The Part Where I Get Shot (it sucks just as much as you think it would)

I stood still for a moment before I started flying over the invasion while channeling mana through my body with Mana Boost. Laserfire started ringing out and I didn’t know what to do. Gaia was flooding me with power and I did what I took the best option I could.

I started blasting. Blasting like a motherfucker. My heart slammed in my chest and I felt Gaia’s pulse become in sync with mine. The power given to me was far beyond what she normally provided as my body started taking damage from the overflow. My eyes started to bleed lightly and I started hammering raw elemental mana into the invaders. The entire world itself opened up to me as I saw the natural disasters I could wield.

Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Tornados, and even Volcanoes. Weapons far too strong for a city like this without killing all my allies.

I saw Mark down there and tried my best to avoid hitting him and any humans. 

My head hurt, my ears pounded, and then I saw a massive laser fly towards my friend. I raised a hand but I was too slow, my heart dropping until I saw a pink shield protecting him from the blast. I kept hammering the tanks but my mana capacity just wasn’t high enough to do the amount of damage necessary, and I couldn’t formulate the power into spells because I didn’t know a single offensive one.

My teeth grit and I clutched my head in pain as I started rising higher into the air and the clouds around me turned dark. I started down and tears left my eyes and blood seeped through my orifices. 

Gaia’s scream of warning reached my brain but I barely reacted as the laser beam flew straight at my chest. The entire world's sounds overflowed and suddenly everything felt calm.

A bubble had burst and I softly moved out of the way of the incoming attack. I was just below the storm clouds now as a soft smile made its way onto my face. 

I felt Gaia against me. Comforting me, and the calm washed away my fear, no longer flooding me with an insane amount of power. Then my eye looked at the cloud, and as though my vision were a hand the massive mana my body had been leaking was pulled along my gaze.

With it a lightning bolt as my gaze drew to the invaders.

But it did not stop there. My eyes closed and thunder rang out over and over and over again, explosive lighting slamming into the invading army before coming to a halt. I opened my eyes and gazed at the destruction I had wrought as the Hand of Gaia.

Fried corpses and machinery lay everywhere and my eyes crinkled in sadness as I noticed I’d hit a few civilians as well. I could only hope they were already dead. 

I looked over the battlefield silently as though it were a moment stuck in time. I felt a hug from Gaia but I pushed the sensation away. She’d done what needed to be done. She gave me the power to drive off the invaders at the cost of my body and brain getting wrecked, they’d fled through the portal while I gazed at the wrecked city and I couldn’t even sigh.

“Thanks for the help, are you alright?” My eyes slowly turned over to a girl in pink flying up to me. Hah, it's that Eve girl from school. Is highschool just a superpower breeding ground? First Mark, now her.

My eyes slowly peel over to her and I softly shake my head. My heart is still beating in my chest and only instinctual control over my magic is keeping me up in the air. I still feel the faint flow of Gaia feeding me, but her consciousness has pulled away.

“Do you need to talk about it?” I do. I definitely do. I nod and start flying down onto the roof of a nearby building. I peeled the helmet off and sat it next to me, a faint burn mark on it a cruel reminder of how close I’d gotten to losing my life.

“Emile . . . You’re bleeding a lot” She remembered my name. That’s nice. I give her a shaky smile and a thumbs up.

“Y-yep. Went a little bit too hard back there. I could barely handle my own powers.” Her eyes widened a little bit at my words.

“That was you ‘barely handling’ them? You did some great work, you helped save a lot of lives today.” Did I? Or was it Gaia just using me as a weapon against anyone who would oppose her? I don’t feel her response to the thought. She truly has given me some space.

I let out a sigh. She just wanted to help save lives, I can’t blame her for that. My silence seems to catch her attention as she lightly shoves my shoulder.

“Seriously! That was a crazy lightning storm, and you had some good control over it too!” I did? My eyes look up in intrigue and some confusion. I could feel my mana was directing the lightning but hadn’t I hit some people?

“I-I thought I hit civilians?” She gave me a so-so gesture bringing a confused expression on my face.

“My teammate can clone herself in a sort of hivemind situation, you hit a few of her doubles but she’s fine . . . though you definitely still caused her a bit of pain. Also you’d avoided any of the other people we were getting out, she was tackling the invaders. You can’t blame yourself for that.” I nodded. That did make me feel a lot better.

“Thanks Eve. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, there’s someone I have to apologize to.” She raised an eyebrow as I flew off and called Gaia.

She gently reconnected with me and I sent a hug her way causing her to freeze as an apologetic expression was on her features. I shook my head at that. Thank you Gaia. Thank you for being with me up to this point, and thank you for putting your faith in me. I’ll be training harder from now on so that I can handle all of you. 

She smiled and gave me a kiss, the sensation of a hand running down my back sending me a faintly pleasurable warmth.

I’d gotten back home as I reviewed my status, and what had happened just previous.

Class: Wizard 3

STR: 11

DEX: 10

CON: 10

INT: 17

WIS: 12

CHR: 16

Skills:

• Mana Flux II

• Planetary Heartbeat III

• Mana Boost I

• Formulization I

Equipment:

• Pure Jewel of Lead

• Walking With Birds

• Magic and How Not to Accidently Kill Yourself

• Mop of Cleaning

[Flaxan Fiasco I]

[Defeat the Flaxan invaders. Succeeded. Full Credit Given.]

[Prevent Civilian Deaths up to 100. Failed, civilian deaths total to 234.]

[Prevent Collateral Damage up to 100,000,000 USD, Failed.]

[4 Villainy Gained.]

My eyes dread with sadness as I look at the death toll. I can only hope that it would have been much worse without Gaia and I. The infrastructure damage was also pretty high, but that wasn’t as big of a concern to me.

Also that’s a lot of stats. Whatever, let's roll them.

+1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +3 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +1 Charisma

Class: Wizard 3

STR: 12

DEX: 11

CON: 10

INT: 20

WIS: 14

CHR: 17

Skills:

• Mana Flux II

• Planetary Heartbeat III

• Mana Boost I

• Formulization I

Equipment:

• Pure Jewel of Lead

• Walking With Birds

• Magic and How Not to Accidently Kill Yourself

• Mop of Cleaning

[Twenty Intelligence reached. Select a compatible perk.]

Skill Monkey

Thought Castle

Memory Foundation

My body is flooded with power at the new stats, but my mind opening up takes the backseat as I make my skill choice.

Huh. So the first one most likely makes me better at ‘skills’. I wonder if that counts for magic? Thought Castle is probably more active, and the last one is most likely related to memories. The question is which one of these is going to be good for developing myself in the future.

Skills. Thoughts. Memories. Three different facets of my mind. Then I pause as my mind wanders back to the fight. Even after Gaia’s power left me I’d still frozen up. I can’t let that happen again.

I select Thought Castle and I feel my mind spiral for a moment before I’m surrounded in a massive spherical cavern. My mind feels clear in this miniature world, as though it were completely under my control.

I softly float around the area as I feel myself moving through my own mind. This place is relaxing, brings me peace. I feel my thoughts are safe here and nearly in the palm of my hand.

I pull myself out of the false reality, and my head is already clear. My thoughts are organized, focused, and my mind shifts the internal environment to a small office. In the small room is a shelf, with each book detailing my spells and magical knowledge.

Well that’s convenient.

Class: Wizard 3

STR: 12

DEX: 11

CON: 10

INT: 20

WIS: 14

CHR: 17

Skills:

• Mana Flux II

• Planetary Heartbeat III

• Mana Boost I

• Formulization I

Perks:

• Thought Castle

Equipment:

• Pure Jewel of Lead

• Walking With Birds

• Magic and How Not to Accidently Kill Yourself

• Mop of Cleaning

I wonder what those other perks could do, and if its possible to gain more at twenty in each stat . . . I should definitely find out. I think its time I tackle another dungeon. Gaia pushes against the idea as I realize I’m still full of internal injuries.

Alright, sleep first. Becoming stronger can come tomorrow.

. . . 

[You have rested for 8 hours. You have healed.]

My eyes shoot open and a thought races past. I need to get stronger and I need to do it as soon as possible. Gaia told me that Omniman killed the Guardians. So I need to be able to defeat Omniman in order to protect the planet.

You know what, fuck it. I’m skipping school today. I need to improve my offensive magic so that I can properly use Gaia’s power. I need spells related to the natural elements. I needed them yesterday. 

I can be as weak as I want in the dungeons, but what I need is the power to fight off evil superman with Gaia at my back. She preens at my thoughts and I let out a soft smile.

It’s good to have a strong and reliable companion, even if she can be a little overzealous at times. She blushes at the thought as I put on my gear, burn scar helmet and all. Then I fly upwards and think for a moment. 

Should I go back to the Library? Nah, I’d rather not get caught skipping school. I should go somewhere people won’t bother me . . . should I go back to the park? Deal with the little Lead fucks? I snort at the idea. None of them seemed to be able to fly so it should actually be pretty easy.

Flying over to the park I smashed the Stage One button and right before I entered the park I paused to let Gaia do her thing. Power flooding my body, Gaia’s mana sending me the power I’ll need to win. Hopefully I get something water related, Gaia has a ton of water mana after all. 

Probably because there is a lot of life in the sea. She gives a nod as I realize something. I think the amount of mana she can provide is based off the natural order of life right? So it would make sense that her strongest elements are Wood, Earth, and Water. Followed by Wind, and then only a drop of Fire. 

Are there mole people near the planet's core? She gives me a so-so gesture. Guess I’m half right then? Lava people? She nods with a smile, twenty intelligence alongside my other mental stat buffs has been quite useful for this sort of thing.

I step through the portal and stand in the heavy rain. My eyes gazing over the surroundings and then  I bring myself into the air. The environment here is strange. I can feel the powerful water mana only getting stronger as I get higher up.

Then my flight circle shatters. OH SHIT. I start falling, the natural mana here interferes with my spell circles. Walking With Birds said this could happen, but environments with this powerful of mana are rare.

I didn’t expect a green portal to present this sort of challenge. I fall but I smile faintly, instead of hitting the ground I remanifest my flight spell and let my feet softly touchdown against the wet soil.

The Lead Elementals start climbing out of the fountain and my eyes narrow. I ignore them and start flying around to actually explore how big this ‘park’ is. I fly for a while and I notice something. This place isn’t a park, it's a natural park. It’s fucking gigantic. Then I get a weird message.

[Initial Stage Breach Detected. Please Return to the Play Area.] 

What? I look down and I’m definitely in a different section of the park but- a massive bolt of viscous grey liquid flies past my face and my eyes widen. I’d barely avoided it and then another fires at me as I start to hear buzzing sounds.

[Stage Breachead. Changing Objectives. Rank Changed from Easy -> Intermediate.]

[Defeat 0/50 Mercury Swarmlings]

[Defeat 0/4 Mercury Spewers]

[Defeat 0/1 Mercurial Hunter]

[Secret: ???]

What the hell? An army of Mercury bugs starts flying towards me and I begin to fly off in the other direction, still dodging the Mercury until I notice something that causes me to pale. The Swarmlings are caging me in and it’s either run into one of them or get hit with the liquid firing at me. 

FUCK! Is there no way out? I have no idea what will happen if I get blasted, I might just die. I can’t go higher because the spell will fall apart and I can’t flee because the bugs will get me. Then I look down.

I rocket into the forestry area beneath me and collide with the ground after enhancing my legs. I pour droplets of mana into my eyes as I look through the forest, the enhancement saves my life as I move my head out of the way of an arrow. 

Instead it tags my shoulder causing me to hiss in pain. The hooded figure retreats into the forest at the missed shot. That must be the hunter, but I don’t need to take them down. I just need to deal with the spewers or whatever the hell and I can be out of here.

Another arrow flies at me and strike me from the otherside, FUCK! He’s fast! The arrow pierces my stomach and blood starts to trickle out. I activate my thought palace and focus, the world seems to slow down. 

However the Hunter is still stupidly fast as my thoughts race. My body frozen in space, the controls gone and instead running through my head is all I do. I need a way out. My heart slams in my chest and I get an idea, I reach out to the planet. However I don’t get a response.

My breath hitches as another arrow flies my way, still unmoving I stare it down. Focusing on the wood mana in the area I come to a conclusion. I need to get rid of the hunters' cover, but first I need to stop this shot from piercing my heart. 

The rainfall is inherent to this place, natural in a way. While I can’t draw power from this world I can abuse the environment using Gaia’s mana as a catalyst. I connect the water touching my skin to the arrow inches from my chest and burst it with mana causing the arrow to redirect sideways.

Then I chain the rest of the mana through drops of water causing them to steam and burst in the area. I send the mana next to the hunters head and it bursts violently. Steam fills the forest as I grit my teeth and check for a notification. 

None comes. The fucker is still alive. I’m out of natural mana too, but that hit was brutal. If its not injured I might as well be fucked anyways, so I decide that I need to face off against this hunter before something- liquid mercury slams into my leg. 

I grit my teeth as I use my Null mana for the flight spell and charge towards the last place I’d seen the hunter. Damn steam is getting in the way, but luckily I do happen to spot it.

Half of its body is fragmented into tiny pieces, the creature is faceless and wears a mercury cowl and has a short bow clutched tight in its hand. I hear the buzzing get louder, but the steam has acted as a protective barrier for now. 

I focus but the blood loss causes me to stagger. I can deal with the pain, but my body shutting down is a pain in the ass. My leg is dissolving, blood is leaking from my stomach, and I’m covered in heavy rain.

I nearly fall as I stare at the form of the hunter and make my way over. Then mercury slams into my back, the steam clearing from the area and I fall to a knee and let out a scream of agony from being forced to use my bad leg as a support.

I just need to kill this hunter. That's all I need to do. I feel my back burning too now as I slam an open hand on the head of the hunter who sends a punch towards my chest. I barely manage to move my body to the side and the attack lands on my arm snapping it off.

I laugh lightly from delirium as a thought occurs.

“I get it now! You’re way stronger than me, you just got cocky!” My hand makes its way to its head, and I flood its head with mana. I feel the creature’s structure, its an elemental. A being of mana itself. Null Mana is naturally adaptive meaning that injecting it with more is only going to make it stronger. This creature is also probably good at absorbing the water mana here too.

So I convert the Null Mana to Earth Mana. Raw strength, Mercury is liquid while Earth is solid. Their properties are different in a fundamental way, they can’t coexist without complicated spell structure supporting it.

The purple turns a dull brown and the partially liquid head hardens before bursting with a pop. A bit of Mercury gets in my mouth as bugs start ripping into the back of my head and slamming it against the ground.

I’m stunned for a moment, but my new perk saves my life by giving me the moment of clarity to escape the moment the notification pops up.

[Defeat 1/1 Mercurial Hunter. Primary objective succeeded. You may now exit at your leisure.]

I come back to reality and Gaia is already fussing over me, but oddly enough she’s relatively calm despite my dying state. I can feel blood leaking from the back of my head, my right leg doesn’t work, my back is melting away and a broken arrow is bent against my stomach as blood begins to fill it. However I trust Gaia. If she’s calm then I can probably trust these people.

The last thing I see before I lose consciousness is a balding man with a scar near his mouth and I hear a few words leave his mouth.

“Get Weather Boy over here to medical, NOW.”

AN: You really thought Cecil wouldn’t be watching the weird guy flying around? Especially after he obliterated the Flaxans? Him disappearing in a park was strange, so they set up a team to watch him. Shame he reappeared with both feet practically in the grave.

Stage skipping!? Emile how could you break the game like that! Flight is already pretty rare. Not something you should be able to get so easily, the Game was not prepared for this sort of thing and Emile bit off way more than he could chew.

He only survived because of the Hunter’s arrogance and his unique set of powers (and his sugar mommy being the planet life made manifest).

Anyways, feel free to ask any questions and leave some comments. They help push my writing forward!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.