Mage Tank-Chapter 255: Dargons and... (11)

Your Dimensional Magic Skill has increased to level 50!

I smiled at the notification, then frowned. Progress always gave me a brief moment of satisfaction, but it wasn’t long before I was eager for the next incremental increase. It made me take a moment to consider my mental state.

In the past, I’d spent a lot of years being overly concerned with living in the future and failed to dedicate enough bandwidth to the present. Productivity had been my primary measure of self-worth. Improvement was a path without end, upon which I strode with an ever-quickening pace. However, I’d been able to tame that obsession in my later years, which had been the most peaceful time of my waking life.

Arzia had been beneficial for me in many ways, mentally speaking. My self-acceptance had never been more fully realized, but my eagerness to escape any moment of stillness was at its peak. It was hard to ignore the allure of literal superpowers, and there were a lot pressures driving me in that direction.

Easing my foot up off the gas pedal was becoming a little more difficult every passing day, and it’s not as though I’d die of a heart attack from stress or anything. I wasn’t even sure how much my heart was still doing for me. My blood moved around via arcane magical forces and at least 58% of my heart muscle was redundant. Or, 58% of it was some kind of generic super-tissue that could sustain any part of my body. Maybe both!

Even though my physical health wasn’t a problem, I still needed to ensure that I wasn’t sprinting towards burnout. I mean, I’d literally just sprinted for 24 hours while practicing my Dimensional skills and felt better than ever, but maybe I was a bit, eh, manic?

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Regardless, the training montage had been getting stale, so I was glad when things started to get a bit spicier. It hadn’t gotten that spicy, though. I wasn’t sure what kind of challenge that horde of Realm Blighters had been meant to present, but it hadn’t been much of one. I’d barely even spent any resources. Twenty minutes would bring me back to full.

That brought another moment of consideration. Objectively, my progress was astronomical. Facing down legions of supernaturally powerful monsters was happening with enough frequency that I’d be willing to call it a pattern, and I was at a level where I could handle that without scuffing my fresh manicure.

Maybe my party members were enabling me. I was definitely enabling them.

Maybe we should take another break, one that wasn’t forced upon us by a crippling amount of soul damage.

Maybe it didn’t matter and I should just get back to grinding.

My indecision tree over the matter was swiftly felled when an unexpected teleport got my Dimensional senses tingling, and a platinum soul popped up behind me. I turned to find the lovely young woman I’d met back in the quintuple throne room, except this time she was geared up for a fight.

Be still, my ambiguously beating heart.

She wore silver armor with deep blue ornamentation that matched her eyes. Curiously, it appeared to be made of some kind of wood, rather than metal or heavy fabrics. It was dense with mana weaves, so I wasn’t about to question its durability, especially since it could be made of a magical composite or something. Wood could be an even better mana container than metal, so long as it was grown in a secret grove and fertilized with the tears of a virgin unicorn.

Anything could be possible, really…

I mean, for all I knew, it was crafted from my arch nemesis the Mighty Oak after it transmigrated to Arzia and gained unfathomable durability like myself. Its quest to finish me off once and for all was interrupted by a beautiful woman in search of the key to my heart, only for her to adorn herself in the mythical substance to cut me down as she cut down the oak itself. A tragedy, writ across her body in practical yet form-fitting protection.

Still with me? I got a bit distracted by the armor.

Aside from that, she had a kite shield on one arm–also made of wood–and held a rich brown staff–again, wood–that subtly glowed with verdant green and glittering diamond.

“Good morning,” I said, giving her a respectful bow. “I fear I had too little time to introduce myself earlier. I am Master Esquire Arlo Xor’Drel Esquire, King of Closetland, Extradimensional Traveler, and Astronaut.”

The woman, to her credit, didn’t hesitate a beat over my titles. She returned my bow as equals, dipping to the exact same level as myself.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” she said. “I am Princess Ishi of the Silver Lounge, Heir to the Silver Throne, Eye of the Infinite, and Unstoppable Dimensionalist.” Once finished, she released her staff to float into the air beside her.

There was a lot to take in with that brief introduction. She was a princess apparently, which I honestly didn’t find to be much of a surprise. I was running into unexpected princesses with a frequency that I wasn’t quite willing to call a pattern, but it had happened more than once now. That made me expect that more would spontaneously appear in the future. As for her other titles, I didn’t think about them too deeply. All that shit was posturing anyway.

What I did find worthy of deep thoughts was Princess Ishi’s bow, since it simultaneously issued a compliment and a challenge. If she was truly a princess, then it granted me some significant station. If I was truly a king, then it placed a princess of her nation at a level equal to the sovereign of another.

That could be interpreted in several ways–a minor insult to Closetland, a subtle expression of disbelief over my claim, or maybe a signal that she thought her nation to be superior to one ruled by a king. I assumed pride was the underlying principle being expressed and decided that the third interpretation made the most sense for now.

Releasing her staff could have been considered a peaceful act, had she not pulled out a bow immediately after (shockingly, made of wood). Ishi held it in one hand, so it wasn’t immediately aggressive.

Now that she’d introduced herself, I remembered to shoot her a quick identify.

Her Royal Highness, Princess Ishi of the Silver Lounge: Delver, Level 21

Did this confirm her princess-ness, or was the System just repeating what I’d already heard? Her level also made me reexamine her soul. The first time we’d met I’d caught a glance at her spiritual essence, but it was contained and secure like the soul of Nax, the strange doorman.

Now there were clearly Delver levels, pure platinum with a few striations of violet. Still, her level didn’t quite add up to what I was seeing, and the underlying base soul was the barest sliver, even when I focused on it. There was something primal to it, animalistic desires tempered by pride and curiosity. More recently there were hints of envy and… shame, maybe? Confusion?

At the very core was something ancient and intense, and when I caught a glimpse of that I realized how deeply I’d been digging in response to the puzzle her soul presented. I backed off, uncertain whether she’d noticed. Even if she hadn’t, I didn’t want to be in the habit of digging so deep without cause.

Either way, Ishi’s soul was simultaneously less powerful than her Level of 21 would suggest while holding hidden depths that spoke of something much greater than a platinum with a few Special Delves under her belt.

I needed to figure out how these people were doing this with their souls. Not only so I could use it to protect myself from people like me, but also so I could figure out how to break it. After years of immediately understanding how I matched up against someone else, being uncertain was very uncomfortable.

While I considered the woman’s odd soul, she took my bait and decided to satisfy her curiosity over my introduction.

“May I ask why your title includes Esquire twice?” she said.

“It is the result of a conflict between my Royal Counsellor’s eccentricities and my own,” I said. “That’s what made it onto the letterhead, so that’s what I’m going with for the moment.”

“For the moment? Are your titles subject to change?”

“I believe that ‘Dark Lord’ is currently in the works. If that passes, I’ll probably drop at least one of the ‘Esquires’. I just don’t like ‘Master’ being the only thing preceding my name.”

“Would you then become ‘Dark Lord Master Arlo Xor’Drel Esquire’?” Ishi asked. “Or is ‘Master’ subject to elimination as well?”

“You know, having two titles before my name has a good rhythm to it,” I replied. “Dark Lord Arlo feels too casual. Maybe we can move the second ‘Esquire’ to the front and add one of my other accolades in there somewhere. ‘Dark Lord Esquire Arlo ‘Spectersbane’ Xor’Drel. I could also use ‘Soulsbane’ or ‘Godsbane’. What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t dare presume that I am familiar enough to issue an opinion on which of the three titles is most suitable, Your Grace.”

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“A fair position to hold, Your Highness.”

“I would daresay that two syllables flows better when inserted prior to a surname unless the second syllable is preceded by ‘The’, a different determiner, or perhaps an adjective,” said Ishi. “Even then, such an address is better relegated to the list of titles selected to appear after the surname. Such interceding monikers are overly casual for a formal introduction.”

“A valuable insight. I will take it to heart.”

Ishi nodded her acknowledgment, then continued. “You must forgive me, but I’ve not heard of the kingdom of Closetland,” she said. “Given that you are an extradimensional traveler, shall I presume it is a nation from beyond this realm?”

“An astute observation, Princess. However, it would be dishonest of me to claim that Closetland’s status as a dimensional kingdom is the only reason for its relative obscurity. It was only recently founded, you see.”

“Indeed? Then I congratulate you on your independence.”

“Thank you, that is very kind of you to say.” Formalities handled, I decided to move on to business. “Princess Ishi, I cannot help but notice you’ve arrived in full combat regalia.”

“Hmm, I could characterize this as a reasonable choice given your displays of violence,” said Ishi “After all, you wouldn’t expect me to arrive at a battlefield in a ball gown, would you?”

“I suppose not, no.”

“Regardless, that would be misleading at best,” she continued. “The truth of the matter is that your behavior during this test has caused some minor offense to Her Silver Majesty. I am here to inspire you to take the matter more seriously.”

“I was unaware that there was a code of conduct during the trial,” I said.

“We are understanding that there may be a cultural divide,” said Ishi. “As such, you have been granted the honor of dueling me, rather than facing the misfortunes ordinarily brought on by those who invoke my mother’s disfavor.”

“A considered approach,” I said. “And you have my deepest apologies for any offense given. Such was not my intent, and I assure you that any behavior you may have observed was simply the most efficient use of my combat style.”

A hint of a smile touched Ishi’s lips. “I somehow doubt that, Master Xor’Drel.”

“Princess Ishi,” I said, holding a hand to my heart. “Have I given you any reason to harbor such skepticism toward my claims?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I tend to be most skeptical of those who profess their honesty.”

“Then what is a man to do, to convince you of their integrity?”

“I believe facing the consequences of their actions to be a good start,” said Ishi.

“Then face them I shall,” I said, then raised a finger. “However, as you can observe from our rather corpse-ridden environment, I have recently expended some small amount of effort. Would you be willing to grant me a brief reprieve before our duel?”

“For how much of a reprieve do you advocate, Master Xor’Drel?”

“An hour should be all I need,” I said. “And five minutes,” I hastily added.

She tilted her head slightly at the addendum. “Very well. I’ll not have you say our encounter was inequitable when you are defeated.”

“Such a thought had never once entered my mind,” I said.

Ishi waved a hand, and the corpses around us sank into the ground, along with all the blood and viscera. I gave her my thanks, then sat in a lotus position and gave Grotto a psychic nudge.

[I will neither confirm nor deny whether Princess Ishi is a Dragon.]

“Oh, come on. She’s the princess of the Silver Lounge.”

[And what dubious conclusion does this fact inspire in your puerile mind?]

“Lounge, Grotto. As in a lounge of lizards!”

[Yes, truly irrefutable evidence of her Draconic heritage,] Grotto thought dryly.[Or perhaps her clan enjoys comfortable sitting areas. Was there something else for which you require my input?]

“Yeah, fine. I wanted to get your opinion on what mana shape I should slot for Arcane Geometry. Right now I can have AoEs ignore my allies for free, but there’s a disheartening absence of friendlies here.”

I began to mentally review the list of shapes Etja and I had codified. The party’s dedicated mage wasn’t very scholastic with her own approach to shaping. These days she could more or less imagine whatever she wanted and make it happen. Personally, I preferred a more structured approach, and our list currently contained sixteen shapes. With the right combination, most of what Etja was capable of was replicable. It just took a bit of thought.

Arcane Geometry let me pick any one of those shapes and apply it to my skills without increasing their cost. While shapes sometimes varied in how much they increased a skill’s resource requirement, the rule of thumb was that the cost doubled with each shape. That was a compounding value, so getting the first shape free ultimately halved the overall mana cost when applying multiples.

[Hmm. We know very little of Princess Ishi’s capabilities. Her appearance and titles bias me towards thinking she is primarily a Dimensional caster with at least some degree of archery for support. She also has a shield, which is an odd choice for an archer. How will she fire the bow?]

“Telekinesis, maybe,” I thought in reply. “Her staff is floating. Either the shield or bow might follow suit.”

[Perhaps. Either way, it does not seem as though she will engage in melee or even mid-range combat such as yourself. Closing the distance to reach her will be essential.]

“I have a pretty good throwing distance on my hammers. Unless she’s moving a mile down these tunnels, it shouldn’t be an issue. Still, Translation triples skill range, so I’ll add that shape to the shortlist.”

[Have you considered our Oblivion Orb combinations any further?]

“I have, but they’re less efficient than just throwing more Void Hammers. Against groups, spawning big lines or spheres that stick around and continually delete things might be useful, but against a single target? It doesn’t seem that great when it costs several times more mana.”

[How about using Shortcut offensively?]

That put my mind into overdrive for a moment.

“Bubble lets me make it a localized AoE. Then… Wedge plus Acute to turn it into a line? That gives me 80 feet of range, but Hole will give me another 30 and Translation makes that 90, bringing the total range to 170. That’s getting really expensive though. Plus, it would only affect willing targets. I’d need Ziggurat to make it an attack. Ziggurat makes it an Intelligence check versus Wisdom, meaning that if she’s a caster she might have an advantage on me. Would the spell being Deific negate that?”

[Not if the failure condition is built into the spell. Mana shaping will be considered a part of the effect once cast, and the Deific modifier only protects from interference, not the skill’s own drawbacks. If it did, Shortcut would have lost its cooldown. Regardless, if you succeed in the attribute contest, she can do nothing to prevent the spell from taking hold.]

“Which would let me teleport her 400 feet in any direction with a 1-second cooldown.”

[Your Archmage passive increases your effective intrinsic skill by 10. The range would be 480 feet.]

“Dammit. I always forget about that one. Uh, that means that if I want to burn a 1-hour cooldown I can send her nine freaking miles. Still need a valid teleport location, though. Think there’s an ocean nearby?”

[Given that you’re trapped in a sequestered dimensional realm, I doubt there is much of anything nearby. If you are lucky, there may be an endless expanse of nothing anathema to all physical matter.]

“If it’s just a duel, I’d rather not cast her into the nothing or anything.”

[Why not? It would likely ensure your victory.]

“Because that might kill her? It’s just a friendly bout, not a fight for our lives.”

[Are you certain? Many duels are fought to the death and you did not inquire as to the rules.]

I tried to hide my look of consternation as I realized Grotto was absolutely correct. Of course, it was impossible to hide that I’d made a mistake when I asked the princess for clarification.

“We shall each take the duel seriously, as though it were a fight for our lives,” said Princess Ishi. I felt Grotto give a smug smile through our connection “However, either side may admit defeat at any time, at which point hostilities shall cease. Incapacitation for 1 minute or longer is also considered a loss for the incapacitated party, during which time the attacking party is expected to allow for their opponent’s potential recovery. If either party abuses this rule, it is a loss for the offender.

“There are no geographic bounds for the duel and no limitations on weaponry or other skill use,” Ishi continued. “We may use anything we have access to from within this space or our inventories.” Ishi tilted her head as though listening to something and frowned. “However, we are not allowed to use any abilities with the capacity to destroy this dimensional realm, such as ‘highly destructive’ transformations or the invocation of higher powers.”

She didn’t look happy about that last bit.

“I can give myself wings and tentacles,” I said. “I assume that’s not a ‘highly destructive’ transformation?”

“That will be fine. I will also use such partial modifications.”

It sounded like The Dread Star would sit this one out, but I had a good idea of the kind of ‘transformation’ Ishi was being forbidden from using.

I thanked her for the explanation and went back to my discussion with Grotto.

“Here’s an idea,” I thought to my familiar. “What do you think about abusing the portal to the Pocket Closet?” I gave Grotto a condensed explanation of my thoughts.

Ishi’s rule about being limited to “what we have access to from within this space or our inventories” was particularly vague, and the type of thing I would normally insist be clarified. The only reason that I didn’t ask for said clarification is that, if Ishi intended to exploit the broadly worded rule, I was betting that I could exploit it better.

[Oh yes. I think that will work very nicely.] I could feel him rubbing his feelers together with sinister glee, even though I knew he didn’t have any feelers at that moment.

[Very nicely, indeed.]