Chương 6: Chapter 1-5 – Free Meals

Contrary to expectations, I sat up to give it a better target. I didn't want it shifting around as I brought up another Ice Dart, and spent another point of Mana to boost it, just like the first one. Two beams converged into one, hissing through the air as they cut through the air in a scorching shaft of harnessed Fire and drove square into the center of my breastbone.

There was a little bit of force from superheated air, but basically about a foot-wide circle there went cherry-red instantly, burning away my very simple shirt and flashing the cheap cloth. But it rapidly began to dissipate as the heat poured into my heart and was immediately neutralized, leaving behind basically an expanded boob window. Ritual of the Fiery Heart: you became a Creature of Fire. Normal fires and fiery environments will not harm you, and you become vulnerable to cold.

You are recognized by creatures of Fire as one of their own. The Ceremony of the Frozen Soul did the opposite, for Cold. Their benefits stacked, their vulnerabilities offset. Getting both Templates was normally totally impossible. Aelryinth had Managed it by doing the entire set of the Rituals himself, basically performing them both concurrently and balancing them out as a group of Casters could not.

He'd done so for himself and Diana, a quiet achievement he'd not bothered to announce to anyone else, as it had been the culmination of their last great Quests together in the game, the last hurrah for his Allegiance, and the final nail in his decision to leave the game after he completed the Gargovian Nests... I was simply taking advantage of the magic, and thankful I was indeed. That Ray had been pretty similar to a Valence II effect, 6d6 to 8d6 damage or so.

Very powerful, and would have killed most normal humans instantly. Probably only given the Rats themselves a lesser burn... It stared at me, looking to see the effect of the Ray, since I wasn't moving after it hit. So, I shot it back. I was unsurprised when one of my two Rays missed. The Rat bounced off to the side with what I swore was a Lightfoot technique, but I still managed to tag its left rear leg, covering it in rime.

It shrieked in anger as it landed poorly and half-fell over, scrabbling for footing as it screeched up at me The other Rat was throwing off the ice, too, the rime misting and evaporating quickly, rear legs clawing and sending it moving erratically through the grass. I counted the seconds, flipping up another two Darts, Spellwarping them, and splitting my shots between the Rats. Their movements hampered, I tagged them both, if not squarely, so they were thrashing along with one front leg freshly frozen each.

Then I scrambled rapidly back along the tree branch, up against the trunk, prepared to hop around it as the two Rats clawed and kicked their way in my direction through the grass. Their arrival was as silent as last time... and there were more of them this time. Well, not totally silent, because the third one came through the leaves and branches, claws spread wide and looking to snatch up whatever had been shooting at the Rats.

It found only an empty spot, which the massive talons landed on heavily, and the great head turned around to spot me instantly with huge golden eyes. The Rats below shrieked in fear as two pairs of talons grabbed them up and beat quietly at the air, hauling them up and away. The massive Owl, a dozen feet long, raised its wings to take a hop at me, the branch shaking under its weight and the motion. My full set of Shards came up, and this time I pumped them with Fire.

Four blazing circles of Flame encircled the Shards, almost liquid in its burning intensity as the spell rotated around my hand, actually crackling and snapping as it hungered to be unleashed. The Owl paused despite itself, probably having been taught to be wary of fire from the very Rats it was hunting.

"I'm sorry I didn't have another Rat for you to take, but if you think you're going to take me that easily, you're going to burn," I told the Owl flatly. I added Wrath to my other hand, Heavenly fires joining the normal ones there as I balanced between two branches on the side of the tree. Its head shifted instantly, staring at the unfamiliar flames with surprise, especially since it understood what I was saying.

"Hungry," it hooted back at me, clearly focused on getting a meal.

"Me, too," I agreed.

"However, you can tell by looking at me that I'm barely going to be a snack. You want a Rat." I gestured off to the side.

"You've got good ears. In which direction is the nearest Rat?" If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The dinner-plate sized eyes blinked at me, a very intimidating thing, the golden orbs almost glowing in the moonlight. Very slowly, its head turned, hearing way better than human focusing and looking for a meal.

"That way," it hooted, head bobbing just barely.

"Is it coming this way?" I asked calmly.

"Yes," the Owl hooted after a moment, eagerness audible in the hoot.

"Go take up a perch on the top of a tree, you're too easy to see right there. When it gets close, I'll pull it into the open, slow it down with cold, and you can snatch an easy meal." It definitely wasn't one of the wise, intelligent owls of myths, but it was a self-aware, intelligent magical creature, just not very bright, because it didn't have to be. It appeared to contemplate the move, looked down at the clearing below, and weighed the two sets of unfamiliar fires I was showing and ready to hurl forth.

"Will wait," it hooted, and then it jumped lightly off the branch, beat wings impossibly quiet for something so big, and was out through the leaf cover and heading for a higher branch to settle in on. I sighed in relief. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to kill it with one salvo, even with the extra Fire magic infusing my Shards, and even two would be doubtful.

The thing was just plain big, and if it could hunt fire-hurling Rats, which might well gang up to pop any Owls they saw, it had to be plenty tough against fire. I didn't have the Metas to punch through Fire or Cold Resistance or immunity, yet. If its feathers acted like the rats' hide, with a general resistance to magical damage, that might be even worse. It was the newness of the flames which checked it more than anything, especially after it had seen me using Ice Magic.

The big fellow didn't know what to make of me, but I wasn't a big fat Rat, in the end. I was not, however, going to use the same perch. Morning was still hours off, and hungry killers in the skies wanting meals.

Somehow I was not surprised when more Rats came shuffling in, smelled the scent I'd left behind, and completely ignored the odor of the Rats that had arrived first. Just like mice, they ignored the fate of those before them, following their stomachs. Pointedly, I let them shoot me after I sniped the first one, aiming for the legs. This assured the watching Owls that the Rats' eyes were on cooldown, as the Rats didn't seem to be able to constantly beam about with them.

Confident in not being shot, Owls who had taken up positions inside the leaf cover of the tops of the trees glided down silently behind the Rats, snatched them up quickly, and flew off with their prizes.

Their hooting up there had been pretty quiet, but I'd heard the first one announcing a 'Rat hole' to his fellows, and a half-dozen other Owls had settled in quietly at the tops of the trees, sinking stealthily into the background as they watched the Light glowing unblinkingly down below, and even the small animals forgot they were there. Before the sun rose, six more Rats bit the ice, shot me up, and the Owls gleefully made off with them. That was all fine by me. Naming Karma for the win.

Even if I wasn't doing the final killing, it was teamwork, and I totally could have popped at least a few of them by myself. The Rats wanted to eat me, the Owls wanted to eat the Rats, it all worked out. Karma went into my simple Ring, very satisfying, and began accumulating in the Mark on my shoulder, bringing that quietly hissing to life in a spurt of constrained electrum energy. I should actually have enough that I could finish my Ring after Renewal...

The sky was coloring in the 'east', if east meant where the sun rose, I had no idea of the magnetics of the situation. The Owls had all departed as things lightened up.

I waited, silently reciting to myself the first lines of the Salute to Aru as I Greeted the Dawn of what would be the first full day of my life.

"Dreams of the wind at dawn, A new day has begun. Light chases back the dark, and the future lays before us. Will it be something bright and new? Walk the road before you now, and leave the night behind, Today is a new day, and the light comes to warm you all. Let go the shadows, and behold the sun! The Light has come, as ever it must. Behold the new day!" Aaaaand... nothing. Nothing? At all? I looked around slowly. No Dawn Renewal sweeping past me.

No resetting of the magical clock, expiration of magic, resurgence of the natural order. Nothing. There had been no Dusk Renewal as the sun gave way to moon and night, Highmoon Renewal as the moon gave way to darkness, or Natural Renewal as darkness gave way to the light. There was a potential Highsun Renewal of light hitting its apex, but I would be an idiot if I waited around for that. No Renewal felt positively unnatural to me.

I'd inherited a reliance on the magical day, an immutable clock and measure of passing time. Any Caster could tell when the Renewals were passing, and just about anything alive could sense Natural Renewal happening at the dawn. This... was simply unstructured, magic just there and unconcerned with it all, not bound to the cycles of life. Just another mindless background energy, instead of something that reacted to the will of the world. There was no Renewal... I looked at my Disk Slot, and swore as I inspected it.

The Valence I structure of it wasn't suffering Mana Burn. Indeed, I could still see the vestiges of the Spell Engram there, although they were fading, and I could probably... I eyed the Stars there. All of them were gleaming, because I'd been refilling them between their boosts to my Cantrips, so they were full. I tapped one, and directed the ambient energy into my Disk Engram. The Star dimmed, the Engram brightened and solidified. Eff me. The Stars could recover spent Spell Engrams...

I looked at the three spent Spell Slots on the Sorcerer side of things. Tap, tap, tap. Dim, dim, dim...