Sworded Affair

Chapter 38: Friendship is Magic

Emma woke up from her impromptu nap greatly refreshed; the accumulated fatigue of her haphazard return home, the events leading to her arrival at Scholomance, and even the challenges of the first floor all wiped clean by the miracle of sleep. More importantly, the Leech King’s cool-down had expired during her time off, allowing Emma to begin her plan in earnest.

“Come on out,” Emma called her summon out immediately, the massive leech shaking the hill as he emerged; he had a key role to play in upcoming events, whilst also immediately confirming an added bonus of her System’s latest upgrade.

[The Leech King added to Broadcast.]

An additional participant was now visible in her text log's list of names, paired with a distinctive green dot on her map signifying him as an ally.

Use your acid to burrow downward, Emma issued a mental command, gratified to see The Leech King immediately obey as bubbling green secretions preceded his passage underground.

Now start heading in the direction of the Water pillar, Emma amended, after The Leech King had already descended several meters, deep enough to hopefully avoid the lake forming on the surface.

The tunneling wasn’t exactly fast going, but that suited Emma just fine, given she had all the time in the world to complete her objective, so long as the stalemate above was maintained. Tracking her summon’s progress on her map, eventually its singular green dot perfectly overlaid her destination.

Stop. Emma instructed, bringing The Leech King to a halt as her attention turned toward her more temporary minions.

All Air elementals, stop fueling the Fire and hover as close as you can to the pillar without being harmed. Once the Fire dies, dive down together and push the button. Earth elementals, make your way towards the Water pillar from the sides, avoid fighting where possible.

As expected, Water immediately began to tilt the balance of the battle, able to advance properly upon Fire now that Earth and Air no longer interfered to make it three-on-one. It didn’t take long for the waves to overwhelm the flames on the plains, before making their way up towards the hilltop. Her Air elementals hovered overhead, doing nothing that would draw the Water’s ire; until the final patch of Fire was extinguished. Tendrils of Water caught well over half the host, halting their descent towards the pillar; but some were bound to make it through, as there simply wasn’t enough Water present to catch them all, and Emma only really needed a single success, so the game was rigged from the start.

[Fire subjugated.

100 EXP gained.]

Helpfully, the lack of any Fire elementals meant Emma avoided having to deal with more incoming anima, which might have complicated matters had they caused a recurrence of before.

Head for the middle of the plains, distract the Water. She commanded the Earth golems, before diving into the tunnel dug by her summon. A short sprint through total darkness later, she bumped straight into The Leech King, her advance stymied by his massive bulk.

Dig up, attack the nearest enemy when you breach the surface.

The Leech King had no issues with this command, not being bound by Emma's pacifism. Thus began a slow ascent towards the surface, surprisingly reminiscent of the staircase between floors. Emma crawled behind him, tension rising with every revolution until at last the first beam of sunlight could be seen as the Leech King erupted from the ground. Following up right after, Emma found herself beside the pillar, having just enough time to see the Leech King fall, bisected by the pressurized Water from a handful of elementals left behind for guard duty. The first aggressor dealt with, the Water's attention turned towards Emma; just a second too late, as her hand slammed down on the final button to end the trial. This time, the flood of sensation of anima was not nearly as overwhelming; the System’s upgrade stripping out most of the intensive functions of the link, such that the only difference Emma noticed was the remaining red dots on her map turning green.

[Water subjugated.

100 EXP gained.

Level up!]

“That wasn’t as bad as I expected,” Emma shrugged. “If anything, the first floor was harder.”

“This floor is designed to be easier, the larger the number of participants working together. A party of four or more can simply walk up to one pillar each, and assuming they manage even basic coordination, clear it instantly. A lesson, perhaps, in the value of having comrades by your side?”

“Friendship really is magic then,” Emma laughed, recalling a cartoon that had once taken the world by storm. “Also, you never mentioned multiple people could take the trials together!”

“You never asked,” The overseer replied, a smug lilt in her voice. “But yes, the fact you could activate even two buttons together meant an immediate stalemate could be established, whilst your pet gave you the necessary options to end the trial altogether. A single aspirant without help would have had a far harder time, as they would only command a fourth of the combatants to begin with; the remaining devolving into a chaotic free-for-all.

That said, numbers aren’t always a guarantee of victory here. The fastest aspirant to ever hit all four buttons was also a necromancer; he simply sent his shades to each pillar whilst they were intangible and safe from harm, before materializing and pressing all four buttons at once. Simultaneously binding four hundred elementals worth of anima was far beyond his capabilities though; he died of a brain hemorrhage shortly after.”

“Given all the twists I’ve seen so far, it's a wonder anyone survives to reach the tenth floor.” Emma grimaced.

“Those who come unprepared generally die horribly,” The overseer agreed wholeheartedly. “But keep in mind, most aspirants won't set foot in Scholomance until they’ve had years, or even a decade of honing their art; whether as an apprentice to a Magus, or as a student at a college of magic. What you’re experiencing right now is the Empire's equivalent of a University’s final exam; not something most people take part in on a whim, to be certain.”

“When you put it like that, fair enough.” Her questions exhausted, Emma put questions of academic fairness out of her mind and turned her focus toward her updated status page.

[Emma Knight - Level 8 Revenant

Race: Undead {LOCKED}

Alignment: True Neutral

Anima: 450

EXP: 1515/2000

Die by the Sword is in effect, re-calibrating skill selection!

Die by the Sword overruled by Floor configuration - Enlightenment!

Select one of the three choices below:

1) Trait - One with Everything: Damage reducing Anima to 0 stops at 1 instead. This effect cannot activate more than once an hour.

2) Trait - One with Nothing: 1% chance for your first blow on each enemy to apply the Status effect: Instant Death.

3) Item - One of a Kind: Obtain a random item that belonged to an aspirant who died challenging Scholomance.]