I stand in front of 2 wolves about 20 meters away, preparing a [Dark Blast]. After about an hour of walking the scouts saw another group of wolves and I volunteered to take them on. This time, I'm being followed by the healer, since the fighter wanted to take a break.
After a deep breath, I jump out of the brush that I'm hiding in and charge the wolves, launching my spell at the nearest one. The spell slams into its side and it falls over while I swing my staff with both hands at the wolf that's still up it leaps away. Turning my back to the standing wolf I slam my staff into the downed wolf's head while it's still scrambling to stand and it faints while stepping to the side and dodging out of the standing wolf's way as it leaps at me.
While it turns toward me I begin casting [Dark Touch] on my staff. It charges toward me and I jump out the way and face it, and finish casting my spell right as it leaps toward me. I slam my staff down on its head and then turn to the other one before bashing it till it dies.
“Class [Dark Mage] has leveled up to 2”
“Class skill [Dark Touch] has leveled up to 2”
“Skill [Staff Mastery] learned. Would you like to add it to your Class Skills?”
“Yes,” I say before allocating my 5 new stat points. Since I've been fighting up close a lot, I put one stat points in strength, vitality, agility, reflex, and intelligence to round out my combat stats. After that, I pull the wolves to the side of the road and sit down.
“Tamian was right. You really are talented.” Says the healer as she casts a spell.
“Thank you,” I reply while we wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Not long after, they drive by and we rejoin the caravan.
“Wow, I can't believe you took on two wolves. I can barely manage to hold off one,” says Gerome as he walks up to me.
“I'm just lucky I have a strong ranged option to start fights with. Otherwise, I'd struggle all the same,” I say as I set in my strides to match his.
“I also have a lot of experience with magic, even if its level is low.”
“Still, practice is where strength comes from. At least, that's what my mentor told me.” Gerome says sadly before changing the topic. “On the thought of practice, why do you never practice harvesting monster materials?”
“Since harvesting relies a lot on sight, and I can't even see my hand in front of me,” I answer.
“I heard bats had bad eyesight, but I didn't know it was that bad. Is that why you wear glasses?
I shake my head toward him. “Bat people are more likely to have worse eyesight, but I'm actually blind. The glasses are mostly aesthetic.”
He stops for a second before catching up. “You're blind? How are you fighting so well then?”
I think on it for a bit before telling him. “I have a sense skill that lets me sort of ‘see’ everything around me in a short radius. Much smaller than the average sight, I think, but also omni-directional.”
He stares for a bit before asking “What's omni-directional mean?”
“Ah, it means in every direction. They tend to all have drawbacks though. For example, my skill is heavily reliant on sound, so it's useless if I plug my ears.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Since they're so good, should I learn one? It'd be good for a scout, right?”
I go to respond before one of the scouts shout down to us, “No good kid, takes too long to learn.”
I nod in agreement before following up, “ There are many kinds to choose from, and all of them are situational. It'd be good to use them in sync, but that'd either hamper your mind, or your skills.”
“Then why do you use one?”
“Because I was born with it, and it's also my only form of vision.”
He thinks for a bit then speaks up. “I still feel like I should learn at least one. It could really help my team out.”
I nod to him. “How about I go over what I know, and you volunteer for the next hunt. Then, when you get back, I'll try and help you learn whichever one you fancy, alright?
“Yes!” He yelps before covering his mouth. “That'd be great, thank you.”
“Happily,” I nod. “Can you tell me what you know about magic?”
“That magic skills store specific mana, and that the ones you're good at depend on your race.”
“That's good enough. All sense skills rely on two parts. The first is the medium, which changes based on what you're trying to sense. There should hypothetically be a sense skill for every magic type, but that hasn't been proven yet. The second part is [Sense Magic], which is a minor part of every skill. You can use sense magic and other mana types to recreate any sense skill but it-”
“I want [Sense Magic]” he interrupts.
“But [Sense Magic] is really hard to use and even harder is trying to recreate skills with it because it's a minor component.”
“But if I can use every skill in every situation where it'd be good then it removes the drawbacks of sticking to one, right?”
“True, but it also requires you to use a lot of different mana types.”
“That's okay. I saw one of the scouts using [General Magic] and she said it lets you use the 9 basic mana types easier. Combine the two and you have easy access to 9 mana types that can be used for senses, and should cover most bases, right?”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“That's also true, and since most mana types are a combination of other mana types it'd help you make other sense skills too. That's a good idea. The only issue is if you have the skill spaces and talent for it.”
“I have A General Skill space for [Enhanced Senses] that I could replace with [Sense Magic] and [General Magic] technically falls within a scouts Class Skills, so I can put it there. Then I can just move both to my Hybrid Class whenever I get it,” He explains.
“That's good. But why do you have [Enhanced Senses] as a general skill?”
“I was going to use it for an [Archer] Subclass, but I'm fine replacing it for [Sense Magic] as long as I can use it.”
“Well can you tell me about your race? I might know if it's compatible?” I ask while bringing up a mental list of races in my mind.
“Well I'm a Fae Hopperson, if that helps.”
“Whoa, are you sure you should be telling me this? Statuses are really important to keep quiet about and you've already given me a lot of information. Are you sure I won't use it against you.?
“I trust you. I think if you help me with this then it'll help you even more in the future.” He says confidently. “Especially if we can form a party together after this mission,” he follows up under his breath.
“You know I heard that, right?”
“Really? But how can-”
“I have a skill based entirely on my hearing. Of course I can hear you when you're standing beside me. And I think partying with you would be nice. I'm sure we could do great together.”
“Ah! Well, thanks for hearing me out.”
“Can't really see you out, since I'm blind and all. It's the least I could do.”
He laughs for a bit, and I hear one of the scouts snickering too.
“You're pretty funny,” he says after he calms down a bit. “Anyways, can you tell me my-”
“Monsters up ahead. 3 goblins. Who's going to take them out?”
“Looks like it's time to go. See you when I get back” Gerome says as he dashes off toward where Tamian is standing at the front. As they run forward, I relax a bit and just listen to nature. The soothing sound of the small river to our right flowing toward Lumber Mill, the town we left not too long ago. The small insects and bugs buzzing around, hunting for even smaller insects to feed on. The leaves swaying in the wind, back and forth gently.
After a moment of calmness, I push my senses out straining [Echolocation] to its current limit, erasing any semblance of focus I have to see pure blobs. I need to stay on guard always, so I'm not caught by surprise.
As I push my senses out, I begin to hear the rustling of the brush 40 meters to the east, near the river about 20 meters behind us diagonally. I focus on the position of the sound since it seems odd, and I notice that the sound of the streams are bouncing off a small blob although its steps are more muted than a normal creature would be.
“Scouts,” I yell up. “Behind us, 14.5 degrees approximately, is there a monster there?”
A scout looks down confused before glaring in the direction I called out. After a bit he yells back. “Good catch. This monster is awful to fight if it ambushes you and it's great at hiding. Wanna take it out?”
I shrug before yelling up, “I can try. Not sure how accurate I'll be.”
Without waiting for a reply, I begin working on a new spell while walking forward. Since I need a fast spell to hit it the best image to mold it into would be an arrow. With that i weave my mana into a triangle before adding points. The target point is wherever I'm aiming at with my finger. Next I form the type point, and go a layer deep to make it a piercing projectile. Third, I make it's effect point damage. After the matrix is formed, I pour mana through it, about five times more than a [Dark Blast], then point towards the monster I heard in the distance and fire off my spell.
“Class Skill [Dark Magic] leveled up to 11”
“Class Skill [Spellcraft] leveled up to 2”
The [Dark Arrow] flies true and hits the monster squarely in its chest and goes through the other side, then the monster collapses and lets out some horrific cries. After that a Scout jumps down and gives me a soft shoulder jab before running to the monster and landing a killing blow. After that, she drags the monster back and puts it in the skinning wagon before running up and jumping back to the scouts deck.
After a bit more walking, Gerome and Tamian come into view with the goblins pulled over, and Gerome with a few knicks on his very light armor.
I walk to him and extend my hand before hoisting him up. “Good work on the goblins.”
“Thanks,” he replies. “Tried to make it quick so you could teach me about [Sense Magic].”
“You ready to start learning or do you want to wait a bit?”
“I'm ready. Give me watcha got.”
“So the way to learn a magic skill is to work with it, and against it, and to have a basic idea for how it works. For example, you can make yourself louder and quieter, and if you know just a bit about how sound waves work, you'll get [Sound Magic].” After the explanation I form a matrix and put a tiny bit of mana to perform a small [Sound Blast], barely loud enough to make it clear to him. “Do you know what senses are?”
“Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, and Smell.” He says confidently. “We learned about them in school.”
I nod before replying “There are a few more senses that go undetected, like your sense of balance or danger, but they can all be changed with [Sense Magic]. Since you're a scout, how about trying to enhance your eyesight?”
“That's a good idea,” he says excitedly before parking down. “How do I do it though? I never learned how to cast magic.”
“Well first pull mana from your body, and form it into a core. Remember how you probably used the water enchantments in the bathhouse. It's sort of like that, but a lot harder at first.”
After a bit of struggling, long enough for the next hunt to come and go, he finally pulls his mana out and clicks it in place.
“Okay, what now?” He asks hurriedly as he tries to hold the magic in place.
“Next, add a smaller, upside down triangle inside the big one, splitting the first triangle into sections. We call this a matrix.”
He grunts and tries to form the middle triangle, but it collapses a minute after he starts.
“Wow,” he sighs. “This is really hard. And you do it so effortlessly. You're incredible.”
I nod as he breathes before replying. “I just have more experience. The first step to using magic is clearing your mana channels, which flow a bit like a cylinder matrix inside your body, through your veins. The more you use magic, the easier it is to use it, because your mana channels get cleaner. And if you have a mana skill, it'll form a circular matrix, a magic core in your body to store a specific type of mana related to the skill.”
“Wow,” he says, befuddled. “How do you know so much about magic?”
“My mother was a [Wind Magic] teacher. Most of the people in Lumber Mill studied under her at some point. At least the people younger than her and the greenies in [Wind Magic].”
“That's amazing. You must've been really popular then. Why'd you leave if you were set?”
I sigh before trying to talk, and after a minute of trying to find the words, I sigh again, then answer. “Because I wanted to be a Hunter.”
“Nice,” he smiles at me before starting to form magic again. “Tell me the rest of what to do and you can go on the next hunt while I work on it.”
“Well, after you form a triangle, hmm, I'm not sure actually. Let me figure it out.”
With that, I form a matrix and begin to pump it with mana. With that I make the target point me, and the type point enchantment. Then I force mana through it and look for a good point to land on while thinking of improving my eyes. After a bit of fiddling I finally lock it in and I can feel sense mana covering my eyes. After figuring it out and trying it a couple of times I tell Gerome how it's done and we walk in silence until I go to the next hunt.
It's three Goblins, but instead of using a [Dark Blast], I form a [Dark Arrow] like before and try to line up my shot before letting it off. It skewers two of them through the chest, not doing much damage, but slowing them down all the same. With that done I enchant my staff with [Dark Touch] and let them come to me. While they jump at me and swing their knives, I prepare a [Wind Blast] and let it off toward one of the two I hit with [Dark Arrow], knocking it down as it continues losing blood quickly. With only two left, I swing my staff at the healthy one and it lands on its ribs, brushing it heavily and knocking it down. After that I slowly whack them with my staff until they breathe there last.
After the caravan comes back around, I join Gerome and we walk and talk as he practices [Sense Magic]. Only a few more hours till we make camp and I can finally rest. Which is good, because I'm already tired from all the fighting we've been doing.
