by Dakota Krout
“Thanks…?”
“I hope you’re seeing the pattern here, though.” The Druid pointed at the next point of data, “Dominate resist, a third of willpower divided by ten. Two-point-five times Willpower and Charisma, divided by one hundred, boom, Stealth Break. Charisma uses the same formula of Dominate Resist to generate Dominate Chance.”
“Last one, Dodge Chance and Magic Resist are just their main characteristics divided by one hundred. Use the incomplete data to extrapolate which is which. The two, multiplied by two point five and added together, divided by a hundred, give you your stealth option. Questions?”
“Ah… one. Here.” Andre pointed at ‘total mana’. “This one is in the center of the sub-sub-characteristics, and is the combination of it’s two parent sub-characteristics. All the other combos are the bottom line, why is this one different?”
Xan slapped him to the ground, erasing the numbers and letters that had been scraped into the dust. “You think I understand what was going through some moron Enchanter’s head when they decided to brand us like cattle? Who cares which line is which!”
“I just like consistency!” Andre cried out in shock and anger. “Abyss, Xan, you’re so slap-happy today. So, now what? How long is training supposed to last? We get to level ten, and make it back in time for the time limit?”
“Notsomuch.” Xan leaned back and looked upward. “It sometimes takes centuries to reach level ten. Think like this: you need two hundred Potentia to get to level two, yeah? All of that is used up to get you that level, it is now gone. You start back at zero exp, and need three hundred to get to the next level. But! What’s this? Fighting the same monsters over and over gives diminishing returns on Potentia? You need to fight a variety, or find some tens of thousands of the same creatures and slay them to gain fractions of Potentia points?”
Andre nodded in understanding. “The patience, and the length of time needed to gather that many of the same creatures, would be better used simply seeking new challenges.”
“Correct again.” Xan looked at Andre suspiciously. “Did you level up and increase your mind again?”
“Nice, Xan. I’m smart, drat it!” Andre huffed at his bearded fellow. “So… total experience to get to level ten? That’s… all the individual levels added up… are…”
He sketched out the sums on the dirt in front of him, “Twenty-three thousand, one hundred.”
“That’s right.” Xan spat out a pile of mush, yanked up a blade of grass that Andre had bound recently - making the young Druid flinch - and started chewing on it. “It’s very doable. Lots of High Humans in the employ of the various Kingdoms. By the way, ‘High Human’ is the race humans are named after reaching level ten. Want to figure out why there are… like… two Paragons that interact with our plane? That’s people at level twenty or above, though at level twenty-one, the base world forces them to stay off of it. Do the math for one reason, and I’ll tell you the other.”
Andre started drawing on the ground, and it took him a few minutes to struggle through the large numbers. When he gathered the result, he was slightly pale. “Two million, eight hundred sixty-five thousand, five hundred total Potentia? That’s possible?”
“More than possible.” Xan bobbed his chin, now fully stretched out on the grass. “That’s also if you use all your Potentia only on upgrading yourself, but that would mean you only ever have level zero or level one abilities, whatever tier they might be. You think that your Archmage is gonna have only level one spells? He might have a maximum tier-ten, level nine spell. Imagine that: a spell that gained enough power that it is on the cusp of tier eleven. That's enough exp to level it to level nine, then double the requirement of level nine to reach the next tier, repeated ten times if you start with a tier one spell. Insane, right?”
“Yeah… I suppose that’s one of the reasons people want to start with higher-tiered spells, or in our case, abilities? What’s the real difference between tiers, beyond ease of leveling up to maximum?” Andre prepared to do more math, but Xan waved him off.
“We’ll talk about that another time. You don’t have any abilities, anyway; why worry about ‘what ifs’?”
“Huh.” Andre tried to think of the sheer amount of death that one person must have dealt out to gain millions of Potentia while Xan nodded at him. “You said that there was another reason there aren’t many Paragons on our world?”
“Yup.” Xan stood up suddenly and dusted himself off. “You think that Sigil on our heads can force a Paragon to do anything? At level twenty… a Paragon can just leave. Also, the reason we are treated so well in our respective Kingdoms? Paragons can leave… but imagine what happens if you had been treating your powerhouses poorly, and they reach the highest level of power possible for this planet. Your control over them is suddenly gone… what next?”
They both shuddered. Andre ventured a question, “Has that happened?”
“Of course it has.” Xan quietly responded. “Ever heard of the Scarocco desert?”
“Yeah?”
“Used to be the Rocco grasslands.”
“Ah.” Andre swallowed deeply. “That’s a part of my Kingdom, isn't it?”
“Sure is.” Xan patted him on the back. “Why do you think it’s so important that your Kingdom gets a well-trained Druid that they treat well? What class of Ascender do you think was treated so poorly the first time around that they went mad and killed everything they were bound with? Now, I think break time is over. Now that you can make your circles, you can finally start improving your craft.”
“Eight months of being stagnant in Potentia has really been getting to me.” Andre agreed with his mentor. He hefted his staff and started walking alongside Xan, having plenty to think about. “What’s next?”
“What are you talking about?” Xan stopped and looked at the young man quizzically. “All you did was learn how to make your first binding circle, Andre. You haven't completed the task I set out for you. You still need to bind everything on this hill. Get to it.”
“You suck!”
“Respect your Master!” Xan’s response was to slap Andre in the face and walk away laughing as the youngster spat blood onto the ground once more. “You know, you’re right! I am feeling slap-happy!”
Chapter Twenty
“Circle is complete… now let the mana flow away, but only toward the interior of the circle…” Andre was breathing heavily as he forced his mana to work as he needed it. “Done!”
His concentration broke, and the excess mana flooded away into the air. It had taken him a month to gather the entire hilltop under his control, and three entire days of that had been spent making the flower like him enough to bind to him. “Now to reap the fruits of my labor!”
Andre walked into the circle of his plants, and instantly felt his mana regeneration speed tick up. Internally it felt like drinking ice water during a heat wave, and having it all reach the stomach at the same time. He stared at the tree that was now at the edge of his circle, and decided to tackle that project next. Trees were difficult, stubborn things. They didn't want to be bound, often not changing in hundreds of years, if left alone.
Although they could be coaxed into doing things for a Druid, the act of binding them was at a higher magnitude of difficulty. Since his circle was now large enough to boost his mana regen by about thirty percent, Andre could stand in it and work on the tree at the same time. As his mana reached capacity, he controlled it and encircled the tree trunk.
“Here you go, tree. Nice, tasty mana… bind with me!” There was no reaction, though the tree was starting to push out some fresh leaf buds. “Come on, tree… I need this by the end of the day. Xan was looking for honey yesterday, and he thinks those bear-killer bees are hiding something tasty. I need a good reason not to go with him…”
Mana: 0/170.2
His mana bottomed out. Andre tried again and again, speaking with the tree the entire time. As dark approached, he pushed too hard and he tapped into his health pool. “Son
of a… tree! Bind with me already!”
Health: 66/71
Mana: 0/170.2
Flecks of his blood were spat into his circle and absorbed by the tree. With a dark flash of green, he felt the tree in his mind. Andre dropped to the ground as the tree joined his circle. Information on this Juniperus Virginiana, that is… the red cedar in front of him, entered his mind. “You need a healthy dose of nitrogen, huh…? Good to know… I bet that’s a common problem here, and the other trees would be willing to bind with me if I fixed that issue…”
*Chime*!
You have generated an ability!
“I did?” Andre blinked and started to smile. “I did! I did it! What… what is it? My first ability! What did the starter bonus get me-”
Ability generated: Bind by Blood (T6).
Bind by Blood (T6): 0/100 to level 1!
Effect 1: By using your blood when creating a Druidic binding circle, you can gain additional benefits from the bond.
Bonus 1, at range: Circle can be created within line of sight.
Effect 2: Bond is 30+n% more likely to succeed in any circle your blood is added into, where 'n' = cumulative levels after tier 2! (T3 level 0 and beyond counts toward the percentage.)
Bonus 2, Multitarget: Increases resource gain among bound presence from r*5^-6 to r*5^-5 of offered resources, where r = offered resources!
Effect 3: Offered resources now include any Etheric Xenograft Potentia generated by bound beings within touch distance.
Bonus 3, AoE: ‘touch’ distance is now considered anywhere within the circular binding. Any future abilities generated that require ‘touch’ can be activated by any plants you are connected and in communion with.
“Celestial Feces.” Andre sat up and stared at the display that was generated by his forehead Sigil. “This changes everything… I got a tier six ability? What… what does that mean? Three effects, three bonuses? Is that it?”
Before he had gained this ability, his path forward was going to be a mix of Body, Mind, and Senses. Now… he planned to only improve his Mind. Perhaps a few points in Senses, but his Mind was going to be his heavy focus. “If I can make larger circles, I can add blood and still be fairly certain that they’ll succeed in binding. By binding things, they can generate Potentia for me. That means I can generate Potentia without killing!”
The only downside was that the ability could be mistaken as… somewhat sinister. He didn't need people thinking that he was like the Necromancers and Blood Mages that devastated and terrorized the front lines of warzones. Andre decided to keep all information about his ability - especially the tier - to himself for now.
He decided to start over with the area he had bound, this time using his blood. To Andre’s delight, he found that everything was synergizing well. The damage he dealt to himself to make the bind was healed quickly by the health being donated to him by the plants. The mana he spent was given the same treatment.
It took him a week to bind the remainder of the entire hill, where just the top had previously required a full month. When he had captured the designated area, he used the remainder of the day to bind the path home. That was easier, as his circles only needed to be the size of his running body, and he could stand in a circle and create a new one anywhere within line-of-sight. Dark was approaching when the grove came into view, and Xan was suddenly next to him.
“What are you doing?” Xan glared at the Novice Druid. He looked back the way Andre had come. “You realize that only the area I left you in is protected, yes?”
“I do remember that… now.” Andre scratched his chin, sheepish about his forgetfulness. It could have gotten him killed, and he hadn’t remembered that in his excitement. “I wanted to surprise you with my progress. I finished the hill and bound the grass between here and there as a path!”
“Yes, I can see that.” Xan snapped his eyes back to Andre. “You must have generated your first ability, then. All right, tell me what you got?”
Something was off in Xan’s eyes. For the first time he could remember, Andre directly lied to his mentor. “Enhanced Bond. It increases the likelihood that any circle I try to make will be accepted!”
“Ah… I know that one. Not bad at all for a tier one ability. Too bad that’s what your starting bonus came up with.” Xan’s nonchalance rang the warning bell in Andre’s head.
“I hate to contradict you, Xan, but it's a tier t… three.”
There was a moment of silence, and Xan narrowed his eyes. He lifted his hand… and then clapped it on Andre’s shoulder. “Congratulations! Not only did you get a great first ability, you resisted the urge to lie about it! All known abilities are recorded and chronicled, so we know most of the general abilities tier and their chance of appearing. Okay, now that I’ve tested your trustworthiness… a word of advice.”
“Our Kingdoms are allies, and we should trust each other. But never forget that there is a chance in the next hundreds of years that we are going to live… there is the possibility that we will be at war.” Xan paused and let the information percolate through his mentee’s mind. “Never tell anyone else the abilities you gain, their rarity, or the exact effect, unless you trust them implicitly. From the results of your initial testing, we knew that you were going to get powerful abilities, but starting at tier three is still right at the edge that outside parties could handle without getting… overexcited.”
“I assume there are people out there that will kill to stay as the ‘most powerful’?” Andre questioned halfheartedly.
His mentor leaned forward and spoke softly, looking off into the distance. “There are people here that would do that as well. Remember that nature is always listening, and Druids are one with nature. There are a few that are on the cusp of becoming Paragons, and they can hear nearly anything you say or do. Especially in the grove, which is why I’ve never interrupted you during your frequent nighttime… indulgences with yourself.”
“Message received, find more privacy.” Andre was sweating, both literally and figuratively. What would have happened if he hadn't seen the trap? If his lie had been detected? Worst of all… what if he had told the truth? “Should I look into finding a way to hide future ability gains?”
“Hmm. Not the direction I thought you were gonna go with that, but sure.” Xan pulled the two of them to the top of the treehouse and waited a few moments as food started arriving in front of them. “Steak today, as a celebration of completing your Initiate training.”
“Steak! Wait, you said that I was a Novice before? I got demoted?” Andre didn't think too hard on it; there was steak to be eaten!
“Right, but you passed your Initiate training.” Xan smirked as he saw the juice running from Andre’s mouth as he tore into the meat. “You’ve learned all the things you were supposed to learn in the first few years here. Next we are going to spend half of the day with combat training, and you are going to keep binding territory for the other half.”
“Now, back to hiding abilities… it is neither possible nor needed.” Xan’s words made Andre look up in confusion. “Do you remember how your Archmage used your mana to open and create a portal for you? An invasive scan is the only thing that can list your abilities, and now that you can internally manipulate your mana, that is nearly impossible to do without your permission.”
“You mean that if I had never told you my ability, you wouldn't have even known what it was?” Andre narrowed his eyes in thought and took a slow bite of his steak.
“Correct, but I would have been able to see the difference in what you do.” Xan smiled as he saw his charge enjoying his cooking. Not that he had cooked it, but his abilities were very versatile at this point. “I might not be able to know all the effects of every ability, as each one is often slightly different, but I’d still have a good idea. Starting with a binding ability is very common, as nature wants to give you what you need.”
“I see.” Andre stated, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Combat and more binding, then?
How long will this continue?”
“Unless you show a surprising gift for it, you’ll stay here till you are out of my care… in about a decade. Remember, I have you for two and a half base-world years, with a time difference of six. I have to spend fifteen years making sure you don’t die when you leave this world,” Xan told him bluntly. “You may progress to a Druid of the Second or even Third Circle by then, maybe have more abilities, but unless something changes; this is your life until you leave.”
“I see…” Andre took a look at his current Potentia.
Level: 1
Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 58/200 to level 2!
In the short time since he had started with his new ability, he had already passively gained one point of Potentia. He had a whole world that he could eventually pull from… but he would need to hide his power from the old monsters hiding amongst any kindly-seeming Druids, that much was certain. Andre grinned cockily at his Master, “Sounds like a party, old-timer. Let’s go learn how to combat.”
“Oh, look. The joker is wild again.” Xan stood up while shaking his head sadly. “Welp, time to smack some more sense into him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
- Luke -
Luke’s hands shook as he swallowed fistfuls of berries. He waited and waited, but there was no effect. He screamed into the void, “I want my hallucinations! Give them back!”
He had been trapped in the second zone for the last two years, and it seemed that he had finally adapted to the toxins created by the berries. Luke was finally immune to their effects… and he hated it. He had spent every day training with and without Cookie, and he felt that he had finally reached his peak physicality. There was something blocking him from reaching further, but he still couldn't get past the Stone Ape. Not for lack of trying. “I’ll kill you!”
