Chapter 22: I Never Imagined I’d Become an Elevator (Patreon)

As I lay in bed before sleeping, I repeated the same action as last time before we went down to the gorge. Between the rats, the mushroom valley, and the gorge, I had a lot of practice in weapon fighting, mainly with my swords. To advance my wizard class, I needed to practice using my magic in combat. I opened my profile and reviewed all my options to decide what I would work on the next day. My profile looked the same, except Telekinesis had gone up three levels and moved from the General Spells list to the Wizard Spells list.

After thinking about it for a moment, I remembered that when I bought Anesthesia to heal Rue, the spell appeared in the Healer Spells list rather than the general list.

Was using something in a specific class automatically associated it with that class?

It changed nothing, but it was intriguing. I was still trying to figure out how this system worked. It was so confusing, not user-friendly, and filled with so many holes that anything I understood about it felt like a bonus. After a few minutes, I let go of these philosophical thoughts and refocused on the reason I had opened the profile in the first place.

Let’s see: I want to use a Mana Shield to protect myself and train my Mana Dart more. Of course, Telekinesis remained a very effective tool. And what else?

I was scrolling the profile up and down when my eye caught on Lightning.

Hmm, I haven’t tried it in combat yet.

It seemed like a good idea. I also added Exude Mana back to the list. Not for the little monsters—we needed crystals, not just to kill them—but if it could slow down the bigger ones, it would be beneficial. In addition, I decided to practice keeping my mana sense spread out in any situation, even if it was confusing during combat.

After breakfast, we headed towards the gorge. With the balloon, it took two minutes to reach the valley. It took us almost an hour on foot, mainly because we had to climb up a steep incline and slid down several times. Eventually, Mahya got fed up, took out an axe, and carved steps at the steepest points of the incline. That solved the problem of sliding down.

When we reached the gorge’s rim, we peered over the edge but could only see maybe ten or fifteen meters down. I took out my strongest binoculars, but they didn’t help; the gorge was too dark inside. No trees were near the rim, but two large rocks stood nearby. We wrapped the rope around the rocks, ensuring it was secure, and Mahya went down first.

After three minutes, she jumped back up, her expression determined. “I think the height is something like three hundred or three hundred and fifty meters, but I didn’t get all the way down. After about twenty meters, I found a rock ledge and used it to jump,” she said, brushing some dirt off her hands. “On the way down, I got an idea. Before we continue with the rope, I want to try it.”

“What idea?” Al asked, his brow furrowed.

She turned to me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “You can hover. Have you ever tried hovering with someone?”

“No...”

“Do you think you can?”

“Maybe? I won’t know until I try.”

She jumped on my back, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. “There’s no time like the present,” she said.

I connected to the wind and rose in the air. It wasn’t harder or heavier, and I didn’t feel Mahya’s weight more than I did on the ground, but I had to strengthen my connection to lift both of us. We rose twenty meters, then returned to the ground.

“Well, it seems I can hover with someone, but that doesn’t solve our problem. I already told you I can’t move forward, back, or sideways. Only up and down. So I’ll lift us in the air and bring us back to the gorge’s edge. How exactly is that helping us?”

“Leave it to me,” she said confidently.

The gorge had a U-shaped end. She untied the rope from the rocks and went to the right end of the U, calling to Al, “Go to the opposite end and catch.”

Al moved to the left end of the U. Mahya tied a stone to the rope’s end, spun it several times in the air, and threw it to Al, who easily caught it. She tied her end to another rock and called out to Al to do the same.

She returned to me, jumped on my back, and said, “Use the rope to get to the middle and start going down slowly. Don’t rush because I haven’t checked the whole descent, and I don’t know if there are any protruding rocks.”

I had to admit, it was not a bad idea. “Get off my back for a moment,” I asked.

After she got off, I got on all fours, held the rope with one hand, and told her, “Get back up.”

Once she was on my back, I floated, holding the rope. Hand over hand, I advanced to the middle of the rope. When I got there, I had to figure out how to turn my body so it wouldn’t be parallel to the rope. After a few tries, I discovered that if I pulled with one hand and pushed with the other, I could change my angle.

Once in the proper position, I pushed with my hands to keep my head away from the rope line and descended slowly. The training I did in the mushroom valley was an excellent idea. With an extra person on my back, it was much harder to control my descent, but with enough concentration, I managed. That’s how we got to the bottom.

After I put Mahya down, she patted me on the back and said, “You’re a great elevator.”

She burst into laughter after I stuck out my tongue at her.

I floated back up and brought Al down the same way. Now, I had a problem with Rue. He couldn’t hug me with his arms and legs like Al and Mahya, but I needed my arms to move along the rope. After some trial and error, I could hold him before me and advance along the rope with my toes under it. It was slower, and I had to split my mind to concentrate on the wind and the rope, but as soon as I started floating, his weight seemed to disappear from my hands.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Wind friend make Rue windy.”

“So you can hover too?”

“Yes! Rue windy.”

With one hand for safety, I held onto his collar, then released the other hand, and we both hovered down.

When we reached the bottom, Mahya and Al looked at us wide-eyed. Al asked, “Did your dog levitate, or was that my imagination?”

“Rue windy! Jon hover. Rue hover,” Rue announced proudly.

“So we have two elevators,” Mahya said, laughing.

“No! Rue no elevator. Only John elevator.”

“Thanks, buddy,” I said, annoyed.

After removing our gear, we started moving deeper into the gorge. Nothing was interesting except for a few bushes rich in normal and tainted mana that grew vertically from the rock. I pointed them out to Mahya, and she jumped up, cut them off the cliff with her sword, and stored them when she landed. After about a hundred meters, we saw one of the carnivorous bushes with acid-shooting flowers.

We immediately put on our masks, and I told them, “Don’t do anything. I want to try something.”

I approached the plant and cast Exude Mana on it. I was too far away, and the spell didn’t reach it. It shot acid at me, and I jumped sideways. Some of the acid hit my shield, and it sizzled but held. Just in case, I recast it, rushed forward, cast Exude Mana again, and jumped back. The plant drooped and looked tired. I saw it trying to pick up the central part and failing. I sent a lightning bolt at it, and the red light started flashing.

Yes!!

I turned it into a crystal, and we continued to move forward.

“That was very effective,” Mahya commented.

“Yeah, I’m trying to work on my magic to advance the wizard class.”

“Good idea,” she said, patting my back. After a moment, she suggested, “We should turn invisible.”

“I thought we’re not doing that so the monsters could find us, no?” I asked.

“They don’t exactly have anywhere to hide. We’d better see them before they see us.” Mahya’s eyes darted around, scanning the surroundings.

We all turned invisible and continued. After another twenty meters, we saw a group of manta rays hovering in place. I communicated telepathically, “Let me take care of them. Kill those who pass me.”

Stepping forward, I sent a lightning strike to the first manta ray. It fell, and I quickly turned it into a crystal. The rest of the manta rays started flying toward me. I sent another lightning strike, pouring additional mana into it. It struck the first manta ray, then split and struck two more, breaking again to hit five more. The remaining lightning rays continued into the distance, hitting nothing. All the manta rays struck by the lightning fell. I cast the crystal conversion spell on them, but one remained alive. I cast Mana Dart, and it was dead. To my surprise, the mana dart split in two.

Al, Mahya, and Rue killed the others, and I turned them into crystals.

“How come my dart split in two?” I asked Mahya, puzzled.

“It reached level five.”

“But it reached level five last time, and there was still only one,” I said, my confusion growing.

“It just reached level five, and you didn’t have a chance to discover the addition.”

This way, we continued through the gorge. Most of the monsters we encountered were familiar from our first visit. We mainly saw manta rays, a few more acid-spitting bushes, the giant bugs with scythe-like legs, bats, and a lot of pims. After several experiments, we discovered that my initial method with the plant was perfect: Exude Mana to make it droop, then a lightning strike. And because we were invisible this time, there was no need to jump back to avoid acid. For the manta rays, the lightning worked best. Against the pims and insects, it was less effective. It slowed them down but didn’t kill them. The pims were excellent training targets for telekinesis. It was satisfying to lift them, flip them over, and slam their heads into the ground.

I had already learned that Exude Mana didn’t work well against bats, and lightning created the same effect. A lightning strike equaled no bat, but they were excellent targets to practice my Mana Dart. The scythe-legged bugs required an alternative approach. We grabbed their scythe legs with telekinesis to prevent them from attacking, giving Mahya a chance to decapitate them, or Rue a chance to take their heads off with a bite.

Something new surprised us in two instances: serpentine creatures with iridescent scales and massive predatory birds with ember-like feathers. The system called them dreadscale vipers and emberclaw rocs. The snakes were no problem; I electrocuted them, which made them spasm. Mahya cut them in half, and we moved on. The birds were a bit more challenging because they flew. Mahya killed a few with the rifle, but most of them fled up.

I tried something new: I connected to the wind and hovered, and when I got close to them, I cast Exude Mana on them, one after the other, causing them to fall. The fall killed some of them, and the team below took care of the rest. Clearing the gorge today was much more straightforward than last time. Our familiarity with the monsters helped, but it wasn’t the only factor. Magic was simply awesome. I wanted to facepalm for not using it earlier, but I refrained so they wouldn’t laugh at me.

In the early afternoon, we encountered the first monster we had seen the last time we entered the gorge. One of the furry beings we had seen at the second entrance appeared again. This time, I could see it more clearly since I wasn’t caught off guard and busy protecting myself. The monster was strange. It looked like a combination of a bear, gorilla, and pangolin, yet it didn’t quite resemble any of them. It was also twice the size of the first monster we encountered.

I tried electrocuting it, but that only made it angrier. It charged at me, and I had to dive to the side to avoid being crushed. It turned and charged again, unerringly knowing my location, despite my invisibility. Mahya and Al attacked with their swords, and Rue bit its leg to slow it down, but it barely faltered. I sent another bolt of lightning and judging by its roar, it hurt, but it didn’t stop the creature. I dodged to the side again, realizing this needed to end quickly.

Deciding not to play anymore, I drew my swords. As the creature bore down on me, I seized it with telekinesis. My mind strained like a muscle cramping, barely slowing the monster, but it was enough. I coated my swords with mana and thrust each blade into one of its knees. I dove sideways again; it collapsed forward, and I cast Exude Mana on it. The creature’s movements slowed, and Mahya jumped onto its back, swiftly decapitating it.

Feeling dizzy, I checked my mana: 80/11,100. I watched it as it jumped to 108/11,100 and felt slightly better. Lightning used a lot of mana, but at least my regeneration here was fast. After resting for another ten minutes and feeling stable again, we headed back. On the way, they harvested everything we skipped while looking for monsters—mainly bushes, some crooked low trees, the strange crystalline petals that grew from the cliff face, and the tiny glowing mushrooms that Al took for his potions. I stood guard with my mana sense spread as wide as possible. I thought they excluded me from the harvesting because I killed over 60% of the monsters. That was very nice of them—friends are simply awesome.

When we returned to the end of the gorge, Mahya jumped on my back and said, “Up, please, good sir.”

I rose in the air, laughing, and Rue rose beside me. When we arrived at the top, I grabbed the rope, Rue grabbed my pants with his teeth, and I brought us to the ledge. After Mahya stood on the ledge, she pulled Rue on it as well, and I went back down to bring up Al.

When we returned to the valley, everyone was too tired and not thinking straight, leading to a serious mistake. I instructed the house to open the deck, and they just dumped everything they had collected onto it. It took the house almost half an hour to absorb everything, but when it finished, the monster with tentacles and eyes materialized on the deck. It was much smaller than the one we fought in the dungeon—about the size of an elephant instead of a plane—but it was still the creature with tentacles that shot black mana. The only good thing was that it wasn’t very mobile.

We dashed away. Mahya took out one gun and threw another to Al, while I shot the monster with crossbow bolts. Every time it got closer, we moved further away. Because of the distance, it was easier to dodge the black mana darts. After two or three minutes, the monster collapsed. I turned it into a crystal, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re not doing that again,” I announced.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Mahya said, collapsing onto the grass.

At least the crystal was the size of an orange. It’s important to look at the bright side.