Chương 62: [Volcanic Blast]

The sun had shifted while they weren't paying attention, sitting higher and hotter than it had been when they started. Across the training ground the morning group had finished and filtered out, a new set of trainees taking their places, some of them glancing over at the stone targets and the scorch marks before finding their spots. The eight of them had been out here longer than any of them had realised. Phil had been at it constantly.

While the others had their moments and stepped back to process, he'd kept firing, kept waiting for the pool to refill, kept going again. His patience had worn to a thread. Every time the mana sickness started to build he backed off, let it settle, stepped back up. It was a slower grind than the others had and he knew it. His spell cost more per cast and always had. He was the last one left and that fact was starting to get to him.

"Right," he muttered, stepping back up for his fourth attempt after a rest.

"Enough of that." This time he didn't ease into it. He felt the fire coating his knuckles, but the sound was different, not a crackle, but a low, aggressive roar. He grinned. The orange light intensified, turning a harsh, brilliant white at the centre as the flames reached further from his fist than they ever had before. He stepped into a heavy punch, willing the spell forward with everything he had. The fireball that left his hand was twice the size of his usual casts. It didn't just hit the target, it detonated.

A sharp boom echoed across the training ground, a shockwave of heat rolling back over the lads. The stone torso rocked on its weighted base, a small chip of enchanted rock flying off the shoulder as the runes flared a blinding crimson. They flickered wildly, struggling to process the raw output, before slowly dimming back to a dull hum. Phil let his arm drop, his shoulders sagging as the sudden drain hit him. He took a long steadying breath to keep the nausea at bay.

"Bloody hell, Phil," Leo said.

"Nice hit."

"Nice?" Parmo laughed.

"You nearly turned that thing into gravel." Phil gave a tired, satisfied smirk.

"Thanks. Honestly thought I wasn't going to get it. I'm fucking knackered." He leaned forward, hands on his knees for a second, then straightened as the chime sounded.

[Ember Blast → Volcanic Blast] Type: Fire Discharge Spell Difficulty: Low Skill Level: Apprentice Range: 15m [EXPAND] Effect Summary: – Concentrated burst of superheated fire projected from the fist – High damage output, shockwave effect on impact – Medium mana cost – Elemental signature: Fire System Analysis: – Mana pathway stable and widening – Elemental attunement confirmed: Fire – Current Power Level: Proficient – Progression method: Repetition through tab, sustained intent toward greater output Potential Threads: → [Inferno Lance] — High damage concentrated fire bolt, increased mana cost → [Flame Volley] — Multiple smaller bursts, wider coverage → [Fire Coat] — Applies sustained fire to surface or object → [Flame Wall] — Stationary fire barrier, area denial and damage"Same as Parmo's," Phil said, before Sam had even asked.

"One circle, four names." He read them out. Sam drew the diagram quickly, held it up. Phil looked at it with satisfaction.

"Fire Coat is the one I want."

"Fire swords," Parmo said.

"Fire swords," Phil confirmed. Leo looked at the crack in the base of the target.

"You nearly broke the dummy."

"Good. If I didn't I'd wonder why I went through all the trouble. At least we can all agree my shit hits the hardest," Phil said.

"I don't know man. Leo's was pretty nasty too," said Luka.

"Nah, Phil's hits harder I think. I think mine is going to be easier to land though. If the person I'm fighting has metal armour on anyway." If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Yeah, fair point," conceded Phil. Rika was looking at the target.

"Marcus is going to want to know about that."

"Agreed," Shai said.

"I don't know if he's going to be annoyed or happy. We don't have many people who can cast combat magic, very few of which can hit as hard as this."

"Good to know. I wonder how it stacks up against people learning in the academies..." said Phil. Phil's question was met with silence. None of them knew enough about the academies to offer an answer. They drifted toward the grass almost without deciding to, the session behind them, the targets still standing. Sam set the diagrams down in front of him, the five drawings side by side.

"Check your mana bars," he said.

"I want to see if the regen's changed." Leo pulled up his stats. The bar was lower than usual but already climbing, steadily, faster than he remembered it moving a week ago.

"Quicker than it was," he said.

"Yeah," Luka said.

"A lot quicker."

"The well's bigger," Parmo said.

"Has to be. We've been going at it constantly." He paused, turning it over.

"The new spells are going to cost more though. So it'll probably feel about the same as the starter spells did when we first got them. Different ceiling, same feeling of running low." Sam looked at his own bar, watching it tick upward.

"I should have thought to check this days ago," he said.

"Should have been tracking it."

"You've had a lot on," Leo said.

"Still." He picked up the diagrams and looked at them.

"We're further along than I realised." Phil looked at the diagrams spread out in the grass.

"So what are we actually going for next then? Cos I know what I want but I'm curious if anyone's thought about how it all fits together."

"Ice Lance or Frost Wall," Parmo said.

"More single target damage but the wall buys time I might not have otherwise. Ice Coat's interesting too, if it slows whatever it hits then coating my arrows could be useful. I don't know yet. I'm hoping the second spell clicks faster than the first did, we've got experience now."

"Fire Coat," Phil said.

"Obviously."

"Obviously," Luka agreed.

"Gravitas first for me," Luka said.

"I've got two shields now so the shove feels less urgent. I need something that keeps them looking at me, gives you lot more room to work."

"Phantasm," Sam said.

"The fog and confusion together is too good to leave." That left Leo. Parmo was already looking at the diagrams, finger tracing the lines off Enhanced Spark.

"Lightning Field," Parmo said.

"Area control, slow them down. That's your thing."

"Nah," Luka said.

"He takes the Coat. His Sarren's going to look like a yellow lightsaber, there's no way this nerd turns that down." He laughed.

"Lightning Coat," Phil agreed. Sam said nothing. He was watching Leo. Leo picked up his diagram and looked at the four lines coming off Enhanced Spark. His eyes settled on the fourth one.

"Lightning Amp," he said. Phil and Parmo looked at him. Luka frowned.

"Why not the Field?" Parmo said.

"Area control, slow them down, keep them in range. You'd pick that every time in League."

"Yeah I know," Leo said.

"But think about what Amp does. Speed and reflexes, channelled through the body." He thought about the Sarren he'd been using, not the wooden training sword but the real one.

"That thing weighs a lot. Even when I get better with it, it's still slow. Kai's been on at me about the gap between my movement and when I strike, how I commit too early and lose a beat. If Amp closes that gap, if it makes me fast enough that the weight stops mattering the same way, I can swing that blade like it's half the size." He paused.

"Then if I add Coat afterwards..." Parmo, Phil and Luka stared at him.

"Okay," Luka said.

"That's actually sick." Sam didn't look surprised.

"You already knew," Leo said.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"I know how you think. Remember that ranger campaign? You convinced me to let you use your Giant toad as a launch pad for aerial shots. The DC was insane and you still went for it because, and I quote, 'Come on dude, it's going to be funny as fuck.' This is the same thing. It's going to turn you into a fucking anime character, swinging a giant katana round faster than is reasonable. I agree though, it's a great idea."

"Of fucking course that's why you'd pick it. You giant fucking weeb," Phil laughed, quickly echoed by the others. Torren had been listening with his arms resting on his knees. He looked at each of them in turn.

"You've thought about how you each fit together," he said.

"Not just what you want. How it works as a whole."

"Tank, range, utility, two up front," Parmo said.

"Classic five man comp." Rika's wings gave a quick flutter.

"Is this more stuff from that League game you always bring up Brandon? I thought you were just picking what sounded good."

"We are, and it is," Phil said.

"It's a pretty standard team composition in League and WoW."

"You're going to have to tell me about how all of that works later."

"Sure, sounds good to me," Parmo said. Shai had been smiling quietly as she listened. She looked at Leo's diagram, then at him.

"I wonder what Kai will think," she said.

"When you bring all of this together with your training." The corner of her mouth moved.

"He's not going to expect it, I want to be there for that." Leo grinned at her. She grinned back. A moment later a shout came from the north watch, cutting the peaceful moment short.

"Movement in the trees." Every head turned. They saw it immediately. Not wind through branches but something pushing through from the other side, undergrowth giving way, branches snapping. Then the first shapes broke into the open and kept coming. Goblins, dozens of them, a loose charging mass of grey-green bodies, clubs and knives catching the light. Between them, taller and faster, small lizard-like creatures moved with purpose, short bows in hand.

Behind the whole pack, bigger than anything around it by a significant margin, a hobgoblin drove them forward with one arm raised.