as Shards.”
“So, I would have to choose an energy type?” he asked, reflecting on that. “Shards works not that way a-cause?”
“Force energy. Elemental energy is basically a devolution of force energy, but more variable. Force energy has very rigid effects.”
He inclined his head slightly. “Advice?” he asked without shame.
“Pursue one energy type, but keep Elemental Mastery so you can swap in and out of it, as needed. For the Touch spells, Lightning is the most developed. There’s variants all the way up to V.”
He made a writing motion with his empty hand. “I wish to hear more, fair Lady!” he called out, and I smiled slightly, glancing at the Badge being Infused in the circle I’d set up.
Actually, all of us were powering up nigh-identical Badges. I’d had Sama Craft up the basic forms at QL 30, nothing too extravagant.
Badges of Valor, slotless minor items giving a +1 Sacred bonus to hit. It was minor, but it went on the stack. And for me, it was +2, via Favored by Faith.
The cost to get it to +2 was pretty crazy, something like 20 goldweight. Just this basic one was 5 goldweight.
But bonuses to hit were pretty rare, and actually all of the Shooters and the Island Trio were doing the same, taking the Badge as an emblem that they had come of age, which was sort of the point when I had proposed them.
Traveling Knights sounded pretty amusing. Have vivus, will travel!
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“...and dream of the wind at dawn,” I trailed off solemnly.
Diiiiinnggg... ding ding!
I raised an eyebrow, and sighed in resignation.
Let’s see... Arcane Theurge/4, a Magos Level. Okay, it allowed cross-use of IV Spells and Slots, recombining up and down, but I couldn’t Cast Sorcerer IV’s...
+1 Theurge Level to Sorcerer...