A Pleasant Walk

The experimentation proved to be more difficult than they had anticipated. Aeolia could easily maintain the veil for the four minutes, but one unit of mana was too little of her mana pool to accurately give it a percentage. With that hard to nail down, Vivian suggested Aeolia maintain the invisibility until she exhausted a tenth of her mana, figuring that was an easy enough amount to recognize that wasn’t an exorbitant amount to waste. John questioned if Aeolia’s mana regeneration would mess up their calculations, but the redhead waved off his worry with a shake of her head.

“Mana is a one way street,” she explained. “If you’re channeling it, you can’t recover it. Well, that’s how it is for us. You don’t stop regenerating mana until you’re full, right?”

John nodded and let the test proceed. It took up nearly the remaining hour for Aeolia to exhaust the agreed upon amount, each set of four minutes leaving John more and more confused.

“So, forty-eight minutes means you spent twelve mana,” John said as Aeolia faded back into view. “Which if that’s really a tenth of your total, means you’ve got one hundred and twenty mana at max.”

“And that’s a problem because?” Aeolia asked.

“Because it means you’ve got more mana than I do despite the difference in our Intelligence stats,” John clarified. “By the numbers I’ve got double yours now, but your mana pool is twenty-one higher. And I’ve got boosts to that number. So I can only assume that Intelligence doesn’t influence other people’s mana amounts or at least isn’t as cut and dry as mine does.”

John quickly took a piece of paper and pen, supplies Vivian had procured to sketch out some arrays while they waited. Working backwards, John traced his mana amount to what it had been yesterday when he woke up.

“Yeah, it was sixty,” he muttered, recalling that initial character sheet. “Which means my starting twenty-five Intelligence gave me fifty on top of a base of ten.”

“Then perhaps that means Aeolia has a higher base number?” Vivian suggested, before focusing on the woman in question. “How do you fly?”

“With my wings,” Aeolia responded cheekily with a teasing smile before her expression grew serious. “I use a bit of mana to sort of make myself float, kind of, but most of that is more me using the mana in the air. Always been like that.”

Vivian nodded. “In terms of pure physics, you shouldn’t be able to fly, but your magic naturally and intrinsically lets you, by way of manipulating the surrounding mana. It’s possible you have more mana because of that. A bit like building up muscle from repeatedly lifting a set amount of weight.”

“That sounds possible,” John said, tapping his borrowed pen against the table. “I wonder if higher levels also could increase the base mana, or boost the gain per point of Intelligence.”

He twisted his neck, a series of pops echoing through the small kitchen as he cracked it. “Well, the hour’s just about passed. We want to keep discussing this mana thing, or are we going to stick with our plans and test out what Instant Barrier can do now?”

“I’m game for knocking some heads,” Aeolia answered.

“As interesting as figuring out how our mana reserves interact with our stats,” Vivian added, “I think furthering our understanding of what your powers can do, and the benefits they can yield, will be a better use.”

“Well, let’s take a look at what I can offer,” John said, triggering the skill with the intent to review the new options.

Instant Barrier - Options

Protected Space
Illusion Barrier
Dungeon

Like his first real use of the skill back at home, John tapped and held the ‘Illusion Barrier’ option to summon up further information.

Illusion Barrier: Create a space filled with hostile entities. Current options: Type Selector.

Type Selector: Constructs a Barrier around a previously encountered enemy type. The maximum level for the occupants of this Barrier is (Sk Lv.*3)

“OK, we can choose what to fight, but their level will only go up to level six,” John reported. “At most they’ll be at my level, but well below you two.”

“So no big monsters that’ll be a pain to deal with?” Aeolia asked with a smirk on her lips.

“Yeah,” John said, “but the experience they’ll give will probably be crap. So it’s trading big injections of XP for hopefully manageable foes. Might be a good way to farm drops though.”

“Why don’t we look at that other option?” Vivian asked, pointing towards the dungeon option. “No point in rushing off before we see all the available options.”

“Right,” John agreed, clearing away the Illusion Barrier info and tapping said option.

Dungeon: Create an area filled with traps, obstacles, monsters, and hidden rewards. Random quest generated upon entrance. Current options: Type Selector.

“So ‘Illusion Barrier’ can either give us what we’ve done before or let us stomp on weaker enemies, while ‘Dungeon’ will give us something concrete to work towards beyond ‘beat everything in the Barrier’,” Vivian summed up. “I think trying the level locked Barrier would be better.”

“I was thinking that too,” John said, flashing Vivian a smile. “It’d be a good chance to see how I stack up to things my level. And from the way it’s worded, I don’t think a Dungeon run can be ended before completing the assigned quest, so it might take a while to do. Better to not get locked into something so late in the day.”

Aeolia shrugged. “I’ve got no problem facing off against something easy.”

“Stomping on weak enemies it is then,” John announced, turning his attention to Vivian. “Got any other spot nearby where we could set it up?”

“There is a park near the university,” the redhead answered. “There’s a small nature trail we could trek down that’s hidden enough.”

“Sounds good,” John said, peering at his phone. “We’ll have a few hours to test this feature before I need to head home.”

“What did your mom say anyway?” Aeolia asked.

“Well, she’s worried about me not being able to juggle both work and school,” John answered, “but she’s not opposed to me joining the workforce. Now I just have to think of a good cover story she’ll believe.”

“We have to come up with one,” Vivian interjected, a thoughtful look crossing her face. “Whipping up some documents or a webpage shouldn’t be too hard to do.”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” John told her.

Vivian smiled. “I may not be much of a combatant, so I’ll have to carry my weight somehow. Sorting issues like this is in my wheelhouse.”

“You’re not much of a combatant for now,” Aoelia countered as she shrank down and flew over to Vivian’s shoulder. “Hell, you weren’t all that bad with thrown together shit.”

Vivian blushed under the praise, a slight smile on her face. “Well, if you liked my display against those drones, I think you’ll like some of the ideas I’ve had since.”

Aeolia mirrored her expression, though hers was a touch more vicious. “Can’t wait to see them. Let’s get this show on the road!”

The ride to the park was uneventful, though John imagined Aeolia retained her smirk as they walked the short distance from the parking lot and into the woods. A few minutes down the canopy shaded path, Vivian announced, “This should be far enough away, though I think we should step off the path a bit. Just in case.”

John nodded, as did Aeolia from her perch on his shoulder, the air distorting from the motion. Passing over the gnarly root broken ground, the trio ventured off the path until they reached a small clearing.

“Is this far enough?” John queried, glancing back towards the path, partially obscured by the foliage.

“I think we’ll be fine,” Aeolia said, returning to visibility. “It’s not like we're out in the open. Plus, we’ll be in your Barrier so no one will be able to see us.”

“Fair enough,” John said, casting Instant Barrier to summon the Type Selector option list. “Let’s see what we can do.”

“Guess each enemy I fight unlocks a spot on the list,” John muttered. “‘Plant’ and ‘Beasts’ could have been from the vine hounds, ‘Golem’ from the woads, and ‘Machine’ from what we did earlier. So, what do we want to fight?”

“I’m not too keen on dealing with more machines,” Vivian said.

“And I really don’t want to deal with any more plants,” Aeolia added.

“So ‘Machine’ and ‘Plant’ are out,” John said. “And I guess ‘Golem’ would be grouped with ‘Machine’ so that leaves ‘Beasts’. That okay with you guys?”

“We don’t really have any other option,” Vivian answered.

“‘Beasts’ it is then,” John announced. He tapped that option, causing the others to fade out. “Guess I need to select the levels.”

John tapped the ‘Level Select’ option, calling up a small display featuring a blinking ‘1’ flanked by a ‘<’ on the left and ‘>’ on the right.

“So, what level should we try?” John asked. “Go low just to see what this can do, or go to the limit to get the most experience?”

“How about we go with four?” Vivian suggested. “Nice middle ground number.”

“I’m sure we can deal with level six monsters,” Aeolia countered. “It’s not like we haven’t dealt with things much stronger. Best to get the most out of this session.”

“Aeolia’s got a point,” John said. “It’d be pretty bad if we couldn’t deal with level six stuff after dealing with higher level ones.”

Vivian bit her lip in thought, looking somewhat uneasy for a moment before her expression shifted into a resolute one.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” she muttered, before continuing in a more solid tone, “Let’s go all out.”

“Right-o,” John intoned, tapping the level selector to its maximum and hitting the ‘OK’ beneath it.

Create Beasts Barrier, Average Level 6
YES/NO

John gave one last glance to his companions before confirming their choice. Reality warped as they entered the Barrier, the woods shifting slightly, growing more overgrown and casting the forest floor deeper into shade.

Beasts Barrier Created. Average Enemy Level: 6. Defeat all enemies to clear the Barrier. Barrier will repopulate five minutes after all enemies are defeated.

“Not much of a change of scenery,” John noted, dismissing the popup. “Interesting that we can let the Barrier reset if we want to keep fighting. Think we should look for a clearing to have room to move in?”

“Definitely,” Aeolia quickly replied. “Can’t say I like being boxed in like this.”

Vivian nodded in agreement, a bottle of Shine Dust already withdrawn. John followed suit, Senka manifesting in his hand. They set off, Aeolia flying above them in a circle, eyes peeled for whatever beasts were about.

“At least it’s quiet,” Vivian remarked as they trekked through the thick wood. “Should make it easy to hear something coming.”

“Let’s hope you didn’t just jinx us,” John lightly joked. When Vivian looked at him confused, he elaborated, “In movies, whenever someone says something like what you said, that’s when something comes out to attack.”

“Oh,” Vivian softly exclaimed, head pivoting around to look for unseen enemies.

“Relax,” Aeolia soothed the spooked redhead. “Unless what’s lurking around here is some master of stealth, I’ll hear it. Besides, whatever we’re going to face is, like, three times weaker than us. We’ll be…”

Aeolia suddenly spun, turning upward as a dark, lithe creature dropped from a branch above them. Green wind whipped around her glaive for a second before Aeolia sharply swung her weapon, releasing an arc of wind. Before John could cast Observe on the descending animal, Aeolia’s attack cleanly cleaved through it.

For a second, blood and guts spilled out from the dead creature’s two halves before they vanished into nothingness, leaving behind a single off-white claw to fall in their place.

26(3) EXP Gained

“Well, that was easy,” Aeolia remarked in a deadpan as she landed on John’s shoulder. “What level was that thing?”

“No idea,” John answered, walking towards the sole drop. “You killed it too quickly. Maybe this can give us some info.”

“I didn’t think it’d die like that,” Aeolia defended herself.

“You are at least ten levels stronger than it,” Vivian pointed out.

“I guess,” Aeolia admitted. “Might have to sit this out unless things get hairy. No point if I can just one shot everything.”

“I still get experience, but you’re right,” John said, picking up the claw. “I need to get better with my weapons and Evocations.”

Sturdy: This item loses durability 50% slower.

“Tavaren, huh?” John muttered. “Either of you know what that is?”

“No,” the girls chorused.

Vivian adopted a pensive look before she added, “It’s likely some creature native to a Kingdom.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, stowing the claw. “Hopefully we’ll run into another, just to get a better look at one.”

“I’ll keep an eye upward,” Aeolia said, flying back into the air.

Prepared and on guard, they set off again. It didn’t take long before Aeolia landed on Vivian’s shoulder, glaive pointed at a torn branch sitting on the ground.

“I don’t like the look of that,” she declared seriously. “Look at the end.”

John and Vivian followed Aeolia’s gaze and glaive and saw that the end of the branch hadn’t simply been snapped off, but looked like it had been gnawed off. Through the slowly wilting leaves, they could make out a shallow pit.

“I’m going to blow it back,” Aeolia informed them. “It’ll be a little stronger than a gust so be ready to attack.”

John nodded and swapped Senka for his greatsword while Vivian took a step back.

“I’ll be ready to blind whatever might be under there,” the redhead said. Battleplan set, Aeolia flew into the air, and with a spin of her weapon, conjured a stiff wind that raced along the forest floor. The sudden gust knocked the branch into the air and the creature hiding beneath it let out a growl as it sprang out, defiant against their defacement of its hiding spot.

John dismissed the quick Observe and focused on the beast. Its meter long body was tense and close to the ground, claws extending from its paws. Threatening growls sounded from behind barred fangs and John caught the impression it was waiting for them to move first before going in for an attack.

“Blind it,” he hissed at Vivian, and the redhead obliged, concentrating the surrounding light into the tavaren’s eyes. The sudden increase of light caused the tavaren to flinch and John surged forward, hefting his sword above his head before bringing it down on the stunned predator.

Even blinded, the tavaren reacted to John’s heavy footfalls and lunged towards him, guided only by its ears. As such, it couldn’t react to John's downward swing. The wooden blade slammed into the leaping beast’s back with a crunch before it could get close to John.

40 DMG

The tavaren let out a pained cry and John reeled back. The tavaren pushed itself back to its feet shakily, but before it could recover, John brought his blade down again.

37 DMG

The tavaren let out one final hiss of pain before it faded away, leaving another claw.

38(4) EXP Gained

“So I can two shot a level five,” John said as he collected the drop. “And I figure the one from before was weaker since I got less experience from it.”

“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about in here,” Aeolia surmised. “A level six can’t be too much more to deal with. I say we clear a few rounds just to gauge how useful this mode will be in training. Maybe switch the setting to see what some of the others can give.”

John nodded then flinched as pain suddenly lanced through his brain and his mana pulsed slightly. It faded quickly but it got Vivian and Aoelia to look at him concerned.

“You okay?” Vivian quickly asked.

“Yeah,” John replied. “Just a random headache.”

Vivian didn’t look too convinced and continued her inquiry, “Did it feel like your mana was being affected?”

Vivian’s dire tone caused John’s gut to sink. Before he could answer, a second stinging headache, worse than the first, shot through his temple. His mana fluctuated wildly, a sensation not unlike nausea as it roiled within him.

New Quest: Unexpected Visitor
Your Barrier has been invaded. Friend or foe, your actions may still decide that. Seek out this guest and see which way the wind blows. Fight with them or alongside them?
Quest will update when that question is answered.