Eric checked his bracer and the date as he reached the military training facility.
Seventy-second of fall, he thought. And we got here on the twentieth. Depths below, so much in such a short time.
Eric let his arm dangle down as his carriage went through the last protected, reinforced tunnel, and he emerged at the place where the kingdom trained its armed forces. When not patrolling for mana beasts outside the city, or off-rotation, the army would go to this valley via a series of carved corridors that wound through the mountains, and reach this hidden, well-protected, and heavily-fortified training grounds only reachable through those routes. Or, Eric supposed, an airborne assault—which was unlikely—or scaling the mountains—equally unlikely.
Rocky cliffs rose up on both sides of him as the roughly twenty-square-mile area spread out before him. Buildings were carved into the sheer mountain face on his right, toward the east, and on the opposite side of the road were the multitude of training facilities: raised, fortified walls ready for scaling and mock assault, open plains with Rote-grown turf of varying types to replicate all different environments such as swamps and deserts, and even an artificial forest. But, all was snow-covered.
Trok’s standing army was maybe five-hundred-thousand strong, across the whole kingdom. Soldiers generally served for three seasons at a post and then returned home for a season, and part of that three-season rotation was that they would come back to Tenebria, back to this very facility—which was more like a miniature city all its own—and spend half a season refreshing their training.
Not to mention the recruits and those in the re-Class training program who sought to get away from their old life or a trash Class.
Eric’s carriage passed by a group of recruits: he could tell just based on how young they were. Easily his age. They were wearing training plate armor—effectively just clothes with dozens of pounds of metal slabs attached by clips—which followed the same principle as weight training with a vest, ankle, and wrist weights. Easily several-hundred strong, if not into the thousands. Dozens of Sergeants flanked them.
“Stop here,” General Kristoff Iron-eye said. He had been riding the carriage in silence with Eric, and as the carriage came to a halt, he looked at the Blackflame Warlock. “Out here the only formality is rank. Understood?”
Eric nodded. “I’m a knight-errant and not my Class, for purposes of address, correct?”
The General nodded and put his hand on the grip that would open the carriage door. But, before moving his palm, he said, “Just remember that you are here to train with the more veteran forces here for their refresher courses. But, I want you to show these recruits what real power at your age looks like.”
Eric leaned forward. “For what purpose, exactly?”
At that, the older man cracked a wry smile. “I want you to scare the shit out of them. They need to know that there are people in the world, just as old as them, who already eclipse them in power—it’ll be a strong motivator to get stronger. Strong enough to not die.”
“Just make sure you remind them that people like me are few and far between.”
The General opened the door and immediately a sergeant barked out, “Attention!”
The recruits, all of whom looked haggard and miserable, straightened and performed the salute: raising their left fist to their right shoulder, across the chest, and holding it there. If they were using a shield, it would cover their entire chest—a representation that they were the shield of the kingdom.
After the General stepped out, Eric stepped down, and he saw the curious looks from the recruits. It made perfect sense, as to their eyes, Eric was obviously a mage of some sort: he had armored robes on, his grimoire attached to his belt, and looked to be someone of import provided the means of their arrival.
The General cleared his throat. “recruits! I am General Kristoff Iron-eye.” He gestured to his left, and Eric walked up next to him. “This is Blackflame Warlock Eric Mer—apologies, Baxter. He is the Queen’s knight-errant, her right hand. A Summoned.”
At that, the recruits’ eyes went wide, and there were some mutterings and whispers. A sergeant instantly barked out, “Quiet! That’s another mile!” which caused all of the whispers to stop.
The General continued, “The knight-errant is here to demonstrate to you what you might face on the battlefield. None of you pissants would stand a chance in combat against him.” Kristoff then nudged Eric with his elbow. “Do what you will.”
Eric walked up to the line of recruits, raised his voice, and said, “Who here is injured? Raise your hand.” Several went up, and Eric fired off a flurry of Blacksteel Healing Rotes. The Blackflame spat out from his raised left hand, turned to a silver-grey beam of mist, and then shot into those he targeted. There were some brief shouts of panic, and recruits began to bunker down for cover or hide behind one another, but after no apparent harm came to them, they began to recover their proper decorum.
Eric lowered his hand. “Now that all of you are healed, and we’ve dealt with introductions, it’s time to show you what you face. First off, I need one of you who thinks you can take me in hand-to-hand combat.” He walked a few steps back and pointed at the Sergeant. “Choose one. Any of them.” He then looked back to the recruits and flashed a grin, meant to show arrogance. “And I expect you to try and severely hurt me. I’m just a mage, after all—I should be easy to beat.”
The Sergeant walked down the line of recruits, went a few rows deep, and came back with a young man who had two heads on Eric and plenty more muscle. “Recruit Jenkins will do well.” He then turned to the recruit and muttered, “You beat the piss out of this little lordling.”
Eric smiled and dipped his head. “Well, Jenkins, do your best to try and beat me to a pulp.”
Jenkins looked at the General, and the older man barked, “Get on with it!”
That goaded the recruit into action, and he took off the armored plates weighing him down. He took up a fairly standard stance Eric was familiar with: left foot in front of right, left arm slightly extended, right arm brought into the chest to guard, deflect, or jab. He took several steps forward and launched a flurry of strikes at Eric.
Trusting to his Tarrasque Nervous System, Eric deftly dodged every single strike. The man was a decent fighter, but he couldn’t touch the Summoned. Eric spoke as he dodged, addressing the other recruits. “I am your same age, and have no formal combat training aside from sparring with Summoned Steele, came from a mage subtype Class, and I am still barely exerting any effort in this little spar.” He kept dodging, and then activated Reaper’s Flamesight. The sudden change in his eyes’ color caught Jenkins off-guard, and Eric used that chance to do a quick jab at the sternum.
The recruit had the wind knocked out of him and collapsed. Eric knew he wasn’t badly injured, but fired off a Blacksteel Healing just in case. “With a single jab,” General Kristoff shouted, “one of your strongest was taken down.” The other recruits looked at each other and seemed panicked. The General continued, “People like the knight-errant here are rare, but they exist, and you may face them on the field of battle.”
Eric saw Jenkins move out of the corner of his eye, and the man shot up with an uppercut. In response, Eric activated Cinderscale Shroud, and simply raised his hand, catching the recruit’s fist mid-air. The sudden transformation caused gasps and muttering, and even the Sergeant and General looked caught off-guard. Eric shouted out, “I could kill you with barely a thought.” He tossed Jenkin’s fist to his right. “You all want to survive on a battlefield? You need to get better.” He looked at the General. “Permission to use some Skills and other Rotes?”
The General’s look of shock morphed to a smile. “Sure.”
Eric turned and caught another fist from Jenkins, then used Blackflame Breath, intentionally excluding everyone as a target. The man let out a scream of shock and tried to pull away, but Eric held tight onto the man. The wave of flame washed out over the first few rows of recruits, who all let out screams, but then stopped and seemed curious as to why they were being assailed by flames and not burned.
Eric turned off the Rote and tossed Jenkins’ fist to the side once more. “I could have wiped out your entire contingent, and that was a Rote. I used it before anyone could react.” He pointed to the empty field and spent a Sigil to activate Blackflame Meteor, and then said, “Look over there, and see what a Skill can do.”
The recruits turned, and as they did, Eric dropped his Cinderscale Shroud and stepped up behind Jenkins. “Good job,” Eric said. “Back to your spot in line.”
“How’d you get this strong?” the man asked.
“Hard work,” Eric replied, which wasn’t a lie, as the mega-dungeon was, indeed, a deadly ordeal. The meteor slammed down into the ground.
Crack! Boom! Fwoosh!
The entire field was set ablaze and Eric willed the Blackflame Blaze to cease. Still, the impact shook the ground, and devastated that area, leaving behind a cracked, scorched patch of ground. The blast wave of superheated air had seared and scorched the grass and bits of shrubs farther out as well. The snow had been incinerated in an instant.
The General let out a barking laugh, then said, “Lads, that is what power looks like!”
“How do we stand up to that?” Jenkins asked, looking back at the General with a mix of fear and resolve.
The General walked over and replied, “Simple: you get stronger. There’s power in numbers. A single Reaper like the knight-errant here could decimate all of you unless you work together. Remember one of your basic Skills.”
Jenkins nodded, “Shield Wall. You’re telling me that if we all used that together, we could survive that?”
Eric shrugged. “Maybe not my Skill, but definitely some big ones.” He had to keep up the air of arrogance and cocky-upstart to keep portraying himself to the wider public as he desired—a merc with a heart of gold, who now served the kingdom because they had paid him well with a position, prestige, and noble marriage. Eric raised his voice, addressing all of the recruits. “Where I came from, fire could be rained from the sky at-will. Imagine a ballistae bolt, falling from above and destroying anything it hit. There was no real defense aside from trying to intercept those projectiles before impact. When they landed, it was like my Skill just now.”
He then walked over to the General, stood next to the man, and faced them all. “You have magic here: Skills, Rotes, Traits—the means to do things I never thought possible. There’s strength in numbers: if I was out of Sigils, and low on mana, you could all overwhelm me. Even with my Body Enhancements, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Eric meant that, too. He had been in war, and knew how strong numbers were. A single person could only make so much of a difference. He had seen firsthand that a Shield Wall with thousands of people participating could stop incredible attacks.
The General looked at Eric. “Do you mind letting them give it a try? That flood of your Blackflame, not injuring them, but to show them that their Shield Wall could hold up to it?”
“I’m okay with that,” Eric replied.
The Sergeant barked out orders, and the recruits dropped formation, closed ranks, and they all glowed with a subtle, blue-purple light. Sigils vanished from left hands as the glow grew in power, becoming an aura that completely encompassed them. It formed into a barrier just like Peter’s spherical defensive Skill. Eric knew that this Skill, in particular, was much like many of the army-focused Class abilities: the more people who had it active, the more powerful the effect would become.
“Ready?” Eric asked.
There were mutterings of fear, and one recruit shouted, “I’m not dying during training!” and broke formation, running to the left. The Sergeant immediately made for him and began barking orders for him to drop to his face and do push-ups. A few more recruits split off, and Sergeants chased them out of the formation to a safer distance and then began administering tongue-lashings and exercise as punishment.
Jenkins, at the front of the formation, still had fear in his eyes, but looked at Eric with a defiant resolve. “Do it!”
Eric activated his Rote once more, and poured Blackflame toward them in a torrential outpouring. The primal force hissed, crackled, and sought destruction—yet Eric willed it to not harm the recruits. The flames hit the barrier and flowed up, around, and over the group.
Surprising, Eric thought. I would have figured that my Rote carried enough ‘oomph’ to get through.
The Blackflame was hot, even as he willed it to not harm the shields, and the recruits were sweating profusely and their skin began to turn red from the ambient heat that flowed over them. He could feel the desire, the urge of destruction, pushing back against his will, and Eric had to focus fully on keeping it from destroying. The flames dwindled down and calmed, but it was a harsh reminder that even with his mastery of the primal force, it was still something that sought annihilation. He could only hold it back so much.
Still, the recruit’s shields held, and Eric knew he needed to prove a point to them.
He reached down for his grimoire, grabbed it, and raised it. The Blackflame surged forth with renewed vigor, empowered by the Gear, and shattered the shields. The recruits were blasted back onto their asses from the feedback of the Skill breaking, and Eric turned off the Rote, willing all of the Blackflame to vanish. It vanished, and he felt relief at being able to keep from harming the trainees. “You made me use Gear,” Eric said loudly over the grumbling and gasps of bruised bodies. “Most people don’t have something like this.”
The General barked out, “Attention!” The recruits took a good thirty seconds, but finally got into formation, and there was a look of satisfaction on Jenkins’ face which was reflected to some degree for each of them. The General continued, “You were able to stand up to a Rote from a level one-hundred-and-eighty-five Reaper. Without his Gear, you would have held strong. And there are one-thousand of you. Imagine how powerful, how protected you will all be, when you are ten-thousand strong. I bet you could hold up to one of the knight-errant’s big Skills.”
I doubt it, Eric thought. Maybe twenty-thousand using the same Skill all at once: but even then, the barrier drains mana as it is impacted. I can out-sustain. Maybe one Blackflame Meteor, sure, but not two or three.
These recruits would eventually become Soldiers, and that was a Vanguard Class. In heavy armor, they wouldn’t have nearly the amount of mana regeneration from the ambient atmosphere to keep pace with Eric. Not to mention Eric wasn’t powered up by his buffs from Blackflame Blazes, and wasn’t channeling more mana into his ‘overflow’ bucket of mana which would be consumed with Mana Burn to empower his abilities.
The General turned and went back to the carriage, and shouted. “Resume training!”
Eric chose to share one more piece of advice. He shouted, “You are Trok’s first and last line of defense! I won’t always be where you are fighting to support you. Trust in one another, and you’ll survive.”
He mentally added, Probably.
Then, Eric turned and joined the General. Once he had shut the carriage door and they resumed moving, the man let out a chuckle. “Thanks for that. Scared the piss out of them, I’m sure.”
Eric cracked a smile. “Maybe a few of them.” He looked out the window at the now-reforming trainee group who were off for more weighted hiking and exercise. Keeping up appearances of a Summoned with little Elyndian knowledge, he said, “Barriers that get stronger with joined force?”
Kristoff nodded and crossed his arms. “Dungeon divers are useful in combat, but are generally small parties.” He frowned. “I’ve seen them on a battlefield—they make a difference, but only to a point. Numbers matter more than a single individual with raw strength.” He snapped his fingers. “One lucky shot is all it takes.”
“What’s the composition like for Trok’s military?” Eric asked. He didn’t actually know the rough distribution. “Can you put it into numbers or rough percentages?”
“I’ll do you one better, and tell you how the whole thing works.”
Eric leaned forward and tented his hands. He was about to learn something new.
The General relaxed his posture, sinking into the seat more as the carriage moved, and continued. “Everyone starts out as either a Soldier, Combat Medic, Archer, or Slayer. Vanguard, Warden, Stalker, and Reaper, respectively. After they reach level fifty, they upgrade to their Elite Class. Soldier to True Vanguard, Combat Medic to Combat Surgeon, Archers to Sharpshooter, and Slayer to Warrior.”
“How do you choose who gets what when they join?”
The General looked out the window. “When times are good? We can see what their actual talents lie towards. For example, a former-Rogue might show talent with tending to injuries, so we’d put them into the Combat Medic retraining program. But, in times of need? Whatever the kingdom demands to ensure a good distribution of forces.”
“What do those numbers look like?”
“Sixty percent Vanguard, twenty percent Warden, ten percent Stalker, and ten percent Reaper.”
Eric asked, “And what happens when they move up to that level fifty threshold and qualify for a second Class?”
“Those with promise as commanders are trained into the Officer Class—a basic Strategist that can complement their existing role. For everyone else? We encourage diversity. Generally, Vanguard branches out to Reaper, and Stalker branches out to Warden: vice-versa for both sets, obviously.” The General coughed a little then continued. “With the possibility of war on the horizon with the Allied Cities, I imagine we’ll see another few groups of recruits and a mass mobilization.”
“Hopefully not for a while if ever,” Eric replied. “But, if that time does come, I’ll serve the kingdom.”
“Aye, good.” He looked back at Eric with a curious glint in his eye. “Do you want to join the military in a more formal way?”
“Not particularly,” Eric replied. “I do have another question—where are Healing Mages or Barrier Mages? Surely having them would help.” Eric knew the answer already, of course, but he had to keep playing up his role.
“Any of those magic-leaning subtypes are handled by a sub-division of the armed forces. The Mage Corps. That’s where we are headed: I want you to know how you’d be complementing the existing army. It is far better to embed you into a unit rather than have you out solo on the field of battle. Even if you were just out with your party on the battlefield, it would make you a target. Better to have you blend in and rain fire on our foes.”
Eric nodded and didn’t respond, and the General seemed done talking. The two rode in silence the remaining few miles, and arrived in front of a huge building carved into the walls of the valley. He was quite familiar with the location, as he had spent some time there training with the Healing and Barrier Mages that the military employed.
The General explained to him what he already knew as they got out of the carriage and headed inside the facility. The Mage Corps were not directly ingrained into the main army, and were instead treated as a group of specialist units. Small squadrons would be sent out with specific groups, reporting to the Officer in charge of the larger army unit. But, they were not always there to accompany the armed forces, given that they were rarer.
“Why are they rarer?” Eric asked. “Surely it's just a matter of training to get someone to acquire a Class.”
The General shook his head as they walked through the carved stone halls towards what Eric knew was a lecture hall. “It is heavily reliant on a person’s innate mana processing speed. You know how that works, I trust?”
Eric replied, “Ambient mana converts to a person’s personal mana reservoir over time. More heavy clothes and armor means it happens slower.”
“True, but some people process mana far faster. Those are the ones we put into the Mage Corps.”
Eric knew that already, but he also knew the biomechanical and ethereal property that caused it. The real reason was genetics, pure and simple. As the mana reservoir was part of a person’s body, though slightly phased out of existence with it, and interactable with the right mix of Classes, it could inherit genetic markers from parents that would improve mana conversion from ambient to personal. Of course, only someone who had seen the mana reservoir—like Eric had in his one instance of a live attendance of a Vivisection of a prisoner sentenced to death at an academic symposium—and had intimate knowledge of biology and inherited genetic markers like what he had from Earth, would be able to put two and two together and figure it out.
Never going to tell anyone that, Eric thought. No way in the world I am going to do that. No need for genomics programs that’ll cause more issues in the populace.
They reached a lecture hall and the General opened the door and waved Eric in. The lecturer who was at the front, directly to Eric’s right, went quiet as he walked in. Then, the General came in, and the teacher immediately straightened and saluted. “Attention!”
The various men and women—mostly on the younger side, but with a few mid-twenties and early-thirties interspersed—stood up and saluted.
“At ease,” The General barked out. Then he looked at the now-relaxed teacher. “Rimmald, this is Blackflame Warlock Eric Baxter, knight-errant and Summoned. He is to attend for the next six days. There may come a time in the future when he will be integrated into your units along with his party of fellow Summoned. He is the leader of the Dragon Divers dungeon diving organization, and his party on their own could decimate all of you.”
At that, there were some quiet remarks and mutterings from the mage-aligned Classes in the rows of lecture seats: mostly coming from the older individuals, who Eric knew were there for their partial-season retraining rotation.
Eric waved and said, “Happy to be here. Where do you want me to sit?”
The lecturer pointed to an open chair, and Eric looked back at the General, who gave him a curt nod, then said, “You are to be given officers quarters for the duration of your stay.”
Eric waved his hand. “No need. I have the ability to teleport. I just need a fire that is here and working. I’ll be home each night, but come back in the morning.”
At that, the mutterings became louder, and more impressed, and the lecturer shouted, “Back to order!” The room quieted.
The General chuckled. “Of course. Range?”
“Thirty miles. Any flame within line-of-sight.” Eric let his eyes shift to their Reaper’s Flamesight mode, and while that Trait only had a ten-mile range, he could still see the handful of fires blazing in the capital. While heatstones were primarily used, they couldn’t get hot enough for smithing metal, and so actual fire was still used. But, he focused instead on the little pilot light he had set up with Naomi’s help in her workshop. He had another one in his Storage Space which would run off of ambient mana, and while it was no stronger than a candle, it would be enough. “And I can see flames through walls.”
The General let out a chuckle at that. “Full of surprises. Very well. I take my leave.” The General turned and departed, closing the door.
Eric went to his seat and ignored the little whispers around him as he settled into something he had never learned in his now-extinct future-timeline—how the Mage Corps actually operated. As the Admiral had taken him under her wing, and that similarly-designed but differently-organized wing of the military had very different operations given the navy fighting on water, Eric was experiencing military tactics training and education for the first time.
He was excited to say the least.
***
The days passed in a blitz for Eric. He spent the mornings and mid-day in the lecture room, learning the tactics and methodology that the Mage Corps implemented, then in the afternoon, they went outside to training grounds. After that, he would use Through the Flames to return home and spend the evening with his wife, the other Summoned, and their spouses.
Outside at the training grounds was where he had the most eye-opening experience, given that in the extinct-future timeline he had never been involved with, having been in the healing tents, then the back lines.
The Mage Corps was primarily focused around the two different Class-types: Healing or barrier for the Wardens, and various elementally aligned mages such as fire, lightning, acid, or ice for the Reapers. When Eric inquired with the lecturer, they informed him that the General’s described percentages of army distribution did not apply to the Mage Corps, as it was a fifty-fifty split more or less.
Eric stayed with the Reapers during the exercises, and while physically he outclassed them easily with his plethora of Body Enhancements, and given the fact that his Rotes and Skills were empowered by his vast mana supply thanks to Primal Reservoir, and from applying burns and stacking his buffs to targets with his Embersoul Blackflame Blaze, his abilities outshined them as well. But, he could see just how potent grouped and condensed fire from multiple abilities was, as during a breather, and on a small, few-copper-coin bet, they had a challenge to see who could use Rotes alone to get deeper into a rock wall.
Eric’s Blackflame Evocation, without using his grimoire as he considered that an unfair advantage, was able to make a significant impact, but he saw firsthand how acid was far better at getting through solid objects, and once a target was softened by that elemental type, anything subsequent would be far more impactful.
There is definitely something to be learned here for the fields of war, he thought. I’m strong, yes, but what good is that level of strength if I cannot utilize it in different ways to bypass defenses?
Blackflame was mighty, able to—eventually—destroy anything. But, the amount of time that it took to destroy things was lengthy if it was durable. He had some Skills to bypass specific types of defenses: Bristling Bastion for a constant area-of-effect that was literally a smoke and ash cloud, thus able to go anywhere air could flow, Cinderstorm for massive AOE at a distance, Blackflame Beam to penetrate heavily armored or protected targets, Combustion Trigger to deal incredible damage requisite upon building up his Blackflame Blaze Trait, Fiery Chains which require already blazing targets, but went through objects as if they didn’t exist, and of course his trump card, Blackflame Meteor.
But he came across an issue: all of his Conduit acquired Skills—Mana Bomb, Conduits Wrath, Manacule Tornado, and Manacule Minefield were all made of his raw mana turned into damaging power. There wasn’t any Blackflame inherent in the damage, though once the Skills impacted something, the DOT spread. But the initial impact needed to get through. Barriers were annoyingly effective at dispersing raw mana-based damage. Even with his Trait, Final Reaping, applying a twenty-five percent barrier and shield reduction upon impact, the raw power of mana wasn’t enough.
As he stood there, in a training field, drenched in sweat despite the cold and falling snow, he knew he needed to spend a large amount of his Embers to change that. He had six remaining, and needed to combine some Skills. That would require him to put Ranks into some of the Skills
First up was Manacule Minefield, Mana Bomb, and Manacule Tornado. Thanks to the Polymerization being done while he had the Conduit Class incorporated into his existing one, it came out as a Blackflame Evoker Skill, and thus imbued with the annihilating power. It cost him a total of two Embers, putting him down to four.
-----
Skill:
Blackmana Tempest Minefield 1 - This Skill costs 3 Sigils to use. The user creates a tornado of manacules embedded with Blackflame that is sent ripping across the battlefield, dealing massive damage to all impacted. This tornado can be guided, or sent on a path. An individual suffers injury when first impacted, or when leaving and then re-entering the tornado’s area—not while inside the eye of the storm. 10-second duration, 100-foot travel distance, 10-foot diameter width. As the tornado travels, manacules are dispersed within 500-feet of the edges of the Skill, randomly falling no closer than 1-foot near one another. Upon being touched, they explode for moderate damage. Mines last for 1 hour. Mana may be spent to amplify the damage of this Skill.
-----
He wanted to combine Conduit’s Wrath and Blackflame Beam as they complimented one another, but he would have to wait until he could put more Ranks into the former. The same went for combining Evoker's Imbuement with Death’s Best Friend, as he envisioned buffing up Peter with dealing Blackflame as a damage type, while also having the health and mana share active. It would fix what Eric saw was the biggest flaw with the existing Evoker's Imbuement Skill, which was that for one Sigil it only lasted for one strike, Skill, or Rote.
Confident that he had overcome one of his personal biggest weaknesses, he tested the new Skill. Everyone on the training field went quiet as the Skill surged out from him. First, a small whirl of snow and wind spiraled to life, and in Eric’s vision, he saw a small directional grid.
How does this work? he thought.
[Think of it like a vision based controller. Look at the direction you want it to travel.]
Eric focused on the ‘forward’ axis, and the wind and snow shot forth, expanding in size from the little swirl at his feet to its full ten-foot diameter, and shot up into the sky. He had no clue how high it went, but it easily touched the clouds far above. The swirling white of snow shifted to blue-purple of the Ley Lines and raw mana’s hues, and then ignited with crackling, popping bits of Blackflame.
As the tornado spun forward toward the mountain wall, Eric saw the mines dispersing all around, and made sure to shout, “Don’t move forward!”
Everyone stared as the Skill surged forward, into the wall, and then began carving through it—from ground level up to the top of the mountain range, Eric’s tornado tore a hole into the face, and the constant little pops and bangs of the manacule mines detonating took chunks out of the path of travel. The tornado was a wall of destruction that annihilated everything it touched—though Eric could tell that it took a second to bite in and melt the rock before moving forward.
One of the trainers ran over and said, “You need to stop that.”
Eric let the Skill cease, then willed all the mines to disable. The flickering black and white embers on the ground faded, and everyone stood in silence as Eric had just carved a ten-foot-wide gap into the mountain face. “I guess I overdid it,” Eric sheepishly said.
“Creator above,” one of the nearby mages whispered. “That’s just not fair.”
Eric turned to them and manifested Blackflame in his palm. “I worked for this level of power.” He then closed his hand. “I think I won our little contest though. Don’t pay me—keep your coins.”
***
The eightieth of fall arrived, and Eric woke up in Misty’s arms. He yawned, gave her a kiss, and then got up.
She stirred a bit then blinked awake. “Another day of training?” she asked.
Eric shook his head. “Nope. I’m heading to the Twilight Depths today with the others.” He flashed her a smile. “I’ll get back tonight. I want an early start to make sure I don’t miss an evening with you.”
Misty sat up a bit, then rolled over and murmured, “Good.”
Eric finished up his routine, and then as he got his armor on he addressed the milestones waiting for distribution. After his training with the Mage Corps, he knew what he wanted to Rank up. He pulled his bracer up to the level of his eyes and activated the function that he had been holding back.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have 5 level-ups to process.]
[Blackflame Evoker 186, 187, 188, 189, 190.]
[Choose a Skill and Trait to increase. Then repeat this four times.]
I want to put two Ranks into Evoker's Imbuement, then Polymerize that with Death’s Best Friend. Then, the remaining three into Conduit’s Wrath, since I need to get that to ten baseline to Polymerize with Blackflame Beam. As for Traits, all five into Embersoul Blackflame Blaze. That’ll put me at three Embers left.
[Confirmed. Polymerization of Skills initiated.]
[Parameter check: both Skills are of the same Rank? Yes.]
[Parameter check: both Skills are of the same Enhancement? Yes.]
[Applying . . .]
-----
Skill:
Blackflame Tether 3: The user designates a target within 800-feet. Their life force, mana, and primal force are linked to that target. For the next 3 minutes, any healing or damage inflicted to one target or the other is halved and distributed with the other. The user may transfer any amount of health or mana from themselves to the target, or vice-versa, which cannot reduce either below a low health threshold. Additionally, all damage dealt by the chosen target becomes imbued with Blackflame, applying Blackflame Blaze.
-----
Skill:
Conduit’s Wrath 4: Increase range to 700-feet.
-----
Trait:
[Dire] Embersoul Blackflame Blaze S8: - Increase DOT flare-up upon subsequent attacks (of any type) from the user or those they designate as allies to trigger 8% of total burn damage.
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Huh, Eric thought. For the Wrathflame’s Tether, how does, say, Peter applying the DOT work with the passive buffs?
[He only does the damage over time on every hit. He does not get your damage enhancement, or any other riders.]
I figured as much. Probably smart balancing on your end.
[I can only do so much.]
Full readout, please.
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Name: Eric Baxter
Classes: (III) Blackflame Evoker 190
Maximum Sigils: 19
Rotes: [Scorching] Blackflame Evocation, Blackflame Breath, [Heat Sink] Cinderscale Shroud, Blacksteel Healing, Mana Channel, Mana Drain
Equipped Skills: [Armored] Bristling Bastion I1, Cinderstorm 3, Blackflame Beam 10, [Flareburst] Flashstep E10, Combustion Trigger A10, Blackflame Eruption 3, Locking Singularity 3, [Apocalyptic] Blackflame Meteor 3, Blackflame Tether 3, Nothing’s Certain C10, Fiery Chains 3, Through the Flames 3, Mana Conversion 9, Conduit’s Wrath 4, Blackmana Tempest Minefield 1
Traits: [Dire] Embersoul Blackflame Blaze S8, Fires of Death 2, Mana Burn 10, Final Reaping E10, Conversion Catalyst 1, Primal Reservoir 1, Evoker’s Aura 1, Reaper's Flamesight 1, Reaper's Reprieve 1
Body Enhancements: [Antithesis] Neversick Slime (T5), [Reactive] Mana Skin (T7) {DR 20}, [Surging] Mana Muscles (T6), Tarrasque Nervous System (T8) {Igniting}, Steelbone Infusion (T7)
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Loadout Slots: 23 (-5 from Body Enhancements)
Gear: Manatech Bracer [Comms, Map, HUD, Alarm, Index Interface, Tracking, Storage Dimension {1 ft. x 1 ft.}, Texting, Bug-Fry {1x/day}], T8 Leysteel Focus Grimoire of Retexturing, T6 Hidden-Plate Armor Robes, Underworld Kit, Toughskin Slime (8 oz.), Silence Node, T2 Wavestrider Boots, T1 Wavewender Choker, x10 phylactery [empty], x10 DNA container [Eric, Naomi, Peter, Shannon, Misty, James, Cecil, Benson, Mari, Amber], T1 Communication Earring [Spymaster], T1 Communication Earring [Queen],
Carried Curatives: Eric - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Naomi - x15 T1 Healing Potion, x5 T2 Healing Potion, x5 T3 Healing Potion, x5 T4 Healing Potion, x10 Soothe-Salve, x10 Ember Grease, x10 Panacea, x10 Maiden's Kiss
Shannon - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Peter - x5 T1 Healing Potion, x3 T2 Healing Potion, x2 T3 Healing Potion, T4 Healing Potion
Parts & Components: 0
Personal Finances: Scrip: 50 silver, 300 copper
Coins: 9 gold, 450 silver, 830 copper
Embers: 3
Kills: 1513