The Fool's Freedom

It was almost too easy. It seemed that he had greater control over each process now, which was a welcome surprise. If it was brought on by the four-day-long meditation session and the vision, then he would make sure to repeat the process.

[Mana Zap] went off like a tiny black firework but fizzled out soon after as it went off very close to the bark covering the parasite. Alan frowned. He had expected this but it was still a bit annoying that the weird covering ruined his attempts. The parasite turned toward him and Alan prepared himself for [Synaptic Failure], just in case. The creatures didn’t move overly fast so he had plenty of time.

The parasite quickly retracted its tongue from the ground and started moving toward Alan. A few more [Mana Zap] casts were canceled as they happened too close to the bark, but Alan didn’t care. He was getting to know the skill and how he could manipulate it. An advancement would come if he did things right. It wouldn’t be as easy and natural as [Efficient Basic Movement] had been for Davis, but he was sure it would happen.

Unless, of course, there were skills out there that could not change… which would be silly for one such as [Mana Zap]. It was simple, attributeless and its strength lay in the fact that it could stop channeling skills. Not that Alan had met any.

As the parasite came in the range of [Synaptic Failure] Alan let the skill go off. As soon as the creature faltered and the bark fell off the shiny black body of the parasite, he cast the new and improved [Mana Zap] again.

The skill exploded like a tiny dark firecracker. It was hard to see if it had done any damage to the similarly black glass body, but the parasite didn’t stop its careful charge at all. Alan felt the mana around the monster start gathering and used [Mana Zap] again right at the creature’s weird head a few times. The skill fizzled out each time but not nearly fast enough.

It didn’t do any damage, but there was an unexpected effect. Alan sensed the mana go haywire, and the parasite did too as the ability it was preparing to unleash simply fell apart, similar to when the parasite had made Alan’s enchanted dagger’s effect stop.

Alan knew that the ability of the creature was not a channeling effect, so it meant that either the description of the skill was wrong, or that his mana added effect or strength to the skill. Something to consider. He wondered if any of the guards would agree to be his test dummies. Surely the level difference would prevent him from harming them.

He had planned to ask Zirida, but the [Red Cleric] seemed to have disappeared, not that Alan had put much effort into tracking her down. Their paths were bound to cross at some point.

Lost in thought, he sent a barrage of fast [Shadow Slashes] almost on instinct, waving his staff like a maniac. He didn’t want to give the parasite enough time to cast, or for the bark to return to its body, but he didn’t put much thought into it either.

[Synaptic Failure] was growing in consumption along with his enemies’ strengths. His task demanded him to register at least twenty mid-grade cores, which were quite a few parasites to kill. His current method was very inefficient, but hopefully, by the time he was done he would have improved in other ways than simple levels.

It took a few shadowy blades and a bunch of mana, but eventually, the parasite’s body shattered into pieces. Alan carefully approached and grabbed the onyx core before destroying the sliver of will inside and pocketing it.

You have slain: Void Risen Parasite (47)

Level up!

You have reached level 44 in [Warlock]!

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 1 Mind, Will, and Magic

“That was… something,” Feyrith said from behind. The elf didn’t sound impressed at all, while Byrr seemed almost thoughtful.

“I was trying some things. I have a skill I want to advance.” Alan instinctually defended himself.

“Yeah. The one you used to strip the bark is useful. Is it expensive?” Byrr asked.

“Quite.”

“Look, you do you, but most of us here have picked up some form of kinetic skill or something,” Byrr said. “It isn’t optimal, but it’s cheap and there are many rocks all around. Throwing them at the parasites does quite a good job.” Byrr explained with a soft gaze. It made sense, but he couldn’t stand the look the large green man was giving him. Was it pity? Was he looking at him like Alan was a child?

No. Insecurities are for later. I’m here to learn. The guard was simply trying to help. Alan had decided to do better and to not waver as easily.

Alan took a deep breath to center himself and nodded. “I don’t have anything like that. However, I have a bunch of skills that I want to improve and get more comfortable with. Picking up a new skill each time I meet a new enemy seems like a silly way to go on.”

“It is!” the elf exclaimed from the rock he was sitting on.

Byrr threw his fellow guard a scathing look, “You only say that because you use summons. Normal casters are fucked against the void bark.”

“There is always a way!” The elf countered. This seemed like another hot topic, and Alan was glad to let them argue. He wasn’t in a hurry and the more they argued the more he learned.

“Look,” the elf turned toward Alan interrupting Byrr’s incoming retort. “Do what you want and find a way. If you succeed it will serve you for a long time. While you can ‘forget’ skills, it is painful and expensive and it is much better to not clutter your mind with useless ones. Sure, some are universally good…”

“Like [Catapult]!” Byrr chimed in.

“But!” Feyrith threw his friend an eye-roll, “Skills become a reflection of you in high tiers, or so I’ve been told. If you keep it simpler and take time to adapt each skill to yourself, you will have a higher chance of jumping up a tier and being offered a better class.”

“Look at you, sounding like a great expert!” Byrr grinned. “We’re both stuck at level 99, so I don’t think it’s our place to teach him. It was clunky, but did you see those shadows? They have a sliver of will in them. Tell me, do your mindless summons have your will in them?

The words sent a jolt down Alan’s spine and he barely held himself back from barraging them with questions. There were a few moments of silence as the elf threw a surprised look at Alan. It was a genuine surprise, without a hint of jealousy.

Alan on his part, tried to play it cool. “I don’t know what you mean…?” he let the words trail off, making it sound more like a question than a statement. Byrr threw his hands up.

“He doesn’t know what I mean! Oh, the heavens are blind, and the System is a bastard.”

“Shut it!” Feyrith barked.

“Fuck off. I will badmouth that unfair System all I want. It won’t do anything.”

“It is bad luck!”

“Keep your weird customs to yourself, elf!”

Their voices grew louder and echoed around the surroundings, bouncing off cliffs and carrying far. While it would save Alan some searching, he also felt that they would draw out the monsters hiding all over. He didn’t want any of the treant bastards to come, or he would have to rely on the two guards to help him. Alan doubted his ability to protect himself against more than two of them.

And as fun as the bickering was, Alan was burning with curiosity to continue the topic on hand. “Guys! Please, can we not?”

The two glared at each other for a while before Byrr turned toward Alan and composed himself in an instant as if the argument hadn’t happened.

“Some have it, some don’t. By will, we don’t mean the attribute. Can’t tell you much more as we have yet to reach that state. It’s more like a talent or luck to unlock such an ability than anything.” Byrr said. “I can just sense some weird stuff.” The guard didn’t say anything further. Probably deciding he didn’t want to reveal his tricks, or simply because he really didn’t know more on the subject.

Feyrith remained silent.

That was disappointing, but Alan was glad to have learned anything at all. Maybe he was unconsciously manifesting his will, as weird as that sounded. Maybe it had to do with the control he had started exerting over his skills. He didn’t feel anything different from the shadow blades though. How come Byrr could, but Alan himself didn’t even though he was doing it? There was certainly something he was missing.

The three continued through the hills. The argument between the two guards didn’t seem to have drawn in any monsters and it took them some time to find any more stragglers. Unfortunately, they were only a few small parasites that were barely functional. The bark all over them was in patches and did little to stop even a simple [Mana Zap].

Alan decided they were good test dummies, even if their lower level ranged from twenty to thirty and didn’t contribute to him leveling up.

For the first time, the weak skill did damage. When the skill managed to hit the exposed glassy flesh it made it shatter like a window. Even from a distance, Alan could see the spiderweb cracks that seemed to undulate, before the few patches of void bark on the parasite’s bodies moved toward the wound and covered it.

Even against weak opponents, the skill was not enough to do much. Alan squinted and drew on the curse, taking just a small sliver of life energy from the connection to the large parasite. Then, he cast [Sacrificial Attack] but the energy he provided didn’t seem enough to fuel the skill and stack it on top of [Mana Zap].

Alan felt very reluctant to push his luck, especially remembered what had happened the last time he used it so he gave up on the idea. Instead, he tried to channel the cast and do what the skill was supposed to stop. The first few tries were unsuccessful as the skill seemed to fight him, but as soon as he stopped ‘casting’ and instead recreated the process he had observed, everything went smoothly.

The result was something he hadn’t expected at all. It started with a small black ball of shadows that didn’t seem to do anything. There was no explosion because he didn’t release the skill, so he simply started channeling more and more of his mana, as the orb of shadows grew.

The young parasites that were slowly moving toward him sensed something was wrong when the shadowy orb reached the size of a basketball. Alan didn’t stop there though.

He could feel his mana in the skill, building tension, waiting to explode. He also felt that he could do more with it, take control, make it warp. It was his to mold as he wished.

And he did just that exerting his full authority over the energy that belonged to him, but was also so far away.

A tendril, weak and hesitant rose from the shadowy orb and reached for one of the small parasites. The monster reacted by turning and pointing a portion of its chest that was covered in void bark at the tendril, which in turn fell apart into shadowy wisps.

Alan frowned. Even if there was something to be gained from this, those were not the right opponents. With a grin, he doubled the mana that was bubbling within the orb of void in an instant. He felt as if he had strained some other muscle too and someone had punched him in the gut simultaneously.

That did result in two things.

First, he felt the control he held over the process slip completely. His mind was overcome with fatigue as typically the skills did the heavy technical lifting while he just provided the energy. This time he had done it all manually.

The second was a silent explosion that resulted in shadows flying everywhere in a round sphere. There was no physical damage to the surroundings, which was strange, but the few young parasites that were next to the shadow orb were completely unprepared. The shadows washed over them harmlessly and Alan grit his teeth. The parasites simply stood, as if confused too. Had all of his effort resulted in nothing? He just did whatever he felt like, but it was the first time he had gotten as far.

He did feel very fatigued.

It took a few moments before the void bark started slipping from the glossy flesh. Then as if rehearsed, the parasites fell one by one in even intervals and shattered against the ground.

Alan and the two guards watched it all with wonder.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t planned?” Byrr asked.

“Nope,” Alan responded. What the fuck had he done?

“I told you he’s fun! Such inquisitive spirit!” Feyrith smiled from the side.

Alan waited for the System message to come, but nothing happened…