Alicia cast her support magic as Kai started knocking down trees like they were nothing to him; sure, it was something someone at a higher level could do without thinking, but Kai was only level four.
She watched as both his mana and stamina ticked down with each infused strike, his new skill working to make each swing of his axe hit harder and cut cleaner, allowing him to take down even some of the thicker trees with ease.
It wasn’t at all surprising to see Kai’s mana still regenerating at a considerably faster rate than his stamina in her party display, despite the use of her support spell stamina regeneration on him redirecting what should have been a good portion of his incoming mana into stamina.
Typical casters would normally be perturbed to have any of their incoming mana shifted to stamina; her master had actually suggested she cast stamina regen on any hostile mages she encountered, as the spell would work to limit their potential during a prolonged fight.
The same was true for casting mana regen on anyone that relied on their physical abilities.
But Kai wasn’t your typical caster; he specialised in being unspecialised.
He had an overabundance of mana capacity and a frightening amount of regeneration to back it up. If he wanted to, Kai could be a ridiculously powerful mage; when you added Syl to that mix, they could work together to be something many would consider incomprehensible.
But Kai was branching out as a front-line fighter, becoming some kind of hybrid class most typically avoided, as the split in focus typically meant a split in potential power.
Alicia watched as the man she had contracted herself to worked harder and faster than she had seen anyone work in her life. Syl floated protectively over him, allowing Kai to focus solely on his task.
She held Gift at the ready, scanning the treeline that Kai kept pushing back, feeling useless.
This was exactly what Alicia feared; she felt left behind just waiting for an opportunity to participate, just like she had with her last party.
Just as she was trying her best not to feel sorry for herself, movement to the far right caught her eye.
Lifting her bow to sight in on what had caught her attention, she saw a kobold as it slid out from the cover of a tree; already lifting a bow to fire at Kai, she fired.
You have killed Kobold Scout Lv. 5.
She didn’t have the time to perform a cursory examination, but the kill notification told exactly what she expected; it was a scout, and hopefully a solitary one at that.
Now how does this party chat thing work?
“Syl?” Alicia said, feeling foolish talking when no one was around.
‘Nice shot. Let me know if you see any more; Kai’s too busy making firewood. Actually, you wouldn't have any way of causing a fire. I’m trying to figure out if we can use these trees for anything. Kai’s probably not giving things much thought other than cutting down trees at the moment.’ Syl replied.
“No, I mean, I have fire starters, but they are still in my bag in the domain… Er, Syl, how does this party chat work?”
‘Oh this, it’s just like communicating with Kai whilst we were in the domain; just talk, and your intent should carry it through to the persons you want to hear. So yeah, we can still have our private conversations.’
Alicia gave the soldiers who were standing watch around her a quick look and whispered, “Do I have to speak out loud? You said this would be like telepathy.”
‘Nah, you can communicate with thought if you find that’s more comfortable; it all works on intent, I believe. Might actually be faster if we all communicate at the speed of thought; just got to get used to it. With the way I’m hearing your voice right now but Kai isn’t, I can see this form of communication being both useful and confusing if we are not careful.’
There was a pause as Kai had to jump back out of the way as a particularly large tree came crashing down, almost hitting him before it vanished into his storage.
‘Though this is oddly similar to how I can communicate with Kai through our connection, so welcome to that club, I guess. I do wonder if we can tweak the way it sounds or feels using our personal systems; Kai will probably find time to experiment once I point out it’s a possibility.’ Syl continued as if nothing had just happened.
‘I have only seen that one scout. It was pretty intent on killing Kai, so I don’t think it took the time to get any sort of alert off.’ Alicia reported with a thought, No, said...
Communicating through thought was confusing; thoughts were meant to be private. She worried a stray thought might get through.
Oh spirits, what if Kai could now pick up on her thoughts about him? Or, what if Syl picked up her thoughts about her? This could be a problem.
“Yeah, that’s probably Kai’s challenge stone effecting the dungeon spawn; it might buy us more time than I expected. But keep up the good work; knowing I have you watching our back makes being out here all exposed, chopping down trees a whole lot less stressful.” Syl said, seemingly oblivious to Alicia's now racing mind.
Feeling her ears colour once again, she redoubled her watch.
As Alicia scanned the trees for anything that seemed out of place, she realised maybe she wasn’t actually being useless right now. So long as she was vigilant, her overwatch meant her team could do what they were doing with peace of mind that she had them covered.
She ended up taking out four more Kobold scouts, each time receiving a mental thumbs up from Syl before she could report the kill.
That, and she had increased the potency of the support spells she had put on Kai several times as the man kept pushing himself harder and faster the more comfortable he got with the effects of her magic and the more he figured out his new infused strike.
Alicia was wondering how she could make use of the skill; to her, it just seemed like a variation of her power strike. Only more basic, but that wasn’t a bad thing, as its simplicity made it more versatile, and it lacked the pointless flair other mages may have added over the centuries.
Infused strike certainly seemed more versatile with the way Kai was still expanding the area of his cuts with the axe, an axe that he had to swap out at some point when the shaft of the first decided it couldn’t keep up.
Just as she was thinking about comparing the two spell forms in more detail when she got the time, she saw movement beyond Kai.
Gift was ready with a conjured arrow when she lifted it up to fire; the shot flew just over Kai's shoulder, taking out the kobold that appeared.
You have killed Kobold Scout Lv. 4.
“Just a lone scout,” Alicia called out to them both through the party system when she couldn’t see any more kobolds in the area.
Kai didn’t miss a step because of the sudden attack; instead, he picked up his pace and just continued taking down trees.
The space he had opened up more than expanded her range; it allowed her to take her time, giving her the opportunity to pick her targets, limited as they were at the moment.
As if just to challenge that thought, she saw her first real group of kobolds.
She lifted Gift and drew, but the bow never chimed to let her know when it was safe to loose. Instead, it thrum angrily as Kai was between her and the primitive dragonkin, and a clean shot on any of them was not possible.
Too focused on firing, she didn’t think to communicate the danger, but to her relief, a barrier appeared to intercept a barrage of arrows, and Kai bolted her way.
Now unable to fire from their position because of the barrier that was protecting Kais's hasty retreat, the group of kobolds began to spread out.
There were a good six or seven of them now, all trying to get a good line of attack. That was a mistake, and she used Gift to show them how badly they fucked up by spreading out.
In just seconds she had multiple arrows in flight, Gift chiming eagerly with each arrow they fired, each arrow finding its target and bringing it down.
Kai skidded to a stop at her side as she fired at the kobolds that kept spilling from the trees, crazed, each of them doing their best to get their own shots off at the fleeing man.
But Kai had run too fast, and their bows didn’t quite have the distance from the trees.
As Kai got up, she noticed his would-be attackers start to shrink back and move into cover.
But they weren’t exactly the brightest of enemies, three of them all jostling for position behind the same tree.
“Does that give you a better shot with Gift?” Kai asked as he tried to catch his breath and assess the situation.
She crouched, planting herself as she charged an arrow with mana, the conjured arrow shifting, waiting for Gift to tell her when the shot would be perfect.
“Yes. Gives me more time to do this.” Alicia said as she put the final touches on the spell construct for a power shot on the arrow she had infused with mana; a moment later, she felt Gifts chime through the sting, and she fired off the power shot into the trees.
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There was a boom, a yelp, and the tree the kobolds were using as cover came toppling down.
You have killed Kobold Scout Lv. 4.
You have killed Kobold Scout Lv. 5.
You have killed Kobold Scout Lv. 5.
Looking for more threats she could clean up, she noticed the treeline had come alive with kobolds; there weren't actually that many, but it was clear their location had been passed back and more were coming in regularly now.
She focused on picking them off one at a time and using Power Shot whenever they made the mistake of grouping up.
With Kai at her side firing off his own mana bolts, they kept their attackers down to a controllable number.
They were quite lucky the kobolds were of limited intelligence and poorly organised. Despite trying to stay in cover, they kept working their way up to the tree line to fire back, their small bows unable to make an accurate shot over the open area between them.
If they just held back and let their numbers grow before they advanced, they could easily overwhelm their position.
Alicia guessed that was the point, constant pressure, to wear them down in a battle of attrition. Though this was only the scouting force, they had a troubling thought about the volume of the actual force they would be facing. The term horde wasn't used lightly.
Suddenly one of them broke from the trees, Kai cutting it down quicker than she could switch targets.
Then it was as if that one move triggered a change, as a mass of kobolds broke from safety, and she had the opportunity to make Gift sing of their stupidity as she rapid-fired off arrow after arrow.
“I think they’re a bit more resistant to the effects of my challenge stone, but it's still making them act rashly.” Kai suggested it through the party chat.
“Agreed,” said Alicia as she took another opportunity to take out a group that had bunched up behind the tree.
Her arrow exploded the trunk of the tree; its shrapnel was sent flying into the kobolds that, while not killed outright, would soon die from their wounds if no one healed them any time soon.
The tree came down on them a moment later.
Something seemed to change in Kai at that point; he slowed his barrage of mana bolts significantly as he started launching more potent bolts of mana, each one making the forest shake with their impact.
It took her a little longer than she would be willing to admit to realise what Kai was doing.
At first she thought his intent was pure destruction, but when the fifth tree fell, she knew the man had found another way to push the forest back.
Each obliterated tree created terrain that would be difficult to cross at any speed.
As Alicia watched his mana drop in significant chunks with each spell he constructed, she laid mana regeneration on him, the spell overpowering the lingering effects of the stamina regen she had put on him what now seemed so long ago.
“Alicia, are you okay with me using some of your better quality mana potions in the fight to come? I’ve tried scouting again, and I think things are about to get a whole lot more dicey,” Syl said to her through the party chat.
‘Use whatever you need to get us through this alive. Syl-‘ Alicia said, as she felt at her core, feeling for how much essence had built up, ‘I am very near to levelling up; how long do you think I can hold it without any negative effects?’
“You have some time, but I would take the first chance you get once you are ready; create a nice defensible area while you are busy.” Syl said, sounding proud. “Actually, I’ll join Kai in his wanton destruction. It’s better you apply your essence early than if you were to get stuck overloaded in the middle of the fight that is about to come.”
Alicia took out a few more kobolds that were fleeing back, trying to find fresh cover after one of Kai’s mana bolts destroyed the tree they were cowering behind, and that was it; she had enough essence to level.
She stepped back as the rate of bolts coming from around Kai seemed to double, and he cried, “Too fast, Syl, this whole thing is about endurance!”
Alicia couldn’t actually see Syl, as she was in her orange wisp form, but strangely the party system had given her friend a faint outline as she hovered beside Kai, letting her know she was right where she said she would be.
“We need to do as much as we can to that treeline as quickly as we can because-“ Syl's voice was cut off by the sound of horns echoing in the distance. “Because the vanguards are about to arrive,” Syl finished.
Alicia needed to level, but she stopped, making the decision to add a support spell she typically avoided to Kai before she left, “Adding focus to flow and mana regen.”
“You said you are adding focus; have I had support magic on me this whole time?” Kai asked.
It seemed Kai had been so on task he hadn’t noticed her adjusting her support magic.
“You have had a couple of different spells working on you since you first started cutting down trees. I have yet to learn what you can safely handle, so I am keeping things subtle. But focus is different; do not waste time when under its effects.” She explained.
Kai nodded, and the number of mana bolts he was creating seemed to double again as her spell came into effect.
Trying not to worry about leaving her team to it, she moved back to level up.
As Alicia turned to see, Syl had indeed been busy.
Where there was once a wide opening where the cliff curved around the small cave that housed the battery they had to defend, now stood two towering stacks of logs on either side curving back in to close the gap.
Only a narrow corridor in the centre remained, one Alicia had no doubt the kobolds would find inviting, especially if Kai was there defending it with the effects of his challenge stone.
The soldiers had positioned themselves up on the makeshift defensive structure, their goblin crossbows held at the ready and bushels of bolts at their side; they waited for their chance to really join the fight.
She ran through the gap to see Syl had even covered up the cave with a significant pile of debris that would take a coordinated effort for anyone to remove without the aid of magic.
It seemed they could all fall in the defence, but it could still take the kobolds an hour or two to even get to the battery, never mind them slipping past to damage it while they were otherwise engaged.
Alicia gave the soldiers a quick nod as she took a knee and began her first real level up.
Syl had said Kai made it look easy, and Alicia couldn’t argue with that. Just keeping her essence spinning at a constant speed took control she didn’t think she had in her. And when it came to splitting her mana, she had to adjust the flow as her cores weren't balanced like theirs. But she managed it, adding fresh essence not where the system thought it should go but where it needed to be to achieve a better foundation.
Checking her status quickly, she was pleased to see she had made considerable improvements to her core balance but was still disappointed in her overall stat balance. Some of her stats, like control and dexterity, dwarfed her other core aspects; she either needed to rein in those other areas or continue evening out her essence over the next few levels.
Status:
Name: Alicia An’aladduin ( Dellacletra Seitra )
Race: El’viairen
Level: 6
Constitution: Warmed up and ready for battle.
Health: 100%
Stamina: 72%
Mana: 85%
Physical Core: (49.58%)
Strength 23
Dexterity 27
Toughness 21.5
Vitality 22
Endurance 24
Mana Core: (50.42%)
Capacity 24.5
Control 27
Conversion 22
Absorption 23
Flow 23
Total Stat Points: 237
Wondering how her two hundred and thirty-seven stat total measured up to her team's, she got up and turned to see everything had changed without her.
The soldiers fired down from their positions with a frantic fervour as Kai stood in the gap, his sword out and barriers all around him as he danced the dance of death with the brightly coloured kobolds vying for position amongst their king for the first chance to take him down.
Alicia bolted for the wall of logs, scrambling to the top to get to higher ground.
“How did the level-up go?” Syl asked casually as a mana blew a crater in the mass of kobolds working their way out of the trees.
“Good, I think…” Alicia replied in kind.
Gone were the sleek green and brown mottled kobolds that had scouted their position; in their place, a swarm of colour assaulted their position.
The kobolds now wore armour over their brightly coloured hides; speckled reds, oranges and even some blues, colours of all hues came upon them, their weapons as varied as they were.
They trudged their way over what was left of the treeline, seemingly intent on climbing the makeshift fortification; only those near the centre seemed to change their mind as they noticed Kai cutting through their kin like they were nothing.
“Let’s try and hold until Syl can level; the essence is abundant, and I don’t want to waste this chance to work on my new skills,” Kai called through the party chat.
“Don’t listen to him, just work on keeping them off the defences, and prioritise the ones I mark,” Syl said as some of the kobolds started to light up in Alicia's vision. “Mana mark is a bit more taxing than I like, so I am only going to mark casters, ranged types, or any kobold that seems to be making an effort to organise this mess.”
“Killing some level six and sevens here, a nice amount of essence, but they aren't much more challenging than a goblin; the hide is thicker, but infused strike makes clean work of that and their leathers.” Kai communicated as he looted another body.
Alicia pulled up Gift, who immediately chimed at the target-rich environment, the arrow she conjured for the bow forming a strange multifaceted head as it fell into position. Firing off Gift's strange arrow, she couldn't help but smile as it burst into several arrows in flight, the resulting scatter taking out half a dozen of the encroaching kobolds and even one Syl had marked in just the one shot.
Kai grunted, and Alicia looked down to see a rune glowing over a wound Kai had just taken on his side.
“I'm okay; that shot was cool, Alicia; it distracted me; my bad.” Kai said as he cut down and then looted the kobold that had injured him.
As another kobold moved into the gap, Kai made a suggestion that made Gift sing eagerly. “Do you think you can make it rain arrows?”
Gift vibrated in her grip upon hearing the question, and Alicia got the sudden feeling she should aim up as the next arrow she gave her bow lit up with multiple spinning magical constructs she couldn’t even begin to interpret.
Aiming up and having no target in mind felt odd, so she waited for Gift's usual chime that indicated she should lose.
The chime didn't come; in fact, her weapon started thrumming angrily at her the longer she waited.
It was only when she felt the tug on her mana through the channels in her hand where she gripped Gift that she realised what the bow was waiting for.
Just like a power shot, what Gift was trying needed mana, which she supplied eagerly, interested in what the bow was doing.
When Gift finally chimed, letting her know the shot was ready, she fired the arrow up into nothing, literally; a small circular spell diagram appeared and swallowed the strange arrow.
She looked about, confused; the spell circle disappeared with her shot, and nothing happened.
Checking her mana, she realised she had wasted a good chunk of it, around forty percent of her total if she wasn't mistaken.
Frustrated, she put her attention back on the battle before her only to see the sky above the kobold swarm open up with dozens of golden spell circles.
The kobolds looked up in confusion only for a torrent of glowing, gold, conjured arrows to come raining down on them.
The arrows weren't aimed at any one particular enemy, but neither was a coordinated barrage from a battery of archers. The effect, however, was the same as the few kobolds with shields raised them up in their defence while the rest were cut down en masse.
“Okay, you really need to sit down and talk to Gift about what the two of you can do together. That was awesome!” Kai cried enthusiastically as the torrent came to an end, “Makes me wish I had gone all arcane archer instead-“ Kai went silent for a moment. “Sorry, big one, I took its head off with an infused strike, which was pretty fun… Ah crap, I can’t decide if I’m on the right path now. Next you’ll have some kind of seeking arrow before I figure out seeking mana bolts.”
There was a boom in the distance as a particularly commanding-looking kobold was taken down by Syl.
“Let Alicia figure things out and stop being so indecisive.”
“Er, Alicia, when will this focus wear off?” Kai asked suddenly.
Alicia was immediately pulled from her glee as she realised the one rule her master had given her when teaching her the support spell: don’t leave it on anyone for too long unless you wanted them to suffer the backlash.
“Prepare yourself; I'm taking it off now,” she said as she looked down from her position and removed the spell just as Kai looted his most recent opponent.
“Its off… When should I feel the negative… oh shit.” Kai said as he stumbled.
“It will pass; it hasn’t been on you for too long.” Alicia said, hoping her words would prove true.
“Don’t worry about him; I’ll keep him covered. Luckily, you just took out a good third of their number, and they are regrouping. You might be a target now, so be careful.” Syl said as multiple mana bolts sprung up protectively around Kai.
To Alicia’s relief, he recovered fast, though now that he wasn’t in the zone as he put it, Kai wasn’t so eager to talk as he cut down kobold after kobold.
