First thing I do is cast Fog on the area that the three skolocs are in. The mist forms faster than I remember and we all head closer to the targets. I open up from range with lightning as the three fish men…fish people? Whatever. I shoot lightning into the group and they look around in confusion. Thia follows my spell with a Chain Lightning. My attack lights up the fog and I can see it strike the hunter in its chest. My attack caused serious damage but it isn’t dead. That changes when Thia’s attack strikes the ambusher then jumps to the other two. The hunter dies and an arrow streaks in with the glow of a skill to hit the ambusher right in the bulbous fish head. It drops too. The remaining brute is charging at me and Timbre steps in front of the attack, smashing her shield into it. When it stumbles back she makes an overhand swing of her new hammer that crushes its skull, ending the encounter.
The fight is over in only seconds. With the ease of it my confidence swells, but I tamp it down, not wanting it to skew my judgment and caution. We quickly check their gear to see what we might face. None of them are wearing any sort of armor but the hunter had a crude bow and the ambusher had a bone knife clutched in its hand. Looking to the next group we can see them inspecting the wall of fog I created before tentatively entering. This group of four skolocs goes down much like the previous one. Our overpowering ranged attacks allow us to finish off one group after another with me recasting fog as needed. The only injury that we had was with a group of four. Timbre went in for a strike on an ambusher that dodged to the outside and lunged forward to bite her on the arm.
The skolocs have a mouth full of serrated fangs that could have made a nasty wound if not for Timbre’s plate vambrace. With the protection she still took a little damage. It was nothing that Azzaria couldn’t fix up in a moment with her magic. When we have eliminated all but the last group of five I call a halt and we retreat to the tree line so that we can all restore our mana. As we wait, the last Fog spell I cast dissipates revealing to the nearby group of skolocs their dead brethren. This visibly agitates them and they back away from where the fog was, clustering together. In the group there is the big male vanguard I saw before. The females with it are the caster, an ambusher and two hunters.
When we are all full on mana again I cast the Fog spell to kick off our final battle. Thia and I lead with lightning again, which downs one of the hunters right off the bat. The male immediately jumps between us and the other females after that, but the other hunter panics. Seeing her fellow hunter dead next her and having felt the lightning herself she panics and breaks for the woods. As it runs into the trees Timbre makes to follow but I stop her. “Let the guards handle that one. We need you here. Engage the bigger one so we can take care of the caster and the other.” At my words she charges forward at her target. Before she can make contact, the caster, who is in the back of the group, raises a stick in the air. There is a brief moment where nothing happens, then the fog from my spell condenses and a sheet of water falls to the ground taking our cover with it.
Revealed for all to see, the male is able to catch sight of Timbre charging him. Too bad it was already too late. Still a few steps away she uses her skill to project a glowing silvery shield into the male’s face. He tries to raise the half a log he carries to defend against her but can’t get it up in time. The skill impact staggers him long enough for Timbre to follow it with a bash from the real deal. Meanwhile, the joint attack from the rest of us has downed the ambusher and we are trying to hit the caster through shields of water that it keeps casting. When an icicle narrowly misses Azzaria’s neck I call out “Timbre, switch to covering us.” She is going for a second hammer blow to the prone skoloc who is blocking with the log when I call out. She immediately aborts the attack and jumps back a couple times to interpose herself between us and the caster.
Timbre is taking icicles to the shield but they have no affect on solid mithril. I switch focus too, casting quicksand in front of the male that has gotten to its feet. Two steps up onto the bank and it’s trapped in my spell. With a Fireball flung from the cover of Timbre’s defense I break the water shield on the caster. Azzaria and Thia’s attacks follow right after mine, taking advantage of the momentary drop of its defenses. The combination of electricity and shining arrow take out the caster once and for all.
A flame wave from me hits the trapped vanguard setting it ablaze. It screams for a moment but is silenced shortly after by an arrow through the eye by my lovely elf companion. I survey the area for any more threats, and when I don’t see any I take notice of the icon indicating I have messages. A look around confirms the lack of any threats so I take a moment to check them. One thing I find is that the guards have already killed the runner, because the quest is complete. It was worth a good amount of experience toward my level and it pushed me over to fourteen.
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level by 1. You are now level 14. As a Void Human you get 6 points to apply to your Stats and 1 Talent Point. As you are a Mage +1 INT +1 WIS are allocated. You currently have 4 undistributed SP and 1 undistributed TP. You can distribute these from your status page. Continue to increase your level to follow the path of true power. Fight for the RIGHT to survive!
LEVEL UP! Your Familiar Thia has increased in level by 1. Thia is now level 14. As your Familiar she gets 5 points to apply to her Stats and 2 Talent Points. Thia currently has 5 undistributed SP and 2 undistributed TP. You can distribute these from your familiar’s status page. Continue to increase your Familiar’s level to follow the path of true power. Fight for the RIGHT to survive!
Having looked at my status and options a few times over the past few weeks I am able to quickly distribute my SP and TP. I place another point into INT and WIS, and one more into VIT and AGI. I pause for a moment, feeling myself getting a little healthier, a little faster. There is also the feel of my mana pool increasing in size some. The talent point I place into the next tier to improve my Magic Cloak, turning it into Magic Armor. This adds five percent to all magical and physical resistances. The next level will make it a total of ten percent. For Thia I add one to each stat this level. With two talent points for her, I add one to what we already decided on. The talent gives Thia the Ball Lightning skill. This has the same effect as a fireball, where it explodes on contact damaging everything around the area of impact.
That makes a total of twenty points into her talent tree which opens the next tier for view. As I start to look through the list of available options there is a spike of excitement that overflows into our bond. “OK Thia, what talent has you so excited?” I know she is looking through the options like I am. At first all I get is excitement mixed with a little embarrassment and a tinge of jealously. She has never let me feel any jealousy from her before but I am sure I can only do it now because of the amount of excitement causing her emotions to overflow into me. I have no idea what she could be jealous of though.
“Two Formed” is the clear message I get from her.
I quickly skim through the new options until I find and read the description. Now I get it. This talent is next after our joint Merge ability and will allow Thia to pick a Humanoid form to take. Just like Timbre. I can’t deny her what she wants, but I’m a little wary of having another, I’m sure beautiful, woman always around. It is her development though and I won’t go against my promise to let her choose. Besides, what could go wrong? I know, famous last words. Something I have felt a whisper of from Thia when we’re merged comes to mind. Then I’m distracted when I remember Timbres risqué first appearance. Forgetting the thought I was having I warn Thia. “I’ll choose that option for you, of course, but please wait to choose and take on the new form until we can get you some clothes.”
Azzaria perks up at my words since I also spoke to Thia out loud instead of just in my head. At her questioning look I answer her. “Looks like Thia is going to be able to change forms like Timbre.” There is a brief frown, but it’s gone quickly and replaced by a mischievous smile. That look tells me that I was right to be worried before. She was messi
ng with her status earlier too, so I try to distract her a little. “Did you gain a level too?” She nods. “Did you get credit for helping me complete the town’s quest?”
This finally gets her to speak. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting that but it seems that us being in a party and me contributing made me eligible. The experience is good so I’m looking forward to completing more of those.”
“Alright, let’s grab anything that looks worth it and meet up with the guards.” Azzaria heads off to look at the drops from this group and I take a last look at the current status for me and Thia.
Name
Vol Adare
Age
26
Level
14
Race
Void Human
To next level
3%
Patron
Gwydia
HP:
490
MP:
1200
Class
Mage
STR
10
15
Subclass 1
Celestial
AGI
16
23
Subclass 2
None
VIT
24
29
Subclass 3
None
INT
40
78
Profession
Enchanter
WIS
38
76
Specialty
None
Unspent SP:
0
Titles
World Traveler
Blessed of Gwydia
Dark Horse
Bound to Power
Abilities
Greater Adaptability lvl MAX
Mana Vacuum lvl MAX
Staff Mastery lvl 5
Advanced Mana Control lvl 9
Woodcraft lvl 5
Familiar Bond tier MAX
Skinning lvl 1
Mana Transfer MAX
Enchanting lvl 14
Dimensional Storage MAX
Skills
Identify lvl 7
Interrupt lvl 1
Grimoire
Familiar
Name
Thia
Race
Thunderbird
Level
14
HP:
290
MP:
520
STR
9
9
AGI
21
21
VIT
19
19
INT
32
32
WIS
34
34
Unspent SP:
0
Unspent TP:
0
Abilities
Familiar Bond MAX
Mana Transfer MAX
Two Formed MAX
Skills
Zapp lvl 12
Screech lvl 10
Knifewings lvl 10
Ride the Lightning lvl 10
Merge lvl 3
Chain Lightning tier MAX lvl 7
Ball Lightning lvl 1
All we find is junk, even from the strongest among them. It’s another crude bow, a bone knife and a stick that might be a wand but doesn’t offer any benefits other than something to aim a spell with. Not great stuff, but gaining a new level makes it more than worth it.
Heading back the way we came brings us to where the town guards are. Grondar steps out as we approach and raises a hand. “Is everything clear now?” he asks while looking us over.
“All clear” I respond to him. “One of them took off on our last fight, but it seems like your men took care of it.” I wave off to my left when I stop in front of him.
He looks in the direction I pointed then calls out in a loud, commanding voice. “Alright boys and girls, form up!” After everyone is back together a few minutes later Grondar turns to Derl. “Report.”
Derl quickly strikes a fist to chest in salute while starting his brief report. “Only one target spotted and it went down with our surprise attack. No injuries and no other targets spotted.”
With that, Grondar returns the salute and turns back to me. “Ready when you are men” is my response. When we walk out of the trees it’s still morning and I have a few things that I want to handle before heading back to the main thoroughfare. Waving to the guards I reach over to hold Azzaria’s hand. We interlace our fingers and I guide her more toward the cliff face. “It’s nice to get to spend a little more time with you. We’ve been so busy lately that we haven’t spent much of our days together.” We are walking through grassy fields with the occasional hill. It smells like grass and sunshine. I look over at Azzaria to see her looking up at the sky as she walks.
She gives my hand a little squeeze to let me know she is enjoying the walk with me. “It wasn’t that long ago that we were fighting our way across this section of land. Everything has been happening so fast that it feels like forever and a day.”
I give her a squeeze back to show I agree and then I start leveling the land as we go. We are walking slowly enough, enjoying the company of one another that we don’t have to stop for me to regain mana. Timbre has changed to her dire wolf form and plays in the grass as we move. By lunch time I have finished grading the southern fields and we get back to the keep. The first thing I do is drag Azzaria up to our rooms with Timbre trailing behind and find Thia waiting for us on the balcony. She flies over to one of the couches in the living room area and perches on the back.
“Can I do it now?” I get from her through our bond.
“Go ahead” I tell her.
Thia takes a step off the couch and becomes a ball of light. It isn’t overly bright, but we can’t see her form within. Through our bond I can feel that she is concentrating on something but I have no clue as to what that is. Maybe 20 seconds or so has passed before there is a change. The ball of light expands and starts to take on a shape. When it’s finished the light starts to fade and in a moment dies down completely. Revealed completely now, we get a good look at Thia’s new form, all of it. Of course she isn’t wearing any clothes at the moment so she can’t really hide anything.
I take in the new form of my soul bond familiar, and of course she is gorgeous. Thia has a golden hint to her skin, like a nice tan but a little too gold to be natural. She looks like an elf otherwise, with delicate features and build. Now that I think about it, her body is almost exactly like Azzaria’s but with a little less muscle and a slightly larger bust and hip size. When I get to her face I find the same yellow eyes on a girl next door face. She is also wearing a mischievous smirk on her pouty lips that only spells trouble for me. I knew she was going to be a handful before, and this only confirms it. The only thing that covers her is the armlet I gave her, and that doesn’t help her modesty, if she has any.
With a smack from Azzaria to my chest I realize that I might have been examining my familiar a little too intently, or for too long. Probably both if I were to ask Azzaria, which would probably be really stupid to actually do. Abandoning my suicidal thoughts I address the issue at hand. “Azzaria, do you think you can find her something to wear while we take her shopping?” Herst or Earth doesn’t seem to matter, because at the mention of shopping her frown brightens and gets a thoughtful look.
“She looks close enough. I’ll grab her a set of something for her to wear so we can eat lunch and go.” Then Azzaria pulls out a set of traveling clothes and hands them to Thia, who dons them with a smile. After the little excitement we all head back down to the main hall to eat. When we came through on our way upstairs there was no one there but as we enter the main hall this time we see Hildre and Dolan there. Enora is also present and chatting with them. All conversation stops though when we enter with the new Thia. There are confused faces all around. “I guess you all haven’t been properly introduced yet. Everyone, this is Thia, my familia
r. Thia meet everyone.”
Everyone is just staring at me when Thia finally speaks up. “Hello Everyone. It is a pleasure to formally meet you all. Better yet, it is nice to finally be able to speak with you.” Everyone has surprised looks on their faces at the eloquence of her speech, except for me of course. I don’t think anyone truly understood how intelligent she is since they were unable to communicate with her.
Breaking the stunned silence around the room I say “Lets get something to eat. We have things we need to do now that we have someone else to outfit.” I feel left out of the conversation from then on, as everyone is making small talk with Thia. I think they are all just trying to get to know her since they didn’t get much of a chance before. I have been conversing with her on one level or another since day one so I don’t mind letting them monopolize her attention for a little while.
A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga) Page 9
