~ CHAPTER 21 ~
THE MAGIC OF TRIAL AND TEAMWORK, PART 2
Peaceful. Quiet. Floating. Warm.
[Cryptic Flows of the Mist (Part 1)]
Learn to comprehend the flows of the Mist. - 30%
[Path of the Runemaster (Part 3)]
Temper your mastery of the Runic powers with experience by empowering a Sign 10 times, at least once while under pressure. - 3/10, 1/1
[Optional] Discover an alternative use for an existing Sign. - Complete
[The Eyes of Twilight]
Discover the mystery of the Eyes of Twilight. - 40%
New Skill!
[Runic Plea]
Cost: 1 Mana per 2 seconds, Instant, 20 hour cooldown
Call upon a Rune to refresh 50% more quickly by drawing additional Mana from your body.
As I swam back into the fuzzy glow of not-quite-awareness-but-almost, I was met by a series of wonderfully sparkly sights. My eyes weren’t open yet, but they didn’t need to be to see the nice little boxes. Pretty! Apparently I was a better detective than I knew! Woah. When had that happened?
Oh, my eyes also didn’t need to be open for me to hear the distant clangs and clashes of the stupidly one-sided battle that was still ongoing almost directly above me. Still ongoing. My heart sank. My eyes opened.
I was lying on a patch of springy grass with my head propped up on a rock. It was still really comfortable, but I could feel that sensation fleeting away by the moment. About a metre away, the girl, whose name was apparently Demi, was still engaged in the same activity she had been before I fainted. That was: getting her ass kicked.
She glanced over at me. “Morning sunshine! How was it?”
“How was what?”
“Your nap!”
“Oh… um, it was good, I guess. I mean, I seem to have woken up from it, so it can’t have been that bad, right?”
“Right?!” She laughed, and her laugh melded into a cacophonous shriek as the monster’s arm dragged across her shield. There was a loud roaring in my ears. I didn’t think it was just from the dizziness. I was still dizzy, right?
[Defiler of Fates]
Health 717/748 ~ Mana 359/360 ~ Stamina 34/36 ~ Flow 80/100
[Demi]
Health 21/60 ~ Mana 3/10 ~ Stamina 32/40 ~ Flow ∞/∞
[Weakened (30%)], [Drained (40%)], [Saturated (2 min)], [Infused: Novice Healing Salve (58 min)]
[River]
Health 13/38 ~ Mana 2/41 ~ Stamina 6/40 ~ Runes 0/1 ~ Flow 39/62
[Drained (90%)], [Exhausted (71%)], [Weakened (32%)], [Isolated (Stage 1)], [Eyes of Wonder]
For some reason it felt wrong that there was no written indicator for the amount of visual distortion going on around Demi. Obviously she herself was unaffected, but now I could barely see a thing around her except for the massive halo of solid colour. Forget photo filters, it was like someone had just upended a few buckets of paint over the scene. Unless that little number that said eighty out of a hundred was related. It probably was, wasn’t it?
What had it been last time? I felt like it had jumped up rather a lot.
Demi was saying something. “… like, oh my gosh, that was so cool! I guess you were out for it, but you wouldn’t believe what happened. As soon as you cast your fire orb spell thingy on the monster’s heart or whatever, it just kinda shut down. It just sat there and gawked at me and did nothing. For sixteen seconds, haha. It gave me enough time to get in and rescue you, but oh my god I bet that fall must’ve hurt! You ok?” Hmm? Interesting! My plan had done something! It hadn’t exactly worked, but it had had an effect.
I struggled to my feet as I processed what she’d said. “Um, well, I wouldn’t know, I guess? I wasn’t awake for it.” Feeling my body, though, I didn’t need to have been. Were there any spots left now that weren’t bruised?
Demi laughed at my joke. For some reason that made me oddly happy. It wasn’t like that was something new, exactly, well, unless you counted that she was a girl… but it was like she was just genuinely enjoying herself. Shouldn’t she be sneering at me? Or at least, you know, worried about how she was about to die? I smiled back at her, and felt something different about it.
“So… did you have any ideas while I was out?” Apparently, she hadn’t given up, so I might as well get back into the action.
“Ah, well, not really. I’m so sorry for dragging you into all this, by the way. You’re getting all bruised up for me, when it’s me who’s supposed to be the tank.”
“No, it’s fine. I wanted to help. I’m just not sure how I can, now. If this were a normal enemy, you’d think I’d have been able to do something, especially with you tanking it like that, but… like, what’s up with the stats on this thing?”
“Yeah, I know, right? It’s like we’re fighting a dungeon boss with just the two of us.” She punctuated her comment by shifting to the side and letting the monster’s branch glance off her shield. Even like that, I couldn’t help wondering how she wasn’t thrown half way across the clearing. It was like we were fighting a dungeon boss, but for some reason it was tuned to exactly the level where she could tank it without needing a healer. Without having needed a healer until now. “By the way, what was that spell you used earlier? I assumed it was just a regular damage shield, but why did it make the monster stop like that?”
That was a good question. I frowned. “Um… I don’t actually know.”
“Hmm, but you must have thought it would do something, or you wouldn’t have gone all the way up there to cast it.”
Hmm? Wait, something felt wrong with that comment… “Um, well it won’t make much sense, but, I guess, here’s what I was thinking anyway. So, it seems the monster is constantly gaining some stat called Flow. It’s at eighty-one out of a hundred right now. Anyway, I thought that was bad, so I wanted to try to interrupt it. Then I had this crazy idea that my Rune might help. Only it seems to have made the problem worse instead. Sorry.”
“What happens when it gets to a hundred?” She sounded curious. Why was that a relief?
“I don’t know, but I figured we didn’t want to find out.”
“Huh.” She was silent for a moment while she walked a few steps closer to the monster. Her tone was thoughtful. Strange? I felt like I was a step behind. Like I’d completely missed some crucial moment in the conversation. “So your spell made the monster gain a lot of this Flow stat, but also stopped it moving for a while. Do you think they’re related?”
Now I felt a spike of irritation. That was the third time she’d called it a spell. Why did that bother me? “It’s a Skill actually. Also, I’m sure they are, I just don’t know how.”
“Wow, really? Well, what made you think your Skill would help, though?”
That was another good question. Why had I thought that? “Um. I’m trying to think. It’s because I can see these weird wavy line things, and I think they’re related to the Runes somehow, and the monster is, like, absorbing them or something. Also you’re surrounded by them but none of them are actually touching you, so I thought that they might also be related to Flow somehow. Or maybe Karmic Flow.”
She gave me a blank expression. “Um, I don’t think I follow, but it sounds like you’re thinking pretty hard. So what’s my Flow at? I only have like six Karma cause I got my shield.”
Something still felt odd about the whole conversation, even though I was sure she hadn’t said… oh. That was it. It was what she hadn’t said. She wasn’t laughing at what an idiot I’d been. She wasn’t even angry at me screwing up her fight. She was listening to me and taking me seriously. That was what was strange. New question: why was that strange? I decided answering her question was more important. “Yours is infinite.”
“Oh. And yours?”
“Thirty-six out of sixty-two.”
She considered for a moment while twisting her shield to send one of the monster’s arms crashing into the other at high speed. I felt my face splitting into a grin. “So the monster is trying to drain Flow, but I’m immune, and you can literally see that just by looking.”
“Yes.”
“And when you used your… what did you call it? On the monster, it gave it a big boost.”
Sign. “Yes.”
“But also made it stop for sixteen seconds.”
“Apparently?”
“So I guess we just need to give it an even bigger boost?”
“Huh?”
She still had a slightly dopey expression on her face. “Maybe? I dunno, I was just tossing it out there?”
That didn’t feel quite right, but… maybe she had a point. Maybe I was overthinking things. It really did feel like a boss fight, but the fact that she been able to last this long suggested otherwise, and there was also obviously some sort of connection between her and the monster with their Flow. That meant it was probably intended to be a solo fight, and therefore she already had all the tools she needed to beat it. I was just getting in the way.
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“What if… what if it stopped because I cut off its supply? I felt weird when I was standing right next to it, so maybe it wasn’t my Rune that gave it the big boost, but me standing there?” I was thinking aloud. That was weird. She’d tell me to shut up any moment. That was what people did when you said silly things. I should just shut up first.
“Ok? So how do we cut off its supply for good?” She jerked my thoughts back on topic. Should I have been expecting that?
“So if you’re immune, maybe all we have to do is just, like, find a way to get you up there so you can touch it.”
“Just touch it? Not smash it?”
“Probably?”
“Oh my gosh if you’re right I’m gunna feel like such an idiot.” She groaned. “Ok, I’ll just do that, then.”
“Wait, but how are we going to get you up there?”
She tilted her head at me. “Hmm? I’ll just climb it.”
How many times was it now that I’d felt the urge to plant my face in my palm? Seriously?
The monster thrashed its branch loose and took a backhanded swing at her, but she simply ducked under her shield to deflect it. Then she slung both her shield and her sword to the ground as if she was a baseball player getting ready to run, flexed her shoulders, and started climbing. In platemail armour. She was already reaching the top of the monster’s legs before I’d even fully registered what was happening.
Then she overbalanced and planted in the dirt. The monster’s other arm sent her flying.
She mumbled with her face still buried in the mud. “Um. This is going to be really hard. I’m sixty-three percent Weakened now. I don’t think I have the agility.”
But you do have the Strength? I couldn’t help my internal repartee.
There was only one solution to this problem. I struggled to my feet and walked over to grab her shield. “How much longer on your Saturated debuff?” I asked her as I gripped the thick metal rim. I couldn’t even lift it. I started dragging.
“Um, like a minute twenty? I’m out of Health pots though. I only had one.”
“It’s ok, I’ve got another. We’ve just gotta last another minute without letting your Health drop any lower. Think you can do it?”
“Maybe?” She reached me and plucked her shield off the ground, then immediately raised it to block.
I staggered to the side and dove behind her. This time the crazy ninja roll felt almost natural. It only cost me one Stamina, too. [Weakened] popped back up to thirty-two percent. A moment later [Drained] hit ninety-five percent. I grabbed my last popsicle out of my inventory.
Then… I put my last popsicle back in again. I grabbed my [Novice Mana Potion] and drank that instead. If I got [Shocked] right now just because I was a miser, it would be a problem.
Then I sat back and enjoyed the show. I had thirteen Health. The [Defiler of Fates] had seven hundred and thirteen. I had two… three Mana, and, more importantly, seven Stamina. Not enough to do anything of practical value besides just wait for the Creator Flame to refresh again. So, that’s what I did.
Demi fought hard. Sortof. Well, she hardly fought, but she did block all the attacks in between chattering at me.
All of the tension was completely gone from the scene.
The seconds ticked by, punctuated by the clangs and thunks of the ongoing stalemate.
A little while passed…
Suddenly Demi interrupted herself. “Oh my god! Congratulations through practice your Skill Shield Discipline has been refined into Greatshield Discipline! Yay!”
“Does the shield you’re currently using even count as a greatshield?”
“Um? I think it’s borderline, but it’s really big on me, so maybe? My main one is definitely a greatshield, though. It’s so awesome!” I didn’t doubt that. It’d almost been bigger than she was.
A little while later…
“So what made you pick being an MMA?”
“My friends wanted a frontline DPSer ‘cause it went well with what they wanted to play.”
“Aw man, really? That sucks. What the heck is a Runemaster anyway?”
“Honestly, I don’t know yet. Most of the Skills seem to be support oriented, but I’ve only learned one so far.”
“That’s really cool though! You’ve got like a unique class. Plus you’re a Mistborn too. You’re so lucky! I’m just a boring Freechild.”
“What did you want to be?”
“A Freechild.”
“Sweet! Why’d you pick Armoured Melee Fighter then?”
“I thought it’d be easier having all armour and everything to fight in. I wouldn’t have to learn the magic system, but I also wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit.”
“Oops! Haha!”
“I know, right? I like have no idea what’s even going on.”
Later still…
“Oh man. I have nine Health left. It’s so weird, it feels like I’m swimming. My arms take forever just to do anything. Haha. Only another seventeen seconds to go!”
“Twenty-seven, but yea.”
“Oh right. Gotta wait for the pot to actually work first. Twenty-five.”
…
The second try went better than the first. Watching her climb up the monster like she was a walrus climbing a tree was an exercise in keeping my face straight, but it went surprisingly well over all. Then she fell again. The branch came swinging in.
I knocked it into the ground with [Force Infused Palm], while simultaneously empowering my Sign, and we both rode the monster-coaster to the top in style. After that, I wasn’t much help in getting her down to the red crystal, but she got there in the end. Then nothing happened.
Then I realised the monster was at ninety-eight out of a hundred Flow while my own body was practically transparent, and I dove off. Then I floated.
“Woah, what the heck? It’s like you’re made of smoke.”
“This is really uncomfortable.”
…
I landed with a thud.
…
“What happened?”
“Your Sign ran out. I think we won.”
“Wait, really? Oh my gosh, YAY!”
Demi let of a squealing sound to accompany my cheer that made me cringe internally, but I didn’t care. The fight was over. I turned myself right side up to examine the monster.
My regret was immediate. Even with my eyes closed, I could still see the tornado of vivid energy crashing and surging inside the crystal. It billowed and twisted and shrieked around, leaving me with the impression that I should have a nauseating headache. And then it was gone. I opened my eyes.
Demi was looking down at me with a contemplative expression, but as soon as she noticed my eyes open, she gave me a brilliant smile. “Hey River? Thanks for the help. Really. You’re awesome. I mean, seriously, we couldn’t have done it without you.”
“We couldn’t have?”
“I meant, like, you and me.”
“Oh. Right.”
…
“You’re welcome.”
~ ~ 26/1/1/21:35 ~ ~
Status: [River]
Class: [Novice Mistborn Runemaster]
Location: [Lower Spelltouched Wilds - The Stormveiled Delta]
Health 8/38 ~ Mana 10/41 ~ Stamina 8/41 ~ Runes 0/1
[Drained (51%)], [Exhausted (61%)], [Weakened (58%)], [Isolated (Stage 1)], [Eyes of Wonder] Equipped Skills (8/8):
[Force Infused Palm]
[Myriad Fists]
[Imbued Defence]
[Unarmed Discipline (Passive)]
[Body Conditioning (Passive)]
[Inscribe: Rune of the Creator Flame (1/1)]
[Sign of Inverse Devouring]
[Eyes of Wonder]
Statistics:
Defence +8
Resistance +5
Constitution +4 (-51%)
Willpower +4 (-51%)
Endurance +4
Spirit +1
Perception +1 (+5%)
Focus (-5%)
Strength (-61%)
Intensity (-61%)
Agility (-58%)
Celerity (-58%)
Equipped Items (3/8):
[New Arrival’s Simple Dress]
[New Arrival’s Simple Shoes]
[Valesilver Pin]
[Silversilk Bracelet] Other Skills:
[Elementary Ingredient Preparation (Passive)]
[Runic Plea] Other Items:
[Special Edition Founder’s Token]
[Small Pouch]
[Small Iron Key]
[Sugary Biscuit]x2
[The Keeper's List]
[Amarh Elbow Gristle]x18
[Thoril's Needle]x15
[Myrl Rose]x6
[Crushed Red Longshore Prawn's Shell]x3
[Red Prawn and Pepper Stew Jelly Popsicle]
Active Quests:
[Cryptic Flows of the Mist (Part 1)]
[Path of the Runemaster (Part 3)]
[The Keeper’s Garden (Part 1)]
[The Ancient Keeper of Runic Magic (Part 4)]
[Things Worth Finding in the Mist]
[The Eyes of Twilight]
Status: [Demi]
Class: [Novice Freechild Guardian]
Location: [Lower Spelltouched Wilds - The Stormveiled Delta]
Health 20/60 ~ Mana 5/10 ~ Stamina 22/40
[Weakened (33%)], [Saturated (3 min)], [Infused: Novice Healing Salve (55 min)]
Equipped Skills (6/8):
[Guarded Strike]
[Standfast]
[Shield Block]
[Greatshield Discipline (Passive)]
[Mocking Shout]
[Strength of Eternity (Passive)]
Statistics:
Defence +19
Resistance +1
Damage +2
Strength +8
Agility (-33%)
Celerity (-33%)
Equipped Items (5/8):
[New Arrival's Basic Short Sword]
[New Arrival's Basic Shield]
[Tarnished Iron Breastplate]
[New Arrival’s Simple Undershirt]
[New Arrival's Basic Chain Tasset]
[New Arrival’s Simple Pants]
[New Arrival's Basic Leather Boots] Other Skills:
Other Items:
[Special Edition Founder’s Token]
[Novice Stamina Potion]
[Novice Rejuvenating Salve]x5
[Guldrin’s Checklist]
[Saproot Seed]x14
[Mordalk Stew (cold)]
[Luma Feather]
[Garden Pebble]
[New Arrival’s Basic Chain Armour]
[Depleted Meridian Stone]
[Palt Lure]
[Greatshield of Dauntless Hope (Shattered)]
Active Quests:
[Wanted: Dead Spider Monkeys]
[Guldrin’s Experiment]
[Strength of Eternity (Part 3)]
[Asyr Hospitality (Part 4)]
[Mill in the Jungle]
[Wanted: Dead Starfire Wasps]
[Wanted: Dead Jungle Palts]