Chapter 14: New Apex Leader in Town
In Dragon’s Tale: Ultimate, you usually learn your subclass through scrolls or trees. Since none of that is here, I would assume that scrolls still apply.
Vaniti, disregards all of that.
She unlocked a subclass archetype through battle instinct.
Incredible.
Vaniti and I walked back now, the quest was done and she had tackled on 55/30 goblins herself. She said that her hand still felt a "pulsing" sensation. But in all honesty, this must be her body aligning itself with both Nightstalker Subclass and Spirit Magic.
A brutal combo.
Vaniti clenched her hand multiple times, her gauntlets shined in vibrant colors washed over the black material, then, she looks towards me.
"I...don’t know how to put it simply. I could feel my magic coursing through me faster and easier after each spell I casted." She told me, I could only laugh.
"Yeah, that’s called Mana-Feedback for you Spirit Elves. You gain a portion of Mana back after each spell casted. It’s sort of like a passive ability. An insurance to make sure you guys are never running out of mana."
Vaniti nodded, "A-Amazing..."
"A-and I also felt stronger too...! My magic carried with more weight."
"Now that? It’s a subtle bonus you guys have. Spirit Magic constantly buffs itself after each use, up to five times. After the fifth one, you get a penalty."
She tilted her head, "Penalty? That must’ve explained why I felt so sluggish..."
I pick up the pace and walk in front of her, "Totally, but there’s a workaround, you see? After your third or fourth use of Spirit Magic, it’s entirely vital that you another branch of magic, whether it be Fire, or Shadow Magic, as you demonstrated through the Nightstalker Class."
"With that, after you use another branch of magic, your body will...ah-hem, seemingly forget the counter and restart it, but the best thing about it is that it still carries over the multiplicative buffs, so essentially you could stack as many times. It’s called Magic Mixup, remember that."
She nods, a little triumphant smile on her face now. She parts her lips to ask another question.
"Do you think...if I keep learning, I could cast spells even you haven’t seen?"
To be fair, I didn’t know how to answer that.
Because it told me two things.
One, that she’s aware of her own progression and growth now.
And...two.
She wasn’t even aware that [Spirit Stab] isn’t even a quote unquote, real magic skill.
Vaniti did it under the assumption that it was real, just because it felt right in the moment.
The moment she stops needing my explanations, what’s left for me to teach?
Nothing, at that point.
I want to tell her...maybe.
"Pfft, nah. It would be impossible. I’ve seen everything." Comes from my mouth instead.
She nods, and takes that as an answer. Maybe she still thinks that there’s more to it. And maybe she also thinks that she’ll create a spell I haven’t see one day.
I don’t plan on lying to her, but her presence alone reminds me of someone some time ago.
Guide.
We come across the Voyager’s Guild, after recently completing our last Voyage, we should be paid out in full. We open the wooden double doors, and enter. There, where multiple other Voyagers look at us as well.
"There goes the Ascendant guy..."
"Are you sure he’s a beasthuman? He looks strong..."
"What about the girl? It’s like her stares could freeze me...!"
I would chalk this up to regular NPC talk, but I really couldn’t. Need to understand and stick it in the back of my head that these are real people now.
Not AI’s with programmed scripts already...
Vaniti and I head to the receptionist—not a clerk as I learned out last time, she smiles at the both of us. Seeing that we, or Vaniti, had completed the quest.
"Great! Easy quest for you two," The receptionist says. Stamping on our cards, that was an easy one down.
Vaniti returned a blank stare, and to combat that I tried my best heartwarming smile, even drummed up a question to stop the atmosphere from getting awkward as last time.
"S-so, we did the easy one. Is there any others you have? Maybe...a bit more difficult?" I ask. The receptionist thinks to herself once before responding.
"Well...there was this one Ascendant-ranked one. Because of it, all of the islands had had lower quests being put out." She explains.
I furrow a brow. This sounds interesting...but also mysterious.
My tail waves along, "Tell me more, if you don’t mind,"
She scoffs, "Fortunately, that’s what I’m paid for here. We haven’t had any suitable Ascendant-ranked Voyagers like you around Aurea Islands...and when they do arrive, they come and go. No staying."
"Everyone else is...intimidated by the quest itself. So, no one would want to take it. We’ve had reports ranging from beasts...to war parties, to even a...dragon."
Dragon.
Dragon?
"Yeah, we’ll take that right away." My lips moved before I even had the chance to, my fingers glide to touch them. It sounded like me, and yeah, I admit I was eager to pounce on that quest.
But...not that eager.
Whatever, force of habit. Must still get used to this body it looks like. The receptionist looks at us, unsure, then hands us the pamphlet.
"Alright...even though you are matched for this Ryuuzen...please, be careful." She warns me. I could only give a cheeky smile in return and a thumbs up.
"No worries, I’m the strongest around here. It should be a piece of cake. Vaniti and I will be back before you can say—"
What cut me off, and never allowed me to finish my sentence, was the sounds of the double wooden doors opening—quickly. They rebounded off the wall, as if someone forced it open with such amazing power.
Vaniti and I turned around, the Guild Hall got quiet, as all of the eyes were on this one person who suddenly arrived here.
What could be going on here?
...actually, let’s not answer that question. What goes on in Aurea Islands always seems like some random event trigger.