Our bags are stocked with potions again. My anchor is strapped to my back with a strange locking mechanism that Ilmarinen gave me. He walks up to Colt and me. “I knew ye both packed yer bags, but what be a proper adventurer without these?”

In his hand are two simple, leather pouches. Each has a looped back to allow for strapping on to a belt. “Thank you, I’m sure these will be helpful.” I look at him, the tiniest question in my eyes. He stares back at me.

“They’re bags of holding, boy.” Colt and I look at each other, giddy.

“Really?!” We both shout out in unison.

Taking a moment, we place all our potion bottles and other supplies into the pouches, it weighs no more than a small rock. Our burden has been lightened considerably. Potions are heavy. We spend several more minutes gushing over the pouches before Ilmarinen shoos us out of his house. Colt’s dagger is strapped at his side, gauntlets are clasped around his wrists. We’re on the road. Again.

It takes us less time to get back to the forest. We know the route better, and after some enhanced stats and fewer injuries, we’re faster. The serviceable leather boots Ilmarinen gave us help as well. They handle the terrain significantly better than the sneakers both Colt and I had on. With surety in our step, we follow our map once more towards the destination marked by a surly octopus man.

As we walk, I observe how the aquifer ring works, paying attention to the flow of mana as it pulls up groundwater. With a strong amount of focus, I use my own mana in an attempt to mimic the effects. With a tug, a trickle of water comes up.

Congratulations Lucas Creo! For manipulating the elemental force of water and bending it to your will, you have gained the Skill: Hydrokinesis!

Instantly, the manipulation feels much easier and natural to me. Using my method for creating mana darts, I attempt to compress the water with my will. The spout fires at high speed. It hits a tree, chipping away bark from the pressure.

Congratulations Lucas Creo! By compressing a stream of water, you have created the Skill: Pressure Shot!

Colt is a little way up the path, so I turn to yell to him and tell him what I did, but a violent shaking of the trees interrupts me. Gales of wind threaten to blow me over. I’m forced to steady myself with my anchor on the ground. Colt is knocked back.

CRACK! Trees in front of us suddenly break down on to the ground, chips of wood flying in the gusts of wind. Shielding my eyes, I squint, spotting the source of the winds. In the quickly made clearing of trees, there is a green bat that appears to be about 10 feet 5 inches in height, according to my Shaper’s Instinct.

Tempestwing Bat

Traits: Galeforce

Description: This bat harnesses the force of wind to wreak havoc on areas, destroying the habitat of its prey to hunt them more easily.

Dashing to Colt, I activate Crashing Wake. With my newfound knowledge of Hydrokinesis, I’m able to note the imperfect uses of mana and force in this skill. Pushing with my mind, I reshape the wave of water, increasing my speed. Arriving at Colt in moments, I grab him and tumble to the ground as more trees fall around us.

One especially large tree is falling directly at us. My mana calls out “BATTEN DOWN!” The visage of a ship forms around us, blocking the tree from crushing both of us. My legs buckle. It’s as if I’m holding the tree myself, but with my mind. We both dodge away from it, releasing my new skill.

A small disturbance of the air is the only indication of the bat’s next attack as a tree next to us is sliced in two. “Colt you need to bind its wings as much as possible, I’ll get in close!” Trusting him to this task, I Plot a Course and surf along a Crashing Wake. Vines and roots erupt from the ground. The bat is entangled in a mess of nature’s wrath, struggling to break free.

With the chance given, I move in to strike. A heavily empowered Devastating Impact smashes into the bat’s shoulder. It shrieks in pain as I feel bones crack through the metal. Colt’s hold breaks free, a glance over to him tells me that he exhausted himself using that much force. The bat’s other wing slams into me mid-air, hurtling me across the forest until I crash into a tree. The gust that followed the hit left a wake of destruction around the path I flew.

My head spins, only my Ballasted Body keeps me upright. Taking a whole healing potion, the effects are reduced significantly. Colt is in the distance, holding off the bat’s gusts with quickly made spires of earth that redirect the wind. It’s a losing battle; his Wild Magick is depleting quickly, his skin paling. He’s managed this long due to the bat only having one usable wing.

Returning to the fight, I pump Knots into my legs and Plot a Course. I’m back in a flash, my legs complaining from the force, but holding with my new Tempered Body. Directing my mana, I empower a Mana Dart, it swells in size with the mana I feed it. The projectile pierces the bat through the ribs, it shrieks and turns to me. Colt takes the small reprieve to down several mana potions.

The wind bristles with mana as the bat raises one wing. The air condenses with the swing, I can see the blade of wind traveling at me, too fast for me to dodge it. Desperate, I tug on my mana, hurling my anchor at the bat before Battening Down. “MOORING!” The anchor connects with the bat, ropes of mana forming around its body. The anchor is in the ground, holding the ropes in place.

My quickly made defense explodes from the force of the scything zephyr that strikes me. -379 The wind shears through my body, cutting me through diagonally. Colt takes the chance I gave him, swinging his dagger to fly at the bat.

“FIST OF GAIA” All of the nature in the area seems to bend towards Colt as he attacks, the color leaching from it. A crater imprinting in the ground is the last thing I remember before losing consciousness, hearing Colt scream my name.

A heavy, rhythmic pressure is the first thing I wake up to. Gasping, Colt hears me, exclaims, ceasing performing CPR, and pulls me close. “Y-your h-h-heart s-t-t-opped and-and-and I” He can’t force any more words out between sobs and simply sits there, holding me tight.

My own mind is going crazy. A quick check of my body via Echinodermal Flesh tells me that from shoulder to waist diagonally my body is still stitching itself back together. I was cut in half.

Colt is covered in blood, especially his arms. My skin feels cold and clammy. My recently reformed heart is racing. Pain wracks my entire body. Searching my pouch for healing potions, it’s empty. Every bottle is scattered around us on the ground, even some of my mana potions are gone.

A small sheen on my skin indicates to me that Colt used his Stardust on me heavily as well. Swallowing down how I feel, I press back with my mana, forcing Echinodermal Flesh into overdrive. Giving Colt a squeeze, I break our contact and give him the best smile I can manage. “I’m in one piece again, don’t worry, you don’t need to hold me together anymore.”

He returns me a smile filled with pain and laughs slightly at my gallows humor. No rest for the wicked, however, The Construct assaults me with notifications.

Level up! For the development of new skills, your Talent: Fledgling Anchorist has reached (24/50)!

Congratulations Lucas Creo! In the need to protect a friend, you have acquired the Skill: Batten Down!

Congratulations Lucas Creo! In a desperate attempt, you have acquired the Skill: Mooring!

Level up! For continuing to refine the mystic arts, your Talent: Fledgling Mage has reached (13/50)!

Skill level ups have occurred, check the Skills menu for further details!

Conditions Acquired: T4-T5 Vertebral Fracture, Complex Rib Fractures, Extremely Severe Bleeding, Spinal Cord Severing, Cardiac Rupture…

Conditions Cured: T4-T5 Vertebral Fracture, Complex Rib Fractures, Extremely Severe Bleeding, Spinal Cord Severing, Cardiac Rupture…

The list of conditions could fill a book, so I ignore the rest before I throw up.

Tempestwing Bat defeated! 3629 XP awarded!

Tempestwing Bat dropped: 37 Glints, Tempestwing Bat Leather.

Level up! You have achieved level 12, you are awarded 5 unallocated stat points, +0.1 HP regen, +0.2 MP regen, +10 MP, +1 Strength, +3 Endurance, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Attunement, +1 Willpower, and +2 Insight. 2581/2324 remaining to level 13.

Level up! You have achieved level 13, you are awarded 5 unallocated stat points, +0.1 HP regen, +0.2 MP regen, +10 MP, +1 Strength, +3 Endurance, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Attunement, +1 Willpower, and +2 Insight. 257/2666 remaining to level 14.

‘Status’

Status:

Lucas Creo

Age: 22

Race: Human

Status: None

Level: 13

Exp: 257/2666

HP: 57/540 (2.40 HP/min regeneration)

MP: 26/570 (2.10 MP/min regeneration)

Strength: 33

Endurance: 36

Dexterity: 25

Intelligence: 22

Attunement: 30

Willpower: 27

Charisma: 11

Insight: 37

Stat points: 55

My mana vessels feel deeper and refined, but empty. The HP that permeates my body is incredibly thin. It’s a wonder I survived. It may have ended differently without Colt knowing CPR. He still looks extremely pale, his magical body struggling with low resources.

The prospect of trekking back through the forest to Ilmarinen is terrifying, so we decide to restock instead. We wander for a bit, both breathing deeply to calm down. A small overhang of rock looks safe enough for us to take cover under. We both spend some time Meditating to recover. Colt uses Stardust again on me whenever he can afford it.

Feeling more secure with higher HP and MP, I use the aquifer ring to pull some water into small pot we stored in Colt’s bag of holding. We begin brewing potions one at a time with the supplies we brought. Using my Pyrokinesis, I light a fire under the pot, boiling the water.

Several hours of the day are burned away making more supplies. We use up almost all of our ingredients. We had to stop and use some potions to bring ourselves up to safer levels. Every bottle is full again, we feel a bit safer once more. Running back to Ilmarinen isn’t an option this time.

Our continued journey through the forest brings us to a large cave entrance. There’s no mistaking it, this is where the map leads us to. Colt and I give each other a look, nod, and carry on. Darkness is an apparent issue after a turn or two in the cave.

Fortunately, Ilmarinen gave us each a stone that will glow when charged with mana. We each have it strapped to our chest currently. Colt is creating a vine that leads back to the entrance to give us an easy path out.

The small vine barely costs anything according to Colt. It shouldn’t be an issue of drained resources for him. His pooled regen stats give him plenty to work with for small cost skills. He’s even making the vines take root a bit to ensure our route isn’t disturbed.

My footsteps echo as we walk down the winding twists and turns of the cave. I wince with every step, hoping the sound doesn’t attract anything. Colt’s steps don’t make a single sound. Stupid Fae grace. The cave is suspiciously empty of life to take notice of my footsteps. We haven’t seen a single sign of life since entering.

“Hey, Colt, do these tunnels seem strangely… smooth to you?” He peers at them, holding his light closer to the walls of the cave.

“Now that you point it out, they do.”

“That’s what I thought, my Shaper’s Instinct is telling me that they’re all circularly the same diameter.”

Colt’s ears perk and he places a hand on my shoulder to stop me. Moments later, I hear a strange shifting noise. We look back only to see the entire tunnel flooding with water at high speed. We’re about to be swept away with the current.

Grabbing on to Colt, I activate Batten Down, protecting us from crashing into the walls of the cave. Laughing to myself, Colt stares at me.

“What?”

“Why are you laughing”

“Batten Down makes the visage of a ship! Now we’re flying through the cave to who knows where in a ship! It’s just funny!”

He glares at me, clearly, he thinks now isn’t the time for jokes. Rolling his eyes, he turns to stare out into the water with me.

In about 5 minutes we’re dumped into a large pool of water. There’s a multitude of drowned animals floating in the water, as well as a few that somehow survived without air long enough to make it to this cavern. The water erupts as a huge body comes up from the depths, several of the carcasses in the water disappear into the depths of the creature. As it turns to us, I inspect it.

Palemetal Sailfish

Traits: Hydrokinesis

Description: This Sailfish has lived in this cave for millennia. It uses its hydrokinesis to pull in food from the tunnels of the cave above. Despite its size, this fish is astoundingly fast. Its defensive capabilities are second to none due to its scales being made of the rare Palemetal.

With a single swing of its tailfin, the sailfish barrels at us, water blasting away in its wake. Its long, swordlike bill pointing directly at us. Activating Crashing Wake, I find I can use it perfectly inside Batten Down. In fact, we appear to be sailing inside the defense!

Colt pokes his hand out of the defense, firing several blasts of mana at the sailfish to no effect. “It’s scales are too protective!” He looks at me, worried. I grin back at him, I have a plan. Plotting a Course for the “ship”, I jump out of it, leaving Colt inside the defense. My plan works, the visage of a ship follows the course with Colt inside it.

The sailfish sees me in the air and speeds towards me. It leaps out of the water, sword-bill pointed at me. I heave my anchor from my hands at the ceiling of the cave, calling out “MOORING!” The anchor sticks into the ceiling once this effect is called out, and a rope latches around my arm, allowing me to swing out of the way of the monstrous fish’s natural weapon.

Once I’m in the air, I use my Shaper’s Instinct to calculate an angle toward the fish. Using two consecutive Devastating Impacts, I smash a massive stalactite off the cave ceiling and bat it once more at high speed toward the sailfish.

The hefty spire crashes into the bill of the fish, causing a crack to form across its base. It flails in pain. On my descent down, I line up a hit with my anchor to smash the crack on its bill. Mid-air, a high-pressure, thin beam of water hits me, piercing through my abdomen. The strength leaves my arms, I fall.

Just before I hit the water and end up in the sailfish’s waiting mouth, a gust of wind whirls by, arms grab on to me. We land on a small outcrop of rocks in the water, Colt shoves a health potion into my mouth before I can say a word. The hole in me probably would have prevented talking anyway.

“What the fuck was that Lucas?” Colt’s eyes are filled with fury and fear.

“I-I had a plan, see? His bill is cracked!” He stares at me before taking a deep breath.

“Yes, cracked, but you nearly died. I can’t take seeing you nearly die this often, it’s killing me.”

“Later, look!” The sailfish is cutting through the water, it’s pissed. “Colt I know what you just said, but send me up, NOW!”

A vine bursts from the rock, launching me into the air. Colt bursts away in a gust of wind with his dagger. The sailfish’s bill crashes into the rock, it roars in pain as a deafening SNAP echoes through the cave. The bill flips on to the rocks above it.

It slams and flails every which way in pain. High-speed tendrils of water lance out in every direction. Only Plot Course keeps me moving in the air enough to avoid them in time. Several graze me anyway, taking out chunks of flesh.

Gritting my teeth in pain, I maneuver in the air towards the colossal fish’s broken-off bill. ‘This has to work’ Ballasting all my of weight, adding far more Knots than I should to my arms, I shove as much mana as I can into a Devastating Impact, pushing myself through the air with a Crashing Wake. My anchor hits into the lance-like bill, only the assistance of Shaper’s Instinct letting me angle the blow correctly.

The sailfish’s main weapon is turned against it. The bill hurtles toward it as my arms shatter, piercing its body. My anchor breaks apart into millions of pieces.

My body plunges into the water, but vines wrap around me as my consciousness flickers. I’m yanked out of the water on to a rock, coughing up water. Colt’s face is filled with concern as he tries to get me to drink a healing potion.

All I can do is moan in pain, barely capable of choking down a dose of the potion at a time. Once I have enough in me, my arms start to stitch themselves back together. I simply have to trust that Echinodermal Flesh will do its job, my body’s stamina is sapped by the potion. Unconsciousness takes hold.