"Alright, kiddo. You just gotta keep them occupied. You don't have to kill them all. You just gotta buy some time. You can do this…" My pep talk falls on deaf ears, even if it is meant for me. All six of the Aberrations are very much alive and just as ornery as they were on arrival. The parts of them that glow blue or yellow have no correlation to the kinds of attacks I'm seeing. What should be a flaming claw strike comes from the swish of a mangy tail. A rotten maw opens wide and I dive to the side on instinct, but the damn thing heals itself instead.

"You guys are like an Ability playlist set to shuffle." Clustered in a huddled mass, just the way Iike it, I cross my fingers and cast two cones of Glamour Breath into their midst with both hands. Erratic as they were, they at least had a single focal point. Now, with some of them Confused and Charmed, they are all over the place. Spells and Skills fly all over the place and I can't predict where any of them will be going.

[Dire Aberration blasts you for 67 damage!]

[Dire Aberration pierces you for 63 damage!]

[Dire Aberration bludgeons you for 59 damage!]

[Dire Aberration shocks you for 61 damage!]

An unidentified Spell goes off near me, exploding and tossing me into the air with my ears ringing. Painfully disoriented and in mid air, an narrow icicle runs through my shoulder at the same time something big and heavy slams into my lower back. With a spin, I unintentionally land on unsteady feet, further confusing me, before electricity surges through my body, locking up my legs and sending me flat on my back. The icicle sticking out of my back lurches forward and out, leaving a gaping hole in my shoulder and armor. I can barely focus on what part of me hurts the most as every nerve in my body riots with pain.

[Reaction: White Flame I]

[You heal yourself for 104HP!]

The soothing warmth washes over my throbbing back, freezing shoulder, and cramping leg muscles, giving me a moment of clarity. My eyes shoot open in time to see more elemental debris hurtling in my direction. Mana Shield materializes in time to block a few attacks, while I drag myself to my feet and move out of range.

[Mana Shield blocks 67 damage! -67MP]

[Mana Shield blocks 66 damage! -66MP]

[Mana Shield blocks 67 damage! -67MP]

"Fuckin' horrible idea, genius." I berate myself as I dodge and block attacks while jogging backwards, but still in the opposite direction of the city. Last thing I want to do is lead these things back to the others. Some of the wild attacks of the Confused Aberrations hit their fellow creatures, but they merely shrug off the hits with their high HP.

"Yep. Kiting creatures on my own usually leads to trouble. Remember last time?" Yeah, yeah. I never let myself forget, do I? No one else familiar with my reputation ever does.

A couple clear headed Aberrations chase me down, seperating from the mayhem of the melee. My emergency reaction Spell may have already triggered, but these two monsters that were in the mix took enough damage to put them both around thirty percent HP each. It will make it worth using White Flame so early in the fight if I can take these two down now.

I stow my Battle Wand in exchange for my claws, switch gears, and run straight at them. Teleporting behind one of the beasts for a Critical Stab throws off the creature's timing just long enough for me to sneak in the extra Echo Strike.

[You deal 218 piercing damage and drain 42MP!]

[You deal 207 arcane damage and drain 20MP!]

[You defeated Dire Aberration!]

The other Aberration turns just in time for the first one to hit the ground as a corpse and evaporate in a cloud of pixels. The angry one rakes at the dirt in its charge, sending clumps flying about in its wake. As I prepare to dodge its charge, a sudden flash of yellow multiplies the beast into a total of three exact copies, running side by side at me. With no time to work out the situation or cast Blink Step, I choose to dive as hard as I can toward the one on my right, hoping the form is an illusion or, at the very least, I can gain enough clearance to dodge it completely.

Two wrongs definitely don't make a right as I guessed wrong on both counts. The very real and very solid beast clips my legs, spinning me in the air and catching my left arm in a mouth jutting out of its side.

[Dire Aberration tackles you for 37 damage!]

[Dire Aberration bites you for 59 damage!]

Before I can take any more damage, I activate Be Like Water. My body turns to liquid and I splash on the ground. The grass is long enough to hide my watery form as I will every drop back together. I can sense that the others are moving in my direction after knocking each other around for a while.

Damn. Hopefully, they're just as weakened as the other two were.

With my blob complete and the nearby Dire Aberration rooting around for me, I move away as a puff of smoke instead of returning to my regular form . The creature pays me no mind, which I chalk up to the fact that I'm not in some humanoid form it's familiar with. That's all well and good for now, but when the five monsters get together, they simultaneously aim their main head parts toward Denagrin and restart their deadly march. Not only that, but one of them starts casting Healing Breeze over itself, catching me and the others within range as they all move past me.

[Dire Aberration heals you for 66HP!]

I won't even pretend to be grateful for that and frustration bubbles within me as the cobbled together creatures continue to shamble towards the city. A quick check of my other notifications shows that I didn't Adapt anything from the single slain monster. My rainbow bar is close to full, but without the insurance of White Flame I'm a little hesitant. Their last barrage of attacks, even though not aimed directly at me, was nearly fatal. How can I take on five of them if they focus their efforts? Why is this harder than fighting bosses or hordes? Why can't I predict their attacks?

Wait.

That's it, isn't it? I can't map out their intentions so I'm having a tough time fighting them. Their list of Abilities make no sense and they have the battle acumen of a cat walking across a keyboard, right? It's like taking on five very different, very unpredictable Blue Mages. As uncommon a job class as it is, I've always wanted to try my luck against another one to see what I could learn. So far, the only thing I've learned from these creatures is how annoying it must be to fight someone like me. Berserkers rage, most Mages cast very particular Spells, Archers shoot arrows, Rogues stabby stab. But these things use Abilities like someone pulling numbers for a game of bingo. Except healing.

That Aberration targeted itself, only catching the others and myself because we were in range. Not only that, but it did it after the fight was over and it didn't even care that it healed me. The one that charged me sure used that Skill on purpose, too. I think the player version was called Illusionary Feint, but another Scan shows me that the monster Ability is called +Predator Rush. That's two lucid creatures performing thoughtful actions. Maybe their actions aren't random, just the kinds of Abilities they have. Also, they may have attacked in a group, but they didn't fight together like a pack of wolves or squad of soldiers.

This gave me an idea. With my rainbow bar topped off and still in smoke form, I float within Spell range. In order for me to cast anything, however, I would have to dismiss my smoke form. So, as long as I don't roll a shit ton of ones (multiple failures in a row and a tabletop gamer's worst nightmare), I should be able to cast Command on each of them with room for a fail or two. Now, if they were to get hit the effects would be dismissed, so I would have to use a single word to make them do something else besides attack one another. My initial cast forces my body back into my physical form and the creatures are slow to respond. Seven casts total, that's two failures, and 245MP later, all five monsters are walking backwards and away from the city.

"Yes! Reverse worked!"

Taking full advantage of the creatures' backwards movement, I lay into one of them. Assassinate knocks the creature into the right state of mind, but not in time for the follow up Echo Strike and two Air Cutters as I move out of melee range. In mere seconds, my target's HP drops to almost half, (860/1666HP). The leg sticking out of its back glows blue and two purple bolts erupt from the cloven hoof in my direction. I return fire with three of my own and dodge with ease, but the bulky creature simply eats my attack. Not literally, that would have been terrible. The Aberration lets out a sound like a drowning howl, as if the creature parts making up its form are rats tearing themselves out of the sinking ship.

Not merciful enough to grant the creature respite, I Blink Step in for another Critical Stab and Echo Strike. Shuddering legs and gurgling mouths almost make me feel bad as I prepare the finishing moves, but the undeniable animosity in the blue eyes erases the pity forming in my heart. Just a simple Critical Stab in the head puts the creature out of its misery.

[ You deal 217 piercing damage and drain 42MP!]

[You defeated Dire Aberration!]

[Adaptibility Activated! You learned a new Skill!]

[+Dark Claw]

Just a tease for now. It's all I have time for and enough to brighten my spirits, getting me excited to live through the battle. Killing a second monster may be beneficial to survival, but having a reason to live is just as important. Of course, neither of those things will help me with my MP at a quarter tank, SP down to half, and the monsters back under their own control.

"Is that… all you… got?" Had I not been taking deep, sharp breaths I'm sure my taunt would have been more intimidating, not that these creatures could show anything more than loathing. As if finally realizing their numerous advantages against me, they stalk down the several dozen yards distance between us, preparing Spells and Skills with dim, glowing limbs.

Shit. I can't handle more than one at a time and that's with full bars. What do I do? What can I do? My inner strategist scrambles for solutions.

I activate Reach, since my SP is essentially tapped, dropping the SP Max by thirty percent and extending my melee attack range by fifteen feet. Okay, that's one thing.

My thumbs fiddle with the rings on my hands and I recall the Hedge Mage's Ring's full charge. That means five Shocking Touch Spells are still available. Alright, that's good. I still have some points (119/404MP, 77/106SP), but right now I don't have time to drink any potions and keep an eye on four incoming beasties at the same time. A phrase pops into my mind and a grin spreads across my face through the heavy breathing. I bare my claws and squat into a ready position.

"You... shall… not--"

The bittersweet arrival of my support cuts off my pronouncement and the final word dies in the cacophony of battle.

"You can't handle a little four-on-one?" Kona teases as she drops off Elsbeth from her Flying Broom. The brief distraction is just long enough for me to miss the chance to dodge an attack. A bowling ball of ice slams into my chest, explodes in dagger-like shrapnel, and knocks me off my feet.

[Dire Aberration bludgeons you for 51 damage!]

[Dire Aberration pierces you for 27 damage!]

"Agh… fuck…" is all I can muster from the dirt as the shards of ice melt and soak my clothes. My heart skips a beat when Kona aims her meteorite staff at me, but the bolt she sends out fills me with a revitalizing energy.

[Kona Cafe heals you for 39HP!]

"Thanks, kitty." I grasp her staff and Elsbeth's outstretched hand to get back on my feet. Dawn and Victoria ride in on two, young, dark green, Forest Nightmares I vaguely remember seeing before. The two are joined by Sonny and Richter, bringing four orbs of Dancing Lights. The Bard, Cleric, and Centurion create an impressive defensive line using Meteora and two scutum shields. A party request appears before me and I slam on the yes button without hesitation. Richter falls back with the other ranged attackers, bow in one hand, and gives me a thumbs up.

"Doin' alright, bro?"

I smile at him and return his gesture. He summons four more glowing balls of light to give those without Dark Vision a better view. The two Rogues, Kona, and I prepare long ranged Abilities as attacks from the Aberrations crash into our defenders. The Half-Elf calls out, "Let's light 'em up!"

Our formation is one we practiced for a while during training and it still requires a great deal of trust. The vanguard would have to trust that the Archers and Casters wouldn't accidentally hit them in the back of their heads. I could cheat by using Bolt Master's Ring to apply a homing effect, but it would cut the damage in half and miss the whole point of the formation.

"Fire!" Dawn commands, joining our barrage with her Divine Flash Spell. Arrows and magical bolts speed by them, close enough to ruffle their hair.

"Dawn, each one is chock-full of Abilities. I need to land the final blows." I plead out loud, coming to terms with my sudden greed and the uncertainty of when I would be presented with this kind of situation ever again.

"Let's wear them down first and you gotta be quick. I'm not risking everyone's safety for long. Those things are horrible." A magic circle lights up beneath us as Dawn casts Sanctuary to boost everyone's HP Regen rates.

"Right!" I break from my assault and take a step back. The contents of a Stamina and a Mana potion quickly find their way into my gut, almost drowning me. I find the two flavors pleasingly fruity and medicinal all at once. Combined with the rejuvenating physical effects, memories of a cold beer after a rough shift at work or a cool drink on a hot day flash in the back of my mind.

With everything back in my side's favor, the Aberrations stand no chance at winning the battle. It wouldn't be enough for us to just hold them off or send them running, the last option not even possible with how aggressive they press regardless of the forces they face. Still, with four against six and the plan to shave their HP just enough for me to finish them off myself, the monsters strain the line with their efforts.

"Blink, Ardy! Hurry up!" Dawn yells over the crash of a tackling Aberration, a bloody leg reaching over her shield and a set of glowing fangs biting at the edges.

Two arcane rapiers form in my fists and the world goes black and reappears in an instant. Teleporting just above the attacking creatures, I drop down and slash at all the fur and flesh within my reach. Two of the weakened creatures fall at my feet and I roll away from a possible stomping. When I pop up on my feet a torrent of fire waits for me. I raise my arms instinctively to guard my head, but the burning, blistering heat rages all around me and I scream in agony. I fall to my knees, losing the grips of my magical weapons and dismissing them. Unable to move my fingers to sign, I let out a hoarse croak.

"Fey… Touch…"

I let my hands fall to my arms. The feeling and memory of such pain don't leave me quickly enough and it takes me a moment to get back up. Two more currents of healing energy surge through me and I realize suddenly that something tried to kill me earlier I shoot looks all around me. The others had jumped in to protect me from the last two Aberrations. Both Dawn and Kona cast healing Spells on me and Vic asks if I havr one more attack in me.

I respond with a Blink Step and a flurry of yellow glowing claws. They pull back just enough to allow me some space to work, supervising me as I finish the fight.

I crumble to a seat on the ground and bring up all the notifications. For killing the first two Aberrations on my own, I received one hundred percent of their total XP. But I remember being too distracted to grab the loot sacks. We'll worry about them later. For now, I search for a string of words with bated breath.

[You received 400XP!]

[800XP +40% War Party Leader IV bonus

[1120XP will be shared among the party.

[1120XP/7 members.

[You received 160XP!]

[Level up! You have reached level 28!]

[You have 7 Stat Points and 1 class level to allocate!]

[Adaptibility Activated! You learned 2 Spells, 1 Skill, and 1 Feat!]

A hand lands on each of my shoulders and I look up to a wide eyed Dawn and raised eyebrow Victoria. Dawn leans into my face with a wide smile, not having to bend too far down, "So, was it worth it?" I hold up my hand, waving my fingers at her. Confused, she gives me a high five and I snort a quick laugh.

"Five Abilities."

She whistles and the others are a chorus of amazed swearing, even Sonny says something that makes me concerned about where she might have picked it up. Before I can ask I'm hefted to my feet and urged to mount Avronette, who I recognize after travelling with her for a few days. She whinies, bringing her face to mine and knocking off my hat as she nuzzles me.

"Easy, girl. I missed you too." I pull a piece of Lupalion meat intended for Alima and feed it to the Nightmare who happily tosses it up and catches it in the back of her mouth.

"Watch out, Ardy," Kona teases as she floats by on her broom with El seated and smiling behind her, "It's not nice to flirt with other girls right in front of Vicky." Sonny and Richter hop on Meteora with a chuckle.

Dawn, riding her own Nightmare, trots over to lead the group, "No, Kona, we all know who his favorite mount is." A shower of sparks fall on her from Vic's outstretched hand. She squeels and giggles as they chase each other around. Everyone laughs and I smile, not sure if they can see me blushing.

Two, ghostly purple hands grab onto Dawn's reigns and she protests as Richter laughs louder, leading her back towards her tormentor, "No fair! No fair!"

The sparks, which do no damage, actually look like they're tickling the Blacksmith Infernus. She shrieks and kicks a leg out at Vic, but we're all too busy laughing to get closer to the action. Riding behind everyone, I drop my Stat Points into Arcane and save the rest of the notifications for the city. It wouldn't be good to survive the fight, only to be ambushed on the way home. I sniff the air and focus my hearing as I urge Avronette to speed up so I can ride closer to the others.

The strange thing about the Aberration loot is the trail mix assortment based on the creatures they were meant to be: Dire Wolves, Boars, Lupalions, and Badgers. As tough as the Aberrations were, I'm glad Dola and I didn't have to face Dire Badgers in the dark. If the regular Badger Bears were vicious, I would hate to see one much larger than normal, as well as mutated by high amounts of mana.

I'm several bites into my food, something like a light brown curry with carrots, potatoes, and tender cubes of meat, when a worried looking Gorm strolls by our table. He strokes his chin and inspects everyone's plates. The others are enjoying their desserts by now, my call for aid had come at the tail end of dinner. A low growl in his throat rises in pitch as he sniffs about and hovers his green face over my meal.

"Where did you get this, Ardacen?" His eyebrow shoots up and he carefully recoils from me. He goes as far as taking a step back, like I was eating a landmine and he didn't want to make any sudden movements to set it off.

"It was the only plate left in the bag. This wasn't somebody's food, was it?" My worry grows as everyone else begins to mimic the Half-Orc's cautionary behaviour, scooting chairs away from me and casting glances at me and my plate.

"Well, um, let's just say… Mika was really interested in some oily meat that you left in storage." The only one not confused is Victoria. Instead of confusion, she's visibly ill, barely keeping a lid on her nausea.

"Oh… what?" I stand in fit of panic, knocking my chair over and pulling the attention of the whole dining area. A cold sweat breaks out all over my body, "This isn't… I'm eating…?" The thought of what I had just done, takes me back to the fight. My crawling skin, the acrid odor, the wiggling feelers, and the incessant chittering. The raw, oily meat I had pinched between my fingers is now sitting in my gut, trying to escape along with everything else in there.

The table erupts in laughter and if I wasn't so disgusted I would be more embarrassed. Still, I go from cold sweet to a flash of heat and my head swims in the gross memories and chortle of friends. Gorm's roaring laughter precedes his customary slap on my back. My hands on the table strain to keep me standing and the shock wave from the blow knocks the food back down.

"Just kidding, son, sorry! The Lieutenant made me do it," he admits.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Victoria slides back beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulder. Through fits of laughter she tries to explain, "So, so sorry, love. When I saw the stuff in storage I just couldn't help it. Don't worry, though, Mika really did take it out for an experiment and no one cooked it."

The relief is akin to getting a very important medical test back and seeing all the negatives, "So this isn't the Crawler?" I poke a cube of glistening, saucy meat with a finger.

Gorm picks it up with his sharp nails like a pair of tweezers and pops it in his mouth, "Dire Boar. Not as good as the Lupalion, but still quite tender if you cook it just right." And just like that, I feel like I'm home. When people are comfortable enough to mess with you, they know you can take it in good humor. It's an odd form of camaraderie one sees in the military or in the kitchen or anywhere else where a bunch of knuckleheads have to be together for long periods of time. I knew I was missing something, but now I know that this is where I'm meant to be. Vic kisses me on the cheek, but I scoop some sauce with a finger and threaten her with it. She squeels and scatters while I look for another target. The others do the same and I can hear the children erupt into a jovial riot.

It's our last night in Denagrin. Vic and I are in our cabin station atop the vardo. The soft, blue glow from Faye sitting on top of the roof, bare feet dangling into view, helped my little Valkyrie fall asleep moments ago. She lays on her side, an arm draped over my waist. I'm using a bedroll to prop my head up as I go over the Abilities I Adapted. As I do, my mind goes wild thinking of all the possibilities. Using them in battle, teaching the Kobolds, spicing up the bedroom. I'm getting so worked up that I might just have to cast Sleep on myself tonight.

[+Dark Claw 10SP self/ Adds user's level to the next melee attack. The attack will be considered shadow damage. Stacks with other Skills.]

[+Predator Rush 40SP self/ The user creates three images of themself performing three possible attacks for up to three seconds. The user must choose which form to take within those three seconds.]

[+Shadow Swim 40MP self/ Requirement: The caster must be in contact with at least a partial shadow 3feet at its widest. The caster enters the shadow and teleports up to 100feet to another shadow at least 3feet at its widest.]

[+Ice Blast 45MP 30feet/ Hurl a ball of ice that explodes on impact, dealing 70%Arcane Total ice damage and 30%Arcane Total ice damage to anyone in a five foot radius, including the initial target.]

[+Ether Creature: Sensitivity to the ambient mana increases. Effects will vary.]

The Feat is interesting, but I'm too tired to investigate. Let's see if Taymin was right. I wonder if I'll still dream this way? It takes me a few tries, taking longer than I'd like since each miss gives me the Slowed Debuff for while, but I finally get a hit for my magically induced slumber. My last thought before drifting off is of a gust of calming energy sweeping through the center of my body and the ding of a notification.