Unfortunately, all did not go as planned. Moving back towards the city, several people left the golem-drawn wagon, returning to the group at the Shop.

“Cowards!” A man in the crowd calls out to the people leaving, grumbling to himself. Looking, I realize it’s the same father we first saved.

“Shouldn’t you be staying with your kids?” He looks at me, eyes burning.

“There’s plenty of families out there that need saving, I have to help. I was a fireman before all of this happened.” He hefts the axe he now has on his shoulder.

Considering for a moment, I hand him the aquifer ring we got on the trek to the Shop. “How can you fight fires without some water?”

Taking some time, I explain how I gained Hydrokinesis. He vows to spend the rest of the trip over to the city learning High-Pressure Shot.

As I walk away, he stops me. “Wait. What’s your name?”

“Lucas.”

“Thank you, Lucas, for saving my family. The name’s Gabe.” He has tears in his eyes upon mentioning his family. His jaw sets in a hard position.

“Of course. We just wanted to help, disintegrating the whole city wasn’t the... intended result.”

He simply nods to me in understanding as I turn and jog back to the front of the group.

In the distance, I can see various elemental attacks being fired off. ‘I sure hope some of those are people that gained some skills before this whole disaster.’

Just as we reach the crystal dust field that was once a city, Colt, Becky, and I split the people into three groups. Each of us walks off to instruct our groups, I can see Colt looks anxious at this prospect.

Turning to my group, I look each of them in the eyes before taking a deep breath and addressing them.

“Alright everyone, we’re just looking to gain you some levels in a combat Talent right now. Don’t try to be the hero here. Let me go in and weaken these monsters so you can finish them off. If you can’t bring yourself to fight directly, work on triage with the injured.”

They nod to me, most of them have a layer of sweat building on their brow. Likely both from the summer heat as well as nerves.

Checking my supply of potions quickly, I make sure I’m fully stocked once more. Colt made potions again on the way down to the city, having set up a station to do so on the wagon.

Taking out some extras, I hand each person in the crowd one strong healing potion, they’ll have to supplement the rest with their free potions from their starter kits.

“Use that potion only if you absolutely need to. Call for me if you need help, I’ll get there as soon as I can. Some of you should work as spotters to keep the group safe, so work that out amongst yourselves.”

“Who died and made you king here? He got us into this mess, why is he suddenly leading all of us?” A tall, brown-haired teenager steps out of the crowd, looking upset with me before receiving a slap on the head from a girl next to him.

“Oh shut up, Chad. He’s like a million times stronger than us, just look at him. He knows what he’s doing.” The woman next to him is one of the ones Adreanell rescued with the help of her friend Cassandra.

She smiles at me, causing me to blush with embarrassment. The city disintegrating is our fault after all, even if in the end it’s for the better.

“Final question for all of you, do you actually know how Skills, Talents, Perks, and Levels work?” A small murmur runs through the crowd with some people professing complete lack of knowledge on the subject, mostly older individuals who obviously weren’t gamers beforehand.

After a brief explanation of Talents, Perks, and Levels as we continue walking toward the city, everyone seems more well informed. Some people have levels from before Brandon took over the city anyway, so they helped in explaining it to those around them.

Lastly, the explanation of Skills is a bit more ambiguous, even to me. “...So, Skills are a bit harder to understand. They seem to be mostly guided by imagination. If you can think of how to make a Skill work, it can probably exist.”

As an example, I shift water into Aquatic Blades, showing them the razor-sharp edge of the water blade. An older woman in the crowd raises a finger to ask a question, but another person in the group screams as a massive grey-white fox approaches us at high speed.

“Alright everyone, active instruction time! Everyone look at the fox intently and think ‘Inspect’!”

Steamstream Fox

Traits: Thermomancy, Hydromancy

Description: This fox is able to generate and control large quantities of water, which it then converts into steam using Thermomancy for various high-temperature attacks.

Out of curiosity, I enable Dermal Denticles just in case. Speeding in front of the group, I dash towards the fox.

“Ranged weapon users cover me! Anyone with magic, try to distract it if you find an opening!”

Plotting a Course into the air, I spin my body as I swing Argo out to my side, expanding him to full size. Just before I reach the fox, it bears its teeth at me and an orb of water superheats, blasting me with a jet of steam.

Screaming, I fall to the ground in agony as my every nerve lights up in pain. Several people shrieking brings me back to my senses somewhat as I force Promethean to quickly repair my melting skin.

Refocusing, the fox has several arrows in its skin, but they only seem to be making it angrier. Activating Storm’s Rage, winds kick up around me, making me wish I had taken the time to learn Aeromancy from Colt beforehand.

Sprinting at the fox once more, I Plot Courses in a random pattern to the left and right of it, dodging several bursts of steam that are fired at me as I approach. The winds from my Storm’s Rage seem to blow some of the steam away, making it harder for the fox to attack me.

Swinging once more, Devastating Impact and several knots empower my strike. My arc is disrupted, however, as an arrow thunks into my shoulder from behind.

The small moment of hesitation is enough. A massive, superheated paw slams into my body, sending me tumbling sideways, the claws tear into my skin leaving three large gashes on my chest that immediately cauterize.

My mind is delirious with pain as I attempt to sit back up. Fighting off the urge to pass out, I force more mana into restoring my HP alongside Promethean restoring the wounds themselves.

Time is not on my side, the fox leaps toward me at high speed. Bringing up Argo, I block a vicious bite from the canine maw, feeling extreme heat leak out from its mouth.

With a quick activation of Mooring, I slip out from under the fox, spin on my heel, and slam a Devastating Impact directly into the fox’s right front leg. It yelps as a loud crack indicates a broken bone.

A wave of steam blasts me away, singing my skin once more, but the heat doesn’t feel as intense as it once was.

The fox seems to ignore its broken leg and leaps at me again, only to take a stray arrow to the eye, causing one of the archers to cheer. The fox turns its head towards them, causing them to scream and run.

Still recovering some of the damage to my body, I rip the arrow out of my shoulder, gritting my teeth. Realizing I don’t have enough time to run over, I switch out Equipment Loadouts to one I made of Argo with my enchanted chain attached and heave him into the sky with an overhead throw.

Tightening my grip on the exact amount of chain length I need thanks to Shaper’s Soul, I swing the anchor downward. Sending a pulse of mana up the chain to Argo, I activate Crashing Wake, boosting the speed as well as my control over where he lands.

With the addition Devastating Impact, Argo crashes into the head of the fox, causing it to crumble to the ground under the force.

Unfortunately, in the time of this attack, three of the archers took the brunt of a steam blast, searing their skin.

Pulling Argo back with a mix of Strength stat and Metallomancy, the fox recovers somewhat from my hit, but also, fortunately, redirects its attention on me rather than the crowd.

Using Watery Grave, I attempt to stop the fox momentarily. It simply superheats the water around it into steam and charges at me unimpeded.

“Right. Water. Steam.” Mentally facepalming, I empower my throw, sending Argo high into the sky once more.

Timing it, I pull down with all of my force, repeating the process of Crashing Wake and Devastating Impact once again. The fox is ready this time, however, and dodges to the side the second the anchor touches the cloud of steam around it.

It leaps at me to bite once more, but I Batten Down, causing the fox’s teeth to crunch into the walls of my defense. Steam blasts my defense, but fortunately the force isn’t as high as the temperature so I can handle it easier.

More arrows land in the hide of the fox as well as a few unimpactful Mana Bolts. They do remind me that I also have non-elemental Skills though.

Empowering a Mana Dart, I drop the defense and fire the dart directly into the fox’s throat, causing it to screech in pain and rear backward.

Taking this moment, I pull Argo back to me and dash forward. With all of the might I can muster, I slam Argo into the fox’s underside. “Devastating Impact!”

The concussive force of the knot-empowered attack sends the fox sprawling backward, its chest heaving for air that it can’t find.

Steam begins to fire off in random directions in the fox’s panic. My arms are screaming from the force exerted at this point, but I heave Argo into the air once more with a lesser amount of chain and jump after him.

Twirling my body in a maneuver Colt showed me, Argo spirals around my body, building up speed and power. Thanks to Shaper’s Soul, I’m able to correctly aim during this spin.

Slinging Argo outward once more, all of my built up speed empowers into the anchor. “Crashing Impact!” Water and force plume out as Argo crushes the fox’s skull in a combination of Crashing Wake and Devastating Impact, ending it for good.

Landing back on the ground, I try to regain my balance before I embarrass myself. Two of the people who got burned are being treated with some healing potions, but one of them is off to the side, ignored.

My heart drops at this sight as I realize this man died from the attack. The other two don’t look much better.

Sprinting over to the crowd, I pull out more healing potions and use some Hydromancy to cool down their burnt skin.

Once the man and woman who are still alive are stabilized, I turn to address the crowd.

“That fight was uh, somewhat out of your league. Sorry if you didn’t really get much out of it. And, did anyone know that man? We need to give him a proper burial later.”

Several people speak up about having gained Talents with their weapons, mostly the archers, but two people who were firing mana bolts gained the Mage Talent.

No one seems to know the man who died, so, for now, I enclose him in a box of earth to keep any scavengers away until we’ve finished this rescue mission.

Level up! For finding new ways to battle with the anchor, your Talent: Adept Anchorist has reached (14/50)!

Level up! For thinking on your toes and using magic as a tool for success, your Talent: Fledgling Mage has reached (35/50)!

For reaching your seventh Talent milestone in Fledgling Mage, you have been awarded applicable stat points to Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, Insight, and + 210 XP. In addition, you have been granted the Perk: Runic Matrix!

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

You have gained the resistance: Heat Resistance (1/100)!

Steamstream Fox defeated! 4693 xp awarded!

Steamstream Fox dropped: 14 Sparks, 39 Glints, and a Sauna Coat.

Curious, I Inspect the Sauna Coat.

Sauna Coat

Quality: Medium

Traits: Soothe, Hydromancy, Thermomancy

Description: This coat is made from the fur of a Steamstream fox. With the application of mana, it can produce soothing steam that restores bodily stamina faster.

Slipping the coat on makes me begin to sweat in the summer heat, but I quickly test the steam function. Immediately some of the tiredness in my limbs begins to melt away as steam envelops me.

Setting it to a different Equipment Loadout, it disappears and the soothing steam dissipates as well.

As we begin to move again as a group, I bring up my perks menu.

Perks:

Runic Matrix

Description: Grants the ability to see and comprehend the runic setups of Skills, allowing for easier creation of new Skills and modification of existing Skills. Basic knowledge of lower complexity runes has been granted. Intelligence and Willpower increased by 1. +1 Intelligence and Willpower per level up.

Focusing on it, I bring up the feeling of summoning a Fireball. Examining it, the brightness burns my eyes a bit but I can see and even feel the runes that contribute to this Skill.

Substituting out all runes relating to fire and ignition, I swap in runes for water, the fire snuffs out immediately and the orb shifts, water gathering in a floating ball above my hands.

While I could achieve the same effect with Hydromancy, this simple test shows me how applicable this new perk will be in the future.

Refocusing, I enter into Pranic Breathing while we walk to restore my depleted resources. Screams get us moving faster, however, and keeping the breathing pace becomes difficult.

As we run, I explain some of the basics of the Skills I know to the Fledgling Mages in my group. One of them gets the hang of fire magic immediately while the other seems more comfortable with water magic, which they already learned from Gabe apparently.

Looking to him, he’s taking some practice swings with an axe coated similarly to my Aquatic Blade skill.

‘Interesting, he might be even more aligned to water than I am.’

Our next encounter is a group that tugs at my heartstrings. It’s a pack of four dogs, each has taken on elemental properties but they’re looking at us menacingly.

One woman in the group steps up, however. Looking confident. “I’m a Fledgling Animal Tamer. I was an animal behaviorist before all of this… Guess it transferred over. It didn’t work on the fox but let’s try here.”

She pulls out a simple whistle and blows on it. It glows with mana and makes no sound I can hear but immediately the dogs calm down. Some level of their domestication must make them easier to tame.

The presence of the dogs seems to comfort my group, giving them a familiarity in all of this chaos.

Inspecting each, there’s a Great Dane that seems to be cloaked in darkness, a St. Bernard with icicles poking out from its dense fur, a Borzoi with a small whirl of sand spinning around its body, and a Chihuahua sparking with electricity.

The last one feels especially concerning to me but I reserve my judgment. With a few Talent levels in my group, we’re all feeling more confident to take on some of the other monsters that have been set loose.