Chương 19: Omnimancer BONUS Chapter: Jax's Descent (5 of 5)

Dual Elemental The snakes' battle was both predictably basic and surprisingly intense. Predictable, because aside from comically stubby arms and legs, they had only their mouths and serpentine bodies to physically tussle with one another, grappling one another like aerial serpents. Hundred-foot-long serpents with impossibly tiny wings that couldn't possibly have kept them afloat. The interesting bits came when they unleashed magical blades of wind at one another, slicing through each other's hides.

Jax noticed how their fight was peppered with guttural sounds that he took to be their version of a chant. They breathed jets of fire, too, though that didn't do much other than distracting their foe, allowing the snake to follow up with a tail slap. Good thing Jax hadn't tried another Fire School spell. Even if he could make the spell land, it wouldn't have done much. Granted, there were other smaller monsters flying around, but these things seemed like the kings of the sky, patrolling and killing anything nearby.

The minutes passed, with the two sustaining more minor wounds until they both seemed to tire of the battle. They eventually split and began flying in opposite directions… until the less injured one suddenly doubled back and made a beeline for the other, opening its maw to release a—!? The sky went white, and by the time the thunder deafened Jax's ears, the other snake was plummeting from the sky like a stone. Charred and very dead.

The victor swooped down and began tearing its opponent limb from limb, but the steepness of the slope prevented it from getting more than a few bites in before the corpse picked up speed, sliding down and away. Be it headlamps or dragons, the Lhotse slopes consumed all.

"Lightning it is, then," Jax muttered as he flew away. He didn't dare distract himself with Status Screens while flying around in such dangerous terrain, though. With his Lux reserve at a quarter, it was time to look for shelter for the night. The unending slope was finally starting to flatten out, the endless snow gradually giving way to jagged rocky outcroppings and a vast green valley that lay in between Mount Luxspire and the next peak.

Having descended to what he thought was around 25, 000 feet, the scenery in the distance suddenly no longer felt as impossibly far. At the same time, those tiny peaks he'd seen from high up didn't look so tiny anymore. After scouting a few minutes, Jax located a small, rocky plateau tucked into the side of the face, before realizing it wasn't a natural formation at all, but the ruins of some great construction. Of something ancient.

Similar to the ruin he encountered higher—the one with the time and space shards—though this one lacked the spatial and temporal rifts of the other. Not for the first time, Jax wondered what sort of people had constructed these vast monuments. And how strong must they have been? There was evidence of roads, the remains of tall spires, and cracked foundations. Dozens upon dozens—incomparably more vast than the outpost he'd found above. An advanced race had built a settlement here. A sizable one, at that.

Jax wandered the ruins, touching the old stonework, wondering what had happened to them. Aside from the obvious, of course, Jax figured anyone bold enough to build a city out here—let alone higher up the mountain—would've been prepared to deal with the monsters. Especially if they were masters of time and space. Finding no clues, Jax returned to one of the more intact towers. Though it lacked a roof, a circular stone wall, crumbling as it was, was a hell of a lot better than camping in the open.

Not as much as the crystal cave, but it offered both concealment from predators and a modicum of protection from the wind that never quite died. Before he could even think about sleeping, though, he needed some sort of early warning system. The walls only made him harder to see. They did nothing to mask his scent or sound. Of course, none of the schools of magic had anything relevant. An option did present itself soon after, however, buried halfway down the enormous list of Utility spells available to him.

[Siren] (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Gain a sixth sense for incoming danger. Functions regardless of state of consciousness. Consumes a constant 5, 000 Lux while active. Considering he had a pool of 1, 000, 000 Lux, this was hardly a drop in the bucket.

Wondering what other passives might be worth investing in, he continued browsing the Utilities section, finding everything from combat aids to handicraft mastery to a list of over a hundred language-related skills costing 10, 000 credits apiece, their names written in their own unique—and entirely alien—scripts. Those might come in handy later, but Jax ignored them for now, instead settling on a handful that felt immediately useful.

HUD Overlay (Passive) Cost: 1, 000 Lux Credits If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Displays current Vitality, Lux, and Level in the corner of the user's field of view. Consumes a constant 1, 000 Lux while active. Required for HUD-based Passives. Threat Radar (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Highlights all nearby living creatures and displays their threat levels, ranging from Green to Red. Consumes a constant 5, 000 Lux while active. Requires HUD Overlay.

Vitality Meter (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Projects a Vitality bar above nearby creatures. Consumes a constant 5, 000 Lux while active. Requires HUD Overlay. Weakpoint Targeting (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Highlights potential weak points of all nearby creatures. Consumes a constant 5, 000 Lux while active. Requires: — HUD Overlay — Threat Radar — Vitality Meter Compass (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Projects a Compass Rose in a corner of the user's field of view.

Consumes a constant 1, 000 Lux while active. Requires HUD Overlay. Minimap (Passive) Cost: 5, 000 Lux Credits Projects a map of the surrounding region in a corner of the user's field of view. Consumes a constant 5, 000 Lux while active. Requires: — HUD Overlay — Compass 26, 000 Lux was more than Jax had initially planned on spending, but there were just too many delectable options to resist. Nor did he have any reason to. Not when any of these might be the thing that kept him alive on the mountain.

There were several more he hadn't selected, too, but were less directly useful. Let it be known that he had some restraint. Jax enabled all of his passive abilities—all of which used brief chants to activate—and his vision came alive with vitality bars, compasses and minimaps. Like AR glasses, but better, and without the stupid-looking frames. As the descriptions promised, they remained unobtrusive when he wasn't focusing on them. There when needed, practically invisible at all other times.

"Pretty fucking epic." There was another benefit to his [Threat Radar] and [Vitality Meter] passives, too—they told him if there were any enemies in the vicinity. Considering he saw no Vitality bars and threat overlays, Jax felt safe in the knowledge he'd picked an appropriate hidey hole for the night. With the housekeeping out of the way, it was time for the heavy hitters—the offensive spells.

Jax unlocked the School of Lightning for a cool 200, 000 points, and was presented with the same rush of knowledge as before. This time, however, something else came with the knowledge of lightning, of potential differences and the concepts of current and voltage. The interplay between Lightning and… Fire? Welcome to the School of Lightning. For entering into this school, you have gained a permanent 25% boost to all offensive magic damage. Congratulations!

For learning two Elemental Schools of Magic, you have earned the Boon [Dual Elemental]. Dual Elemental: Wielders of two Elemental Schools of Magic are a rare breed, and the Goddess Luxor recognizes this achievement with a boon. +25% Potency with all Elemental Magic. Jax felt like he'd start losing track of all his benefits if he got any more. So far, he had the 25% damage boost from the School of Fire, the 25% boost for the level 100 Boon, and now this.

75% extra damage if he used Elemental magic, and 50% for everything else. The messages didn't end there, though. You now have access to Electropyro spells. Spells that combined both Fire and Lightning? Yes, please! Jax searched the list for those, finding two. Incineration Blast: Atomize all that surrounds you with the marriage of flame and electricity. Cost: 250, 000 Credits Lux Consumption: Very High Plasma Surge: Melt your enemies with a bolt of superheated plasma in this perfect marriage of fire and lightning.

Cost: 150, 000 Credits. Lux Consumption: High From the impressive names to their equally vivid descriptions, everything about these screamed powerful. Moreover, these combination spells had no Lesser/Greater/Apex progression series. They were one-and-dones, which helped justify their high cost. If this was what a Tier I - Tier II hybrid spell cost, Jax didn't even want to imagine what Time-Space spells would be like. Or, god forbid, a spell that combined every school of magic.

Jax looked up to the summit, now covered in clouds.

"Wonder if that would let me take down that snake at the top…" One day, someday, he'd return to find out, and honestly? He couldn't fucking wait. It seemed imprudent to splurge on flashy spells when the bears had made it clear doing so would light him up like a beacon to many, very terrifying beasts that lurked on this mountain. So as tempting as it was to splurge, Jax held off, perusing the mundane Lightning spells first. A half-dozen were on offer, starting with [Arc] on the most basic end.

Arc was a simple, straightforward jolt of electricity with a low cost. That made it versatile, but also weak, and Jax would never have even considered it until [Lux Compressor] came along. The Boon let him consume twice the Lux to double his spells' power…. or ten times the Lux for ten times the power. The only limit seemed to be his Lux pool size. As tempting as supercharging a high cost spell was, most of those, like [Lightning Field] and [Fan of Lightning] tended to destroy everything around him.

Great if he was fighting hordes of enemies alone. Terrifying if there were friends nearby, and he might only be able to boost high cost spells two or three times without seriously depleting his Lux. Cheaper spells could be boosted many times more. [Lightning Bolt] did nearly the same thing as [Arc], with a Lux cost of Low compared to [Arc]'s Minimal. Considering [Lesser Arc] cost 9, 000 and [Lesser Lightning Bolt] cost 12, 000, he bought both. He didn't max them out yet, though.

He wanted to run some tests, first, to see which would end up being more Lux efficient. He also needed to see how they compared to the hybrid spells, deciding it was worth the risk. With an impish grin, he scrolled down to the multi-school Electropyro spells, and bought [Plasma Surge]. Jax suppressed a yawn.

"Time to hit the sack." Tonight, he'd rest. But tomorrow? Tomorrow, he'd finally escape this mountain for somewhere a bit safer, unlocking his final tranch of Lux Bux in the process. And then he'd blow some stuff up. For science.