FMH ~ 33!

“I waited for fifty years. Fifty years of trying to find someone to take this Archmage position without killing me off for it.” Don had an iron grip on Taylor's shoulder and was frog marching her along through a thick morning fog. “Now I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and you… you just decide to do your own thing. One of the only things that I can’t order you to do is spend your Potentia as I see fit… a failing of that Sigil on your brow.”

He chuckled, but there was no happiness in the sound; only frustration tinged with fury. “Power, Taylor. Only power and being able to showcase that power will convince the Royal court that you are fit for the position. Brutality is the only way to fend off everyone who wants the position. I have told you that there are only two ways that this title gets passed on? An apprentice takes it, or someone kills the Archmage in a direct, sanctioned duel. Frankly, no one is taking my life.”

“But by ignoring my orders, you are threatening my freedom, Taylor. My freedom. Since you seem to be fine with this, since you seem to want to do things your own way, we will compromise. You get to do things your way, but where I tell you to go. You have roughly three years remaining before you can leave and return to the kingdom. Three years before I need to introduce you as my Apprentice if you are still alive. A question for you, Taylor? Will you follow my training from now on, and become what I want you to become? Speak Truth.” 

Taylor opened her mouth and tried to say that she would do what he wanted. However, the words wouldn’t come. In her heart, she knew that she didn’t want to be anything like this calculating, corrupted Archmage. “I’ll become the Archmage.”

“Not good enough. Not even close. Well, let’s make a bet. Prove to me that I made the right choice, and you did as well. If you win, we’ll do things your way. If not… well. I’ll see you if you survive. Resist Gravity.”

“What?” Taylor recognized that a spell had just been cast, but she had no chance to think on it further before Master Don threw her off a cliff. She hadn't even realized that they were on a cliff thanks to the fog surrounding them. Taylor hurtled through the air as if she had been the ammo for a trebuchet. She was screaming, but was falling much slower than she had initially expected. This also meant that her travel was a large, gentle parabolic Arc. Thanks to that, she was still falling half an hour later.

At this point, she was more angry then she was afraid. “Celestial Feces, just let me get back on the ground already!” 

Between the wind, the power behind the throw, the fog, and the much lower gravity that she was being subjected to, there was no way to tell how far she had traveled. By the time Taylor actually got to the wooden flooring that covered this portion of the World of Names, she was ready to fight something out of sheer frustration.

That was the right mentality to have, because as soon as Taylor touched the ground, she was under attack. She had landed on the wooden ground and found that it had odd protrusions. Though the fog was still present, it was starting to clear. This allowed Taylor to see that the bumps on the floor were now staring at her. “He threw me right into a spawn point? That son of-”

Taylor jumped and rolled as a half-dozen stone spikes drilled through the wooden floor and into where she had just been standing. Her gaze traveled over the bumps that were looking at her, and noticed that they looked like stone hedgehogs. “Spikers. Great. At least you’re Stone Spikers and not something annoying like Wind Spikers.”

With a wave, fire condensed into an orb on her hand and almost lazily flew toward the largest cluster of Spikers. The fiery explosion created a strange reverse concussive blast from the sheer amount of air it ignited at once; it made Taylor hope that when she ranked this spell up a few times it would transform into a type of implosion magic. That sort of thing happened very infrequently, but variant spells did exist and usually had strange effects when they were low ranked.

Damage: 115 x12 (Fire damage). Exp gained: 82 (T2 Stone Spikers x12 destroyed.)

“Why is it that the same monster has different amounts of Potentia? I understand that they are growing at different rates, but it just seems so messy.” Taylor cracked her neck, her hair flowing back into a perfect position right after. She had to admit that Cleanse had been worth getting so many years before, but she forced her mind away from that memory. “Shatter Shot.”

She stated the words casually, but the icicle that went flying didn’t lose any power because she was being flippant. When it was most of the way to the next group, she squeezed her fist closed and let the shrapnel shred the Spikers. 

Damage: 67.5 x8 (Ice damage). Exp gained: 79 (T2 Stone Spikers x8 destroyed.)

The creatures bled ink as they dissolved into illegible words and stone quills. Taylor scooped a few of the quills up. Even if she didn't have anything to write on, they would work well for marking her surroundings if needed. At that moment, Taylor was more annoyed by the inconvenience of needing to find her way back than she was concerned for her safety and the future. This changed as lightning flashed through the air and she heard two spells clashing.

The ground around her started to shift, and when she looked into the distance she could see that the wooden ground was shifting, shattering, then lifting into the air and flying toward the commotion. Her face went pale and she started sprinting away from the battle. “Tier eight, multitarget area of effect! That’s just death!”

Creatures like spells, monsters, and constructs were all rated with the same tier system for an easily explainable reason. Just like when humans were able to control or use them, the results were easily quantifiable. At tier eight, the spell would have four effects, and four bonuses. The bonuses always grew in the same way: the spell became ranged with bonus number one, multitarget with bonus number two, then gained an area-of-effect with the third. Finally, when something became tier eight, the fourth bonus made a separate multitarget area-of-effect. This was the most powerful bonus until tier ten, when the spell shifted into a domain that was created by combining all the other effects and bonuses.

Theoretically, every Ascender wanted to go out and gain spells, abilities, summons, and so forth that were the highest tier possible so that they didn’t need to invest all their Potentia in raising them higher. In practice, there was a limit to what any one person could handle. If Taylor ran to a fight where two tier eight spells were fighting, there was an extremely high chance that she would just flat-out die. Even if she could nullify magical damage for a few seconds, those wooden spikes that had been created were physical objects. They would pulverize her even if the magic controlling them faded.

After about a mile of running, the echoes of the battle had faded to nothing. She continued going until she could no longer see the direct effects of the battle; but it was impossible to miss the swirling thunderstorm that moved toward the battle. Taylor watched it move, and very, very quietly started to slink away. “Domain spell…”

Controlling the weather, by definition, was a tier ten spell. A lightning bolt, tornados, and so forth could all be lower… but no one under the domain level could control the actual weather. “Don, you terrible person… just where did you send me?”

There was a terrible *cracking* that was coming closer at a high speed, so Taylor rushed toward a book stack and focused on retracting her presence. In an instant, she was merely a part of the scenery. Her eyes flashed to her characteristics, and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

Senses: 20.05

Physical reaction: 20.8

Mental energy: 19.3

Stealth engage: 100.25%

In order for whatever was coming to break her stealth, it would need to have the ability to do so. That meant either senses at the same height as her, a Presence stat that could directly break her stealth, or some equivalent spell of the mind or body designed for that purpose. With a bonus of over a hundred percent chance to her stealth, Taylor felt more comfortable than she should have been.

The cracking came closer, and soon revealed itself as the ground breaking apart. It slowed, then stopped. A small round creature came out of the ground, and Taylor almost laughed at herself. It was a simple Digrett, a tier one spell creature that made tunnels or pitfall traps. As she was about to stand and go fight it, the ground surrounding it crumbled. The ‘Digrett’ rose higher and higher into the air. It was actually only the nose of the huge beast that clawed its way into the open air. Taylor almost spoke out loud in shock, but somehow kept the words from falling out of her wide-open mouth.

“Tier five Fissure. Don, you despicable son of a-”