Chương 80: Book 2 Chapter 32 - A Dangerous Experiment

Kiara thought of a way she could demonstrate to Zoey that she wasn't really a mortal.

"How about this, Zoey. Let's play a game of tag first. Whoever can touch the other person anywhere that isn't their hand or arm gets a point. First to three wins. If I win, you'll hit me with that lightning bolt." Zoey snorted out a laugh and said jokingly, "Okay, and when I win, you give me a hundred gold coins."

"Done." Zoey's face scrunched up at her response.

"Done? What do you mean, done? That's an absurd amount of money, I was just joking." Kiara shrugged.

"Better yet, I'll give you a bonus of ten gold coins for each time you touch me, even if you don't win."

"Seriously?!"

"Yep." She smiled when Zoey's face took on a look of determination.

"Say when," Zoey said, suddenly all business. Kiara had yet to see a tier 3 move at full speed, but based on the recommendations the World Engine had given her on how to distribute her stat points so far, she guessed she would still have Zoey beat in that department. On the off chance that she was wrong, a hundred gold coins really wasn't that much for Kiara.

"When." Zoey darted forward, intent on winning quickly. She was fast, Kiara had to admit. But not fast enough. Kiara ducked under her arm at the last second, touching her twice in rapid succession as she ran by. She could have landed a third touch, but wanted to give Zoey a fighting chance, since she truly hadn't been expecting Kiara's speed. Zoey whirled around with a look of shock on her face. Kiara smiled.

"Catch me if you can." She took off running at full speed, giggling like a child. It was still a rush to run at full speed, she didn't do it as often as she should. The ground whipped by under her feet, each step propelling her dozens of feet forward. She ran a wide circle around where Zoey was still standing. She hadn't moved yet since Kiara touched her, and was frozen in awe. Kiara made her way back to where Zoey was standing, and reached for her face.

Zoey's hand came up instinctively to block, and Kiara jumped to the side at the last minute, tapping her on the back instead.

"That's three, I win." Zoey's jaw hung open.

"I don't… what? I don't understand." Kiara winked at her.

"Don't believe everything your magic sense tells you. Now, hit me with that lightning bolt!" Zoey's entire world had apparently just turned upside down, and she stood there in shock for a bit longer, running her hand through her hair as she was lost in thought. Kiara realized she wouldn't be hitting her with any spells yet, and walked closer.

"Hey, are you alright, Zoey?" Zoey nodded, meeting her eyes.

"What tier are you? How is that even possible?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it was another artifact?" Zoey covered her face with her hand.

"Oh! Duh. Of course there's an easy explanation. I can't believe I missed something so simple. You have an artifact that hides your true level."

"Hmm. Are you okay if we test a few more things out? Or do you need to be done for today?" Zoey shook her arms and head.

"I'm okay! Sorry, Lady Yountal, forgive me. We can keep going. Now that I know that I won't kill you accidentally if your artifact gives out, I'm much more comfortable running these tests." Huh. I guess I should have started with the show of speed. Kiara took a few steps back, and Zoey's hands began glowing with a faint, yellow light. Half a second later, that light had grown to a crackling yellow energy running up and down her arms.

"Ready?" Zoey called out. Kiara nodded. Zoey pointed her arms at Kiara. The electrical energy came off her arms, meeting at a central place a few feet in front of her, then arced directly to Kiara's head. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A massive thunderclap echoed as the energy discharged, louder and more powerful than the one at the estate earlier, and much louder than Kiara remembered the bandit's having been.

Birds took flight in the distance, squawking in alarm. The display was impressive, but the spell fizzled out on contact, as expected. Zoey looked much less surprised this time. Kiara's ears were ringing, but she was unharmed. She wanted to take it up another level.

"Lightning isn't your specialty," Kiara said after a moment.

"How about that firestorm you showed us a few weeks back on our journey back from Portish? Can you do that again? I want to experience your strongest attack, put everything you have into it." Zoey only hesitated for a moment, then she nodded. The wind immediately began picking up around her, cycling furiously. The dust from the ground got caught in the updraft, and soon there was a dusty brown tornado raging around her. Fire came next, lighting up the tornado in a vivid display of raw power.

Kiara could only compare it to the one she had seen at night over a month previous, but the fire seemed more violent now. It almost seemed alive, like it was barely being held back within the confines of the tornado, and was eager to get out and burn everything to ash. Soon, two whips formed out of water, one in each of Zoey's hands. Kiara stayed where she was, just outside of the maelstrom. She let Zoey come to her. One of the water whips lashed out, aimed at her arm.

Kiara assumed the intent was to either lacerate her arm, or wrap around it, pulling her into the maelstrom. She never got the chance to find out though. The whip dissolved on contact with her, dissolving back into raw mana and dissipating into the air. Interestingly, not only the part that made contact with her dissolved, but the entire whip unraveled as well. The other whip wasn't far behind, this one aimed at her chest. It too dissolved on contact. Zoey hadn't been idle during this time, though.

As she lashed out with the whips, she had begun running toward Kiara as well, plunging her directly into the middle of the flames and wind. Kiara felt the dust particles smash into her left side, and it stung. She assumed that if the tornado had kept going, that dust would have continued whipping into her with each rotation, but the wind magic itself fell apart as it hit her, and the tornado disappeared quite abruptly.

The fire mana dissolved as well, leaving no evidence that any magic had been happening a moment earlier. Zoey skidded to a halt as all of her magic suddenly disappeared, ripped from her control.

"Wait, what? What just happened?" Kiara brushed the dust and dirt from her face and her left shoulder. Her hand came away without any blood, so although it had stung, it hadn't broken her skin. Zoey noticed and rushed forward in concern, touching her face gently.

"Oh no, your face is red! Did I injure you?" Kiara smiled, both at the level of concern Zoey was showing, as well as her familiarity in the moment of panic. Zoey seemed to realize as well that she was being overly familiar, and hurriedly pulled away.

"Ah, sorry my lady, I should not have touched you like that."

"Relax," Kiara consoled her, "you're fine. In fact, I appreciate your concern. I'll be fine, though, it's nothing to worry about." Zoey nodded at the reassurance, but still kept glancing at Kiara's left cheek.

"Your artifact must be quite valuable, Lady Yountal," she said after a moment.

"I've never felt my magic be ripped away from me like that. One moment I had control over my spell, and the next it was gone. I lost control of the mana, and the spell just unraveled." Kiara hadn't actually told Zoey that it was an artifact, just hinted at it, but she didn't plan to correct that falsehood. She didn't feel good about lying to Zoey either, though, since she planned to someday tell her more about her abilities. Just not yet.

"Just to be clear," Kiara said, changing the subject, "do you have any stronger attacks, or any other kind of magic that you could try to hit me with?" Zoey shook her head.

"None, my lady. That is my most practiced spell combination. It offers considerable offensive and defensive potential all at once, and focuses on my two strongest affinities."

"Once you learn your first concept, would you be willing to try using it on me?" Zoey beamed ear to ear.

"I got one! I learned my fire concept about a week ago." Ah, that explains why her fire mana felt so much more potent compared to the last time I saw her do that spell. Also, that's perfect. If Zoey can't touch me with one of her concepts, then it's likely that no tier 3 can. From what she knew, Zoey was extremely talented for a tier 3 mage. She saw that test as positive proof that concept-backed spells wouldn't affect her any more than a normal spell would, which was a relief.

"Oh, congratulations!" Kiara replied to Zoey's comment.

"What was it like?"

"Amazing!" Zoey gushed.

"I've been practicing with fire mana for longer than anything else, and felt the most attuned to it, so it makes sense that it was my first concept. I was practicing my spells one night, periodically pausing to cycle my mana and recharge. While I cycled, I thought about what my fire mana meant to me, what purpose it serves.

"I realized that I use fire mana to burn and destroy things. Magic can be used for all kinds of things, but when I use fire mana specifically, it's to incinerate anything in my path. My understanding slowly solidified over the course of the night, and my fire mana took on a qualitative change throughout the process, getting much hotter and more violent.

"Eventually, something 'clicked' in my mind and in my mana core, and all of the changes my fire mana had been undergoing intensified drastically. Now, I'm working on maintaining control of it, since it's so new. I'm also working on my water concept next, since I'm already pretty attuned to water mana. I feel like I'm close, now that I understand the process of developing a concept better." Kiara listened intently, excited for Zoey's progress.

"How many concepts do you need to advance to tier 4?" Zoey made a face of uncertainty.

"One minimum, but ideally three, since that's the max you can learn at tier 3. If you want a solid foundation you have to learn three first. When you advance to tier 4, your concepts help shape your aura, and without three unique concepts your aura won't be as strong." Zoey's earlier comment about not wanting to rush her tier 4 advancement made more sense now. She technically had at least one of the requirements marked off for advancing, but if she waited for a bit, her foundation would be stronger.

Kiara couldn't help but wonder what concepts Kane had, and how strong his aura was compared to other tier 4s.