The Ruby Magician

Wyn’s first move was to make sure he actually gained mana from the dummies. Based on the outcome, his strategy would go one of two ways. If he did recover mana, he’d be far more generous using his skills and spells. If not, then he’d need to ration his mana and use them in a specific order. No mana potions meant no immediate recovery.

Moving to the side, three of the dummies were immediately caught in the trap - two melee dummies and one ranged one. Their movements slowed, they physically shrank and looked to be powered down. Wyn then quickly checked his mark. His mana was still about two thirds full as his two runic class circles were gray.

The melee dummies were within striking distance and began fighting him right away. They were strong and fast, but he was holding his own. Each strike forced him to reposition while he waited a few more seconds. Despite them being on the level of mid second tier monsters, they had no magic or abilities. They were only physically enhanced, and still just wooden dummies. In that sense, they were still easier and more manageable than actual monsters he’d find inside the tower.

Another glance at his mark after some exchanging of blows told showed him that his inner runic circle was only halfway gray now, which was incredible. Wellspring was giving him mana.

He immediately adjusted and cast Flash. The dummies staggered, letting Wyn follow up with several quick sword strikes. One of the enemies collapsed and he had to cast Shield to prevent an arrow from hitting him.

It was chaos, and he wanted it to be manageable. So it was time to advance.

He used Speed Up and felt the power wash over him as his surroundings slowed with his mental processing speeding up along with his body. He dashed around to the ranged dummies and took them down in seconds. When they were dismantled on the ground, he returned to the remaining combat-focused dummies. He decreased his shield to the dormant bracer size and adjusted his weapon to a spear, keeping some distance while handling them with quick but well-placed strikes.

Another Shield spell prevented one of the dummies from a direct hit and made it stagger from the rebound. Wyn hoped his Chaincast would activate but couldn’t control it either. Still, he could alternate his spells to help the chance.

The dummies were noticeably slower while Wyn had his speed skill active. He almost didn’t need the addition of his spells with the enhanced physicality. With three of them still trapped in the combined Wellspring and Web trap, the remaining dummies didn’t take long to defeat.

He still had time, though. It wouldn’t do standing around.

“Two more,” Wyn said.

Sonya looked at him in confusion.

“Activate two more melee dummies,” Wyn said.

While they prepared two more dummies, the ones that were taken down were recovered from the assistants around the stage. As they approached, Wyn used another Shield to block two attacks and followed it with a Feeble on one of the dummies.

His runic mark appeared under him and a second dummy was then hit with the spell as his Chaincast doubled it. The affected dummies had floating skulls above their heads and shrunk to a full head shorter than the rest. The audience had a mixture of gasps and cheers, but Wyn tuned them out. He was completely focused.

Wyn continued his dismantling of the dummies but found it was predictably harder to manage them. Now that there were ranged dummies attacking him and four fighting him directly, even with his enhanced speed he was having to dodge or reposition far more than attack.

So, the second part of his plan was up. He wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it, despite it showing off more of his capability.

Wyn cast Regen on himself, immediately followed by Flash. At least the spell would take some of the dummies’ focus. He started attacking more than defending or dodging, and took several hits and arrows from the wooden enemies. None of them were enough to take him out of the fight, but Wyn felt each of them. His gear reduced a lot of the damage but without the equipment each one would make him flinch or hurt enough to need outside help. Instead, they only felt like bruises at most.

His healing spell would make sure he was fine. And it would give him some more mana from his class upgrade, which was needed as the dummies finally broke out of his trap.

That was when he activated Decay. The final stretch of his trial was upon him but he still wanted to show his class features. The spell made the dummies lethargic and weak similar to the Wellspring skill at the cost of needing to be near the enemy. But that weakness was covered with his Regen spell, and it continued to work as he ignored some hits so they could heal.

He was a whirling dervish, sometimes changing his weapon to accommodate whatever his immediate opponent had. He mostly kept it in his spear form, but he would change it to a sword and expand his shield when needed, or change it to a mace and bash the dummies away when able. He had enough mana left to be able to make those small adjustments.

As the final minute of his trial wore down Wyn asked for two additional dummies while continuing to tear through them. His speed combined with his weapon made the dummies look like stationary targets despite being second tier difficulty.

When Sonya called the end of the trial, over half of the dummies were on the ground while he was still fighting three of them. In total, eleven dummies ended up in his match. Wyn took some hits from them but nothing his equipment or healing spell couldn’t handle.

He reduced his weapon to a dagger, sheathed it, and gave a bow to Sonya and the judges. The crowd was the quietest they had been all afternoon, though nearly all of them were standing on their feet.

Wyn had a brief feeling they didn’t like his trial but put that thought out of his mind. Maybe they were too surprised to react. Or maybe they just really didn’t understand what he did or what happened.

Regardless, he joined his group, who stood there equally quiet and stunned.

“What is it?” Wyn asked.

“I just… we… how?” John asked. He didn’t look upset or even happy. Just confused.

“You all know how I can fight,” Wyn said. “I just decided to push myself.”

“That’s an understatement,” Marcy said. “Wyn, I don’t think you know what you just did.”

Wyn turned around and looked at the crowd. They stared at him, hundreds of eyes locked to him even off the stage.

“I hope I just proved a point,” Wyn said.

“Yet another understatement,” Cedric said.

*****

Faye stood up and left the stands. She didn’t even bother waiting for the others. Brett would likely have something snarky to say, and the others were likely just going to trip over themselves in questions. Wyn just finished with his trial, and boy was it a show.

So, she decided to go straight to the source.

Gregory was standing with the other judges close to the match arena, all intensely focused. They were scribbling down a page worth of notes as fast as their hands could write and the ink would let them.

Faye snickered. They probably had quite a bit to note about Wyn.

She walked up behind Gregory and tapped him on the shoulder. The man ignored her, continuing to write.

“Gregory,” Faye said. “Come on. Surely you can’t have that many notes? You’ve already seen him climb!”

“Not like that,” Gregory said. “Do you know a Climber who could do that?”

Faye started to speak but stopped herself. No, she said in her mind. There wasn’t another Climber who could do that. Not even her. Though not everyone would see Wyn’s class abilities as a boon, it was obvious he could fill just about any role a group needed. Not as good as others, of course, but his flexibility was impressive. In a world where flexibility was looked down on, he made it actually look desirable.

Faye smiled. It was exactly what that crazy man wanted.

“Are you saying you’re in, now?” Faye asked.

Gregory paused his writing and looked back at her. He glanced to the judges beside him but they were still intently focused on making their own notes. Looking back to Faye, he gave a slight agreeing nod of his head.

Faye felt a surprising wave of relief mixed with worry. She knew Gregory could be persuaded one way or another, but it was good to see him so convinced already.

“Make sure Prian and Caryn are also on board,” Gregory said.

“Prian was just as excited in the stands as the rest of us. I haven’t seen Caryn’s group, though. Is Bea here? Or maybe Oz?”

“Caryn is here himself. Find him and talk to him.” Gregory went back to his writing, obviously ending the conversation.

Faye cursed. If Caryn personally showed up and saw Wyn’s group perform then he would certainly have his own opinions. Which may not be bad, but the man was an enigma. Even she couldn’t pin down what he liked or didn’t like. But, if Gregory wanted her to talk to him, she would.

She just had to make sure she didn’t make a bet with him. She always lost those.

*****

Arabelle was frozen in the stands. The people around her were murmuring or talking about Wyn and his group, but she had a hard time focusing on them. All she could think about was how her brother fought. Was that the result of his years of military training? Hardening himself to fight so effectively? His opponents were just dummies, sure, but inside the tower he fought actual creatures. Creatures, she was told, that were scary and strong in their own right. But here was Wyn, wielding magic and gear that glowed in colors and strengths that her mind couldn’t fully process.

He was far too modest in his letters to her about climbing. After watching him fight, she knew the truth. And it made sense why he even considered becoming a Climber when everyone told him it was a fool’s errand, a guaranteed death certificate.

He was a warrior. A near terror with a weapon.

“He is an incredible Climber,” Roscoe said. “I don’t ever remember seeing Ruby Magicians fighting like that!”

“Nor I,” Bartholomew said. “You’re lucky, Arabelle. You have a strong brother to protect you.”

Arabelle snapped out of her stunned state from the man’s statement. Bartholomew wasn’t wrong, but what he said irked her.

“I always knew he was special,” Benedict said, sitting on the other side of her. “He has advanced incredibly fast for a new Climber, but he doesn’t have a big ego like other skilled Climbers I’ve seen. That’s refreshing to see.”

“Sometimes you need an ego to really push yourself, though,” Roscoe said. “Back when I was climbing, some bravado separated the weak from the strong. I sense some of that in Wyn, here, whether you see it or not.”

Benedict smiled his sly smile. “He has bravado, he just manages it far better than the boisterous youth that normally comes through those pillars at the front gates. I’ll certainly keep supporting him, you can count on that.”

Arabelle looked back at Wyn meeting up with his group. They all were strong in their own way. She had no idea the level of magic that was present here in the city, and seeing them fight was invigorating.

But watching her brother do what he did was different. He didn’t just wield magic, he controlled the fight from beginning to end. He wasn’t afraid or tried to run away, and he didn’t need someone else to protect him.

Not like her. She was still afraid. And wanted to surround herself with people to protect her.

A flame grew inside of Arabelle, something she long thought to be dormant. There was a spark that ignited when she chose to leave her home, and the flame grew with her decisions that led her to the city. A large part of her was afraid still, but deep down was a desire to survive and overcome.

A desire that Wyn shared. She knew it in her soul. They were siblings, after all, with similar drives in different ways.

It was that moment she knew what she needed to do. It wasn’t to be an assistant to Benedict, despite him being an honest man. It was to be like her brother. To fan that flame of survival and perseverance.

She would become a Climber.

*****

The combat trials soon ended, but Wyn didn’t really pay attention. He was still recovering from his own trial and all of the reactions from it. There was mostly congratulations but also a fair amount of staring and avoidance. Wyn ignored them to focus for the remainder of the afternoon as the guild trials were nearly finished but an important, final trial remained.

The group trials.

It wasn’t long before the training hall transitioned to the last set of trials. They were setup almost exactly like the individual trials, so the people working on the arena didn’t have much to do. They were taking additional precautions, though, as the assistants setting up the stage were reinforcing the ground, adding magical barriers, and moving the stands back further than before. The arena was also larger, needing to accommodate the increased number of Climbers participating at one time. More people were crowding around on the ground instead, causing the audience to look more cramped than comfortable. But since the trial involved several Climbers slinging magic all around, additional steps needed to be taken.

Wyn watched with his group as the first tier started. Their group numbers weren’t as many as Wyn thought. There were only nine of them, and over half of the groups weren’t even full. Wyn wondered just how many groups were splitting up because of the guild trials. It would definitely make climbing slower needing to find a new group, even for those in a guild. But figuring out group dynamics was a problem for the guilds. Hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue for their group.

As the trials started Wyn wasn’t too impressed. Some groups fought dummies that fought back, and Wyn assumed they had a last minute decision to make themselves look better by fighting actual opponents similar to what he and his team chose to do. But those who ended up doing that looked disjointed and chaotic. The crowd loved it, of course, but Wyn could see through the magical appeal.

A couple of the groups stood out as being better, as they worked together well through good communication. All of them had skills and spells, of course, but the groups that would likely get a guild invitation were those that looked more fluid. Devon’s group actually impressed Wyn the most, and they fought against their dummies easily. They were the one group that decided to utilize dummies who could fight but handled them well. Bryce kept the dummies’ attention while absorbing just about any hit, and Maven, their Divine Magician, kept an Arcane Aura up on him at first followed by Regen so he could heal from the damage he was obviously taking. From what he remembered with Lucy, Barbarians had skills that activated when damaged. It made sense to heal him to a point while letting him continue to be minimally hurt. It was a delicate balance but she was doing it well.

They had certainly come a long way. Wyn wouldn’t be surprised if they got an invitation for a guild, and he hoped they did. From where they started, they deserved it.

The second tier groups continued immediately after, and like the individual trials the difference in quality was astounding. Each group went up against combat dummies and looked like cohesive units. Wyn was both impressed and concerned. He hoped that the average Climber wasn’t just all show, but knew that they had to carry some skill to be able to successfully climb higher floors that were dangerous. His desire to change people’s mindset about his class would be harder than he thought if the average Climber of higher tiers was that good.

The one difference, though, was that the groups had little to no variability whatsoever.

One after the other was the same setup - direct combatants would engage the dummies and fend off two or three of them each. Support Climbers would make sure their teammates in direct combat had defensive and healing spells on them, and the ranged Climbers shooting arrows or spells would systematically take down the dummies with strength and power.

Wyn wondered if that was all there was to being a Climber? Sure, gear and select abilities that differed provided a bit of change, but for the most part they were the same. Some individuals were more skilled than the rest, of course, acting with more decisive movements or communicating better to the group. But was that it? Was it really boiled down to a specific makeup in order to be successful?

Wyn sighed. On one hand, if the setup worked, it worked. Success couldn’t be ignored. But his entire point here was proving that even classes that were considered subpar could not only bring something to the table, but had true value.

And what about groups that wanted different dynamics than the typical two or three warriors, one support Climbers, and two or three ranged Climbers? Could a group of all Mages power their way through a floor? Or could an entire squad of Fighters hack and slash their way through?

Wyn didn’t know that answer. But he at least wanted to show that different didn’t always mean bad. At that would be enough.

Their group was slotted next to last, and the crowd was eager to watch them perform. They were either on their feet or cheering deafeningly loud as Wyn and his group walked up to the stage. When the dummies were prepared, the noise only rose.

Where the other groups fought the same number of dummies or one or two more as their group, Wyn and the others had decided beforehand that they wanted to stand out. So, they had a dozen wooden dummies standing against them to fight. Compared to the secret room’s wave of monsters, this would be nothing. But it dwarfed the other group’s numbers.

Their plan was the same as when they fought in the secret room, too, which was a modification of fighting the Ashen Warriors on the sixth floor. Marcy and Wyn would set up traps on one side while Cedric placed a storm cloud on the other, causing a funnel to meet John, Zoraquin, and Wyn in the middle, while they could adjust as needed.

Wyn looked around one last time at the judges, the guild members watching them, and finally the crowd. They were all anxiously waiting for them to fight and show their ability to work together.

For each of them, with various reasons, this was their moment to show the city they could overcome the odds. Cedric only having one arm. Marcy and Wyn having less than desirable classes. Tasha choosing a class that was considered difficult to manage. John nearly dying during his first climb and continuing on without fear or hesitation.

No matter what, they stood together. Nothing would change that.

“Are we ready?” Wyn asked.

“Ready,” they all said, taking their positions.

Then, at once, they moved.