What if pushed the red mana through one finger only? The flaming finger of death!?

It turned out that it was indeed possible, which allowed me to exert more pressure and hence reach further, achieving a maximum of six yards, with my first two attempts. That was about three times the length compared to using ten fingers, at the cost of using about one-sixth of the mana perhaps. So the damage was going to be significantly smaller than using ten fingers, at the gain of more reach. Using more than one finger gave results somewhere in between.

The main obstacle preventing me from pushing even more mana into a single finger was the limited capacity of my mana channel and the limits of my will power. I could literally feel, how my will pushed the mana, and how I was running into a barrier at some point, where my brain could not provide any more ‘push.’

And that was despite my diamond level channels and ridiculous willpower. Which made me wonder how much less others would be able to do… At some point, I’d have to compare. I had observed Jak’lo, of course, but he wasn’t the best comparison point after all, given his likely high levels and oodles of experience.

Either way, I liked this spell.

While I had never been a big fan of spells like ‘flame cone’ or ‘burning hands’ in pen and paper, or computer roleplaying games I had played… this flamethrower effect was seriously impressive in reality. Just being able to continuously hose down stuff around me was not bad at all. The ability was a bit of a mana hog, with about ten red mana a second with the standard strength. But based on how the trees around me burst into flames when I scorched them for a couple of seconds, it had some oomph to it.

And I could always overload them a bit, even though I could readily feel the extra effort and loss in efficiency that implied.

I kept on working on the spell for another couple of hours and could feel a robust increase in control, stability, and speed of casting. And I kept on pushing, refining, practicing, completely ignoring my mental exhaustion, until, at some point, I felt as if things suddenly snapped into place.

Eagerly, I checked my stats to see if I had learned a new spell.

Name

Daniel Hollander

Rank

Initiate 9

Title:

Mental Bastion (Mental Defense x2)

First Initiate (Mana Recovery x2)

Army of One (V +20%)

Against the Mighty II (St +25%)

Transformer (1:5)

Droghul’s Disciple (+Healing/Kill)

Strength:

12.5 [+1]

Intuitive Reasoning:

15

Mana

Free

Current

Potential

Agility:

10 [+2]

Complex Reasoning:

19 [+1]

Silver

0

94

94

Speed:

9 [+1]

Emotional Intelligence:

9

Black

0

125

125

Dexterity:

9 [+2]

Perception:

19 [+1]

Amber

0

94

94

Endurance:

12 [+1]

Spatial Awareness:

22

Red

2

5

94

Vitality:

12 [+1]

Willpower:

23 [+1]

Yellow

4

0

0

Green

2

0

0

Grey

2

0

0

Available characteristic points: 20 [-3]

Spells

Mana Vision

Level 14

Twilight Vision

Level 2

Minor Healing

Level 10

Shadow Skin

Level 6 [+1]

Shadow Sense

Level 1

Midnight Skin

Level 3

Partial Incorporeality

Level 2

Aura of Droghul

Level 3

Higrom’s Touch

Level 3

Heliod’s Minor Heat Shield

Level 0 [+0]

Scorching Flames

Level 1 [+1]

Available spell points: 26

Skills

Mental Ward

Level 8

Mental Fortitude

Level 12

Multitasking

Level 6

Internal Mana Manipulation

Level 8

Meditation

Level 6

External Mana Manipulation

Level 7 [+3]

Enhanced Mana Recovery

Level 2

Sword Fighting

Level 10

Shadow Affinity

Level 1

Available skill points: 10

And there it was. Scorching Flames. And due to my interaction with Jak’lo I had also learned Heliod’s Minor Heat Shield, even if only had level 0. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but my guess was that it implied that I had some basic understanding of the concept, perhaps had put together a working prototype, but it hadn’t ‘snapped into place’ like the Scorching Flames spell.

Beyond that, I could see the results of the previous day’s workout. There were substantial changes across the board, even if, as I had noticed already earlier, at a much slower pace than before. And, of course, the three points I had spent into mental stats.

And there was a significant jump in external mana manipulation, probably due to my extensive spell training today. Three additional points for a single day of fiddling around with mana weren’t half bad and reinforced the belief that I shouldn’t just dump skill points into these abilities at such an early stage.

Even though I was delighted about having learned a new spell, I did want to experiment a bit more with combining two different mana types, perhaps find a new combination that would yield a powerful effect. But before embarking on that, I made the two free red mana part of my mana cycle and got another red mana from transforming five of the remaining free mana, so that I ended up with a grand total of ninety-seven. Every point counted, since practicing with the red mana and running the spell for a few seconds on full tilt had almost completely emptied me.

Thinking how to go about combining two different mana types for some unique new effect, I realized that the main problem I was facing was that I had no clear image in mind. What had helped me tremendously in the dungeon was to see the artifact by Du’Andrazzil at work and merely copying its effect. Not that getting a life-draining ability out of a combination of amber and black mana was that farfetched. But what about amber and red mana? Or red and black mana? I had no real idea of what to work on.

Without any guidance on how to proceed, I decided to take a look at the rune structure of one of the simpler spells I possessed – Minor Healing.

I called forth amber mana and formed spell. Instead of executing it, I left it floating in front of my mind, and then began the mind-numbing work of trying to figure out what the components of the rune structure were for. I went through innumerable iterations of the same thing. First, I used my dagger to make a small, lightly bleeding cut into my arm and then recast the spell, this time with a target and I tried comparing the two rune-structures, to see if there was any added area or altered component. After doing and redoing the same thing for about twenty times, inflicting cuts all over my body, I finally identified an area that seemed to undergo a significant change with the target specified. And that area stayed the same, independently of what body part I was trying to heal, albeit with other changes in the structure. Afterward, I changed the mana levels I poured in, the type of wound I tried healing, the specific body component I wanted to heal, and on and on.

It was exhausting work, but I felt I was gaining a rudimentary understanding of the make-up of the healing spell, one spell out of eleven spells… and a basic one at that. Subsequently, I turned toward my other spells and kept on casting and recasting them in an effort to identify components of the rune-structure. After another two hours of working through innumerable iterations, I finally decided to postpone my studies, since I wasn’t going to be able to develop a new spell any time soon.

And whether I wanted to or not, I also needed to do a bit more of physical training.

With a groan, I jumped back on my bike and pedaled back into town. In some way, training those spells had been relaxing and even fun, but I needed to keep in mind my ultimate goal.

As I got into town, I noticed that people were unusually jumpy somehow, as if something had put a real scare into them. And many more people were carrying weapons now, compared to just a couple of days earlier.

At the hotel, Ben and the others were lounging around the entrance. Well, lounging wasn’t quite the right word – for once they were actually working on stuff, Ben and Jimmy on magic, Sue and Betsy did some mock fighting, and Tom, well, Tom was carving something, which perhaps wasn’t really some sort of training. Then again… as I was watching, I noticed that Tom was not really carving the piece of wood, but… shaping it with his hands. Which looked freaky and awesome at the same time.

Either way, I was relieved to see that the group was actually trying to make progress and not rest on their laurels.

“Hey Daniel, what have you been up to?” Ben asked when I came in, dismissing a small whirlwind dancing on top of his hand with a flick of his wrist. “I haven’t seen you for like two days!”

“Yeah, I have been working on stuff,” I responded, as I walked into the lobby, and plopped myself heavily onto a chair. “I see you are exercising as well?”

“We figured that we had to. This morning a bunch of gormlocks came into town attacking a few people. And yesterday evening, apparently someone, or something, killed four bikers within seconds!”

“Gormlocks?”

“Yeah, little coyote-like creatures, with fire-based abilities. They can shoot tiny fireballs at you. One by itself is not a huge problem, but when they come in a pack, it can get dicey real quick. From what I heard, they caught a couple of people out in the open, and it didn’t end well for them.”

“The people or the gormlocks?”

“Duh, the people,” Ben snorted. “All they found was charred, partially eaten bodies. A few people eventually chased them off, but they are still somewhere in the area. So, everyone is nervous.”

“And what about those bikers? What do people know?”

“So, there was a witness. A girl, Julianne, was running home in the dark for whatever reason and came across those bikers. Her story is a bit confusing, but she said that the bikers assaulted her and then suddenly someone shrouded in darkness, with silver-shining eyes came and saved her. It sure sounds like some adolescent fantasy, but there is no doubt that four bikers ended up dead, all of them killed with a sword.”

“Hmm, I see,” I responded, noncommittally.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see all five of them stare at me, probably waiting for some type of further reaction.

“You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Daniel?” Sue finally asked when I didn’t respond further.

“Me? Why would you think so?”

“Well, I really don’t know,” Sue drawled. “Shadows, silver eyes… just a hunch.”

“Oh, I see,” was all I said.

“Daniel, I’d l-,” Ben started to say but was interrupted by Tom.

“Leave him be. I don’t think anyone here cries about fewer assholes in the world, right?”

“Well, no, but-“

“No ‘buts’,” Tom said, more forcefully this time. “Whoever it was, he did a good thing for all of us. I mean, they were going after Julianne… she is, what, 15?”

“Fine,” Ben sighed, leaning back into his armchair before his eyes fixed on my face again. “Another reason for our training is that we are going to go on another mission soon, some more scouting from what Golgariat has mentioned.”

He briefly glanced at the others before continuing. “And, well, I guess we were wondering if you’d like to come along.”

Hmm. That was a surprise. Somehow… I thought that we were going to stay around here. But it made sense, now that I thought about it. I mean, everyone needed to chip in and do something to ensure our survival. And people needed to earn money too. But that begged the question of whether I wanted to join in on that. After all, it wasn’t really part of my immediate plans.

“When do you need to leave?” I finally asked.

“The day after tomorrow,” Ben responded. “We’ll be out in the wilderness for a couple of days at least.”

“Wow, that is kind of short notice,” I said, deep in thought.

“Hah, yeah, because we’re all super busy, right?” Sue cackled.

“I actually am,” I responded, almost defensively. “I am training my magic and my physical and mental stats. I don’t think I’ve ever been as busy in my life.”

Sue started laughing. “Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Why the rush? We have food, we live in a fucking hotel for free, we have,” she shot a gust of wind at my face, ”magic. What are you pushing yourself so hard for?”

“I, for one, would like to survive my next tough fight. As I see it, things are going to get harder soon. And I’d rather be able to protect myself than beg someone else to do it for me, like the EFU,” I said, glaring at Sue.

“Ouch,” Betsy giggled from the side. “Eat that, Sue!”

“Fuck you, Betsy,” Sue groused. “And what are you training on, Daniel, that you can’t work on while going on some mission with us? You do know that practicing skills under pressure is a lot more conducive to leveling, right?”

Fuck, I actually hadn’t known that. But I supposed it made sense, given the tremendous advances I had made in some of my skills and spells while in the dungeon. And I still didn’t understand how I had managed to come up with some of my spells on the fly… perhaps it was the pressure situation, or the ‘system,’ if there was such a thing, giving a helpful hand. Or maybe something altogether different. But none of that really changed the issue at hand… I needed to level my physical stats, and there was no better way to do that than a dedicated workout regime. Real action was good, but it wasn’t as effective per hour spent.

And the real reason why I was in such a rush, was that I still had hope that Annie was somewhere imprisoned in the biker motel. Of course, if she was still alive by now, there was no reason to believe that she wouldn’t be a few days down the road … but still, I felt that each day counted. Just thinking of what she might be going through... a shiver ran down my spine as I imagined a creep like Eddie taking advantage of a helpless Annie.

But there wasn’t really any reason why I couldn’t tell the others about my plans either. After all, they seemed to already strongly suspect that I had killed those bikers and hadn’t really given me any grief about it. Well, maybe Ben wasn’t exactly happy, based on his reaction, but there seemed to be a tacit understanding that the bikers were bad dudes and that it was better for everyone if some, or all, disappeared.

After a brief hesitation, I finally blurted out: “So, frankly, the reason I am pushing myself really hard, is because I am hoping that Annie is somewhere in the biker compound and I am going to go in and save her.”

So, there it was. I had said it.

They looked at each other as if silently communicating. For a moment, no one said anything until Tom broke the silence. “Good.”

“Good?” I was befuddled for a moment. That was all the reaction? I had expected some incredulity or outrage, perhaps some advice to be cautious, to take it easy, or even get some help from other people. Or even some counseling on the futility of my hope or some shit like that. But all I got was ‘good.’ Granted, that was Tom. So, perhaps, I shouldn’t have expected a whole lot more from him.

“What he is trying to say,” Ben said as a way of explanation, “is that we all had thought that she might be imprisoned in there, but no one had the guts to go in and save her, or even make sure that she was truly there. So we respect your resolve. But,” he continued, “I think that it is way too dangerous for a single person to just go in there.”

“So, what do you suggest?” I asked with a bit of scorn in my voice. “That I wait for another fifty people to get brave enough to confront those scumbags? Sorry to break the news… but if it hasn’t happened in two weeks, it won’t ever happen.”

“Well, I agree,” Ben said. “It is unlikely that you will find another fifty people. But there has been some grumbling, and the playing field is a lot more level than just a week or two earlier. The bikers are well organized, but other people are now getting training in weapons and magic and are much better able to hold their own. I can’t promise they will be ready for a confrontation, but,” he looked at the others for a second, ”we’re ready to help you.”