They took a seat on top of a boulder and pulled out some snacks, staring at him like they had front-row tickets to a concert. He laughed at their antics and bowed, doing his best to put on a good show. He gathered his concentration, then tried using Deluge… but nothing happened.
Okay, Heatwave. Again, nothing. He eventually realized that while the Gardener had been able to choose the domain she manifested, his version of Fear the Seasons had to match the season of his environment—at least at rank one. Got it. Maelstrom it is.
This time, when Edge focused and ignited his core, refined mana came surging out of his reactor. The river of incandescent energy flowed along the conduits leading to Fear’s skill socket, altering the frequency of the magic before it emerged from his body to manifest the domain’s effect.
The initial cost was staggering, burning through almost a quarter of his tank within a handful of heartbeats. Fortunately, the drain decreased quite a bit once his mana finished saturating the air within twenty feet of his position.
For a few final seconds, all was still. Then—within this cavern deep underground—the wind began to blow. It began as a light breeze that stirred the hair on his brow, then intensified to a steady gale before rising to form hurricane-strength gusts.
While the women took refuge behind their boulder, Edge was pushed and pulled across the room, barely remaining upright as he was battered by his own domain. How in the hell is this supposed to help me? It feels like I’m being attacked by my own power.
For the next five minutes, he fought to remain upright while casting his senses into the Maelstrom swirling all around him. He had wondered about the name until this moment, since the world usually referred to a violent whirlpool in a large body of water, but it made sense when he realized the air was an ocean too.
He could feel the churning currents. Not just the gusts knocking him across the enclosure, but all of it—like the vortex was a living extension of his own body.
It reminded him of using Foebinder, although these sensations were faint and far more subtle. That insight led to another. Maybe I can control the gusts with my intentions, just like the black chain.
To his delight, it worked. When Edge imagined the wind parting to blow around him, it did, granting him full control over his body once more. Over the next few minutes, he tried to get a better sense of how his newest power worked, gradually learning how to guide the gale spawned by his domain. He couldn’t influence anything beyond the area his mana had saturated, although he could create a breeze that blew past that point.
Eventually, he thought he could control Maelstrom well enough to use it in battle, although he still wasn’t sure how it was supposed to help him win. I won’t be able to figure it out in a vacuum. I need to fight someone to learn what it can do.
“Lilly.” He raised his voice above the howling wind. “Would you mind sparring with me for a while? I need to try this out in live combat, and you’re the only one I won’t hurt if I lose control.”
The shadowkiller was fascinated by his Epic skill, and she was happy to take a closer look. Edge took a pair of sticks out of his vault, then tossed one to her. The lithe hunter snatched the length of wood out of the air, then came surging toward him with her weapon at the ready.
He concentrated, then ordered Maelstrom to hit her head-on, blowing Lilly back ten feet before she dove, tucked into a ball, then sprang for him—almost catching him before he used the wind to shove himself out of the way.
They met each other’s gaze and smiled wide, then the real contest began. For the next ten glorious minutes, Lilly and Edge danced among the swirling wind. He hadn’t seen her fight much hand-to-hand—since she preferred to battle with her boltcaster—but he soon learned that the monster hunter was almost as skilled in melee combat as she was at attacking from range.
She wound up being an ideal opponent for Maelstrom’s maiden voyage, and neither of them used any skills other than his domain. He discovered that he could use gusts to blow either of them in the direction of his choosing, adding to or stealing momentum from their movements.
While Lilly was Powerful enough to withstand the gale and agile enough to remain on her feet, the domain was remarkably effective at keeping her off balance while helping him move beyond the range of her attacks.
The shadowkiller had far more combat experience than Edge. Even still, she had to work hard to reach him—eventually scoring three points to his one. She caught him by surprise when she threw her stick at him the next time he blew himself back, almost whacking him in the head before he reflexively reached out and pushed, deflecting the stick with a puff of air that carried it past his body.
I can create more than one blast at once, although tracking multiple gusts while watching my opponent and controlling my body is going to take some practice.
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He held up his hands in surrender when she closed the distance in a flash, gearing up to land a heavy blow. “You win. I don’t have enough mana to keep Maelstrom running much longer, and it isn’t smart to empty my tank while we’re crossing a dangerous biome. Thank you. That was immensely helpful. I think I’m starting to get the hang of how Maelstrom works.”
Lilly walked over, and they exchanged a high-five. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion, and a smile lit up her face. It was clear that she had enjoyed their contest just as much as he had—although he knew she was even more excited to have experienced the Epic skill firsthand.
They sat down to catch their breath while Mel and Sasha offered a round of applause. “That power is amazing,” Melenia said. “The passive Speed bonus is great, and once you learn to control the domain, you’ll be a nightmare to your enemies without impeding your allies.”
“I suppose that you’ll have to learn how to use each variant whenever the season changes,” Sasha added. “But if the other seasons are as good as Fall, Fear the Seasons is going to be the stuff of legends. On top of everything else, Maelstrom should offer a powerful shield against projectile attacks, which will work wonders in a large-scale engagement.”
They spent another twenty minutes discussing their observations and ideas over dinner, then Mel took the first watch and everyone else slid into their bedrolls. Edge fell asleep not long after, entering a dreamscape filled with roaring wind.
***
After everyone woke up and ate breakfast, the crew resumed their journey, heading for the world of light that was drawing closer by the footfall.
At Edge’s request, the crew stopped long enough to battle the first solitary mycanoid they came across. Since Fear the Seasons had been high-rank when he’d Extracted it, it only needed a sliver of experience to fill its cup to the brim. Even a low-rank Common would be enough to let it advance.
He didn’t want to waste the mana it would take to practice using Maelstrom, but he got in some training with Double-Slash’s rank-three upgrade instead, ending the fight with an overhead chop that sheared off two limbs in a single blow.
He danced with excitement when he Absorbed the mushroom’s skill—delighted that his Epic skill was about to get even better. Adrenaline surged into his veins as the thrill of acquisition washed over him.
When the pureed power was consumed by his reactor and its experience flowed into Sea, the avatar began shining while letting out an eager trill. His Guide appeared a few seconds later, displaying a list of upgrades.
Pulse racing with excitement, Edge turned to face the floating screen.
The skill Fear the Seasons has advanced to Rank 2.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- The passive attribute bonus will gain a modest increase in potency.
- The up-front cost for establishing the domain will be moderately reduced.
- The passive bonus will gain an additional component—powerfully strengthening any elemental magic used that matches its season.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a slight bonus to mana efficiency.
The efficiency upgrade was more appealing than usual, since it cut the cost of using Fear’s passive effect and the drain of maintaining its domain. But that wasn’t what he was picking—not when the other options were so awesome.
The list of upgrades provided by the System usually had a clear winner—at least as far as Edge’s current needs were concerned. On other occasions, one choice was a bit lackluster and easy to cross off the list. But this time around, all three sounded good enough that he had no idea which one he wanted at first glance.
While his other avatars came running over to celebrate Sea’s big moment, he stopped to consider each option in turn. He began by evaluating the upgrade’s benefit here and now, then moved on to how it would play out over the long term, including how it might shape the direction of the skill’s development.
To help him decide, he reviewed what he knew about the magnitude modifiers the System used.
There had been vigorous debate on the feed as to why the System sometimes offered percentages when explaining the details of certain skills but usually went with a categorical description of magnitude. While the nuance of those arguments had been above his pay grade, the general consensus was that most of the time, the exact values a given upgrade provided were dependent on a complex range of factors—most notably the wielder’s Amplification.
In order, the various ranks the System assigned were: Trivial, Slight, Minor, Moderate, Significant, Strong, Extreme, and Phenomenal. The exact wording varied depending on the sentence—such as modest instead of moderate or strong instead of powerful—but they always corresponded to one of these eight levels. As a rule of thumb, each category represented a rough doubling of strength. Which is why, in the end, Edge decided to go with the third option.
He planned to pick up enough Generation that the cost of running Fear’s passive component and manifesting its domain would become less prohibitive before long—even without lowering their costs. And while extra attributes would always be nice, being able to wield potent elemental magic would dramatically increase the versatility of his skillset over time.
Right off the bat, the elemental bonus would make Maelstrom even stronger, along with each of Fear’s other domains when their season arrived. The bonus would only get better when he acquired more elemental skills. Edge already had a fantastic cold-based power in Elemental Blade and water from Repel Water. Adding wind and fire skills to complete his collection was an attractive option.
He was excited to see what happened when winter rolled around—when he could combine Fear the Seasons with the bonus from his Frost Fury Medallion and really pour on the cold. “I’m ready,” Edge addressed the System. “Hook me up with upgrade number three.”
When he voiced his decision, Fear the Season’s avatar began to change. In addition to growing just a little bit bigger, Sea’s raincloud darkened and doubled in size, setting the patter of rain echoing across the interior of his core.
He spent a few minutes praising her and congratulating her on the upgrade… then put equal time into complimenting Chibime so he didn’t get jealous. When Edge was done strengthening his skill-bonds, he stepped back into his body and continued his journey—eager to find out what his upgraded Maelstrom could do.