Advent (Red Mage Book 1)

by Xander Boyce

  Drew blinked, every single one of his widespread quality xatherite had leveled up to the point that they could be upgraded off that fight, except for blink step, which had at least finally attuned. Those higher grade and higher rarity xatherite certainly took a long time to attune and level up, which didn’t give him a lot of hope for attuning aeon or stricto mentis clypeus soon. He assumed they were so far beyond the rarity level of anything he’d encountered on Earth that they weren’t going to attune for years.

  Which was fine... He wasn’t sure what exactly aeon had done to him during that fight, but he wasn’t eager to activate it again. As he looked at his grid, he realized that aeon had changed. It was now called, aeon - retribution, but the description had remained the same. He mentally put it aside; hopefully, he could get some more answers from Ares, since it sounded like he was going to be nearby, and Themis could always just pull him there in his sleep.

  Having learned his lesson from the first few upgrades, Drew upgraded one at a time. Upgrading fireball, then lightning bolt, and then mana shield. His head started to pound after mana shield, so he took a break while he waited for the other guards to rouse.

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Major Fireball

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Rare

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Convert mana into a high energy blast of fire that will travel in a straight line until exploding, causing ample fire damage in a 3m radius around the blast.

  Mana recharge time: 10.5 seconds.

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Lightning Bolt

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Intermediate

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a bolt of electricity from any body part to a target no more than 15m away. Deals moderate lightning damage and stuns the target for 4 seconds.

  Mana recharge time: 4.2 seconds

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Mana Shield

  Xatherite Color: Yellow

  Xatherite Grade: Common

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a shield of mana around the caster. This shield will absorb significant amounts of energy and kinetic damage. It also creates a slowing effect around the caster.

  Mana recharge time: 4 minutes, 1.5 seconds

  Both of his attack spells got significant upgrades: fireball was now up to a six-meter explosion, which made it next to worthless anytime anything was close but would work even better at killing things far away. It had also gotten a damage adjective upgrade, from major to ample. Lightning bolts stun had doubled in duration from two to four seconds and had also gotten a damage upgrade, which gave him an even more potent close-range attack spell. Mana shield had its cooldown reduced, and the amount absorbed had increased.

  All three were significant damage upgrades, although he wished he could have upgraded cone of cold too since frostfire ball hadn’t upgraded to the major version of it yet. He suspected it would do so as soon as he advanced the other xatherite. That done, he looked around. Trey still wasn’t back with the other guards, but the pounding in Drew’s head from the upgrading was annoying him. The cooldown on refreshing rain was only a minute and a half, so he cast it on the group around him, enjoying the effects of the spell’s rejuvenating rain.

  “So, any of the scavengers look good to eat?” Drew asked, taking another bite from his can of chili.

  Everyone laughed. “No, but a couple people have been wanting to give it a try. If any of them had dropped meat when Daryl melted them, we would probably have already had a barbeque.” JP said with a grin.

  “Well, glad Daryl is here to let us know what is and isn’t edible I guess.” Drew wondered silently how much if any of Daryl’s vegetarian status affected the desired outcome of his necro alchemy spell. He would make a note to have someone try to harvest and cook the meat the normal way next time they killed something that wasn’t able to talk.

  Daryl showed up on the edge of his aura vision and he had to stop himself from reflexively casting a lightning bolt at him. When he passed the rain’s edge he turned himself visible, “Drew! You’re awake!” He ran towards the other man and gave him a big hug. Much to Drew’s surprise, he felt Daryl slip something in his pocket and heard his mental voice in his head, “Look at it later.”

  “Hey buddy, sounds like you missed me,” Drew said, not sure how to respond to the covert action. So, he just went with the obvious response to the physical interaction.

  “Well, you haven’t rescued my wife yet, and we had a deal,” Daryl said, stepping back and letting all levity fall from his face. “But I have good news on that front. I just got back from the tunnel they dug out into the housing area. Got a look through the door, just a couple guards, and those that were there were distracted. I think it’s pretty much a straight shot from there to where they’re keeping the prisoners.”

  “Did you see her?” Sarah asked, concern tingeing her voice.

  “No, but I did see some others; they have them doing some sort of excavation, I think. They were mostly ferrying dirt, but I couldn’t get super close,” Daryl answered her with a shrug. “I watched for about twenty minutes. There were only four trolls, so we should be able to take them out easily.”

  Trey had come back while Daryl was giving his side of the story. He was accompanied by Robbi, a woman in her early twenties that Drew had never seen smile, and another man in his mid-thirties. “Well, when are we going to hit them?” the woman asked, her hand resting on the hilt of the pistol on her hip.

  “Soon. Let me just get a refreshing rain on people and then we need to figure out who goes in and who stays out to protect our people,” Drew said.

  Sarah stepped in, “Drew, this is Sargent Trista Stirling and DC1 Brady Cooke,” she said, supplying him with the new recruit’s names. “Trista got an ability that allows her to create a line of fire behind any bullet she shoots. Brady’s red is called penetrating shot and is supposed to bypass armor and other defenses. We’re hoping it also deals magical damage to the trolls, but we have no way of really testing that.”

  Robbi had pulled out a wicked looking red katana that he imagined was the blood blade he’d been told about earlier. “Does that cut trolls?” he asked the former cop.

  “Yup, it’s cut just about everything we’ve put it against thus far. Takes a few swings to really do any damage to metal though,” Robbi answered, holding the blade up for Drew to see.

  “That’s awesome; you trained with a sword?” Drew asked.

  “Took a couple of years of Kendo.”

  “Yeah, I did some fencing when I was younger. Hopefully, you’re better at Kendo than I was at that. You gonna be okay going against a troll head on?”

  Robbi just nodded his head and his face grew grim. “Yeah, can’t let you and JP have all the fun.”

  “What did you get, Trey?”

  “It’s called Shatter Shot; it turns every bullet into a shotgun with the spread starting wherever I choose. We’re also pretty sure it doesn’t work on trolls. I shot a few of them before Daryl melted ‘em, and it didn’t seem to do any damage.”

  Drew looked at the group and considered. JP, Robbi, Trista, and himself were the only ones confirmed to be able to hurt the trolls. Trey was out, and Brady was a maybe.

  “Alright. Daryl, Trista, Sarah, Robbi, and I will head down the tunnel. JP, Trey, Katie, and Brady, you guys stay up here and watch the front door. Don’t want them taking all of our people from behind.” He could tell Katie and JP were unhappy about being left behind, but he couldn’t leave everyone here undefended, and JP had the second most firepower of anyone. “Let’s make sure we’ve got ammo and I’ll cast refreshing rain on everyone a couple times before we go.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight — Tunnel

  It ended up being closer to an hour before everyone was ready to go. Daryl came back from his scouting mission about midwa
y through their preparation. Refreshing rain had taken the edge off his headache from the upgrades, and with two castings of energize he had plenty of time to upgrade the rest of his xatherite.

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Acid Arrow

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Common

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates two fast moving balls of acid from a finger that travels in a straight line until it impacts a target, dealing moderate amounts of acid damage.

  Mana recharge time: 16.1 seconds

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Dancing Sword

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Intermediate

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a mana construct of a sword that lasts for 60 seconds. The sword will move on its own and attack any target designated for the duration of the attack.

  Mana recharge time: 1 minute, 45 seconds

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Energize

  Xatherite Color: Orange

  Xatherite Grade: Intermediate

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Infuses mana into the target to reduce fatigue and lactic acid buildup. Improves the target’s natural healing by 4x normal for 24 hours.

  Mana recharge time: 20 minutes, 39 seconds

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Greater Cone of Frost

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Rare

  Xatehrite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a cone of cold energy which causes high amounts of freezing damage, originating from any part of your body. Has a chance to partially enclose the target in ice, slowing them down considerably. Cone will extend 6 meters and has an arc of pi/4.

  Mana recharge time: 16.8 seconds

  Upgrading those four had created a cascade of additional upgrades as the linked skills associated with them finally upgraded as well.

  Linked Skill Name: Bladeshield

  Xatherite Color(s): Red, Yellow

  Linked Skill Grade: Intermediate

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a barrier of blades around the caster. This barrier will parry 5 melee attacks before disappearing.

  Mana recharge time: 4 minutes 33 seconds

  Linked Skill Name: Cone of Frostfire

  Xatherite Color(s): Red

  Linked Skill Grade: Rare

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates a cone of frostfire, which causes significant frostfire damage, originating from any part of your body. Has a chance to partially enclose the target in burning ice, slowing them down considerably. Cone will extend 6 meters and has an arc of pi/4.

  Mana recharge time: 21 seconds

  Linked Skill Name: Frostfire Ball

  Xatherite Color(s): Red

  Linked Skill Grade: Rare

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Convert mana into a high energy blast of frostfire that will travel in a straight line until exploding, causing major frostfire damage in a 1.5m radius around the blast.

  Mana recharge time: 13.1 seconds

  Linked Skill Name: Refreshing Rain

  Xatherite Color(s): Red, Orange

  Linked Skill Grade: Intermediate

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Create a localized storm around a target. The storm will have a radius of 10m and will infuse mana into all creatures within its radius, reducing fatigue and lactic acid buildup doubles the natural healing of anyone who stands in the rain for at least five seconds.

  Mana recharge time: 1 minute 45 seconds

  Linked Skill Name: Shocking Acid Arrow

  Xatherite Color(s): Red

  Linked Skill Grade: Intermediate

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Creates two fast moving balls of acid from a finger that travels in a straight line until it impacts a target, dealing moderate amounts of acid damage. Upon contact, each ball will impart a moderate amount of electrical damage.

  Mana recharge time: 16.1 seconds

  There were some important upgrades in all that. Acid arrow got a damage upgrade, putting it at the same damage level as lightning bolt. It could probably one shot a troll if he sent both darts at a single target now. The linked skill version of it also got the upgraded damage, making it able to kill a troll with each dart. Energize’s healing doubled, making it four times normal, and refreshing rain had also acquired the healing qualities of energize.

  Dancing blade’s duration had increased from 30 seconds to a full minute. It might be worth casting at this point. The real benefit of dancing blade’s upgrade was the extra two melee hits it gave the new bladeshield before he took damage. Cone of frost’s length changed from four meters to six, giving him an extra two meters of effect while also improving its damage. This, of course, meant that the linked skill had received similar updates.

  That seemed to be all the changes, and he took the time to recast all his buffs to make sure the upgraded versions were active. Daryl had followed the tunnel until he got to a door at the end. The tunnel itself seemed to have been magically constructed. It was a mostly oval shape, wide enough for three people to walk side by side comfortably. The entire thing was perfectly smooth, clearly created by some xatherite skill.

  Just shy of an hour after Drew had named the team members, they left the temporary shelter. JP oversaw the combatants left behind, but Bill was in overall command. If the rescue team didn’t get back before the storm, they were to set off for the stadium as soon as daylight came. That gave the rescue roughly eighteen hours to find and bring everyone back. The major delay had been to allow Min Sun enough time to sew pockets on everyone’s armor. Everyone but Drew was carrying a pistol, at least five spare magazines, two glowrocks, two glow rods, and enough food and water to last three days. Drew carried everything but the gun paraphernalia, while he and Sarah both had included a small first-aid kit among their belongings.

  Daryl left first. The scout invisible as he nearly always was to ensure the route was still clear, but the other four members of the party hesitated. Drew and Sarah were hesitant to separate from Katie again. The two girls gave each other a hug and exchanged a few words that Drew tried not to listen in on. When it was Drew’s turn to say goodbye, he gave Katie a hug. Aware of the fact that at least a dozen people were watching them, neither did anything beyond that.

  “I’ll be right back. Just got to run a few errands,” Drew whispered into Katie’s ear, and she snorted into his chest.

  “Sure, I’ve heard that before. You’re gonna go down to the pub and shoot a round or two with the boys. And I’m gonna have to drag your drunk ass home past midnight,” She said. Her voice was brittle, like a hint of wind would break it.

  “You know, I don’t actually drink.”

  She pulled away from him and raised an eyebrow, “Did I really get saddled with some sort of religious freak?”

  Drew laughed, “Well, sort of. I was raised Mormon, even did a mission.”

  Katie raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’ll have to come back and tell me that story.”

  “You got yourself a deal,” Drew said, swallowing down the fear that threatened to break his voice. They were going back into the darkness. True, he wasn’t alone in this anymore. But he shuddered involuntarily at the thought of a massive spider queen, and the phantom pain of injuries she had given him.

  “Alright, go play hero. I’ll mind the kids.”

  Drew nodded, not quite able to laugh just yet. “Alright,” he said softly. Then he looked around at the rescue team. Putting a hand in the air, he did the ‘spin up’ motion with his finger. “Let’s roll out.”

  JP, Robbi, and Trista had been talking off to one side. The two cops gave each other a bro-hug before the three of them separated, with JP staying behind. He looked over at Drew and made eye contact. They both shared a nod. And then Drew turned away from the group, heading out towards the northwest w
here Daryl had found the entrance of the tunnels.

  Forcing himself not to look back, Drew walked about fifty feet away from the entrance before he couldn’t take it. He looked back. JP and Katie were still standing near the entrance, while most of the rest of the group had turned back into the camp. He raised a single hand to wave and Katie returned the gesture. JP gave him a salute. Drew compressed his lips into the closest thing he could make of a smile and nodded his head again.

  The rest of the trip to the tunnel entrance passed in uncomfortable silence. Everyone dealing with their nerves in their own way. Drew saw a few larger animals, mostly more of those horned rabbits and squirrels, although a crow that looked more like an eagle cawed at them from its perch on a tree as they passed. None of the animals seemed interested in trying to attack though, allowing them to approach the tunnel’s entrance without incident.

  “Almost there, the tunnel is still clear.” Daryl’s voice appeared in his head, and he relayed the message to the rest of the team.

  “Alright, weapons ready starting now,” Robbi said, pausing at the tunnel entrance. He had a lot more recent experience fighting in enclosed space than Drew. He was also taking point as the only melee fighter of their group. Daryl was ahead of them, at least Drew assumed he was, but the scout was too far away for his aura to be visible. Drew was next in line, positioned where he would be able to bring the most firepower to bear. Sarah came next, and Trista held the rear. Everyone uncovered the glowrock that Min Sun had mounted on their left shoulders. She had created a small lip so that the light wasn’t shining directly into their eyes, but it was still a less than ideal situation.

  Sarah’s spear was held in both hands, her knuckles white from the grip already, while Trista had a Sig P226 held in a double grip. The xatherite she had acquired was more important than any impact the caliber would have imparted. Robbi’s red sword glinted strangely in the light, sending ominous red shadows playing across the walls of the tunnel. Drew frowned. He was almost positive the blade had been a katana before, but it was now a more traditional longsword. Drew wiped the sweat from his empty hands on his pants.