Talyn: Rebirth Ch. 17

Here's another chapter of Talyn: Rebirth! I think I've almost finished the first book, as I'm at about 94,000 words, but I'm not sure. Still need to do editing and all of that, so don't get your hopes up yet!

***

Chapter 17

Traveling on foot wasn’t Talyn’s favorite thing to do, she’d decided. It was a good way to get blisters, which fortunately Reagan was willing to help deal with when they became a problem, she got incredibly sweaty, and was mostly boring with occasional moments of violence. Like when a bush got up, grew a mouth, and attacked with tentacles, just before Gordon dealt with it. The Level 8 Brushmaw never stood a chance.

Things had become a little less oppressive when Talyn had put on the cloak pin, which kept her clothing from getting damp from how much she was sweating, but it didn’t keep her scalp from getting soaked.

The first time they took a break to refill waterskins and flasks at a brook, Elda had disappeared into the bushes with Aslith, then emerged wearing her new robes. She’d pressed several copper pieces against it, each of which had melted into the robes, then concentrated and what had happened was impressive.

In moments the clothing had shifted to where it fit the animus perfectly, covering her without being so loose it could easily be grabbed, yet loose enough around the feet that she could run without being tripped. The ragged edges had smoothed out, and the cloth had taken on a dark red hue with patterns of yellow and orange flames around the bottom hem and the wrists. It almost made Talyn regret giving it to her, but then Elda gave Talyn ten gold, which helped assuage her feelings.

The next night they’d gone to an inn in a town named Forestedge, imaginatively named since it was on the edge of the forest. Talyn had found the innkeeper there was over level ninety, which startled her. It was Reagan who’d explained that some of the highest-level people were innkeepers, bartenders, farmers, and other professions which found it easy to keep challenging themselves in relative safety. Particularly innkeepers and bartenders, since they tended to have a good number of high-level people come through frequently, which boosted their experience.

But it was the second day when Talyn finally asked something she’d been wondering. “So… magic. What types are there?”

“That’s a pretty expansive question. What do you mean?” Reagan asked, frowning.

“I just… I’m curious what types of magic there are out there, so I can figure out if I want to learn it.” Talyn explained, shrugging. “You can heal, I know that much, and obviously Elda can use fire magic, but I don’t know how. I don’t know if resurrection is possible, or anything else. Does it take multiple skills, or just one?”

“Ah, much is explained.” Reagan said, smiling a little as he looked at Elda, who just sniffed and shrugged. He let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. “So… there are twelve basic magical skills that I’m aware of. Air, earth, fire, and water are the most common of them, with nature, light, and darkness being pretty common as well. Less common but still known are creation, destruction, essence, void, and necromancy. Most people avoid the last, but it’s actually considered a solid type of magic as long as you don’t go around ripping out people’s souls or creating undead. Lots of healing and harming in it, though a dedicated necromancer is probably going to turn into a splatter mark against the wall if they run into a non-living creature like a construct or some types of elementals.”

“Heh, that’s putting it mildly.” Gordon said, laughing as he kicked a rock off the road. “There’s a reason that a lot of people like the basic elements, they tend to be useful against most types of enemies.”

“Yes, but in my case, I’m working on light and essence magic.” Reagan said, ignoring Gordon. “Both are capable of some healing, and I’d heard that if you rank them both up to the highest tier, you can combine them. Light is good at warding, light attacks, light itself, and movement abilities, while essence is involved in souls, allowing you to heal them, bolster your allies, and eventually to resurrect people. Word of warning, though… don’t count on resurrection. That spell has a long cooldown, a month for the people barely able to cast it, and unless you use magic to preserve the person’s body, you have to do it within a week. Most casters capable of resurrecting have a queue a month out.”

“Oof, that’s… unpleasant.” Talyn said, wincing. “So, don’t go with fire if you want to heal?”

“Yes and no. You can heal with it, but it’s not terribly efficient, being rather slow and you’re not going to be doing much else unless you pick up multi-casting.” Reagan said, shrugging a little. “I’ve heard that’s more common in colder climates, though, since it’s a healing warmth. I think pretty much every type of magic can heal, even void. Though it’s more like it’s fooling the world into thinking you’re alright until your body can heal itself.”

“Void is good at illusions, hiding, spell-breaking, and things of that sort.” Aslith chimed in. “I’ve been considering it and air, myself. Both could be really useful, but I haven’t decided. Some other skills tend to boost casting, which is why you have wizards, sorcerers, channelers, and so on.”

“What?” Talyn asked, slowing down a little as she tried to process the explanation.

“Look, it’s simple enough. Wizards can improve their power by studying how their magic works, and laying down diagrams in spellbooks. If they don’t study their spellbooks, their magic is weaker.” Gordon explained, letting out a sigh. “Not for me. Sorcerers have a… wellspring skill, I think it’s called, which allows them to empower their spells, but it tends to run out after a number of uses, but their spells are slightly stronger than a wizard’s without their spellbook. Priests get more power to their spells when they recite an appropriate prayer, and have their holy symbol. That’s Reagan for you. Ritualists have normal spells, but can use long rituals to create more powerful effects that are more potent than they could normally manage, and pretty much everyone can pick up the skill. I know there are more, but I think I fell asleep by that point in the class.”

Elda laughed, and Talyn cracked a smile as well.

“Fascinating. I didn’t remember practically any of that.” Melody mused aloud, walking just behind Talyn. She paused for a few seconds, then asked. “Can you get any magic from your species? Because otherwise, it seems like you couldn’t use all the different types… except that you mentioned merging them…”

“Lots of casters want to merge the magic skills, but there’s a degree of luck that goes into it, as well as synergies. It’s really hard to merge fire and water, but sometimes people get steam or geyser magic.” Reagan said, shrugging as he smiled wryly. “It’s incredibly complex, but it comes down to what you want to do. Most of them focus on defense, offense, or something esoteric, and it’s all a matter of what you want to be able to do.”

“Hm. Makes sense, and it’s something to think about.” Talyn agreed, then yelped, jumping to the side as what looked like an onion bulb popped out of the ground beside the road and tried to bite her. It was only a few inches across, but seeing an onion bulb grow fangs was a little startling. “The hell?”

The Level 0 Carnivorous Onion was just… silly, as it waddled after her ankle, and Gordon laughed.

“You don’t need our help with that, do you?” the big man asked, causing her to glower at him, but he just grinned more.

“No, I was just startled.” Talyn said, creating a sword in her hand. Then she speared the malevolent vegetable, which stopped moving almost instantly, and she lifted the blade, the creature still impaled. She examined it, then asked. “Should I just… throw it back?”

“Despite the look, it is just an onion, and tastes like it, too. If we were camping in the wild, I’d say to keep it, but here? Nah, not worth it.” Aslith said, shaking her head. “Now, if you run into a full-grown onion you might need to be more careful, but they don’t tend to get that powerful. Not easily, since they die so fast.”

“A freaking carnivorous onion…” Talyn said disbelievingly, flicking her blade and sending the vegetable flying into the bushes next to the road.

“Don’t underestimate them. Once they’re the size of your head they can use some nasty gas attacks that can shut you down if you aren’t careful, and even bigger ones can shed their outer layers to protect against deadly blows. They’re more dangerous than they look.” Gordon said soberly. “Believe me, end up unable to see due to tears and coughing your lungs out even once and you’ll treat them with respect.”

“Oh, I believe you. I just think it’s insane.” Talyn assured him. Though part of her simply couldn’t believe that an onion had attacked her. An onion. What next, a potato?

Name: Talyn

Level: 7 (15%)

Species: Succubus (War, Contract) (2%)

Abilities:

Demon Eyes (30%)

Demonic Armament (18%)

Demonic Durability (5%)

Enhanced Charisma (42%)

Minions (Contract) (2%)

Summon Guardian (MAX)