Of Decisions and Departures

A single bead of sweat ran down John’s forehead.

He took a shaky, uneven breath.

John and Ela sat on the couch, both cross-legged, facing each other. The book of healing spells was propped open on his legs to an example page, which he was following carefully. It had taken him half an hour just to get the theory of the spell correct, and almost the rest of that hour to try putting it into practice.

The Gamer placed a trembling hand over a small cut that Ela had made on her own arm. John swallowed nervously as he drew his mana forward. It had taken a few tries for him not to flinch when he felt the sensation of his mana leaving his body again. Carefully, he pushed the mana out his palm.

The key was not to **** anything, to let the subject’s body accept the mana as necessary to restore its own vitality.

A faint green glow appeared on his hand, barely visible. As he cautiously traced his hand along the cut, the skin slowly pulled itself together, until, after a few seconds, no signs of injury remained. He ran his hand back over a second time, to make sure that he hadn’t missed anything.

The Gamer’s face dropped momentarily as he scanned the site of injury. It took a moment for him to register that it had worked, but, once he had, a silly, stupid grin grew upon his face. A small red notification popped up on his UI.

“I… I did it…” he stammered, scarcely believing his eyes. “I DID IT!”

John looked up, locking eyes with an equally enthused Ela. “I actually did it! That’s it, right?”

She raised her arm, examining it closely. “Yes, you did! All healed.”

He pumped his fist in response, elated. Relief washed over him.

“You must have an aptitude for life magic,” the blonde sang. “I am impressed that you can use it so well already.”

“So well?” John responded, “It took me like an hour to use it at all.”

“Even though it is the simplest spell in the book, there were some in my class who took a full day to be able to cast it. Not everyone is naturally able to use their mana like you can.”

“Huh… I, uh, didn’t really think about that. Guess I’ve got something going for me.” He chuckled nervously, his excitement tempered. “Glad it didn’t take all afternoon.”

’Not that I’d mind an excuse to hang out with you longer.’

The Gamer tapped on his notification, causing a skill gem to pop out and fall into his hand. This one was strange; while the others had been cool, as might have been expected of a rock (or outright cold in the case of the [Ice Surge] gem), this one was pleasantly warm in his palm. It was a ruby gem, cut into a little 8-bit heart, framed with a tarnished silver border. The left half of the heart glowed somewhat, while the right half was darker, reflecting much less light.

’Yo, that’s pretty cool.’

With a smile on his face, John used [Observe] and checked out his new gem and skill.

What he found threw him off for a minute. ’That’s interesting… It reads like the spell I was supposed to learn from the book, but it’s somehow an alchemy ability now?’

“Hey, Ela, look at this,” he said, sharing the window and throwing it her way. “Looks like my powers took a bit of liberty with the spell.”

The Pole took a second to read the windows. “Interesting…”

’Wait a second, how does this work? I thought [Reshape Matter] couldn’t even affect living things?’

You can’t use it on living things, but I’m totally allowed to give you a spell that can.

’I-’ John paused. ’OK, sure…Which, I suppose, means that there’s likely some system reason for this, or maybe balance.

’Any chance you’ve got a list of these “game rules” around somewhere that I could see?’

No. Because you’d try to find some loophole immediately, and either give me a serious headache or get yourself killed.

’I… can’t argue with that,’ John conceded, running his fingers over the new gem. “So… What now?”

Ela stood, stretching her arms and legs, and giving John a wonderful eyeful from behind. “We have used more than half of your buff time, I believe, so we should not wait much longer to set out.

“I will need to change into my equipment upstairs,” she stated, crossing the room to retrieve her bags. “Are you still willing to try a dungeon with me?”

“Oh- uh, yeah, of course,” he answered. “I can take a minute to mess with my gems while you get ready.”

The busty blonde nodded, and headed upstairs, while John settled in to check out his potential skill options.

’Alright, so what am I looking for here exactly?’ he wondered, opening up his menus. ’I suppose some additional damage would be nice, but anything that might offset my glass canon tendencies would be good also.’

He took a quick look over his [Lesser Earth Spike] skill options before removing it from its socket, though its fairly basic durability, range, and damage upgrades didn’t stand out to him. He knew that he shouldn’t expect anything too fancy, since his overall level was still low, but a part of him was holding out for something cool.

Gingerly, he removed the spiked, amber gem, and placed it elsewhere in his inventory.

’I’m gonna run out of space for these things soon. I ought to get, like, a lockbox or something to keep them all in. Maybe raise my Strength for some more slots.’

John started with his newest gem, still in his hands. The small heart slotted in with a satisfying click.

“Hmm…” he muttered, scanning the window in front of him.

’All three are interesting here. First two offer an interesting strategic selection - is instant healing better than having a larger capable pool? Might be better in emergencies, but I lose efficiency on the mana conversion to HP if we’re talking a sustained engagement,’ The Gamer rambled internally, trying to equate the options presented to things he’d studied in the MOBAs he’d played. ’Lay on Hands is the obvious pickup, but I need at least a few levels to get the required stats.

’Dangit, a skill with obvious points of investment, but I can’t do one, and the other two require me to make a choice… ’

Deciding to see all his options first, John removed the gem from its socket and moved on to the next. The second gem that The Gamer tried provided only disappointment, as Gamer’s Unity refused to be socketed.

Unable to socket - Gamer’s Unity upgrades via Achievements.

’I suppose that makes sense; I did get it from an achievement more or less,’ he thought, setting it back in his inventory. ’Little anticlimactic.’

Thirdly, The Gamer remembered that he hadn’t ever checked out the options for [Ice Surge]. While it was likely to just have the standard damage spell options that his other two had had, it was his only damage spell that wasn’t categorized as “lesser.”

’Also, its numbers are high enough that I might be able to use it as a bomb skill, given enough development.’

’About all as expected, though the values are impressive,’ he noted, quickly doing the damage math in his head. ’I can only pick two of three though… I could maybe redesign this as a primary clearing skill with the second and third together, or I could go super hard on single target with the first and third, socketed in my staff. I’ll keep it in mind, I guess.’

Thus, John moved on to his final gem of interest, the [Unawakened Eye] gem. As he set it in, his stomach turned over a bit. This, to him, was the gem with the most mystique that he had, and The Gamer was curious to see where it might lead.

’This is… obviously important, but there is actually like no info here, right?’ John pondered, reclining on the couch. ’”Unique questline” probably means that these upgrades are going to be more significant as well. “Sacrifice” doesn’t sound great… Are these quotes supposed to mean something? Maybe Ela will recognize one of them, or I could ask Moira, I guess?

’I’d be willing to bet a storied order of paladins would have a fancy magic library with a ton of information… assuming they’d be willing to let me look in it.’

He scratched his chin, mulling over the options he’d been presented. The Gamer unlocked his phone and started taking notes in a text app. Most of the options he’d seen presented were fairly interesting, and he had to admit that increasing his personal damage output still wasn’t entirely out of the question.

’Unfortunately, most of the options I’d have jumped at require more stats,’ John lamented. ’Hey, I just realized - are the upgrade options for [Observe] gone for good now?’

Look just past the top right of that last window.

’Wha- oh,’ he thought, noticing a small arrow in the corner. ’I guess I missed that before. Thanks.’

Checking the button he’d had pointed out, John found that he could access both the [Observe] and [Unawakened Eye] trees from the same gem. The former’s tree had been reworded slightly, though it still had more or less the same options as before.

’Cool,’ he thought, closing the window. ’By the way, any chance I could get that old [Observe] gem back? I think it’s kinda cool, and I wouldn’t mind collecting it.’

It’s going to bother you forever if you can't, right?

That made John a little nervous, and he debated trying to lie through his teeth for a second before deciding that truth was probably the only real option when speaking to the lady in his mind. ’Yeah, kinda? I like completing full sets of things, and it seems like it might end up being an empty space that I’ll never be able to replace.'

You know, I’m tempted not to, but I think I’ll have some mercy. You’ll be able to get it back, eventually.

’...Thank you very much.’

With that settled, John returned to not making any meaningful headway in build decisions. His first instincts wanted him to be the optimizer, to hold his single talent point until he’d had even more of a chance to research, to see how his skills performed in battle in their current state. Experience told him that could be suicidal.

’There’s probably a midpoint somewhere I’ll want to dial in on,’ he thought, ’or maybe that’s stupid and there’s not actually a right answer all the time…

“Heh,” he sighed, muttering under his breath. “Ela’s got some combat experience, right? I’ll ask her when she’s back.”

With the matter settled for now, John finished taking stock of everything he had. There was just under an hour left on his food buff, which he guessed would unfortunately not be enough for a full dungeon, but perhaps enough for a good chunk of one if it was comparable in length to the previous. He still had enough food to sustain small buffs for some time after. His gear was in decent enough shape, though his chest slot was still empty.

’Mana’s mostly recharged, too. Might not be completely topped off when we’re ready to go in, but it’ll be close enough.’

The Gamer continued idly organizing his thoughts until he was interrupted by the faint clicking of hollow footsteps coming downstairs. The clicking grew louder as John’s busty blonde companion descended the stairs, blushing slightly as she made eye contact with him.

“Sorry, the stairs echo.” She giggled.

Ela had returned to the living room, now dressed for battle, with only her smaller duffel bag and a tan overcoat slung over her shoulder. She had donned a partially armored bodysuit, which John took a second to check out, as she crossed the room to take a seat on the couch.

The suit itself was black with dark green accents, made of some material John couldn’t quite identify. There was a strange, sinewy quality to the fibers it was woven from, and it flexed and rippled with her own muscles as she moved. Straps and pouches adorned her sides and thighs, tightly clipped and snapped shut. The whole thing was wonderfully tight on her, giving him a view that surpassed any in his imagination even with its dark coloration.

She had gauntlets and boots on as well, both seemingly fashioned from some kind of bone or similar material, which clicked and scraped against itself softly as she walked. Likewise, well polished, interlocking plates of the same armor adorned her shoulders and ran up her spine. Even from a distance, he could see that every piece had been crafted expertly to fit together on precisely her body.

“I’m going to guess that’s not standard issue…” he muttered, thoroughly impressed.

John swallowed, caught halfway between nerdy interest in the specific details of whatever crazy combat suit she’d just walked out in and the growing feeling in his loins from the forthright display of Ela’s body. He quickly averted his eyes from her as she turned to reply.

“No,” she said, smiling wistfully. “My… someone I knew made it for me a few years ago. You are welcome to use your [Observe] on it, though it has some scrying protections.”

John nodded, choosing to activate both his [Unawakened Eye] and [Observe], scanning her suit as she stood still for a second. The whole of her combat suit was lightly flush with Ela’s mana, and it seemed to hum with it as she breathed in and out. He was provided with a window to peruse as his companion turned to pull on the overcoat she’d returned with.

“Yeah, can’t exactly see much,” John commented, noting the large blank space. “So that thing is made out of… monster? Like those are actually its bones?”

“Yes,” she affirmed, tying closed her coat. “The body was harvested after a group of hunters brought it down in the Greek islands. I was not told any specifics.”

’Fascinating,’ he thought. “I guess it’s kinda like armor being made out of leather… if you took it to an ****.”

She shrugged. “Something like that.”

“So, what can it do?” The Gamer wondered aloud. “I can’t see any of its enchantments or anything. I can’t even see any physical stats as far as I can tell.”

“I do not know for sure how it works, but I can channel my mana into it and gain some of the monster’s strength and speed,” the busty blonde replied. “The materials are also quite durable, and I can heal them as I would a person.”

“That’s pretty sick. I mean, cool sick,” he said, standing. “That’s gotta be powerful, right?

“It is, though I do not have enough mana on my own to power it fully.”

She dug around in her bag for a moment before producing a simple padded leather shirt. “Here. An old training shirt. It is nothing special, but it may help, if it is not too small.”

“Oh! Thanks. That would be awesome; lemme try.”

John quickly checked over the item, which had nothing special in the way of magical reinforcement, just small augments for durability and water resistance. Still, it finally gave him something for his chest slot that he knew he could actually walk around in. He switched to his combat loadout and equipped it, leaning his staff to the side. The shirt was slightly small on his shoulders, but otherwise comfortable enough to be well worth wearing.

He smiled. “Feels pretty good! Hopefully it’ll hold up.”

“It looks like it may have changed size slightly,” she replied, scanning over The Gamer’s torso. “Though it appears undamaged.”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “My powers do many things that I don’t quite understand.”

Nodding, Ela turned to her duffel once more, pulling a large, one-handed axe from within. The blade was carved from the same bone as her armor plates, and stood in stark contrast to the handle, formed from some manner of carbon fiber or metal frame. A quick once over from The Gamer’s observation skills returned similar results to her armor, though the axe blade itself was notably rich in mana.

She considered the weapon in her hand for a moment, breath held. Almost solemnly, she set it down against the side of the couch, allowing herself to zip back up the bag and sling it behind her.

“That’s pretty neat,” John said, looking over at the duffel. “ Is that like a Bag of Holding? Those are real?”

“More or less,” she said, her smile returning. “You know, I appreciate how you look at things. It is refreshing to see someone excited about magic again.”

John blushed lightly at that. “Magic is cool.”

“It is,” Ela sang, turning to him. “Are you ready?”

“Actually, I was hoping to get your opinion on something before we left…”

The Gamer spent a minute or so articulating his internal debate on upgrading his powers to her, showcasing windows where appropriate. He hoped that perhaps she would be able to break his internal stalemate regarding upgrades.

“I think you are underestimating the value of being able to wait,” she decided, having gone over John’s options herself a few times. “No one else that I have ever heard of could wait to decide what kind of spell they want to have at the most important moment.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, but she continued. “If I had your [Ice Surge], and I wanted it to be bigger, I would need to practice for many days or weeks ahead of time, months even. Once in battle, if a more potent spell would be better instead, then there is nothing I could do.

“You are allowed to wait and make that choice when it matters most,” Ela concluded. “If none of these options are so important right now, then waiting does still offer an advantage. You should practice using your menus quickly.”

“Hmm…” he hummed, crossing his arms. “That does make sense, assuming that there isn’t an obvious choice to be made. That’s some confidence in my ability to keep a level head while under attack.”

The blonde reached down, taking hold of her axe once more. “That will come with experience. You will not be alone this time, and I should be able to handle our medical needs. I think you can try to save it, unless we find something to change our minds.”

After a few moments to mull that over, John conceded. “Alright then, I suppose I’ll give it a try again this time. At least I’m fairly certain I can bail in an emergency. Waiting it is… ”

He raised his hand, preparing to channel his [Create Dungeon] spell.

“Shall we?”