Squad C-4 was gearing up to take out Handface within the next couple of days. All we needed was an opportunity where Swarm was away and we’d take our chance. For that purpose we kept our training to the minimum. Enough to keep in shape and in practice but not enough to exhaust ourselves.

Keeping busy had resulted in me crossing the threshold to level 19 without any sort of exciting circumstances attached. That was good, but now I had 20 points I was staring at trying to decide what to do with them.

The easy choice was Stoneskin. I’d been wanting it for a while and various factors that were making it a bad idea had faded away. Diamonds were significantly cheaper than I had imagined, and I was leveling up regularly enough that I wasn’t terribly concerned about spending the points. The remaining factor was simply that it was a bit too high compared to my level. Level 9, which meant it would take 9 of my 24 mana to cast. It lasted around an hour which meant that half of the cost could be recouped if I had enough warning to cast it far ahead of a conflict, but that had some risks associated with it.

But if I needed it, it was hard to say it would be a waste of mana. Sure I could use Sonic Lance twice for the same mana cost, quite a bit of destruction, but sometimes you needed offense and sometimes you needed defense. I also had a low-cost option for additional defense in Shield, though it had its own weaknesses. I’d also been neglecting upgrading spells, and some efficiency in my most valuable spells could really help.

Except I was also planning to go up against Handface, and he had a sniper rifle. I touched my hand to the chest, still recalling the pain I had felt. Ironically enough, it had mostly come after I passed out and woke up in the hospital as my body hadn’t been able to process it in the moment. Shield might help but only if I knew which direction he would shoot from. And really, having another layer of defense so I could be alive wasn’t a terrible idea. I knew he would be most interested in shooting me, so it really benefited the whole squad even if I could only cast it on myself… and Midnight, through Familiar Bond. I could technically cast it twice but then I’d basically be out of mana. I finalized that choice, and I had just enough points to improve Shield as well.

Turlough (No surname)

Level: 19

Experience: 963

Storage +1

Firebolt +2

Shocking Grasp +3

Grease +2

Force Armor +6

Mage's Reach +1

Translation +1

Haste +4

Disguise

Familiar Bond +1

Enlarge

Energy Ward

Sonic Lance +1

Scrying

Shield +1

Stoneskin

Remaining Points: 0

My total experience had nearly tripled since I came to this world, and I had gone from level 11 to level 19 in just a couple months. Sure I’d almost died a couple times, but what was almost dying for a brief period of time every once in a while compared to feeling like you were dying all the time? I much preferred how things were now. I couldn’t even really think of anything I missed from my old world.

Master Uvithar, maybe. The villagers of Mossley… I had some fond memories, but I wasn’t really close with any of them. And since I had no friends, that was sort of the end of it.

-----

Being at the top of a tower seemed to actually increase my mana regeneration, though I wasn’t quite sure how much. It probably depended on how high, and I’m sure there were other factors involved. Either way, I was experimenting with using small spells and trying to determine exactly when I filled up on mana. Some people might have said I spent too much time at work, so currently I was on top of Bay View Heights. Oswin had been kind enough to let me onto the roof even if access was technically limited.

Across the street I could see Western Luxury Apartments in all its glory. What remained of it, anyway. It seemed that a good portion of the nice balconies it had once advertised were in poor repair and thus unusable, and the once nicely painted brick was now bare in many places. I spotted Khithae there on the roof as well, fiddling with something that was no doubt broken. I was tempted to ask her if she was getting paid for that, but chances were she wasn’t. Most likely she got fed up with something not working and volunteered to fix it herself.

She’d gone directly from her old job as a probably underpaid janitor to staying at Western Luxury Apartments, but I imagined after a month or two working for the Power Brigade in her new maintenance role she’d be able to move somewhere… nicer. I was the type that mostly used my room for sleeping but I still appreciated a nice bed now that I’d been in one.

It was a bit far to chat across the road and I felt silly texting someone who was within line of sight, so I didn’t end up saying anything. As my eyes continued to roam around the city they dropped down to ground level when I felt something.

Magic… maybe, maybe not. Some sort of power or something activating. I didn’t have to guess long, though, as a small point of light expanded into a ten foot tall portal. There was no time to think about how or why it appeared.

Especially not when a fortunately much less than ten foot tall wyvern stepped out. If I had to describe it, it was a scaled bird with a long tail ending in a poisonous stinger. Calling it a dragon wasn’t totally incorrect, but they lacked any sort of breath attack, forelimbs, or the intelligence true dragons possessed. But if you were to take its scales and use them in something that called for dragon scales, you’d get a low quality product at best. So I heard, anyway. Level 11 people didn’t exactly get a lot of chances to be involved in magical crafting even from a purely theoretical standpoint.

“Khithae!” I yelled and waved my arms. She didn’t seem to hear me. Probably listening to music or something. But I had the magic of technology to assist me there. I sent her a text.

She either didn’t have her phone on her- which felt like an oddity- or didn’t hear it. Maybe it was because she was up to her elbows in something she ignored the sound.

I ran for the stairs. Just because the wyvern was currently on the ground didn’t mean it would stay there. And even if it did, once it wandered away from the building towards the street there were pedestrians and passing cars to worry about. They were less important than a friend, but I still had to factor them in.

I fumbled in my pocket for the little earpiece to contact the Power Brigade. I had to report something like this to them. Who else? Jim lived in this building, so he ought to be informed. I had his number since we had plans to ‘hang out’ at some point.

Midnight… was already running toward me. He’d obviously sensed my urgency through the bond and I could feel him moving.

“What’s going on, Turlough?” he asked as he ran up the stairs and hopped into my arms then climbed up to my shoulder.

“A portal opened up across the street. I saw a wyvern come out.” I could feel he was puzzled. “Scaly bird-dragon thing. Don’t use fire.”

“Because it’s a dragon?”

“Because it has scales,” I replied.

As we arrived on the ground floor, Midnight suggested something. “You should get your mask and uniform.”

I hesitated for a moment. The former was… kind of useless. I would like to have my uniform though. It was easy to move in and sturdy. I shook my head. “No time to change.” I pulled a plastic baggy out of my pocket, “But at least I can use this.” I gathered the mana for Stoneskin, pouring the diamond dust- mixed with just a few tiny flecks of granite- onto my palm. The diamonds sank into my skin, leaving sparkles that spread over me- and over Midnight.

I grabbed onto the railing as a brief wave of dizziness overtook me. Yes, it was too much mana too quickly. I could have been a bit slower if I weren’t currently running out into the street to fight a monster. Speaking of which, when I passed through the gate sequestering Bay View Heights, I saw a wyvern trying to eat someone in a car. It seemed to be a size bigger than the other one, and I could hear a few sets of roars.

Though I might have liked to be conservative with mana, I aimed right for the chest of the one poking its head through the broken front window of a car and used Sonic Lance. I couldn’t just let people die, either. The property damage from it smashing into a street lamp was unavoidable, and the quick cease of its momentum came with a satisfying crack of something important inside the thing.

I saw one of the ‘smaller’ wyverns lift up into the air. I tilted my head up and I thought I could still see a piece of Khithae atop the building. Spending fiveish mana to blast a stationary target was one thing, but I couldn’t afford to do the same and potentially miss the flying one.

Then there the next one making its way out to the street.

“Midnight! Can you make your way up the fire stairs to help Khithae? I’ll keep this one distracted.”

“Sure thing!” Midnight nodded and hopped down from my shoulder.

I found a nice shard of glass on the road and hurled it towards the Wyvern. I really needed to get a gun or sword or something. Firebolt might have also gotten the creature’s attention, but that cost mana. Speaking of which, what else was efficient? Enlarge seemed good. And Haste. Both could be shared with Midnight, and while the latter might only last a minute… that one minute could be a big deal for Khithae.

-----

Midnight leapt over the wall of the little courtyard around Western Luxury Apartments. Turlough had distracted the wyvern, and increased size and speed allowed him to easily hop something of that size.

Midnight kept an eye on the one in the sky, since that was the one of most concern at the moment. He probably seemed like a fine snack for it, even at his larger size. The fire stairs themselves would provide some cover as he dashed up them, and being bigger would help if it came down to an actual battle. After his magic was done, anyway.

Haste made Midnight zip back and forth up the snaking fire escape, working his way to the roof. Khithae should have noticed the commotion by now, but Midnight still felt obligated to check. He rapidly made his way around corners, the Haste spell speeding his reactions as much as his actual movement so there was little difference from his relative perspective. He just had to remember that it felt like he was slower than he actually was. That was easier to comprehend when looking at others moving- or not moving, as the case was.

Rounding the corner, Midnight only had a single paw on the next set of stairs when it collapsed. The fall was agonizingly slow as he found himself hurtling to his death. And if he’d actually died no Celmothian would have let him hear the end of it. People on Earth said cats always landed on their feet, and with the same sort of body Midnight was no different. He righted himself even though it involved looking at the ground as it rushed toward him. Time crept by and he stretched out a paw to wrap around the rail of the level below.

Then he was hanging on for dear life. A bit of scrabbling put him back onto the fire escape as it trembled from the falling upper level. He ran back up a flight and saw the gap. It was half a story. A full five feet up and quite a long distance horizontally to the next platform, which appeared to be stable.

Midnight shifted back and forth. Surely, Khithae would be fine without him right? That Sonic Lance was so loud. There were screams and roars. All Khithae had to do was get inside after hearing any of that. Yet when he heard a cry of distress from up above, Midnight leapt.

It was an agonizing moment as he wasn’t quite sure if he was high enough. His front paws stretched and his claws extended to grab the ledge as his belly hit a dangling half-stair. He pulled himself up and did his best to avoid looking down. All he had to focus on was the stairs, and whether or not they were rusty. He continued his run, going ever higher from the ground. Apparently friendship made people crazy.