timewalk

  Kiera.

  Ta: It’s harder to find Adventurer Guild marks now that half of them left to joich, but I have a promising lead.

  Kierahat you make it memorable. Use your card. We want them jumping at shadows, terrified of the Silent Assassin.

  Ta: I’ll see to it.

  Kieran: Any progress on the bounty for that Aliandra and Malika? Mr. Hawkhurst is pressuring me for details.

  Ta: About that… Aliandra has a dungeon shrine.

  Kieran: What? Don’t be preposterous!

  Ta: It’s true. I overheard some of the advealking about it. That group with the mayor’s so to get their csses.

  Kieran: This better not be some ruse…

  Ta: I snuck down into the cavern and verified it for myself. There’s a huge shrihere and it has her name on it as the owner.

  Kieran: I need you to inform Roderik Ice at ohe Shadow cil must be informed immediately.

  Ta: Shadow cil?

  Kieran: The anization we’re really w for.

  Ta: Wait, we don’t work for Hawkhurst trading?

  Kieran: Jax Hawkhurst is a small fry in a nothing towhis information strictly between us. When you level up a little more, I will induct you. For now, pretend you don’t know anything about it… if you value your life and sanity. Just tell Roderik about the shrine.

  Ta: It’s as good as done.- versation via Sending Panel between Kieran Mori and the Silent Assassin, Ta Kane.

  Aliandra Ali’s two Kobold Acolytes bowed their heads and csped their hands in a pose she had e tnize as their regeion skill – and she khat the poison had finally expired. Mato and Malika still y unscious on the springy grass, but their breathing seemed to have settled into a much healthier rhythm, and the hard-w Kobolds no longer saw the o heal them tinually.

  She let out a soft sigh of relief and watched slowly make his way over to where she had flopped down on the ground, still up on her ridge – the spot she had chosen for its good view of the battlefield.

  “How are they doing?” asked, joining her on the grass.

  “I think they’re going to be ok,” she answered. “It seems to be a poison with the side effect of knog you out. My Kobolds nearly ran out of mana keeping them alive.” She g her Acolytes, but they were still calmly regeing their mana and seemed to have no further urgency about healing. She finally released the mana reserved for her frantically inscribed Cure Poison runic circle and watched the glowing magic fade.

  I nearly lost everyohe battle itself had seemed easy enough when they had first engaged. But the Spore Spreader monsters, and their popping Violet Dreamclouds, had instantly knocked Mato and Malika out, turning the battle on its head. Only ’s quick thinking had saved Mato and Malika from being trampled, crushed uhe immense weight and fury of the rampaging Forest Guardian. Caught too far out e for her barriers, she had been forced to watch the disaster unfold – and, while her slimes were somehow ued by the spores and the rampant growth, they were nowhere near powerful enough to tank the guardian.

  “That was some good strategy with the Scalding Slimes,” said, tinuing their quiet versation. “And whatever craziness you cooked up with your Are Bolts… you saved my life. Our lives.”

  Ali blushed, squirming.

  “Thanks,” Ali murmured, accepting his pliment, but in truth, she had felt anything but strategid smart. Mostly, she had beeing to the shock of seeing Mato and Malika being stomped. Immediately followed by the nail-biting, heart-pounding race between and the relentless mountain of wood and bark. How he had mao remaiep ahead of those grinding jaws and writhing roots she could scarcely imagine.

  “Thanks for having our backs,” he added, doubling down, and intensifying her blush. “How did you even find the time to use yrimoire? And what made you think of steam?”

  “I summohem while you were cirg the rock pile,” Ali admitted. When he had vanished behind the rocks and rowth, she had bee with nothing but the horrific sounds of the chase and no way to help. In that moment she had despaired of ever seeing the quiet, shy Half-elf again. Normally her Grimoire was far too slow to summon minions during battle, but there had been nothing else she could do, so she had resorted to that. Her Wyverns’ poison seemed iive against the nature elemental, and her Fire Mages or Storm Shamans couldn’t run fast enough to keep up with it. It was while she was rag her brain for anything that might work that she recalled the se in Naia’s dungeon. “Naia was very effit with the Scalding Slimes,” Ali admitted. “That’s what gave me the idea.”

  There was nothing smart about it, I had no other choice.

  “Well, making the steam slimes ride the Guardian was brilliant,” said. “They were devastating.”

  “Mhm,” Ali nodded, just happy it had worked out.

  “How did you mahat trick with your Bolts? , you ’t leave me in the dark here,” said, leaning in a little closer.

  “Do you remember that testing we did on Are Bolt to figure out its range?” Ali asked. She had always thought was overly pedantic about writing down every skill and advaudying the limits, aing everything exhaustively.

  “Yup, we lear has a two-miime limit, not a distance limit… wait, that’s what you used?” said, suddenly sitting up in surprise.

  “Yes,” Ali nodded. “And I retarget them mentally. I ping-pohe bolts between the slime on the and myself, keeping as many in flight as possible.” It had been an act of inspired desperation, something she had fumbled her way into by act and urgency. She was just grateful it had worked so well.

  let out a low whistle. “Two mihree bolts per shot…” he muttered, his face screwed up in putation for a few moments before his eyes widened. “You had nearly five hundred bolts in the air at once?”

  “Probably only about three hundred of them hit,” Ali said, nodding. “Lots of them expired on the way.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” said. “No math involved?”

  She snorted mildly, “How? There wasn’t any time, .”

  “You just wi?”

  “It was such a st-ditch thing,” Ali observed, “I was out of mana so fast. If you’d been just a little ter, it wouldn’t have worked.” It had been so close. Before she got stu a spiral of self-critique, she got up and decided that doing something productive would set her mind back thts. Everyone is alive, and that’s what is important. She could work on improving for ime.

  Yroup has defeated Spore Spreader – Fungus – level 11-19 (Pnt) x3.Yroup has defeated Forest Guardian – Wood Elemental – level 40 (Nature).

  Pnt magic affinity… She studied the strahree-limbed mushroom monster lying burnt on the ground. Her mages had been good for ohing – destroying these. Pnt magic affinity, by most ats she had read, was a rare, specialized form of nature magic – ohat worked only with pnts and pnt growth, but due to the extreme specialization, the effects were supposed to be that much more powerful.

  She destructed it, and then the rest of them and the few Violet Dreamushrooms that remained.

  Variant: Spore Spreader added to Imprint: Mushroom.Variant: Violet Dreamcloud added to Imprint: Mushroom.

  She looked at her Grimoire curiously. She had long given up on figuring out how it categorized things, but tely, it had beera weird. At least in her mind, she had been separating the imprints into broad categories; materials, equipment, pnts, and monsters – but now her Grimoire was insisting on putting monsters in pnt imprints and her precarious uanding of how her magic worked had just e crashing down.

  The two notifications from the previous battle just served to reinforce the issue.

  Variant: Moss Creeper added to Imprint: Moss.Variant: Floral Menace added to Imprint: Wildflower.

  I guess these monsters are literally pnts? It seemed weird, but her Grimoire certainly seemed to think so.

  “How long do you think before they wake up?” asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Ali said. “They don’t need healing anymore.”

  “Ok, I’m going to scout a bit while we wait,” said, getting to his feet.

  “Ok,” Ali said, turnihoughts to the three new monster imprints she had learned, variants of her pnt categories. With nothier to do, she pored over the ruhere was a tantalizing simirity betweehree of them, but, stubbornly, the runes refused to divulge their secrets to her eyes. I guess I’ll just summon them, she decided. Familiarizing herself with her imprints and her monsters would allow her to make smarter choices.

  She started with the Moss Creeper – summoning two of them. The green mohat appeared could best be described as mounds or clumps of firanded pnt matter. One of her new minions appeared as a level sixteen monster, a mound that took her up to her thighs. The sed was much smaller – level four – and the size of a small ball.

  They flopped around a little, not doing very mutil she sent them a mental heir movement seemed to have been cocted from an ill-advised merging of a sloth and an ooze – moss-covered protrusions moved within their bodies to grasp and pull the monster across the grassy dirt. Ali watched in fasation as the rger one reached a small boulder, entirely c it with its body, and then began to use a nature affinity skill. A trickle of mana twisted a, shaping a formation that, for a sed time, evoked a tantalizing sense of familiarity. When the monster was do moved off unhurriedly, searg for another spot, leaving the previously bare boulder covered in dense mossy growth.

  Not very exg, Ali thought. Studying its magic was fasating in and of itself, but other than that, it didn’t provide a whole lot of options for bat, unless it had abilities it couldn’t show. What monster will wait for me to grow moss on it?

  Ali turned her attention back to the h Grimoire, summoning two more monsters, a Spore Spreader, and a Floral Me least the gnarled, woody Floral Menace had a pretty pink scruff of petals – the Spore Spreader looked like a misshapen and mutated, oversized mushroom. These two she uood in terms of bat capabilities – it was rather that their abilities might take some careful pnning to apply in a bat situation.

  heless, she put them through their paces, studying their magic as they grew violet mushrooms and pink flowers. She had put them a little art from their group, just to be safe, but even at this distance, she could tell that whatever magic they were doing seemed familiar to her, once again.

  Simir to each other. She wasn’t quite sure why this had caught her attention, but without anything more to go on, she finally decided that it was simply the nature of a skill that summoned pnts. How different could they be? One summoned flowers and the other summoned mushrooms, but besides that, there had to be some on structure to the skills she was .

  Finally, tiring of her studies, she unsummohe new monsters, freeing her mana for bat, and turned her eyes to the enormous bulk of the still-smoking Forest Guardian, trying to suppress the plex surge of emotions rising within her. It was a terrifying monster, especially when it was trying to maul or crush her friends. But she felt a flig nostalgia even from the giant corpse of wood and bark, battered aroyed from the steam and her are magic. It had been a harsh call to be forcibly remihat it was a monster capable of crushing them when her mind had been filled with the memory of her father’s geouch as he helped her up onto the back of a Forest Guardian so that she could ride it around the forest for fun.

  And that’s the third one.

  She flew over and began to destruct it, uo fully tain the bubbliement of her anticipation. But to her dismay, when the monster’s corpse exploded into sparkles and motes of mana, drifting away on the light breeze, her Grimoire did not appear, and she did not hear the notification tellihat she had learned something new.

  Sometimes it takes more than three, she told herself, trying to assuage her disappoi, while trying to ighe voi the back of her mind that was w if this monster had some peculiarity that prevented her from ever learning it – like the light or bone elementals her magic couldn’t bring to life.

  “Did you get them?” asked as she returned.

  “The Spore Spreaders and the Violet Dreamcloud, but not the guardia.” She couldn’t keep the disappoi from her voice, but even learning the straripod mushroom monster was a sort ress. The fact that she couldn’t immediately think of a good use for it robably just a failure of imaginatioo her exhaustion.

  To take her mind off it, she turo her notifications, finding, much to her surprise, that the fight had been enough to earn a css level.

  Grove Warden has reached level 40.+10 attribute points.

  Forty… The nice round number appeared before her, masquerading as normal and mundane, but it was filled with signifid meaning. She was no lohe weak research assistant, terrified to face a rat. Forty with a bat css meant she was likely sidered ‘powerful’ by most people iown, if not the kingdom. If her css didn’t deviate from the normal pattern, it should e with her final skill unlock, a potentially signifit milestone in her growth.

  She pursed her lips carefully and spent one point on vitality and two points oerity. The rest she spent on her primary attributes; five into intelligend two into wisdom for more mana. She turhe part page in her mind to reveal the rest of her notifications.

  Are Insight has reached level 24.Are Bolt has reached level 24 (+2).Barrier has reached level 30.Grimoire of Summoning has reached level 25 (+2).Martial Insight has reached level 23.Empowered Summoner has reached level 20.

  Identify has reached level 13.

  Grimoire of Summoning was a skill she stantly struggled to level up, especially as a major portion of her growth was tied up in the number of imprint chapters she had earned. Early on, simply using destru in bat had been suffit for substantial growth, but summoning monsters was a long process, and it was hard to find time to use it mid-battle, so she rarely got experience for using it under dangerous circumstances.

  In this fight, she had been forced to summon slimes in bat and her skill growth clearly reflected that.

  Css skill slot unlocked.New skills are avaible frove Warden.New skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 40.Leveled at least three Minion skills to 20.Leveled at least three Are skills to 20.Intelligence has surpassed 170.Memorized the runic structure of a Teleportation Locus.Minion TeleportMana: Instantly s location with any minie: 15 meters. Recharge: 10 seds.Are, Movement, Minion, Intelligenew skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 40.Leveled at least three Are skills to 20.Intelligence has surpassed 175.Used an Are Defense skill for Attadured a long-term infusion of Are mana.Inflicted more than 1000 Are damage in under a sed.Are RecallYou are profit with Are magic. You gain + [skill x 5] % to spell power, spell haste, mana trol, aal rea speed with Are magia: Ighe recharge for any Magibsp;skill, spell, ered ability. Yic is cast instantly. Recharge: 24 hours.Are, Metamagic, Mastery, Intelligenew skill unlocked.

  Css level has reached 40.Leveled at least three Minion skills to 20.Wisdom has surpassed 150.Defeat a Nature Elemental above your css level.Summoned a Nature affinity minion higher than level 30.AvatarMana: You may possess one of your summoned creatures, greatly increasing its power. You are absorbed into its body for the duration. If your creature dies, your body is ejected unharmed. Recharge: 3 hours.Nature, Minion, Wisdom

  “Ugh… what happened?” Mato groaned, stirring finally. He sat up, holding his head while looking around.

  “You’re awake! You both got knocked out by the poisonous mushrooms,” Ali answered, notig Malika’s eyes flickering open before she squeezed them shut again as if in pain.

  “How am I not dead?” Ali could see Mato’s eyes lingering oorn-up grass and dirt where he had been tanking the guardian before Ali had her minions drag him and Malika to safety. His eyes then switched to the enormous boulders and piles of upturned soil left by the Forest Guardia had ripped ’s magic s out of the ground to free itself.

  “’s quick thinking,” Ali said. In truth, her respect for the introverted boy had grown enormously. She had always respected him, of course, but the uating way he had thrown himself into harm’s way to save the others left her powerfully moved. He had do without a pn to save himself. She might have expected an unthinking selfless a from Mato – but uanding a little about how ’s mind worked, he had to have known just how bad his ces of surviving were, a he had chosen to do it anyway.

  “Thanks,” Mato said, looking over at who was jogging over to join them.

  “Yes, I appreciate it,” Malika managed.

  “It was nothing,” deflected, seeming back to his usual self, embarrassed to be the ter of attention.

  “Why ’t I heal this awful headache?” Malika asked, her magic flickering a few times before it subsided.

  “Probably the aftereffects of the poison, my Kobolds had to heal you both fes,” Ali said. Seeing that the others were not going to be moving much for a while, and knowing was uo take the initiative, she expined what had happened while they were unscious.

  “ kited it?” Malika’s voice was a mix of incredulity and admiration.

  “Yup, for the etle.” Ali had finally entered the use of adventurer jargon that she had uood. There was a chapter in the Adventurer’s Guide that expined various strategies, and this ‘kiting’ was one of them. It meant the ability to attract a monster’s attention fre, and, through clever use of terrain, skills, agility, and speed, ehat you always remained beyond its reach while retaining its undivided attention. It was occasionally used as a substitute for a tank, but the book had cautiohat it had aremely high skill requirement, with very little room for error.

  “I nearly ran out of stamina,” said, clearly still subdued by his near brush with death. “Do you feel ok?”

  Malika nodded, “I think so. Just got a nasty headache and I feel like I got run over by one of those things.”

  “You did get run over by one of those things,” Ali said.

  “I think we need a few mio rest,” Malika said, flopping back down onto the ground.

  “I hit level forty,” Ali said. “If you feel up for it, I could use some advi choosing a skill.”

  “Oh, gratutions,” Malika excimed quietly, still cradling her head as if it might explode at any moment. “What did you get?”

  Ali shared her three new skill s with the others. Her heart raced the most when she read the description of Minion Teleport. She had always been fasated by teleportation magi all its infinite variety. She would often sit in the library simply watg the clerks and visitors using their magic to browse. Her seemed uo her nature as a summoner – something she hadn’t seen in a before, filling her with a fresh sense of intense curiosity. But Avatar looked ridiculously powerful for a summoner, and Are Recall seemed to be the very essence of are bat magic – a powerful tactical meta-magic spell.

  “Those requirements are insane,” Mato answered. “When did you do more than a thousand damage in a sed?”

  “I killed the guardian with a couple of hundred simultaneous Are Bolts,” Ali answered. It had to be that – nothing else she had ever tried would have e even close. The requirements to unlock Are Recall were particurly impressive – besides the instantaneous damage achievement, her efforts to repurpose her barrier magito flying shards for attag had been one of the major factors in unlog it. The mana infusion had to be reted to her time spent locked in her mother’s barrier.

  “Those all look amazing, Ali,” Malika said.

  “I don’t know what to pick,” Ali answered holy. If she went purely by feeling, she would take the teleport, but it was hard to tell which was the better skill.

  “Avatar looks like a pure power skill,” Mato said, voig his preference. “ you imagine if you get one of those Forest Guardians and use Avatar on that?”

  “I agree. You’d be able to trample all your enemies,” said. Both Malika and Mato winced.

  For once Ali agreed with Mato’s skill preferences. Normally he picked without subtlety, opting for the most directly bat-oriented damage increase. But for a summoner, Avatar seemed to give her the option of safely joining the fight in person. She would fight as whatever minion she picked, and the power increase would o be tested, but it seemed that even if her minion died while she was using it as her Avatar, she would simply be ejected, and she could tinue fighting as herself. Like most minion-trait magic, it would get stronger as she collected more iing or powerful minions – like the Forest Guardian. Likely she would o learn to fight in whatever role her selected minion was suited for – but she was already doing that for Martial Insight, and she was certain her powerful enha skill would work with Avatar.

  Seeing no reason not to, she tested it out. Affixing Avatar as her final skill, she spent the substantial mana cost and suddenly she became her Kobold Acolyte.

  You have gaihe css skill, Avatar.

  She flexed her talons and gnced around feeling the strange way her vision had ged to match the reptiliaure’s senses. I see their health. Her friends stared at her with i as she explored her new body. She had some familiarity with Kobold physiology from her Martial Insight, but this was far more personal. I have a tail! She had fangs too. I am a Kobold… She ran the Acolyte through its paces, testing a bunch of skills suggested before she eventually ran out of ideas.

  “Um… how do I get out of this?” she said.

  “I could kill it,” Mato offered. “It said you go back.”

  “Uh… I’m not sure I want to experience dying.”

  “Does it st the full three hours?” asked.

  “Looks like it might,” Ali said. She checked the description and then pulsed her mana into the skill again and her perspective lurched momentarily, a discertiion of separation from herself. She blinked, realizing she was ba her own body, staring at the Acolyte. Easy enough.

  “How was it?” asked.

  “It’s… good,” Ali said. “I think it would be a lot better with a stronger minion, and a bunch of skill levels.” The power increase hadn’t been all that noticeable at level one, but presumably that would improve. Mato had been right – it would be impressive if only she had access to a Forest Guardian.

  “Your other choices look strong too,” Malika observed.

  “I agree,” said. “Minion Teleport and Are Recall look incredibly useful in bat. Yrimoire of Summoning is Are right?”

  “Yes,” Ali firmed. That was the main reason she sidered Are Recall to be powerful. She would be able to summon a monster in bat instantaneously. Even if it were just one, su ace up her sleeve could turide of a risky fight, like the ohey had just survived. The skill was so clear, she didn’t eveo test it out to kly how it would fun – it was mostly passive with the bonus of allowio instantly use any are skill. Once.

  “How do you feel, Ali?” Malika asked, looking up at her.

  “I think Are Recall is amazing. Any are mage would love it. Especially with the slow Are skills I have. I could instantly summon a creature to help, or presumably instantly create a runic circle,” she said as she sidered the spell. “It seems to be the smart choice.”

  her assessment.

  “But…” she paused, sidering her feelings carefully, “I have always loved teleportation magic.”

  “How would you feel if you didn’t take the Minion Teleport?” Malika asked.

  “I think I would be sad,” Ali answered truthfully.

  “I think you should go with your heart,” Malika said. “My parents always told me to pick what you’re passionate about. When your heart and soul are in alig, your true potential shine.”

  “I don’t think there are any bad choices,” added. “Anything you pick is going to be great. But sider this; Are Recall only be used once per day. Minion Teleport will be avaible as a local escape skill for every fight. And you always work on developing your skill to grow the range.”

  “You ge your mioo,” Mato offered.

  “Ok, I’ll try this out for now,” Ali answered, feeling instant relief that her decision had ended up aligning with what she had wanted. She selected Minion Teleport for her final skill slot.

  No free skill slots avaible, choose a skill to repce.Avatar will be repced with Minion Teleport, all skill levels will be lost.You have gaihe css skill, Minion Teleport.

  The spell was instant, one moment she was sitting by her friends eg her mana to the skill, and the she was suddenly on the side, having instantaneously sed pces with her Acolyte several meters away. It looked up at her in surprise, and Ali just ughed happily.

  The range is fifteeers, and the recharge is ten seds. It was clearly a bat-orieeleport spell – with such a short recharge, she would be able to use it frequently, but it was uo elimihe o carry recall potions for her escape tool. At least for now. She had already memorized the Novaspark Academy locus, and all skills could be grown.

  As soon as the ten seds expired, she used it again, switg back, returning to the circle of her friends.

  “You look happy,” Malika said, smiling at her.

  “I am!” And she could evehe grin growing on her face.

  Ali spent the hour or so while her friends recovered familiarizing herself with her eleport skill – but mostly it was an excuse to py with it.

  timewalk