First Sorcerer

by Kyle Johnson

  He quickly rolled sideways and scrambled to his feet, dodging the next hammer-like blow that would have pulverized him. Rather than stopping, he ran forward, hoping to get inside the skeleton’s reach, where it couldn’t hit him. As he felt the undead’s arm sweep over his head, he swung a weakened blow with his quarterstaff at the creature’s leg. His Ironwood staff smacked against the bone and bounced off, not even chipping it. In return, the monster kicked out at Jeff, and only by hurling himself to the ground and rolling rapidly did he manage to dodge the blow. He started to push himself to his feet when he saw the bony foot that had just missed him sweeping down on him from above. He pushed with his legs and rolled backward clumsily, the foot crashing into the ground mere inches from him.

  This isn’t working, Jeff thought frantically, glancing at his armor’s status. It was down to less than 100 points of deflection: another solid hit would shatter it, and the next would crush him. It’s too fast, and I’m debuffed by the Mana Barrage. I need to be faster if I’m gonna dodge it, and there’s only one way I can do that. Jeff had been resisting using the Spell, wary of the dangers Lythienne described, but it was as she said. It was a last resort, something you do to not die. Taking a deep breath, Jeff reached into his mana, pulling up a solid fifth of it and pouring into his body. It filled his muscles, energizing them, rushing through him in a wave of euphoria. His body felt light, smooth, perfect, as if all the time before he had been wearing a heavy shell and he had cast it off.

  He saw the skeleton’s foot kick out at him, but he dodged it as if it had been crawling instead of lashing forward. He laughed as he slammed his staff down on the foot, striking it on the ankle. There was a sharp crack, and a tiny network of fracture spiderwebbed out from the joint, the first sign that Jeff had been able to do any damage. Its joints are weak, he thought in glee.

  He dodged another kick and ran back out: his Str debuff was still active, and there was no way he was going to defeat the creature with his staff. Instead, he summoned a mana arrow and launched it at the skeleton’s knee. He dodged a fist that slammed at him and dove over it as it swept sideways at him, then began to hurl a second arrow at the same spot. The first arrow struck squarely behind the kneecap and burst, sending a network of fissures crackling out above and below the joint. The second arrow hit the same spot, and the spreading cracks in the joint widened, spiraling further up and down the leg.

  Jeff nimbly dodged another blow and sent a third arrow into the knee, this one lodging between the upper and lower bones in the leg. It burst with a sharp crack, and fragments of bone sprayed out as the knee gave way at last. The monster tried to shift its weight, but the leg buckled under it, and it crashed heavily to the floor.

  Jeff backed away from the creature, out of its reach. This is easy! he crowed triumphantly in his head. It can’t reach me now, and I’ll wear it down in no time. Empowerment rocks! His body felt superhuman, powerful and unstoppable. He sauntered within the skeleton’s reach and quickly leaped back as it swiped at him, laughing.

  And then, his eyes flicked up to his newly installed LP bar, which was creeping down below 20% and falling steadily. Jeff panicked: he couldn’t give up Empowerment! He just needed to focus, to take the creature out in the next 10 seconds. That should be simple, as buffed as I am, he assured himself. I’ll just Mana Arrow it in the eye; it’ll take 3 seconds, and… Suddenly, Jeff shuddered and blinked. It was as if a veil had been pulled away, and he realized how close he was to death, and how the euphoria was drawing him in, making him ignore his common sense.

  In a panic, he released the Spell, watching as his LP bar stilled at around 15%. His body suddenly felt heavy and ungainly, and he felt an urge to recast the Spell, but while the desire was potent, he could set it aside. He looked at the fallen skeleton, which was now using its arms to drag itself toward him, and clumsily scrambled back several feet.

  I still need to beat this thing, he reminded himself. Gotta focus. I can deal with the other problem later. He called another mana arrow – his barrage was still on cooldown for another 3 minutes or so – and hurled it at the skeleton’s eye socket. The arrow plunged into the pulsing, pale light, swirled, and vanished without exploding. To his horror, Jeff saw a few of the fractures in the creature’s leg seal up, and its severed leg twitched briefly as if it were trying to reconnect.

  Okay, no mana in the eye, he said firmly. Bad idea, got it. Instead, he tried hurling the arrow into the fiery heart of the creature, hoping it was a weak spot. The arrow passed through the ribs, pierced the globe of flames, and burst from the other side, streaking past the back ribs and impacting on the opposite wall. And can’t hit the flames. Damn. It’s got to have a weak spot!

  Jeff kept moving about, staying out of the monster’s reach, sending arrows screaming into the skeleton. One struck the skull and deflected, despite its ability to pierce armor. Another lodged in the monster’s shoulder, bursting and sending small cracks arrowing into the shoulder and arm, but Jeff knew that even if he could sever the creature’s arm, it wouldn’t be fatal. He could probably hit every joint, removing all of its limbs, but since undead didn’t feel pain and skeletons couldn’t bleed, he wouldn’t be doing any lasting injury. For all he knew, the skeleton might be able to reattach its limbs somehow, and his SP weren’t limitless. In fact, he was down to about 40% already, and in combat, the points wouldn’t regenerate.

  He absently sent another arrow into the creature’s shoulder, expanding the cracks and loosening a few fragments of bone. What he needed was a vital joint: a place that he could get an arrow to lodge that would actually be deadly to the skeleton. He paused briefly as he realized the most likely spot was the neck. In most games, even though they weren’t alive and didn’t have living processes, most undead could still be felled by decapitation. This one seemed to absorb mana through its eye; maybe removing the head would also stop the mana flow to the body?

  While it seemed to be the best shot Jeff had, it was also much easier said than done. The creature’s skull was facing him, blocking his view of the vertebrae in the neck. He’d need to get around it, but it was crawling toward him, and he’d have to move within its reach to find a decent angle. It’d be easy with Empowerment, part of him urged, but he forcefully shut that part down and steeled himself. There was no help for it: he’d have to make the attempt and try to dodge on his own.

  He took a deep breath and sprinted toward the creature, trying to angle inward so that it would have trouble reaching him with its long arms. He saw a fist flying toward him and bellyflopped to the ground, letting it rush overhead, then rolled sideways, expecting it to sweep sideways as it had each time. Instead, he felt the bony fingers wrap around him as the creature snatched him from the ground and lifted him up into the air, squeezing and bringing him toward the grinning skull. He could feel his armor shuddering beneath the pressure and knew it couldn’t hold much longer. He frantically poured 50 SP into it, then noticed that the arm holding him was the one he’d weakened. With a flash of hope, he launched a final arrow at the monster’s shoulder; the arrow buried itself in the joint and exploded, sending bone shrapnel whirling out and blasting the arm free of the socket. The hand released Jeff once it lost its connection to the body, and he fell hard to the ground, his armor flickering and collapsing at last. Jeff scrambled to his feet, feeling suddenly vulnerable without the shell of mana, and ran directly at the grinning skull. The creature’s mouth opened, and Jeff saw swirling black flames inside. Fearing some sort of breath attack, he dove sideways and rolled, coming up next to the shattered shoulder joint.

  The skeleton’s shoulder twitched and shifted, as if it was trying to grab him with its lost arm. Jeff saw a shadow and glanced up to see the other arm swipe down at him. He ducked, but the arm swept overhead, unable to reach him. The skull twisted sideways, turning farther than a human’s could without snapping the neck, but Jeff was too far away for it to bite or grab.

  He carefully made his way under the creature’s chin, stopping well
short of the column of ebony flames roaring up from the chest and through the lower jaw into the skull. He knew from experience that his arrows would pass harmlessly through the fire in the chest; he hoped that would be so again. If not, he was in trouble, since he didn’t think he could safely climb onto the creature’s back.

  He aimed through the fire, trusting his Archery Skill to guide him. His arrow sped through the fire and exploded against a vertebra, missing the joint between. He tried another, with the same results. It’s the fire, he fumed in frustration. I can’t see through it well enough to aim. I just need to aim more carefully; why isn’t my Archery Skill kicking in, here.

  He pulled up the Skill quickly, glancing through it, and his eyes rested on the Student Level Ability. Precise Shot, he read slowly. It increases the chance of a Critical Hit. My chances should be pretty high already, with my Archery Skill at Expert 9. I could aim for 3 seconds, get the bonus, and still have almost 40 Stamina left. But, will It even work with my Mana Arrow? I mean, my Archery Skill does, so it should, but…

  Jeff pulled up a Mana Arrow, realizing that he was running low on SP, and pointed it at the creature’s neck, aiming for the spot between the vertebrae. His arrow’s tip trembled, and he focused on his Ability, trying to call it forth. He could almost imagine what it would feel like: the sudden clarity of focus, the sense of surety pouring down his arm, the target magnifying in his sight. It was almost like a Spell, and without thinking, he trickled some SP into it. As he did, pain lanced through his head, and he winced, trying to keep his focus. The pain kept pulling at him, though, and instinctively he relaxed his consciousness and allowed his subconscious mind to take over.

  Removed from the moment, he could almost see the source of his pain. The ability used Stamina, but he was trying to pour SP into it, and the two energies were attempting to use the same pathways. Those energies conflicted, though, and they were reacting violently to one another, causing the pain that spiked through his head. He tried to focus, the smooth the flows as he did with his mana in his mindscape, but the two energies were too different, and he could tell his attempt was failing.

  Desperate, knowing that he was running low on both SP and Stamina, he attacked the problem from a different angle. Lots of different energies seem incompatible, he reasoned, trying to remain calm. But, then, they turned out to be pretty much the same thing, if you just looked at them the right way. Ignoring the energies, he drew his focus outward, trying to see the overall flows, just as he did when controlling his mana. The sense of the powers at work teased at his mind, shivered, and suddenly clicked, taking shape in his vision. He could see the flows of energy, and he could tell that they were similar, but twisted. They fought because they were out of polarity, the rise of one wave shattering the trough of the other. He reached out with his mind and nudged the energies, shifting the weaker flow until it ran perpendicular to the stronger one, the peaks and valleys separate, the two waves intersecting at the zero amplitudes. The pain in his head vanished, and he let the image go and returned his focus to his Spell.

  The arrow now pointed, rock-steady at the joint between the vertebrae. Jeff released the arrow, which dug into the weakest spot between the two bones and erupted, shattering both vertebrae and shoving them apart.

  Jeff jumped back as the skull thumped to the ground, just missing being struck. A cracking sound filled his ears, and he turned to see myriad cracks racing through all the bones around him. He turned and sprinted away from the skeleton’s collapsing frame but only made it 10 feet before a wave of exhaustion rolled through him, forcing his legs to halt. He slowed to a walk and turned around, keeping an eye on the creature and backing slowly away, watching as the individual bones collapsed into shards that, once again, looked like slivers of wood.

  The skull, though, kept staring at him, the yellow light pulsing in its eyes, and Jeff knew he hadn’t won, yet. He had to break the skull, as well. He lifted his staff, but his arms simply felt too tired to swing it. He glanced at his status and saw that his Stamina was bottomed out and his SP wasn’t far behind. He wasn’t in any condition for physical attacks; he might get one Mana Arrow out but that would probably bottom out his SP and leave him with Mana Deprivation. What I need, he thought futilely, is some kind of Mana Drain. Something like what I did to the tree, but in reverse.

  He stopped and considered the idea. He obviously had channels for the flow of his SP, but he had no idea if they were one way or not. If he could send mana out, maybe he could also drain it in? Energy flows naturally from a high concentration to a low, he reasoned, and I’m guessing that since I’m alive, I’ve still got a higher energy density than that undead skull. That means I’ll have to force it to move and constantly keep the flow moving or it’ll reverse itself. Well, it’s worth a try, right?

  He cautiously edged over toward the skull, which shifted and rattled but couldn’t seem to actually move on its own. He guessed that, over time, the skull would manage to gather the bones back to itself, but for now, it seemed safe enough to approach. Just to be on the safe side, though, he walked around to the back of the skull, figuring that even if it could manage to turn, he’d have time to jump back out of the way.

  He placed his hand on the back of the skull and closed his eyes, imagining the feeling he had when he was giving energy to the tree. He felt his mana start to shift, but he hastily clamped down on it and focused on reversing the flows. He imagined his mana as a vacuum, sucking against the side of the skull, trying to draw more mana into it. He sunk into the feeling, imagining the ache in his arm from the pull of his mana, picturing the coldness of strange mana entering his system. He felt a resistance at first, but suddenly a tiny trickle of energy seemed to make its way into his system, flowing down his arm and merging with his dwindling pool of mana. He pulled harder, and the trickle continued steadily, until suddenly, it was as if a dam burst and power rushed through his arm, pouring into his mana well. He continued to draw power from the skeleton until he felt as if he would burst then pulled his hand back and halted the flow.

  He glanced at his SP bar and saw that it was just a bit past 100%: he was holding more than his maximum, which probably wasn’t good. Then, he walked back around and looked at the skull. His drain had definitely hurt it: the entire surface was cracked and pitted, with jagged fractures lining the eye sockets and jawline. The yellow light in the sockets flickered weakly and seemed nearly extinguished, but Jeff knew that the monster still wasn’t beaten. It was weakened, but he had a feeling he’d need to shatter that skull to kill it. While he had a feeling that a Mana Arrow would probably penetrate the skull, now, he was worried that the skeleton might be able to absorb any mana that entered it, not just what came through the eye sockets.

  Shrugging, he hefted his staff and slammed the butt end into the skull, below the cheekbone. He grinned as a small fracture spiderwebbed away from the impact: he could hurt it with his staff, now. He proceeded to pummel the skull with his staff, deciding to use the helpless target to practice his forms in the real world. He moved through his stances, smashing his staff into the skull, the cracks in the bone widening with every impact. Chips of bone sprayed from the skull, and large chunks fell to the floor. The jaw was smashed and dropped free, the teeth falling like rain as they fell free. Finally, the glow in the eyes winked out entirely, and Jeff lifted his staff overhead and slammed it on top of the skull, shattering it entirely. With a whispering sound like blowing sand, the skull and every bone shard around him turned to powdery dust, swept away in a light breeze that rose from nowhere.

  Jeff sat down heavily and mopped his brow, wishing he had the presence of mind to bring some water along on the Trial. Of course, I didn’t think it would be taking me to some blasted chunk of Hell where everything was dead, dry and rotten, did I? he told himself ruefully. Still, just carrying a waterskin – he probably could have made one from leaves if he wanted to – would have just been good planning.

  Myriad notifications blinked in his view, and he began
to parse through them. He only briefly scanned the damage notifications – he knew he had almost died, and he didn’t need to see exactly how close he had been – and focused on the ones that seemed most important:

  Jeff stared at his notifications, stunned. Whatever he had done with the Stamina and mana flows had obviously not been something the AI’s intended, and the resultant error messages were kind of alarming. “Umm, Veronica?” he called out hesitantly. “Is everything okay? Did I screw up?”

  Veronica suddenly appeared before him, her face resigned. She was dressed in a gray blazer and skirt combo, and her hair was pulled back into a simple bun. “No, Jeff,” she replied tiredly. “You did not ‘screw up’, as you put it. You simply did something…unexpected.”

  “But, did I make a mistake?” he pressed. “It sounds like it was something I wasn’t supposed to do.”

  “It was something we did not believe was able to be done,” Veronica corrected. “Singularity Online does not tell you what you are ‘supposed’ to do, nor do we limit player behaviors except in certain extreme cases. We are attempting to experience the full array of human behaviors and emotions, after all, so forcing specific behaviors upon you is not in our best interests.

  “However,” she went on, “there are supposed to be rules. One of these is that Stamina and mana cannot be interchanged or combined. We wanted to place a clear separation between martial characters and magical ones. If you are a martial character, you are likely to focus on Physical Stats and thus have a high Stamina, while magical characters usually place their focus on Mental Stats and have a high SP pool. Thus, martial Abilities are usually powered by Stamina and magical Spells are powered by SP. Even the consequences of overuse are tailored to the class types: most martial characters would not be significantly hampered in combat by the Int and Wis penalties of Mana Deprivation, while most magical characters would be equally unaffected by the exertion limitations of Physical Exhaustion.