(Braden)

I am officially jealous of Max. Once he got serious with training, his Levels started going up much faster than ours have. I mean, he's not completely serious, as he's now just competing against Gold, but the two of them are killing a crapton of monsters. Their Levels are jumping pretty decently, too.

That's not really fair, but I suppose that after what we were told, I'm not all that fair, either. I'm Leveling faster than normal. Max is just faster. But then, Zack is probably the most unfair of us all.

So far, Max and Gold have been taking care of most of the Level 4's and Level 5's in this area in their competition. I'm tackling a lot of Level 2's and Level 3's, while Gavin is mostly going after Level 1's and Level 2's.

But I'll probably be able to start handling Level 4's once I gain just one more Level, which means I should move off somewhere else. Doing that, however, would require leaving Luca's range, and Zack went into some weird zone earlier and hasn't returned yet. I did figure out where the border to that was, but I'm sure the illusion exists for a reason.

Probably for whatever it is Zack is out here for.

I haven't actually been taking damage for the most part, though. I would try and learn Heal so that I could heal myself, but I have a limited amount of Mana to spend and a limited regeneration for it. Using Heal would only decrease how much Experience I can get, since my attacks use Mana, too.

Looking around, I try to figure out what I can do to boost my own Leveling. Zack's dropped so many hints about stuff, but I haven't figured them out. Even while we were training in Talorn, he'd make comments…

About how people who learn easier tend to Level faster. It isn't just about killing and using Skills, it's about learning how to use them as well. I've adjusted and adapted, but I've always used the same techniques before. Either I aim for an eye or core shot if that's in range, or I hit them with as many attacks as I can before they react.

Looking at the Candy Bunnies, though, there's another obvious point on them. One which I can hit while they're facing away from me. If that works, though, it gives me another option for killing these things. And most definitely counts as actually implementing and learning stuff regarding this Class of Warden.

Hopefully, the Candy Bunnies are actually susceptible to this form of attack.

Drawing my string, I search for a Candy Bunny of appropriate Level and position for me to strike from, an arrow of green magic forming in the bow. Once I find one turned away from me, I aim, then release the string, drawing it again as soon as the arrow is released, a second arrow forming as I pull. The first arrow strikes true, piercing into the back of its neck and killing the creature with a critical kill.

One of the fundamental basics of rogue Classes is that we strike the critical spots, the ones that will deliver more damage or even outright kill. I've been so focused on the eyes that I forgot to work at others. The back of the neck is a vital spot. Sever the spinal cord, and it dies.

I look around the fields, then drop down and aim at a Level 3 Candy Bunny that's sideways of me, releasing the arrow and drawing a second. The arrow passes behind the bunny, slicing through its spinal cord. The arrow continues traveling, having not met its time limit yet, and continues on into the back of the neck of another rabbit.

Score! Two kills with one arrow!

Wait. I've never done that before!

I sigh as I realize how stupid I have been with some things. I've been training for a few hours and have had quite a few opportunities to do multikills, and just a regular Magic Arrow and Power Shot net me as much Experience from each of those two kills as when I use those, Multishot, and Lightning Shot just a few minutes ago.

Stupid Braden!

Okay. I'm calm. Here we go. Wait, I should probably switch back to training Adept Elementalist. That one will take less to Level than Warden will, since it's a lower Tier. But I only have the two Elementalist Skills. Should I branch out into other elements? Or learn a Tier 3 one right now?

"Skills a higher Tier than your Class will earn it more Experience," Zack's voice enters my head.

Oh, okay. Zack, what you are doing?

"Talking with Theodore."

Who's that?

"A Dark Knight," he answers. "Very high-ranked."

Is it about whatever you're hiding behind an Illusion Wall for?

"No, that's already come to pass."

But it's still up?

"You guessed why we were here," he tells me. "Guess why it's still up."

Oh. There are bodies on the other side of it, and they don't want us seeing those. Especially Luca.

"Yeah," Zack responds. "The Scholars sustaining it will end it once you guys head back. Anyway, learning Lightning Bolt or Lightning Strike and using that will earn you more Experience than just learning more elements, especially since you're already on the streak. Hold on."

I can still feel him in my mind, which means he still has his telepathic link open. I kill a few more Candy Bunnies while waiting for him to talk again.

"Sorry about that," Zack says. "I was asking an Elementalist who was here for the issue. So I was only partly-right. He says being a multi-element Elementalist – like Max – works well if your Skills of the same Tier are around the same Level. Since your Electric Spike is Level 6, you'd gain less experience using a Fireball to kill the Candy Bunny than an Electric Spike."

But wouldn't the Fireball net me more, since it'd take more?

"Something like that," Zack responds. "However, it also means using more Mana, don't forget. If it takes 10 Fireballs to kill something but only 1 Electric Spike, are you going to spend 200 Mana or 20 Mana?"

I'd spend 20 Mana.

"Exactly," Zack says. "And with your Stats, it wouldn't be that much of a difference in kill struggle between a Fireball or Wind Spike or whatever than it would with an Electric Spike, even if you'd be using a weaker attack."

Pretty sure there's a big difference between taking out 50 Health and not being able to do any damage at all.

Oh.

"Yeah," Zack responds. "You'd have to drop back down to the normal Slimes for a bit until it got another Level or two in it, then handle the Level 1's. And at that point-"

I might as well just use Electric Spike on the stronger monsters.

"Exactly," he says. "That, or a higher-Tier Skill like Lightning Bolt and Lightning Shot, since it's a higher Tier than your Class is. They're a little weaker than your Electric Spike, since that's Level 6, so it does 120% of your Intellect as damage, and they do 100% per Level, so they'll only do the full value of your Intellect as damage."

But I'll net more Experience if it takes me more to kill, right?

"Yup," he responds. "Also, with the Experience thing for Elementalists, the one which you have the most Skills and highest-Level of Skills in is the element which counts as your 'primary', and is what determines how much Experience you net from other elements."

And because of that, if I have an even spread of the elemental Skills and their Levels are even per Tier, then there's no real 'primary', which is why the Experience gains are around even regardless. Okay, that makes sense. So I'm a lightning Elementalist, then.

I know what Lightning Strike is, but what's Lightning Bolt?

"Lightning Strike," he explains. "Is where you summon lightning to strike your target. It comes from above and strikes down. Lightning Bolt is a bolt of lightning you shoot at them from yourself. Your hands, basically."

That sounds cool. I'm getting that first. Definitely.

"Oh, and don't forget that the Skills cost more the higher their Tier is," he adds.

Yeah, I know. It's not always an even thing, and some Skills can cost more than a higher-Tier Skill, but that's okay.

And the Tier 5 Skill you'll probably want is, uh, beyond your range. So unless we can find another Tier 5 lightning spell Skill for you to learn, you'll be stuck at Level 10 of Tier 4 Elementalist once you hit that whenever you do. It costs 5,000 Mana."

Alright.

"Theodore says 'hi' and that I should stop having multiple conversations running at once. By the way, Max says 'hi' and wants to know if you want to join the competition between him and Gold."

No, thanks.

"I'll let him know!" Zack tells me, then his telepathic link disappears from my mind.

How in the Boundary does he manage to sustain multiple conversations at once like that? I guess that's just one of the mysteries of my team's leader.

But that's to solve another time.

Lightning Strike takes 250 Mana from what I know, so I want to make sure I have at least 250 Mana before I try learning Lightning Bolt. Before that, however, I want to clear out the monsters around me, so I use up enough Mana to do that, then focus, holding out my right hand, lowering my bow to my side.

The process for learning spells is pretty easy, since it's mostly visualization and feeling for the power within myself. It does still take me a few minutes before results occur. A small bolt of lightning flashes out of my hand, leaping towards a Level 3 Candy Slime in that direction. I wasn't quite aiming, and I think the attack just moved to the first target in its range. Not by some specification of the spell, but just because lightning generally hits a nearby target, from my understanding. I might be wrong, but I think that's how it works.

I read the notice as I rub my right ear with my hand. It hurts a bit from the crack of the lightning. My vision is spotty, too, because of the brightness of the lightning.

New Skill! Lightning Bolt Active Throw a bolt of lightning at your target. Damage: 100% of your Intellect per Level of this Skill Cost: 100 Mana

Yeah, that was definitely cheaper than Lightning Strike is, and the Skill notice confirms that.

Oh, neat! I just realized, but as soon as it hits Level 2, I can take on the Level 5 Candy Bunnies and Candy Slimes!

As I return to fighting, I use Electric Spike and Shock Balls rather than Lightning Bolt. I just realized, but the Experience gain wasn't that much better for two or five times the cost in Mana. That said, it was better, even if by just a little bit. I'm just killing less with it.

But maybe that's alright? It's not all about killing as many as possible, anyway, but going beyond. So maybe I should switch back to Lightning Bolt? But it takes so much Mana to use. This is so annoying. What do I do? With archery, it's simple. What do I need to do in order to kill them?

With this, it's figuring out if I should spend more Mana for a slightly-better Experience gain. I suppose every little bit counts, though.

"Lightning Bolt," I mutter, holding up one hand and blasting a Level 4 Pink Candy Bunny to pieces.

I sling my bow across my back. Yeah, I need to be done with that for now and switch fully into Elementalist. It'll feel like I'm Leveling slower because of killing fewer and needing to wait longer between casts once I'm out of Mana, but I'll still gain more Experience overall.

So now the real question is… how do I adapt with my three spells for optimal gains?