Naomi stuck close to Eric’s shoulder. “We did decently in that fight,” she said to him. “Anything you think we could improve on?”
“Not really,” Eric replied. “If we had a Warden Class, then they could focus on shields or healing while Peter took the enemy focus.”
“I was thinking about that,” Naomi said as she looked at Shannon and Peter in front of them, chatting quietly about something or other. “I think I might go with a Warden Class as my second at level fifty. Help out more than I am right now, you know?”
“Not a Gathering-type?” Eric asked. “You could get more Monster Parts to then refine into Components.”
Naomi’s face scrunched up in thought, but a few seconds later she nodded. . “I mean . . . maybe that.” She glanced down at the parts bag. “If I was the dedicated gatherer, I get dibs on that.”
Eric replied, “They should be in the hands of a designated person. Even better if you get more Monster Parts while using them.”
Peter glanced back and called over his shoulder, “Looks like another open area ahead. A low river.”
Eric saw what he was talking about a moment later. The grassland opened up and the trail ended; he saw a huge river that was easily a half-mile across. It was rushing like rapids, though looked like it was shallow enough that one could walk waist-deep. “What are we thinking?” he asked
Peter shrugged and took a few steps into the water. He braced his feet and turned to face the flow. “I think it might be some type of endurance test. Clearly, we have to cross it. Best way with a fast river like this is to face the flow and shuffle your feet sideways, never lift them up.” He frowned. “We should also try and crouch down. Lower center of gravity. Ideally we tie off to the shore line, one of us gets across, and ties off. But there’s nothing to tie off to.”
Eric glanced downstream and noticed churning white water with dozens of razor-sharp rocks. “Yeah, getting carried away by that does not sound good.” He pulled out a rope from his bag and tossed it to Peter. “We should tie off to each other too, since we don’t have anything on the shore. In case we lose our footing, the others can keep them from getting swept away.”
The group quickly looped the ropes around their waists to make a chain and began their movement across. Peter was in the lead, then Shannon, Eric, and Naomi at the back. Eric felt the cool water slamming into his shins, threatening to bowl him over. Digging his toes in, he pushed along the sandbar with a little side-shimmy.
“This isn’t too bad!” Shannon shouted out over the roaring torrent.
Eric was about to reply, when his blood went cold. A message from The Paths flickered across his bracer, and he moved his wrist up to the level of his eyes.
[Holder of primal force detected.]
[Additional challenge activated.]
[Full Restore - granted.]
[Defeat the Rush Hydra, and receive an Ember.]
Eric immediately manifested a Blackflame Bolt in his hand and activated Ash Shroud. The large arrow-sized projectile hovered above his palm, tense and ready to be released. A small cloud of ash surrounded his body. “Monster coming! It’s another me-only challenge!”
Peter immediately turned to face him. “Where?!”
Eric was about to reply, but something grabbed his leg, tearing into his boots. He let out a scream of pain as he was dragged into the rushing torrent. More teeth sunk into him, and as he went under the water he fired off the Rote he had been holding right alongside his leg. He saw it slam into the creature, and the monochrome flames outlined the entire shape of the monstrosity.
It was the size of an alligator, with three heads on sinuous necks. A large, stocky body with four pairs of stubby, web-footed legs extended back, and a large tail counterbalanced the trio of heads.
Another head chomped onto his other leg, pinning both—he would have let out another scream, but he was underwater and trying to hold onto what air he had. He flipped around in the water as his head ended up downstream. The rapid, rushing water forced his eyes shut, and the liquid shot up his nostrils—it took every ounce of mental fortitude he could muster to keep his breath held tightly and close off his airway to keep the water from entering his airway.
He felt the strong tug at his waist, he knew that his allies were holding firm to keep him from rushing further downstream. A third set of jaws latched onto his thigh but hit the armored plates sewn into the robe: a crushing injury, but one that would only result in a bruise.
Eric could feel the teeth grinding into his skin and muscle, shearing through both and into the bone of his ankle. Over and over, he fired off Blackflame Bolts. The ripping pain continued as his legs were munched on. His lungs began burning for air.
He poured mana into his Rote, repeatedly, feeling the teeth tear into his flesh and rend his muscle. He could feel the mana leaking out of him from the torn skin, and he could almost sense it igniting the mouths and throats of the monster clamped down on him.
Fear coursed through his body, his mind, and down his spine. The idea that he would die, drowning in this river in a mega dungeon, was something the core of his being rebelled against. He couldn't breathe, his lungs were screaming for relief, and he knew he was losing blood at a rapid rate.
I’m not fucking dying here!
He activated Flashstep and felt the tearing pain increase in intensity as he traveled through the intervening space between him and where he thought Shannon or Naomi were.
Someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him above the water. He took a deep breath. “You okay?” Shannon asked.
Eric couldn’t reply—the form was surging through the water toward him, foaming up a froth as a line of flames streaked through the waves.
Fuck that.
He activated Inferno Trigger, and the creature in the water erupted in a pyroclastic explosion. Eric felt a surge of warmth in his ankles from the healing, but the pain was still there.
[Additional Challenge - Cleared!]
[Ember Acquired.]
Eric couldn’t stand. Shannon’s arm on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him from sweeping down to the clashing rocks. He was coughing up water and gasping for air.
Shannon’s words filtered through the haze and surging torrent of water crashing all around, but sounded far off and distant. “He doesn’t look good! Someone help me out!”
Eric shook his head. His head was fuzzy, and he slurred his words, tried to reply, but only garbled nonsense came out. He could see lines of red running away from him in the frothing surge.
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Shannon tugged him along. “We have to get him on shore! Stop him from bleeding!”
Eric felt another hand, he figured Peter’s due to the size, grab him and begin hauling him through the river. His voice echoed even further away. “Naomi, figure out how we can patch him up!”
Eric’s vision began to go dark. “Blood loss,” he muttered, not sure if he would be heard over the water. “Potion in-my-mouth.”
Naomi’s panicked shout was so far away, down a distant tunnel. “Stay with us!”
Everything went dark.
“What’s your name?” a soft, feminine voice asked.
Eric finished using Healing Touch on the soldier, who would have lost a leg if not for his rapid intervention. “Eric. You?” He kept his gaze down as he worked on bandaging other less-serious injuries.
“Luciana.” She sounded polite, but her voice was tired. Just like his.
They were all tired after days of war. There had been beach landings, one after the other, constantly repelled by the armies of Trok. Casualties were severe, but manageable. Eventually, their allies in Bhlast would be able to reinforce, and they would have some relief.
“Where are you from?” Eric asked as he moved onto the next victim of the most recent assault.
“Bhlast. You?”
He answered nonchalantly, his emotions drained from the recent events. “Earth. I’m one of the Summoned from Trok.”
“Ley Lines below . . . and you’re here? In the medic tents?” she sounded incredulous.
Eric shrugged as he moved from patient to patient, using his mana sparingly and his medical knowledge when it was appropriate. “I’m a Warden. This is where I belong.”
“Not on the front lines?”
Eric smirked and shook his head. “Why should I risk my neck out there? I can help a lot more people here.” He sighed. “Sure, I have barrier-based Skills and Rotes from another Class too, but those would only help a few people. It wouldn’t make a huge difference tactically.” He moved a hand over to a spare Healing Potion, poured it onto a cloth to stretch their supply, and applied it to a burn wound.
He heard her walk over to the patient he was examining, voice sincere and warm, say, “You’re pragmatic. That’s good.”
“You have to be when you get ripped from your home and shoved into a world that runs on mana and Classes,” Eric replied with a light sigh.
He looked up at her for the first time since that conversation had begun and his breath caught in his lungs. Despite being covered in specks of blood, with it streaked through her hair, she was stunning. Green eyes like emeralds, raven-black hair, and a commanding presence.
She smiled as their eyes met. “Well, let’s get to work saving lives. Maybe later we can get drinks at the officer’s tent?”
“Sounds good,” Eric replied. “What did you say your name was again?”
“Luciana.” Her smile was warm, and filled him with a weird sense of hope. “Come on, let’s get these ones tended to.”
Then, the woman before him shifted.
Misty, with her white Chirurgeon outfit, was working alongside him in the dim light. She pointed to a few of the wounds on the current patient. “We should bind this wound here and use mana on that one over there.”
She shifted again.
Xera, dressed in a no-nonsense suit of leather armor, looked down at the current patient, then across the entire triage center, calculating. “I’ll start tagging based upon severity. Some might be inevitable losses.”
She shifted once more, back to Luciana. “I’ll use a Skill on this one. We won’t lose him if we can help it!”
Over and over, the woman cycled through all three distinct individuals in Eric’s internal re-enactment of that day he met Luciana, until the world finally went white.
Eric gasped and woke up to a starry night sky with flowing grasses all around. The pain in his ankles was gone.
Naomi was kneeling next to him, her face right above him, panicked expression fading with relief. Shannon, too, was above him, but standing and not kneeling. She let out a relieved sigh.
Peter was the one who broke the silence. “Bro . . . I think you almost died. You were so pale.”
Naomi held up three empty potion vials. “We used all three of yours. One for each leg, and one to . . . I think regenerate blood flow?”
Eric sat up and looked down his body. His boots were partially shredded from the shin down to the ankle. His robes, oddly enough, had survived the encounter. “One potion applied externally to each leg, and then a potion shoved into my mouth?”
Naomi nodded. “How’d you guess?”
“You followed standard protocol,” Eric replied. “I figured you asked the Index the best way to apply Healing Potions in a standard method, given my injuries.” He tried to stand up, testing his weight on his newly healed limbs. Thankfully, they were fully recovered. The Healing Potions had done their job spectacularly, and he was starving. He grabbed his backpack from the ground nearby, rummaged through the waterlogged mess, and pulled out the soggy, once-firm bread that now crumbled in his hands. He scarfed it down.
Peter grabbed one of his potions and handed it to him. “You will probably need this more than me.”
Eric coughed, spitting up some of the food, accepted the potion, and slotted it into his bandolier. “Fuck, that thing hurt.” He kept eating the food.
“Are you okay?” Shannon asked as she put a hand on his shoulder.
Eric looked at the Reaver. “Peter, you’re right, I think I almost died. I saw memories flash in front of me. The war.”
Luciana, he thought, and then Misty, then Xera . . . Why did I see those other two in there?
Peter took his foot out of the river and joined them. “I wonder when we’re going to get—” His voice cut off as his eyes glazed over.
Eric saw the same happen to Naomi and Shannon.
Ah, right, they haven’t set up their preferences to the bracer.
He poured a little bit of mana into the bracer on his wrist as he interfaced with The Paths.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have 1 level-up to process.]
[Blackflame Mage 14]
[Choose a Skill and Trait to increase.]
Go with Inferno Trigger and Blackflame Blaze.
[Confirmed.]
-----
Skill:
Inferno Trigger 4 - The amplification of (Blackflame Blaze) is increased. Increase to x3.5.
-----
Trait:
[Dire] Blackflame Blaze E3 - Increase burning damage-over-time to 60%.
-----
Name: Eric Mercer
Classes: Blackflame Mage 14
Maximum Sigils: 5
Rotes: [Scorching] Blackflame Bolt, Ash Shroud
Equipped Skills: Flashstep 3, Cinderburst 3, Inferno Trigger 4, Combustion 3
Traits: [Dire] Blackflame Blaze E3, Revitalizing Heat 2
Body Enhancements: Neversick Slime (T5), Mana Skin (T7)
-----
Loadout Slots: 6 (-2 from Body Enhancements)
Gear: Manatech Bracer [Comms, Map, HUD, Alarm, Index Interface], T1 Monster Harvest Mitts, T1 Harvester's Bag, T1 Tracking Gloves, T1 Deflection Matrix, T1 Silence Node, T1 Healing Potion (x1)
Parts & Components: 15x Mud Elemental Ashes,
Embers: 1
-----
Eric let his arm dangle at his side and closed his eyes as he took several deep, calming breaths. Nearly dying had truly shaken him.
On top of that, it pissed him off. He took another bite and munched on the soggy bread furiously as he sated his grumbling stomach.
I almost fucking died because of a stupid monster that only I could fight? Again? The fuck is that bullshit?!
He kicked at the dirt in frustration. He shouldn’t be that weak. He had to be stronger to save the world. He should have used a Sigil immediately, then activated Flashstep the moment he’d gotten dragged into the water, instead of holding onto the valuable resource. He replayed the whole encounter in his mind.
Should’ve immediately grabbed onto the rope. Should’ve had Backblast to get it away from me and get some distance. I have to be well-rounded in my Skill selection going forward.
An idea popped into his head. A possible way to have a defensive countermeasure. Something that would not take up a Loadout Slot like a Skill, because it was already using a Loadout Slot.
Index. Use the Ember on my skin. Hopefully, it'll do something defensive. Maybe harden it? Or some type of defensive countermeasure. I hope harden it or give me some type of damage resistance.
[Confirmed.]
[Mana Skin (T7) has evolved!]
-----
Body Enhancement:
[Reactive] Mana Skin - When bound to the body, the wielder's skin functions as a secondary repository of mana. WARNING: Injury reduces the stockpile of mana, and if healed, mana must be re-stockpiled. [When touched, you may divert stored mana into a reflexive burst of flame that deals damage].
-----
Interesting. The Ember has given the Mana Skin the ability to reactively deal damage. That’s handy. Maybe intent plays into Ember use somehow.
Eric watched as his exposed leg skin distorted shades and hues until it flickered with Blackflame, the white and black wreathing up his body and then fading before returning to its normal tanned shade.
When touched? And it said ‘may,’ so I need to will it to happen?
He pulled his sleeve back and touched his forearm. He felt a little goosebump sensation under his fingertip. He focused his intention on the [Reactive] property respond.
A tiny burst of Blackflame shot out from where his finger was touching, and the warm, enveloping embrace was soothing, but it also lit some of the nearby grass on fire. He quickly willed it to settle, and extinguished the flames before it could spread.
If something bit down on him or clawed him, they would immediately recoil from the fire. Hell, it could even work on armed combatants in melee: who wants to fight a guy where every time you hurt them, they explode in your face?
Eric’s confidence began to return.
I might have allies this time around, but I still need to set myself up for solo encounters when it inevitably happens. When we stop to rest, I’ll swap around my Loadout a bit.
As his allies came out of their level-up trances from interacting with The Paths, he put on a relaxed smile. “Thanks for healing me up and saving my life. I’m good now.”
“You sure?” Naomi asked.
Eric nodded. “I’ve had people try and execute me before, and died a few times. This was just another experience to add to that pile.”
Mentally, he added, though this time around, I don’t have Self-Resurrection to save my ass.