(Tutorial day: 9)
Alex summoned his magic. He began with simple wind blades and sent them toward any ranged goblin he could see. Archers, mages, and even a warrior who was throwing mud balls.
The goblins died by the dozens. His bronze ranked magic, boosted with his new [Basic Elemental Mastery], was too much for the unranked to handle. A single wind blade was all it took to cut them down. The only range that resisted them was the higher ranked shamans. For those, Alex would do something more special.
Let’s test out the new [Water Magic]. Alex thought, as a grin spread across his face.
He started with a single ball of water, compressed it slightly, and launched it at a shaman. The ball of water hit it hard, like a bowling ball. It instantly shattered the shaman's barrier and had enough momentum left to knock it over. It didn't kill him, but it did showcase its power.
Not too bad. Let’s try something different now.
Summoning more water, he created a bunch of tiny rain droplets, the size of marbles, compressed them, and launched them at the Shaman when it stood up. But when Alex fired them, he didn’t do it as he usually would. He added far more force, making them much faster.
The water droplets were so quick that the shaman didn’t even register them moving. The water pierced straight through him, riddling him with tiny holes.
Well, that’s pretty cool. Not cost-effective, though. It wasn’t worth the mana cost when a single Earth Spike would have done the same thing. I’ll have to find a way to fire the water more easily, or pressurize it somehow.
Pressurizing it, huh… I have an idea for that. But it will have to wait.
Continuing with his wind blades, he kept firing them at the ranged goblins. So many goblins were focused on them now that it was getting hard to tell which attacked from range and which were melee goblins who couldn’t walk through the muck.
The rest of his team had begun engaging the commanders. They were larger and could walk through the muddy mess, but it still slowed them down. Durgan was still opening the cages; there were a lot of them, while Morgan was burning through arrows, sinking them into goblins with ease.
Time to use my sword for a bit. I need to save mana for the General, Alex thought as he enhanced his sword with wind magic.
If he ever shows up.
This is still burning through some mana, but it's definitely less than using attack magic. The mud is making this more annoying for me, too.
Alex got a running start and jumped into the air. Right before he landed in the mud, he used [Earth Magic] to harden the muck under his feet. It gave him firm ground to stand on. With sword in hand, he then slashed out at the nearby goblins, cutting them down with ease.
None in reach, he leaped again towards the next pack of goblins, performing the same act. Over the next few seconds, he kept doing this. He jumped from spot to spot, killing goblins and using his earth skill to harden the ground beneath him.
Reaching the outer edge, Alex went for one of the shamans. He wanted to remove any bronze ranks he could to make it easier for his team and the newly freed prisoners. And shamans were definitely a threat. Their spells were different from any other mage Alex had seen, and more dangerous.
Their magic feels more… raw? Or primal? I’m not sure how to explain it. Even their fire magic feels different from mine or Sam’s. But the greatest danger lies in their curses. The first time one afflicted me, it sucked. The pain and stat reduction didn’t lead to a good time. And these bronze ones? I’m sure they have some new spells.
He didn’t want to use any rifts, again trying to conserve mana, so he ran toward the shaman with his wind-imbued sword. He figured it would be enough to pierce the barrier spell the shamans used.
At least he hoped so.
The Shaman had seen Alex coming and begun attacking him. Fireballs were coming towards him, but he didn’t care. Using his [Celestial Control] ability and [Fire Magic] skill in conjunction gave him the power to nudge the fireballs off course. They flew past him, towards the hundreds of goblins still running about.
Having realized the fireballs weren’t working, it switched to its more sinister magic. Curses. The dark cloud of mana leaked out from its body and pushed toward Alex. This wasn’t the first or second time he had seen and dealt with this spell, though this was his first bronze ranked one.
Knowing exactly how to deal with it, he sent a massive wave of wind mana towards the dark cloud, pushing it away. He also tried to shove it with his [Celestial Control], but the mana felt foreign and unfamiliar, preventing him from firmly grasping it.
In range of the shaman, he swung his sword in a one-handed cross slash. The attack didn’t do as much as he thought it would. It skittered across the shaman's barrier, cutting deep grooves into it, not enough to break through.
Oh? He thought to himself. The barriers are a lot stronger at bronze grade.
Pulling back his sword arm, he slashed out three more times in quick attacks. He cut chunks out of the barrier, cutting deeply into several areas… but again, it wasn’t enough.
A wide smile came across Alex’s face. He enjoyed the challenge.
Without thinking about it or remembering he wanted to save mana, he reacted to the challenge. He stepped back, slashed through the air, and unleashed a wind rift. It cut through the weakened barrier with ease and severed the shaman's upper half from its lower half.
Oops. Didn’t mean to use that.
Shaman cut in half and dead; he searched for the next fight. His team handled the commanders fine, while the ranged prisoners bombarded the groups of goblins who were trying to press down on them. They held them back for now.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Alex saw one group of goblins coming near the backside of the prisoners, so he summoned a dozen fireballs and launched them into the group. It killed most of them, scattering the rest.
These base elements are noticeably more powerful from my new hidden skill. Maybe a third stronger…I’m not sure exactly, but it feels like a lot.
He spent the next few minutes running around the outer edges, hacking and slashing down goblins with ease. There weren’t too many higher tiers, so the most unranked died in one quick swing of his blade.
Until finally, the general showed itself.
Massive flames erupted from nowhere, raining down on his team. It looked like an inferno was being summoned right on top of them.
But Alex didn’t worry. His [Eyes of the Cosmos] were proving their value again. He saw what happened the moment the fire manifested.
Sarah is what happened.
When the fire raged down on them, she cast her [Barrier of Protection] around them, shielding them from the flames. And from what Alex could tell, the barrier was holding firm. She had enclosed the entire area in a dome, which the fire threatened.
Well done, Sarah. Though I bet that wasn’t cheap on mana, she had to make that barrier quite large.
It took him a few seconds, but he located the final general. He stood on the edge of the forest, nowhere near the courtyard’s center. Alex slung spells at him, making sure he didn’t focus on his team anymore.
The spells he sent, fireballs and earth spikes, did nothing. They bounced off the generals' barrier like pebbles. But they achieved their goal by capturing the creature's attention.
The general looked the same as when he had last seen it, with the same equipment. It stood, staff in hand, aiming it at Alex. Fireballs erupted from the end of the staff and soared toward him.
Again, though, Alex didn’t care about the fireballs. He started walking toward the General, nudging the fireballs away from him with his [Fire Magic] and [Celestial Control].
The General didn’t seem to like it when he did that. It snarled and unleashed more fire at him, but that ended up the same way. Thrown off course and impacted the goblins behind him.
It’s fun to fight a strong caster. I can test and push my progenitor racial abilities.
As he still walked towards the general, a wicked grin spread across its face, and it spoke to him when he got within earshot of it. “You think you survive my magics? You not seen real magic yet.”
Whoa, it speaks way better than the other Generals. More intelligence stats, maybe?
“Yes, yes. Shut up and throw some spells. Or are you just talking because you know you’re weak and scared to fight?
Can you even be called a General?
Maybe you should have your title changed to jester, you kind of look like one… or ugly asshole.. Or about how we keep general, and call you the “Lil bitch General”. WAIT! Better yet, let's combine them! “The Lil Bitch General, part-time jester, who's always an ugly asshole,” I think we found a winner; that’s the perfect name for you! Shit, you can even become a rapper, having the word “lil” in your name. It's a win-win.”
This made the General a lot angrier. It snarled in fury, shut its mouth, and started channeling a massive amount of mana.
God, I love taunting evil villains. It’s so satisfying. I know I’m a big child, but I don’t care. In a new life filled with death, I need to enjoy the small moments when I can. Like fucking with Sam… damn, that's the highlight of any day.
Something different came out of the General this time. It was some kind of fire, but it was… different. Alex couldn’t fully understand what it was, but it felt vaguely familiar. He couldn’t figure out why.
Purple and black tinged the fire, and when it came at Alex, it gave him bad vibes. Rather than try to manipulate it, his instincts told him to dodge it, so he did. He watched the fireball soar past him and hit some goblins. When the fire hit them, they didn’t only burn; they withered, like the fire had burned everything out of them, saving the outside for last.
What the fuck is that! he thought, before focusing back on the General as another dark purple fireball came towards him.
Wait… that's why it felt familiar. It felt like the curse spell the shamans use. So this is a cursed fire? Sounds fucking dangerous.
Right before the fireball whizzed past Alex, it exploded, spreading the dark fire toward him. Unable to dodge, he used [Earth Magic] to raise a wall between him and the spell.
The dark fire had lost most of its momentum, so it only splattered across the earth wall. This gave Alex time to see its effects and study it a bit with his abilities.
The fire burned as a normal fire does, but it was more than that. It slowly drained the mana from the stone it made contact with, but it also did more than that. It drained its strength, causing the wall to decay and crumble at the points of contact.
The darkness in the fire felt… corrosive and hungry. It wanted to feed on mana, but also destroy. It wasn’t only destroying things on the outside; that was what the regular fire did. This wanted to break things down from the inside, destroying them at the smallest point it could reach. It was almost like an infection or an affliction.
Alex didn’t know if he could control it with his [Celestial Control], and he didn’t want to try. He got a bad feeling from that mana and didn’t want to fuck with it. At least not today.
Enveloping himself in his wind mana to boost his speed, he shot forward, advancing toward the General. Wind and air trailed off his body like a cloak, or a man running through a hurricane; Alex closed the distance.
Alex pushed his wind enhancement almost to its limit, a blur to everyone as he moved towards the creature. He dodged the dark fireballs and jumped to avoid bad footing on the muddier terrain. The generals' spells continued to explode as he neared them, but he was moving too quickly for the splatter to hit him.
The general hadn’t expected such speed and looked panicked. It increased the fireball output, trying to catch Alex with one. The spells were detonating quicker and long before Alex even got to them, forcing him to dodge the splatter.
Almost in melee range, it was becoming hard to dodge the spells. He was too close. Trying something new, he channeled water into his sword and pumped it full of mana. Water wrapped around the blade, and with the increased mana flow, it widened and lengthened.
Using the enlarged water sword, Alex tried to cut a fireball out of the air. He hoped water would make it easier to break the fire apart. It seemed to work…mostly. The sword cut through it, but the fireball still exploded.
Too close to it, he had no way to dodge. Acting on instincts, he grabbed the water on his sword with his [Celestial Control]. He wrapped the water mana around himself instead, creating a water bubble to protect himself. Once the water bubble formed, he rotated it. Spun it around himself to form a spinning, water bubble of protection.
When the dark fire spell hit it, the spinning water grabbed it, redirecting its momentum away from Alex. It trapped it within the spinning water layer. Feeling where the new mana was touching his water mana, he repelled that whole chunk of his water. He pushed it away from the bubble before it infected the rest.
The water mana reacts much quicker than the other elements. It might help with defenses like this in the future, too, Alex thought as he let the water swirl around him. He could see clearly through the water barrier with his Eyes ability.
Finally, in striking range of the General, instead of attacking head-on with his sword, he dove to the side and brought his sword up in a wide arc. Still sheathed with water, the blade didn’t cut too deep. The general's barrier held up against the blow.
The general looked relieved, fear draining away from its features. It had expected more from Alex’s attack. The goblin started to channel more mana, and Alex could feel it was a fire type again, but it felt more… spread out.
Is it an area attack? He wondered, jumping backward.
Right as he jumped, the goblin's staff slammed the ground, and a dark fire wave spread out from its body. It was a dark version of the [Fire Nova] spell Sam had.
**Small PSA. I will try to add the tutorial day to the top of the chapter occasionally. This will remind everyone how many days have passed in the tutorial. It is only 30 days total. A lot of things are happening quickly and I've been releasing chapters for over a month, yet only 9 days have passed in the story as of this chapter. Its completely possible 10 chapters will go by, which is 2 weeks of releases, and only 1 day passes for the tutorial participants. So if something seems odd, remember the timeframe. If its still odd after that, maybe I screwed up, so let me know! haha**
And I'm not sorry about Alex taunting and saying childish things sometimes! I love ittttttt. Makes me laugh when he taunts people. If you don't like it, it's rare. So just skip that sentence or two, haha.
Patreon if you want to read 15 chapters ahead of the RR release!
POLL down below.
Favorite normal daily beverages? (Pick 2)
