Chapter 32: Elemental Match Ups

Eli POV

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Ice flooded my veins. This was a sensation I had become all too familiar with over my life. The most effective way to kill bandits wasn't to run in screaming or to charge blindly but methodical extermination. Like a snake delivering its deadly venom in measured, deliberate strikes.

I took aim and fired my cannon which tore into the group trying to sneak up the road. The molten stone slammed through the body of one of the bandits like butter, melting his lungs and throat before he could even scream. Two of his companions caught fire from the stray drops of lava. Before the other four could react I used my helmets scream to incapacitate them as I pulverized them with two more shots of lava.

Taking in the battlefield from here I saw more bandits coming through the woods and the occasional spell going off. Not nearly as many as there should have been. Looking at the various fights I saw the few casters who managed to get out of their tents were struggling to conjure their spells as they fought the bandits. The minders were trying their best but it was complete chaos and they were too scattered to form any cohesive strategy.

Thankfully, the dead appeared to be made up entirely of the bandits, their shoddy armor providing little protection while their weapons couldn't penetrate the wealthy caster students' expensive armor. I saw one student getting swarmed by 4 of them. My hand cannon took them out with ease, allowing her to get back up and kill the last one who had been rolling around in the dirt in pain as his face burned. I saw the walking mountain of hastily summoned rock armor that was Ryan charge to the front of the fight and push back several of the enemies in a single swing of a stone club.

"Well first things first," I said to no one.

I zipped through between the trees as I laid my mines on three-wide boulders and the large branch I sat on. When I set them off the entire section of forest, except for the trees right by the camp, caught flame as thousands of small droplets turned the surrounding air so hot it boiled the moisture in the trees. And the bandits. The screams of pain intensified as even the ones who didn't get caught directly in the deadly mist were boiled alive.

It's the little things in life like this that make it all worthwhile.

Any momentum the bandits may have had ground to a halt as their backs were put up against a wall of flames and their front had the fully roused fighting force of the camp. I saw Shelby use one of her wood trinkets to launch a rock clear through one bandit's eye, as the larger man from before cut one of them down the stomach who he then left to clutch at his spilling innards.

Of course, I kept my self wrapped up in my bubble this whole time and just launched the occasional lava missile anytime the bandits tried to organize or looked like they were about to kill someone. The fight was over in barely 5 minutes after that, at which point I collected my disks and re-attached them to my staff. Veronica and some other water casters were putting out the fire I had started as the others went around finishing the various bandits who were dying and pleading for their lives as they were killed.

"That was mighty reckless, kid. Do you know what would have happened if that blaze had gotten out of control?" The large man asked me as I got down from the tree to help with taking out the trash.

"The bandits didn't have any water mages while we do. If we have the ability to deal with fires far more easily than they do, then what's the point of having that capability when we don't use it." I responded evenly.

He gave a light laugh, his dark tan skin glistening from his night of bloody work.

"I was hoping you were just being hot-headed and I could explain why you did the right thing for the wrong reason. But apparently you knew what you were doing. I'll make sure you get full marks once we get back home." He said, his deep voice showing the first bit of joy I had heard all night, from someone besides myself. I nodded then was about to head back to my tent when a duo of women blocked my path. There were two things that stood out: one was that they were both crafters like myself. The other was how quickly they pressed against me.

"Um, shouldn't he stay here? In case they come back." One brown-haired girl said.

"Yes, we'll need a quick, strong man like you. You managed to get up and turn the tide of the fight when most of us were barely out of our tents." the other cute blond said pleadingly. They both looked at me with some desperation in their eyes.

"I'm sure that if they come back you can just use those pretty faces to ask if they'll fall on their swords. Which I'm sure they will be all too happy to do when you bash those long eyelashes at them." I said teasingly.

The women pouted at that, but I could tell they enjoyed the barbed compliments.

A woman with a long scar across her forehead laughed as she held her hands to her stomach under her white shirt. Her long fur boots, small shield, and short sword all swayed with her motion.

"Damn men, always trying to make us blush even in situations as dire as this. But, he isn't the only one here who did good work. Ryan, you lead the charge like a champ." The muscular brown-haired woman said.

Ryan bowed his head humbly as he took the compliment.

"It was nothing ma'am." He said, clearly trying to tamp down his tone of pride.

"All right people, the good news is that we thankfully had no deaths. It seems the caster's side was the one attacked and your better equipment spared us from any grave digging. Their ambush was also discovered by one of the guild members before they got to the tents.

The bad news is some people were a hair's breadth from death, frankly their not much farther from it now, and that will weigh us down as we make our way from here. So, consider the exercise canceled as we minders are taking over again. Any chance of sleep tonight is gone so let's just pack our shit and head on out." The large man loudly so everyone could hear..

He then headed out past Andrew who was driving his sword through a bandits skull and came up to the carriages. He pressed the carriages lamps on their rooftops as he went down the line. A soft glow pushed back the night as the horses were calmed. They must have been well trained because none of them ran off in the fight.

He then took out a birdcage and loosed a hawk after tying a message to its leg. Everything else seemed fine except for a few crates that got smashed and their contents were either destroyed or haphazardly put back into their respective crates. Everyone in the camp got packed up and we were moving out in a few minutes.

We even made decent time, if my rough estimation of the landscape markers and the distance between them was anything to go by. Unfortunately, my traveling companions were actually more unbearable this time around. I couldn't figure out why they had gotten so much worse, but it appears even Shelby had run out of patience with their dramatic sighs and bitchy sniping at me. Finally, she snapped when Desmond gave a particularly loud sigh when I leaned out the window.

"Oh, you poor men. Couldn't risk your skin for those beautiful girls but you get nasty when Eli does the job and gets their attention because of his abilities. John's the only one who made decent time getting to the fight, but you other two didn't even get out of your tents. You're not completely hopeless, but I swear if I hear one more little moan out of you lot I am going to make sure you receive the lowest possible marks." Shelby snarled at them.

Thankfully the rest of the day passed in silence, both during the day and at night. When the third day came I got an odd request from the large man when we were getting ready to get moving after the break to stretch our legs. Apparently all the scions were going to ride in a single carriage and wanted me to ride with them. Desmond and Raymond went beet red that I would merit such an invite but they didn't.

"The scions want him? He's a crafter. How could they want someone so inferior to even us?" Desmond demanded, his plate armor clanking as he shook in outrage. He then made a move to get out his sword but the large man just struck him in the jaw. A tooth and Desmond's head slammed against the carriages' wood wall as Desmond lay there unconscious. Raymond and John just sat there stunned. Shelby looked over worriedly to the big man.

He got a sickly look on his face like he just realized he had stepped over a cliff. But he just coughed and swallowed his spit.

"Yes, they do want him." He said before he stalked off.

Frankly, I had enough of their petty bullshit and veiled murder attempts so I accepted. I made my way to the lead carriage and inside were Veronica, Andrew, and Ryan. I sat in the empty spot by the ruby red plate armor that was Andrew and closed the door behind me. The brown mountain of earth looking steel known as Ryan sat opposite to me.

"I was told you needed me for something?" I asked the group as the carriage started moving.

"We want you to make some items for us," Veronica said, more timidly than I had ever heard her.

"After that bandit raid, we don't want to take any chances and your the best we've seen."

I thought about it for a moment and decided that having the academy's top students in my debt was probably the only way I would ever keep the aggrieved parents off of my back."Sure, have any items, in particular, you want made? Or maybe special ones that would help compensate for any of your weaknesses?"

They all nodded at the latter.

"What makes my items so effective is that they are generally centered around the users' abilities and preferences. How do the fights between mages play out? I didn't get a long enough view during the trials that I would stake your lives on my observations."I asked

The boys turned to Veronica as she gave a slight cough with a fist over her mouth.

"All things being equal, water will win against fire." I saw Andrew look out the window unhappily at this so it must have been true.

"Oh don't pout, it is what it is," Veronica said before getting back on track.

"Earth will crush wind because short of the most monstrous winds as they have no means of hurting them. But the others are more tactically advantaged. Fire will cook the slower earth user inside whatever defense they can summon and earth users are always too slow to dodge their attacks. While the water user is typically more nimble than fire or earth, this advantage evaporates against the faster speeds of the wind user. Also, their wind spells make any sort of long-range attacks nearly impossible as their spells are far more effective at veering ours off course than the other elements."

I hummed and thought it over for a little bit.

"First thing: Ryan is definitely getting some of my wind boosters," I said

"Speed isn't really our thing" Ryan objected.

"Speed is both defense and offense. All defenses have holes that can be exploited, you need to be able to move and adapt to the situation." I asserted. Ryan relented and nodded in agreement.

"All right, but I want one of those fire hammers," Ryan said, which I accepted with a nod. Then I turned towards Andrew

"You seemed to do well in the bandit raid, it's just water that's your biggest obstacle. Fortunately, fire can overcome water. It just needs some work." I said.

Andrew looked hesitant, like he was interested but conflicted about where this information was coming from. But eventually, he nodded and put his hands over his helm waiting for me to explain further.

"Oh, 5 minutes in and your already rendering my element obsolete?" Veronica pouted, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Every problem has a solution, even the magical ones Veronica. Andrew, your problem in the trials was you kept going for the larger sprays of fire. Even in the bandit raid you couldn't really use your abilities as you would have cooked the people you were trying to help. You need to go for more concentrated blasts." I stuck out my arm and motioned over my wrist.

"A device with a round hollow circle around on your arm should do the trick. It will absorb your fire spells when activated, mixing them with a small amount of earth for added heft, which will condense them all down into a single beam that should give you more precise fire attacks and allow you to pierce any water wave or wall. Although we may need to work on a design so that it won't be burned from you using it."

"But won't the water cool it down just the same?" Andrew asked.

"A little, but by condensing the area of your fire spell it lowers the heat loss to the water," I replied.

Andrew looked a little lost so I tried to come up with an explanation for thermodynamics and heat dissipation that he would grasp.

"Its similar to why getting stabbed with a dagger is more dangerous than getting slapped with a wooden board," I said unsurely.

"Oh, because all of its killing power is in the tip and more easily gets past clothing. Or in this case water." Andrew said, to which I nodded in agreement.

Veronica huffed and we both turned to look at her.

"Don't mind me. Just sitting here watching the advantages of my entire element as they fly into the trash." She said ruefully.

"All right, let me think. Your problem doesn't have such an obvious solution." I said as I thought about it for a few minutes when an idea struck me.

"Can you hold the shape of a bubble with an empty center? So that it will only release its contents after it touches something or when you want it to explode?" I asked.

"Sure, why?" Veronica said as she cocked an eyebrow at this.

"The main problem in the fight is just getting the wind users wet right?" I asked, to which Veronica nodded in agreement.

"Yes, once we get them wet we can use magic to pull them down if they don't dry themselves off." She said.

"So we can have a device that makes bubbles that you can fill with a large amount of mana with your spells to take the air mages fuel for their spells or maybe we can fill them with a timed spell to launch at the enemy. We will have to experiment to see what works." I said as I leaned back in my chair. The others looked impressed and a silent conversation took place as they made faces and hand gestures. I decided to let them come to whatever decision they were making.

"So what are you going to want in compensation for this work?" Veronica asked.

"I would like to keep the damn mob off my back more than anything right now. The parents are fighting in the streets over finding who made my items and I can only imagine what's going to happen when I get back, to say nothing of the caster students." I said. They all shared a look that I would call....dubious at that. So I wasn't expecting them to be able to help me. But Ryan surprisingly came through.

"I have a few friends who can help with that. I'll make sure the parents won't be bothering you, but it will take some time." Ryan said gracefully. I thanked him while Andrew just looked confused as he looked Ryan up and down.

When we arrived at the academy the wounded were rushed to the infirmary while some parents stopped to check on their children. I got out and helped move a few on stretchers into the equivalent of a hospital at the carriage station. Its entrance was to the carriage stations right with a wide double door on the ground level. The building had thick wood walls and white smooth stone floors.

When I was coming through with one particularly bad case, one of the nurses stopped me. Then the three scions went ahead and the casters who could walk soon followed.

"Hey, what gives? She has a leg that's pretty torn up." I said as I gestured towards the woman I and another man were helping move into the building.

"Sorry, Scions and casters have to be checked for injuries first." She said.

"Injuries? Some of them were laughing with their friends when they went in" I said, trying not to yell. As I did I saw that the woman I was helping move was actually the first crafter I was bringing in.

"Rules are rules, kid." She said indifferently then went off into the building to look over one caster who had skinned her knee. I just stood there dumbfounded for a second before I gingerly sat the poor woman down and waited for this ridiculous bullshit to be done. I had a moment where I considered healing her myself but that foolish notion was quickly discarded. Finally, after every scrape and bruise had been checked, the crafters were looked at.

Eventually, everyone got treated and I was moved to help deliver some of the goods. One of the crates had been crushed, with all of its contents mashed together. It had a V burned into the side with the manifest saying it was tea. But when I looked into the contents I saw some odd plants mixed with the tea leaves that looked like celery with yellow edges.

After dropping it off in the designated loading zone I walked to my house as I waved my fellow workers goodbye. The sun was getting low in the sky and I wanted to get home before the sunlight lost its purchase. As I came up to the docks I saw my maid waiting out by my warehouse/home. She had a green dress and brown shoes which were her typical attire. When she saw me she rushed up and hugged me.

"I was so worried. A message came through saying the students' group was attacked. But we didn't get any more information besides that." She said through the spirit magic as she hugged me. I had to admit it was nice to have someone worry about me, so I hugged her back.

During my stay here I hadn't had any real conversations that weren't crafting or information gathering related, aside from that one in Veronica's carriage on the way to the trials. Crafting was very enjoyable but there was more to life. I wanted some regular company that wasn't just some business exchange and since online chat rooms weren't a thing here my chances for those human interactions were feeling slim. The discomfort of looking at someone's face was still there and while I hadn't let that strain show, it ate at me whenever I was in a crowd or in the cafeteria. So many people walking around exposed like that was just obscene.

But I had begun to notice that I don't get this feeling when I talked with Salamede. Maybe it was her more goat-like features or our verbal repertoire. Without even knowing it somewhere along the way I had started to grow more comfortable around her than most of my own kind.

"I'm fine, just a few bandits. Nothing we couldn't handle." I said like it was no big deal as we made our way inside to go over the events of my journey.

We sat on the stone lisp by the water and just stared at the back and forth waves of the water until the tell-tale sensation of spirit magic touched my skin.

"So what happened?" She asked, her excitement practically buzzing through the connection.

I spent nearly half an hour going over the trip there, the size and vastness of the fortress, and then the raid with how it lead to me being picked to make the scions weapons as she sat there taking it all in with her legs crossed.

"Quite an adventure. But don't you feel bad about killing the bandits? They are still human." She asked

I looked out towards the water because I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the murderous expression off of my face.

"A disease is a disease, no matter the skin it wears," I said with as little emotion as I could manage.

She must have still sensed my hatred because she silently sat there for a long moment. Eventually, she gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"Well, I'm surprised you can still move after all that. You must have the stamina of a horse." She said.

"No, I'm just near my limit. I think I'm taking tomorrow off. Hey, how have you been?" I asked. Regaling her with my achievements was nice, but I was running out of things to say.

She gave a huff and uncrossed her legs as she dipped her feet into the water. I noticed that they were completely human and not the padded feet of a typical goat. So did that mean the goat features were only in the face?

"It's had it's ups and downs but we're getting through it just fine. Gods know my mother could walk off being attacked by a troll like it was nothing." She grumbled.

"A tough old goat," I said, not realizing the potential offense it might cause until it left my mouth.

She stopped for a second, staying completely still before she started having a light chuckle. It sounded in quick starts and stops as she tried to fight it. Then she let it out fully as she clutched her stomach in a laugh.

"Indeed, she is one tough old goat. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Have a good night, sir." She said, as she hugged me and left.