With the addition of the slowly growing army of Jeffs, the party picked up their pace; over the course of the day they progressed a full ten miles, suffering only two attacks in the process. When Aki despondently apologized to Jaden for failing to prevent the attacks, Jaden waved off the apology, which suited Aki well enough. He wasn’t sure why, but he had been expecting to be punished. Not being punished was a relief.

Twelve hours of walking later, Jaden groaned, calling a halt to the party. “I think my feet are dying. Anyone else?”

“Yes. Dead.” Niko agreed, nodding.

Lois nodded as well, prompting Jaden to speak. “Alright, should we take a break?”

The girls nodded wearily, and dropped to the ground. Jaden joined them a moment later, peeling off his shoes to cast First Aid on his feet.

“Me too!” Niko chirped, and Jaden laughed as she pulled her shoes off. He admired her smooth, delicate feet, marred by blisters and callouses from the past week. After examining them for a moment, he used his First Aid spell to cover them in bandages.

Niko smiled broadly at him. “Ahhhhhhhh.” She said in relief.

After doing the same thing for Lois, the trio rested in blissful silence. Niko leaned into Jaden; who was using a tree for support, while Lois laid on the ground against a pillow she summoned. Jaden found himself being silently grateful that she had decided to practice at least some utilitarian magic, rather than rely on him to do it for her. This thought only lasted for a moment before exhaustion began clawing at him, draining his cognition. With Aki and his soldiers on guard, the party fell asleep quickly. Four hours later, they awoke to the sounds of combat.

Lois, the first to react, hastily pulled on her shoes; the bandages having evaporated from lack of mana long ago. Still dressed in her armor, she verified that the others were awake, then charged toward the combat area.

“Aki, what the hell is going on?” Lois grumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“The creatures from before tracked us down. We’re faring better this time since I’ve been summoning stronger Jeffs, but it still takes six of them just to match a single enemy.” Aki said mournfully.

“How many enemies are there?” Lois asked.

Aki shrugged. “I’m not sure. They seem to like ambush tactics, so we only see a few at a time.”

“Lets call them the Klax for now.” Jaden suggested, walking up next to Lois. “They remind me of a race from an old video game.”

“Sure, why not.” Lois shrugged.

Aki nodded. “It will be done.”

Lois looked away from the conversation just in time to see an errant fireball speeding toward them. With a shout, she thrust her fist toward the spell, emitting an invisible wave of force that slammed into its center. With a loud whoomph, the fireball split, falling apart into a spray of fire that vanished a moment later.

“Woah, what was that?” Jaden asked in surprise.

Lois shrugged. “Something I unlocked through the class system after our last fight. I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, so I’m glad it worked. It’s called Ki Fist.”

“Awesome! Ki exists here too? How does it work?” Jaden replied enthusiastically.

“From what little I could get out of the Ki Control description when I first picked the class; basically since we’re using mana to fortify our bodies, that mana can also be filtered through our bodies to produce quasi-mystical effects without losing the passive bonus. We just have to spend some time resting to recharge it. I imagine it’ll be the same once Niko starts being able to use her barbarian rage.”

“Awesome.” Jaden said, looking at Niko.

Niko shrugged noncommittally, and Jaden looked back to Lois. “Alright, let’s get to work then.” Lois nodded.

Activating his battle grid, Jaden watched as Lois and Niko charged into the fray. Glancing at his hand, Jaden dropped a card into the appropriate slot. “I play Plains.” He announced to no one in particular, dropping sixty mana into the spell. A pile of dirt fell behind him as he drew his next card.

“Next I play Battle Raiments.” Jaden invested the sixty mana from the plains, and watched as the spiked armor formed around Lois. Jaden checked his stats to ensure he didn’t overextend his mana.

*************************************

Jaden Harris

Max MP: 187

Free MP: 33/93 (50%)

Stats

Strength: 10 (0%)

Agility: 10 (0%)

Fortitude: 28 (10%)

Endurance: 10 (0%)

Charisma: 10 (0%)

Intelligence: 85 (40%)

Magic Resistance: 10 (0%)

*all stats are rounded to the nearest whole number

Jobs:

King of Games Level 5

Skills:

None

Titles:

Fop Level 1

Originator Level 2

Creator Level 1

Status effects:

None

*************************************

He winced at having spent two thirds of his mana already, but given the strength of his opponents, it was necessary. Deciding to give his mana time to recharge, Jaden watched the battle.

To Jaden’s right, three Jeffs were disintegrated by a well-aimed fireball. Jaden cringed slightly at their deaths, feeling responsible for their loss. A moment later, the offending Klax fell gasping from behind a tree where an enterprising Jeff had snuck up on it, stabbing into the weak point by its hip. Realizing it had suffered a mortal wound, the Klax summoned the last of its mana; self-destructing into a ten-foot diameter ball of fire that obliterated it’s attacker, plus another Jeff that had been nearby.

Jaden sighed in sorrow as he glanced left to where Lois and Niko were battling side by side against a Klax that seemed to have more of an unarmed melee strength focus. While it was slow enough that the girls were staying ahead of its strikes, the missed blows were casually tearing chunks from trees in passing. Jaden could tell that if it hit one of them, no amount of his conjured armor would even reduce the impact. As he watched, Niko roared, swinging at its torso, only to have her blade bounce from the creature’s scales. Glancing at his hand, then his mana, Jaden put a card onto his game grid.

“I play Legendary Sword!” Pulling on the partially regenerated mana of the Plains card, Jaden used seventy mana for the sword; summoning it directly into Niko’s hand. The surprise of the sudden equip card almost cost her an arm as she was in the middle of dodging the Klax’s retaliatory blow. Dropping her old sword, Niko gripped the new sword two-handed. Circling around the creature she allowed Lois to draw its attention, then stabbed her sword into its back with a grunt. This time, the sword penetrated two inches deep.

The Klax, screaming in pain as if it had never been wounded before, swiped a paw at the sword, bending the blade as the weapon flew from Niko’s grasp. The creature, still screaming, charged Niko like an enraged bull. Fearing she wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time, Jaden panicked, dropping his last twelve points of mana into summoning a “Loyal Guardian” card. The guardian, rather than attempting to fight, simply shoved Niko out of the Klax’s path. The Klax, head lowered, charged through the guardian as if he wasn’t there, causing the summoned creature to evaporate into a puff of translucent mana.

Niko reacted quickly. Scrambling to her feet, she dove to pick up her bent sword. As she turned to face the Klax, the Klax slowed to a stop. Bellowing again, it renewed its charge. This time, Niko was ready. Dodging out of its path at the last second, Niko swung the footlong bent portion of the weapon into the creatures gill as if she were swinging a pickaxe. The metal of the sword made a wrenching sound, and the foot of distressed metal broke off inside the soft flesh, several inches of jagged metal still sticking out of the wound.

Realizing it had missed its prey, the Klax turned again; panting slightly. It was at this point that Lois, having maneuvered around the creature to flank it, shoved her fist outward from several feet away. With a thwump of parted air, the wave of force from her Ki Fist impacted the shard of metal; launching it deep into the creature’s lungs.

The beleaguered Klax stood still for several seconds, desperately trying to catch its breath before collapsing to the ground in pain.

“Get away from the body, it might explode!” Jaden called.

The two girls, hearing him, jumped into a sprint, but the dying Klax didn’t self-destruct the way the Klax mage had.

“What was that about?” A panting Lois yelled at Jaden.

Jaden shrugged. “The last one that died exploded. I didn’t want you guys killed.”

Jaden glanced around the battlefield, which had gone eerily quiet. “Aki, status report.” Jaden said, feeling slightly ridiculous as if he was cosplaying a soldier.

“The surviving Klax have fled. Four reports that his team managed to kill another Klax a hundred yards to our north. That brings the total enemy casualties to three.”

“What about our casualties?” Jaden asked tightly.

“Seventeen. I think we need to find some way to defend against their fireballs, or engagements like this will continue to be slaughters.” Aki stated matter of factly.

Jaden sighed. “Is there anything I can do to make up for our losses?”

Aki looked puzzled. “I don’t understand the question sir. Do you mean in terms of helping me summon faster?”

Jaden shook his head. “No I mean like rewarding the troops, or holding a funeral. I can’t just ignore that so many of them died. As Lois keeps reminding me, you’re all real people.”

“Don’t worry about them sir. They’re just rank and file soldiers. They’re happy about dying for you. There is no greater honor for a summoned soldier than dying for his lord.” Aki said with a hint of confident arrogance.

“Er, are you sure about that? I really don’t mind holding services for the dead or something.” Jaden said hesitantly.

Aki shook his head, smiling. “No sir. The best way to honor them is to continue pushing forward in your quest.”

“Er, alright then.” Jaden acknowledged a few seconds later.

…………………………………………………………

Four felt his internal paradigm shift slightly as he watched the conversation. He had been coming back to deliver his report, when he noticed Aki talking to Jaden. Redirecting a small amount of mana to enhance his hearing, Four was shocked by Aki’s outlook. Where before, Four had seen Aki as an incompetent buffoon, now he began to wonder if Aki was being somehow malicious in the way he casually spent the lives of his soldiers.

On the other hand, Four was grateful that Jaden had cared enough to offer. Though he still thought the man was a moron, at least he was a well-intentioned moron. Not like Aki. Four’s mind began processing what he could do about the situation as he moved to Aki’s side, ready to give his report. Looking more closely, Four couldn’t help but notice the cruel tilt of Aki’s smile. When he was finished, Four walked away. Reaching a sufficient distance, Four shivered slightly.

“Could Aki be a threat to Jaden?” He whispered to himself.