Chapter 18: Mage

―

[Your "Twinkle Mana" has been Kindled]

―

[Your Root Abilities have evolved beneath the effects of your Kindled Mana]

―

[Cast has reached Level 30. Special exemption granted. L1 Hex Branch Abilities have been improved to Level 8]

―

[Charge has reached Level 30. Special exemption granted. L1 Hex Branch Abilities has been improved to Level 9]

―

[Attune has reached Level 30. Special exemption granted. L1 Hex Branch Abilities has been improved to Level 10]

―

[Your Root Abilities have exceeded your Level by an entire Tier. You have been awarded the Title "Mage"]

―

Title: Mage

Type: Contingent

Description: Ascended beyond your peers. Your comprehension of your Root Abilities is well beyond that which your level dictates and you have been awarded as such. You are now a Mage amongst a world of magic practitioners.

[+25 Mind. +10 Levels to L1 Branch Abilities.]

―

[Your Title "Magic Elite" has been expunged by a greater Title]

―

Name: Jaxir Chance

Class: Magic

Level: 2

Alignment: Bad

Experience: 31/400

Coins: 543

==

Marks: Jester

Titles: Mage

==

HP: 70/70

MP: 423/450

==

Core Stats

Body: 7 (+2)

Mind: 45 (+25)

Free Points: 0

==

Abilities

Body: N/A

Mind: Cast (Lv30); Channel (Lv30); Attune (Lv30); Wither (Lv10); Bind (Lv10); Fracture (Lv10)

==

Divine Abilities: Encore; Luck of the Draw

Divinity Points: 0

―

Jaxir’s eyes blazed with light, a flood of enlightenment pooling out of his lips.

He stood firmly on the ceiling, aiming his staff downward.

He began to chant, and innately, he could feel the ancient words shifting and changing, his tongue rolling in peculiar ways to pronounce phonetic syllables he had never heard of before.

Chi.

A flashing arc of crimson lightning descended, slamming into the king bear just as it regained its bearings. This time, however, the dried leaves that swirled around them carried with them tinges of dark gold.

[-10]

[-10]

[-10]

Sparks of crimson lightning clung onto the king bear’s coat. It roared, a dispelling effect rippling out from it.

Jaxir found that he immediately knew what the ability did before it even took root. However, there was a stickiness to his mana that remained.

Not only that, but he realized that the timer for Bind was a lot smaller against a boss, or maybe it was because it was a Kindled Boss. It was already able to use abilities again.

Rather than being fully dispelled, the effects of Wither fell by half.

[-5]

[-5]

[-5]

Jaxir didn’t hesitate. He gave the bear a grin as it looked up at him on the ceiling and then cast another use of Wither, and then another.

[-15]

[-15]

[-15]

[-25]

[-25]

[-25]

―

[Wither cannot be stacked more than thrice at Level 10]

―

Jaxir quickly glanced at his MP, noting that every cast only took up 15 of his MP now as opposed to the 25 of the past. It was a huge change. This would give him a lot more breathing room.

He glanced at the timer left for Twinkle Step and then gathered his MP once again, a series of chants tumbling out of his mouth.

Unfortunately, before he could finish, he was interrupted.

The king bear’s jaw opened. It looked like it was going to roar again for a moment, but then a beam of concentrated light shot out from it.

Jaxir’s pupils constricted. He wasn’t ready for that at all, but that didn’t stop him from reacting quickly.

Once again, he got an inkling of the type of ability coming before it fully formed. He was already pulling Twinkle Anchor out, pouring his mana into it and even filtering it through the Twinkle Shield.

A dome of twinkling copper light appeared around him and the beam hit straight on.

The beam split into streams, curving and breaking free in several directions at once.

Jaxir internalized the circuits of the Vestigem Card, his gaze flickering with light and focus.

The moment the attack finished he dashed to a side before the beam could land again.

He flipped through the air, gravity shifting and changing around him as he landed on an opposite wall and then flipped back down to the ground.

A wild grin spread across his face. He hadn’t had so much fun in a very long time.

He raised his staff, sending out a stream of quickfire magic bullets to keep the bear king honest.

It quickly shifted to a side, moving with more nimbleness than it should have been able to.

But as though Jaxir expected it to be so, the magic bullets curved in the air and his grin grew wider.

What use was being able to control gravity if he couldn’t even control his own mana?

Pa. Pa. Pa.

[-3]

[-3]

[-3]

The defense of the king bear was truly ridiculous, but Jaxir already expected that much. He ran around the curve of the room, staying as far from the bear as he could as it readied another beam. Its head followed him around until he came to a sudden skidding stop.

The twinkle twinkle king bear roared, a beam of light leaving its maw once again in a concentrated pulse of twinkling gold.

It landed on Jaxir’s dome of twinkle mana armor once again, splitting apart and vanishing along with what was left of Twinkle Anchor.

"Two uses, huh?" Jaxir said aloud. But this time, his chant had already managed to finish.

Chi.

Tendrils rose up from the twinkle twinkle bear king’s shadow once again, but this time, rather than being a dense black, they were a dark gold instead.

Jaxir could feel it yanking and pulling on the twinkle twinkle bear’s mana. And unlike his normal use of Bind, it even seemed to have some faint effect on the physical body of the Kindled Boss as well.

The next attack the bear king had prepared was cancelled, but Jaxir’s plans were most certainly not.

He segued into his next series of chants without pause.

CRACK.

Fissures of silvery-gold appeared all around the king bear as Fracture descended, ripping apart its magic defenses.

"Twice now," Jaxir said aloud. His twinkle armor had dissipated, twisted, and curved the mana of the king bear a second time already.

And now, that mana was freely spiraling through the air, and since the king bear couldn’t use mana for the next three seconds...

It was all Jaxir’s.

This was the final leg of his combo.

BOOM. BOOM.

A pair of magic spheres of rotating bullets formed in front of Jaxir’s staff. He laughed as the king bear charged at him, choosing the path of a physical attack instead.

But from this vantage point, Jaxir couldn’t even see it. His mana bullets had grown too large. Each one was easily the size of his head.

Before, the largest he had ever made were no more than maybe half the length of a thumb in width. But now, they looked like artillery units about to be fired from truly heavy duty equipment.

And why wouldn’t they be?

They were formed of not just one, but two attacks of a Kindled Boss.

"Have a taste."

They shot forward, the air rolling around them in a steamy heat.

The Kindled Boss didn’t even have a chance to dodge, and how could it? After all... Jaxir could curve his attacks now.

He wouldn’t allow himself to miss.

The first attack knocked the king bear off its charge, the second sending it flying back until it slammed against an opposing wall.

[-1102]

[-1377]

[-177]

―

Jaxir’s laughter filled the air as he sent a spray of magic bullets at the boss’ body. They barely took 3 damage each, but he didn’t care as he fit in another Wither to stack atop of one that had ended, and then another, then another on top of that.

He was going to crush this boss just like all the small mobs that had come before it.

[-100]

[-100]

[-100]

[-100]

With Fracture active, the stacked effects of Wither were even more devastating. Jaxir was relentless even as he watched the HP of the bear crumble before his eyes.

He raced up the walls to avoid its next charge, noting that not much time was left with Twinkle Step. He also checked his MP, noting that he was already at less than 150 MP. He hadn’t used any of his MP when he stole the king bear’s mana from the air, but he was using Bind so frequently that it couldn’t cast very often. So most of his damage had to come from within himself.

The king bear unleashed a howl.

ROAR.

All of a sudden, all of Jaxir’s stacked Wither effects and his most recent application of Bind were shredded to pieces.

"Shit. Phase two, huh?"

He should have probably expected something like this.

A trio of eight-pointed stars appeared around the king bear, growing from the crown hovering around its head, enlargening, and then forming a halo around its body.

All of a sudden, a large amount of twinkle mana began to accumulate in the air as it prepared an attack.

Danger warning signs blared across Jaxir’s thoughts, an instinct he didn’t know he even had yelling at him.

He couldn’t let this attack form.

Jaxir immediately tried to recast Bind, but the tendrils of dark gold snapped and shattered before they even touched the boss.

"Dammit!"