Chapter 7 – Experimenting During Flight

Seris used a spell to locate Fominel without wasting any more time. Darya feared the worst, thinking he must have flown off the weather deck into the cold black waves below.

Green mana poured out of Seris’s tear glands as her irises glowed silver-hazel. A faint luminous thread came into existence, tracing a path out of the ship towards the island. Seris turned in that direction, and the threads connecting to her eyes glowed brighter.

Huh? he should’ve fallen the other way if the blast came from the island.

“He’s flying to the island!” Seris said, running to the edge of the ship and leaning over it. “What is he doing!” she yelled.

“Oh, he can fly too?” Darya asked with a sigh. She was glad Fominel was alive, but if what she heard about Sarka was true, that wouldn’t be the case for long.

She had to fly too, and she had to do it faster. She wondered if the Terminate command could help her with this problem. She saw a few ways that it could, but she needed a plan.

“I-I’ll go bring him back!” Seris said, trying to hop on the fence.

“You will do no such thing,” Darya said, pulling her down by the skirt. Seris almost slipped and fell on her head before she caught herself.

“Wh-what?! but—”

“I’ll take it from here, Seris,” Darya said, setting her upright.

“Y-you can’t, princess! We just got you back! You can’t fight Sarka again!” Seris was yelling at her desperately.

“Do you think Fominel thought the same thing before he leapt off the ship?” Darya asked, grabbing her Warblade staff.

Seris didn’t answer, but the sudden realization on her face told Darya everything she wanted to know.

“Give me a moment,” she said, patting Seris’s arm.

She had to check her spells and skills and come up with the fastest course of action. Fominel was already on his way to the island. She didn’t have long.

She hoped Fominel was moving with a plan. At best, he could be making his way there to check if the other two members warped back with Sarka. At worst, he was trying to buy time for them to escape.

And escape where in this storm? We can’t sail. Maybe he wants us to hide somewhere for the night and sail when the storm passes.

In that case, Fominel could’ve hidden with them. He was flying to the island instead. If he had a plan besides sacrificing himself to buy time, there was something else that he could actually do by sneaking around on the same island as Sarka to look for the missing members.

Either way, this couldn’t be allowed without knowing what he was actually going to do. For all she knew, he could be ready for any outcome. He had no chance against an Archmage Supreme who had already killed her.

She wanted to check her non-attack spells.

[Spells]

Spell: Repelling Blast
Grade: 45
Rarity: Rare
Axes: Un(210) Ri(209)
Mana: 419M
DEF: 1,068
Shaper: Sphere
Duration: Instant
Status Effects: Knockdown, Dazed
Spark a blinding mana explosion from the skin projecting outwards in a sphere that repels both physical and magical attacks.

Spell: Flying Celestian
Grade: 38
Rarity: Rare
Axes: Ae(127) Ri(127)
Mana: 254M
Shaper: Self
Duration: Instant
Take flight in a desired direction.

Spell: Pillars of Erisoth
Grade: 114
Rarity: Mythic
Axes: Ae(364) Un(465)
Mana: 829M
Shaper: Circle
Duration: 124s
Status Effects: Restrain, Slow
Summon nine pillars of Erisoth to bind a target at the center.

Spell: Mana Funnel
Grade: 41
Rarity: Rare
Axes: Un(236)
Mana: 236M
DEF: 885
Shaper: Cone
Duration: Instant
Absorb incoming damage and convert half of it back to mana.

She had one spell for omnidirectional countering that could absorb a thousand points of damage, a traversal spell of dubious parameters, and the restraining spell that had already been useful against Sarka.

The traversal spell was something she hadn’t seen before. It mentioned ‘take flight’, but nothing about landing or control, leaving a lot up to interpretation. This would’ve been fine in VRMMO, but in RLP, Darya had safety concerns. Not even Terminate could save her from splattering on the ground if she fell from a great height.

The fourth spell was something she was already familiar with. A cone-shaped spell that could absorb damage and convert half of it to mana. It could only absorb a maximum of 885 damage, and it cost 236 mana to cast. The maximum mana it could yield would be around 440.

Two other attack spells of lower rarity and grade looked somewhat useful. She had completely ignored them before because of their lower damage output.

Spell: Mud of Arken
Grade: 23
Rarity: Uncommon
Axes: Ae(91) Un(43) Ru(80)
Mana: 214M
ATK: 278
Shaper: Field
Duration: Instant
Status Effects: Slow
Melt and loosen the soil beneath the target area.

Spell: Dorthak Spiral
Grade: 25
Rarity: Uncommon
Axes: Un(78) Ri(91)
Mana: 169M
ATK/s: 113
Shaper: Circle
Duration: 3s
Status Effects: Bleed
Surround the target with a cylindrical spiral of slashing energy.

A higher rarity neutral spell also caught her attention as useful. She was familiar with this one.

Spell: Sense Sphere
Grade: 36
Rarity: Rare
Axes: Un(270)
Mana: 3M/s
Shaper: Sphere
Duration: Continuous
Detect incoming mana-based spells from any direction.

She had sifted through her twenty-five spell slots to find the most useful ten so far, including the attack spells that she had already seen. The rest of the spells were mostly utility, low-grade attack, and defense. This was to be expected from an Archmage Ascendant. She still had spells that she hoarded along the way, but never had the time to replace or upgrade.

With spells dealt with, Darya turned to skills that she hadn’t touched yet. She was quite curious about the RLP skill system earlier when she was rowing the boat to the ship.

[Skills]

Skill: Strengthen
Source: Basic
Mode: Passive
Type: DEF
Stat: CON
SP Cost: 25
Harden the body, unlock half strength.

Skill: Smooth Slither
Source: Learned
Mode: Active
Type: Utility
Stat: DEX
SP Cost: 30
Cooldown: 30s
Status Effects: Hasted
Slither forth weightlessly at high speed. Unlocks full dexterity.

Skill: Shatter Touch
Source: Learned

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Mode: Active
Type: ATK
Stat: STR
SP Cost: 50
Cooldown: 120s
ATK: 75
Status Effects: Weaken

Skill: Warding of Alta
Source: Bloodline
Mode: Active
Type: DEF
Stat: RES
SP Cost: 30
Cooldown: 250s
DEF: 90
Status Effects: Knockdown
Defend against mana-based attacks; countering at the right moment may absorb some of the received damage as mana.

Skill: Wind Step
Source: Learned
Mode: Active
Type: Utility
Stat: DEX
SP Cost: 20
Cooldown: 8s
Status Effects: Hasted
Momentarily turn weightless and take a step in a desired direction at high speed.

Skill: Hammer Fist
Source: Learned
Mode: Active
Type: ATK
Stat: STR
SP Cost: 15
Cooldown: 280s
ATK: 23
Status Effects: Stun
Clobber anything with reinforced fists, unlocking full strength.

Skill: Diamond Eyes
Source: Learned
Mode: Active
Type: Utility
Stat: DEX
SP Cost: 65
Cooldown: 400s
Grants faster visual processing and increases reaction speed with unlocked dexterity.

Skills were in the same situation as spells. She had fifteen slots, but only seven looked useful to the current situation. The Warding of Alta caught her eye because it was a bloodline skill. With her name being Altazark, that made sense.

She was more optimistic about mixing skills with Terminate, especially anything to do with close quarters and movement.

“That should be enough,” Darya muttered. She was going to take a risk either way; at least now it felt calculated. “I’m going to stress test this build.”

“Eh, what?!” Seris snapped her back to reality. “Wh-what are those words?!”

She had muttered a set of words that had no meaning for a Vainfall local. ‘Stress testing a build’ would’ve sounded like random words put together for Seris. Darya smiled.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “More importantly, have you seen me use this flying spell before?”

“Yes, princess?”

“How does it work?” she asked.

“It turns you and anything you’re holding weightless. You can fly in the direction you reach for afterwards,” Seris said.

“Landing?”

“You can drift down if you stop moving,” Seris said. “S-see, you don’t even remember your spells, princess! you shouldn’t—”

Darya quickly checked her stats.

[Character]

Character: Darya Altazark
Role: Archmage Ascendant I
Level: 75
EXP: 1,299,532 (11%)

HP: 2,526
MAX HP: 2,526
MP: 5,312
MAX MP: 7,265
SP: 323
MAX SP: 452

STR: 467
DEX: 588
CON: 398
RES: 1,342

Seris had fully healed her, and she had recovered a considerable amount of mana. Her stamina was better than the abysmal 12 that it used to be at the start.

It was time to get going.