The Lone Wanderer

“A little help here would be nice!” Nesha yelled, capturing Percy’s attention.

Only now did he realize that more trolls had gathered, about a dozen of them surrounding them in total. At least, the newcomers were all Reds, only the first two capable of casting magic. Still, they put a lot of pressure on the girl, who struggled to keep them all away with her butterflies.

“Leave the casters to me.” he said, rushing towards the leaders. “If more of them show up, stop going easy.”

Not missing their cue, the Oranges exchanged a quick glance before switching targets, trying to pin Percy down with their spells.

‘Fire and water…’ he clicked his tongue as he leapt out of the way.

Neither of these affinities were worth his time. Then again, that was to be expected. Assuming the trolls were even capable of using rare affinities, he’d probably have to go through dozens of them until he found one. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. His new spell had plenty of room for improvement, so he could just hone it against these willing whetstones.

Taking a few deep breaths, he kept his distance until his boosting art took effect. He wanted to practice, yes, but he wasn’t suicidal. Fighting two Orange casters barehanded could get dangerous.

The creatures didn’t wait for him, continuing to pelt his location with blasts of blue and red. Still, they failed to prevent him from activating Synchronization, the two sets of lines lighting up along his reddening skin, beads of sweat seeping out of his pores as motes of cyan and silver mixed into wisps of teal.

Suffice to say, Percy no longer had any difficulty dodging the spells.

Realizing they wouldn’t get anywhere with magic alone, the troll casters clenched their clubs tightly – they were even larger and heavier than those wielded by their subordinates. Then, they rushed at Percy, intent on drowning him in attacks both arcane and mundane.

Of course, he didn’t sit still either. Drawing some mana from his abdomen, he shaped it into a cyan rod, ready to greet his opponents. This was the old variant of the Quarterstaff – he didn’t have time for Reinforcement. Still, it should be plenty for this.

More spells descended on him, forcing him to crush them all into motes of mana one after another. The trolls reached him a second later. Percy scanned them with his eyes, the projections of their swings taking shape, betraying the trajectory of the clubs.

‘It’s even easier than before!’ he grinned.

Capitalizing on the intimate connection between his Status and his latest mutation, his new spell became second nature for him the instant it registered. Unlike mere minutes ago, he no longer expended much effort to visualize the trolls’ physical attacks, his eyes seemingly doing everything by themselves.

‘But it doesn’t work for magic…’

Having designed the spell by observing the interaction between one’s flesh and soul meant that he had left the third aspect of one’s existence out of the equation, as it didn’t account for the flow of mana. That said, this unfortunate blind spot was precisely what he aimed to fix during this fight.

‘Three projectiles… No. Four!’ he corrected himself as a series of pressurized blobs rained on him.

With a quick spin of his weapon, he crushed the constructs into a harmless drizzle, his staff cracking already. Percy certainly hadn’t missed that. In any case, he didn’t get the chance to dwell on it, as a fireball enlarged before his eyes, about to melt his face off. It was followed by two club projections flinging at him from either side.

Ducking below the flames, he tiptoed around the trolls, avoiding their attacks with some well-placed footwork. Next, he responded to them with a few swift blows of his own, slamming their joints with the now-repaired rod. One of them fell to its knees, the other groaning in pain, giving Percy a chance to disengage. Checking up on Nesha, he confirmed she was doing alright before diving back into his own fight.

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More time passed, as Percy fought to expand the scope of his spell, trying to force magic under its purview. It was hard. Mana manipulation encompassed too many possibilities. Way more than flesh did, at least. After all, one’s limbs could only bend in so many ways, whereas a spell could take an infinite number of shapes, from arrows, to spears, to bolts, to swords… to sickles and butterflies, even. And there were too many affinities and bloodlines giving the mana all sorts of unique flavours beyond that.

But magic still operated under strict rules and, before long, Percy began to slowly wrap his head around them.

A spell needed mana to take shape, and that had to come from somewhere. In most cases, that somewhere was the caster’s sternum. Of course, it could flow through a multitude of channels, but those were still finite. Not to mention, Percy had plenty of time to read its movement ahead of the attack.

Even more importantly, some affinities favoured specific patterns over others. For example, the trolls had never tried to shoot a single spell through their feet. Had one of them possessed an earth affinity, that might have been different, but water and fire were best utilized through one’s palms.

Additionally, water spells were more flexible and easier to control, though no individual projectile was particularly deadly by itself. The water casting troll tried to trap Percy using a barrage of smaller constructs raining at him from various angles, primarily aiming to knock him off his feet.

On the other hand, the fire user couldn’t control its mana nearly as well, focusing on head on attacks instead. That said, what the fireballs lacked in manoeuvrability, they made up for in sheer lethality, pressuring Percy to dodge or block every last one of them without fail.

‘Finally!’ Percy grinned as he spotted the first few faint shadows precede his opponents’ spells.

Of course, it had taken way longer than he cared to admit, and he wasn’t anywhere near done. Still, the contrast between the two affinities made it a little easier for him to predict their patterns, as he got more used to the trolls’ rhythm. Sadly, this was about the most he could accomplish today, as the first traces of exhaustion took root in his mind.

A quick glance revealed that Nesha wasn’t doing much better. She struggled to keep fifteen butterflies active, clumsily holding just as many Reds at bay. She was panting heavily too, though she hadn’t complained in a long time – to her credit. Evidently, she took this opportunity to practice her magic as seriously as him.

“Let’s call it a day.” he said.

What scarce rays pierced through the thicket revealed the sun was close to setting. In any case, Percy suspected his forthcoming spell upgrade would be Refined, so he hadn’t really expected to get it done in one go.

Nesha nodded, spooking the trolls with a burst of mana. At the same time, Percy knocked both his opponents off their feet, before sprinting towards his sack. The two then ran away, leaving an entire tribe of trolls staring dumbfounded at their backs. Still, none of them dared to chase, probably having realized how brutally outmatched they truly were.

“What was that spell you were practicing?” Nesha asked once they had returned to Micky’s clearing.

The crow was back from his duties too, carelessly munching on some oversized frog atop his boulder, not paying them much attention.

Percy took a few moments to bring her up to speed, explaining how his Soul Vision worked, and how his new mutation had allowed him to elevate the ability to a proper spell.

“Wow. This Sorcerer’s Eye sounds insane.” she whistled in appreciation. “Say, do you think I’ll get that too, when you give me a second core?”

Percy shrugged.

Naturally, he hadn’t forgotten his promise to her. With Soul Stitching now at hand, he felt more confident than ever passing her the Moirais’ Decree. Though he wasn’t sure about Ea’s.

“The clone I made a couple days ago didn’t get the mutation. I’m not sure if that’s because I can’t pass this Decree along, or because my Status was still a mess at the time. We’ll have to wait until my current clone returns.”

Nesha nodded, not saying anything else.

Whether or not House Tantalus gave them a good fight, Percy intended to use his remaining time in the Grisly Bog wisely. He’d already sent another clone out before visiting the trolls, and he wasn’t done with them either. His current plan was to keep fighting against more of the demi-humans over the next few weeks, testing his Foresight against different affinities, while looking for a suitable target to possess.

‘But that’s tomorrow’s problem.’

They still had some time to kill today, so he took his trusty ocarina from his pocket, plopping down on the boulder. Moments later, a high-pitched tune broke through the gloomy silence, bouncing from tree to tree, permeating the bog. While the poorly crafted instrument twisted a note every now and then, neither Nesha nor Micky complained as much anymore.

Percy had grown a lot better at this over the past two years, his music no longer an insult to the ears!

The trio banded closer together, enjoying the humble tune as they gazed at the bright moonlight, appreciating what little time they had left in this place…

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