113: Force Multipliers (Patreon)

NOTE: I might've miscalculated Vir's karma gains in the prev chapters. Will be looking into that. Also fixed his payout (both were lower than they should've been.)

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The cool lake’s wind ruffled Vir’s hair as he stood on its sandy white shores south of Avi. Thanks to Daiya Lake, the region kept a temperate climate throughout the year, so it was a pleasant breeze—one that reminded him of the Godshollow in spring.

Neel bounded around, excited to finally stretch his legs in a new space after being cooped up in the city.

At Tia’s request, he’d come clad in his shiny new armor. Bracers, greaves, and, of course, his brand new crimson-and-black brigandine cuirass. His prized seric katar was in his hands, as usual. Though he hadn’t yet had an opportunity to use it, he spent hours staring at the blade and polishing it.

“Are you holding a weapon? Or a rare gemstone?” Vason asked. He, too, wore his armor, as did Tia. Only Haymi was dressed in her regular one piece.

“Why not both?” he replied.

Vason returned his quip with a frown. “Best not to get too attached to your blade. It’s a tool, nothing more. Perhaps a valuable tool, but a tool nonetheless. Babying it will merely get you killed.”

Vir nodded, surprised to hear such serious words out of the normally jovial man.

“So, why are we out here? Shouldn’t Haymi be resting?” Vir asked.

The mejai had healed well over the past few days, but still wasn’t in fighting condition.

As he learned, B and A grade Life orbs healed wounds much faster, but once a wound had been treated by an orb of any grade, it couldn’t then be further healed by another orb. The mining company’s healers had used primarily C and B grade Set Bone, Mend Bone, and Mend Flesh orbs, so Haymi’s injuries hadn’t healed up immediately. Apparently, A Grade Life magic could get a crippled warrior back to fighting condition in mere hours.

Though Vir wanted to hunt the Lord of the Forest, doing so before their party was whole again would be foolish. So it came as a surprise to him that they’d all gathered here on the white sand beach south of Avi. The city’s walls were visible in the distance, and a steady stream of ships passed by, bound for either Avi’s Harbor Town, or the canal that would take them south to the open sea.

“You fought well against the Narapazu,” Tia said as she approached him, taking long steps through the sand. “But fighting in a party has some ground rules. Tactics and strategies that allow the party to leverage each other's strengths while compensating for their weaknesses.”

“Like the fact that Haymi’s physical combat capabilities are less than yours?”

Haymi blushed, looking away from Vir. Ever since the Narapazu incident, she’d been giving him odd looks.

“That’s not quite fair,” Vason said, sticking up for the mejai. “She’ll probably beat you in a duel, you know? Maybe she can’t use Talents, but her magic more than makes up for that!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. But Haymi’s usually busy supporting the party, isn’t she? I just assumed she relied on you to protect her from physical threats.”

“That’s right,” Tia said. “Haymi is our most valuable member. As Spear’s Edge’s only mejai, if she becomes unable to augment us… Well, you saw what happened back in the mine. Our offensive capabilities decrease drastically.

“But that’s not to say that we don’t each have our own strengths and weaknesses,” Vason said. “Take me, for example. What would you say my strengths are? And don’t say my dashing looks—that goes without saying.”

Haymi rolled her eyes.

Vir took a moment to analyze Vason. He’d, of course, done a similar exercise when he’d first seen the man in combat. It was practically a habit at this point.

“Your Talents are optimized for defense. Bulwark makes you incredibly strong, and your choice of a tower shield augments that. Leap and High Jump also mean you’re pretty mobile on the battlefield.”

Vason nodded smugly with his arms crossed.

“But you don’t have a lot in the way of offense. No offensive Talents, and no magic.”

“And?” Tia asked.

“And range. Vason has no ranged weapons.”

“That’s actually a pretty accurate assessment,” Tia replied, impressed. “Vason’s skills mean he’s great at defense. When combined with Haymi’s magic, he can take hits that would severely injure Haymi and me. We tend to throw him at the enemy to occupy its attention. Now, what about me?”

“You’re… well, you’re like Vason in that you can use Talents. Leap, High Jump, and if I’m not mistaken, Haste. And though you claim that Haymi’s your only mejai, I saw you use Ember against the Narapazu.”

“Lot of good that did…” Tia said with a scowl. “That beast was practically impervious to fire. I’ve regretted this affinity for a long time. It’s one of the hardest offensive combat magic to use. And far too flashy.”

Vir suppressed a smirk. What Maiya would’ve given for even a Lesser Fire affinity. Though he had to agree with Tia. Lightning and Wind both seemed far easier to deploy effectively than the slow-moving Fire magic. It was by far the easiest magic to dodge.

“I know you like going on the attack, Tia,” Vir said. “While Vason occupies the enemy’s attention, you’re the one who goes in and deals the killing blow.”

“Well, maybe not the killing blow, but I certainly try to injure the enemy.”

“Your weakness… well, apart from your Ember spell, you have little in the way of ranged offensive capability. And unlike Vason, you’re not equipped to take a whole lot of damage.”

“Nor would we allow any harm to befall her,” Haymi replied. She’d taken a seat on a piece of nearby driftwood, crossing her legs elegantly. She somehow made the act of sitting on a log look refined.

And it wasn’t just her. Vir suspected even Vason was secretly a Sawai. What three Sawai were doing out adventuring, he had no idea, and he wasn’t about to ask.

“Now, time for the hardest question of them all,” Tia said with a glint in her blue eyes, staring at Vir with her hands on her hips. “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

That would have been a hard question, had Riyan not drilled home Vir’s every weakness. He could go on for hours about the complaints the man had in his form, or his tendency to strike from the right instead of the left.

But he doubted Tia was interested in such details.

“Well, I can’t use magic, for one.” Until now, he’d hidden the fact that he was prana scorned from them. Whether or not he’d continue to manage that, he couldn’t say. But that was one thing he refused to divulge unless he absolutely had to. Prana scorned were rare, after all.

“So that prevents me from doing a lot of things. But well, you’ve seen my Talents. I’ve got Leap and High Jump like everyone else. Also Empower and Toughen. And uh… some other stuff that gives me some pretty good mobility. Among other things.”

Tia looked at Vir like she’d just unearthed a diamond in the rough. One that everyone else had dismissed as worthless, that only she knew the true value of.

If she knew the truth about Dance of the Shadow Demon, I feel like she’ll faint from euphoria.

“Unlike you two, I don’t have as much of an issue with ranged offense,” Vir said, gesturing to the chakrams around his neck. “They aren’t perfect, but between my chakrams and chakris, I manage alright.”

“Anything else?” Tia asked.

“Well, I don’t have Bulwark, so I can’t take hits as well as Vason here. But Toughen lets me take a decent amount of damage, regardless. I’d say I’m pretty good at attacking enemies. Not so much at defending.”

Tia nodded the entire time, and Vir wondered whether her head might fall off. “You’ll be our strongest attacker. With me and you on the offense, our enemies aren’t even going to stand a chance. And as good as you are now, just wait until Haymi augments you with her magic. You’ll feel like a god.”

Vir laughed. He wondered what Ekanai, Shardul, and Narak had to say about that.

“So, to that end… Haymi? I hate to ask this of you while you’re still healing, but could we have a fresh blood rod?”

“Blood rod?” Vir asked.

Haymi promptly handed Tia two thin glass vials, each two handspans in length.

“Mejai have to touch orbs to perform magic, yes?” Haymi said, addressing Vir.

“Right… I’ve seen you mount orbs on your shoulders and legs too, though.”

“That’s still touching. Only inexperienced mejai have to hold orbs in their hands. But fundamentally, a mejai needs to be in contact with their orbs to power magic.”

“And by inserting blood rods into armor and weapons, you’re technically still in contact with them!” Vir said, understanding. “But how do you keep the blood… uh, alive? Won’t it die off after leaving your body?”

“There are utility orbs that assist with keeping the small amount of blood in a blood rod healthy,” Tia said. “The blood does need to be replaced eventually, but it can live for up to a week at a time with the aid of an orb.”

“And the prana in the mejai’s blood powers the utility orb!” Vir realized. It was genius in a way. The blood powered the orb which kept the blood alive. Of course, ‘power’ was a deceptive term. Vir knew that in reality, the prana in Haymi’s blood merely attracted the surrounding prana, which is what really powered the orbs slotted into weapons and armor.

He wondered if he could use a similar mechanism, but without a compatible orb to keep his blood alive, it seemed impossible. Still, the fact that blood remained in her control even after leaving her body intrigued him greatly. It gave him a few ideas about Blade Projection and other similar abilities. If he could shoot his blood out, then he might briefly get prana to bend to his will, even outside of his body.

Of course, that would involve injuring himself, which didn’t sound too pleasant. He hoped there would be a better way.

“So, now that the boring stuff’s out of the way, let’s get your cuirass and katar slotted!” Tia said, grinning.

— —

Liberation. Power. Overwhelming superiority. These were the sensations that rushed into Vir the moment Haymi activated her magic. Vason slashed at Vir with his talwar, but he merely shrugged them off. It was as if he’d suddenly gained Bulwark, such was the might of Haymi’s Slashing Protection orb.

And it’s only a C grade orb!

And when he attacked, it was like he’d learned Tia’s Haste. That was another ability that required a tremendous amount of prana—essentially Leap, but permanently activated, and which affected all parts of his body.

Vason whistled. “Aprabomb’s more potent than I thought!”

“You do understand what a bomb is, yes?” Haymi said, narrowing her eyes. “Apramor is not a bomb. And let us hope he does not become one, for his sake.”

“Sure,” Vason said with a shrug, “but it’s sounds seric, doesn’t it?”

Haymi’s support orb only made Vir’s katar swing faster, but even that was an incredible sensation for him. The first few times he swung, he missed, not expecting the added burst of speed.

But after a few rounds with Vason, Tia had to jump in, just to make Vir’s pummeling of the man a bit less one-sided.

And I’m not even using Prana Blade or Empower. The seric katar, with Haymi’s speed enhancement, with Prana Blade, all boosted by Empower? Vir shuddered. He could scarcely imagine what devastation such a weapon would wreak.

Or he could double up on the damage aspect by slotting Haymi’s Enhance Sharpness. He doubted the seric blade would benefit much from Enhance Durability, but it could be an option against especially hardened foes while using Empower and Prana Blade.

Adding Empower  to Haymi’s speed magic was far more difficult than Vir imagined. It wasn’t that the prana interfered with each other—the affinities largely kept to themselves—but rather mastering the timing. Enhance Speed was hard enough to control, but when layered with another ability that increased his speed, it was almost too fast for his mind to process.

The blade would blur in front of him, and the attack would finish the moment he initiated the attack, startling him.

Even after practicing for an hour, he wasn’t much better, and he had to wonder if he needed an Enhance Mind orb just to control his ridiculous power.

Sadly, no such orb existed, but Vir wasn’t overly worried. If there was one thing no one could beat him at, it was dedication. He’d unlock those secrets, soon enough.

“Alright. Now that you’ve had your fun, let’s get down to the serious business,” Tia said after Vir bested Vason for the twentieth time.

“Now?” Vir asked. The sun had grown long in the sky, and there wasn’t much daylight left.

“No time like the present! Let’s start on some team-based combat tactics. I got a few ideas I think you’re gonna like.”

Vir had seen that glint before. Maiya had the same face, right as she was about to propose something vile. Something devious. Every instinct Vir had told him to run.

“I call it the Aprabomb.”