Present combat stats: Kaden and Bomber.

[Kaden]

Current Combat Statistics Current MP: 44/44 Current HP: 24/37 Current SP: 36/36 Detected MP Storage

244/320 MP (Crafted Staff) [Bomber]

Current Combat Statistics Current MP: 5/5 Current HP: 50/52 Current SP: 11/26

Considering we just neutered the gemfawn's combat capabilities, you'd consider us in a fairly advantageous position right now. Despite my damage, Bomber's HP is still fantastic and he has enough SP to attack using either of his kicks. Hell, just the fact that I have just shy of 300 MP should mean our situation is easily a win.

The problem with that is that while the gemfawn's magic was taken down, neither I nor it are going to be casting spells. Using my spells willy-nilly would be extremely wasteful if we're going to keep exploring... and if we head back, we can't continue our exploration until the recall functionality finishes its cooldown period for our own safety. Even though the deer isn't a physically combative race, its now free forelegs are amply strong and long enough to scare Bomber out of range.

In a moment, I'll need to relax my Earthy Grasp, too. Dispelling two of them means I only paid the initial cost and the holdover for the moment it lasted, yet there was still going to be a 10 MP tick every minute if I want to maintain these two. Bomber's current position and inability to really maneuver in the burning flowers makes it difficult for him to slip around behind the gemfawn.

Right. Of course you're not going to be that easy, are you?

Bomber leaps back up onto the rampart, squeaking at the screaming deer in anger. Although in my prior world you'd never see a rabbit and deer fighting, this scene doesn't shock me. If anything, maybe being around ranbi and the two ranbli all this time made my reincarnation more susceptible to silly thoughts.

Bomber, careful. It might have lost its mana supply but it's still regenerating.

The ranbli looks at me for an answer but I'm not sure there's an obvious one.

I know you want to fight, so don't worry. The issue are those legs, though. We need-... wait, the leash!

Despite all the fire, the leash still dangles around the gemfawn's neck and miraculously hasn't ignited. The kicking and protesting deer's hooves stomp and pummel it into the dirt, crushing and shortening it unintentionally while it struggles to break clear of the earthen hold. Bomber's speed is already gone and he doesn't have the SP to reach it, but that's fine.

All I need him to do is drive the creature toward the fire.

Bomber, I'm going to release it in a moment. Once I do, throw your club towards it.

My staff's crystal arrangement shimmer in-sync with his nod, flashing and disintegrating my remaining Earthy Grasp spells just as he hurls the club.

Unlike before when it had MP, the gemfawn being freed makes it turn and duck; the club sails over its head as it weaves, but I rush forward in that single moment and ascend the slope of earth I had erected. Bomber leaps off the side just as I reach the top, branches rustling and staff reaching down to plant on the ground below the slope. The gemfawn's furry hide may protect it from the elements but it has no natural way to defend against all this fire; why else did it aim so high when it tried to burn Bomber off its back?

It's scared of its own flames. All I need to do is use them to our advantage.

Rampart!

The earth lifts beneath the gemfawn's front legs, sharply rising and throwing the creature tumbling backwards head-over-ass. It's not going to do a ton of damage by itself, but an unsteady target is easy to toss and maneuver if you try hard enough.

The gemfawn tumbles through the flames, failing to ignite... but the leash rolling with it isn't so fortunate. All that hard work goes up in flames instantly, burning right up to the collar and wreathing the gemfawn's neck in fire. Its face contorts in terror and it desperately starts leaping about to throw it off, yet Bomber tightening it before keeps it firmly in place and toasting the bastard's fur beneath it.

Attack!

Advancing any further would mean leaving my rampart and its safety above the flames... but Bomber didn't have that risk. His short fur was harder to burn than the shaggier set on the gemfawn so maybe that also helps keep him calm. He enters the panicking creature's blind spit and spins-throws his legs back into a rear kick at one of its hind-legs.

Bomber's kick is pinpoint accurate and forces a confusion of pain and startling out of the gemfawn. It staggers for a moment before firing off its own kick. The size difference in them must have meant something in its own right, too; even though the gemfawn isn't that physically powerful, the kick pummels my summon off his feet and tumbling.

Summon Bomber has sustained 7 HP damage.

I aim at the flailing creature's flank while it circles around in its panic, channeling my mana again as it delivers a second kick to the grounded hare-boy.

Summon Bomber has sustained 10 HP damage.

Even without skills, it's stronger than Bomber. I never had the time or inclination to determine how strong it was and that was a mistake I had made in the heat of all this. Even if I had been ready for the worst, I didn't even consider how strong it might be.

I was shortsighted.

Thornshot, times two.

Rather than a queue like before, two thorns hum to life simultaneously before sailing off and pricking into the creature's body. The gemfawn cries out in pain and turns its head as its antler remains flicker with energy. The heat and glow around it are different from before; last time it was cinders, but this time it's solid and forms a sphere of flame and earth. In an instant, all that earth turns molten.

Of course. It has more Minor Elements. This must be Fire and Earth... so magma or lava?

It doesn't burn itself so clearly this spell has some sort of containment when being prepared. It means I could use it if I learned fire magic, yet it's extremely bad right now since I'm a plant without any protection besides earth or bark. Neither the bark nor earth could help me right now though; the bark didn't have the defensive power to stop thorns or this lava, while the rampart can't be created without space to climb and make a slope. On the edge of my current rampart, there isn't enough space to make that happen.

I'm fucked. Well, it was a good and short reincarnation story but-

Bomber reaches out of the flowers and grabs the burning leash, squeaking in agony but tugging it so that the gemfawn's head jerks, lobbing the ball of doom off-course and past me.

Summon Bomber has sustained 4 HP damage.

The heat off of it still saps the moisture out of many of my leaves just merely passing me... but the poor tree it hits actually explodes, sending fiery wood shrapnel all over the place. Some of those fragments pass through my body, striking and burning me... but thankfully none of it has enough time to actually ignite me.

User Kaden has sustained 16 HP damage.

Describing how it feels when you're two-thirds dead isn't easy but to summarize: ow. This is honestly too reminiscent of the fight with the Omega Ranbi... but the difference is that it doesn't feel that hard-fought or won yet. The Omega Ranbi's defeat came at the hands of Bomber with all of us working together.

Now, despite his burns, Bomber is still pulling and throwing the deer off-balance. Even though he's back on his feet, his posture and size make it a tug-of-war that the gemfawn is steadily winning. Even though everything sucks, he's still fighting defiantly and trying his best to protect me.

The difference between then and now, I'm starting to get it.

I reach out... but for the first time, my vines twist and form something actually similar to a hand.

[Notification] Creation of new Manifest Form-specific ability detected.

CREATING NEW ABILITY.

Shut up system. My vines continue forming the palm and fingers, twining into a hand that'd easily be a bit too large for my stature. It's like having adult hands on a young teen's frame; large and powerful despite the vines twisting into it making up my arm.

I can feel the mana in the air. Clenching those fingers into a tight ball, I wrench that mana like someone swinging their hand through a cobweb; I can feel it and grasp it, even though it's almost imperceptible and thin to the point one can't notice.

But I can feel it. And if I can feel it, then I just need to make use of it.

Magos' Form Created Personal-type Toggled Ability. Unlike skills, this ability was devised to twist plant into mockeries of humanoid figures. A fine example of a Magos' mastery of the basic fibers in Brogdar, most mages create this to continue learning if they lack proper humanoid forms that allow greater magic.

Allows the user to augment their body using Maximum SP.

When activated, the user's converted Maximum SP directly modifies their physical form to appear humanoid.

Every 25 SP allows the user to come closer to completing their form.

I said shut up, system.

My understanding of magic from before... I think I finally understand why it waited until I used Earthy Grasp in a more refined manner. The basic stepping stone of elements had a purpose, so clearly crystal follows a similar philosophy: it requires a core concept for using it. So all I need to do is stop thinking of applying crystal to a spell and just make a spell out of crystal. Thorntwist's deviations all were based on damage, so it's only logical that I couldn't apply other spells to it on that basis.

Crystal is about mana. And with mana in my grasp, there's a more palpable spell that I can envision.

Mana Bomb.

ERROR: SYSTEM DETECTED USAGE OF SPELL CURRENTLY NOT KNOWN BY USER.

Beginning INT check... INT Check: Pass

OVERRIDING PARAMETERS.

All the mana in my grasp condenses and balloons my grip outward, forming a volatile mass of energy that writhes and cracks spines of crystal whenever it slips free. I named it Mana Bomb but my theory is definitely ill-prepared for handling a spell of this caliber. It's definitely a Basic-level spell but it utilizes the sort of free-flowing control I have when using Bark Shield. All the mana I put into it condensing and focusing itself so tight that it forces more energy to bottle up inside it.

Crystal doubles when made from mana so it serves as a fantastic catalyst. But that's only viewing it one-directionally.

What happens if instead of making a crystal able to take energy pushed into it, what if you made a crystal that draws in the mana around it?

Mana Bomb: 20 MP.

My new hand cracks and the vines snap, rending around tendrils of the vicious energy.

User Kaden has sustained 4 HP damage.

Only 4 HP left. I guess I'm going to have to use Growth after this.

But that's fine. I reel my splitting hand back and swing it forward, lobbing the mass of energy across the fiery field. None of the colors escape the hue of silver light that radiates from the thrown bomb. Everything seems to slow down just as Bomber releases the leash and dives away, with the bomb reaching the gemfawn's flank. Our battlefield is engulfed within a veil of crackling, magical fury for an instant but everything vanishes when the bomb goes off; silver smoke pours out in all directions, snuffing the flames and knocking me onto my back. Notifications ring out but my consciousness fades, just like it did back when I was in the dungeon during its evolution.

[Notification] User Kaden gains 12 EXP for killing Gemfawn.

Summon Bomber gains 8 EXP for assisting. [Notification] Manifested Form's experience has maxed out.

Initiating Level-Up.