Chapter 28 - Backlash

  “Don’t you dare fall asleep!” Elaine yelled from somewhere nearby. “You stay awake until I tell you to stop!”

  “Yes ma’am,” Jack said groggily.

  “Don’t call me ma’am,” Elaine told him. “And cast your healing spell.”

  “Can’t… something is wrong with my Mana,” Jack said. “Nearly coughed up a lung last time I tried.”

  Elaine cursed. He heard Elaine frantically looking for something nearby. The next instant, his mouth was being pried open, and a bunch of leaves were shoved into him.

  “Eat them,” Elaine said. “They‘ll help.”

  Jack chewed on the leaves and could immediately feel them start to work. A small trickle of energy flowed into him, and the pain that was racking his body started to go away. A few more minutes of chewing and he was able to push himself up into a sitting position.

  “Better?” Elaine asked hesitantly.

  Jack nodded. “A little bit. Enough for now. What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Elaine said. “You disappeared with the Kerga and when we found you, you were quickly losing health, neither of us were able to get close to you for long with your spell still active. I got burned just trying to give you those verbena leaves.”

  “Was it something the Kerga did?” Jack asked deactivating his Blaze Ward. “I couldn’t cast. It hurt a lot, but I thought… well maybe my System Messages will have a clue. Are we safe?”

  Elaine nodded. “For now, but I think we are done for the day. I don’t want to run into another Apex until we had a chance to recover.”

  “So that was an Apex,” Jack said. “I think I rather fight the Wenduags. What should we do with the Kerga now?”

  “Well, after all that poison and fire, I don’t think there is anything left worth taking from it with our skills,” Elaine said. “Maybe just loot it and hope the items it drops are the undamaged versions?”

  “Suppose that’s better than nothing,” Jack said looting the body. “Such a waste though. Where’s Zyne?”

  “About that,” Elaine said as a small vine poked out over her shoulder.

  “You can join with others!” Jack tried to yell but it only caused him to go into another coughing fit, making Elaine look at him with concern.

  “I am very friendly,” Zyne said. “People love me. They always want to keep me close.”

  “I don’t remember that,” Elaine said. “I remember you trying to make it back to Jack but his spell kept you away and the next second you were here with me.”

  “Are we not close?” Zyne asked. “What’s the harm? Very compatible. You have nice blood.”

  “Get off me!” Elaine said shivering. She started pulling the Familiar out of her and onto the ground nearby. “I don’t know how you keep him with you all the time. It’s only been a few minutes, and I already feel anemic.”

  “I only took a tiny bit,” Zyne said.

  “Wait what?” Jack asked. “Are you constantly consuming my blood?”

  “Just a tiny bit,” Zyne said. “You agreed, we made a bond.”

  “We didn’t agree to how much,” Jack said seeing the error he had made now. “I thought it was just a small donation.”

  “It is small,” Zyne said. “But you can make so much. Selfish not to share.”

  “Is that why… that skill increase a little bit ago?” Jack asked. He tried to say the name of his Regenerate skill but was stopped by the censor once again.

  “See. Nothing but benefits when you have me,” Zyne said.

  Jack was torn. On one hand, he didn’t like that Zyne had been effectively using him as a constant meal, and on the other… passively increasing his Regenerate skill was not something to dismiss. That skill probably kept him alive through more situations than Jack realized including the recent one. He didn’t like the thought of having to train it the normal way, and Zyne had fought hard to protect Jack from the Kerga.

  “Well, I don’t know what skill you have,” Elaine said. “But I don’t have it, and I never made a bond with you.”

  “What’s a little blood between friends?” Zyne asked.

  “I think we need to set some ground rules,” Jack said. “The first one being, no hitching a ride on anyone without their direct permission.”

  “People love me!” Zyne repeated. “They always want me close. This is just Familiar abuse!”

  “The second one,” Jack continued. “You can’t be drinking my blood when I am fighting or recovering from any kind of injury. I need that skill to keep me alive or at least recover faster.”

  “Familiar Abuse!” Zyne exclaimed again.

  “For now,” Jack said, “that is, once I recover, you can continue to join with me like we have been. I’ll consider it training until we can come up with a better solution.”

  “But you recovered enough already?” Zyne asked pleadingly.

  “I’ll leave that to Elaine’s judgement,” Jack said. “Only if she thinks it’s fine.”

  “No!” Elaine said without hesitation.

  “Please,” Zyne asked. The vine looked almost sad, or at least as sad as vines can look without a face. “I get lonely.”

  “You can wait a few more hours,” Elaine said.

  “Hours!”

  “It will pass before you know it,” Jack said. “Should we head back or recover a bit first.”

  “Recover I think,” Elaine said. “Just in case we come across anything on the way back. Did you get anything interesting from the Kerga?”

  “About twenty pounds of meat, a bunch of leather, and a core,” Jack said, pulling some of the items out to inspect.

  *Kerga Leather: Uncommon (Special)*

  Aspects of Astral still clings to this leather.

  *Beast Core (Kerga)*

  Core formed from a Beast (Feline-Apex). Useful in crafting. Contains Aspects and Essences created from the creature’s experience.

  “They all look special, but I didn’t know you could get cores from animals,” Jack said handing Elaine the core. Elaine inspected the core for a moment before handing it back.

  “Some, if they reach a point where they make one,” Elaine said.

  “Daniel mentioned cores to me before,” Jack said, pulling out the first core he had found in the underground and comparing the two. The crystal core hadn’t finished forming and supposedly could be used in a few different ways. Side-by-side, the crystal core looked like a pale blue pebble next to the dark black sphere that was the Apex core.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yeah, they are often used in crafting,” Elaine said. “But you might be able to use the crystal core as something more than a reagent as it hasn’t finished forming yet. Probably the best we could have hoped for honestly.”

  “I guess almost dying has its advantages,” Jack said, dropping both back in his Storage.

  “Fighting powerful enemies has advantages,” Elaine corrected. “You don’t have to nearly die every time. Did you figure out what happened?”

  “Oh right, haven’t even checked yet,” Jack said, pulling up his System Messages. Jack browsed the slew of notifications and combat logs until he got to the ones he cared about.

  *Skill increased: Herbology (Novice)*

  Allowing yourself to be taught something properly once.

  -You have a greater chance of finding rare herbs. Guarantee learning a least one trait of a Common plant through consumption.

  “I been taught things properly before,” Jack complained.

  “What?” Elaine asked.

  “Nothing,” Jack said. “Just pretty sure the System doesn’t like me.” He moved on to the next few messages.

  *Level Up! Gatherer (Level 3)*

  +2 Perc.

  *Level Up! Gatherer (Level 4)*

  +2 Perc.

  *Level Up! Hunter (Level 3)*

  +1 Dex./Perc.

  ~*~

  *Level Up! Hunter (Level 5)*

  +1 Dex./Perc.

  *Skill gained: Tracking (Beginner)*

  Increase chance of finding and following the trace evidence of a creature over a short distance

  *Level Up! Courier (Level 3)*

  +1 Str./Con./Perc.

  *Spell increased: Barrier (Novice)*

  Your barrier now takes on the property of non-Newtonian fluid, becoming stronger as more forced is applied to it.

  *Skill increased: Parkour (Novice)*

  Your training and quick thinking allows you to anticipate changes in the environment easily. Increased speed when traveling. Decrease Stamina while using this skill.

  *Skill Upgrade: Imbued Strike (Novice) has changed to Piercing Strikes (Beginner)*

  You have practice hard on combining Stamina and Mana in all your attacks. Your physical attacks will now ignore a small percentage of armor. Adding Mana and Stamina into your attacks will increase this effect.

  *Skill increased: Analyze (Novice)*

  Improved ability to inspect more powerful objects and entities

  *Warning: Attempt to use skill Shadow Shifting failed*

  Creature Kerga has used skill Astral Lock on you. Teleportation skills below Student rank unusable while Astral Lock is in place.

  *Spell Increase: Mend (Novice)*

  Spell will now apply a short regenerative property on individual when used

  *Astral Lock has been removed from Jack*

  *Warning: Attempting to latch onto Kerga’s skill Shadow Shifting. Kerga’s skill is at a higher level than Jack Master’s understanding. Kerga’s skill invokes an Affinity Jack Master doesn’t have access to. Continuing to pursue this could result in a Mana Backlash.*

  *Latch successful.*

  *Skill Increase: Mana Manipulation (Student)*

  You can now sense remnants of Mana in use or used recently that you share an Affinity for. With training, you can even learn to track or manipulate this trace energy. You can now apply Elements you have Affinities for to spells.

  Current Affinities: Darkness, Fire

  *You are suffering from Mana Backlash.*

  Your Mana channels have suffered a blowback, and Mana will be unusable while Backlash is in effect.

  Time remaining: three minutes.

  *Warning: Health and Stamina are dangerously low*

  *You have killed Kerga*

  -Experience gained.

  *Level up! Akashic Champion (Level 7)*

  +1 Str./Dex./Con./Wis., +2 Int.

  ~*~

  *Level up! Akashic Champion (Level 9)

  +1 Str./Dex./Con./Wis., +2 Int.

  *Level up! Hunter (Level 6)*

  +1 Dex./Perc.

  *Level Up! Human (Level 10)*

  +2 unallocated.

  *Quest complete: Dedicated*

  Reward: Choose one of three options.

  -Weapon, Tool, Skill

  Jack looked over the quest. He didn’t think he would have completed that one so quickly. It had taken so long for him to get to level five before. To be level ten already was surprising.

  He glanced at the options available to him. He was happy with the spear he had and didn’t see a need to change it for another, and he had plenty of skills right now. The one area he was lacking in was equipment. He needed to start investing in those. With a thought, Jack selected the tool option, and a new item appeared in his Storage.

  *Tool gained: Multi-tool box*

  -A Toolbox containing an odd assortment of basic tools meant for multiple different crafting professions.

  *Quest gained: Halfway there*

  -Reach level 25 in all three; Race, Combat, and Profession class levels

  Reward: Upgrade of three chosen skills/spells

  The toolbox was nice, and he knew it would be helpful soon, but a little underwhelming. He was expecting something more than what you might get at a hardware store, but he had to remind himself that he hadn’t even opened it yet. He was about to close all the messages when he saw one more he almost missed.

  *You have reached the max race limit of current grade. Current race grade (G). Upgrade to the next race grade (F)?*

  Y/N?

  Warning: You will be unable to gain more race levels until upgrade is complete. Experienced gained will be banked to a limit of one level for twenty-four hours before lost.

  Jack closed his screens putting the last question on hold until he knew more. “Why does fighting result in so many increases to skills?” Jack asked Elaine.

  “There is a simple explanation for that,” Elaine said. She was still going over her own messages as she responded to Jack. “You are proving your ability in a practical way with real risks. Tough fights can also make you try to be more creative with your skills. There is probably more to it than that, but you will have to ask Jasper or Daniel about it.”

  Jack thought about that for a moment. “I suppose that makes sense,” Jack said. “I definitely learned something new in that fight though it almost killed me.”

  “What happened?”

  “The Kerga had the same skill I have,” Jack said. “Shadow Shifting. That’s how it was able to disappear like I do. I’m not sure how, maybe because I was literally in the beast’s jaw when it used it that last time, but I could sense it using the spell and somehow, I grabbed onto it, or rather the Mana for the spell, and followed it as it teleported.”

  “That doesn’t sound like it would kill you though,” Elaine said.

  “That part didn’t,” Jack said. “It even improved my Mana Manipulation skill, but I guess the version of the skill the Kerga used was both stronger and invoked an Affinity that I don’t have, which was the issue, and I suffered a Mana backlash as a result. What exactly is Astral Affinity anyways?”

  Elaine shrugged. “No clue,” she said. “I only have Darkness and Air Affinity. Never heard of any but the basic ones. At least it worked. Most of the time when you try to do something like that, it fails, and you are still hit with the backlash.”

  “I’m not complaining,” Jack said. “But what even is a Mana backlash?”

  “I only had it happen to me once while I was training,” Elaine said. “All I know is that they tend to happen if you try to overreach before you are ready for it. Or use spells in a way that they aren’t meant to be used for.”

  “Like what?” Jack asked a little worried. He had used most of his spells in ways they weren’t designed for but had never had this happen.

  “Like casting a mind reading spell on a rock,” Elaine said. “They have no mind, and thus nowhere for the Mana to go so it rebounds back on you. That is one example, but I heard it can also happen if you try to cast a spell you don’t have the Mana to cast, among other things.”

  “Like what?“

  “I’m not really sure,” Elaine said. “I think altering a spell a little is fine, so long as you aren’t trying to make it do something that goes against what it was ever intended to be used for. Like trying to alter a spell that makes ice into something that creates a fire instead. Something like that. I would just be careful. It’s not something you want to deal with in a fight.”

  “Case and point,” Jack sighed, laying back down on the dirt. “On a different subject, you ever hear about a race limit?”

  “You made it to level ten?” Elaine asked.

  Jack nodded. “You’ve seen this before?”

  “Yeah,” Elaine said. “I hit level ten in the tunnels. I’d recommend not doing the upgrade until we are back with the others, but it is only a small upgrade for this first one. I hear the one at level fifty is much bigger. But you should still get a trait improvement from it. Victor got one that allowed him to go without eating for long periods of time. Teresa got one that allows her to refill her Stamina once a day in an emergency. Daniel got one that reduces the strain channeling large amounts of Mana has on him.”

  “I didn’t even know we have race grades,” Jack muttered. “Seems like every time I start to get the hang of something, new things just keep coming up.”

  “Just means we are getting stronger,” Elaine said. “There is a setting in your System Window if you wish to see it all the time.”

  Jack didn’t bother looking for it. It didn’t matter to him, and he was certain the System would let him know when he got to the next one. Instead, he asked, “What trait did you get?”

  “I got a trait that lets me better consume and process raw ingredients,” Elaine said. “Now some raw ingredients are on the same level as if I had consumed a potion. It also lets me recover faster from potion toxicity so I can drink more.”

  “Neat,” Jack said.

  Elaine was done looking over her menu now and had laid down next to Jack. “You know, the jungle is almost peaceful when it’s like this.”

  “You mean when giant cats aren’t trying to eat us?” Jack asked.

  “Or when we aren’t running away from giant four-arm gorillas,” Elaine said.

  “Let’s not forget the giant snakes,” Jack said.

  “Can’t forget those,” Elaine laughed. “Still, it is nice when we have these moments.”

  “Is this a moment?” Zyne piped in. “I’ve heard about those. This is the moment we hug, right?”

  Elaine sighed.