WARNING: Farming implement [Harvester’s Scythe] has been destroyed.

That was the message that drove the point home for Luke. They’d bitten off way more than they could chew. He had been skeptical about this mission from the start, given the limited knowledge of the target, their shortage of classed individuals, the low levels of those who had them, and the general condition of their weapons.

Although he generally preferred a gentler, guiding hand to whip cracking administration, there were times when it was necessary to enforce his word as the law. This mission was one of those instances, but they’d still ended up taking it. Not for a lack of trying, but his band members had chosen to push forward against his better judgement.

Spurred on by the Adherents of Radiance, no doubt, he thought, sure of their influence in today’s decision. They had brought the mission to them, after all. As vague as the mission contents were, they’d been promised an ‘equitable’ portion of the loot. Despite this, Luke couldn’t risk the lives of his band members over vague loot, but Lance had thought otherwise.

As ‘Number Two’, there was more weight to his say than the other band members, save for Luke himself. ‘Number Three’, Brig, backed Lance’s thoughts as well, going as far as to invoke Luke’s usual diplomacy to force the decision to a vote. Internally, Luke had considered railing against Brig’s blatant manipulation, but seeing as a public disagreement might rock the boat, he chose to play along. The vote had been a nigh-flawless victory in Lance’s favor and Luke, as the leader, had had no choice but to come along.

Stinger, his familial scorpion; noticed his distress at the outcome. It leapt onto its master’s head and lightly scuffed his scalp in its attempts at a comforting massage. Although the familiar’s efforts were a bit prickly, Luke felt its intentions through the bond, and the sentiment was more than enough to salve his souring mood. He took further comfort in the potential learning experience, and the fact he would be near to try mitigating any fallout from the rash decision.

Unfortunately, there was no mitigation to be had in their current circumstances, for the mission demanded a level of prowess the lot of them couldn’t provide. Having failed in getting competency out of them, the opposing entity had settled for blood in its stead, reaping outclassed children left, right, and center.

Warning: has received a critical hit! has invoked [Of A Dying Horse]. has perished. has received a critical hit! Secondary effect [Paralysis] has taken effect. has been paralyzed. Duration, T-5 seconds.

The loss of Stinger was like a dagger to the heart. He almost gave in to despair but the thought of wasting his familiar’s last sacrifice propped him up and propelled him into action. This was his chance, and the window of opportunity was fast shrinking, now already at 4 seconds as he processed what needed to be done.

With the rest of the band down for the count, and the adherents nowhere to be seen, he had no choice but to take the challenge all onto himself. He called on the wind and invoked the fastest movement spell his capacity would allow. He lost a second in the buffering and arrived in front of his opponent with only 2 more seconds to spare. The abrupt stop produced a palpable force as backlash, which Luke made use of by chaining from his movement spell to an attack.

You have invoked [Autumn’s Gust Step]. A 1 second penalty has been incurred. WARNING: [Backlash] has been produced by the abrupt cancelation of [Autumn’s Gust Step]. You have invoked [Rampant Exhalation]. has taken a critical hit. Artifact has been dislodged from ’s grasp. WARNING: Residual [Backlash] still remains. You have invoked [Air Wall].

Rampant exhalation was a directed wind effect that originated from the user’s palm. The low mana invocations could be spammed for both augmented palm strikes and palm deflection, whilst the more expensive variants could be used as moving air screens. Higher mana invocations allowed for variable areas of effect, with larger areas resulting in mobile air walls, whilst smaller areas resulted in blast attacks.

Luke had aimed for the latter, shaping the blast’s nozzle to resemble a hollowed-out cylinder before directing it to Red Hat’s wrist, where his departed familiar’s stinger was. Placing his second hand over the first for support, he expelled the effects through the cracks around the stinger’s radius. The blast rampaged through flesh until it met resistance at the bone. Upon failing to break through the bones, the effects split along multiple channels of lower resistance.

These led further down Red Hat’s hand, towards its palm and fingertips. Finger bones cracked and the entity’s grip on its scythe slackened as the hand swelled, hitting its capacity shortly after. With a final exhalation, Luke broke the equilibrium. The wind sought pores as its vent and as a consequence, the scythe was blown away from Red Hat’s hold.

He’d managed a critical hit in his efforts to disarm their opponent, but he wasn’t under the impression this would be enough to take Red Hat down. With a remainder of the backlash force still threatening to blow him apart, he used it to fuel an invocation of air wall before turning to the weapon now next to him.

To ensure the weapon wouldn’t come back into play, he utilized his abundant storage space to steal the weapon whilst their opponent was still paralyzed. Or at least he tried to.

WARNING: Insufficient space and memory to store Legendary Rank weapon, . Purge a thousand-and-twenty-four daggers to accommodate it, [YES/NO]?

His efforts failed, and that prompt is what he received for his trouble. Without much of a choice, he selected [YES] and the previous contents of his inventory were summarily purged to accommodate the scythe.

Red Hat’s paralysis timed out just as Luke finished repurposing the scythe. The entity let out a high-pitched and distorted growl that Luke correctly interpreted as a roar of frustration. Luke placed his hands on the air wall to reinforce it against attacks he expected to resume soon, but none were forthcoming.

When he looked up, he saw the cloaked figure lifting his hands in a human gesture of surrender. This threw Luke for a loop, as there was no way his efforts were behind the entity’s sudden surrender. He traced its line of sight to a cloaked figure a few meters from them. If he remembered correctly, Iskar was the man’s name. It seems the adherents were finally done with whatever side-mission they’d used his band as bait for. Iskar held his hands above his head, and in each palm lay an egg Luke couldn’t fully identify, but the size and markings on them suggested they housed serpentine spawn.

“Show him your face,” said Iskar, directing this to Red Hat. Confusion registered on Luke’s face at the command, and wanting to better understand what was going on, he turned in place, putting both Iskar and Red Hat in his view. When Red Hat failed to comply, Iskar dropped the egg in his right hand. Luke gasped, and almost lost control of his air wall. It wobbled as it threatened to disperse, but he managed to steady it at the last second. When he looked up again, he noted Iskar hadn’t let the egg hit the floor.

“Either that, or omelets,” said Iskar, spotting an evil grin. This seemed to have an effect on the entity, who forestalled Iskar’s carrying out of that threat by obliging him. “Wait!” it had said, before making to remove its hood.

has dispelled the effect, [Class Mask].

That notification was strange, for as far as Luke knew, only sentient beings could acquire classes. It was only a second before realization finally dawned on him, it’s not a humanoid monster, but a sentient being!

Luke had no time to guess at who the hood had been hiding, but even if he’d had, it would never have been the face that was staring back at him now. Although Zuck aimed for an unperturbed look by holding Luke’s his gaze while keeping his head high, his eyes betrayed the emotions that were warring within. Luke was too far gone to recognize that emotion though, seeing as the person he’d turned to for help with his first familiar was the one who’d done it in in the end.

The shock of it all affected Luke’s channeling, and his air wall swelled and wiggled as a consequence. Zuck flinched as if struck by the emotions warring on Luke’s face, and when Luke threw him an accusatory glare, he couldn’t help looking away.

That is when Iskar made his move. He threw the egg in his right hand towards Zuck, who instinctively reached for it. While Zuck was over-extended, Iskar latched onto Luke’s conjuring, igniting it, starting at its edges. The base spell was repurposed in a split-second, turning from shield to bomb in that space of time.

The radiant flame caught a ride on Luke’s channeling conduit, resulting in the detonation of his spell, and feeding into the brewing bomb. Zuck made to grab Luke through the brewing spell effects. He drew him close for but a moment before promptly pushing him away again. It was at that moment the spell detonated, hitting Zuck at point-blank range. Even though the blast was directed at Zuck, Luke was caught in the backlash. He was flung meters away, and straight into the wall on the opposite end.

WARNING: Spell destruction has resulted in [Channel Backlash]. WARNING: Your awakened {WIND} affinity has been crippled by [Channel Backlash]. WARNING: [Channel Backlash] has affected 4 of the 5 dormant affinities. Chances of recovery: 0.00000000001% - nigh impossible.

Surprisingly, though it hurt something fierce, the impact hadn’t been a critical hit. He felt something squirm at his back and turned to see what it was; a rolled-up piece of cloth eerily similar to what Zuck’s cloak had been made of. The squirming suggested it was somewhat alive, but Luke didn’t have time to consider much of that. He heard footsteps coming towards him and with little time to hide the cloth, he sat on it, making sure to turn back in as normal a way as he could manage.

Iskar didn’t spare him more than a glance before turning to the item at his feet. It was the egg Iskar had used to bait Zuck into acting. He expected it to be damaged in some way, but it was fine. More than fine, it was insulated from any effects by a thin layer of protective film Luke recognized to be an advanced air wall, albeit miniaturized and form-fitted to the egg. When Iskar made to pick it up, Luke sprang forward. He fell on top of the egg, gathering it into his arms before rolling away and into a fetal position.

has perished. Full ownership of has been transferred to you. has reverted to . Quest complete: Mag’s muffin. Completion reward: +256 space. 2-for-1 completion bonus: X Experience earned. 1 x added to inventory as 1 x added to inventory. Notification: 2 x held in the inventory. Interface upgraded. Quest line inherited. Loading new alerts….

+--------------+

|Personal Alert|

+--------------+---+

|"The Missing Link"|

+------------------+------+

|Class: Quest Notification|

+-------------------------+

|Time Limit: [UNBOUND] - -|

+-------------------------+

|Other Limitations: None -|

+-------------------------+-------+

|"Uncover your Primary Main and - |

+---------------------------------+

|- - choose a Secondary class." - |

+---------------------------------+

Luke spent the most time on the last 3 notifications, or was it the last 2, and the alert? Would all future notifications come as classified alerts now? Time would have to tell. He had never heard of alerts before, but he did know changes in interfaces came with classes, and from the wording in the alert, he had likely received a hidden class. As Luke considered his notifications and the alert, Iskar was regarding him with an annoyed look, and he seemed ready to act but before he could do so, a sound pierced the moment, giving them both pause.

“No, no, no, no, NO!!!!! Wake up! Pleeeease,” came the cry. It originated from the other end of the room. When Luke turned to it, he saw Brig’s shuddering form hovering over an unconscious Lance. As if on cue, the rest of his band members started to wake up, one by one. Iskar approached them, asking if they were all okay. This surprised Luke, seeing as the man hadn’t had any care for their safety in using them as bait. He started to voice as much but a second voice cut him off from behind.

“Hush, child. Let me tend to Lance,” it said. It was a she, and she was garbed in a white dress and a red veil. A Priestess of Radiance, Luke recognized. She must’ve come to aid the adherents who’d brought the mission to them, for she hadn’t been with the group that had come with them for the raid. The way she’d used his name meant either she had had prior contact with him, or their order considered him of great potential. She glided over to Lance before extending a hand over his prone form. A sphere of effect expanded into being over Lance, with his chest as its center.

As the light show died down, the vitality in Lance seemed to grow in contrast. As the last flicker disappeared, Lance set bolt upright with a stricken expression. He felt around his arms and chest where the burns lay before the healing, and when he couldn’t find any, he searched around the room for something. His eyes settled on the Priestess, and he bowed his head in a gesture of respect and thanks, but Luke thought he saw something else in his eyes, fanaticism. He perished the thought, chalking it up to the moment.

A frantic voice called for the Priestess’s aid, and she obliged. It had been another of his own, Johnny, who’d asked for help for Jimmy. Johnny and Jimmy were twins, only distinguishable by the placement of the birthmarks on their cheeks. Though identical, the marks appeared on a different side for each sibling. However, Johnny would now be obvious at a glance, having gained a burn scar to match the birthmark on the right. Ironically, the additional distinguishing feature wouldn’t be necessary since an even more obvious classifier had arisen from this mission; whichever one they encountered in the land of the living would be Johnny.

“No! It can’t be! Jiiiiimmy!” came Johnny’s distressed wails. The rest of the adherents trickled into the room holding the raid’s haul while Luke’s band moaned their losses. Luckily, the only casualty had been Jimmy, but even that was one casualty too many. As the crying simmered down, Luke thought now would be a good time to bring the raid to an official close, but Johnny had other ideas.

“Those were burn marks on his head and chest!” he started, “last I recall, that monster only exhibited physical attacks. How did this happen!?” he asked accusingly. Though the question was directed at the adherents, Luke could still feel the burn of Johnny’s side-glance. It seemed he wouldn’t walk out of this blameless. Before Luke could explain, Iskar jumped in, confirming it was his fire that had ultimately killed their target, and as a consequence, Jimmy.

Johnny looked like he would lunge at him, but Iskar took a step back, landing him next to the Priestess before finishing his account of the events. From his account, he’d aimed his radiant flame at Red Hat, who’d dodged the initial attack, dropping a precious egg in his haste to escape. This must have distracted Luke, for in the next second, his spell accidentally melded into the radiant flame, resulting in the explosion that had killed their enemy, but also wounded their allies in the process. Since it had been his fire that had caused all this in part, he’d thought it prudent to take on some of that blame.

Luke looked on in shock as Iskar spun the yarn in his favor. As he made to refute the claim, a rock impacted his forehead, ending his words in a croak. “So, it was you! You hitched us on this crazy venture, and YOU killed my brother!” came Johnny’s voice. Lance had had the grace to wince and look away at the second part, but he did nothing to salve the situation, seeing as his intervention would probably turn Johnny’s ire onto himself instead.

A few of the band members managed to restrain Johnny before he could approach Luke, but this wouldn’t be enough to stop him from doing more harm. His latent {RAD} affinity had begun awakening before the raid, and the process had been accelerated by the strain of the raid. The trauma he’d experienced in the wake of said raid had been the penultimate catalyst, the last being Luke’s apparent involvement in his brother’s death. Wishing harm, but unable to physically enact his vengeance, his mind took over. It melded all his grief, anger, and frustration before channeling the combination into an instinctive casting. The emotions saved as a shaping intent that defined the effect as well as the target, Luke. The Priestess, preoccupied with her ministrations on another of their number; couldn’t act on time, while Iskar seemed pleased at the turn of events. It was thus up to Luke to protect himself, but with his {WIND} affinity now disabled, he could only eat the attack with grace before letting the darkness take him.