Chapter 3 - Buffing Ain't Easy (POV: Roddy)

“Good, good!” Nana recoiled against Edward’s attack, “now roar like a dragon!”

“Raaaaaaawwwwwwrrrrrr,” he growled, spitting a stream of ice into the sky with great velocity. The small white pellets fell back to the earth as a cloud of shimmering dust, blanketing everything in sight.

“Not at the sun,” Nana crowed, “at me, dummy.”

“Can we take a break,” my brother collapsed, “I’m out of stamina.”

“No, you’re not,” Nana poked him with her staff, “you still have 54 points left.”

“Uhhhhhhh…Nana…,” Edward groaned, “I need a break.”

“No breaks until supper time,” the toothless old crone badgered him, “did I mention that we’re having hot dogs?”

“Noooo! Anything but that!” The two chuckled as Edward picked himself up and prepared to attack again, “if I land this next thrust, then you’ll agree to make pizza instead.”

“Deal,” the old-timer readied her staff in defense as my brother circled her with his newly acquired rapier, “here I come”. He thrust his blade right at her.

“Dummy, don’t tell me when you are going to attack,” she said, as she nimbly evaded his strike, whacking him with the butt end of her staff as he stumbled past.

I watched from underneath a nearby tree as the student and his instructor laughed and squabbled with each other. They had grown close over the past few days, and my brother was already looking like a whole new person. I, on the other hand, had done nothing of any significance.

I picked up the Trainees Guide to Being a Support Mage and chucked it into the sea, storming off in a huff.

I couldn’t quite understand what I was feeling. Was it jealousy? Jealousy at my own brother, my best friend and guardian who had raised me from infancy. No, it's not that, I thought as I kicked a small rounded pebble down the beach, I just don’t want to be left behind. I struggled to hold my tears back at the thought.

I wanted to be helpful, but I sucked at swordplay, and my ability to control mana was not much better. Nana was an elementalist like my brother, not a supporter like me, how in the world was I supposed to get better simply by reading books? I needed a trainer of my own. I needed help.

“Buff Item”, I held my palm towards the pebble in front of me, focusing my mana directly at its center.

[Error: Improper Cast], a message popped into my vision.

“Buff Item!”, I practically screamed.

[Error: Improper Cast]

“Uaaahhh, this is impossible”, I kicked it into the sea.

A puffy cloud drifted overhead, obscuring the sunlight, and conforming the world to my dark gray mood.

I reached into my pack and pulled out another book, Magister Brindley’s Guide to Buffing and Debuffing. I had already read it cover to cover, twice. It explained the three primary types of buffs – item buffs, stat buffs, and health buffs. As a level 1 Buffer, I was supposed to be able to use all three of them, albeit weakly, but after three days of practice I had yet to even use one. Same with the debuffs.

“Is there anything I missed in here,” I fought my urge to chuck the book into the sea and began flipping through its pages yet again. A ridiculous illustration of a sea turtle wearing a scholar’s cap provided helpful tips at the bottom of each page. “If you have trouble focusing your mana,” it said, “make direct contact with the object you are trying to buff.”

I grabbed for another pebble and rolled it around in the palm of my hand. “Buff item,” I said.

[Error: Improper Cast]

“Looks like it's into the sea with you,” I said as I flicked the pebble into its watery grave.

I flipped the book onto the next page. Brindley the Magical Turtle had some more sage advice for me, “Do you have a unique ability? Try combining it with your buffs.”

“Guess its worth a shot,” I sighed, clutching another pebble in hand.

I breathed in a deep breath of salty air and calmed myself. “Activate Royalty Mode”, I breathed out as my mana transformed me.

Please work. I squeezed the pebble in hand. “Buff Item!”

[Error: Improper Cast]

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh,” I flung Brindley the Turtle, and his crappy wisdom into the choppy surf. Why was I so worthless? Why couldn’t I do anything?

“Buff my worthless body,” I held my hand against my chest.

[Buff Applied: Self]

What!? I couldn’t stop a wide smile from overtaking my face. Had I actually used a buff? On – myself? The books didn’t mention anything about that.

I opened up my skill sheet to figure out what had happened:

Skills (Royalty Mode)

Buff Magic (Support, LV 1):

- Self Buff [Passive]

Life Magic (Class Unknown, LV ?)

- Absorb [Active]

“Life magic?” What in the world is that?” Trying not to get distracted by what I was seeing, I focused my vision on my newfound self buff skill.

Self Buff [Passive]

For as long as it remains active, this buff provides the spellcaster with a random ability from another class of magic.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” I did a happy dance.

“So absorb must be my new random ability." I eyeballed over it:

Absorb [Active]

Playing with the fabric of time and space itself. This one-use spell, allows the spellcaster to absorb an object or element, incorporating it into their very DNA. Drains all mana upon use.

Yikes, that sounds kind of scary. I thought to myself, as I approached the final limits of my royal mode. But I should try it anyway. It might be my only shot. My heart began to pound.

I scanned the horizon for an object that I could absorb. There were plenty of pebbles around, but I was tired of those. I could absorb water, but would that turn me into water? The short description that went along with absorb, was rather ambiguous. If I was going to absorb something into my very DNA, then I had to make sure I absorbed the right thing. It had to feel right.

That's when I remembered the storm brewing overhead. It was a perfect metaphor for my life. My parents had been slaughtered because of me. My brother had his childhood stolen from him, because of me. And because of me, my family and I were now part of some kind of a bizarre game. I was like a storm. No, I am a storm, I thought to myself as I reached my palm towards the sky, it’s time to embrace who I am. “Absorb” I said.