by Dakota Krout
You have defeated a monster that was over ten levels higher than you! Bonus experience has been granted! Experience gained: 777!
Joe stared at the notification, then the defeated creature, then the notification again. “I didn’t even think about that until right now, but the only reason it would have been here is because the ritual drew it in due to the level difference between us. I… do I need to leave?”
He rushed to summit a tall slag pile and scanned around. As far as he could tell, no other monsters were currently approaching him. “Okay… that was a fluke. Everything is fine for now, but I need to remember that I’m here for a reason. Everything else can wait until I’m in a safe location. I need to bring power to the upcoming fight.”
“I can start here.” Joe looked down at the pile of slag he was standing on, and his mana pool that had refilled over the last few seconds. “But first… gotta check to see if that Zombie dropped a Core.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Joe staggered out of the landfill just over a day later, remembering to use Lay on Hands only thanks to the ‘bleeding’ notification that kept popping up. His vision was swimming; the last day had been a constant grind that tested him immensely, but the profit was certainly worth the effort.
He had managed to reduce things in the landfill for almost twenty-two hours straight, his improved constitution allowing him to ignore sleep for more than a week if he wanted to do so. He had managed almost thirty reductions an hour, which meant his mana pool had refilled six hundred and sixty times. At that point, he had made a sizable dent in the area, and his actions were drawing attention from the more powerful inhabitants of the landfill.
The zombies had come one at a time, at first, but eventually, one of them broke through while he was distracted. It didn’t go after Joe directly, as he had expected; it had charged directly at the Ritual of Quarantine and smashed it until the ritual shattered. Then it had howled, and a wave of lower-level undead had flooded through the landfill toward him. Joe had no choice but to run, jump, flee for his life. He had managed to escape, but by that time, he was near the walls and decided that it was a good time to leave.
Just before he had stepped out, a sneak attack struck him and demolished his Exquisite Shell, sending Joe reeling and bleeding into the streets of the capital. Now that he had escaped, he looked around for the door so he could use it in the future. Once again, the entrance to the landfill was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t risk opening the door and letting Zombies through… so he didn’t go out of his way to learn how to open it.
Joe sat in the small puddle of his rapidly vanishing blood—thanks being given to that magnificent Neutrality Aura once again—and perused the increases from the last day of grinding.
Strength, dexterity, constitution +3!
Intelligence, wisdom, perception +4!
Luck +5!
Class experience gained: 1,200 (Reductionist)
Mend (Journeyman II)
Lay on Hands (Journeyman II).
Neutrality Aura (Student VIII).
Retaliation of Shadows (Journeyman III).
Exquisite Shell (Student V).
Dark Lightning Strike (Apprentice VIII).
Mana Manipulation (Student VIII). It looks like you found an effective training program!
Coalescence (Student IX). Finally flushed out all that stagnant mana! Bet you feel better, don’t you?
Battle Meditation (Novice VIII)
Assisted Ritual Orb Usage (Beginner I)
Knowledge (Beginner VI)
Architectural Lore (Beginner III)
“Stagnant mana? I really need to figure out what that means.” Joe stared at the messages and once more swore to himself that he wouldn’t be taking on any more quests after this war. At least, not until he had gotten sick of gaining all the skills and stats he could grab. His gathered aspect list was equally impressive; he had been able to make and partially fill both a Unique and Rare Aspect Jar, but a sound tore his attention away before he could open the itemized inventory and cackle over the hundreds of thousands of collected aspects.
Boots. Metal boots that were marching in time.
The sound was distant, but that just meant that there were so many that the rhythm was resounding even here. That could only mean one thing: the battle was starting, and he, the person who had sparked the war and was responsible for its success, was late.
“Does overmorrow mean three days or two days? I thought I had three!” He hopped to his feet and fought through the fatigue, sprinting along the roads until he caught sight of the flowing river of silver that was the Legion on the move.
Message available! Send a message to friends list contact? Yes / No.
“What?” By the time Joe recognized the notification, it was already cancelled.
Friend list member out of Line of Sight!
“Who was that, then?” Joe shook off his confusion and ran for a series of Legionnaires that had a black trim on their armor: the sign of an Officer. Getting closer drew unwanted attention to him, and a few soldiers even drew steel and pointed it at him. “Candidate Joe reporting! I’m looking for Major General Havoc!”
The various weaponry was pulled back, and one Dwarf grimaced as she replied to him, “The Major General is part of the advance force. That… fine example of what not to do to make political friends… will either be right at the front, or already digging into Gramma’s Shoe by the time the remainder of the Legion approaches. Please use caution, Candidate Bro.”
“Thanks, Officer Dudette.” Joe slammed an open palm on her paulron and turned to run. He needed to get ahead of all the marching soldiers if he was going to get a Ritual of Argus active on the person that was likely the most important figure that had joined the war effort. In his haste, he didn’t catch the pink tinge that colored the cheeks under the flowing auburn mustache of the Dwarf he was taking with.
“I can’t believe Joe knew my name!” Dudette breathed in a deep, gravelly whisper. “If we win this… I can’t imagine he’d be any less famous than Havoc himself!”
The human had no idea the effect that he was having on the Dwarves around him. If he had… he would have been utterly uncomfortable. The bearded Dwarves looked on in admiration and slight jealousy: they wanted to be the ones to incite a full-on assault! The mustachioed ones looked at Joe with gazes wavering between interest and self-doubt. Joe was hairless. Though he might soon have a reputation worthy of capturing the attention of the Oligarchy, he was a human, hairless as a child, and a mage. For most of them, those factors snuffed the ember of interest that formed when he was mentioned… but only for most.
Running at top speed was the only way Joe could slowly make his way past the miles-spanning troop formation. No one laughed as he panted along; no one commented that he was out of position. There was only one thing on the minds of the Legion: the Elves had invaded their home. Their monument to what was once the matriarch of all the Dwarven Clans. Even now, a day away at marching speed, they could see the plumes of black ash that rose from the volcano; the benefit of a flat plane of existence.
Half the day later, Joe was starting to flag. He saw one Legionnaire with a bright red mustache that he had been leapfrogging for almost ten minutes. Joe would see her passing him, put in more effort and get ahead, but then she would slowly and inexorably catch up to him and march forward. Joe had been giving her so much side-eye that she was starting to look at him with a nervous expression whenever she got ahead. Finally, Joe thought of a solution to his current problem. “Mate! I need a jolt, Over-caffeinate!”
The small elemental bubbled onto his white robe and gave him a searching glance. Joe blushed lightly, “No, I haven’t made a special cup yet, but the next time I’m forging in a safe area, I will! Promise.”
Mate bubbled happily and extended tendrils of pure caffeine out of its body, appearing to become a delicious version of a sea urchin. The iridescent tendrils swooped around and dug into Joe, and a moment later he shot forward at a spee
d he hadn’t gotten close to all day. For the next ten minutes, he sprinted past the marching formation, laughing wildly the whole way.
Then he remembered why the ability was mainly used in a pinch, and not as a travel booster. When the buff expired, his stats were temporarily reduced by thirty percent, and continuing to run made him want to puke. That nasty side effect didn’t last too long, thanks to Neutrality Aura, but it was still a pain. Joe was hoping that the Legion would bunker down and sleep soon, but as the day wore on and darkness settled over the plain, they showed no signs of stopping or slowing down.
The final straw was when the red-haired Dwarf caught up to him again.
“That’s it, I need to move faster.” Joe was getting crabby and annoyed from the constant exertion and several days of no sleep. His stamina was flickering between empty and a lil bit full, but what else did he have? “Full mana bar. Gotta. Figure out. How to cheat!”
Skipping was fine, and used a speck of mana at a time, but he was a Master Jumper! He should be able to cross vast distances, shoot into the sky, leap through open areas like a gazelle! Joe stopped running and let his stamina build up a little. He was slightly embarrassed that he would be testing this next to the Legion, but he couldn’t go off in the distance right now. Not only was this the most direct route to Gramma’s Shoe, the Legion was also dealing with all the threats that dared to come close to them. If Joe wandered off, he was going to be moving even slower.
After catching his breath, he started sprinting again, but this time as soon as he got to his top speed, he shifted down and jumped, pouring mana into his legs. He hadn’t really tested the limits of his body, especially not like this, yet he wasn’t totally surprised when his leap carried him a full thirty feet forward before he touched down again. Only his high skill levels in both Jump and Aerial Acrobatics kept his feet under him, though he stumbled before moving forward to do it again.
On the third attempt, it got easy. Joe landed and went again, seeing a notification that made him smile.
Through a special action, you have managed to generate a skill!
Skill gained: Leap (Master 0). At the cost of 8% total stamina and 7% total mana pool, you are able to leap forward at great speed.
You have managed to generate a skill by using three other skills in a combined fashion. (Jump, Aerial Acrobatics, and Jump Around). As you created all of these skills with no system help or guidance, you have the option to instantly and freely combine these and the newly generated skill ‘Leap’, along with three ranks in Mana Manipulation, to create a higher-ranked skill.
No more details are available. If you choose not to combine the skills, you may still do so at a later date. Note: each person can only combine a skill in this manner once. If you wish to use other self-guided skills, please make sure to say ‘no’.
Combine (Jump, Aerial Acrobatics, Jump Around, Leap, and 3 ranks of Mana Manipulation) into higher rarity skill? Yes / No.
“Not what I was expecting, but I’m still happy to see that happening…” Joe looked at the options, hesitating before hitting ‘yes’. These skills represented his only Master ranked abilities, and letting them go was… tough. “I need to remember what I was told. Not every skill can get into the Master ranks, and, well, I’ve seen no movement with this one. Maybe a higher rank will let me reach the Grandmaster ranks someday.”
Joe had been continuing to move, his body practically on autopilot as he played around with his movement. Thus, he didn’t think much before accepting the changes, and he was in the air when he did so. He crashed to the ground painfully as the skills vanished and reformed into a new, more potent version.
Exquisite Shell: 9,782/9,842
Guild (The Wanderers) bonus from having a Mastered skill has been lost!
Skill decrease: Mana Manipulation (Student V).
Skill combination successful! New skill gained: Omnivault.
Omnivault (Expert VII). The ground has never been your friend. You have only ever seen it as something you must use as a launch pad to reach greater heights. Now, you are getting ever closer to a higher form of movement! You can now jump upward Strength/10 feet directly upward from a standstill, or leap forward (Strength/10)*3 feet forward while moving. Your sense of balance in the air is unsurpassed. Each empowered leap now costs 1x% stamina and 2x% mana, where x is each consecutive leap. At double the x cost, you may leap or jump a single additional time while still in the air. ‘Consecutive’ is considered any jumping or leaping within 3 seconds of the previous one.
That had been a lot of changes in an overly fast time, but Joe was amazed by the implications of the skill, as well as how he received it. “I can combine only a certain amount of ranks of a skill? That’s… game changing! How many possible skills are there? Oh, I can’t wait to try this.”
But he did have to wait. Almost four minutes, to be exact, since he wanted a full stamina bar when he started trying out the new skill. As soon as it peaked, he took a running start and vaulted into the air, travelling forty-three feet in a beautiful parabolic arc. At the top of the leap, he somersaulted perfectly. At the end, he smoothly transitioned into a second leap forward. After eight total leaps, traveling three hundred and fifty feet in practically the blink of an eye, Joe collapsed to the ground and started dry heaving.
“Mana… gone… already?” He gasped for air, staring in shock at his mana bar. “Eight vaults cost… four thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven mana?”
His dreams of bounding through the open plains vanished like fog on a hot day. “There’s gotta be a way this is usable. I… right! Okay, let’s try this again.”
Joe waited a few minutes to be back in peak shape, snarled viciously at a familiar red-mustached Dwarf, then started running and leaping again. This time when he landed, he ran for a few seconds before leaping again. “Ha-hahh! Non-consecutive. One hundred thirty five mana per leap, each time. My mana regen can handle that. Time to get a jump on catching Havoc.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Joe had been getting some overly-wide smiles from the Legion as he got closer to the front of the line. He was sure that they were waiting for a chance to ‘broaden his horizons’ by whaling on him for annoying them so thoroughly, but they would just need to wait their turn.
The Reductionist internally admitted that he might have been going overboard with his new skill, but there was something so freeing about shooting through the air in a perfectly controlled motion. This had naturally led to him angling his leaps so that he arced over the formation, springing back and forth. It only made him a little slower, but it had made people chuckle. A few had even halfheartedly taken swings at him as he went over, but even the most angry Legionnaire only grumbled quietly. One of the great things about living in a ‘nice’ society; no one wanted to call you out for non-harmful silliness.
Joe could finally see Havoc’s outline, just as the sun was starting to rise. He knew it was the Dwarf he sought only because the Major General’s voice was reverberating across the open space as he shouted at the advance party that was with him. The Dwarf was encased in a massive golem, which sported four spinning drills on each hand—each of which also spun—and had overly bulky pistons for elbows.
“Are ya ready, Dwarves?” Havoc howled at his troops; their reply was almost incoherent screaming.
“Aye, aye, Major General!”
Havoc slammed his construct’s left ‘fist’ into the mountain, sending a spray of torn-out stone flying into the air. The other fist came down as that one retracted. “I can’t hear you!”
“Aye, aye, Major General!”
“Ohhh!” The fists started moving four times as fast as they pulverized the rocky surface. “Elves in a bunker, under this rock!”
“War crimes, war crimes!”
“What will we do, when we pull them on top?” Havoc bellowed as rock chips flew everywhere.
“War crimes, war crimes!”
“Is bloodshed and razing something you wish?”
“
War crimes, war crimes!”
“Then come over here, and gut 'em like a fish!”
“War crimes, war crimes!”
“Ready?” Havoc popped out of the golem as it vanished into the tunnel it was rapidly digging, and he no longer needed to manually control it. “War crimes, war crimes…”
“War crimes, war crimes!”
“War cri~imes…! Here we go~o!” Havoc screeched as the golem broke through and a wash of hot air blasted from the tunnel. The Dwarves flooded in, following his charge, and Joe sputtered to a stop; knowing he was too late to be helpful to that first wave.
For one thing, the ritual he planned to use was at the Expert rank, and he would need a few hours of work to get it ready. Still, most of the leadership was near the middle or end of the formation, and he was hopeful that he could have it ready before they arrived.
Joe moved out of the way and got to work as another breach point was established, allowing the Legion to hopefully flank the hidden fort when the tunnel was completed. He got to work right away, setting up a Field Array and reducing the top layer of stone—entirely Trash Aspects—to make the area perfectly level. Next came the difficult part: creating an Expert ranked ritual diagram. As per usual, the circles from Novice to Journeyman were fairly straightforward to create. When it came time for the final circle, Joe began struggling mightily.
“I need this to spin, abyss it!” Joe sighed as he scowled at the interlocking sympathetic links that connected the Novice circle to the Journeyman circle. “Where's a good gyroscope when you need it? Well… I've seen rituals that are free-floating, so why can't I do that? How would I do that, though?”
