Chương 124: C Rank

The C Rank Fire Scorpion spasmed as it tried to fight off death. The Ferocious Beast sprayed combustible liquid from its stinger towards its own back causing the air around its body to ignite. Damion felt the scorching heat a moment later and threw himself off the Fire Scorpion's back. The armor Damion wore was made from the skin of a Scorch Asp, which prevented Damion from being roasted alive, but his unarmored parts and his clothing were not so lucky.

Around the edge of his armor on his lower back and biceps Damion had suffered burns. The shield glyph of his armor had been active, so it had also mitigated some of the damage, but this was a magic attack from a C Rank Ferocious Beast and his armor was only D Rank. When the giant Fire Scorpion finally stopped twitching, Mr. Galen darted out of the safety of his house.

He had watched the fight by going from window to window as Damion and the Fire Scorpion had moved around the house, but had not dared to go outside, all he could do was hope that Damion and Phil were able to kill the beast. Mr. Galen helped Damion get to his feet and half carried the young mage to the porch, while Phil, the Snow Hawk, began gorging itself on the giant Fire Scorpion's innards.

"Thanks for the help Phil," Damion said as Mr. Galen helped him to the porch. The Snow Hawk looked at Damion and let out a little chirp before going back to its feast. The old farmer then retrieved Damion's sword from the Fire Scorpion's corpse and laid it beside Damion on the porch.

"That was quite the battle ya had," Mr. Galen said as he began helping Damion out of his armor.

"You are lucky to be alive."

"I'm lucky Phil likes Fire Scorpion meat," Damion joked.

"Tha' too," Mr. Galen agreed.

"Can I get ya anything? Should I call the Association or someone for ya?" Damion did not immediately answer. Ms. Teft would certainly rush over or send someone to tend to him. But Damion did not want her help right at the moment. This fight, he had managed on his own, with the help of Phil, and now he wanted to deal with the consequences on his own. Ms. Teft would not always be there to bail him out, he needed to do this on his own.

"Just help me rub this on my wounds," Damion said retrieving another healing salve from one of his belt pouches. One of the pouches had been damaged and everything inside destroyed by the Fire Scorpion's last attack, but thankfully it was the one with his spare rations and not the one with his healing supplies. As Mr. Galen rubbed the thick creamy salve across his burns, Damion could not help but wince in pain. Once that was done Damion took out some bandages to wrap the burns. Mr.

Galen also took this chance to clean the wound on Damion's left arm and apply a fresh salve and bandage.

"Will ya be alright with just this?" Mr. Galen asked. Looking at Mr. Galen, Damion could tell he used to be an adventurer and perhaps had been a higher Rank in the past, but True Sight told Damion the old man was just F Rank now. Everything faded with time, even power. For all Damion knew Mr. Galen could have once been an S Rank, but as he aged his body could no longer handle the magic and so his Rank had fallen. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I should be fine," Damion reassured the old farmer.

"I just need some rest."

"Let's get ya in the house then," Mr. Galen said helping Damion to his feet and to the bed Damion slept on last night. As Damion lay there, he remembered he completed a quest just before the giant Fire Scorpion showed up. This meant he had 500 credits for the Magic System's store. With nothing else to do while he lay in bed letting the healing salves do their work, Damion opened up the Magic System to take a look at what he could buy.

'Status,' Damion thought as he opened up the Magic System's status window first. [Magic System] [System Level: 2] [User: Damion Wells] [Age: 18] [Magic Talent: EX] [Magic Affinity: Ice EX] [Mana: 1744/1922] [Magic Power: 5, 025] [Mana Recovery: 6 P/S] [Strength: 96] [Dexterity: 83] [Vitality: 120] [Intelligence: 134] [Experience: 3, 000/10, 000] [Store Credits: 502]'C Rank at last,' Damion mentally celebrated when he saw his magic power.

Damion noted his Dexterity and Vitality had dropped a few points, results of his injuries no doubt. From what he had learned from the Magic System in the past, those attributes should return to normal once he healed. Navigating to the [Shop] page Damion went straight to the [Items] section. Before he had only glanced at the usable items he could purchase, but right now he wanted to check them more carefully. Damion eyed the Health Potion listing in the store. It had no price, but there was a drop-down menu.

When Damion mentally clicked on it a list of potion Ranks and prices appeared. An F Rank potion only cost 5 credits, but an S Rank one cost 10, 000. This was quite the difference in price and other than the obvious, that S Rank was better than F Rank, Damion did not know what really differentiated the potions.

'System, can you explain the differences in the Ranks of the potions?' {Each Rank of potion correlates to the Rank of the person taking it.}'I kind of figured that,' Damion thought as he considered how to better phrase his question.

'System, if a high Ranker takes a low Rank potion what will happen?' {The effect of a potion is diminished when not used at the appropriate Rank.} This told Damion that an F Rank potion would likely be useless to an S Rank. But where that line was drawn was the question. Was it okay to take a potion a Rank below him? Two Ranks? Damion had enough credits to buy several C Rank potions, but he did not want to spend all his credits just on potions.

'System, what effect does a Health Potion of the correct Rank have when used?' {A Health Potion can completely heal an individual when used at the correct Rank.}'Completely heal?' Damion could not help but question.

'System, does that mean a potion can bring a person back from the brink of death to perfect health?' {Affirmative.} Damion let out a whistle when the Magic System confirmed the effectiveness of the potions. If a C Rank potion could completely heal a C Rank adventurer, that was astounding. That would certainly make it worthwhile for Damion to buy a C Rank potion, the question he was left with though was, did he need to use a C Rank potion to heal his current wounds?

'System, how much do the effects of potions diminish when used by a person of a higher Rank?' {Each Rank over potion Rank reduces the effect of a potion by 50%.} A 50% reduction in effectiveness for each Rank over a potion meant a lower Rank potion was still useful to someone just one Rank up, but they quickly lost their effectiveness.

Now that he knew how effective the potions were, Damion wanted to buy a C Rank to hold in reserve but was trying to decide if his current injuries needed him to use a D Rank potion or if he could get away with using an E Rank. A D Rank potion cost 50 credits, while an E Rank only 15 credits. Damion could not help but wonder on the pricing. If a potion only lost 50% of its effectiveness, did that not mean he could buy two D Ranks for 50 credits and get the full effect of a C Rank potion that cost 150 credits?

Damion knew he was missing something, so he went back to asking the Magic System.

'System, how many potions can be taken at a time?' {Only one potion may be consumed per week.}