PSTH: Chapter Twenty-Two

Now, we can all agree to be mature adults and not make any obvious jokes, right? Right. Wood essence! It’s a complex and powerful type of essence, which covers a variety of spells from plant manipulation, to healing magic, to imposing several types of status effects. It’s actually called wood in reference to wuxing, where it’s more accurately translated as ‘vitality’, or something along those lines. There have also been names suggested like ‘nature’, ‘life’, and ‘druggist’ essence, and no, that last one isn’t a joke. I’m a fan of nature, personally, as I feel it gives the overview of plants, healing magic, and status effects, while also keeping the theme. But alas, the name wood has stuck around, and in the end, we all have to take wood…

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Intro to the eighth in a video essay series about essence types and their unique factors, 454 Modern-Era

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The instant that the announcer called ‘go’, I thrust my hand out and sent power rushing through Hex. As one, we cast Shadow Cloud, conjuring a billowing haze over the battlefield. Councillor Cruz flicked his hands and unleashed attacks from his own Primals, but without the line of sight, they missed entirely. 

The distraction bought me half a second to think. This wasn’t a great matchup for us, but nor was it the worst possible matchup. Both metal and toxic essence had an innate resistance to toxic element attacks, which meant Hex’s debuffing spell would be less useful. At least it also meant Hex would resist attacks from the Tubifoop. Thankfully, that was the only major elemental advantage in play. Worse, both of Scales’ attacks – Pneuma Bite and Frosted Bite were resisted by the Axekit. 

At the very least, everything else was neutral, which was a small solace. 

Bearing that in mind, I sent Hex to dive in at the Tubifoop, where she lashed out with a Shade Bite. She was able to move through the cloud without issue, and the attack slashed through the jelly-like pneuma shell of the opposing Primal. Normally, I’d hesitate to let one of my Primals touch a Tubifoop, since its gift gave it a chance to infect the pneuma shells of anyone who made contact with them. But with Hex’s own gift suppressing the Tubifoops… 

She bounced back, landing on her feet as she prepared for another slash, and I focused on Scales. He’d used the opportunity to begin layering up Boost Scales and Anima Bubble spells, which was great, but I’d bet that Cruz’s Axekit was doing something similar. We’d need to put a stop to that. Hex and I reduced the range the Shadow Cloud spell, since it was so expensive, keeping it in a tight circle around Hex and the Tubifoop, which cleared the path for Scales to take on the Axekit, even as Hex slashed out at her opponent with another Shade Bite.

Able to see, I glanced at the metallic frame of the Axekit. It was glimmering with spell enhanced light, opposing Scales’ own, but seemed mostly to be a defense against up close and personal attacks, as well as a force multiplier for its own pneuma-enhanced strength. It rushed in at Scales as I studied it, and the pair slammed into one another, both of them lashing out with attacks that felt somewhat like Pneuma Bites, before leaping back. 

I grunted as I felt Scales’ pneuma take a dip. I was certain that he had come off worse in that exchange – the opponent’s attack had been enhanced by one of its boosting spells, as well as resisted Scales’ attack. But what could I do? If I had a water attack, things might be different, but Scales’ ousia only held the Aqua Fin spell at level seventeen. 

But, Scales was a defensive primal. We need to play the long game. Trading blows would be death by a thousand papercuts, so as the Axekit dove in for another Pneuma Bite, I had Scales cast Boost Scales. The dip in his pneuma reserves was smaller this time, and that put the Councillor on the backfoot. If he cast a strengthening spell, Scales could use that time to cast Boost Scales again, keeping Scales at a slight defensive advantage. If he attacked, Scales would just further that defensive advantage. 

Of course, there were two problems with this plan. The first was that it was entirely possible that Cruz had a spell that could amplify his Axekit’s strength more effectively than Boost Scales improved Scales’ toughness, but I wasn’t too horribly worried about that. Councillors modulated the power amount that their Primals used in accordance with the number of Councillor seals someone had, and part of that process involved shifting the spells their Primals knew. 

The second problem was, even with a defensive advantage, Scales would still lose. He’d run out of anima to sustain his boosts, if nothing else, and would be whittled down. Even if he didn’t run out of anima, he’d still be continually taking hits without being able to hit back. 

But that loss wouldn’t be instant. If Hex could fell the Tubifoop, she could join, and make this a tough fight for Councillor Cruz. As if summoned by my thoughts, the man on the other side of the ring grinned at me and whistled.

“Ey, not bad! Pickle, pickle!”

I nodded, but was too focused on Hex to say anything. She’d trained a lot with Shadow Cloud, but it was still a costly spell. If she was going to have the anima to fight the Axekit, she’d need to end thi–

No. She didn’t.

Even as the Axekit bore down on Scales, who had now layered on four casts of Boost Scales, I had Scales rush to the side. It wasn’t enough to evade the blow, but Scales wasn’t trying to dodge. His mouth clamped onto one of the legs of the Axekit, but he wasn’t attacking, not directly. Instead, he yanked hard on the leg, and the pair tumbled forward in a splay of limbs. 

Councillor Cruz’s eyes went wide as the Shadow Cloud vanished. Scales and the Axekit barreled right into the squishy, jelly-like battle form of the Tubifoop, suspended within the toxic goo. The goo that Hex’s presence was rendering completely inert. 

“Frosted Bite!” I called out, and Scales opened his mouth wide. White light turned into sharp shards of ice as he slammed his teeth down on the pneuma. Given he was literally inside of the creature, he quite literally couldn’t miss. 

The Tubifoop had already recovered and was gathering power to unleash an attack at Scales. A jet of purple light crashed into his side, but it was weakened by his Anima Bubble. It still left thin cracks in Scales’ shell, but it wasn’t too bad. And Scales was definitely hitting a lot harder on the Tubifoop than vice versa.

And since the Tubifoop was working on taking out Scales, it wasn’t focused on manipulating its pneuma to release the Axekit, or on Hex. The Axekit was slowly making its way out of the goo on its own, but for right now, it was vulnerable. Hex scampered forward with the explosive energy and speed of a cat, then landed a Shade Bite on the back of the Axekit’s neck. The Axekit turned and tried to slam into her with a Pneuma Bite, but she was too agile. She leapt out of the way, and the Pneuma Bite hit the Tubifoop, even as Scales chomped down with another Frosted Bite. 

The giant slimy worm vanished as it transformed to a smaller, and much more cute looking dragon-worm-creature – the natural, non-battle form of the creature. The rush of essence from its defeat threw me off, and Councillor Cruz pressed the opportunity. His Axekit charged right at Scales, and if not for Scales apparently being better able to keep his attention in battle than I was, probably would have utterly shattered Scales’ battle form then and there. As was, Scales was still too slow to dodge entirely, but the graze only left a thin row of cracks in his pneuma. 

I refocused, and Hex leapt forward, who landed another Shade Bite on the Axekit, managing to get at its softer underbelly. That sent some spiraling cracks through its shell, even as it went for another attack at Scales and I shifted Scales’ strategy. When I’d needed to buy time to let Hex wear down the Tubifoop, defense had been the goal, but now? He had enough defensive boosts applied. He could focus on offense. Now, though, the most important thing was damage. 

The pair hammered against one another, with Scales landing Pneuma Bites on the Axekit, and the Axekit landing blows of his own on Scales. Since both of them had defensive boosts, it wasn’t a fast process, and it was a losing one for Scales, but it was a very distracting one. The Axekit couldn’t focus on Hex if it was focused on Scales. Even as the pair traded blows with one another, Hex leapt in and out, landing Shade Bites in whatever bits of semi-vulnerable flesh she could find. 

Slowly but surly, the cracks on the Axekit’s battle form began to outpace the cracks in Scales. All at once, there was a flash of light, a rush of essence, and the battle was over. The enchantments around the ring began to power down, and I allowed Scales and Hex’s own pneuma shells to vanish, then darted in and pulled them into a hug. 

“Oh! You guys did amazing! I’m so proud of you!” 

“Not bad, not bad at all! You’ve got some real potential there,” Councillor Cruz said as he strode toward me, holding out a hand. I let go of my Primals and rose to shake his hand. 

“Thank you.” 

He pulled out his augpad then, and I raised my own. The fight recordings from both Gawain’s drone and from the cameras around the ring were in the process of downloading to my local storage, but that wasn’t what really grabbed my attention. My Tamer ID lit up as the symbol for Councillor Cruz’ seal appeared, stamped at the bottom. My Tamer Rank shot way up as the battle was factored into my statistics. I was still horribly low ranked, of course, but I’d surpassed anyone who didn’t have a Councillor’s Seal. The assistance in finding a new, legendary Primal had probably also helped boost my rank.

Though it probably didn’t matter to someone like Gawain, who seemed to have all the fancy doodads, seeing the five hundred credits transferred into my account also gave me a surge of pride. Sure, it wasn’t a vast sum of money, but it was money that Scales, Hex, and I had made. Money that we had made from being a tamer! 

“Where you headed next, kid?” Councillor Cruz asked as we took a couple of quick pictures. 

“Arkose Nature Preserve. Gonna look for a Serest, if I can, and maybe see about fighting the Councillor who lives near there.” 

“Not a bad plan, the train out that way leaves in a few days,” the easygoing man said. “I’ll send Lisa Ruth a message to keep an eye out for ya.” 

I thanked the man, then paced over to the side and took a seat on the bench where Gawain was waiting. Once again, the cameras around the field started rolling, and the enchantments fired up as Gawain’s Primals adopted their battle forms. Gryphon grew much larger, and the hair around him turned into a thick, defensive fuzz, even as his antennae crackled with power. Gabis grew less than Gryphon did, but his ice and crystal spikes became far sharper and more pronounced. 

Across the field, a pair of Primals emerged from Councillor Cruz’s storage gems. One of them I didn’t recognize, a large bovine Primal with horns longer than my forearm and scales like a lizard. Flames licked from its nose and horns as it grew even larger, and I sensed it radiating the raw bodily power of a combat element primal alongside the scorching heat of fire. 

The second primal Cruz released was a Tapirinic. They were a mostly peaceful Arcane element species that resembled tapirs, though with large dove-like wings and two tails. I had to wonder how Councillor Cruz had found one that enjoyed fighting enough to take this sort of position – in the wild, they mostly used their arcane spells to avoid notice, teleport around, put aggressive Primals to sleep, and examine random things that they found interesting. 

I didn’t have long to think about it, though, as the announcer called the start of the match.