The Ruby Magician

Wyn pulled his spear out of another dead Ashen Dog. They had only been climbing for about an hour but had already faced nearly a dozen groups of the monsters. No more Fallen had appeared with the dogs on leashes but at least the enemies so far were easily dealt with. If Wyn was being honest with himself, they were more of a nuisance than a threat.

Facing them and climbing the first floor this season felt much different than just a month ago. He was still learning about magic and skills and climbing overall, playing it safe and going with a cautionary approach. Now, having an entire season under his belt and feeling more confident about his skills and magic, he was loosening up his perspective. His previous fighting experience played a key role but his actual climbing experience was gaining ground, too.

They could afford to be more aggressive moving forward. It would be too slow to be as cautious as they were before, and honestly they didn’t need to be that way. All five of them now had second tier classes, and they were ready to climb higher and face greater challenges. It was how being a Climber worked. And Wyn was starting to see that.

“This is getting a bit repetitive,” Tasha said. “Dare I say, boring.”

“You’ll have your work cut out for you before long,” Marcy said. “But now you’re starting to see how I felt last season.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted a bit of a break?” Wyn asked.

Marcy inspected an arrow that had killed a dead Ashen Dog before the body dissolved. She bent it and twirled it in her fingers before tossing it back to the ground in dissatisfaction. “I did. And I’m thankful for it, don’t get me wrong. But I won’t lie and say it wasn’t boring.”

“Fair enough,” Wyn said. “Hopefully we’ll start getting you and Cedric some excitement in the second tier.”

“I’ll take difficult but prepared challenges instead, please,” Cedric said. “I’ve already lost one arm, I’d rather not chance anything else.”

Wyn chuckled. It was nice to see Cedric joking about his missing arm. He still held out hope that there was some magic out there that could help give back a missing limb or magically make a new one, but he wasn’t sure about it. And his primary resource about magic was the person he wanted the information for. Maybe Daniel knew of something he could pursue.

He mentally added it to his growing checklist of questions.

The path they’d been following in the first floor was straightforward. No major roadblocks, no twists or turns, no puzzles to trip them up. Only a desolate dirt road surrounded by death and destruction and the only obstacle they found were monsters. But they were numerous.

Immediately after leaving one fight they were met with another. This time there was a Fallen, again with the Ashen Dogs on chains. Instead of being lanky with a club like the first one, this creature was short and stout, wielding a wickedly jagged sword in the hand that didn’t hold the three dogs back.

Wyn quickly lifted his jacket’s sleeve and checked his mark on his left forearm to see how much mana he had remaining. It was nearly full, only about one quarter used so far. He hadn’t needed to use much mana in the easy fights, only casts of Shield here and there to completely protect himself. His overcoat and armor likely would have protected him fully, but he liked keeping the monsters at a good range for his spear to be effective rather than biting and clawing distance.

There was no time quite like now to further try out his new abilities, either. The few days they spent repeating the sixth floor last week over and over was purely to gain money rather than experiment. But now, on a floor that was basically equivalent to the training hall, it felt right to try new things.

“Let me try something,” Wyn said. “I want to take them on alone.” He cast Wellspring on the ground in front of the group. The skill activated with his mark and two circles around it as it glowed a bright red in a flash. It stayed glowing softly in a ten foot wide area. Then, he yelled at the monsters ahead of them and stomped on the ground to get them to attack.

The ruse worked. The Fallen creature let go of the chains as the monsters barreled forward towards him.

Wyn had an idea. If he could have a net gain with his mana stores the skill would prove more than useful. It could alter his entire approach to climbing.

He cast Regen on himself when the dogs were nearly at his Wellspring glyph. He didn’t need the healing now, but he wanted the mana recovery while the spell stayed active. Plus, if he was hurt while fighting three dogs at once the spell would heal him without extra effort. He stood at the edge of the glyph so he could give as much room for the dogs to be inside as possible.

A quick check of his mark showed he was under half of his mana. A bit more than one third remaining. He decided to make a mental note that the magician hat in his mark and a little outside of it was dull while everything else glowed.

Thankfully the dogs didn’t meet him all at once as one gained ground over the others. Wyn swung his spear wide and caught it when it leapt at him, its jaws open wide for a bite, and the attack both slashed it and knocked it to the side. The others were right behind it, though, and Wyn had to roll to the side to avoid another attack.

One of the dumb beasts kept running to the rest of the group that patiently waited, all prepared to intervene at any moment. The monster had no idea it ran to its death, which was swift by John’s blade.

Wyn cursed under his breath. He wanted to try and keep all three of them in the glyph’s area. But hopefully two would still be enough.

He struck out at the second Ashen Dog with his spear and stabbed it in the side, causing a pained growl to escape its mouth. The first beast quickly came back and attacked again, and Wyn had to do his best to dodge and counter in the ensuing brawl. The monsters weren’t strong but were quick, which could have been dealt with easily with John helping to keep them off or by using his Speed Up skill, but he wanted to experiment. And sometimes experiments require some sacrifice.

Wyn couldn’t tell passively if his mana was improving by a significant amount during the fight. He was too focused on not being clawed or bitten. He also couldn’t tell how much their life force was being drained from the skill, but they did glow with a dulled gray aura similar to his Feeble spell. But in less than half a minute the fight was nearing its end, Wyn having taken a few stray hits but mostly finishing them off instead. His jacket protected him from any teeth puncture wounds or clawed gashes, but his body could feel the weight of the attacks underneath. Thankfully Regen was still active around him and the bruises would heal.

As one monster fell to a final stab the other tried to leap at him from the side, and Wyn dropped his spear to let his arm take the bite. The jacket again saved him from the tooth but he could feel the pressure of a monster’s jaw clamping around his arm. He promptly withdrew his knife from his back and repeatedly stabbed the monster until it fell limp.

Finally, the beasts were dead. Wyn felt his arm already recovering. He glanced around to see where the Fallen monster was but saw only a glowing pile of coins about twenty feet away. Apparently someone didn’t want the creature interfering with Wyn’s plan.

“Are you alright?” Tasha asked. She stepped closer to Wyn but stayed outside the Wellspring’s area as she could also be affected by its magic.

“Regen is healing me just fine,” Wyn said. “Thank you, though.”

“What, exactly, was your plan just now?” Cedric asked.

Wyn looked at the aura around him from his healing spell. It had faded some but was still likely going to be active for another minute or two. That meant more time of mana recovery on top of Lucidity.

“I wanted to see how much mana I could recover with my new abilities,” Wyn said. “We didn’t get much of a chance last week and I want to learn what I can do. I’ll check once Regen is done. Shouldn’t be long.”

“Oh, yea,” John said. “I forgot about all the ways you can recover mana now. You know, because your class upgrade was so stupidly helpful.”

Wyn smirked. He wasn’t about to argue.

Tasha and Macy collected the coins from the dead Fallen and the group kept on their path but at a walk this time. When the white aura from Regen faded, Wyn once again checked his mark.

He was both a little disappointed and excited in a strange, bittersweet way. The entire experiment was only a few minutes and the actual fight lasted only seconds, vastly reducing the time Wellspring was active. But now the shield in his mark was dull but the weapons behind it were still glowing. So instead of a third of his mana he might have about half. Both his skill and spell cost a less moderate amount of mana and reduced him a large chunk to even start the experiment. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to recover the difference entirely.

Still, it was better than nothing. Having a trapped area drain the life force from others caught inside it and healing himself at the same time was a nice combination. And he didn’t need a mana potion to recover after. If the fight lasted longer or there were more enemies it could potentially make a huge difference. Or, possibly, if the enemy had more mana to steal like a monster that could use magic, he might be able to recover even more. Like monsters on the higher floors that would give him more of a challenge.

That would be an experiment for another time. For now, he was happy with his strange new skill and the benefits it brought him.

“What was the verdict?” Cedric asked.

Wyn relayed his findings and thoughts to the group. They weren’t gasping in excitement or falling over in praise at his new abilities. Just silently thinking.

“It’s still a good ability,” Cedric finally said. “And I bet you’re right about using it on a monster that can cast spells. They’ll likely have more mana for you to take than some first floor beasts.”

“And we’ll try it with my trap spell,” Marcy said. “That’ll really get you some mana back. Using it like a funnel in a tight path would be incredibly useful, too.”

“Personally, I think the best upgrade you had was that your healing spells can also recover mana,” Tasha said. “That’s incredibly helpful. If you healed one of us when we ran out of mana completely it could be the difference in using another skill or spell. It’s not always easy to break out a potion in the middle of a fight.”

“Like for me,” John said. “I don’t have a free hand to pop a potion while I’m taking hits here and dealing blows there. She’s right. Would it make a difference if you used Cure instead of Regen? You know, so you could recover right away?”

“I’ve thought about that,” Wyn said. “Originally I didn’t keep Cure because Tasha had it and Regen could be active while I kept fighting. Daniel also mentioned it had the potential to heal more, too, with the extended effect rather than an immediate heal. But that’s something to consider. Only thing is I don’t have that many slots for spells. I’ve been trying to keep the healing to only one since Tasha is our primary healer.”

John patted Wyn on the shoulder while they kept walking. “It was just a thought. Don’t stress yourself out about it!”

“I still think getting some items to add to your overall mana recovery is the way to go,” Cedric said. “Your bracelet is an example of that. Get a couple more items similar to that and you might be surprised at how efficient you’ll be, even at the second tier. It won’t matter how people see a Ruby Magician or how limited your spell slots will be if you can constantly cast a few spells and use abilities without the worry of running out of mana.”

“That’s my goal,” Wyn said. “And why I have a small list of items I want you and John to look for at the trading post. I’m really going to make a difference this month. I’m damn determined.”

A loud boom made all of them stop. The ground shook and the sky flashed with a series of bright lights. It seemed like the world around them was falling apart and they were caught in the middle of it.

The Climbers looked at each other for only a second before continuing on their path forward. This time, though, they ran.

*****

It only took them a few more minutes before they reached what felt like the end of the floor. City-wrecking flaming rocks fell from the sky periodically, but now they were more numerous and varied. Like if the clouds were releasing raindrops from the size of marbles to wagons. And the raindrops were boulders on fire. One such flaming ball completely obliterated a small pack of Ashen Dogs before the group met them. They were inside a house off to the side picking through whatever remained before growling and barking as the Climbers jogged by. The monsters exited the house only to be hit by a boulder the size of a horse that cratered the earth and left no remains whatsoever.

The group just stopped and looked around, shocked.

“Why haven’t one of those hit the dirt path, yet?” Tasha asked. “They’re hitting everywhere else. I don’t think it’s fair that the tower has this on the first floor. We could be killed any second!”

“I don’t think so,” Cedric said. “I believe the falling rocks are meant to surprise us and distract us, sure. But not hit us directly. Not if we stay on the very obvious and safer path, at least.”

“It’s like Alistair meant for it to be this way,” Wyn said. “But I absolutely do not like it.”

“It’s a good thing we’re at the end, then,” John said. He stood about ten feet ahead and pointed forward with his free hand as his other held his shield. Marcy stood even further away inspecting their route.

About a hundred feet in front of the Ranger was another courtyard but more elaborate, like a town square or meeting place. The remnants of a statue was smashed and scattered along the ground towards the middle of the space and small pockets of flaming rocks were still on fire. At the edges of the wide courtyard were individual fights of armored soldiers combating the Ashen Dogs, and sounds of war were deafening. At the other end of the space, though, was a red portal floating in the air. If there was a boss to fight to open the portal they hadn’t shown up yet.

Wyn felt his attention pulled in nearly every direction. A familiar cry here, a sound of one of his fallen soldiers there. The environment looked all wrong but the noise was the same. It was always the same.

As he focused on the fighting, though, it was easier to tell how wrong it really was. Wyn was able to bring himself back to the present by looking at one such engagement nearby. The soldiers were blurry and their shouts hollow, more like grunts and syllables rather than actual words. When one of them fell they seemed to disappear into the background while a new soldier mysteriously appeared out of thin air, taking its place to fight more monsters. The same could be said for the Ashen Dogs, and the entire background looked more and more like exactly that. A background for their actual challenge, which was staying focused on clearing a path to the next floor.

Wyn thought about the quest for the floor. It only mentioned escaping, not doing any sort of fighting or helping in this supposed siege. A skirmish that looked more and more fake as Wyn slowed down and focused.

“Is it safe?” Tasha asked.

“As safe as the rest of the floor has been,” Wyn said. “Stay close. We still have to do something to clear that portal.”

As the group moved forward with Marcy leading the way, the ground shook under their feet. It wasn’t as strong as when the boulders collided with the ground, but it was stout enough for them to notice something was happening. Then another shake came. And another.

From the edge of the courtyard lumbered a giant, grey Fallen that rocked the earth with each of its massive footfalls. It was as tall a four story building and smoldered like it had just crawled out of hell to wreak havoc on the earth above. One of the fake soldiers from the edge of the courtyard ran towards it and stabbed at its ankle with a long pike, and the giant slowly turned back to the soldier and tried to crush it with a heavy fist. The ground shook again from the impact and the soldier wasn’t anywhere to be seen when the giant stood back up.

“That’s our boss,” Marcy said. “Slow but powerful. Let’s try and kill it before it reaches us, yea?” The tip of the arrow she drew was glowing in green light and left a trail of magic as it zipped towards the monster. The arrow stuck into its upper chest while the giant tried in vain to swat it out of the air. It was far too slow and uncoordinated to come anywhere close to avoiding an attack like that.

Wyn cursed. He got rid of his longer distance attack spell last month and hadn’t added another one. He didn’t think he needed it since Cedric and Marcy were long range specialists. But now he regretted it as he wanted to contribute in some way.

A quick barrage of lightning strikes and arrows pelted the giant as it slowly recoiled from the attacks. Marcy fired a few purely magical arrows then dropped them in favor of actual spells. The first she cast was a wind elemental spell that left a sizable hole in the monster’s torso.

Cedric then waved his scepter in the air and formed a huge yellow rune in the air in front of him. “Lightning Bolt!” The rune crackled with the sound of lightning as a large flash of yellow and white flew to the monster. The spell hit it square in the stomach with a plume of black smoke. The spell continued for several seconds as Cedric strained with effort, and the other Climbers had to shield their eyes from the lightning’s intensity.

They had seen him use that spell only once before. It was a powerful attack but limited, as Cedric had to stay still while using it and if he missed his target he was out a large chunk of his mana for nothing.

A loud groan escaped the monster as it fell to one knee in pain. Ironically falling down like that put its head in the path of Cedric’s lightning, and as the spell ended the lightning connected with the giant’s head and fried it even further. The monster then completely collapsed to the ground and dissolved like all of the tower’s creatures before.

The portal beyond slowly turned from red to clear, signaling their success.

“Cedric, that was amazing!” John said. “Gods, you have incredible power.”

Cedric took a deep breath. “I’m honestly surprised it took that much effort to kill. This was a first floor boss. Why was it that hard for just one group?”

Another streak of flaming rubble sailed across the sky and shook the earth when it landed not far from the courtyard.

“Questions later,” Wyn said. “Let’s go ahead and move to the second floor!”

Without hesitation the five Climbers ran to the portal and disappeared, willing the portal to take them to the next floor rather than Alistair’s base. As Wyn neared the portal, waiting for his teammates to enter, he noticed a strange hole in the ground just behind the portal. It was just large enough for a single person to fit comfortably, and a similarly sized metal disc set on the ground beside it.

Wyn recognized it from his time at war. One of the great cities had similar holes in their vast construction, their civilization advanced past what Jahnin was currently. There were more intricate city structures and advancements that their country had developed. He hoped the portal didn’t take them to a floor similar to what was found at the bottom of one of those holes. Only once did he have to traverse those depths, and once was enough.

Saying a silent prayer to himself, he pushed into the portal and willed it to take him to the second floor. Which hopefully wasn’t going to be in a sewer.