Pax had thought his life was busy before, but the base mobilizing for war outstripped any chaos he’d seen in the place before. The next two days passed in a blur of racing from one task to the next. He spent most of it hovering on the edge of being mana drained and drank his limit of mana potions every day.
He used his Wand of Sanctuary each night. One good thing about being so exhausted every night was how little he moved once he collapsed into bed. It kept him from breaking the effect of the wand too soon, gaining him almost all the sleep he needed in the first few hours of the night. He usually woke up an hour or two after midnight before making his way to their workshop where he worked his way through the mages who’d started camping out in front of the doors there to ensure they got a turn at gaining a minor element and a new spell slot.
He’d found it amusing to see how fast the older and more skeptical mages had discarded their pride once confronted with the prospect of heading to war. Funny how the chance of dying took care of their previous objections. Plus, watching the junior mages quickly closing the power gap helped too.
Yesterday, Pax had helped awaken three more Viper littles, the three who’d been working with him and Jules from the start. Seeing the elation on their faces had been worth all the work it took to coordinate the mages needed to make it happen.
He’d also ensured that Tyrodon, Bryn, Tasar plus a drowsy Dahni joined in the project, using their mana skills to join in, even if it was just observing. Pax had his fingers crossed it would count toward the quest, so they’d get the rewards, too.
Pax loved how much he was learning about the process. Even with only three more successes, he understood even more about identifying the main class choices for an unawakened little based on the feel of the energy.
With Lina, the first attempt, he’d initially mixed up the crafter versus merchant choices, but had a good handle on them now. He’d awakened her as a merchant, when he’d thought her energy indicated crafter.
Still, she was more than happy with the outcome. She’d disappeared not long afterward to track down those working with logistics and war preparations so she could develop her class. Pax expected the new crew forming under Tomis would rise in power just as fast as his own crew had.
Finn had been next. He wanted to be a crafter. Pax got it right that time, and the boy had been ecstatic about getting the class he dreamed of. He quickly glommed onto Tyrodon, peppering him with questions and working to choose his first set of skills.
Theo had been last, getting the warrior class, which had thrilled him. Pax had just been relieved he’d guessed correctly. The boy’s two main collections of energy had a similar feeling that Pax had guessed were worker and warrior classes. He’d chosen the one that felt like it had a fighting component in addition to the stoic feel from both of the energy groupings. Now he was hopeful he could distinguish between the two in the future.
That just left the rest of the Viper littles and the Salman street kid, Kai, to awaken today. The only disappointment was how impossible it would be to awaken all the rebel littles. It took entirely too much of his mana. Then he had to coordinate with four other mages, draining some of their mana, too. Incedis offered to work with Solani 2-nine to develop a more strategic schedule to get as many done before they left, but it was obvious he’d be leaving a host of unawakened children behind.
Sadly, Pax didn’t see a solution for him being the chokepoint, which meant the rebellion still needed to get their hands on an Awakening artifact. It really bothered him that so many littles would not only be stuck with the brute force method, but would have no options to choose their class. Maybe Pax could figure out a way to work together with an artifact to improve the crude methods somehow.
At least Pax could help the littles he cared about. He didn’t want to leave any of the Vipers unawakened with the war accelerating. Plus, one more little and he’d finally complete a part of their crew quest.
***
Crew Quest: Part 5: Awaken rebel children to their new classes without the empire’s help - 4/5 (+3)
Reward: Each member of the crew will receive a new skill or spell to assist with future Awakenings based on their contribution to completing this part of the quest.
***
Pax didn’t know what the reward would entail, but he was really looking forward to it. What type of bonus would help him with future awakenings? He really hoped it would be something that helped speed up the process or required less mana and help to make it happen.
Then, they were also only one away from completing the secondary mana part of the quest. He planned to help Crissim next, but hadn’t been able to coordinate a time yet. Crissim had been going out nights with Bryn, focused on finding a companion that could heal for his crew.
Pax understood why that came first. Healing potions were an expensive resource with lots of limits. A companion with healing skills could mean the difference between life and death.
Pax had even managed to join the early morning Taming expeditions a couple of times. He was pinning his hopes on level 5 giving him another companion slot so he could gain a transport companion along with the rest of his crew when they found appropriate beasts.
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Their discussion had piqued the interest of the rest of their friends during dinner conversations. Now most of them without specific goals for a companion like Crissim had also resolved to do the same. They were focusing on finding companions that could carry them through the Wilds and into battle.
Pax had also been excited to be there yesterday to help with Crissim’s ecstatic taming of his new companion, Virrell. A Zephyraquill, Virrell was a sleek, water-based beast with iridescent quills that had both offensive and healing capabilities.
Pax had shuddered once he’d learned the beautiful but sharp projectiles had to penetrate skin to work their healing magic. But Crissim and the rest of Titus’ crew had high pain tolerances and a pragmatic outlook on life. If Virrell could save their lives or reduce their reliance on healing potions, they didn’t mind being jabbed a few times by her pretty quills.
Now that Crissim had his companion, Pax expected him to show up soon to get his lightning mana unlocked. If he took too long, Pax could always track down Incedis or Eldan. Both of them were waiting to find time to get their own lightning unlocked. It made Pax shake his head in wonder that so many of the older mages in his life had the same set of elements which resulted in lightning for their secondary mana.
Amil was ecstatic about the way chance had played out, already running through ways he could convince the other three to practice with him once they unlocked their lightning too. He’d cackled something about a lightning brigade that Pax had tuned out. He just hoped between the three older mages, someone could curb Amil’s more risky inclinations.
What made Pax impatient to finish with Crissim was the crystal mana battery reward. He needed that sooner, rather than later. His mana stores, despite how they’d shot up over time, were still a hard limit to how much he could do in a day. If he could trickle extra mana into a storage during his downtimes, it’d be a great boost to the small amount of extra storage provided by his mirror. And honestly, Pax would enjoy not having to do all the awakening and unlocking activities with his shield propped up next to him.
***
Crew Quest: Part 3: Learn how to unlock secondary mana types for rebel mages - 3/4
Reward: Each member of the crew who assists will receive a crystal mana battery that can store a single elemental type and be linked to their personal mana storage even while in inventory.
***
The last item at the top of his list was gaining the four points he needed to hit mage level 4. It was one more way to achieve a significant boost to his stats and mana. Most of his crew were getting pretty close to hitting level 3 themselves, making leveling an important goal they all wanted to reach before deployment to the warfront.
He hoped all the work they were doing to help the rebellion now would help them reach that goal. The surge in Taming would definitely help. Pax hadn’t seen Bryn, Dahni and the other Tribal members who lead the Taming efforts much over the last two days.
They’d given up on only their earlier schedule of pre-dawn excursions, instead switching to working through the entire night to meet demand. They collapsed into bed soon after the sun rose and were up and mobilizing again about an hour before it went back down. With all classes of rebels able to Tame a companion, the candidates wanting companions far outnumbered the mages coming to Pax for help to unlock their minor elements.
The team of Tamers had made a significant enough dent in the local beast population that Pax wondered if Taming might solve the beast wave problem. He knew it probably wasn’t a realistic solution, given how many beasts the fighters killed on walls around the empire every night. But perhaps, once they won the war and could ramp up Taming across the empire, it might give them some breathing room to come up with a more permanent solution.
For now, they needed to deliver their special advantages to as many rebels as they could before the forces mobilized and left the base. The committee still didn’t have specific plans, but rumors said the bulk of the troops would leave in another five or six days.
All these thoughts spun through Pax’s mind as he hurried out of the workshop for breakfast. He was pleased to see a much smaller line of mages lined up outside the door than had been there when he’d arrived in the middle of the night.
“I’ll be back when I can.” He gave them a tired wave, ignoring grumbles of irritation when they realized he was leaving. He affixed a new parchment to the outside of the door. “My schedule is too crazy for specific appointments. But if you add your name to the list, you can cut the line next time you come back, and I’m unlocking elements again.”
That seemed to mollify them. There was a jostled rush to get to the sign-up sheet. Pax turned his back on them, already fantasizing about a hot meal and something for his companions.
As he walked, Pax took a quick look at his gains from all the mages he helped with new minor elements as well as the three successful awakenings.
***
Skill Boost: +9 to Altar Interface Level 1 (Epic) - 36/100
Crew Quest: Part 1: Unlock minor mana types in rebel mages - 39/100 (+19)
Reward: +1 level to all mana skills for each member of the crew who aids in this process.
Skill Boost: +26 to Ascendant Mana Integration Level 2 (Legendary-evolved) - 23/200
Skill Boost: +18 to Elemental Meditation Level 3 (Common) – 137/300
Improvement to your Path of Understanding Flame: +36. Level 4 - 181/400
Improvement to your Path of Understanding Air: +27. Level 4 - 159/400
Improvement to your Path of Understanding Water: +42. Level 4 - 140/400
Improvement to your Path of Understanding Earth: +38. Level 4 - 170/400
Crew Quest: Part 2: Help rebel mages and warriors Tame adult beast companions - 37/100 (+18)
Reward: +1 level for each crew companion and +1 to the Taming level for each crew member who aids in this process, along with a bonus choice from all possible system evolutions for the skill.
Skill Boost: +58 to Universal Beast Tamer Level 4 (Rare) - 206/400
***
A fierce grin at his gains pushed his tiredness back. His only regret was not making more progress on his Taming skill. When his crew located the ideal companions to help them traverse the Wilds, he didn’t want to be the only one without an open slot for one.
Pax resolved to keep spending at least one early morning shift with the Taming crews. He couldn’t afford any more time away from his other duties.
Commander Vipersworn. Is now a good time for some news?
Solani 2-nine’s voice interrupted his thoughts, making his step stutter as he walked through the base to the dining hall. His interest flared. She rarely interrupted him, so it had to mean she had important news. The only question? Was it great news or terrible?
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