by Sean Oswald
Dave felt a moment of doubt about moving forward, “If it’s too much for you to deal with then I will just dismiss the creature and we can work on some simpler spells.”
“Ok boomer,” Mira laughed derisively.
“You know I’m not a boomer right?” Dave asked back suddenly very worried that his daughter thought he was older than he was, but she didn’t seem to hear him, so intent was she on the work.
Dave couldn’t see the magic of other spells the same way that Mira could, but since this spell was his, he could feel as she was tugging at the bands which comprised his control. It was almost as though they were becoming slippery and his intangible hold on them weakened. That was when he started to resist.
Prior to Dave’s resistance, Mira had been straining because it was still a new activity and she was trying to be careful not to unravel the other parts of the spell. She was trying to only work on the control part of it, to transfer control to herself. When he started to resist though, the bands all tightened, and she wasn’t able to get a hold on them. It was almost as if someone had pulled a knot taunt while she was working on untangling it. With more experience or wisdom, she might have simply dropped it. Her will power was not sufficient to beat her father’s especially when he was the rightful owner of the spell. Taking a dug in defensive position was always harder than resisting the attack. Mira, however lacked both wisdom and experience, either at working with magic or at life in general. So she did what any upset child might do and she pulled harder, even channeling magic into it although she wasn’t quite sure how she did so.
The more Mira pulled on the spell the more they could both sense a shifting. The magic which had pulled the creature half-way around the world kept opening and shutting. The cool evening air was heated by bursts of warm dry air from wherever was on the other end of the portal. Then without any further warning, the form of the spell ripped apart and the spatial link was severed.
They both received a notification that they had suffered for a spell backlash and took twenty points of damage and were dazed for twenty seconds. The only thing that saved them was that the rhino had suffered the same mentally confusing effect. Which explained how when Daichi, Jaselm, and company found them, Mira was wafting through the air like a drunken bird while both Dave and the beast were stumbling to their feet.
Dave’s superior intelligence reacted faster, and he won the initiative. He immediately cast Ablative Armor and felt the rush of mana leaving his body as it formed into a translucent chrysalis around his body. It was lucky that despite the different build he had continued to wear his chainmail armor. He watched the rhino shaking its head as he followed up by casting Minor Shock shield and then quick cast Thunder Arc. As he cast his third Tier 3 spell, beyond the rush of mana he also received a notification but there was no time for him to look at it now. Instead he just aimed his blast at the front right leg of the oncoming rhino. He knew it wouldn’t be enough to stop the creature but hoped that taking out its leg would help. Fortunately, the spell had a built in ability to penetrate damage resistance, so it struck the leg, ripping through the thick hide and slamming into the bone beneath. (612)
With its leg taken out from underneath it, the beast hit the ground hard, cutting a furrow into the ground, but its momentum was so great that it continued to plow into Dave and through the shock shield. The electrical damage wasn’t enough to damage the rhino, but it did blunt the remainder of its damage so that when it struck the ablative armor it only caused (38) damage. The crystalline armor which encased him absorbed all the damage as tiny scales like flakes of the armor broke away as the spell converted seven points of the kinetic energy into mana for Dave.
Meanwhile, Mira fired off a rapid succession of spells with a varying degree of effects. Ice Dagger and Magic Missiles really had no effect because each individual portion of the spells were blocked by the monster’s damage resistance. Frostwave was strong enough to at least deal some damage (59) but the most effective spell that she cast was Minor Bleeding Wound because it bypassed his thick hide to directly affect the open wound.
As soon as the frost cleared, the beast was surrounded by the soldiers. They hit him fast and hard repeatedly. Still, through it all, most of the blows except those by the Tier 3’s did much damage. Finally, it managed to get back to its feet and everyone had to step back. Dave cast Minor Enlarge and stepped up thrusting his sword into the thick armor even while activating his offensive stance. (302) Mira kept casting Minor Bleeding Wound every time it came off of cooldown.
The rhino wouldn’t turn to attack anyone other than Dave despite repeated attempts by Jaselm to taunt it. Dave continued stepping to the side but the beast would swing its head side to side knocking him backwards. Each blow was so strong that even with the armor absorbing the damage, Dave would be knocked backwards. This was fortunate though because it allowed the others to attack repeatedly and even blows of ten to twenty damage started stacking up when there were over a hundred of them. Combined with Dave and Jaselm’s blades and Daichi’s pommeling blowing, the rhino eventually fell.
“What in all the leaves of the forest did you do to make that thing last so long?” Daichi asked with a level of shock that Dave had never seen from the monk.
“It just had a lot of health. With my new spells, I was able to keep tanking it, just had to whittle it down.”
“That isn’t what I meant. I meant how did you make the summoning spell last so long. Normally, it’s only ten minutes for all those types of spells.”
Jaselm’s face went white, “Bigger question is why we got an XP notification for it?”
Sure enough as Dave looked at his last notification and it read:
You have defeated: Dire Rhinoceros Level 29
XP: 0 due to numerical penalty.
“It’s not like we actually got XP though,” Dave pointed out.
“That is because there were too many of us. It is one of the rules of Eloria. You cannot simply overcome more powerful creatures with numbers or you gain no XP. But, the paladin is correct. XP comes from the life force of a slain creature. With a summoned creature the magic is supposed to work so that it is returned to its prior location the instant before it dies,” Daichi lectured.
Both Dave and Mira, who had flown down from her position in the air, were listening raptly to his explanation. Mira asked, “Maybe that didn’t happen because I broke dad’s spell.”
Jaselm answered after shaking his head once again at the familiar way in which she spoke about her father in public, “No, if a summoning spell is dispelled then the magic which brought the creature to this location ends, and it is returned back. Understand, I am certainly no mage, but this is always the way it has worked.”
Mira grinned ear to ear, “Well then that must be why it worked like this. I didn’t dispel his spell, I was simply trying to unravel the part of the spell that gave him control of the creature. When he resisted though, I ended up pulling the entire spell apart.” Mira’s head dropped a bit before she added, “It was rather messy.”
Daichi held out his hand to touch her arm in an unusual gesture for the reserved monk, “Mistress Mira, you must not ever do that again. Even wizards who have studied and specialized in a type of spell for centuries lack the ability to safely unravel the spell cast by another. It can have dire consequences. The beast could have exploded, or you could have been sucked back to the beast’s original location when the spell came apart.”
Mira’s dusky skin grew just a bit darker although only the elven eyes were able to see it against the twilight background. “Well … Um … it did almost seem like a portal was opening because I saw somewhere else for just a second and felt a rush of warm air pouring out.” Her words caused even more consternation for those around her.
Dave said, “Why it is so impossible for wizard’s to unravel spells? Mira can see the actual bands of magic. I kinda got the sense that this was a part of her class.”
“Wait, she can see the spell forms cast by anothe
r?” This was asked by one of the druids who had finally arrived.
Rather than answer, Dave looked at Mira who said, “Dad is right. Since I got this class I have been able to see any spell form that is around me. I am still learning but I can even sense magic within enchanted items. I think given enough time I will be able to see those magical effects too.”
“Pardon my rudeness, Consort, but may I know what your daughter’s class is?” the druid asked Dave.
Dave was struggling to remember the woman’s name. She was the only female druid who had come so you would think it would be easier, but despite increased Intelligence, names still seemed elusive to him. “Classes are not kept secret where we come from. She is a meta-mage. It’s a rare class.”
Dave finally remembered her name was Aoi. Her mouth opened and closed almost like her jaw didn’t work before she answered, “I have heard of it, but it is a super rare class bordering on epic. I don’t believe that there has been one amongst the circle since we first arrived in this land.”
Daichi added, “Lady Emiri and her family bring back many old things to us.”
Not sure what to say about that, both Dave and Mira looked at one another then Dave said, “Well I am sorry if our experiment has inconvenienced you, but I think we have learned many valuable things here.” Even as he said that a new notification popped up for him.
Research Gain: +10% better understanding of spell forms
+7% better understanding of blending spellmschools
+12% better understanding of spatial magic
He told everyone what the notification was but then decided it was something he would have to put into the think about it later bin. With that in mind, he started walking back to the campsite discussing with the leaders why the tree sappers had not seemed like much of a threat at all. Aoi explained that some of it was because Eisuke had blown it up in his mind so much and some of it was because of the amount of power that they brought to bear on the problem. Daichi added that in the past when a truly monstrous swarm had formed it was hundreds of times as large as the nests that they had been clearing out and had killed entire sections of the forest. It was the monk’s opinion that they were lucky.
Their comments gave Dave a lot to think about. There was a part of him that felt like the entire hunt was a sort of letdown. If it hadn’t been for the dungeon he didn’t think that anything good would have come out of this trip and couldn’t help but feel that it had been built up in his mind, and now when actually faced with it, it wasn’t much of a challenge. He had run across that in some of his games back home. A new zone or boss would be added to a game. People would race to be the first to clear it, and often, despite the marketing build up from the game’s developer, it really turned out to be boring. A part of him reminded himself that this was not a game. He wondered if he would ever truly believe that voice. The only time it ever truly sank in was when he was worried about his family. Despite that and a warmer welcome back to his tent than he had expected from Emily, the thought that was bouncing around in his mind before falling asleep was if he had just stumbled upon an XP exploit.
That night some thirty miles away, a group of moon elves was creeping around the area marked as the site of the future wall of Eris’ Rise. There were three individual scouts and they were taking careful assessments. Measuring the space between different buildings, observing the rotation of guards and patrols, learning the dining and eating schedules of the populace, and doing their best to take stock of the relative strength of the defenders. The town was definitely more built up than they had been told to expect, and their Lord was not likely to be happy with what they would report, but these were no goblin scouts to slack on the job. They were professionals who knew the business they were about. While they might not all be entirely certain about the mission they were on, they were loyal to their Lord.
It had been repeatedly preached to them that the Throne and Circle had grown soft and were abandoning the old ways. The creation of a new Lady, who was married to a human was too much. Their leaders preached that humans were a blight on the land. This tale was enforced when they saw the area already logged on the forest side of the Seinna. Houses built from cut strips of trees seemed like a brutality to the younger moon elves who hadn’t yet learned to understand that there was more than one way to see the world.
The confusion set in though when they discovered that they would be fighting alongside human soldiers. It had been bad enough to sacrifice so many creatures of the forest by stampeding them to attack the traitors. Now though, they themselves were working with humans. It had many of them confused, but they clung to tradition and served their Lord loyally, even though they knew Itsu wasn’t much of a Lord.
Dave woke early the next morning. He was excited to try to end the hunt. If everything went according to script, they would be back home tomorrow. Well, that was if he could convince Emily to turn in the quest on her own. Well come to think of it, he didn’t really know how quest turn ins went. Would they have to all go to the moon elf capital to be able to collect the faction rewards, not to mention the gold and magical items? He braced himself to have to be away from home, but that only made him want to get this over with all that much sooner.
After making the rounds and checking on his various commanders, most of whom seemed to share his tendency for rising early, he sat down for a while to eat a quick breakfast of oatmeal. Even though he sat at the central cooking fire, the soldiers all left him alone and no one would sit next to him. That was fine with him for this morning as it gave him some time to think. While doing so, he remembered that there had been one notification which had popped up during the battle with the rhino which he had not looked at. Pulling it up caused him to make a low whistle and drew most of the eyes to him to make sure that nothing was wrong. Once they all saw him with that distant glazed over look, they knew he must be scrolling through internal notifications.
Quest Update: Class Determination- you have previously found and met the qualifications to receive a class but have turned down that class. Now you have met sufficient requirements of a different class to be offered it.
1.Possess Heavy Armor Skill
2.Cast a Tier 3 or higher Evocation Spell
3.Cast a Tier 3 or higher Abjuration Spell
4.Have as a core motivation the defense of others
5.Have as a core motivation the desire to master magic
6. Slay an enemy of at least twice your level with melee alone
In Eloria, classes are not easily earned, all have significant benefits and equally weighty requirements. Each class has seven ranks known as tiers.
Class offered: Arcane Dreadnought (Epic) - Tier 1
Class Benefits: Combine INT and CON when determining Health and Mana, Combine WIS and END when determining Mana Regeneration and Stamina Points/regen. Self-targeted Shaping and Abjuration Spells cost 50% less mana and have a 50% increased duration. +5 to CON/END/INT/WIS
Class Restrictions: Must keep Heavy Armor skill as high as highest magic school. Only gain class benefits while wearing heavy armor.
Class Purpose: A magic based tank proving that there is nothing a sword can do which a spell can't do better
Unmet Restrictions: 2 unmet restrictions- unknown.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“The races each were placed into their own ships. The winds and waves pushed them far apart and each fought for its own place.” —Dhu Zei, first court historian Shan Shui City
The following day rushed by as they hunted down each of the nests. Dave was lost in the process but didn’t feel like there were any challenges. It felt like a gathering quest, the most hated of all, well besides maybe escort quests. He tried explaining what he was thinking to Emily, but she just scoffed. In her mind, the fact that it was easy just made it a good thing. The best part about the day in Dave’s mind was that it allowed him time to process some of the things he had put onto the back burner. Besides that, he got to think about the new class option and what the r
emaining requirements might be.
Once the last nest was cleared out, they all got a new notification that it was completed. This prompted another discussion between the Nelsons and the leaders.
“So does that mean all the tree sappers are destroyed?” Emily asked.
“Lady Emiri, I wish that I could say that. The truth is that we have never yet been able to eradicate the vermin. The best that we can realistically hope for is that their population has been so depleted that it will be decades before they pose a problem again,” Eisuke spoke very grimly.
“That is disappointing.”
Aoi took the lead, “Hogo-Sha Shinrin Myoji, speaks the truth. It is a part of the cycle that pests are necessary. We are no more likely to be entirely free of tree sappers than we are of mosquitoes. While we have all been asked to come and serve the circle in the Murkwood, the truth is that I believe I can speak for all of the druids and forest wardens. We have come to respect you Lady Emiri.”
“I am glad to have earned your trust, but I want you to believe in what we are building more than you believe in me.”
“Spoken like a true leader. It is for you to cast a vision. We lesser people are best equipped to follow those who create the vision.”
Dave grinned as he knew how irritated Emily would be at that way of speaking, but he was proud to see her hold tongue. They had discussed repeatedly that creating the world that they dreamed of would probably require them to live in the world as it was first and accepting that change might come slowly.
“I have equally come to respect you and your dedication. The question is how do we proceed from here?” Emily’s words spoke over her confusion.