Chapter 7: Hidden Fun

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[You have unlocked the Mind Ability "Wither"]

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[You have unlocked the Mind Ability "Bind"]

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[You have unlocked the Mind Ability "Fracture"]

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[Wither (Mind Ability)]

[Decay that slowly reduces target’s maximum HP over time]

[Unlock Requirement: Level 10 Cast, Channel, Attune]

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[Bind (Mind Ability)]

[Locks target’s MP―no abilities can be used for the duration]

[Unlock Requirement: Level 10 Cast, Channel, Attune]

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[Fracture (Mind Ability)]

[Cracks magic resistance―all magical attacks hit harder against this target]

[Unlock Requirement: Level 10 Cast, Channel, Attune]

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It wasn’t long after Jaxir left that he found himself unlocking what should have been his main path abilities.

As far as he could tell, Cast, Channel, and Attune were all foundational abilities that any mage had. They allowed him to learn the fundamentals of magic, how to form and shape it, then expel it to target an enemy.

With just those three abilities alone, Jaxir could definitely protect himself. At this point, with Channel and Attune at Level 10 each, a casual magic bullet only cost him 5 MP now, and he could cast it fairly quickly. It wouldn’t do much more than 5 to 10 damage against a decent enemy, but it was fast and he could do it continuously.

In fact, he could do it from both of his hands. However, he no longer needed to do that.

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Name: Common Mage-blessed Staff

Grade: Common

Level: 2

Abilities: -50% MP cost to simple Cast. -25% to Charged Cast.

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Jaxir had ended up abandoning the bow, quiver, and sword. But in return, he had gotten himself a nice little weapon.

The bow-woman and the swordsman had both had extra equipment, but the mage had been dressed just like he was. That made sense now. He had probably spent all his money on this staff alone.

"This game takes weight and treasure restrictions too seriously. Why can’t I have an inventory or something?" Jaxir complained to himself.

Despite his words, he quite liked the staff.

The first twinkle twinkle fox he came across after his battle fell beneath a rain of three. He cast them so fast it looked almost like a single attack.

Yet, he only used 7MP, when in the past it would have easily cost him at least 15 to 16.

There was clearly some fudging of the numbers that happened, but from what Jaxir could tell, the game didn’t do well with fractions. Or, more accurately, it didn’t show them.

Not long after that was when Jaxir managed to unlock his Hex Path Abilities. Unfortunately, the staff was useless in helping with that. It was only a common item, and all it could do was enhance Cast.

This wasn’t too bad, though. Jaxir still had fun making a show of waving the staff around.

He quickly found that against weak enemies, it wasn’t really worth using his higher level Abilities.

For one, whether it was Wither, Bind, or Fracture, all of them cost a ton to cast. Even with Attune at Level 10, it took over 30 MP each. And because of the path he chose, it wasn’t worthwhile to waste the effort on small creatures.

It was better to machine gun them to death with magic bullets and save his hexes for stronger opponents.

But the more time Jaxir spent in the forest, making his way toward the city, the more he wondered if there even were stronger enemies to face.

"The fox population here sure is healthy. But there’s nothing else. What do foxes even eat? Don’t they eat meat? What can they even feed on around here?"

Jaxir laughed at himself. What was the point of wondering what the foxes ate if they would be even weaker than the foxes? He was barely getting Experience out of them anyway.

The good news was that he already had 20 or so Experience toward Level 2. But he was already starting to get bored.

These creatures had very refined patterns and he had already memorized them all.

Another twinkle twinkle fox jumped out from the bushes.

"Hm?" Jaxir blinked, feeling like something was off with this one. The others were all little brownish red creatures, but this one’s paws were a lot blacker and darker. It was also slightly larger.

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Name: Twinkle Twinkle Fox

Level: 5

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"Oh?"

This was the strongest one Jaxir had come across. The best had been Level 2. Where had this Level 5 come from.

The twinkle twinkle fox split in two and then dashed to the left and right of Jaxir.

"You really need to work on your abilities, you know."

Jaxir shook his head. The first twinkle twinkle fox he had met turned invisible, but he could literally see it. And this one made a clone, but he could pick out the real one easily.

The clone lunged at his head, the real twinkle twinkle fox opening its jaw and biting at his neck. The latter had quickly dashed up a tree, bounced to another, and then launched itself at him. The speed of a Level 5 was clearly on another tier.

If Jaxir couldn’t tell which was which, it might actually be a real problem.

But he could.

His staff was already glowing and he unleashed the Cast he was charging.

[-17]

The twinkle twinkle fox let out a little yelp, its clone passing right through Jaxir’s leg and then dissipating in the wind.

Jaxir was already gathering another Cast.

The fox tumbled across the forest floor, and before it could even regain its bearings, Jaxir hit it again.

[-8]

"Oh. It’s still not dead. I guess its HP is a lot higher."

This was more MP than he had spent on a twinkle twinkle fox in a while.

The fox yipped again and skid to a stop. It managed to quickly scramble to its feet, splitting into two clones once again. But this time, its real body went invisible.

"Little harder to see this time. Not good enough, though."

Jaxir made a show of tracking the clone with his eyes, but when he fired his magic bullet, it cut across the air with a whizzing pace.

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Cast Lv10 > Cast Lv11

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[-9]

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+5 Exp

+3 Copper

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Jaxir frowned. That was a whole lot more effort for just five experience. That wasn’t worth it at all.

"Charging really doesn’t seem to be worth it. I could probably one-shot the foxes if I did charge, but the MP cost can get crazy. But if I focus on making the magic bullets faster instead, though... Hm..."

Jaxir continued forward. The Level 5’s seemed to be rare, so maybe―.

Another black-pawed twinkle twinkle fox leapt out.

"Okay, maybe not so rare, after all. Let’s try another approach, then."

Jaxir’s gaze became focused as the twinkle twinkle fox rushed out. This one, though, split into three clones and did so while moving in a blur, making it harder to pick out the real one.

"Interesting."

Jaxir still managed.

Pa. Pa. Pa.

He threw aside the idea of Charging at all, focusing on letting his mana flow through himself faster.

That last strike against the previous Level 5 had come out fast, so much so he had heard it whistling through the wind. It was like he could almost squeeze it out, changing its shape a little bit so that it came out harsher, harder, and flew faster.

The moment Jaxir channeled that, his Cast became even faster.

The Level 5 was drilled down before it even truly understood what was happening. It was crippled and limping before Jaxir even had gathered his mana again.

"That guy mentioned dual cast, but can I even dual cast when I’m funneling everything through one staff? Or..."

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Cast Lv11 > Cast Lv12

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Two orbs of light formed on the bulbous head of the staff and Jaxir laughed.

He fired them both at the same time.

[-8]

[-8]

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+5 Exp

+3 Copper

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Jaxir continued walking forward until he ran across a problem.

"Well... this isn’t too good."

Up ahead there was a valley separating the forest in two. He peeked over the edge to find the cliff face was actually quite odd. It was covered in moss, plants, and grass. If not for how sheer the cliff was, one might have thought it was a normal path down.

What was more interesting than that were the countless sleeping twinkle twinkle foxes that Jaxir could see on the cliff face. It was like they had chosen to sleep a few inches from their imminent peril on purpose.

But down at the valley’s base Jaxir saw a cave emitting a twinkling light.

"Now that is interesting. Wouldn’t be much of a video game if it didn’t have some hidden fun, now would it? But how do I get down there?"

One way or another, Jaxir was going to have to figure it out. Because as far as he could tell, the Tutorial Village was on the other side of this valley.