Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 15

***AUTHOR’S NOTE***

Happy Wednesday! Hope your week’s going great!

***AUTHOR’S NOTE***

Liz took another half hour to finish harvesting the fruit. Thankfully, nothing else interfered. She carefully moved downstream a few meters and planted one, the dirt parting with a gesture. Green and brown Mana flowed from her hands into the fruit and ground around it. A few seconds later, a tiny sprout of the vine popped out of the ground, the fruit shrinking as the nutrients in it went to supporting the hastened growth. After five minutes of growing, the new plant was a third the size of the first one. Liz shook her head, whatever trance she’d been under fading away.

“Okay,” she said. “It’ll be a year before we can harvest these again, but there should be six that time. I, uh, think we won’t be able to increase the harvest by more than a plant or two a year, though. Just vague feelings based upon that, oh, new Skill. Nature’s Focus, it subsumed my Examine Skill and let’s me know more about plants now. Also, can occasionally cause a focused trance where I can harvest plants well above my Herbology Skill level. Which is good, because this was supposed to take a Journeyman or higher to successfully get.” She held out the two fruits proudly.

“Great job!” Colin said. “So, what are they?”

“All that Nature’s Focus tells me is that it's called Nature Essence Underwater Fruit. Maybe we should think of a name?” She said while swimming towards the far shore. “But the description says it’ll give me one hundred Essence and an Advanced Plant Essence for each of them.”

“Sounds perfect,” David said. “We’ll make some time soon so you can eat them.”

“Needs to be sooner rather than later,” she replied. “They won’t go into my storage space and the Essence will start bleeding off soon.”

“Then as soon as we hit the forest,” David said, putting on a bit more speed. They zoomed across the rest of the river, easily beating any Olympian’s hundred-meter swim time.

Liz pointed out a few more interesting plants, but nothing anywhere near as strong as the fruits she was holding. “I guess we’ll get a lot of diving time in,” she said. “Since these suits seem to be perfect for it.”

“Might be fun to see how coral changed someday,” Aly siad. “I always wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef sometime.”

They ended up swimming about fifty meters downstream to find an easy egress point from the water. There the cliff’s that’d formed with the change in the world eased downward into a gentler slope, and they were able to scramble up the rock without difficulty. They moved quickly into the forest. “This undergrowth is crazy!” Aly said. “It wasn’t like this even a few days ago, and normal Colorado forest undergrowth would never have gotten this thick.”

“At least we can ignore the thorns and scratchy branches,” Colin said, forcing his way through yet another set of bushes. “Honey, where do you want to stop?”

“Over there is a small clearing,” Liz pointed to the north.

A large tree had been felled in the storm, leaving an opening through the canopy that let light fall in. A significant proportion of the ground cover was damaged, and the tree itself had several useful spots to sit on. Liz popped onto the tree while Aly vanished into Stealth. David and Colin moved a bit away from Liz and looked around. “This feels more like something we’d see in the southeast or pacific northwest,” Colin said, gesturing at the thick undergrowth.

“I don’t recognize many of these plants,” David said. “And, I mean, that one is yarrow, but why is it two meters tall. They normally only grow like knee height. Those flowers look like sulfur flowers, but they are a bright blue, not yellow. So not only did a prehistoric creature thing show up, but new plants are growing, beyond the obviously magical Essence ones.”

“Yup,” Colin said. “Good thing we got druids. Maybe Liz or Summer could identify these plants. If not, well, just gotta experiment I guess.”

David looked over at Liz, who had taken a few bites from the larger of the two fruits. “I’m going to cultivate until Liz is done. Can you and Aly watch over us?” Colin nodded and Aly gave an affirmative over the comm system. David sat against the side of the fallen pine, nestled between two branches. With a thought, his consciousness moved into his core cave.

“Alright, I had an idea that might work out,” David said to himself. He directed a flow of Energy and Mana out of his cores, taking chunks of fifty each and sending them soaring through his channels. Each chunk ground itself down quickly, but seemed to prepare the way for the next one. His Mana and Energy drained slowly, his regeneration almost enough to keep up with the prodigious speed he was spending it.

Using less resources in a cycle made it take longer and cost more, with almost two thousand Mana and Energy flowing through his channels. However, the strain he’d felt before was noticeably lessened, and he was able to generate almost two and a half Essence, showing a marked improvement in efficiency.

David popped out of his core cave to see Colin moving towards him. “Good timing,” Colin said. “Liz just finished up. Aly said she hasn’t spotted anything bigger than a rabbit in a half a kilometer.”

“Awesome. We should get a move on, talk while walking,” David said, hopping to his feet.

“I was able to upgrade Hasten Growth with Plant Essence,” Liz said to them all. “It improved the modifiers, now I can use a tiny amount of Mana to massively improve growth speed of a single plant, or a moderate amount of Mana to moderately improve growth speed for a huge area. The Mana dropped, single plant growth went up at least two levels, and the area increased by one.”

“That’s awesome,” David said. “Hopefully a huge area covers a whole Farm. What did the second one do?”

“I tried to put it into my Nature’s Grace Skill to see if it would improve the healing somehow,” Liz said. “But I lost control. It merged into the Herbology Skill, and lets me use Mana to explore a plant’s effects. So I should be able to start figuring out what the new plants do, but its not an increase to my effectiveness in a fight.”

“Long term, much better,” David said. “Hopefully we’ll get through without a major fight.”

“Dude, really? You just said that?” Colin exclaimed.

David sighed, resisting the urge to faceplant, “Sorry. Let’s pick up the pace a bit.”

They jogged, pushing through bushes and dodging around trees for another twenty minutes before stumbling across a thin game trail leading only slightly west of their current direction. Aly slipped onto it, and the others followed. She increased her pace, slipping into a Sprint for twenty seconds before slowing to a fast Run.

David copied her, focusing on maximizing Energy efficiency. Huh, the Sprint/Run combo she has is only very mildly draining on my Energy. Sprint drains it quickly, but it shoots back up while only Running, even with the very minor amount the Beginner level of that Skill uses. My wife is amazing, figuring this out so quickly.

They continued for an hour, the trail not completely straight but close enough that they made better time on it than they would have in the forest.

Aly suddenly stopped. David caught up to her, and then heard what she did. Baying and barking hounds, deeper than normal and with an undertone of wrongness. “Wargs, hunting something,” she said.

“Then let us give them a new one,” David said.

She nodded sharply, then all four of them broke into a Sprint. Thirty seconds later, they ran into a clearing. Fifteen Wargs that stood to the middle of David’s belly, larger than the ones they’d fought before, and one that was as tall as Colin. The massive beast looked like parts of its skin were rotting away. The Daemon wolves growled in a semi-circle around an utterly massive elk.

Name: Elder Mountain Elk

Level: 8

Aspect: Mountain, Lightning

Name: Warg Alpha

Level: 7

Aspect: Decay

Level eight on the Elk!? David thought when triggering Scholar’s Vision on the two largest animals. And Lightning Essence?

Just as he thought that, sparks formed between the majestic equine’s antlers, and a blast of lightning zapped one of the Wargs. This seemed to be a signal to start, as the rest of them darted around the animal, seeking to distract and hamstring it. It slashed sideways, making two Wargs leap backwards, then kicked to the side, crushing another Wargs chest and sending it sprawling.

Another Warg used the distraction to lunge inward, mouth shooting towards the planted rear leg of the elk, but Liz joined in the battle. A spear of wood shot out of the ground, stabbing straight into attacking beast’s throat.

David summoned his sword and shield, Sprinting towards the Alpha. Twenty steps way, he triggered Vanguard’s Charge. The Alpha chose that moment to leap forward, tangling with the Elk, only to hop backwards away from an antler swipe. The Elk stomped and chunks of rock shot upward, knocking a few Wargs about.

The Alpha’s leap took it just outside the target of David’s Charge, but he was able to redirect slightly. His shield slammed into the large mutated wolf’s rear end. It sprawled away from him, rolling on the ground and struggling to its feet. The beast’s closest leg was broken and bleeding, but in the second that David watched the bleeding stopped.

“Tough guy, aren’t you?” David taunted, waving his sword at the Alpha. It snarled, then opened its mouth even wider. A tingle of danger caused David to hunker down behind his shield, meeting a beam of grayish-green energy with its surface. The Mana in the shield decayed away, and he frantically reinforced it, layering Earth and pure to deflect the beam towards the ground. It ate through the pure Mana slightly faster, and he quickly shuffled to the side. The Alpha’s attack sank into the ground, turning the dirt it hit into something like ashes that quickly vanished into nothingness.

Note to self, don’t get hit by that, David gulped, then responded with a quickly formed Mana Bolt. The Bolt slammed into the Warg’s vulnerable snout, causing it to yip in pain. Another Warg leapt at him, and David used a Swordsman’s Step followed by a Vanguard’s Strike, slashing through the Daemon’s throat. Its claws racked his shoulder, though, splitting his armor and scoring his skin. It hurt, but only as bad as a paper cut. Pain Resistance put even that tiny bit as unimportant, letting him ignore the injury and focus on the Alpha.

The giant Warg rushed him, its teeth and claws glowing the same nauseating color as its beam. David braced, activating Earthen Bulwark and Strengthen together. “Come on!” David Shouted, mentally tagging the Elk as a friendly. The Mana and Energy wave washed over the massive animal, and it looked over at David in surprise. He nodded at it, not taking his eyes off the Warg.

The Alpha set to pounce, and David lifted his shield slightly. The beast didn’t leap, instead slashing a front paw at him. A crescent of Decay shot out and slammed into his shins. The majority of the damage was blunted by the Mana Shield he’d reflexively cast and his armor, but it was everything he could do to not immediately collapse as he felt his calf muscles dissolve. Waves of agony and relief rolled through him as he directed Advanced Bodily Repair towards it. He didn’t have the time or mental capacity to control the resources headed towards it, but the improvement his Skill had developed made it so that he could still stay standing.

The Alpha growled in annoyance, only to take another Mana Bolt to the face. It roared, bounding towards David again. The beast slammed into his shield, and David held for a second before he felt his Bulwark Skill shatter under the massive force of the horse-sized wolf’s shoulder. David stumbled backwards, his shield dropping to block the follow-up claw attack. The force still transferred through, sending him staggering.

Even as he was sent backwards, he stabbed over his shield, pincering his blade downwards. The combined Power Attack and Vanguard’s Strike cut through the attacking paw, shearing it off completely. A glance at his Mana, though, let him know he was below half. In the back of his mind he followed the rest of the fight, the Elk and his friends ripping into the Warg pack while he kept the most dangerous opponent occupied.

The Warg howled, a blast of Energy sapping David’s and weakening him. He increased the flow of Energy into his Strengthen Skill, supercharging it. It doubled the cost, but negated the beast’s Skill. In response, David Charged forward, smashing his shield into the Alpha’s snout. A snap echoed out as its jaw broke, the wave of Energy forcing it too wide. Blood poured out of the creature’s mouth, only enhanced when a stab put his sword into its throat.

It stumbled backwards, whining in pain, and then a bolt of lightning shot into the Alpha’s side. It froze up, muscles seizing as the massive current flowed into it. David took the chance, dashing forward and throwing a massive amount of Mana and Energy into a combined Power Attack, Vanguard’s Strike that slashed through the beast’s head. His blade skittered off the Alpha’s skull, but it ripped out its eye and finished cutting off the bottom of its snout.

David turned the slash into a stab, burying his sword in its throat. It thrashed in agony, its claws ripping into David’s left thigh. He fell, his sword dragging downward as he did, slicing through its ribs and cutting apart its heart. The Decay Energy fought him, destroying the muscles, bone, and blood vessels around his hip. He dropped into his center, knowing that the beast was dead, and followed the Mana and Energy flowing into Advanced Bodily Repair as he tried to stop the rampaging attack from causing him to bleed out.

Metal Mana was degraded almost instantly, turning a rust red color. Well, that makes sense, David thought. Metal turns into rust. I guess my visualization of Metal Mana was iron or steel. You know, since the color was silver. I wonder if someone else’s Metal could be copper or bronze in color. Maybe even gold. What would gold Mana do? Are there any metals that are associated with healing or recovery? Maybe silver? Could I change the type of my metal to be silver?

He focused, sending a wave of Earth Mana with an equal amount of Energy while he concentrated on a chunk of fifty Metal Mana. It was the color of stainless steel. Alright, silver, what do I know about silver? He thought about the necklace he’d gotten from Aly when they were dating. The slick smoothness of the chains, the chill when he first put it on. He thought about how it barely seemed to ever need cleaning, and even then it was just a bit duller.

It took a while, how long he wasn’t sure, but the quadrupling of time inside his core cave from Inscribing Scholar’s Insight kept his injuries from spiraling out of control while his mind was elsewhere. Finally, the Metal Mana he’d separated got shinier, a purer silver color, and he sent it with fifty Energy.

The Silver Mana resisted the corrosion of the Decay, beating back the advancing wave of destruction that was the entirety of his thigh and hip. He kept pushing, using a sliver of Silver to aspect more of his Mana. Pure Mana resisted the corruption as well, and the mixture of Silver, Pure, and Energy let him fix the major arteries that had been damaged.

Rather than working from the top down, he focused on his cardiovascular system, trying to prevent the loss of any more blood. His Hit Points had dropped precipitously while he was bleeding, only his massive pool keeping him alive. The drop became significantly more gradual once the arteries were closed up. He still had almost nine hundred Hit Points, but that left him below a third of his total pool. The Decay was still damaging him, and he started to push his Mana into restoring his tendons and muscles.

A surge of green Mana flowed into him suddenly. The first bit Decayed into a brownish sludge color. The second rank of Mana, though, absorbed the Decayed Nature Mana and glowed brighter, beating back the invasive Mana. It gradually turned into the same sludge, but that only strengthened the Mana continuing to enter him.

David redoubled his efforts, moving to meet the healing Skill that he was sure was from Liz. Together, both Skills swept the damaging Mana out of his body, and quickly restored him to mobility. A glance at his Status showed David was still down nearly a thousand Hit Points once Liz’s Skill stopped sending in anything, but he just shrugged and came out of his core cave.

Liz’s face was the first thing he saw, looking at him worriedly though the clear glass-like substance of her faceplate. “You okay now?” She asked.

David sat up gingerly. His hip twinged at that, not happy with him, but not too damaged to let him get seated. “Mostly. Still hurting, and I need over a thousand Hit Points to hit full. How’s everyone?”

“Colin and Aly took some cuts, but we’re all fine now. The Elk, well, he won’t let me heal him,” Liz glared off to the side, where the massive animal was calmly munching on grass right next to the corpse of the Alpha. At his glance, the beast huffed at him, then kicked the body.

“I think it wants us to loot the bodies first,” David laughed, then reached over and looted the Alpha. It shimmered and vanished into Essence, leaving David up two hundred credits, one hundred Essence, and an Essence stone of a dingy gray crystal plopped to the ground. David looked at his notifications.

Congratulations! You have looted a Warg Alpha, level 7!

You receive 200 credits, 100 Essence, and a Minor Essence of Decay!

“Decay Essence,” he said. “I don’t want it. Liz, probably best for you. Maybe it’ll help your plant growth Skill or something? Decay seemed to really help your Nature Mana.” He described what he’d noticed when deep in his Inscribing Scholar’s Focus Skill.

“Sure,” she said with a frown. “I guess we’ll see.”

“Did we get any other Essences?” David asked, but everyone shook their heads.

He checked his Status, and saw he had gained eight hundred and fifty Essence. His Skill gain was similarly large. He grimaced at the huge list, then mentally forced the display to condense the level ups into a single message

Congratulations! Through usage and learning, your Skills have grown!

Hiking is now Beginner 4

Running is now Beginner 6

Scholar’s Vision is now Beginner 1

Sneak is now Initiate 5

Sword Mastery is now Beginner 15

Shield Mastery is now Beginner 17

Vanguard’s Charge is now Beginner 17

Pain Resistance is now Beginner 8

Vanguards Strike is now Beginner 5

Strengthen is now Beginner 5

Sprint is now Beginner 6

Omnicaster is now Beginner 18

Swordsman’s Step is now Beginner 5

Earthen Bulwark is now Beginner 1

Mana Shield is now Beginner 1

Inscribing Scholar’s Focus is now Beginner 12

A Lord’s Presence is now Beginner 5

Lead from the Front is now Initiate 13

Combat Reflexes is now Beginner 10

Advanced Bodily Repair is now Beginner 8

Earth’s Unrelenting Motion is now Beginner 6

Minor Muscle Efficiency is now Initiate 12

That was so much easier to wade through. Woo, thirty more Essence. Not that that matters much. Of course, now that I thought that, I’ll be five below leveling for a week or something. “Well, that was profitable,” David said amusadely. He struggled to his feet, then turned to the Elk. “I am glad we were able to help you.” He bowed slightly to it. “Please let my friend tend to your wounds, and then we will leave.”

It huffed at him, but stood still when Liz approached. She extended her hands, and a deep green glow enveloped the huge animal. A minute later, all of its bleeding injuries had closed. The Elk batted her side with its head, and she lightly patted it between the antlers. A giant tongue licked her helmet, then the animal ponderously turned and pounded off into the woods.

In its place, though, another crystal sparkled. Liz picked it up, “Advanced Lightning Essence. Colin, here,” she said and tossed it to her husband.

David nodded, knowing that his friends had received less Essence’s than he had up to this point. “Both of you absorb the Essences and then we’ll get a move on.”