It was around 2:00 in the morning, and the city was completely silent. We were back in the Chinese food restaurant, waiting until all our magic had returned. I had done essentially nothing at the second fight except grab the two girls out of the air after the explosion, and I had only been using aerokinesis consistently through it all to help me fly. Unfortunately, I seemed to be at some kind of a bottleneck with the skill, as even working with it for the hours waiting produced no levels. I had a suspicion that the only way that I would be able to continue to level it up with any kind of consistency would be to push the envelope with what the skill could do, and this was really not the place to do that.

Curious, I turned and asked Cindy, “So I see you hit rank 2. Obviously, you didn’t need to reach a certain level in order to do it. What effect did the rank up have? I’d like to compare it to my own experiences.”

Cindy got that dazed look in her eyes that everyone got when they were checking their menus, and her pupils darted left and right as she read.

After a short time, she once again turned to me, explaining, “Hmm… Do you have an understanding of how circle magic works, Vic? While the specifics are unnecessary at this time, a basic level of knowledge would be supplemental to your understanding of the process.”

I thought about it a bit, but I didn’t really know all that much. “Could you give me a brief summary? It’s been a while since I heard anything about it.”

She nodded, explaining, “To start with, every magic race has its own type of runic language. All fey share the same runic script, just as every nature spirit, like Taylor, share one as well. Each script has specific things that it is good at, and others that it lacks. The subtle linguistics of fey magic circles is quite interesting, but I think I will leave that explanation to a more opportune time.

The strength of spells is determined by the ability of the user to process mana and effectively use the runic language. Magic race rank ups happen when a bottleneck is reached in both avenues. While your rank seems to be based on power and level, mine is based on skill and practice. I imagine a level 1 magic race could potentially even become rank 3 or perhaps higher. However, this would be immensely difficult as only by increasing level can one increase the amount of internal magic.

At my bottleneck, I had to carve a spell circle within myself, which would allow me to channel even greater amounts of magic. It is… similar in function to a tap on a well, allowing the mana within my system to flow with greater efficiency and strength. It was, unfortunately, quite a painful process, but I decided to accomplish it post-haste as it would only take a brief amount of time and the benefits were many.

Because I have ascended to the second rank, I have greatly increased my ability to channel mana, and therefore have reduced the cost of first circle spells by half. For now, the second circle spells that I have to work with are limited to slightly improved versions of my first circle spells, but in the future, I shall have truly awe-inspiring arcana to show. Important to note is that unless one is a second circle spell caster, it is impossible to generate a magic shield, making first circle spell casters ‘glass cannons’, I believe the term is.”

“Well, that’s pretty wild. Thanks for the explanation, Cindy. Personally, I have a similar situation to you, I guess. For me, I take half damage from someone from a lower rank. We should test if that applies to spell ranks as well later. Is your experience from lower ranks halved as well?”

Cindy looked thoughtful, responding, “Yes, I now receive half experience from rank 1 foes. As to your query about damage for different circle spells, more testing is certainly required in order to collate as much information about this strange new world as possible. We will have to figure it out when we get back home after this is all over.”

I nodded and then went to sit down elsewhere to think by myself for a bit.

That was certainly a lot of information. So, magic races get twice as much mana for first circle spells. That seems to mesh well with my original ideas regarding the differences between the races. I almost guarantee that Kaitlyn is going to have twice as much effective stamina when she ranks up, meaning she could use her stamina-based abilities twice as much. The only real mystery is what happens when a super ranks up, but we could only really find out when someone we know who is a super gets to that point.

Only time would tell. Maybe when I reached max level with identify I would be able to look at other people’s status pages. That would definitely improve my understanding of how everything works and what kind of stats I should expect from the different races.

I looked across the room and saw Taylor stand up to go talk to Steph. I knew that Cindy had already refilled her magic, and we were just waiting on Taylor so that we could go look at the final bandit encampment and try and form a plan. The mass destruction approach simply would not do for this last location, as the slaves were kept in the center of the camp, and if we dropped a massive AOE they would definitely suffer.

We left the restaurant in a group this time, deciding to go to an area a half-mile away from the junkyard, then approach and see if we could plan our attack.

The junkyard was located in an older part of town that was worn away by time. Most of the buildings around here had been standing for 40 years or more and hadn’t been refurbished. What’s more, clearly this being the major base of the bandits had taken its toll. There were probably no unbroken windows within a mile radius of the junkyard, and any cars left out on the streets had been burned or overturned. I was just happy that this wasn’t a residential area.

We entered an abandoned warehouse off to the side of the road as Kaitlyn went ahead to scout out the makeshift fortress. While there we started to draft a plan.

I decided to start off the conversation. “Now, I’m no tactical genius, and I can almost guarantee that Steph has some better ideas about how to do this, but I know that we’re not going to get anywhere unless we have a distraction. They probably have gotten word about their other bases falling, and I’m sure they have upped the number of active guards. If they were as stupid as orc, I would have no problem going in and dealing with them myself, but as it stands, we can’t do much while they have hostages.”

Donny nodded, and began, “You’re right, Vic. I think what we really need is a third party, of sorts. I know we haven’t seen too many yet, but there are still roaming monsters moving around the city. From what Kaitlyn said, pop monsters tend to flock towards the more abandoned parts of town. This whole area looks pretty desolate, so it’s a safe bet we’d find some, and considering we’re all so mobile, I bet we could make a monster train. If one of us leads the train to the fortress, while they are fighting them off we can blow a hole in their defenses in a place where we can access the slave quarters, and once the slaves are free, well, we deal with it as we dealt with the other two camps.”

Steph smiled a sly grin, commenting, “I didn’t think about using monsters for the distraction. I was just going to have Vic try and get their attention, but your idea is much better. While the monsters would for sure be a bit of a variable, the chaos they would cause should give us even more time to get the slaves out.”

As she spoke, the door to the warehouse opened, and Kaitlyn came back and joined us.

Steph turned to her, and in a militaristic tone said, “Kaitlyn, report.”

Kaitlyn nodded, stammering out a,” Ah… Alright. Here’s a map of the place.” and pulled a spiral notebook out of the small pack she wore, placing it on the table so that we could all see it.

Steph asked, “Around how many people were you able to count?”

Pointing to her notes on the next page, she gestured to a set of tally marks, answering, “From what I counted there were at least 45 bandits with a level of around 10, as well as 16 people with the slave job.”

The higher average levels could make this a bit more difficult, but it wouldn’t impact the plan too much. After filling Kaitlyn in on the monster train plan, she immediately went about suggesting places where we could look for groups of monsters to use. She had been ‘hunting’ around this area and was familiar with a few hot spots for monster activity.

On the map I could also see where the slaves were kept. It was a simple rectangle on the north wall of the camp, and according to what Kaitlyn was able to see, it was little more than a wooden shed to keep the rain off of the slave’s heads. We should be able to knock a hole in the wall right next to them and take them out with minimal injury. Now that Taylor was getting better at casting, she had a few healing spells in her repertoire that outshined mine by a landslide, healing twice as much for the same cost. I definitely needed to invest more time in my spellcasting skills, but that would have to wait for later.

It was time to get this show on the road.

The bandit camp was lit up, and I could tell that the people on the walls were panicking. More than once, I had seen an argument break out among the guards, but from this distance I could not make out words, only see angry arm movements and posture. There were 25 people on the walls, each armed with a rifle of some kind. Clearly, they didn’t get the memo about guns, because they were all still packing. It made me wonder if they knew something that I didn’t about getting firearms to do more damage than a simple punch.

The gate was one of those rolling ones that moved to the side instead of swinging forward or back. It had probably been chain link at one point, but now it was covered in metal paneling, giving it a distinct apocalyptic vibe. How fitting. I was currently in position on a rooftop, waiting for Donny, Kaitlyn, and Steph to come this way with a horde of monsters. Cindy and Taylor were both with me. Cindy was going to blast the hole in the wall among a few others to serve as distractions. Taylor was apparently going to create some weak wood golems to cover our escape, sowing additional chaos, and I, as the member with the highest defenses, was going to provide cover for both casters so that all attention was diverted to me. All we had to do was wait until we received the signal over radio. We were going radio silent unless absolutely necessary, as because our walkie talkies were store-bought and cheap, it was totally possible that if the bandits had radios, they could pick up our transmissions. When I heard two blips on the comms, it was time to go.

Interestingly enough, I heard the others arrive before I saw them. There was a mass of dust being kicked up to the south, directly opposite of our location, and I could hear the quite frankly stereotypical howling of wolves approaching from the distance. As soon as we heard the first gunshot from a defender on the wall, the radio blipped. It was time to move.

I grabbed Taylor and jumped down to the ground, landing with almost complete silence due to my aerokinesis. By the time I landed, the chaos had already begun. Just as planned, the defenders on the walls had all abandoned their posts on this side and headed to the southern wall to fend off the horde of monsters. We needed to hurry. Taylor immediately began to cast her spell, and I could immediately see small bits of vine peeking through cracks in the pavement. Meanwhile, Cindy was preparing some concussive blasts to destroy weak points in the defenses of the fortress. All I needed to do was wait for my moment and then move.

Cindy’s blasts came first. She had summoned three of them, and while the amount of damage they would do to people was minimal, they had an astounding effect on objects; they were the magical equivalent of a breaching charge. The blasts detonated in three places across the encampment. The first blast struck the main gate, leaving a four-foot hole in the center. The second flew through the air, striking the area right next to where the monsters were coming from, weakening the defenses of the encampment. The final blast was my cue to move, destroying a part of the wall made of plywood reinforced with some steel pipe between two stacks of cars. Compared to the first two blasts, this one was much quieter, but all three were lost in the hail of gunfire happening on the other side of the fortress.

Making sure Taylor was in a covered position behind an overturned SUV, I entered the breach through a cloud of smoke and debris. I cautiously cleared the smoke, placing my back against a wall to try and be less conspicuous. Looking through the bandit fortress showed a scene of utter chaos. Men ran back and forth in a panic, bringing bracing supplies and what looked like more guns and ammo to the walls to help fight back. Magic effects of all natures flew out of the encampment, peppering the monsters outside, but many were ill-timed or misfires that exploded within the fortress. The sound of gunfire was constant and deafening, leaving my ears ringing as the cracks of sound echoes off of the meal vehicle frames. I could see the large crystal man that Nick told us about sending sheets of crystal over the wall, occasionally peppering his own people with reckless abandon. I actually saw his fire a particularly vicious blast that knocked one of the defenders clear off the wall into what I assume was a veritable swarm of monsters waiting below. Ouch. I presumed he was the leader, so I went ahead and inspected him.

Race – Crystal Golem

Job – Bandit Chief

Class – Shrapnel User

Rank – 2

Level – 7

Well that didn’t bode well. He was clearly the highest-level person I had ever seen, and I was positive his class gave him some nasty skills, making his natural abilities even more potent. I wanted to see more of how he used his magic and skills, but I had no time to waste on frivolities.

The slave house was right next to me, but the only entrance to the shabby hut I could make out was facing the central courtyard of the encampment. I wasted a few seconds looking for an opportune moment when I saw the chaos that Cindy’s spell caused starting to bear fruit. I heard shouts across the field as a wolf head the size of a jumbo watermelon tore a hole in the wall, grabbing a bandit’s arm and tearing it clean off. I could literally not ask for a better distraction. Props, demon pupper.

Entering the hut was easy to do in the chaos caused by the wolf, so I dashed around the building and tore through the tarp that made up a sad excuse for a door, subsequently scaring a bandit guard shitless. The panicking bandit dropped his pistol in his shock and started reaching to his belt to grab the handle of a machete. I immediately engaged art of the blizzard footwork, moving under his line of sight and plunging my claws into his femoral artery with my left hand, and his throat with my right. In an effort to reduce noise, I decided not to engage storm fists.

Combo Critical! -62, -59, Bleed IV Applied

Bleed IV:

A severe bleed effect from slashing or piercing attacks striking critical parts. -15 health every minute until the effect is cured with a heal.

My claws were still sunk inside his body, and I knew I could save him with an aqua heal if I needed to, but I wanted to inspect him first to make sure.

Race – Superhuman

Job – Bandit

Class – none

Rank – 0

Level – 11

Definitely a bandit. It was good that this wasn’t an escaped slave. I guided his body to the ground, and drew out my right hand, preparing to finish him off when I received an insistent call from one of the slaves.

“Wait!” she cried in shock, “He’s nice! He was trying to help us. Please don’t kill him!”

Honestly, I didn’t really want to kill him in the first place, so it was no problem for me. If one of the captive slaves told me to save one of their captors, it probably meant he was safe to save. Especially if it meant I could spare the life of one person this night.

I immediately cast two aqua heals, removing his bleeding status, and partially refilling his health, but he was far from out of the woods yet, and I didn’t want to risk using any more mana until all of these people were safe.

Skill Alert! New Skill Unlocked!

Combat Skills:

Claw Techniques – lvl 1/10 – claw attacks have an increased chance to inflict a bleeding status. (+3%)

Well that was handy. Anyway, I didn’t need to get off track, and time was of the essence. It looked like the bandit I attacked passed out from the trauma, but I could carry him easily.

Turning away from the bandit on the ground, I addressed the slaves around me. Altogether, there were 16, just like Kaitlyn said there were, and they really didn’t look too great. I saw James as well and could tell that he recognized me, but he didn’t speak out.

“Alright everyone. I’ve come to get you out of here. We’ve caused a pretty big distraction, but these guys are pretty well provisioned, so I bet they’re going to pull themselves together soon. I need you to follow me, and quickly. My friend made a hole in the wall only 25 or so feet away, so we should be able to make it no problem.”

I peeked out of the doorway and saw that the bandits were still focused on the monsters, but they hadn’t quite pulled themselves together yet. It was now or never.

“Alright everyone, the exit is around the side of this shack, so immediately exit the door, take a right, and hug the wall. The exit is through the big smoking hole. I’m going to be following everyone else out, so don’t look back.”

I pushed them all out in front of me, holding the bandit on my shoulder like a wet towel. James waited until the end, and right before he ran, he turned and whispered, “Thanks.” Taking the other shoulder of the bandit and helping me get him moving.

We were the last ones, and after leaving the door, I could tell that the others made it out no problem. Because of our burden, we were a bit slow but made it to the hole in the fence without incident. I pushed James through first, followed by the unconscious bandit, but right as I made to follow him out, a glass barrier shot out the ground blocking me off from the exit. Wait, not glass. It was quartz.

Turning around, I found myself about fifteen meters out from a particularly upset crystal golem, and he was looking right at me. Well, shit.