Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 32 b

Nathan studied the trio as they fought the common desert monsters. There weren’t as many demon-zombies this far out except for rarer variants. Even the faster moving ones were much easier prey compared to the desert monsters found this deep into the southern gate. There were large snakes that liked to hide beneath the sand, giant scorpions, and the most annoying were spikey-backed jackals. The first two were ambush predators, while the last attacked in packs and were about the size of large dogs.

Leroy stood out front with his long sword in a two-handed stance. The guy was wearing dull plate armor with a blocky great helm. He was only level seven but was annoyingly durable enough to make a good tank. In many ways, the guy shared many characteristics with Nathan.

The Death Knight that insisted on not being called a Death Knight had two modes, or strategies. He was in the middle of utilizing the first right now. They were being surrounded by the jackal porcupine wannabes. So Leroy wasn’t swinging to try and kill anything. He was kind of bouncing around in front of the group and swinging in wind arcs to remind the hungry predators that it was going to hurt if they got too fast.

Nathan’s first assessment was that the guy used way too much energy on wasted movements. At the same time, this guy wasn’t just some normal human that was dead the moment he gassed out. The Death Knight had two things going for him. His regeneration was almost at the level of Nathan’s, and secondly, Zera was a very good healer.

As game-like as the tower could sometimes seem, Zera didn’t have to worry about healing Leroy because he was undead. There was no such thing as undead in the traditional gaming sense. The guy’s body had been modified to absorb death energy. That was true. What that really meant though likely isn’t want it seemed.

Once mana permeated a world, it’s present in all forms of matter and during every natural process. What death-energy really was, was just mana’s interaction during the decomposition process. A very specific kind of mana clings to a decomposing corpse or carcass. This mana-type remains until the carcass is broken down completely. In a very real way, an abandoned morgue filled with corpses is the perfect cultivation grounds for the Zombie Path. A cave filled with carcasses would be just as good. Its greatest advantage is that it can also collect energy from kills like a lot of other Monster Paths.

As Leroy was dancing around and swinging his sword, Zera was periodically casting a stamina restoring spell between them. Like a thin thread, it snaked from her fingers and landed on the hyperactive Death Knight.it shared with him some of her energy.

That wasn’t her only job. As a pure Holy Mage at level six, she also had Light Arrow as a spell. Later on, magic would become much more customizable, but there was a straightforward spell list for Mages in the first few Realms.

These Light Arrows were really just condensed mana in the shape of an arrow with a Light Mana affinity. There were so creatures weak to the affinity like Vampires with a Dark affinity, but it was to a limited degree. They were really just modified humans after all. There were real Dark Mana creatures out there that the Light affinity would wreak havoc against.

It wasn’t too surprising that Wolfgang was making the largest impact as a level ten Spell Goblin. His level wasn’t because he hunted more than the others. All three of them had to be obsessed to have reached the levels they were. It was because Wolfgang was a goblin, and he leveled like crazy. As for what he was doing, as a jackal lunged toward Zera from the flank, a wall of Force Magic sent the beast flying back ten feet. Like a left in the wind, it tumbled.

The jackals were testing the group by approaching from every which angle. Each time they came in from the flanks or rear, Wolfgang sent them flying. Well, except for directly behind him. Nathan was hanging out there.

When a jackal lunged for Nathan, he let it snap down on his forearm. They were powerful beasts for the first floor, but, at most, the jackal was at large success of the Body Realm. Most creatures on the first floor never made it to the Blood Realm. It was one of the reasons the slower leveling Paths were able to catch the faster ones in his first life. Until the Region Bosses were dead, there was no reaching the second floor.

Currently, the jackal didn’t have what it takes to cause any real damage. The qi running through his blood strengthened his skin even if he wasn’t directing it to. And when it was, his flesh was even tougher. With that said, unless Energy and Soul Cultivators, he didn’t have an aura of qi covering him in a protective layer. So even though he could take as much if not more punishment, he could only take it with his body.

These jackals had an impressive bite. Unlike Earth native jackals, these were between 120 and 200 lbs. Even if its teeth couldn’t break the skin, he felt the crushing force. It just wasn’t enough.

Grabbing it by the throat with his free hand as he watched the group of three work, he strangled it until it passed out from blood loss to its brain. He gave it a toss. It landed next to another that Wolfgang had just pushed back.

“Be ready,” the Spell Goblin called out. “Three. Two…”

As the countdown reached zero, Wolfgang’s hands shot out to either side. It wasn’t force that extended from him but mana. When it reached a good twenty feet in either direction, two walls of force formed and began to move counterclockwise. The little guy was shaking as he controlled the amount of mana he supplied to the spell so that he’d have enough for later.

As the opposing walls of force moved, sand churned with it until the four of them were surrounded. The jackals caught in the storm were sent tumbling. Many tried to escape, while those stuck inside the giant wall of sand were cut off from retreat.

The moment the sandstorm was in place, Wolfgang cried, “Now!”

Leroy flipped the switch. Instead of dancing around and swinging wildly, he cleaved horizontally. One jackal was clipped by the blade and spun under its force, while another was slashed deep in the neck. The Death Knight followed up instantly before the clipped one could recover.

The jackal’s spikey backs were like a thick layer of quills that made decent armor. It wasn’t enough. The beast was spit down the back. Its spine was severed in places.

Zera started casting Light Arrow like mad.

Their switch from defense to offense was enough to leave seven jackals writhing with the throes of death in less than ten seconds.

Nathan couldn’t help but to be impressed. Initiation hadn’t happened more than two weeks ago, and they were already this proficient. He certainly hadn’t been at their level so early his first life in the tower.

Wolfgang dropped his Force Storm ability once they’d finished the last jackal. As soon as he did, the remaining ones rushed in, unsure what had happened to the rest of their pack.

Nathan caught one by the back leg as he sidestepped its lung. Swinging it over his head, he brought it down, smacking it with the ground. It didn’t even yip. Was it a bloodthirsty beast that would eat him? Yeah, but he was a dog guy. If it didn’t yip, that meant it died right away. Or he’d knocked it senseless enough that it wasn’t conscious for its last moments.

A minute later, it was all over. He applauded their battle. It was the biggest group they’d faced yet.

“How you doing on mana,” he asked Wolfgang.

The Spell Goblin shrugged. “It’s pretty costly, but I could cast it three more times without taking a break if it only stays active that long.”

He smiled at the guy. He’d been on the first floor for a year in his first life, so this wasn’t his first Force Mage he’d hunted with of a similar level. And more than that, cultivators weren’t the only ones that had techniques to master.

Some spells were less complex than others, but the more involved spells like Force Storm had many variables a mage could manipulate. There was a large difference between a skilled and unskilled mage of any magic school. It was so early that no one had had time to develop the most skillful uses of the better spells.

Phrasing it as a question, Nathan asked him if it would take less mana to keep one wall of force encircling them. “Does it cost less if it’s moving slower?”

His new friend answered in the affirmative.

“And does it take less time to ramp up than to cast all at once?”

The moment Nathan said it, Wolfgang eyes widened as he pondered the implications.

The Spell Goblin approached the next battle with a single, slow moving wall of force encircling them. It wasn’t as formidable, but what looked like a dust devil orbiting around them made even the most aggressive creatures tentative in their approach. They had to be constantly aware that if they didn’t stay on their toes, then they’d inevitably be flanked.

Even though it cost the Force Mage exponentially less mana, it was the annoying kind of spell that an enemy couldn’t ignore. And when he needed to ramp it up?

A group of three giant scorpions were all caught up in Force Storm as they tried to rush in. All it had taken was for Wolfgang to speed the force wall’s movement by supplying it mana to trick the beasts’ sense of timing. They hadn’t been ready for it.

After the three scorpions did cartwheels and Deadpool in plate mail stabbed them in the face, Zera screamed in delight that she’d leveled up.

Nathan watched the three of them quite literally do their victory dances. The elf healer may accuse her two companions of being dorks, but even if she was more gracious in the way she moved, she fit into the same category. He wasn’t going to tell her though.

They fought several groups of mobs, more than a few hundred monsters all together, when they reached what seemed like a valley deep in the middle of the desert. It didn’t make sense. There was a hill of sand a quarter of a mile high that descended gently until it reached the sandstone ruins of some ancient city. There was more than enough wind that it should have blown sand into the ruins, but the stone pathways worn by foot traffic were swept clean.

“Alright, people. Listen up,” Nathan said. “I’ll be taking a more active role from this point forward. You can expect a lot of giant snakes and Nagas, or snake people. The boss doesn’t spawn until we clear the central area. It’s best we clear the perimeter around it so that there are no adds once the fun really starts. Any questions?”

“You said these are some of the highest-level monsters on the first floor?” Zera asked.

He gave her a teethy grin. “Excited?”

“Uh. Sure.”

He grinned even wider. “Let’s go.”

There was a reason Nathan had chosen to go with Wolfgang and this group instead of inviting his friends from his old gym or anyone from the training camp. They’d seen the videos of his time in the tower so far, but he was afraid of what they might think if this fight became as dire as he thought it might. He was sure they’d try to interfere.

He’d lied to them—allowed them to think it was just like another region boss. One of which he’d already defeated. They’d seen the video of that too. After everything, they still didn’t completely grasp what a Body Cultivator was. He wasn’t sure if it was too early to tell them—to reveal the full extent of what they might be called to do.