OverXelous
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Chapter 16 - Wand Training
🕑 Added 2024-10-26 04:26:56 +0000 UTCAlex drove slowly down the fully paved driveway that seemed to go on for miles.
These people have to be loaded. Do they own, like, the whole mountain or something?
He’d entered a private road that turned out to be the driveway a while ago, passing through an opened metal gate that marked it as private property.
The switchbacks and fog slowed him down.
Alex was used to the city and the stress of traffic, but this was a different kind of stress.
Most of what he thought about during the drive was how excited he was to practice with the wand and imagine what kind of people would be there.
Now, though, as he rounded a bend and pulled into the driveway proper, his thoughts stopped.
Fuuuuuck.
Yep, loaded.
The house that he saw was something straight out of a movie. It was a three-story building made of sharp edges and glass. The second floor, which faced out from the mountain, was almost entirely made of glass.
Several vehicles were already parked around the side of the house, and he felt a bit self-conscious as he parked his old Nissan Sentra in the driveway next to a nice SUV.
He got out and held a mostly empty backpack in his hand as he made his way over to the side door. Before he made it there, though, someone around the back of the house called out.
“Hey! Come around back, we’re out here!” The female voice called.
He shrugged and walked in that direction, pulling his coat tighter around himself.
Why would they be out here? It’s freezing.
He turned the corner, and it made a lot more sense. There was a large, covered awning that people were under. The covered space was close to 20 meters wide and at least 30 or 40 meters long. There were tables set up at one end and a few dummies set up at the far end.
“Welcome!” The same voice as before called out and beckoned Alex over.
He pulled the strap on the backpack a bit tighter as he approached the pair that were having a conversation.
As he got closer, Alex could hear tension and some aggression in the man's voice. He hesitated a few feet away, unsure if he was intruding on something.
The woman spoke up again, signaling an end to her conversation with the taller man next to her. “How’s it going? I’m VossBoss; you can just call me Elana, though. Most people know my name at this point; don’t feel like you need to share yours if you don’t want to.”
“Nice to meet you,” Alex said to the both of them. Taking a closer look at the tall blonde man, it was clear that they were siblings. Both of them were good-looking, tall, and had hair so blonde that it was almost white. “I’m Alex,” he said as he shook her proffered hand.
The woman, Elana, was about Alex’s height, and she gave him a smile.
“Well? Are you going to deflect?” The man said ignoring Alex completely, and apparently refusing to accept the end of their previous conversation. His blue eyes were intense, and he stared at Elana.
“We can talk about this later, Rylan.” She said stiffly.
“Tsch.” He made a harsh sound and walked away without saying anything to Alex.
“Sorry about him. It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m assuming your username in The Guild is NotXela?”
Alex scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, that’s me.”
She laughed and turned her body to open up the semi circle to the rest of the people gathered.
“This is my home. I’ve started to put together some stuff to help those in The Guild train. We have a small range here. A few of the weapons you could take with you into a Rift are gathered here on the tables.” She walked forward and gestured at some of the tables that three others were gathered around.
“Feel free to ask anyone to spar or for pointers, but please don’t take things too far. We’re all just trying to get better so we can live longer in the Rifts out there. The same rules apply here, as in the app. Please don’t ask for personal information, but feel free to share as much as you’d like.”
“Wow, this is pretty amazing,” Alex said, dumbfounded.
The entire underside of the awning was lined with heaters and fans, making it clear that it would be comfortable to train here, regardless of the temperature outside.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why is this outside? Why not a building or something?”
Elana laughed. “Well, that’s the end goal, but we’ve only been putting things together for the last few weeks. Getting a building set up will take some time, especially if we want to ensure that it’s sturdy enough to let Awakened train in there.”
“Ahh… that- makes a lot of sense.” He said nervously.
Elana laughed and made small talk before excusing herself.
“I’m going to go check on my brother. He can get a bit moody at times. Enjoy yourself; let me know if you need anything.”
Alex was left standing alone and feeling a bit awkward.
Just to find something to do without looking like a total loser, he decided to go and check out the weapons spread across the tables. There were all sorts of weapons, ranging from ranged weapons like bows and other thrown objects to hammers, swords, and daggers.
I guess these are just easier to practice with than guns? Still not really safe…
While Alex didn’t like the thought of some random people shooting guns near him, he didn’t think he’d want someone swinging a sharp blade at him any more than that.
He’d read that in a few of the earlier articles from The Adventures Guild App as it was a big reason that even some of the lower level monsters had skin or shells so tough that bullets didn’t do anything to them. This had been a large reason that some of the military expeditions struggled to tame the Rifts. Add to the fact that the System hadn’t been reported to give any skills related to guns, but gave plenty related to medieval style weapons, even the Army was starting to set aside the use of guns. Because of that, he’d never even bothered to try, and this seemed to cement the fact.
Alex took his backpack off and removed the main item from his bag. He felt a bit silly as he pulled out a nylon case that was zipped shut. He opened it and removed his wand. At the end of the day, Alex didn’t care if he looked like a total dweeb.
I can use a fucking magic wand. Who cares what the bag looks like? Also, so what- it was $20 on Amazon to buy a drumstick case. Bite me.
The three standing at the nearby tables watched him with interest as he stepped up to the range lane and decided to fire off a few bolts at the target.
He took a few shots, not really caring if he missed or hit the target dummies at the end of the range. After every few shots, he’d pause and then resume. After about five minutes, he was interrupted.
“You miss quite a bit.” A feminine voice said.
“Hmm?” Alex responded, still not really paying attention.
“The targets? You miss a lot.” The woman behind him said.
“Oh yes, uh- this is all new to me.”
Alex turned and smiled awkwardly as he dismissed his Status Window.
“Also, I’m trying to get a feel for how much mana is being used. It looks like I can actually spend less mana than I was originally using. So, I’m trying to figure out what the least amount I can use is while still firing off a bolt.”
The silence hung in the air for a minute.
Fucking nerd. Good lord.
Alex was suddenly very, very aware of the cute girl standing in front of him. She was an inch or two shorter than he was, but she seemed athletic. Her dark hair was pulled behind her in a ponytail.
Why’s it so hot in here?
Fuck.
He realized that he never took his jacket off. He was preoccupied between not wanting to be awkward and wanting to play with the wand, that he’d completely forgotten it was on. Suddenly, it was uncomfortably hot.
“That’s actually clever.” She turned her head to the side. Her arms crossed, and she seemed to look at him in a new light. “How much?”
“How much? For the wand?” Alex asked; he unconsciously took a half-step away.
No way I’m giving this thing up, are you crazy? I just got it!
“What? No, how much mana.” Her eyes lost a bit of the light that was in them, giving him a dull look.
“Oh- duh. Um, it seems like a bolt takes about five mana if I keep it as low as possible. Using seven seems to hit the dummy with a lot more impact, though.”
“Hm. Not bad.” She stepped forward and offered her hand, “I’m TimonNotPumba on the AG App.”
Alex’s brain spun for a moment, looking at the hand. He couldn’t remember where-
“Oh!” He said and seemed to startle the girl. “Sorry, uh- wow, this is cool. I’m NotXela in the App, you actually messaged me through Nexus Hub a week or so ago.”
“I did?” This brought a small smile to her lips.
Alex shook her hand and returned the smile.
“Yeah, your tip about visualizing the mana really helped. Seriously! I ended up getting a skill after practicing with it for a bit.”
“Oh really?” Her eyes lit up, “Was it [Mana Visualization]? That’s the one I got.”
“No, it was [Mana Shaping]. Hmm, I wonder why we got different ones?”
Her head moved to the side again, and her ponytail swished behind her head.
“No idea; maybe we’re visualizing different things? Interesting…”
She seemed to zone off for a few seconds before Alex cleared his throat and pointed down the range.
“Can I really keep shooting those things? Aren’t they made of foam or something?” Alex asked. As he had gotten to the lane in the range, he could see the targets better. They were the same humanoid looking dummies that were used in MMA or boxing classes, that were made of the upper torso and head with no arms.
“Do your worst. Elana’s brother bought some enchanted disks that go on the bottom of them. They modified them to take some serious punishment.”
Now it was Alex’s turn to get interested. “Enchanting? Like this?”
He held the wand up to her so that she could see the runes etched on the side.
She bent forward at the waist to inspect it closer. “Yeah, but they don’t look quite that complex. You could ask him about it, but he can be a bit sour.” She made a bit of a stink face.
“Yeah, he completely ignored me when I walked up. I wonder if I could find some stuff on the app about it?”
She shrugged but then shook her head. “It might be hard. From what I understand, it’s really sought-after stuff. People want it badly and most of the info is bought up as soon as it’s posted. Elana and Rylan are loaded, though, so he can buy most things or outbid others who are interested.”
That makes a lot of sense.
“Does he do the enchanting or he just likes to buy the stuff?”
She found something about the question funny and laughed before shaking her head. “That meat head? No he doesn’t even like magic. He’s actually a pretty strong fighter, but he looks down on magic users.”
For some reason Alex felt the need to be defensive at the statement. “But he wants enchanted stuff?”
“Eh, he at least has enough sense to realize that even as a sword fighter, he can use some items to boost his power.”
“Think they’d be willing to share any of that knowledge?”
She shrugged again, “Couldn’t hurt to ask? But I don’t see him being willing to share. If I were you, I’d look into rituals.”
“Rituals? I’ve seen a few posts about them. Everyone seems to think they’re trash.”
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?”
Alex thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t think I could use them. While I want to use magic, I don’t have a lot of mana. My total MP is pretty low.”
“Hmm, well then, that’s even more reason for you to stay away from enchanting. The runes apparently take a lot of mana to inscribe and then cost mana again actually to activate.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” She nodded in response and he continued, “Aren’t rituals really expensive with mana, too, though? One of the things I read mentioned that the ritual book had some schematics and they all called for at least three people to combine to have enough mana for one ritual.”
She smiled at him, her teeth white and brown eyes shining. Alex noted that her demeanor changed to much more energetic when talking about magic.
“Oh no, people are just kind of stupid. I don’t know much, but I do remember reading that rituals are supposed to be one of the most mana-efficient forms of magic. Those people were probably looking at some wide range or area effect ritual.”
He scratched the back of his head and looked at her again.
“Well, alright. You sold me. I’ll check out rituals when I get home. Hey, thanks for all the help. How do you know so much about all of this?”
She grinned, “I just love magic. My trait focuses on stealth, but with my [Mana Manipulation] I actually got a stealth skill to go with it. So I’ve been practicing with my mana since pretty much day one.”
“Wow, that’s awesome.”
The two continued to talk for a bit before they exchanged their real names. Timon’s real name was Olivia, while Xela was easily guessed to stand for Alex. She’d laughed at him quite hard when he guiltily suggested that he should change his own username.
They continued to talk about magic and their experiences with the System. As they started to discuss some of the more nuanced details of mana manipulation, they were approached by one of the other guild members.
"Hey, you guys want to do some sparring? I'm curious to see how different abilities match up." The man smiled, his muscular frame hinting at some sort of physical build.
Olivia grinned and nodded, seeming almost as excited about fighting as she was about magic. "I'm game!" She turned to Alex. "What do you say, Alex? Want to join us?"
Why does she seem so excited about this? She's not, like, obsessed with combat or something, is she?
Alex hesitated, and he felt a pit of nervousness surface in his stomach at the thought of embarrassing himself by trying to fight more experienced fighters. "I don't know, I'm still pretty new to all of this. I wouldn't want to slow you guys down."
Olivia placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you." She winked at him playfully. "It's all about learning to have fun with it. We won't use weapons and no lethal skill usage. Just some friendly hand-to-hand."
Friendly hand-to-hand?
The man nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we're all here to improve. You might surprise yourself with what you can do."
Alex took a deep breath and considered the words. While he really didn't want to embarrass himself, the idea of learning something and getting to see other awakened in action was really tempting. It had nothing at all to do with the beautiful woman asking him to join her. "Alright, I'm in."
Olivia beamed at him. "Great! Trust me, you'll learn a lot—and who knows, maybe you'll have a bit of fun too." She squeezed his arm and turned quickly to head over toward the sparring mat, which caused her ponytail to whip around to the side.
Yeah, totally. Nothing at all to do with the beautiful woman.
With that, the three of them moved to the open mat area and Alex's heart began to pick up pace in anticipation.
