Draith
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Chapter 17 - Never Kick The Monster
🕑 Added 2025-02-25 01:00:04 +0000 UTCThe next morning, we introduced a new element to our routine. Or, more accurately, we reintroduced one. It was time to get back to practicing with our blasting rods.
It was a great day for it, since the rain was heavy, everyone was shivering and I could barely make out my nose on my face.
Books was standing at the exit to the lower decks, scrunching his nose up as if the sky itself had offended him, water slipping down his chin.
Yep, absolutely perfect.
"No matter your affinities, this is going to remain your most effective source of damage until you reach Astral-soul," Nexxa said, her pure presence seeming to push back the rain, though I was pretty sure she was just using a spell.
The way Books was studying the gap between her and the rain, I was half-certain he’d snap and demand to be shown her book. Instead, he retreated below deck the second Nexxa hefted her rod.
Swinging it in exaggerated circles until he disappeared, she stopped with a grin on her face before aiming it over the side of the ship.
Pretty sure the left side was port, so that meant she was pointing it off starboard? Not that it mattered, none of the sailors used the nautical terms I was used to. At least, not on the ship we were on. Still, the thought helped distract me from the cold.
Calbern took his place beside her, his rod primed and aimed over the side, the rain seeming to slough off his perfect attire. I wasn’t sure if it was the way he held himself, or some enchantment on his clothes. Either way, I was regretting not pulling out the all weather gear we’d purchased for our journey along the high-road. Maybe Books had thought the same.
"We're going to work on your accuracy with moving targets. I'm going to create balls of lightning, and you're going to knock them out of the sky," Nexxa said, creating half a dozen balls with a wave of her hand. "Once you can hit half your shots, I'll have them start shooting back."
I glanced at the little balls of electricity, crackling every time a raindrop hit them. It seemed like a stretch that such a small object would be able to hit us on the ship, but then again, Nexxa was Pegasus. If she said she could do it, I believed her.
“Perry, why are you all wet?” Nexxa asked as I was lining up my first shot. Before I could respond, she’d already cast a spell on me. My clothes immediately poofed up as warm air blasted me. After a few seconds, my clothes settled, though the warm air continued flowing over me. “Next time, say something. Don’t just suffer.”
“Right,” I said, raising my rod and spinning it once more. “And thanks. ‘Preciate it.”
“No problem. Now get shooting, slacker,” Nexxa said, slapping me on the back.
The hour of practice proved I wouldn't be worrying about the targets shooting me back, at least not that day. None of my petals even came close. On the other hand, Calbern had been shocked once. Then he’d managed to dodge the next several shots. I almost regretted not purchasing extra rods. His accuracy would’ve made it worth it, and his inability to charge them himself meant an extra rod was extra ammunition. There was a thought. Could I design a blasting rod that had a replaceable flower pod?
I'd have to study the books in my storage once I got Memory Palace. With how hard Nexxa was pushing me, it was feeling more like a matter of months instead of the years I'd originally envisioned.
Once practice with the rods was completed, Nexxa and I went back to working my impressions, though now I was cycling between Storage Access and Minor Heal, which helped keep the headache down. We also split up our lessons with Books, so he could instruct us in the middle of the day as well as the evenings. It was enough that by the end of our third day up river, despite stopping to swap in Scroll Review instead of Storage Access so I could build up my arcane affinity, I was a little over halfway to having my third slot unlocked.
Of course, Books chose that evening to give us a material lesson on our upcoming domains.
“Food,” he said, holding up the stew that’d been made for dinner that evening. “Most mages take it for granted. With a spell or two, even a Mage-soul has little trouble hunting down a wild animal every month. It’s even easier for those of us with Nature affinity. We can turn a barren wasteland into a garden of Elinder with ease. Mortals don’t have either luxury.”
I fought off the urge to roll my eyes, though Nexxa didn’t bother. This was something we’d both gone over in detail already.
“So, why then don’t we simply magic their food into existence?” Books asked, setting the bowl down and casting a spell I didn’t recognize on it. The bowl warbled slightly, almost seeming to stretch. A second later, there were two bowls. Another second and there were four. Then eight.
“I want that spell,” I said, looking up at Books.
“Are you prepared to trade me three second order spells for it?” he asked, picking up one of the bowls he’d copied.
“Done,” I said, not even having to think about it.
Books stared at me for several seconds, the bowl of stew hanging loose in his hands as he narrowed his eyes. Then he shook his head. “I cannot in good conscience trade spells with someone so naive. Perhaps in a few years, once you can actually cast Tremendous Feast, we can revisit the subject.”
“Can I at least look at it?” I tried.
“Look at my grimoire? I think not,” Books said, shaking his head. “Now, as I have already hinted, this is no ordinary second order spell. It pushes the limits for what a second order may accomplish, and it does so at a tremendous mana cost. I have provided enough food for seven people to dine tonight. In exchange, I’ve expended seven second order slots worth of mana.”
Nexxa whistled, and even I was surprised. Though likely not how he figured. If he could do this with food, could I use it to duplicate seeds? “What counts as a valid target for the spell?”
“Organic materials,” he said, tapping the rim of the bowl. “Though it doesn’t work with everything. It can also overcook copied dishes on occasion. Despite that, the important thing to note… how much more could be done with that mana if we used it to improve our domain instead?”
“Depends on our spells,” I replied immediately. “Better roads, ditches, wards. All depends on what we know.”
“Exactly,” he said, practically jabbing his finger in my face. “When we aren’t improving ourselves, our efforts are best spent on infrastructure. It takes us far less effort to create a bridge than it would for mortals. And Earth Catalysts are common enough, I hope you each have one.”
“Course,” Nexxa replied, pulling a heavy bowl out of her dimensional storage and setting it in front of her. “Even I know roads are important.”
“You have missed the point once more,” Books said, shaking his head. “Perth?”
“Our folk can build roads themselves? We should concentrate on bridges?” I asked, glancing towards Nexxa, who was squinting.
“Precisely,” Books confirmed with the ghost of a smile. “Now, this is a list of important infrastructure I prefer to focus on. Obviously it’ll be different depending on your needs, and it’s hardly comprehensive, but I hope it gets the point across.”
Accepting the list, I rubbed at my head. Not only had he listed things out, he’d provided illustrations beside each one. Some of his suggestions I’d expected, like the aforementioned bridge or the cistern. But he also had a design for a passive water pump that I was pretty sure would’ve been next to impossible to design on Earth.
“Is this a… I don’t even know what this is,” I said, pointing at a sketch of what I was pretty sure was a pineapple.
“That is a spikefruit. It grows on trees close to the capital,” Books explained after looking at the drawing. “And the point is that you should have spells that allow you to quickly grow fruit bearing trees. A day’s worth of mana is enough for even you to bring one to age.”
“More fruit trees,” Nexxa grunted, though I saw her taking notes on her own list. “Feels like home.”
I nodded, rubbing at my head as Books called an end to the lesson for the night.
The fourth day our practice with the blasting rods managed to draw some unfriendly wildlife. A creature with dark gray skin, wide wings and a roar that shook me to my bones soared low across the river.
That was as much as I got to see of it because a crack split the air as a bolt of lightning arced upwards before switching directions and smashing the creature into the river.
It surfaced a minute later, already past us downstream. Nexxa flew out, causing the waves to toss and turn as she approached it. Then those same waves changed direction, hauling the monster back to the boat, revealing it had been a rather famous tier two monster.
"Are wyverns common this close to the capital?" Nexxa asked the captain, a woman who looked softer than she was.
She seemed soft and pudgy, but I’d seen her scale fifty feet of rope rigging in less than five seconds. I’d also seen her wrestling with one of her crew, who had two full heads on her. He’d pounded the boards so hard to get her to let him free, I thought we’d hit rapids. "Not too much. Times are they'll come off the high peaks if grub's scarce or they have a bad knock on with their neighbors."
It took me a second to parse her sentence, and from the look on Nexxa's face, I wasn't alone.
"Got it. This thing's valuable, right?" Nexxa asked, prodding it with her foot, then dancing back when something made a very loud squishing sound.
"Aye. Lotsa essence. Good fangs. It'll go for a couple thousand Waves, easy as sinking," the captain replied, waving to a pair of sailors who’d been standing around gawking, but hustled over at the wave.
Nexxa looked over at Calbern, who said, "Waves are the local equivalent to a Thorn. They’re about ten percent more in weight, and worth more in the local domains since they have the backing of highking Althon."
"Give me half that upfront and it's yours, as long as you do the harvesting," Nexxa said, turning to the captain.
"A quarter," the captain countered, drawing herself up straight to meet Nexxa's gaze.
"Done," Nexxa said, waving at Calbern. "He'll make sure it's fair."
Calbern arched an eyebrow, looking towards me and I shook my head. "If you'd be so kind, Calbern."
He nodded, joining the captain as I walked over to join Nexxa, who was flicking her foot against the railing to get bits of wyvern off her boot.
"Never kick the monster once it's dead," Nexxa offered, kicking her foot against the railing once more.
"Ah. Sage advice from the prodigy," I said, nodding along as I leaned against the railing. "You know, there are spells for that."
Nexxa stopped kicking her foot for a moment, squinting at me. "That's the dumbest thing you've said all week."
I chuckled as I looked back at where the sailors were hacking into the wyvern corpse. "I can top it."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, let's see if we can unlock my third slot today."
"You're right. That is dumb. You know we will," Nexxa said, her boot forgotten as she laid her hand on mine and brought me up to full charge.
I grinned, even as I brought my mana to empty. My headache began to mount to the sound of sailors butchering the wyvern behind us.
To my surprise, we didn’t get my third slot that day.
In the morning, we once again attracted an uninvited guest. The next beast to attack was a super sized bat. Instead of zapping it immediately, Nexxa had Calbern and I practice shooting a fast moving target.
I clipped it once by the time Calbern had nailed it in the head with three separate bolts. That was enough to send it crashing into the treeline on the shore.
Nexxa brought it back, and sold it to the captain for another two hundred and fifty golden waves, which she gave to Calbern.
"Lady Nexxa, I can't accept. You gave me this rod to protect master Perth. If anything, the money should go to him."
"Hey, if you want me to hold it for you, no problem," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "But that was your kill. I barely singed its fur. And you know the Hunter's code when it comes to kills."
"Ah ha, but I'm not a Hunter," Calbern replied.
"Don't matter none," the captain interjected. "These two got it to rights. It's your kill. Would be dishonorable to deny your prize, it would."
"I suppose I have no choice," Calbern said with a grimace.
"There you go. Was that so hard?" Nexxa asked while clapping Calbern on the shoulder. The withering stare he sent her was enough for her to rapidly withdraw her hand. "I'm just gonna go polish the mast. Or something."
I snickered as she marched away, watching as Calbern collected his golden Waves from the captain, then storing it away for him when he approached.
"Guess I'm taking a break," I said, looking over to where Nexxa was thoroughly studying the central mast. I couldn't help but wonder if she was going to follow through.
"My apologies, master Perth. Next time, I shall allow you or Lady Nexxa to down the beast.”
"Bugs you that much, huh?"
"What am I going to do with that much money, master Perth? No, it would be better if you were to use it to further secure your domain," Calbern said, giving the slightest shake of his head.
"You know, there's nothing saying you can't use it the same way. Not that we'll have much to spend it on at first anyway," I said watching as Nexxa gave up her inspection of the mast before meandering to the front of the ship.
When Calbern didn't respond immediately, I looked over to find him leaning on the railing, his brow furrowed as he looked into the distance. Instead of prodding him, I joined in, setting my arms alongside.
We remained like that for several minutes, Calbern's face shifting slightly every minute or so, until he gave a decisive nod. "You are correct, master Perth."
"Glad we had this talk," I said, squeezing his shoulder. "Now, I should probably get back to spell practice before Nexxa gets bored and blows a hole through the ship."
"That might be for the best," Calbern agreed, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards.
After approaching Nexxa, we quickly fell back into stress casting my spells. Only a day later than planned, we unlocked my third slot as the sun stained the water crimson with its evening rays.
"How did you even come up with this process?" I asked as we took a break over dinner, a surprisingly robust stew with nearly enough spice to be delicious. "I can't imagine you had someone sitting there, refilling your mana constantly."
"It wasn't as fast for me, for one," Nexxa said, waving her fork around. "When I started out I used a modified version of Mana Draw. It only works on nature attuned mana, and converts it directly into storm, but I got the efficiency a smidge over eighty percent."
"That's… that's incredible. I don't suppose you'd let me study your work? Do you have your research notes? What can you tell me about the process? How did you narrow the Draw to a single affinity?"
"Surprised it took you so long to ask to see my grimoire."
The questions that had been mounting slowed at her comment. Why hadn't I asked to see her spells?
On reflection, I realized, I'd assumed she had the same spells I could find in the family library. Despite my plans to create my own spells, it had never occurred to me that Nexxa might've done the same. Or that she'd might've acquired spells elsewhere.
Oh well. No use crying over spilled oil.
"So, can I? Look through your grimoire, I mean?"
Nexxa tapped her chin with her fork, and despite having just asked a favor of her, I reached over and snagged it.
She laughed at me, shaking her head. "I suppose I'll allow it, though I'm gonna be watching you."
"No funny business. I promise," I said, holding up my hand as if swearing an oath.
"You're goddess damned right."
