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  Aliandra

  “Umm…” Ali took a deep breath, looking at Ryn and the novices, struggling to figure out where to even begin. Battle still raged behind the barrier wall, but the corruption had dissolved uhe tenacious attaato’s aura. She felt much better, but her fad clothes were still covered with her slowly drying blood. I must lohtful. I definitely need a bath – or at least a se circle.

  A ripple went through Mato’s giant branches, aransformed back to his Beastkin form. “Hey, is anyone hungry? I was thinking of making dinner,” he said, catg nearly everyone off-guard.

  snorted, “After that – that literal bloodbath – you’re thinking about food?”

  “Naturally. Blood sausage, anyone?” Malika gave that a curt piece of non-verbal punctuation with the fingers of her right hand, making the Beastkin guffaw heartily. “Fine, fine. I’ll try somethiarian, shall I?”

  “ we relocate and have dinner down here?” Ali asked. Her notifications had not stopped ringing in as, beyond the golden barrier blog the doorway into the juhe titanic struggle between demonic hellfire and poison tinued unabated. There was a ce to it – a rhythm – the demons would build up in waves, stalling out on the roots and vines of her Forest Guardians in a lengthy stalemate, and then being wiped out whehe Toxic Spitter unleashed the poisoal storm.

  “Want to keep an eye on the break?” Malika asked.

  “Yes, and I want to be in rao give them Empowered Summoner, and ’s Motes of Light buff.” Both buffs gave her monsters additional magical damage on hit. And with the ridiculous healing the Toxic Spitter was gaining from Syer and the Forest Guardians, there was a sea of tiny oozes out there. They would die instantly to fireballs or any damage from the much higher-level demons, but their numbers were so vast that the damage-on-hit bonus was cumutively enormous.

  “Sorry about this,” Ali said, turning to Ryn, Sabri, and Brena. She had not even sidered that the novices might be already taking advantage of Ryn’s offer to study in the library and that their provoking a dungeohrough the rift might have put them all in serious dahere was no way a level nine warrie would be able to survive against the horde beyond the barrier.

  “Um, should we go?” Sabri asked nervously. “Ryn said you had the hs and I just wao see it.”

  Actually, both of them looked pretty shell-shocked, gng worriedly whenever something thumped or crashed or fshed in the jungle beyond.

  “No, you stay if you want. It should be safe now,” she said and both novices visibly rexed. At least, given the magnitude of the problem, it would be no safer up in town if Ali’s blockade failed. She tried to hide an involuntary grimace.

  Are we really that terrifying? she wondered, but then gng back out into the jungle where the Toxic Slime had just unleashed another Elemental Storm of poison and split twice more from the health gained from Syer, she decided that, actually yes, it was quite terrifying.

  said, “Look, we tangled with something we should really have left well alone, and this – shall I call it a strategic retreat?”

  After an aause, Ryn produced a giggle, “Aah, yes, the tactical, well-pnned retreat? We should all borroage from your book, – it all wely as pnned, right?”

  He gave a very fake nod to Sabri. “Right. Absolutely as pnned.”

  The young girl was frowning, obviously fused, probably trying to make sense of this exge. Doesn’t uand sarcasm? Ali wondered. Or… She made a mental o ask Malika to have a word with her afterward – perhaps it was dishonorable to lie in Ahn Khen culture?

  “You guys should stay for dinner, I’m making stew,” Mato said, walking up to them and leading them away. “e, get your books and join us down here, you read while I cook.”

  “What do you think? Are we safe?” Ali asked as everyone headed upstairs to get what they needed, leaving her alone in the darkness with and the remnants of her minions. He was staring outside at the battle unfolding – he had been staring for quite some time.

  “I think it will be stable,” he answered, after an unfortably long pause. Somehow, he had mao summon his Motes of Light outside, and they hovered above the sea of slimes and dead demons, pulsing softly. “We probably do have to stay here until the rift is guarded again.”

  “What about that Pit Lord? Or the Sentinels?”

  “I think Malika is right, they ’t easily widen the rift, and so they ’t get through,” said, turning to meet her gaze. “If they could have, I’m sure they would have overrun this realm ages ago.”

  “I hope you’re right.” They were not out of the woods yet, but ’s assessme a long way to easing her ay.

  “I’m sorry…” said. Ali gnced over to find him flushed and flustered. “I… I was useless in there.”

  “It’s a good thing you made us all i in wisdom back then,” Ali said, relieved to see his embarrassment begin to fade. “Without that, I don’t think I would have been able to break the charm spell.” Indeed, Ali had only realized her mind had been promised when she had been reminded of what Mieriel had do seemed that mind magic gained substantial bonuses if the defender was unaware of the attack – something she would o sult with Mieriel on as soon as possible. “You do know Malika and Matoing to be calling you Giggles forever, right?”

  “Right,” said, grimag, and then he ged the subject. “How does it work?” he asked, nodding to the outside. “Syer, I mean.”

  “Here,” she said, sharing the skill description with him. “It added these ttitudes to the Toxic Spitter. Only the raid boss ohough, not the o splits off – but the Elemental Storm is doing the bulk of the killing.”

  Syer (Domain): Damage against Demons is increased by +147%.Syer (Domain): Gain +6.3% of the maximum life of any sin Demon over 30 seds.

  “And it also gets a substantial damage increase for simply being a raid boss, right?” asked, retrieving his favorite notebook.

  “Yes, a two-and-a-half times multiplier,” she answered. “The numbers for Syer depend on how specific the moype I choose is.”

  let out a low whistle. “And it works on anything in yrimoire?”

  “Yup, I do individual variants or entire csses or raonsters.” She left out the unfortable thought that she could do people too, if she learhe human or elf imprints. She had enough Goblins and Kobolds that humanoid was already an option for her.

  “Seems like you finally have a use for all your elemental imprints,” he said.

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” She would of course cheext time she made a boss, but she was certain she could make aal syer, or even more specifically fire-elemental syer should be an option. It seemed that Syer was much more useful than she had even imagined.

  “Perhaps it might be wetting the undead imprint again,” he suggested, her yet another surprising sideration. While she couldn’t summon undead at all, just having the imprint inscribed in her Grimoire would allow her to choose undead as a target for a Syer boss.

  They stood together silently, both watg the battle, while she sidered the events of the day.

  “We messed up badly, didn’t we?” She had had to make four raid bosses before the dungeon-break had been halted, and it was only lud good fortune in so many ways that had allowed her to stop them. Even now, it wasn’t over yet, she and both had to wait here granting their skill buffs to the monsters outside in order to prevent the tide from sweeping everything away.

  “Yes,” he answered soberly. “I thought that Myrin’s Keep would be wiped out for sure. My mom wouldn’t even be able to run fast enough to get away.”

  “Where did we g?” Ali asked. This was the question that pgued her. At every step of the way, they were either reag to the situation or making decisions that, at the time, had seemed all too reasonable.

  “That’s the problem, I don’t know,” said. “Perhaps we o talk to Vivian for advice?”

  “Maybe we should have retreated when we first aggroed the Demon Hunter?” Ali suggested.

  “We would have sidered the sario and chosen to try it,” tered. “There was no reason not to.” Then he paused for a while with a frown on his face. “I admit I was a bit too eager to explore the rift.”

  “At the time only a few demons were ing through,” Ali said. “We had no way to know the dungeon or that Pit Lord was in there, or that they would be so powerful.”

  “Or those Sentinels…” said. “How do we even fight something like that?”

  “I pn on asking Mieriel for more details on how to defend ourselves from psychic attacks,” Ali answered.

  “Good,” said, shaking his head. “We’re just fortuhat the rift isn’t rge enough for the bigger demons to pass through.”

  We o be more careful, Ali thought, but like him, she had no idea what to ge. As she turned inward to her notifications, she heard the excited chatter ing dowairway. Mato, it seemed, had started telling the novices stories of their adventures. Right. Check the notifications.

  Grove Warden has reached level 64 (+4).+40 attribute points.

  Ali spent fourteen points on both wisdom and intelligence – her mainstay attributes. Spell power and mana were her most important aspects, and after today, wisdom had just bee her favorite attribute. Six points went to perception, given how many of her skills scaled from it. For her final points, she divided them up equally, spending two points on each of vitality, endurance, aerity – to hopefully improve her survivability just a little. That corruption aura had definitely e too close to killing her.

  Are Insight has reached level 33 (+2).Are Recall has reached level 13.Barrier has reached level 48 (+3).Grimoire of Summoning has reached level 33.Martial Insight has reached level 37.Empowered Summoner has reached level 29.Domain Mastery has reached level 27 (+2).Minion Teleport has reached level 23 (+2).

  Identify has reached level 17.

  Four levels. And the chimes were still humming tinuously in the back of her mind. The Demon Hunter had been worth quite a lot. She had earned less thahers, but she assumed it had to do with her higher css-level. Still, four levels for a single fight was incredible progress, and her skill growth henomenal too – she had earwo levels in Domain Mastery, and one new imprint chapter just for the crazy run through the jungle making raid bosses.

  Perhaps I would have preferred less of a panic, a more measured approach to levelling? She smiled thinly. That, unfortunately, was a life she had given up when she had chosen a bat css. While her css did afford some ability to level up by sequestering herself in the library with books, she khat would rapidly cause stagnation. bat skills required palpable risk to grow. However, she would very much prefer if the risk were… a little less risky? ime –

  “Um… Miss Aliandra…” Sabri started, and trailed off, bowing awkwardly to her, her arms ed carefully around three heavy volumes of the hs of Ahn Khen.

  “Sabri, I don’t need any bowing, I’m just an adventurer like you,” Ali said, causing the awkward novice to snap upright in surprise.

  “But… you have this library, and the shrine, and…” Sabri’s eyes flickered past the barrier and out into the jungle.

  “I’m not an Elder, Sabri. I have a couple more levels than you because I started earlier,” Ali said. “And that’s simply a matter of patieime, and being careful.” She felt a little pang of guilt at that, given she and her friends had almost wiped out the eown with their carelessness.

  At her incredulous look, Ali tinued, “Really, if you need anything, please just ask any of us. We’d love to help.”

  “Um, if it’s ok… Ryn said you might be able to teach me the a nguage,” she showed the books she was carrying, both arms ed around them as if afraid that she might drop them.

  “Oh, sure, how about while we’re waiting for Mato to finish cooking? It might take a few sessions though, so if you don’t get it today, e bad ask me again.”

  Eaining was not ’s forte, so he sat eating dinner in silence, listening while Mataled the novices with the story of their fights against the warlocks, imps, and the Demon Hunter, culminating with the tale of the abyssal realm and their chaotic retreat back to the library. The story finished with the dramatic shohere they held back the horde of demons while Ali made the bosses that saved them in the nick of time.

  He found himself smiling at the novices’ rapt attention and Mato’s masterful storytelling. He gave a mostly ho at, ahe way he wove the tale gave it an epic feel, like an adventurer’s tale from a book – certainly it felt nothing like the paerror and fear as they had fled for their lives. There was an unfortu about his impromptu dance debut, but it was mercifully brief.

  He could easily put himself in their shoes, knowing how excited he would have been to talk with any adventurers who had leveled up as much as they had. If nothing else, their wide-eyed excitement helped him see his own progress in perspective. He smiled, happy to be sitting and rexing after dinner with a full stomad a fortable couch, rather than lying dead in a hole on an abyssal pne.

  He fihe hearty stew with relish. Mato’s cooking was definitely improving, and now almost every meal resulted in a healthy buff to his vitality. He didn’t miss Mato slipping Sabri a sed bowl without her even asking – and then, the big-hearted Beastkiended not to notice wheried to refuse.

  He put down his own bowl and focused inward for a little, trying to tu the slowly ebbing sounds of battle outside.

  Archer of Light has reached level 60 (+6).+60 attribute points.

  Hello, level sixty! shivered slightly, and realized just how excited he was to see that notification. He had earned five levels in the rift chamber when the Demon Hunter died. It made sehough; he was trailing behind Ali in css levels and the Demon Hunter had been a high-level raid boss. His award for helpi it was substantial.

  He was certainly going to have nightmares about seeing so many empowered hellfire fireballs ing his way and the suffog pain of nearly drowning in the va ooze Ali had summoo protect him. He had no idea how Ali thought up some of this stuff, but he couldn’t deny he was still alive – and he most certainly wouldn’t have been if he had taken all those fireballs at the same time. Still, having his face burnt off was not something he wao experience ever again.

  Radiant Archery has reached level 33.Arrows of Brilliance has reached level 38.Motes of Light has reached level 22 (+2).Explorer has reached level 34 (+4).Blessing of the Dawn has reached level 25.Eyes of the Ar has reached level 26.Righteous Fury has reached level 21.Azrael's Wings has reached level 18.Mirage Armor has reached level 15 (+3).

  Wow, Explorer advanced a lot. He hadn’t fotten the message it had given him as he stepped through the threshold into the abyssal pne. He had been rewarded with a powerful Blessing of the Wanderer, an upgrade to his future patron blessings, and four skill levels for being in the first group of people to set foot on that particur pne, all under high-risk circumstances. Explorer was not a bat skill, and so it leveled differently than his other skills, however, it suited him perfectly – and if the blessing was anything to go by, it suited his patroy perfectly too.

  Skinning has reached level 8 (+3).

  Oops, almost missed that one. Highly important. He smiled to see his skinning had grown so well. The Hellfire Wargs produced very valuable demonic hides, and the Fmecaller scales might be even more valuable – at least acc to Malika. Although he may o take them to Ciradyl to find a leatherworker suffitly advao want to purchase them. With Ali and Malika oeam, they were never short on moo buy the potions he needed, but it felt good to be able to pay his own way.

  I’m a gold-ranked adventurer. It slowly sunk in. He had reached level sixty, and that was a signifit milestone no matter how you looked at it. He should be able to upgrade his guild ring tomorrow. It probably meant a rank upgrade at the Pathfinders Guild too.

  “Oh, , this is definitely for you,” Ali’s voice broke through his focus, as he gnced over with a start. Ali looked positively ridiculous trying to lug a bow that was over twice her size to where he sat; he got up quickly to help her with it.

  “Is this what I think it is?” It wasn’t as if he could fet the sight of this powerful bow, even dormant without the hellfire wreath.

  “Yup, I stored it when I destructed the boss. It had a pair of Fmecaller Bracers too, but it’s the same as the set you already had, so I gave that to Malika to sell.”

  “ you identify this for me?” he asked, and suddenly choked, coughing, and spluttering in surprise as the text appeared in his mind.

  Howling Hellfire Bow – level 60A powerful recurve bow of exquisite stru. When triggered, this bow’s ability wreathes it in hellfire and causes a demonic howling when fired. Damage: Ranged, Physical, HellfireStamina: Attacks gain +20% additional damage as Hellfire.+15% to Attack speed.+2% of your damage is returned as Stamina over 30 seds.This on will gain experience as you use it, up to +20 levels.Requirements: Dexterity 210, Strength 100Two Handed – Bow

  “You ok?” Ali asked, with a mischievous grin.

  “Yes,” he wheezed cheerfully, pretending to clutch his chest. “This thing is insane!” It truly was i was no wohe Demon Hunter had felt so powerful. Twenty pert more damage as hellfire whenever he chose. Attack haste and stamina leech. As if that wasn’t enough, the bow would level up – an entment he had beeain oed iorybooks.

  “It is, rather,” Ali answered. “Malika said it’s worth a fortune.”

  “I ’t use it, though,” said, feeling the sudden pinch of disappoi as his eyes found the requirements. “I don’t have one hurength.”

  “You just leveled to sixty, Mr. Gold-Rank Adventurer and Pathfinder,” Malika chimed in from the side, smag his shoulder with a grin. “Or did you already spend your points oerity or something?”

  Malika had been teasing him a bit more than normal tely, but he couldn’t help smiling as he realized he had sixty u attribute points. Immediately, he spent fifteen points bringing his strength attribute up to just above the amount o meet the bow’s requirements and then he picked it up, feeling the weight of the rger bow in his hands.

  Ooh, that’s so… shiny! Yes, he was turning into Aliandra. Almost blushing at his wayward thoughts, he looked around, not finding anything to shoot, but Ali simply gestured toward the jungle and a slit appeared in the barrier, above the level of the oozes and the rivers of poison. The bow was a little rger than he would have preferred, but it would work. His wings fred from his back, and he flew up to the barrier.

  He drew the bow, taking a moment to get a feel for how heavy it was iion to his newly enharength. Once he was ready, he jured a single arrow a fly. The bow had a great sense of power, the craftsmanship was superb, and the ban his hands was exquisite. The Vampire Hor he shot out of the air spiraled down to be finished off by an untable number of oozes. He marveled at the unfamiliar sensation of stamina flowing into him from the bained from the damage he had just unleashed.

  And now for the real test. He jured a flight of four arrows and activated the bow with his stamina. Instantly, a great fme of r bck hellfire wreathed the bow, surprisingly not burning his hands. As he pulled the b back, the hellfire infused his arrows, blending the burning bck fme with a core of intense white light. He released the arrows, filling the library with the eerie howl that the Demon Hunter had created every time he fired. His arrows smashed into a demon with an eg crash that shook the tree branches nearby.

  studied the bow in his hands with a newfound respect. Quickly, he distributed his remaining points, twelve each to dexterity and perception. Eleven to intelligend five each to vitality and wisdom. Theivated Righteous Fury, downed a mana potion, charged his arrows with Explosive Shot ara light magic damage, a loose thirty seds of explosive forto the remnants of the demon horde. It was a rush wielding such a potent on, and to his amazement, everything he did was enhanced by hellfire, even the explosions were wreathed in bck fme, and the extra damage from his Motes of Light was enhaoo. Throughout his assault, his stami boung off full, refilled by the bow’s potent stamina leet.

  He turo find the novices staring at him open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

  “It looks good on you,” Mato said from where he was standing nearby. “I think Lyeneru would approve.”

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