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934 Words
Luna watched the children with a bittersweet mix of emotions running through her.
They had learned most of the early lessons she wanted to teach, the hard way.
She was proud that they were growing strong and successful, but that clashed with her irritation at what would come in the following years, as she skirted and bent the rules she would need to until Matt stepped off.
If he did so at Tier 10 or 11, there would only be a little extra effort needed to get him his mana concentration potions, but she wasn’t sure that they would want to leave once they tasted fame and glory.
So many young people found that they enjoyed the overwhelming attention when they got their first lick— even she had.
It was nice to be seen and valued.
If Matt waited till Tier 14 things would get dicey.
Sighing, she brought herself into the rift and watched them try the second route to the end.
The first thing they did was deploy their disposable scouter drones to root around the island. They rose in a staggered flock and dispersed quickly through air, jerking back and forth in their haphazard flight.
Even with those precautions, the fire chicken quickly destroyed the half-dozen drones, but they were able to get a broad picture of the island.
It was enough.
Matt took the lead, and they ignored the city and the angry chicken to push through the forest.
It got unnaturally dark under the canopy of trees, but the breeze carried a touch of cold.
As expected, they met their first ghost assassins not twenty feet into the trees, but easily cut them down.
After they had fought their way through over a mile of forest, they encountered a new foe.
A series of throwing knives were launched at them from the canopy of trees. Aster and Liz managed to dodge, but Matt took a few hits on his upraised arm. While they managed to penetrate both layers of [Cracked Phantom Armor], they lost all of their kinetic energy in the process and fell harmlessly to the ground.
With ornate vambraces ready to defend another sneak attack, Matt launched a [Mana s***h] at one of the trees that the volley appeared to come from.
Before he could see the results of his attack, two more sets of throwing knives were launched from a nearby bush.
Matt cast his weaker [Fireball] at the bush and saw what looked like a living version of the shadow assassins rush forward with a curved sword.
The orcish face was visible, and its eyes were full of bloodlust, but Matt sidestepped the s***h and its follow-up energy attack. Setting himself with his Concept, he punched out and felt bone crumple, followed by a rush of essence that he funneled into [Lesser Sacrifice]. The mana was quickly drained back down to less than one percent of his max, but the boost to his cultivation was a heady feeling.
They had learned in their testing that the Tier of the sacrifice influenced the potency and duration of the boost.
To a Tier 6 cultivator, a Tier 9 monster provided a substantial buff.
Turning, Matt jumped into the fray and attacked the orcs that were assaulting his friends. Cycling a portion of his mana generation to [Mage’s Retreat], his leap covered nearly ten feet, and his first s***h bisected the monster at the hip.
Matt suddenly found his position swapped with Liz’s, and moved to attack the monster, trying to catch its thrust in his well-protected chest. Kicking out its leg, Matt stomped its head as it hit the ground, and turned to see Liz fighting what appeared to be a tiger half made of wind.
Portions of the monster were fading out of physical form and merging with the air in powerful gusts.
Thankfully, Liz had seen the ambush predator, and swapped places with him before he was mauled from behind. Now that he was free, Matt launched a [Mana s***h] at the flank of the monster while Aster froze the last of the orcs.
His attack didn’t seem to bother the monster in the slightest, as its rear half simply shifted to a gust of air, with his attack passing through the space its body had occupied.
Seeing its comrades dead, the tiger roared, and in a breeze, it vanished.
“Thanks for the save.” Matt said as he turned to inspect his surroundings.
“What I’m here for.” Liz then added, “Did you not notice it at all?”
Matt shook his head. “Not even a little. Was that a sub-boss, or a stronger normal monster?”
Aster was the one to answer. “Boss. It smelled like the others. It reeked of its element and power.”
She c****d her head and asked, “Can I eat a heart made from wind?”
She seemed quite concerned, but none of them knew.
Matt asked, “Want to try and burn down the forest?”
Liz planted her spear. “I doubt it would work.”
Matt still tried, but swirling gusts of wind suffocated the flame before it could grow and spread.
With that failure, they pushed forward, deeper into the forest. The ambushes came in bursts; nothing like the regimented patrols within the walled city but dealing with the wind tiger made up for the lesser challenge. It would start its attacks with either a silent ambush, or by waiting for them to be embroiled in a fight, then trying to slice one of them from behind.
- Writer
