The Dive: Birth of a Hero
Page 31
That arm shattered, though the hand still flew towards me. Since I couldn’t fully evade, and merely could choose which hand grabbed me, I decided to go with the one not attached to a giant walking statue. As such, my body was sent flying back, while its fingers began closing in on me.
“Drain Magic!” I shouted out one of my spells at the last second, hoping I could cancel the golem’s control on the hand if I could take away the mana fueling it. Thankfully, the theory paid off, but not before the hand slammed me into a nearby tree.
You have been stunned for five seconds.
Dammit… As soon as the stun hit, all of my active spells were dismissed, aside from the library spell that reduced my mana by half. On the bright side, this meant my mana recovery shot up, but it also left me defenseless. I also wouldn’t have time to shift back into my demon form before it resumed attacking me.
Cynthia, still airborne after shattering the first arm, swung her hammer to continue the motion, using the momentum to allow her another strike against the second. That arm, likewise, shattered to pieces. Unlike the other, though, these pieces were restored almost instantly again. The arm I had drained returned to its original position, and was very slowly recovering.
By the time the five seconds passed, its arm was almost fully recovered, but that was fine. I had a plan this time. “Cynthia… keep it busy for a few moments..” After landing on the ground, she looked to me and gave a slight nod, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. Turning back to the golem, she charged at it again. Meanwhile, I began the chant for my spells.
“Mother of all things, that which rules the land, show your fearsome power and return this one to the eternal cycle. King of flames, he who rules the summer realm, bestow upon me your power. Let my enemies feel your wrath. Leaching Vines, Flame Pillar!” First, a swarm of vines shot from the nearby trees, adding to the restraints that the shadow net provided. Next, I brought my hands up together, shooting a three foot thick pillar of fire at the golem.
“Become… Lightning.” Normally, I would have simply cast the lightning spell. However, Flame Pillar has a larger area that it covers, so I chose to use it and switch it just before impact. As a result, a three foot thick lightning bolt tore through the golem’s chest, while Denise pelted its back with arrows and Cynthia was shattering its legs. Combined with Leaching Vines, which drains energy from the target to strengthen itself, we had finally prevented its regeneration.
“Okay… one more.” I smiled up to the golem, who was now missing both legs, one of its arms, and had a hole in its chest. Raising up my finger, I pointed straight towards the golem’s head. “Lightning bolt.” The previous three spells had already consumed most of my mana, since I was pouring extra into them to increase their power. With this, I used the last of my energy, to the degree that I drained a bit of health as well. However, the lightning bolt shot out and struck the golem right between its hollow eyes.
My high mana recovery kept me safe from passing out due to mana exhaustion, as I was at safe levels before I fell to my knees. The golem, however, seemed to be done for. After a few moments, I could hear its voice again. Very well. You have shown your strength. I shall accompany you for a time.
Of course, my mental response was along the lines of, I really hope this is worth it. However, I was indeed glad that we managed this without destroying the golem. Raising my hand, I called Shadespike back to myself, while dismissing my Leaching Vines. The shadow staff dropped into my shadow again, and the remains of the golem began shifting. Thinking I might have to fight it again, I kept my guard up to cast another spell.
The golem’s body gradually collapsed in on itself, until it once again formed the stone shaft it had become when it transformed. Cynthia, who appeared to have also been ready to smack it if it resisted again, let out a sigh, moving with a slight limp to recover the staff and throw it at me.
The throw landed a few feet short, but the staff rolled the rest of the way to me. I could hear its voice as I leaned over to pick it up. You have proven yourself worthy of wielding me, so now-- I really didn’t care to hear the end of that, and immediately threw the staff into the Artifact World.
You have defeated the Demon Soul staff, Stoneheart! By defeating a Demon Soul item, you are capable of wielding that item yourself. Demon Soul weapons cannot be traded, sold, or discarded.
Nature Magic has increased to 28
Nature Magic has increased to 29
Nature Magic has increased to 30
You have mastered Nature Magic! Due to mastering a school of magic, all spells in that school will gain experience at an increased rate, and Magical Talent has increased by 1 level.
Infernal Magic has increased to 30
You have mastered Infernal Magic! Due to mastering a school of magic, all spells in that school will gain experience at an increased rate, and Magical Talent has increased by 1 level.
Magical Talent has increased to 31
Arcane Staff has increased to 7
Runescript has increased to 11
Mana Recovery has increased to 16
Mana Pool has increased to 14
I chuckled weakly as the windows kept appearing, notifying me of the rapid advance in levels. Counting the bonuses from mastering magic schools, I gained eleven levels in that fight. Not to mention that the two new masteries, and increased Magical Talent should help me master spells faster. Deciding I should take a quick peek at my quest, I opened it up.
Path of the Archmage
You have completed the training for your first element. Upon hearing your desire to become a master of many forms of magic, your instructor has sent you on a task to do just that. To fulfill this quest, you must reach level 30 with three different fields of magic, and reach Master level with at least 10 spells in each.
Difficulty: B+
Reward: Large Fame bonus, prestige with Mage’s College.
Progress: Masteries - ⅔. Spells - Infernal: 2/10. Nature: 4/10
I still had a ways to go before I was ready for the title of Archmage, but having broken through level 300, I should be able to transform into a Rune Lord. Denise, mostly uninjured, hops down from her tree branch, and begins helping Cynthia over to me. “Caused quite a mess this time, didn’t you..”
I chuckled, coughing a bit. “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.” She smiled at me, while Dariel move over and began treating us.
“She’s right, Jin. You need to start thinking these things through. Just imagine what would have happened if it was a fire elemental you created, instead of an earth one?” The elf woman gave me a stern look, and I nodded.
“I know, sorry… I didn’t mean to put the city in danger. Hell, I didn’t even know it would do anything.” I gave out a sigh, once Dariel’s spells had performed enough that it didn’t feel like I was about to collapse. Glancing over to the others, I decided to have a quick look at our progress. Cynthia had put her hammer away, pulling out her shield to have it help her heal.
Name: Jin
Race: Human
Title: Mage, Emissary of the Underworld, Ritualist, Arcane Savant
Fame: 1670
Level: 302
Gild: ∞
Soul: 893
Health: 1050
Mana: 4389+850
Strength: 60
Agility: 200
Endurance: 200
Wisdom: 500+20
Intelligence: 690+20
Luck: 10
Attack: 10 + 52
Defense: 10 + 150
Talents: Magical Talent 31(+2), Magical Knowledge 28(+2), Navigation 8, Nature Magic 30, Summoning Magic 15, Runescript 11, Discovery 4, Divination 8, Enchanting 27, Infernal Magic 30, Arcane Marksman 8, Sailing 11, Mana Pool 14, Mana Recovery 16, Origin Magic 23, Axe Mastery 2, Carpentry 15, Staff Mastery 9, Arcane Staff 7, Aura 5
Title Bonuses: +2 Int/Wis, +400 Mana, +2 Magical Talent/Knowledge, +50% Mana Recovery
Equipment bonuses: +20 Int/Wis, +750 Mana, +50% Mana Recovery, Elemental Resis
tance +5%, Magic xp gain +15%
Name: Denise
Race: ???
Title: Innkeeper, Beastmaster, Undying
Fame: 30
Gild: ∞
Level: 302
Health: 1300
Mana: 0
Strength: 286
Agility: 755 + 264
Endurance: 250
Wisdom: 40
Intelligence: 30
Luck: 7
Attack: 175 + 584/203
Defense: 15 + 641
Talents: Archery 37, Reflex 35, Speed 35, Chef 6, Tracking 20, Light Armor 17, Taming 20(+4), Hawk Eyes 35, Swordsmanship 30, Sailing 10, Regeneration 17(+2), Shadow Walker 10(+2), Stealth 30
Title Bonus: +4 Taming, +2 Regeneration/Shadow Walker
Name: Cynthia
Race: Human
Title: Hard Worker
Fame: 40
Gild: ∞
Level: 262
Health: 3830 + 498
Mana: 0
Strength: 255+204
Agility: 200
Endurance: 756
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 30
Luck: 40
Attack: 10 + 487.5
Defense: 135+581(+143)
Talents: Swordsmanship 36, Shield 32, Heavy Armor 37, Hidden Strength 16, Hammer Mastery 37, Fortified Health 13, Blacksmith 20, Spear 30, Dual Wield 26, Guardian 15
Title Bonuses: +10 all stats, +20 Luck
Equipment Bonus: +20% Defense, +50% Health Recovery
I let myself smile, seeing the windows appear. Denise and Cynthia had made great strides in their powers, whereas I was still lacking due to my wide spread of skills. Likewise, Cynthia was almost caught up with us, which would help us out even more. The only part of my own information that I could be proud of was my mana pool and regeneration speed.
Once the three of us were fully healed, we made our way to our feet. Cynthia’s heavy armor was dented from the impact she received earlier, but she assured me that she could fix it herself. That just left the damage from our battle. Glancing around, I closed my eyes to focus, channeling my Sculpt Earth and Stone spell to smooth over the various cracks caused by the golem.
With that done, I turned my head towards Dariel. “You called it an elemental.. I thought it was simply a golem…?” Her wording had escaped my notice before, but now that the crisis was averted, I couldn’t help but ask.
“Hm? Yes, that looked like an elemental. Nature magic is capable of creating them, and the spells in your staff seemed to be of Nature magic.” She looked at me, as if the result was obvious.
“Ah… So, if I had used Infernal magic, a demon might have appeared… Okay, I have decided not to do that to my robe. It can be a normal infernal item, for all I care.”
Dariel let out a soft laugh, nodding her head. Looking to the others, I dismissed their summoning to give them a shortcut back to the village, since I doubted Dariel could carry all three of us at once. “How do you create elementals?” I looked back to the elf. I had heard about the concept in other games, but never this one to my knowledge.
“You simply grant life to an element with your magic. Typically, it is either fueled by the conjurer’s mana, or another force such as your staff. I’ve heard rumors that there are other elementals roaming the lands as well, as independent creatures.”
“And these elementals… are capable of manipulating their element without the need for spells, aren’t they?”
Dariel nodded to my question. “Of course. If a stone golem couldn’t move stone, then its body would be no different than a statue. Of course, that doesn’t mean that a wind elemental can summon storms, though a strong one might be able to work up a tornado.”
I let out a sigh, nodding. “I see. Well, let’s head on back. I’m ready to rest for a while after that.” I smiled slightly to Dariel, as she brought down a vine for us. “I really need to make a flight spell…”
“Couldn’t hurt.” She smirked, and then we were flying back up through the air to land on the same platform we had departed from. Denise and Cynthia were waiting, equally impatiently, for us when we arrived. They had both already dismissed their armor and weapons, though their faces still showed the recent signs of battle.
“So, now that we’ve fought a giant moving rock, mind explaining what happened properly?” Denise asked, with a touch of hostility. Cynthia simply stood next to her, nodding her head to agree with the demand for an explanation.
“Ah. Well, you know how bathing a magical item in hellfire can make it an infernal item?” Denise nodded slightly, but Cynthia didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. “I wanted to experiment to see what would happen if I threw Soulfire into the mix. The result was something called a Demon Soul item, though I think we need a better name for it. Apparently those items can manifest bodies, and since the staff I used had earth spells in it, it became an earth elemental.”
“And it decided to fight us, because…?”
“I think that those items won’t work for anyone that doesn’t prove their strength first. Like how normal infernal items won’t work for you if they don’t like you… except these take it out on you physically.” I sighed after explaining the situation.
Cynthia hesitated for a moment, opening her mouth and closing it before finally speaking. “So.. it’ll be okay, now?”
“Yeah. I also won’t be making another item like that for a while, and definitely not when we are near a city.”
Cynthia nodded, after hearing my answer. “O-okay.. good. That was pretty strong, wasn’t it?”
I smiled slightly, nodding. “I’d imagine that elemental should be about the same as a typical dungeon boss. With how much trouble we had against it, I don’t think we should challenge any dungeons for a while.” Denise started to pout when I said that, but ultimately agreed. I think her ego might have been bruised, since our first ‘boss fight’ since coming back was against a creature her arrows didn’t work against.
“Hey.. Jin. Can you make me some magic arrows? You know, like the kind you shoot when you make a bow.” She looked over to me, surprising me by asking for them, rather than demanding.
“Sure, though you won’t be able to make them like I did, but I could prepare a few for you in a bit.” I smiled to her, and she nodded her head sharply. I guess she realized that sometimes normal arrows just don’t cut it. Maybe she’ll be able to get the Arcane Marksman ability, too. Though she might need magic of her own to do that.
I decided, then, that if she eventually received the Magical Talent and Arcane Marksman talents, that I would train her in basic spellcasting. That way, she could make her own magic arrows, and use spell arrows whenever she wanted. “First, let’s all head back. I can make the arrows when we get back to Dariel’s place.” The others all seemed to agree with that sentiment, and we made our way towards the center of the clan’s village.
Chapter 22
For the next few hours, I was simply making a wide array of arrows, starting by using my Customize skill on what Denise already had. After leveling it up, the skill was able to alter the amount of identical items in a ‘stack’, allowing me to turn five arrows into fifty. Of course, this didn’t work when I tried increasing a stack of enchanted arrows, but there was a way around that as well, I believed.
My first instinct was to create an Origin spell that allowed me to replicate items. Given that I had to possess the item to replicate, it should be more flexible than my normal creation spells. At the same time, it would be simpler, because it did not need me to make corrections to it.
The three steps to the spell were Identification, Extraction, and Replication. The first stage, Identification, performed a scan of the item in question to use for the spell. The second, Extraction, took the mana needed to make however many copies I intended to make. And finally, using a mix of Origin magic and my Twin rune, the final step replicated the object down to the finest detail.
Once I had the spell written out and tested it, I
named it Create Copy, because I have a truly awe-inspiring naming sense. Of course, the plan didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped. My first attempt was to copy an arrow imbued with fire magic, however as the spell completed merely an ordinary arrow was created. Checking the spell description, it apparently can only copy engraved enchantments, since those activate when magic is pushed into them.
I had debated with the idea of creating a quiver that could enchant the arrows. For normal archers, that would even be an ideal solution. However, for Denise it was impossible. With how high her Agility and Archery skills are, there is a good chance that she would deplete the magic in a Mana Stone before it was able to replenish itself, simply because of how fast she would be firing arrows. That same logic is what had always stopped me from simply making her a quiver that produced its own arrows.