by M E Robinson
“You almost had the bastard,” Wavesun said as Eric shook his hand.
“Yeah, sorry...” Eric said. Giving Wavesun an awkward smile, Eric turned and headed back to the group, the mana technique held firmly in his hand.
After a long internal debate, Eric had finally chosen the mana technique, ignoring the sword and the Flame Trap spellbook. Wanting to focus on magic, Eric had decided to ignore the sword, and although the spellbook would directly raise his power for tomorrow’s assault, Eric trusted Lucy when she’d said that he wasn’t ready to learn new offensive spells yet.
Clutching the mana technique, Eric returned to where his friends stood, storing the mana technique inside his storage pouch as he watched the other fighters select their prizes.
Unfortunately for Astrid, Grott chose the bow as his prize, forcing her to take an enchanted quiver instead. However, the rest of Eric’s friends got fairly good prizes. Ryan was the luckiest, managing to pick up the glowing sword when it turned out that none of the other members of the top sixteen used swords. With the exception of Eric, every other swordsman had been knocked out in the round of thirty-two, leaving Ryan to receive one of the top prizes available.
Mark grabbed one of the remaining spellbooks, while Rob ignored the Flame Trap technique, opting instead to take an enchanted robe. As the last member to select his prize, Griffin also got fairly lucky and managed to choose a new shield, finally replacing the shield he’d received as a quest reward on his first day playing.
With that, the tournament finally came to a close. Before they left the stage, Halfthur, Wavesun, and Alistair led the crowd in a round of applause, filling the stadium with applause as they cheered for the fighters who’d made the tournament so exciting.
Bidding goodbye to his friends, Eric promised to meet up with them in a few hours so that they could head out with the elite platoon. Raising his arm high, Eric yelled his logout phrase, watching Vindammer Town transform into shards of light as he left the game to grab some refreshments.
Chapter 40
Opening his eyes, Eric removed the FateGear from his head, massaging his temples gently as his eyes adjusted to the daylight. The tournament had sapped his energy, especially that final fight against Hydrus.
With a groan, Eric shut his eyes, as if closing his eyes would allow him to travel back to before the fight. What if he hadn’t charged at Hydrus and instead just attacked with Wind Darts from afar? What if he’d declined to trade blow for blow with Hydrus once he’d closed in? What if he hadn’t bet everything on Multi-linked Wind Dart? These questions assaulted him, causing him to emit a low groan. He’d been so close, only to lose. Somehow, that was far more painful than it would have been had Hydrus simply outmatched him in every way.
Debating whether or not to just remain in bed, and hope that some sleep would cure him of his regrets, he noticed with some amusement that there was a brand new fluffy growth emerging from his stomach.
“Hello, vicious cat,” Eric told the growth, earning himself a sleepy look of reproach from Jeyna.
With an adorable yawn, Jeyna stretched, kneading her paws gently against Eric’s shirt as she sat up and stared at him.
“What? You want food? I was about to go to sleep,” he informed her.
With wide eyes, Jeyna rubbed her head against his cheek, emitting a low purr as she snuggled into him.
“I suppose I could get up,” Eric said slowly. As if she understood him, Jeyna sat up, a pleading look in her eyes.
“Don’t even think you can get chicken from me - that’s for my sandwich,” Eric told her.
Giving him an innocent look, Jeyna purred as he began to stroke her, running his hands gently through the thick fur on her neck.
“Maybe there will be enough left for both of us,” Eric told her, earning a deeper purr in response. “Maybe.”
Scooping her up, Eric made his way downstairs with Jeyna cradled in his arms, snuggled deeply into his chest as he walked to the kitchen. As it turned out, there wasn’t enough chicken left for both of them. With a sad sigh, Eric watched as Jeyna happily devoured the chicken strips he’d placed in her bowl, ignoring him now that she’d finally achieved her goal.
“Damn vicious cat,” Eric muttered softly as he considered what else he could eat. It was only just before noon. The tournament had taken several hours, and it had started at an ungodly hour of the morning. As a result, Eric was tired as hell, and wanted nothing more than to have a quick bite to eat and take a nice long nap.
Settling on some dried noodles, Eric quickly went about preparing them, boiling the water, dumping the noodles in, and watching the cat as she chased a mouse toy around the room. As he slurped down the last noodle, Eric slammed his bowl back on the table with a refreshed sound. Telling himself that he would take care of the bowl later, Eric stumbled back upstairs, setting an alarm before climbing under the covers and settling down for a well-deserved nap.
The roar of flames filled Eric’s vision as Hydrus’ flaming sword tore through Eric’s Multi-Linked Wind Dart, erasing the last of his health as Hydrus raised his arms in celebration.
With a start, Eric awoke, covered in sweat as he looked around frantically. Slowly, his room began to swim into focus. Checking his watch, Eric collapsed back onto his pillow. Just a dream, he told himself, resting his palm against the back of his hand against his forehead. A terrible, terrible dream. Tossing and turning, Eric attempted to get back to sleep. However, he found that unfortunately, he was now wide awake. Swearing, he threw the covers off and checked his watch once more. Still another four hours to go, eh? Eric grimaced. He’d been hoping to nap until half an hour before he needed to meet the guys in game and join up with the elite platoon. However, clearly that plan was now shot.
Grabbing his FateGear, Eric lay down in bed once more. If he was going to be awake, he might as well be productive, Eric thought with a sigh as he entered Fate.
It was currently just past midnight in the game. Unlike when they’d arrived the other day, the streets of Vindammer were still lively, filled with players and NPC’s enjoying the nightlife of Vindammer Town.
Dodging out of the way of a pair of singing drunks, Eric raised his hand to chest height. “Eleanor, did you want to explore?”
With a gentle swirl of light, Eleanor appeared on his palm, a look of delight on her small faerie features. “I’d love to! You haven’t taken me exploring in two days!” Eleanor pouted.
Eric laughed. “My bad. But I was kinda busy with the tournament. I’m sure you saw the results of that.”
Eleanor’s gaze softened. “You did your best.”
“Sometimes doing one’s best isn’t enough.”
Eleanor fidgeted awkwardly, casting around for a new topic. As she swivelled her head, Eleanor’s face brightened. “So this is Vindammer Town? Have you found the river yet? Have you?” she asked with an excited look.
Eric smiled. “I have actually. Want to see?”
Eleanor nodded. “Yeah! I bet it looks amazing in the moonlight…”
Conversing idly with Eleanor, Eric headed towards the western end of Vindammer Town with Eleanor flitting around just over his shoulder, loudly exclaiming whenever she saw something interesting. At last, the pair reached the western end of Vindammer Town. Here, the shops and houses gave way to restaurants and manors, while the telltale sound of waves lapping against the shore gave warning to the river nearby. With a squeal of joy, Eleanor clasped her hands together, staring with childlike glee towards the river that flowed only fifty metres from where they stood.
The Lunbrens River was wide, nearly a hundred metres across at its widest point as it passed alongside Vindammer Town. Even at this late hour, various boats could be seen traversing the river, carrying people and cargo to and from Vindammer.
“Shall we walk along the river?” Eric asked, receiving an excited nod in response from Eleanor.
Making their way along the riverside, Eric and Eleanor both fell silent, content to simply observe the beauty
of the river. Without realizing, Eric soon found himself at the wall, which extended all the way up to the riverside. A small gate could be seen a few metres from the river, manned by a guard with a halberd.
“Mind if I get through?” Eric asked, approaching the guard.
The guard nodded. “You may. I must warn you though that you won’t be able to come back in through this entrance tonight. You’ll need to head to one of the main gates if you want to re-enter Vindammer Town” he said, opening the gate to allow Eric passage.
Thanking the guard, Eric passed through the gate, continuing to stroll along the riverbank as the moon rose high overhead.
“It’s just so beautiful,” Eleanor whispered after a while, breaking the silence.
“Mmmmh,” Eric replied.
“Sometimes I wish that I’d been born a mermaid, or a fish of some sort. So that I could swim through the oceans and rivers, and never have to leave the water,” Eleanor said wistfully.
“You were born?” Eric asked with surprise.
“Of course! Weren’t you born?”
“Well yes…”
“We’re both people, so naturally we were both born. The only difference is that you’re a human and I’m a fairy,” Eleanor explained seriously.
“That makes sense,” Eric replied, secretly wondering just how faeries were born.
“Exactly. Being a fairy is nice as well. However, there are days where I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have been born a true resident of this world. Even if it would have been more dangerous, I can’t help but wonder. What if?”
Not wanting to press the matter and say the wrong thing, Eric turned the conversation back to mermaids, continuing to converse with Eleanor about her dreams of being a mermaid as they walked along the riverside. Occasionally, fish could be seen, leaping high out of the water and leaving glittering ripples in the moonlit river waters. Climbing a small hill, Eric heard Eleanor let out a small gasp. From here, one could see the river stretching far off into the distance, like a long silvery snake that was resting in the green grass of Novanalba, disappearing over the horizon as it made its way to the sea.
Sitting down, Eric took the mana technique he’d chosen as his prize out from his storage as he leaned back against a tree growing on the hilltop. With the peaceful sound of flowing water, and the lush grass beneath him, Eric was hard pressed to think of a more comfortable place to study his new mana technique than here.
As Eleanor flitted about above the water, Eric cracked open the book, coughing slightly as dust filled his eyes. When was the last time someone opened this book? Eric wondered as he waved the dust away, settling his gaze upon the first page, an introduction to the technique.
The page was badly worn, with large chunks of text missing from the top few paragraphs where mice seemed to have gotten to the book. Praying that the rest of the book was intact, Eric quickly flipped through the pages until he found where the diagram for the mana technique was stored. Luckily, it seemed that this was one of the few pages in the book that had escaped unmangled. Turning back to the first page, Eric attempted to make out the barely legible text at the bottom of the page.
‘-nique focuses on storing mana and enhancing spells. Although it is more difficult than other mana techniques, when mastered, this technique will allow the user to burst forth with incredible strength at a moment’s notice.’
Sounds pretty promising, Eric thought to himself, flipping back to the diagram once more so that he could study the paths that the mana had to take.
Over the course of the next hour, Eric did his best to familiarize himself with the new mana technique. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know the name of the technique, despite having read every legible part of the book front to back. It seemed that whatever had caused the damage to the pages had managed to completely erase every mention of the technique’s true name.
It’s not like it matters what the name of the technique is. As long as the technique works, I’m fine, Eric told himself, setting aside his curiosity as he tried once more to propel the mana through his mana passages in the manner shown on the diagram. Constructing an Arcane Strike rune, Eric yelled in delight as the mana filled the rune, his first success since beginning his practice nearly an hour ago.
Now allowing the mana to dissipate, Eric began to manipulate the rune, changing the shape and the size of the rune as he controlled the mana using the new mana technique. This was a practice method that he’d been taught by Lucy, which involved creating various shapes and forms using mana. Losing control of the mana, Eric watched as the house he’d constructed shattered into motes of violet light. Closing his eyes, Eric reflected upon what he’d done wrong, analyzing his failure and doing his best to recall exactly what had happened the moment he’d lost control of the mana. Opening his eyes, Eric began the exercise once more, continuing the process of creation and reflection as he practiced his new mana technique. Below, the river flowed gently onwards, as the moonlight illuminated the figure of the young mage and his arcane creations.
Chapter 41
Without realizing it, time had passed. So focused was he on practicing his new mana technique, Eric hadn’t even noticed that the sun had risen, dyeing the fields below in a golden light which sparkled as it reflected off the river water. Eleanor had long since returned to Eric’s side, nestling herself in his hair as she watched him manipulate the arcane construct. Currently, Eric was engrossed in attempting to create a sword out of mana. While a standard rectangle or cube were fairly easy to create at his current level, the increased complexity that the edges and hilt of a sword provided were proving tough.
With an annoyed scowl, Eric watched as the mana structure collapsed once more, shards of violet disappearing into the morning light as his concentration wavered.
“You almost had it that time,” Eleanor remarked cheerfully.
Looking up, Eric smiled. Eleanor loved lying in his hair as they travelled, peeking out from underneath his hood as he adventured through Novanalba. He’d been so engrossed in his practice, that he hadn’t even noticed her settle into her favourite spot.
“And just how long have you been up there?” Eric demanded, injecting a tone of mock seriousness into his voice.
“A few hours. You’ve gotten a lot better. Two weeks ago, you couldn’t even make a square out of mana, and now here you are attempting to create actual objects,” Eleanor replied.
“Yeah, it turns out I can study... when the subject is as interesting as magic,” Eric remarked, more for his own benefit than Eleanor’s.
“Is it almost time to get going? You told Nelo- Er, Ryan, that you’d meet them after sunrise,” Eleanor said. She’d been doing her best recently to use his friends’ real names. Despite Eric telling her that it didn’t matter, she still tried her best to keep them all straight. Secretly, Eric thought it was adorable, although he’d never tell her.
“Is it past sunrise already?”
“Yup! The sun rose almost an hour ago. But you were doing so well that I didn’t want to interrupt you.”
“Damn,” Eric swore. “Well… It’s not like we agreed on when after sunrise we would meet.”
Rising to his feet, Eric placed the unnamed mana technique back in his storage. Unfortunately, the night hadn’t been long enough for him to bring his mastery over the new technique up to the same level as his original mana technique. It would seem he was going to have to rely on his old mana technique for the expedition. Stretching briefly, he set off from the hill, following the river back towards Vindammer Town. Instead of heading for the gate he’d left from a few hours previously, Eric headed for the opposite side of the town, making his way towards the eastern wall where the assault expedition force would be setting out from.
Eric’s eyes widened as he rounded the corner of Vidammer’s northern wall. Hundreds of adventurers were standing around on the open plain to the east of Vindammer, milling around aimlessly in small groups as they chatted and joked about the assault. In the m
iddle of the field, a makeshift platform had been constructed from wooden planks, hastily nailed together to allow three men to stand and observe the gathered militia.
Searching through the crowd, Eric hunted for his friends as he observed the militia members gathered. A few he recognized from the tournament, but the vast majority were new faces, which stared blankly at Eric as he passed by. Unable to find his friends, Eric found himself a place on the grass, sitting down to wait for the expedition to begin. Since the entire group had made it into the top thirty-two with the exception of Gio, he would simply meet them again once the elite platoon was formed, Eric reasoned. With an idle yawn, Eric began to practice his magic once more, constructing simple rune formations as he waited for the expedition to set off.
“Attention!” a roar shattered the still morning air. The gathered militia all ceased their current actions, swiveling their heads towards where the roar had originated from: the raised platform in the middle of the field.
“As you all know, I am Lord Alistair Crowsea. I shall be your commander for today’s assault on the goblin forward bases. As militia, it is our duty to protect our own homes and the homes of those who cannot protect themselves. If the goblin menace isn’t dealt with, then they shall continue to expand southwards. Goblins cannot live alongside civilized races - if they continue south then there will be casualties. These casualties could be your neighbour, your friends, your sister, or your mother.”