Chapter 05

The path forward was simple enough, in that it only led straight. We encountered neither trap nor flying imp. The climate became warmer and eventually we came upon green vegetation. Plants were so large that they soared above to enormous proportions. Simple fern were the size of trees. The trees themselves stretched so high, we could no longer see the canopy. It was as though wooden poles ascended forever skyward.

It was Pelle’s idea to stop for a bit of respite.

“I’ll cast Elder Azure Mana Totem so we can regain some mana while we eat and drink for a bit,” Arris said.

He cast his mana bar in a small ring and a small amount of points drained from it. The earth crumbled at our feet. The area that crumbled shook. Branches encrusted with indigo crystals rose from the ground. Soil and small rocks tumbled off the tent-like structure that stood maybe half a meter tall. Each branch of the totem gleamed with a million points of blue light. A blue that could only be found in deep earth. Blue flames burned at the center of the totem. Silky blue mist rose from the summoned artifact.

“It’ll replenish 40 mana over an hour,” Arris said.

“Mine will replenish 32, so I’ll cast mine too,” Foli said.

The hour passed uneventfully. We ate and drank companionably while we recovered. I checked on my spellbook and discovered that it had manifested its daily assortment of crystals. If I needed to use the spellbook all of sudden, I would be exposing it to my comrades.

“Always good to have a nice light snack in the middle of a dungeon,” said Vynk after we’d finished resting.

“Everyone ready?” Arris said.

Onwards we trekked. The plants only seemed to grow taller. Ferns eventually formed their own subcanopy that blocked much of the sunlight. We traveled more in shadow than in daylight, though sunbeams sometimes speckled the ground through gaps in fern fronds.

I walked beside Pelle as we took up the rear of our march.

“When did you get that shield spell?” I asked.

“Star Armor?” she said.

“Yea. I have a bunch of healing spells and a ward poison, but nothing like a shield.

Pelle withdrew a necklace from her shirt. A single charm hung heavily on the chain. The charm was teardrop shaped and slightly flattened. The exterior was pearlesque as though it had been pried from an oyster that lived in pools of divine light.

“This was gifted to me,” Pelle said, admiring the charm for a moment before tucking the necklace away beneath her tunic. “I helped heal people who’d been caught under a building that collapsed in my hometown. All but one survived. I didn’t have enough healing for that man.”

“That’s the story isn’t it?” I said.

“What do you mean?” she said.

“People die from wounds that can be easily cured. We have potions and spells galore, but it only ever seems to benefit adventurers. Rather, adventures seem to be the only ones with access to it. It sucks.”

“Yea,” Pelle said.

For some time we became lost in our own thoughts. I could tell she was busy considering what I’d said. I was preoccupied with it as well. Though occasionally we made sure to keep up with our party and keep our defenses up.

“Anyway,” Pelle said, shaking her head. “Back to what I was saying.”

“Yea, sorry if I interrupted you.”

“Don’t worry about it. So, it was a gift for my rescue effort, and as you’ve seen, it creates a bubble shield around everyone in the party. The shield acts like armor and mitigates damage. It's different from armor in that once it’s broken, the entire shield shatters.”

“Have you ever heard of Nicodomus?” I said.

“No, why?”

“I was at the trading post in Klayvale and I overheard him tell a story about defeating a legendary dungeon. He mentioned one of his healers used a protective spell called Gelmitheon’s Orb. I had the impression it was like a shield.”

“I talked to Garmar about this type of shield, because I couldn’t understand it at first.”

“What do you mean? What did he say?”

“He says he’ll be covering it in class sometime soon, but he gave me the jist of it. All healers pick up a support shield that they heavily level up. Support shields protect the entire party by extension. You mentioned Gelmitheon’s Orb, which is probably a support shield. Although they have additional functions, the foundation of a support shield is to provide a large protective barrier.”

“That’s incredible,” I said. “Yours has to be at a low level right? The imps easily broke through everyone’s shield.”

“It’s at level 2, but this was my first time using it in combat. When I get the chance I’m going to level it up. Currently it has 1 level of durability, and 1 level of power.”

I thought back to the book I was currently in the middle of. Beyond the Blood. The healer was essentially being compared to an item a warrior would simply equip on their belt. One of the chapters talked about recruiting healers with high level shields.

Until now, I thought that meant the healer actually equipped a shield. I didn’t know that healer’s also specialized in magic shields. Yet another thing I’d have to look into and probably spend a lot of permanent mana points on. Although I was quickly accruing a lot of mana, 700,000-1,000,000 points seemed so absurdly distant.

Might as well be far out of my reach. What would I even do with that much mana if I had it right now? I had no idea. I know that I wanted to reach legendary status, but where would I even begin? Legendary healers that I’ve looked up to created amazingly powerful healing artifacts. I didn't even know where to start with creating something on that level, even if I did have the means.

“What’s interesting about support shields is that they’re both time based and power based,” Pelle continued. “Not only do we have a health bar and a mana bar, but also a shield bar.”

“A shield bar? Like ancienne’s have an Ancienne’s Nature bar?”

“Precisely. Just like rogue’s end up acquiring a stealth bar.”

“I’m glad we’re enrolled in the beginner’s guild,” I said. “There’s so much to learn and explore. Garmar said we’d go over this stuff soon?”

“Sort of. He didn’t say anything definitive. He was surprised I’d gotten a shield so soon and didn’t say too much else.”

A proper support shield could really come in handy. Everyday I was beginning to see the healer role in new lights. When I’d started reading Beyond the Blood, it was astounding to me how the author viewed the warrior and healer relationship. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t offend me.

More importantly, it made me wonder how a healer’s relationship worked with other classes. Was there a better pairing than healer and warrior? So far I've really enjoyed dungeon crawling with more than one healer.

If I had to stop and think about it, that was my favorite combination. Healer and healer. Obviously it wasn’t practical in battle. What else was there? Healer and elementalist were fine. Healer and bard were fine. The Healer and ancienne relationship was pretty cool. Healer and warrior were fine too. I didn’t have too much experience with rogues.

Then I started to wonder about books like Beyond the Blood that focused on healers primarily. All I’d been reading about so far was lore and divines and deities and such. In lessons we went over a lot of practical stuff, but nothing in theory. No battle theory, no party theory, no general theory in adventuring.

I thought about this for some time as we trekked uneventfully onward. The fern had become even thicker, blocking out all light and turning the path into a sort of dark green cavern.

“Ok. Anyone have a torch?” Vynk said.

“Hand of Flames!” Lep said, casting his favorite spell.

The air before him ignited, and fire filled the shape of a massive hand. Flames leapt from the hand as though it was burning at triple speed. Heat radiated over us.

“Great,” Foli said. “Massive fireball in the middle of a jungle tunnel. How not dangerous of you.”

“Oh relax,” Lep said. “The tunnel is big enough that it won’t touch any of the fern or trees.”

With that, he began puppeting the Hand of Flames. It cast an absurdly brilliant light all around us. He made the hand walk forward on the tips of two fingers and it left burning pools of fire wherever it stepped. Unfortunately, staring into the Hand of Flames was blinding.

“I can’t see!’ Vynk said, shielding his eyes.

It only took a few more complaints for Lep to throw his hands up and relent, letting the spell dissipate, pitching us back into darkness.

“I’ve got half used torches,” Pelle said. “Leftover from previous dungeon runs.”

She brought out the half burned torches from her bag and both anciennes lit them and led the way. The torches cast much less light than Lep’s spell, but at least we could still see beyond the torch flames.

“Pelle,” I said, rejoining her side once we continued on. “What do you think about the dynamics between healer and warrior?”

“Like… in battle? Dungeon crawling? Or in general,” she said.

“Yea, dungeon crawling. In battle.”

“I think it can't be more opposite than that right? I mean the warrior provides a front line that forces the enemy to focus its attention on them. That means the healer—you and I—are protected and free to keep the warrior alive and acting as the front line. The warrior deals a tremendous amount of damage, and takes a tremendous amount of damage. Healers do the opposite right? We essentially undo damage. We heal.”

“What do you think the best pairing is? Healer and Warrior?”

“That’s an odd question. I don’t think there are too many scenarios where it would just be healer and warrior.”

“Yea, I guess,” I said. “Well, what if the party consists of three warriors and three healers?”

“Well then you might have a reasonably powerful team. But what about magic? Warriors are great in physical combat, but anciennes and mages are especially crucial when it comes to magic combat. Why do you ask?”

“I’m reading a book and it's about warriors basically using healers to do their bidding.”

“Guys,” Vynk said. “Heads up!”

The trail ended and darkness lay ahead. Foli stepped to one side, torch in hand. Arris stepped to the other side, torch in hand. Torchlight illuminated neither ceiling nor boundary. The trail ended into an open clearing that was covered with old pine needles.

I heard vicious and angry growls from the darkness ahead. Something shuffled over the pine needles. Two far apart eyes glowed like moons in the velvet-esque void.

I cast my mana bar wide, and sure enough, a huge health bar showed up at the top left quadrant. The boss’s health.

“This is the boss,” I said. “Careful guys. Remember how we practiced!”

Four more mana bars were cast wide. Robern’s mana immediately fell a considerable amount. He was promptly eclipsed by a smokey shadow, then stole away to flank the boss. Vynk equipped his greatsword. Arris’s Orb Weaver and Foli’s Sphinx Wasp joined us. Then Foli cast her Steed of Elwohire.

She threw down a seed pod the size of a mace head and it cracked open the moment it hit the ground. Roots the size of old trees instantly rushed out in jagged tendrils. They grew with alarming speed, intertwining to form the shape of a horse. In a matter of moments, the roots hardened and sprouted leaves that formed a green mane around the root-born steed. Foli mounted the snorting horse with a simple maneuver. The animal made of root bucked and let out a neigh that sounded like ten thousand rustling leaves. The steed’s neigh was answered by a ferocious growl from beyond.

Arris cast Oak Beard. A translucent green gel encased him. It was thrice his size and formed an ancient tree body. The green of it shimmered as though it were grass seen through rippling water. A beard of rust colored leaves populated the face of the tree. From within, Arris controlled the massive arms and fists of Oak Beard. Though the ancienne showed only the emotion of determination, Oak Beard’s green form opened its mouth and laughed without volume.

When Lep’s Hand of Flames ascended above us, we finally saw the boss in the light of his spells. It was a massive disheveled bear with bulging muscles and stretching wings.