AN: Here we go with a bit of progress on two fronts. Enjoy. :)

Chapter 91: I am the Stupid Wind

Performance anxiety, the curse of entertainers and lonely men everywhere. Scott knew that hellish existence at this very moment. The small platoon of fantasy world soldiers and mages stood down and away from him, as requested. However, now he had a problem. How exactly would he blow a hole in the side of the hill? Howling Gale was an area of effect spell that blew away everything before him, but the hill was not a loose conglomeration of monsters. It was a massive mound of dirt and rock.

"I'm going to have to try a few things first. Be patient," he called back to the group.

"Do what you can!" called back Captain Trace.

Scott nodded to her then looked back to the hill. He was not going to do much with his spell, but he had to see just how loose the dirt actually was.

He spent a moment calling the wind within him. He became the wind, and the wind was he. Once he'd finished repeating his spell mantra, he thrust his hand forward and cried out, "Howling Gale!"

Instead of building the wind behind him, he'd chose to build it up into a wall of high pressure air in front of him. His clothes pulled against his body and he was drawn forward slightly by the vacuum created as the air rushed forward in a roaring rush to its destination.

A wall of air slammed into the side of the hill followed by a heavily gale that tore at the loose debris. Dirt and rock flew everywhere as the hill shuddered slightly.

Scott frowned after the wind died down, however. It was a powerful blow, but not direct enough. The outermost layer of the hill was loose dirt, but further in there were more rocks and the earth was packed tighter. A wide area spell of this level would not knock a hole in the side.

"How's it going?" called Captain Trace.

"I need to make a few adjustments, but we might be in business if I can figure it out," called back Scott.

He tried again, this time he focused the air into a ball of pressure, or as close to a ball as it could make it. He sent it flying forward like he did with the wall, but it petered out half way there. Only a gentle breeze assailed the hill.

"Shit... The smaller the pressurized area, the less distance it can go before failing..." He considered getting closer to the hill, but that would be a bad idea as the potential for landslides and other unforeseen issues were high in this endeavor.

He racked his brain for a moment. The entire mission relied on his ability to get them through. Why they did not simply dig a hole with tools was beyond him, but for some reason they wanted a magical hole in the side of a hill.

If it was the casual server, he'd have a dozen spells that could easily do it. Even his simplest fire spell exploded like a claymore mine once it was maxed out. Rapid deployment of a dozen spells of that caliber would leave a hole in the side of the hill so big that an army could stroll through without touching the sides.

In this world, he had yet to figure out the underlying principles to make even one of those spells happen. Fiery explosions were out for the moment. He did not know how to make a powerful explosion. However, he did know how to use the wind. He just needed to figure out the best method.

Scott tried to recall all the wind spells that he'd used on the casual server. Howling Gale was the start of things there, but he eventually developed other spells through the ability point system. However, there was one spell that he'd discovered that became his favorite spell of all for a time.

"Maybe that thing?" Scott asked rhetorically. He'd tried a few random things, but the more that he thought about it, the more that he wanted to try to figure out how to do that spell again.

"No it only works underwater unless I have..." Scott blinked then lifted his crystal-tipped spear. The answer was right in front of him, but there was a problem. "Holy shit... but would that even work here?"

Experimentally, he whirled his spear around in a familiar pattern. He did not have a spear skill at the moment, but he did have a lot of practice in whirling one around.

The movements were common place to him now, an extension of his will. Surprisingly, the mere idea of beginning the synergy spell he'd used before caused the wind to pick up around him. His eyes widened. Even without chanting or naming the spell, the air currents were manipulated.

"Movement... confidence... Wind is constant movement..." Scott nodded slowly. He understood better now. The wind does not want to be bottle up. It wants to move. It is the essence of motion itself.

Without casting a spell in the traditional sense, Scott went through the motions of using his spear to create a horizontal tornado. The wind motion was palpable, but not nearly enough to create the effect that he desired.

"More... I need more..." Scott thought about what he needed to happen, what he'd been able to do before. The fact that he'd used this sort of ability in the past was the best psychological tool at his disposal. He was not attempting to create the impossible, merely recreate something from his past.

"Howling, tearing... grinding... piercing..." Scott ran through the words as he tried to figure out the best way to become the horizontal tornado.

The twisting winds were little more than a gentle cross-breeze at the moment, but as he further envisioned his true desire, things began to change. The movements became more fluid. Soon, his body started to move around a little. He found a strange dance-like rhythm in the wind.

His eyes snapped open wide as a member from a few months back surfaced inside his mind. It was a throw away bit of lore that Rhea told him about during a time when he wanted to know more about sorcerers.

"Tsun Jae danced with the wind... like the wind? Some sort of dancing in the wind thing..." said Scott softly. The wind was movement. He was the wind. In order for him to use it properly as a sorcerer he had to be the wind.

Several intense seconds of realization passed before he realized what he needed to say, what he must do. Rhythm, drama, a thing that spoke to the very core of his being... That was the recipe for awakening the power inside. Scott stopped all movement suddenly then took a deep breath and released it.

Slowly, the rotated his spear to the left and then back to the right. "I am the wind that blows..."

The light breeze that his motions generated picked up rapidly after he spoke those words, but grew even more intense when he spoke again. "I am the unseen beast that howls without end..."

"I tear down all before me ... Nothing shall remain," intoned Scott.

Something happened to him then. He changed in some indefinable way. His eyes narrowed to slits. His movements became even more fluid. His voice was deep, resonant, when he cried out the name of his spell, his name at that moment. "Howling Spear Torrent!"

In that moment he ceased to be Scott. He was now the wind itself. He was the incarnation of the very power that he'd created. He was the Howling Spear Torrent.

His senses widened and then focused to a narrow existence. Wind ripped forward from his body, but his consciousness went with it. He was a whirling invisible beast that tore through the air. He pierced sand and rock in a determined bid to rip apart all that stood before him. The howling of the wind was his primal scream.

Though his body remained behind, locked in the rhythm of the wind as it moved the spear, Scott's consciousness became a living horizontal tornado that destroyed everything before it. Soon, even his body faded from sight. Nothing existed now, but the screaming wind that sought absolute destruction. Like an invisible drill, it bore through the side of the hill penetrating deep in search of sweet release.

Unfortunately, Scott's mana was not as expansive as his new knowledge. The howling life of his new existence came to a sudden, brutal, end as his mana ran out.

The wind died almost instantly. Scott snapped back to where his body once existed and faded back into view. He whirled around once then fell to the ground in a battered heap.

"Damn!" cried Captain Trace. She ran forward while calling out, "Cleric!"

An older man wearing a white uniform chased after her, his hands already aglow with a soft blue-white light. His eyes were trained on his would-be patient, and he did not see the sudden outpouring on metal beasts from the exposed underside of the hill.

Dozens of eldritch armor knights poured out of the hole. The rest of the platoon was called into action. Magical lightning, flames, and shards of ice raced toward the oncoming horde. Gunners took aim and fired at will. The close combat fighters raced toward a point between the downed sorcerer and the emergency medical crew.

Trace and the cleric reached Scott and began emergency medical procedures. It did not take long for the experienced battle cleric to realize the nature of the situation. He administered a health regeneration spell, and made Scott swallow a mana potion.

The next few minutes were tense, as the cleric was forced to continue working on the downed man. The health restorative did wonders for Scott's complexion, but he had serious internal injuries that needed to be addressed one at a time.

"Falne, can you save him?" asked Trace.

"Yes. He has a lot of internal injuries and his nervous system is fried, but I've seen worse," said the cleric confidently.

"Elves are good at this sort of thing, huh?" asked Trace.

"Magic is part of us, yes." said Falne quietly. He laid his hand upon Scott once more and diagnosed the man's current injuries. The internal bleeding was stopped, but he still had several decidedly dangerous status afflictions.

"This will take a while," said Falne. "I suggest we call for an air lift, and get some reinforcements. There's obviously more opposing forces in the hill than we first thought."

"Yeah, they keep coming," said Trace thoughtfully. She then looked at Falne and said, "Handle things here. I'll let command know that Plan A worked, but we need reinforcements."

"Understood, captain," said Falne before he cast another regeneration spell on Scott.

Scott remained unconscious for quite a while after that. By the time he awoke, the battle for the hill was over. He groaned loudly and sat up in his bed. "Where..."

There were machines against the wall that made strange beeping noises, and several tubes were attached to his body. While the room looked a little odd compared to what he was used to seeing in such places, Scott immediately recognized a hospital room when he saw one.

"Seems you're up," said a pleasant masculine voice.

"Who?" asked Scott.

Falne walked out from around the curtain that separated Scott's bedside from the rest of the room. "Would it be better if we spoke face to face?"

"Yes. It would. Thank you," said Scott.

The elven cleric nodded thoughtfully then said, "It was as the humans say, 'touch and go,' for a while. However, you pulled through."

"I don't remember much. I was injured?" asked Scott.

"You became the wind and nearly died because of it," said Falne. "I treated your wounds while the rest of the platoon, and the reinforcements took down the enemy units inside of the hill."

Scott bit his lower lip then sighed. "I overdid it, I guess."

"It would be good if you rested for a few days. Although, there is another issue to consider," said Falne.

"Oh?"

The elf pulled the curtain back to reveal a surprising sight. On another bed in the room, a familiar form was curled up.

"Rhea?" asked Scott surprised.

"I'll leave you two alone, but you should know that she has been here for quite a while," said Falne with a soft smile. Not long afterward, he left the room.

Scott hissed and winced as he leveraged himself out of his bed, and then used the pole that held the bags of fluid that slowly drained into his body to remain upright. He wheeled it over to the other bed then reached out and lightly stroked Rhea's hair.

She whimpered softly, and tears came to her eyes. "Damn..." whispered Scott. The sight of her curled up in a little ball while crying in her sleep, it was too much for him.

Why was she so worried about him? It was obvious that her concern for him was the problem, but even if he'd died they could have simply resurrected him. As long as he was not dead for three days, it wouldn't even count as one of his three reincarnations.

"How long was I out? She isn't supposed to be back for a while, yet..." Unless she arrived early, he would have needed to be unconscious for the better part of a week.

Scott continued to stroke her hair for a while. The steady rhythm of her breathing was a little too perfect. She was not only asleep here, he was logged out. Given how she teared up, she might even be asleep back in her room in her real life.

No matter her situation, he would not leave her. She did not leave him when he was injured, at least not to his knowledge.

He did his best to crawl into bed beside her, and then kissed her on the forehead. Though his position was uncomfortable, it had to be worse for her. He embraced his fiancé and closed his eyes once more. He was still exhausted, but after seeing her lying there in a fetal ball, he could not stay in his own bed.

"I'm sorry that I worried you," he said before kissing her on the forehead once more. Training his abilities was important, but he could not afford to keep pushing things too far, too fast. If he'd been on his own in the wilderness, he would no doubt have died and stayed that way until he was forced to reincarnate.

Whether that was why Rhea was crying in her sleep, or something else was the concern, he did not know. What he did know was that she was obviously hurt by what could only be called stupidity, his stupidity. They would talk soon. For now he drifted off to sleep while resolving himself to become better, not just as a sorcerer, but as a man.