10 – The Charred Forest Rift

If I focused on the spell names, the system would give me a description of each one.

[Root Bind] plant magic
Cost: 30 mana
Temporarily hinders an opponent’s ability to move by wrapping them with powerful roots from the earth.
Must be on soil with some level of plant life to work.

[Leaf Dart] plant magic
Cost: 42 mana
Hurls a sharpened spine of a succulent plant at an opponent, dealing physical damage.

[Healing Water] water magic
Cost: 54 mana
Uses a small amount of natural water to heal minor wounds.

[Void Blade] void magic
Cost: 100 mana
Transforms your staff into a knife with a blade made of pure void magic for 1.0 seconds.
Requires a staff to cast.

I sat under my world tree in my orb, considering my options.

The wounds I had received this morning convinced me that I would need healing magic at some point, but with how readily Bagavash had handed me that healing potion, I assumed we’d be bringing them in spades on our rift quest.

I noticed that [Fireball] had disappeared from my spell choices. Someone had mentioned that it was a starter spell that all wizards had the option to learn, and it’s not like I had a fire affinity anyway, but it did make me worry that as I leveled up, certain spells would no longer become available.

That put a kind of pressure on my build choices. Although, since I did have a water affinity, even if it was a weak one, I was confident that, even if [Healing Water] disappeared, I would be offered another healing spell at some point.

I still had the option to upgrade [Void Thread] to level 2. The description said it would increase the diameter of the attack. Presumably, I could increase the diameter with each upgrade of the spell. Right now, it was so thin that it hardly did any damage, despite its incredible piercing ability. It was my long-term goal to upgrade it to the point that the beam was the width of a bullet, but even if level 2 doubled its current width, it would still just be like two threads instead of one. Probably not enough to kill a decent monster.

My fight with the boar made it clear that I needed a spell for close-range combat. That left [Leaf Dart] and [Void Blade].

Myrl did say that [Leaf Dart] was one of his favorite offensive spells. But I only had a medium affinity in plant magic, while I had an excellent affinity in void magic.

The fact that the weapon it created only lasted for one second was a bit of a letdown, but I assumed that later spell upgrades would increase that time.

And I certainly didn’t want [Void Blade] to be one of the spells that disappeared on my next spell choice list. That was the only one that I couldn’t forgive myself if I missed the opportunity to learn it.

That settled it.

“I choose [Void Blade].”

The other spell choices faded away, and [Void Blade] floated up to join [Void Thread] on my spell list.

I took one last look at my status before turning in for the night.

Wizard – Level 2
Mana: 300/300
(Mana required to reach next level: 480)

Spells:
[Void Thread] Level 1
[Void Blade] Level 1

I awoke to the sounds of breakfast being made as the first hints of light began to manifest on the horizon. I walked into the communal kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“Linli, make me a cup of that coffee, would ya?” Bagavash said as he flipped bacon in a pan.

“Make that two!” Myrl chimed in, slathering jam on a thick slice of sourdough.

“Aye, aye. I’m making a cup for everybody,” Linli said, pouring a kettle of steaming water through some cheesecloth that held roughly ground beans.

“You guys have coffee in this world?” I asked, suppressing a yawn and wandering over to the island table.

“Gnomish specialty,” Linli said as the hot water filtered down into a glass carafe. “These fools made fun of me for it for decades, always insisting they preferred their tea. Finally, I wore them down and convinced them to try a cup. Honestly, kind of regret it now. I’m going through four times as much, and this stuff ain’t cheap to import.”

“Linli is a master at this coffee,” Erl said, towering over the others and having to stoop so his head didn’t brush the ceiling. “We are very grateful for his gnomish ways.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Linli said. “Just remember that next time I suggest the snoring apparatus.”

Erl looked offended. “Snoring is a sign of power. It scares monsters away when your eyes cannot be open. I would never suppress such a thing.”

“Easy for you to say,” Linli muttered. “You don’t have to share a wall with yourself. Here, get yer coffee, you big apes.”

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Linli had made six cups, including the steaming mug he held in his own hands. I was honored that I was included.

“Did you…” Erl began.

“Yes, I warmed the milk just like you like,” Linli said.

Erl looked giddy as he picked up his giant mug and sniffed the aroma. “Thank you, Linli. You truly work wonders with your roasted beans.”

“You know, for a big guy, you’re awfully picky,” Linli commented.

“I will never sacrifice quality in food,” Erl said proudly, puffing out his chest as best he could in the cramped kitchen. “It is one of the primary enjoyments in life.”

Myrl and I grabbed our respective mugs at the same time. He simply nodded to me. His eyes looked bleary and red.

Wake and bake before a rift raid?

These wizards were wild.

“Alright, you lot. Eat up,” Bagavash said, putting five plates loaded with bacon and eggs on the center island table. “We have a lot of ground to cover today.”

We all scarfed down our breakfast just standing around the counter. It reminded me of times back in college when my friends and I would wake up before dawn to go on a big hike.

When we were done, we all placed our dishes in the sink. I started to clean them, but Bagavash stayed my hand. “We can get to those when we get back. Here, I want you to take these. You’ll need them where we’re headed.”

He had three glass vials of red liquid dangling between the crooks of his fingers.

“Let me go get my backpack,” I said.