[Chapter 8 - Alea Iacta Est : The Die Has Been Cast Pt.1]
After using [Fireball] I fired off the rest of my skills one after another as my mother watched, not once breaking eye contact. After I finished I looked over at her and received a small nod.
"Amazing Elly. Most mages get 2 or 3 of the base element classes though 4 is not too uncommon. 5 is rarer but that's not what fascinates me most. You have full compatibility with all of them which means you have the possibility to acquire unique skills in all."
I looked at her with slight confusion. Patron had explained skills and the term of unique eligible but he never mentioned this
"How do you know?"
"While it is technically not a confirmed fact, the truth is all mages who have been able to acquire unique skills have had their first skill be an offensive skill in contrast to a defense or enchantment skill. Thus the term of compatibility arose to differentiate between base classes that did or did not have the potential for unique skills. If any did have that potential that would typically be the go class of focus but since that doesn't apply here the task falls on you. We have a 1 day ride East from here until we reach the outskirts of the mana zone which I will explain along the way. As I do I want you to think about which base element you want to focus on at least for the time being. I will ask for your answer when we arrive, now let's go."
She began to make her way back to the horses. At home mother was always a loose and easy going person that seemed to radiate a kind aura, but out here she's different. It's like when she put on her gear she became a battle veteran with absolute focus and concentration at all times. Though it made her come off somewhat callus I thought she was kinda cool.
I thought that as I followed behind her eventually reaching my horse where I once again somewhat struggled to mount. A click from my mothers tongue echoed and the horses began to walk towards the East. It was a cluster of oranges and yellows from the leaves of the trees just like the one in the west by the estate. Soon my mother began to speak
"Long ago the Silver continent was very different. It was an unstable land plagued by strong violent creatures as well as the Drow."
"The Drow?" I replied
"Yes, also known as Dark Elves. They were an artificial species created by The Black Lotus, a calamity that was said to be born from the source of black magic. It possessed a unique skill that allowed it to corrupt the living things around it. This corruption changed flora and fauna alike, even the elves. Almost the entire continent was lost before an unnamed hero said to be loved by the gods came and defeated The black lotus. The hero then used their remaining power for a skill that purified the corruption. The once unstable and tainted land was now overflowing with mana. The place the skill was used is said to be where the Elven Capital was built on. However, the fight against The Black Lotus had drained the hero significantly and they weren't strong enough to purify the continent entirely. As a result a two notable manazones remained."
"So the hero turned the bad mana that once infected the land into good mana?"
"Essentially" she replied "Everything in this world has mana, even the earth beneath us. It is the essence of life and allows plants and animals to grow and thrive. When the Lotus poured black magic into everything through their corruption skill it caused the continent's mana to rise as well as become tainted and thus unstable. The amount of mana any one place has varies but when that mana becomes unstable a unique phenomenon called crystallization occurs. Mana compresses itself into gem-like stones that act as the souls for mana beasts such as undead, goblins and other creatures. In rare instances a large gem called a core will be formed. For now focus on the former. We will ride to the outskirts of the mana zone where we will raise camp. For the remainder of our 1 month trip during the day we will repeatedly venture into the mana zone and engage the various creatures for your training. By doing this you can gain experience and progress the skills of whatever class you decide on."
"Understood"
"Very Good" my mother said. After that we continued our journey quietly with the occasional rise of random small talk.
Eventually we arrived at the edges of a large river that seemed to cut the land. Where we stood was a mostly open riverbank with trees scattered behind us, on the other apparead to be the exact same.
"Always be on guard. Just on the other side of the trees across this river is the mana zone. It is not impossible or unlikely that creatures will cross through the trees onto the riverbank. What class have you decided on?"
"Water mage" I spoke firmly
She nodded "Very good. Make it your main class and the ring should be your second. You gain Exp relative to what skill you are using. When using skills from your main class you will gain more exp in contrast to skills from your subclass. So you will typically want your main class to be your most offensive."
I confirmed my understanding before concentrating on my skills. As I did my status appeared. I guess I really didn't have to directly use appraise. As I stared at the text with the intent to do as my mother instructed it seemingly happened on its own.
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Name: Elwen Vinswain
Race: ?!?!/High Elf
Mana: 900/1000
Ki: 100%
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Exp: 0
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Current Class: [Water Mage]
Sub Class: [Hand of the Trickster]
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Effects: N/A
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Titles:
[Freyja's Patron]
[Elven Noble]
[Vinswain]
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While I stared at the text I couldn't help but be in slight awe. It seems that system management is controlled subconsciously. As long as you can maintain concentration you can navigate through it seamlessly. Though this concentration was quickly lost when I felt my mother swat my arm. As the text vanished in a surprised tone I began to cry out
"W-wha what was tha-" my mothers hand quickly covered my mouth as she swiftly lowered us both to the ground.
"Across the river, look." with her hand still on my mouth and her body slightly pinning me I lifted my head and when I did they game into vision.
It was two creatures that stood around 3 ft tall. One held a wooden stick that had been shaped into a club and the other had a rusty and beaten dagger. Their ears were long and pointed with a rough texture like the rest of their green skin.
"Goblins" she said as she removed her hand and pin before crouching beside me as I raised to do the same. "They seem to just be grunts wandering around, engage them." I nodded my head and began to raise my hand as a wand formed while slowly making my way to the bank.
"Water Sphere" I spoke quietly as a small floating orb of water formed at the end of my wand. It was the size of a baseball and had flawlessly smooth edges. I pointed it at the goblin with a club as he trailed behind the one holding a dagger. The sphere went flying towards the goblin before slamming into a tree behind him. The orb made a loud slam and crash as it cratered the wood still holding shape. The goblins quickly turned to face me as they let out a horrific shriek and charged me. I felt panic wash over me as I quickly raised the wand and tilted it up causing the orb to remove itself from the tree and hover in the air. I slashed the air down with my wand causing the orb to fly at the club goblin from behind. As it went flying another huge crash as dirt and dust went flying. Along with that a shrill scream could be heard.
"I did it" I quickly lifted my wand once more to send the orb at the other goblin whom I'd lost sight of in the explosion of dirt. As the dust quickly dissipated I saw the goblin with a dagger picking himself up. Beside him lay the club goblin. His mouth and nose dripped blood as he lay dead on the ground. His back was blown apart from the orb as his mangled flesh and ribs lay scattered around him in a bloody mess.
My heart stopped. Everything stopped. I dropped my wand causing both it and the orb to vanish as I stumbled falling backwards. The other goblin had begun advancing and was nearly to the edge of the river but I couldn't move. I couldn't look away from the corpse of the goblin. What was I thinking? I had never seen anything be killed let alone killed something. Why did I ever think I could do this?!?!
As my mind was running rampant and my body had been paralyzed from shock the dagger goblin had cleared the distance.
"KYEH" it lunged at me with the dagger overhead but I couldn't react, I couldn't move.
"FLASH STEP" a trail of light appeared in front of me as the goblins head fell from it's still airborne body and landed in front of me with a small roll and splatter of blood. The body fell to the ground soon after making a thud as it folded onto itself. As I lifted my head my mother stood above me. In her hand was a great sword made of light that slowly vanished revealing just her wand in hand. I wanted to thank her, to cry , to scream, but before I could do any of them I felt my stomach twist.
"BLGHGHG" I lazily leaned over and began projectile vomiting through my mouth and nose.