Path of The Dragon Mage (Nomad): 65. Level 2 (1) (Patreon)

"What do you think?" Corvus asked. He wanted to go forward, but this was a group effort, and it was only fair to get everybody's opinion, first.

Roan smiled grimly. "If I understand that right, it's a test of strength. I'm all for it."

In fact, he looked energized by the idea. For once, Corvus could not see the shadow of CloudStrike’s injury behind his eyes.

"I just got four levels in archery," Gwen said. "I'm happy to go on."

Starella was the last answer. She took a long look around the strange, hedge-lined space that they found themselves in. "I've seen no sign of my egg, or those nest guardians you spoke about."

"For all we know, they might be in the next level," Corvus said. "This is a test of strength and… The nest guardians seem to pretty strong."

The slimes had been easy to defeat once they figured out the trick… unless they became attached to their victim. Corvus suspected that was where the real danger had lain.

Starella nodded. "If there's any chance to find my egg, I'll go on."

They were all in agreement, then. Before Corvus focused on answering the message in the sky, he reflexively thought back to Charm to see how she was managing the city.

When he reached for the connection… It wasn't there.

He mentally flailed around for a moment, and, after a moment of concentration, realized the connection wasn’t gone entirely, but it was like there was blockage getting in the way. He was getting nothing from the other side, and he suspected whatever he through to Charm, consciously or not, was not getting to her.

"Gwen," he hissed. "Can you reach NightShade? Roan? CloudStrike?"

"He's fine…" Gwen started to say then trailed off, her eyes going distant. "I can't feel him. I didn't even realize it until you pointed it out."

"I can't reach Cloudy." All humor had left Roan’s face, and he had once again become stern and grim.

"What does that mean?" Starella asked.

Corvus opened his mouth, but Gwen reacted first.

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like he's in danger, but,” she looked pointedly at Corvus. "Charm doesn't like to be separated from you."

He thought about the incident around the tattoo shop. Judging by Roan’s look, he was thinking the same.

There was every chance there was a very angry dragon tearing apart the underside of the city trying to get down to him.

But… Maybe not.

“No,” Corvus said. “I didn’t notice anything was amiss until I actively checked. Charm might not either.”

He only hoped she was okay, though short of Daffodil showing up again he couldn’t imagine anything able to hurt her.

Gwen frowned but didn’t contradict him. “What do you want to do.”

“We keep going,” Corvus said, “But we move fast.”

With that, he looked up at the message and mentally selected ‘continue’.

A moment later the world flashed white. It was so bright that Corvus shielded his eyes, but still could not see past the glare.

It dimmed a moment later, colors returning to the world. As it did he saw they once again stood at the entrance to a hedge maze.

And, just like before, it was filled with slimes. However, these slimes were a little different from last time. The darker green orbs within them were noticeably larger, almost stretching to the edge of the jellylike borders.

"This is ridiculous," Starella sniffed. "If we are thrown back to the beginning point, how can we possibly advance and find my egg?"

"We haven't been thrown back to the beginning," Corvus raised his hand to point with one sword. "We’re running a different maze. You see how the path turns to the left up ahead? The first time wasn't like that. We turned to the right."

Roan squinted at him. "You remember that?"

"He's right," Gwen said. "We haven't started again. Were somewhere else. She stepped forward, one arrow knocked to the fullest. "And I got some good gains the last level. Let's run this again." With that, she loosed her arrow at the nearest slime.

As before, the slimes remained inert as if they were waiting for their first move.

Gwen’s arrow pierced a slime, but the arrowhead only sank in an inch before it stopped dead.

However, it was enough to alert the slimes. They began to jiggle ominously and merge into one another.

Once again, the sky lit up with a message.

The slimes have sensed an attack. Use your strength to defeat them before the boss becomes too strong!

The slime that Gwen had shot didn't die. A jellylike tentacle pulled out the arrow and it healed itself.

Gwen scowled. "I used my full draw on that."

"It's not enough," Roan said with a grin. He had grabbed his hammer and, though Corvus yelled at him to stop, he brought it down on the closest slime.

Unlike the ones in the last level, this one didn't explode. It merely deflated, dark, and dead.

No new slime jelly splashed up to stick to him.

With a shrug, Corvus stepped to Roan's other side and slashed down with one sword.

There was… A lot more resistance than he had expected. If he had not thrown his entire weight down behind the strike, he would not have been able to penetrate the toughened jelly.

The slime died, and when Corvus pulled back his sword, it was with a ticket attached to the blade.

This time, the ticket was blue, and it said X2 on the other side.

"This isn't fair," Gwen said. "Corvus, you don't have an extra sword in your bag of holding?"

"Sorry, Gwen."

Corvus didn't point out that Gwen had chosen to advance her archery, so even if she did use a sword… She wouldn't get any tickets.

Roan was much less apologetic, "Sorry Gwen. This is a task for men."

As both girls harrumphed, Roan brought down his hammer again and again.

Corvus thought it was best he didn't say anything. He just concentrated on chopping slimes.

Say one thing for the dungeon, this was the most fun he'd had with Roan in a long time. His friend was clearly having a great time smashing slimes and even through a grin at Corvus once or twice.

And… He was also leaving Corvus in the dust.

Soon, Corvus's arms were starting to burn with fatigue, and when he glanced at his stamina bar, he saw that it was down by forty percent.

He kept an eye on it as he slashed the next slime. Every time he threw his full weight into the strike, he lost one to two more percent.

With only himself and Roan working their way through the maze of slimes, they were moving much slower than last time. He had the bad feeling that the longer that it took them, the harder the boss would be to defeat at the end.

And he did not like the idea of facing a toughened boss.

Too bad his stamina didn't have anything like his Second Wind to refill it.

Corvus had been lost in thought, wondering if he could somehow enhance his stamina through the use of a rune… When something very odd happened.

He brought his sword down on a slime, but as he did, he swore that the sword itself glowed a metallic blue. Just for a moment.

And he was able to slash the slime apart as if it were made of butter.

In fact, his sword had cleaved so deeply into the slime that he had trouble pulling it out again. These slimes weren’t at all like the ones in the previous level.

“Need a hand?” Roan said, wiggling his slime-covered arm at him. He was using his other arm to wield the hammer and thankfully hadn’t picked up any more slimes.

“No.” Corvus grunted, set his feet, and pulled.

The sword came out, again with a ticket. He pocketed it with the rest.

“What’s going on?” Gwen had been sulking behind them, annoyed at being useless. But she was better at reading the expression on Corvus’s face than anyone else.

“I don’t know. Something strange happened with the sword.”

He looked at the blade. It had returned to its normal color. If there was any lingering change… he couldn’t tell.

Then he turned and cut at another slime that was clinging onto the side of a hedge. He didn’t use his full strength, so the blade didn’t cut deeply enough. The slime shot out a tentacled arm to wrap around Corvus. Roan stepped in with his hammer before it could connect.

Corvus retried his sword from the flattened slime. He had been thinking about stamina. No… about mana.

His mana well was down by one point.

Thanks to his new tattoo, it was like a drop in a bucket. In fact, a moment after he noticed it, his body had rejuvenated the point to bring his mana well up to full. If he hadn’t had caught it at that moment, he wouldn’t have known.

Where had his mana gone?

Again, Corvus looked at his sword. A very particular thought struck him. It was so simple he was amazed it hadn’t done so before.

Could he use pure mana on his own weapon?

He was used to channeling mana into runes. But did it only have to be runes?

It took a particular twist of thought. His fingers tightened on the handle of the sword and suddenly he felt his mana begin to funnel into the blade itself.

The blade began to glow.

Gwen’s eyes widened. “What are you—“

Corvus turned and sliced through the next slime along the path. It cleaved completely in two, both sides smoking. The two halves darkened and didn’t reform, and his blade came away cleanly with a ticket.

Ding!

You have learned a new skill:

Mana channeling

Beginner - 1

“Was that supposed to happen?” Starella had been quiet up until now, but even she could tell that something unusual was going on.

“I just channeled pure mana through my sword.” Corvus frowned as he looked at his pool. He’d channeled much more than before, and that one maneuver had cost him fifty-five points of mana. “Rather inefficiently.”

He turned to Gwen. “Have you ever done anything like this?”

“Only by using a skill. When I reached level fifty intermediate, I gained a bonus target using mana. But I’ve never just… channeled it.”

She frowned and raised her bow, an arrow at the ready. Within a few seconds, the arrowhead began to glow. When she released it shot through one slime and then the slime behind it. Both died.

As usual, questions bubbled up in Corvus’s mind. “But I received a ticket for mana channeling, even though so far I’ve only received tickets for using Dual Wield. Do you think this counts as a subskill, or—“

“Less talking, more fighting!” Roan growled and gave him a light push to move forward. “I want to get through this before the day is out.”

Starella sniffed. “I don’t think this sky is real.”

Grinning, Corvus concentrated on channeling his mana and got to work.

The massive mana drain itched at his sense of pride. His subclass was witch professor, wasn’t it? Surely there must be a way to cut down on the mana drain…

They had gone through three more turns in the maze before it hit him. He put his hand, calling for a halt.

“What’s wrong?” Roan asked.

“I want to try something.” Kneeling, he took out two bladed darts and, after placing the sword on the ground, started inscribing a circle with both hands.

IT was a simple rune — identical to the one he’d used to hatch Charm’s egg, and he was uncomfortably aware of Starella’s prickling interest. Within the barrier circle, he wrote his name.

“What is that?” Starella asked.

“I’m stamping my power on this sword. It may help with my mana efficiency.”

“Or you could melt your swords,” Roan said dryly. “Your runes don’t always work the way you think they will.”

That cut deep. “I know,” Corvus said softly, and left it at that.

After a moment, Roan snorted and turned away. He continued bashing slimes.

It took a few more moments to inscribe the other rune.

Then, Corvus kicked his finger and dotted blood on each.

Starella made a sound of disgust.

“Grow up.” Gwen rolled her eyes.

Corvus rose and again channeled his mana through the swords. The blue over the steel glowed a richer blue.

He sliced through a slime, grabbed the ticket, and checked his mana pool.

Ten points were used, versus the fifty-five before.

He smiled grimly to himself. It came nowhere near to making up for his mistake on CloudStrike… but it was good to do something right.

“Gwen, give me one of your arrows. I’ll inscribe you a rune.”