After donning his new equipment, Finn decided to check his stats. It was at that point that he realized he hadn’t checked his notifications in days – not since the final competition among the A-Listers and his encounter with Lamia.
Shit. Could I have used the extra stat points during those last few duels?
He sighed in relief as his log confirmed that most of the experience and skill increases had actually come from fighting Lamia and her gang and his training after the competition. Apparently, he wasn’t a complete moron. Although, to his credit, it had been a rather grueling last few days, and he’d had a lot on his mind.
The answer was definitely not that he was going senile… Maybe.
Re-enabling his system notifications, Finn was met with a barrage of notices.
x9 Level Up!
You have (45) undistributed stat points.
x1 Spell Rank Up: Magma Armor
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 4
Cost: 105 Mana
Effect 1: Creates a damage shield capable of absorbing 360 damage (180 damage if water/ice).
Effect 2: Damage absorption increased by INT x 40%.
Channel Effect: Repairs the shield at a rate of 70 damage/second at a mana cost of 25 mana/second.
x2 Spell Rank Up: Fireball
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 2
Cost: 150 Mana
Effect 1: Creates a ball of flame that deals 240 + (INT x 50%) damage.
Effect 2: Allows the caster to charge the Fireball, increasing the damage and explosion radius by 20% and mana cost by 50% per charge level. Max charge level of [2].
Channel Effect: Controls the Fireball within your control range at a cost of 17.5 mana/sec.
x3 Spell Rank Up: Imbue Fire
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 3
Cost: 200 Mana
Effect 1: Imbues a weapon with fire mana, increasing the weapon’s base damage by INT x 11%. Can only be used on unenchanted metal weapons.
Effect 2: While channeling, allows the caster to increase the heat in ranks, up to a current max heat rank of [3]. Each heat rank increases damage by INT x 5% while increasing the channel cost by 50%.
Channel Effect: Allows user to control the weapon within his control range at a cost of 26 mana/sec.
x2 Skill Rank Up: Learning
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 3
Effect 1: 18% increased learning speed for skills and spells.
Effect 2: 2% increased experience gain.
x1 Skill Rank Up: Concentration
Skill Level: Beginner Level 10
Effect: Ability to split your focus between [2] tasks.
x2 Skill Rank Up: Multi-Casting
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 3
Effect 1: -44.0% casting speed on the second spell.
Effect 2: -13% reduced channeling cost.
x3 Skill Rank Up: Toughness
Skill Level: Beginner Level 9
Effect: 5% reduced damage and increased pain tolerance.
It took Finn a while to fully digest all the changes.
The most important takeaway was that he had hit Intermediate Level 1 in both Fireball and Imbue Fire, which had unlocked a second effect for each spell.
For his Fireball, it appeared he could now charge the bolt, increasing its damage and explosive radius at the cost of more mana. He’d have to run some tests to determine how long it took to obtain each charge level. Even a few seconds could cost him during a fight, and the mounting mana and channel costs could really start to add up in terms of draining his total mana pool. To be honest, he found the increase a touch underwhelming. There were few use cases where he’d prefer to cast a Fireball over channeling another blade. It was almost always better to have 100% uptime on his spells rather than have to recast Fireball.
More intriguing was the new effect for Imbue Fire.
A 5% damage increase didn’t seem worth the massive increase in the channel cost. At only heat rank level 3, the channel cost would be 65 mana/second for a single blade, but he would only gain 15% of his Intelligence as damage. That didn’t really seem worth it.
Putting that aside, what exactly was a “heat rank?” His thoughts returned to the traumatic scene he had just witnessed. Finn’s default Imbue Fire wasn’t hot enough to melt normal metal. At least, it had never been an issue with his knives. Had that been what the fire mage used to melt down those small metal bars – ratcheting up the heat rank on Imbue Fire? That seemed plausible, although he wasn’t exactly certain how he could use that in combat. Assuming he found a free moment, he would need to experiment with this new mode. Maybe there was a possible use case he hadn’t considered yet.
That left him with 45 stat points to distribute. Finn grimaced as he tried to decide what to do with them. His mana regen was sitting at 47.75/second, which meant he was only losing a small amount of mana while channeling two daggers – which cost 52 mana/second assuming zero heat ranks. That was probably good enough for now.
In contrast, his Dexterity, Endurance, and Vitality were also all still below 100. There was some room for improvement there, and the gains from physical training had already started to dwindle. Not only that, but Finn doubted he would be given extensive time to train during this next leg of the competition.
Making an abrupt decision, he dumped 30 points into Vitality, 4 points to Dexterity, and 7 points to Endurance to bring them all to 100. Then he allocated his remaining 4 points to Intelligence.
Once he was done, he brought up his Character Status to review his current progress.
Character Status
Name:
Finn
Gender:
Male
Level:
66
Class:
Fire Mage
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Lawful-Neutral
Fame:
1800
Infamy:
0
Health:
1325
H-Regen/Sec:
4.80
Mana:
2170
M-Regen/Sec:
48.35
Stamina
1325
S-Regen/Sec:
10.00
Strength:
47
Dexterity:
100
Vitality:
100
Endurance:
100
Intelligence:
319
Willpower:
30
Affinities
Dark:
2%
Light:
8%
Fire:
43%
Water:
5%
Air:
3%
Earth:
10%
He didn’t have a great frame of reference, but Finn felt like his stats were respectable. He was reasonably limber, fast, and could take a hit, but had the raw mana and regen to keep his daggers up and slicing. His Intelligence had also reached a point where the scaling on spells like his Imbue Fire and Magma Armor had begun to make an appreciable difference. For example, his Magma Armor could now absorb nearly 500 damage.
Now there was only one more item to check.
Finn’s eyes turned to the book that Abbad had handed him, the edge sticking out of his bag where it rested on the floor nearby. While he was irritated that the librarian hadn’t given him a new spellbook, he was curious to investigate its contents. What sort of information did Abbad feel was more important or useful than new spells?
Just as Finn’s fingers touched the cover, the stone blocking the doorway beside him abruptly crumbled and dissolved, breaking away into a glob of liquid rock that was swiftly reabsorbed into the floor.
As soon as the barrier disappeared, a crowd of mages, many robed in varying shades of green, drifted out of the classroom, chatting with each other animatedly. At the tail of the group, Kyyle’s face emerged, the young man swiping at the
air distractedly as he stepped out of the classroom – likely reviewing and updating his notes.
In contrast to Finn and Julia’s pragmatic and tight-fitting clothing, the earth mage had opted for more traditional magical attire. Kyyle had focused on loose robes, and he had a full-fledged staff slung over his back. Although, Finn supposed that made sense, especially after having fought the earth mage. Kyyle’s specialty was environmental control, which meant he needed more mana and the ability to use the staff to maintain a channel. He also cared less about staying limber since he could fortify his position.
Finn stared at the tome mournfully before stowing it back in his pack and shouldering his bag. He badly wanted to read the book, but he was under a deadline.
“Hey, Kyyle,” Finn greeted the young man.
The earth mage’s eyes shot to Finn, a confused expression drifting across his face before he suddenly realized who was addressing him. “Sorry, it took me a second to recognize you without that cloth sack you’ve been wearing. Where’d you get the fancy new gear?” he asked, plucking at the fabric of Finn’s new robes.
“Killed a man and stole his stuff,” Julia quipped, popping up beside Finn as she dropped from Sneak. Kyyle glanced at her in surprise.
“Oh? Uh, well… that’s interesting,” he offered hesitantly.
The young man looked tongue-tied, but Finn wasn’t sure if that was because Kyyle was trying to decide if they had really killed another student and stolen their gear or if it was Julia’s presence that was throwing him off. His teasing aside, Finn was starting to wonder if Kyyle was the best choice for this tournament. The last thing he needed to deal with was relationship drama in the middle of some three-way deathmatch.
On the other hand, who else would be crazy enough to join them?
“She’s just messing with you,” Finn offered, which earned him a snort from Julia. “Abbad spent the rest of my points to buy some new gear from Charlotte. We didn’t have time to go shopping ourselves. Speaking of which… that’s actually why we’re here.”
Kyyle’s eyes snapped to Finn. “It’s time, isn’t it? You’re leaving for the next part of the Emir’s competition?”
“Yeah,” Finn replied with a nod. He paused for a moment as he considered how to frame this next part. He wasn’t sure how to convince Kyyle to go with him – especially if Abbad was threatening to purge their mana if they failed.
“So Abbad told me that I can bring two teammates who are journeyman rank or lower for the next stage of this competition. Julia was an obvious choice,” Finn began, glancing at his daughter, who raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “And we were actually wondering if you wanted to come with us. No pressure if you don’t—”
“Of course!” Kyyle replied with an excited smile, interrupting Finn. “When do we leave?”
He glanced at the in-game clock, noting that they didn’t have long before they needed to meet the librarian. “Actually, we have about half an hour to meet Abbad in the courtyard.”
Kyyle nodded quickly. “More than enough time for me to grab what I need and stop by the Requisition Hall.” The earth mage started muttering to himself, swiping at the air and tapping at a console Finn couldn’t see. Finn could only assume he was making yet another list – because of course he was.
“Are you sure?” Finn asked, holding up a hand to stay the young man’s enthusiasm. “We don’t know what this is going to entail, and Abbad was clear that failure is going to be punished severely. I imagine that extends to my teammates.”
“What he’s trying to say is that you’re probably going to die horribly and then get your mana purged when we fail,” Julia drawled, trying to assume a casual demeanor. Yet Finn had spent enough time with her to see the way she was watching Kyyle carefully out of the corner of her eye.
“Now that I think about it, why am I doing this again?” she asked Finn. “Maybe I should ask for a raise.”
“I’m not paying you,” Finn snapped.
“Maybe I should ask for a salary then,” she amended with a grin.
“Or how about you do it out of the kindness of your heart because I raised your ungrateful ass, and you suckered me into playing this game?” Finn retorted, shooting her a mock glare.
“Well, when you put it that way…”
Finn just shook his head, turning back to Kyyle. “Anyway, I’d understand if you want to stay here.”
Yet Kyyle didn’t seem fazed in the least, his eyes blazing with excitement. “Are you kidding? Where you go, chaos seems to follow. I want front-row seats to watch the blaze!”
The young earth mage’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Finn found himself matching his smile. Despite his own concerns and reservations – as well as the very real stakes that now surrounded this “competition” – Finn had to admit that he was intrigued to discover what came next. His fire mana responded to that excited curiosity, simmering in his veins, and urging him to keep pressing forward.
“Alright, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Finn grumbled. He eyed both Kyyle and Julia, unable to miss the way they avoided looking at each other directly. He just hoped he didn’t live to regret this decision.
Although, that could be a problem for future Finn…
“Well, let’s get going. We’re burning daylight!”
Chapter 5 - Wary
Only thirty minutes later, Finn and Kyyle arrived at the courtyard. Julia had disappeared somewhere to make her own mysterious preparations. Finn was surprised to find not only Abbad but a large entourage of heavily armed guards and mages waiting for them. A quick headcount revealed that there were more than twenty people waiting with the librarian, the group drawing attention and curious murmurs from the students that paced the nearby halls and terraces.
“That’s a lot of firepower. Are they here to protect us or prevent us from making a run for it?” Kyyle muttered under his breath, sharing a look with Finn.
“Maybe both,” Finn replied quietly. As with everything the mages did, he doubted there was a single objective. But Kyyle did raise a good question. It didn’t hurt to get a sense of what they were getting themselves into.
“What’s all this?” Finn asked as he approached Abbad.
The librarian met Finn’s eyes, arching a single eyebrow, before turning his attention back to their entourage. “Protection,” he replied curtly. “The infighting you experienced among the mages pales in comparison to the conflicts between the guilds. While the Emir is usually able to keep the hostilities at a manageable level, this competition represents much more than a mere trade dispute.”
“Are you suggesting that the other guilds might attack us within Lahab?” Kyyle asked in an incredulous voice. “Wouldn’t that be rather… obvious?”
Abbad appraised the earth mage for a moment. “There are certainly ways of concealing the origin or source of an attack. I am suggesting that we exercise caution. A wise man hopes for the best but prepares for the worst.”
“Or woman,” Julia quipped as she approached.
Finn did a double take as he took in her appearance. Julia had given up her ruse, shedding the mage-like robes she had stolen from the novices. Instead, she was wearing form-fitting sand-colored leathers that covered nearly every inch of skin, yet still accentuated the wiry muscle underneath. Without the hood, her familiar piercing brown eyes were revealed, and he could see that her hair was cropped short, barely cresting her shoulders.
The blades strapped beneath each of Julia’s forearms captured Finn’s attention. There were more weapons sheathed at her waist, across her chest, along her thighs… he soon lost count. The woman was a walking armory. More than that, the combined weight of those weapons must have been considerable. And yet, she seemed completely unaffected.
Has she been carrying that this whole time? he wondered. Finn realized that as long as they had been working together, he had never seen Julia drop her disguise. Not for the first time, he wondered how she had acquired her skills and training. However, this likely wasn’t
the time to pose those questions – not with an audience anyway.
Kyyle was staring wide-eyed at Julia, and Finn kicked at the young man’s shin. The earth mage glanced at him in surprise, his cheeks flushing slightly.
“Or woman,” Abbad conceded, nodding toward Julia. His eyes scanned Finn and his companions. “Regardless of our guild’s protections, you should be careful from this point forward. The other guilds and their champions are your enemies. And there may also be independent third parties that have a stake in this competition. Many are displeased to see a traveler vying for control of their homeland.
“The residents of this world live here. You are just visiting. Remember that.”
Finn and his companions nodded, although he noted the look of concern on their faces. The librarian made it sound like the entire city was arrayed against them.
Abbad glanced at the sun, noting the time. “If there is nothing else, let us depart. We do not want to keep the Emir waiting.”
With that, the librarian gestured at the guards and mages, and they broke into formation, encircling Finn and his companions and heading south toward the massive hallway that spanned the entrance to the mage guild. As they entered the hall, they were met by a horde of students, but the guards parted the sea of bodies with military precision.
Finn could feel the eyes and hear the hushed voices of the other mages as they passed, their focus trained on Finn and his teammates.
“Champion… Finn… Companions…”
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