The next few days were simply grinding skills. Lesser elemental imbue to get the fourth earth skill. I finally managed to fix what I was doing wrong with Stoneskin, and immediately received a boost to it. I guess going with the hardest substance known to man was the right move. The upgraded portion was Greater Stoneskin, and I had to play around with it a bit in order to maximize it. Bribis had to break down and help, since I was still casting on the apple. According to him, both spells tended to lower the agility of the target until you weakened the effects around the joints. Bless Gareth, he took one for the team and finally let me practice the spell on him.

While I had all five of my novice spells, there was one other I wanted to try. I had already practiced with lowering an items density for the Featherlight spell, could I do the opposite? Turns out that yes, you can indeed. The result is the Leadweight spell, but it had its drawbacks. It was slow acting, and required physical contact. That ruled out using it in direct combat, at least for me. I could see someone with a hammer using it to magnificent effect, especially coupled with its air counterpart. Imagine the momentum you could generate switching from Featherlight to Leadweight just before impact! So long as you had the foresight to brace yourself, you could do massive unexpected damage.

Alas, it wasn’t to be for me. Though just having the spell might prove useful in the future. Not everything was that easy though. The apprentice tier spells were giving me a headache. Stone daggers or even mage daggers imbued with earth mana just didn’t seem to be compatible. I tried all sorts of variations. Axes. Hammers. Different blade shapes. Nothing worked, and I was annoyed. I only needed one more spell to complete the apprentice tier, and I needed to finish my journeyman tier spell to get another bonus. With frustrations building, I decided to take a break and work on Overlook.

So, the issue with Overlook was magic. It made the object practically blaze with mage sight, pretty well the opposite of what you wanted to have happen. Even using shadow magic, you could see the issue. Dropping the spell made the talking stone I was practicing on go back to a gentle glow in certain areas. Instead of trying to completely cover everything, I should do some strategic placement? The lightest touch of shadow mana allowed me to mix the glow of my spell with that of the enchantment, but also make the enchantment seem as if it was broken. That got me halfway to mastery, but I kept running into the same problem. The enchantment part that was supposed to be “broken” was just as intense as the unbroken part. I smiled as I realized the issue. If only there was a way to enhance how parts of an object looked! Adding in a bit of light magic like I was using Eyecatcher let me finish the spell, though it wouldn’t upgrade. I was surprised when Eyecatcher also received a bonus, but chalked it up to being able to enhance the glow of an enchantment.

It was the middle of the morning on the third day out when our luck ran out. I was idly creating mana shapes, still not quite ready to delve back into earth magic. “What’s going on?” I asked as the cart slowed down.

“Oh just lovely.” Bribis growled, having stood up and looked ahead of us. “Flock of cockatrices.”

That monster sounded familiar. Some type of bird, but it did something annoying in games, but I was having trouble placing exactly what it was. “Care to give me a bit of a refresher? They sound a bit familiar.”

“Annoying birds. Don’t get too close, that third eye of theirs can cause minor petrification. Not strong enough alone to take down a human sized person, unless they are in flocks. Looks like we have a flock of about 20 up there.”

I stood up to look, and saw a group of birds the size of German shepherds. They had some vicious looking talons, and minimal plumage. What they did have was muted greens and browns. Where they didn’t have feathers, it looked like they had scales. Could they be one of the links between dinosaurs and birds? These sure as hell looked like it. Their beaks had a vicious curve to the end like an eagle, and a massive horn that ran up the middle and split around and encircled their third eye. A red crest topped their heads, but only on half of them. I couldn’t tell from this distance if it was the males or females, but it didn’t matter.

“So, do we take them out? And if so, how?” I asked.

“We will have to try from a distance. The biggest trouble is going to be injuring them. They always have on the equivalent of Greater Stoneskin. That makes most arrows useless. A bit of air enchantment works, but before you go offering you would have to cast lesser elemental imbue on each arrow individually.” He glared at me, getting a sheepish smile in return. Too bad I couldn’t imbue the bow and have that pass it on to each arrow.

“If I launch an attack, will they all charge?” I asked, not wanting to get them all riled up before everyone was ready.

“It depends. If you manage to kill one? Especially a strong one? They will flee. If not, they will turn and attack. Injuring one from this distance will put them on guard. Then they will spread a bit and attack.”

“I see.” I said. “Which one’s the strongest?”

“The one with the big red crest.” Dramitian chuckled. “Give us a minute to prepare. I suggest a wind attack, at the very least a journeyman spell.”

“I’ll be ready. Just let me know when to launch it.” I said. I got a nod from both gnomes, and started plotting. Damage wise, my strongest spell was likely solar sphere, but I wasn’t about to burn up the bodies. That left either honed air blade, or flowering bullet. Of the two, the distance would weaken the air blade too much. Besides, I had added an armor piercing tip to the flowering bullet. When was I going to get a chance to actually test it on some armor?

But just a straight up earth spell wouldn’t do. Luckily I was conjuring a bit of metal, and metal can be imbued with energy. This was also quite a bit longer than my best distance for accuracy, so I would need to boost it. The plan would be simple, but I would probably lose a lot of mana for just one shot. Conjure a titanium bullet, imbued with air mana. Give it a ballistic spin for accuracy, and I’ll even go ahead and add a conic cyclone ahead of the bullet to help deflect any winds.

While I was planning, the guards formed a line with full body shields. Instead of their normal swords, each one had a rather vicious looking mace with rows of spikes on it. Not bad when fighting armor. The second row only had three people in it, but each one had a halberd. The extra reach with the axe would be welcome, and the spike could pierce armor or trip up the birds. Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem.

“Sean, you want to take your shot?” Bribis asked.

“Sure. One second.” I answered, stepping forward to the middle of the line. The birds were too far away to consider us threats, and were absentmindedly milling around in the road. Absolutely perfect targets. Whispering a prayer for luck, I took a deep breath. Conjure the spinning bullet first. Perfect. Add lesser elemental imbue, concentrating the wind mana in the very tip of the bullet for maximum damage. Around it, a shell of air, spinning in time with the bullet. Give it five grooves of denser air to minimize trajectory changes from crosswinds. Deep breath, and aim. Nothing fancy, no headshot needed. Center of mass, and let it go!

The bullet rocketed away, sending me stumbling back from a surprising amount of recoil. It didn’t have the shriek of the air alarm, but there was a noticeable whistling sound. That got the attention of the cockatrice herd, and they all perked their heads up to look at the sound. Just in time for the bullet to smash into the chest of the leader and punch a much larger hole out the back of it. A few of the flower petals must have gotten torn off, because two of the bird creatures behind the leader were struck as well. One got a minor bleeding wound on the chest while the other received a crippled wing. Everyone froze at the devastation, until the body of the leader slowly fell over.

“KREEEEEE!!!!” The rest of the flock chirruped in alarm, turning and sprinting away from the leader as fast as they could. Apparently too heavy for flight, they instead used their wings to give them a slight boost over the terrain. The only one that didn’t flee was the one with the crippled wing. Instead, it turned to face us and chirped its own battle cry.

“Not bad Sean, but how are you going to take care of that last one?” Bribis asked.

“Like this.” I said. I let it cross about half the distance, well within what I felt my air blade would be effective. I pointed my finger at it, and jerked my hand up as if I was suffering from recoil. Just as I thought, the creature expected that to be an attack. It ducked low to the ground, kicking its good wing out for a bit of balance. When it started to raise its head, thinking the danger was past, a honed air blade bit deeply into the neck. I didn’t get a full decapitation, but with the amount of blood spraying from the wound the bird wasn’t long for this world.

“Always. Have a. Backup. Plan.” I heaved, having burned through an inordinate amount of mana. It took a few seconds for things to settle in, then I heard Gareth burst into laughter behind me.

“Ha! Calls cutting off the head a backup plan! Come on guys, let’s go.” He chuckled, walking up and slapping me on the back.

“We just leaving the bodies?” I asked, confused. Surely monsters like these could be used in something, right?”

“Yep.” Gareth answered. “The meat is rather tough, and the skin isn’t worth much. The eye could fetch a decent price with an alchemist, but it needs to be fresh. We’re too far out for that, and they won’t keep well. Even in a storage device.”

“That seems a waste though.” I complained. “I mean, all you would have to do would be cook the meat slowly until its tender, right?”

“Problem for the cooks.” He shrugged. “But think about it. We are travelling all day. How are you going to cook it slowly? As much as you’ve progressed, you won’t be able to keep a fire in the back of the wagons. Far too dangerous.”

“Pick me up by the second body.” I said. “I’ve got a mad idea. If it works, tomorrow’s dinner is gonna rock. If it doesn’t, well. It won’t be the first time I’ve scrubbed a burnt pot.”

“That right there.” He laughed, slapping my back again. “That attitude. Keep it up. I look forward to dinner.” While he walked back laughing, I started jogging forward to collect the two bodies. They ended up taking most of the space left in my inventory, but it would only be for a night. While I waited for the wagons to come pick me up, I checked my battle notifications.

Battle notifications:

Flowering bullet skill increased 45/50 -> 50/50. Mastered!

Lesser elemental imbue skill increased 3/10 -> 10/10. Mastered!

New skill: elemental imbue (1/50) (journeyman)

New skill created: Sniper bullet (master)

Sniper bullet skill increased 1/200 -> 200/200. Mastered!

Geomancer class unlocked

Requirements met! Elementalist upgraged to Quadramentalist

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6

AGI – 5

DEX – 7

INT – 27 (+18)

WIS – 28 (+18)

CON – 10

END – 10

Health: 100/100

Mana: 400/1,575

Health regen: 0.057/min

Mana regen: 23.69/min

Class: celestial sorcerer (1,650/10,000)

Available classes: aeromancer (200), photomancer (300), shadowmancer (275), geomancer (0)

Secondary class: Quadramentalist (252/1,000)

Unfinished classes: 2/10

Profession: none

Available professions: slave master

Secondary profession: none

Level: 18/25

Exp to next level: 20%

Looking over how things turned out, I had apparently spent a thousand mana when launching two spells. Definitely going to have to check how much mana the new Sniper bullet skill would cost, but wow as it worth it as an opening volley. My numbers seemed just a hair low, until I realized that when elementalist upgraded to quadramentalist, I still only received one bonus from it. Either way, I was still glad I had it. Without all those bonuses to mana, I would have collapsed long before I could even launch that spell.

Sniper shot

This spell is designed to kill at a distance. The air shield surrounding the bullet does minimal damage, but is effective at keeping the bullet on target. Once the target is struck, the tip pierces the initial armor. Upon penetration, the bullet will open like a flower, and the stabilizing spin will wreak havoc upon the soft tissue. Timed right, the bullet may even be imbued with elemental energy.

Cost: 300 mana

That, didn’t seem right and Bribis caught my confused face. “What’s got you looking like you just bit into a lemon?”

“New spell. When I cast it, it ended up costing at least twice what the official skill costs.” I grumbled.

“Nobody explained that, eh? Well. I suppose it is time you learned. See, when you craft your own spell, very rarely is it the most efficient. You just have to show the system that it is possible within its rules. Once you do, it’ll optimize it for you. If you had any spots that were leaking mana, or wasting it they get removed. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“Well, I guess that makes me feel a bit better. Instead of only getting two shots with that, I can now do five.”

“Only five? How much mana does it take?” Dramitian asked with a whistle.

“Three hundred.” I replied. “It’s an earth and air spell, master level.”

“Earth and air? No wonder it got kicked up.” Dramitian explained. “Mixing elements, especially those that are traditionally opposed, always kicks it up at least one skill level. If you can mix three or more, you might even come up with some of the higher elements. I tell you what, being able to control lightning is a heady feeling.”

I perked up at that, while the conversation went off to more mundane topics. The rest of the day I would be plagued by visions of a person in a robe, shooting lightning from their fingertips. Isn’t that the dream of every boy growing up at some point?

Either way, I was mentally drained. The rest of the ride was sent simply relaxing. After dinner I did pay a few cooks to help me clean and prep some things for my possible dinner tomorrow. One thing my lovely wife had drilled into my head was mis en place. Do all your cutting and measuring seasoning beforehand, that way when you are cooking you just have to dump things into the pot.

“So, let me get this straight.” Bribis said before we all went to bed. “You’re going to use magic to cook tomorrow?”

“It sounds so dangerous when you put it like that.” I complained. “I’m not going to use it in the food, if that’s what you are concerned about.”

“Well that was one. I also want to make sure that you aren’t going to be using an open flame in the carts. They are made of wood, ya know.”

Chuckling, I stood and saluted the grumpy gnome. “Thank you, Captain Obvious! I had no idea the splinters in my ass were from the wood of the carts!”

“Bastard.” Bribis grumbled as Dramitian chuckled at the scene.

“Look, all I want to do is use thermomancy to heat the pot. I’ll keep it low all day, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, yeah. You say that, and I still get nervous. You’ll have to ride with Elendria nearby the whole time. And just what in the hell are you having my cooks make tonight? Some sort of Necromancer Stew?” He asked, pointing at a pot. I could sort of see where he was coming from there. We had cracked the bones of the cockatrices and set it in there with the unused meat. Not only the small stuff still stuck to the bone, but some of the organs as well. Heart, liver, and gizzards. One cook had volunteered to sit and stir it on occasion all night.

“It’s a stock. That water is going to absorb a bunch of flavor from the meat, and we will be using it in the food tomorrow.” I said.

“Relaaax.” Elendria said, joining the conversation. “Don’t you trust our Sean? He won’t burn a hole in your precious wagon.”

“We’ll see about that.” Bribis grumbled. “Anyhow, you should get some sleep. No need to tempt fate with a tired body and mind.”

“Sounds good. Have a good night Bribis. Elendria. Dramitian.” I nodded to everyone, and headed to my own bedroll as they all wished me the same. I just hoped that I could pull off what I was trying to do tomorrow. That recipe did have a bit of a trick to it. Smiling as I thought back to the times I would come home to a house that smelled simply divine from Danielle’s cooking, I drifted off to sleep.