“...instead of keeping your sword in a sheath or taking it out of your ring ahead of time you can simply take it out of the ring at the last possible moment.” Wolf explained some of the simplest strategies to his roommate.
This was something Wolf remembered from one of his dreams, ages years ago. If you pull off the maneuver properly you can have your enemy impale themselves most of the time. You don’t have to do anything, save to summon your weapon.
Wayde gave Wolf a quizzical look before shaking his head. Based on that serious expression, Wolf wasn’t pulling his leg.
“I don’t get it.” Wayde understood each of the words Wolf had said, but not the concept his roommate wished to explain.
“Attack me and I’ll show you,” Wolf said without getting frustrated.
He was already aware that certain concepts were for some reason unfathomable to most people. Demonstrating was better than spending half an hour yapping his mouth without Wayde understanding anything.
With a confused look on his face Wayde swung his sword at Wolf.
It was a flimsy blow with a barely passable stance. The sudden appearance of silver-hilted sword and the unexpected parry immediately sent Wayde’s weapon flying. The young man fell on his butt, staring at the sword that appeared out of nowhere with wide eyes.
It was plain to see that Wayde was shocked, frightened and unable to come to terms with the reality of what just happened.
“Just like that.” Wolf casually said as his fancy sword disappeared into his Ring of Holding. Wayde snapped out of his daze and gave Wolf a complicated look.
“I can’t do that,” he said with a bit of uncertainty. “It takes at least a second to take something out of my Ring of Holding. And that’s when I know where the thing I need is. If I have to look for it, it can take a while.”
Now it was Wolf’s turn to be surprised. To him whatever was in the Ring of Holding would appear in his hands nearly instantly. It was as if the ring was a part of him.
“Matilda, how about you?” he asked with confusion.
The young lady put a finger on her lip and looked up, taking a moment to think.
“About a second seems right when the Ring of Holding is empty, save for the thing I want to take out,” she confirmed. “However, I often take longer when my ring is full.”
Wolf frowned. It didn’t make sense. He could summon things out of his Ring of Holding nearly instantly ever since he’d mastered using them. As far as he remembered his dad also took things out immediately.
However, the young man was wrong. In his memories Archibald was considerably more impressive than in reality. And in the beginning Wolf also took half a second to a second to get things out of his Ring of Holding.
That’s because the time needed to scan and summon items inside a Ring of Holding depended on how powerful one’s soul was. Wolf’s trick with summoning weapons at the last possible moment was something any True-Namer could do without practice, it’s just that such people rarely relied on weapons.
Wolf didn’t dwell on this thought. If those who could use his Ring of Holding quickdraw were rare it was only to his benefit. Instead, he focused on other things to explain to Wayde and Matilda, while Anna and Barbara slowly recovered.
An hour later Matilda was still picking flowers, unaffected by the psychoactive toxin. Anna and Barbara had mostly recovered and got up to pick Snow Petunias, but Wolf stopped them.
“We should set up camp on that clearing over there,” he said and pointed at a patch without Snow Petunias anywhere in the vicinity. “You and Wayde can set up tents, bedrolls, make a fire pit…”
Wolf rarely had the comfort of a tent with bedrolls and such when he traveled alone. He never wasted time on such irrelevant comfort. His friends however were accustomed to comfort, so he’d prepared everything they would need before the group headed out on their adventure.
As the sun set Matilda and Wolf walked over to the camp. Matilda joined the girls, hoping to mediate the matter between them, as well as help Barbara clean up. Wolf on the other hand set up six Alarms around the perimeter. The group was making camp in the middle of a dangerous place and an early warning system was a must.
Once done with securing the camp, Wolf started a fire, but then proceeded to prepare dinner on his enchanted heater.
After a couple of minutes Matilda walked over to the chef.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” she asked shyly. “We’re in the middle of a danger zone. Won’t fire attract Monster Beasts?”
“Maybe a couple,” Wolf replied nonchalantly. “You should be able to handle them, right?”
Those words didn’t reassure Matilda one bit. Sure Anna and Barbara were unhurt. After resting for a couple of hours they were more or less fine. Also, nobody had used any spells, but it was already dark and they couldn’t see that far in the fir forest.
Matilda was about to go back to Anna and Barbara when she suddenly heard a rustling in the forest. She turned her head, looking in the direction from which the noise had come.
“You have sharp senses,” Wolf complimented while looking in the same direction as Matilda.
“Quill Rats,” Wolf shouted. “They are agile and hard to hit! Second Order Monster Beasts, once you hit them they are very frail and will almost certainly die! Magic Dart to the head is the best way to deal with them!”
Just as he’d finished the introduction on the Monster Beasts, a dozen or so Quill Rats jumped out of the evergreen bushes.
The creatures were the size of an average dog, covered in dark brown fur. They had elongated, ratlike heads, while their backs and beaver-like tails were covered in dark green quills.
Wolf expected a barrage of Magic Darts to mow down the intruding Monster Beasts, however reality differed quite a bit from the youth’s expectations.
“Iiiiiii!” three young women screamed in terror and ran away.
A pack of rats the size of dogs appeared in front of them. Even commoner women, who’d often seen rats would’ve screamed if they’d seen monsters like these for the first time, let alone three sheltered young ladies, who’d never seen rats before.
Can this get any worse? Wolf thought with a sigh. He was about to take out his sword and slaughter the Quill Rat pack when he heard chanting behind him.
Wayde actually listened to him and started casting Magic Dart. Three purplish-translucent projectiles manifested in the air then shot straight towards the pack.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Luminous darts pierced the heads of three closest rats before bursting into motes of shiny dust. A moment later three lifeless bodies fell down, their legs still twitching.
“Great!” Wolf shouted excitedly. The remaining ten or so rats charged towards the pair, when suddenly another set of three immaterial darts killed the frontmost Monster Beasts.
Wolf turned around to see that Matilda had opened up a bit of distance from the monsters and was chanting her second Magic Dart.
Finally things were taking a turn for the better. And it wasn’t just Matilda, Anna was also finishing her spell. Three more missiles silently flew through the air, reaping the lives of three more rats. Only a pair of Monster Beasts reached Wolf.
“Excellent!” Wolf shouted as he smashed the agile rats’ skulls with simple kicks.
The only one who underperformed was the still fleeing Barbara. However there wasn’t much time for joy. The noise and fire attracted more monsters. Wolf’s companions were distressed by the shaking and rustling of bushes all over the place.
“Matilda, stop chanting, don’t waste your spell. Everyone should back up and climb into the trees! I’ll attract the monsters and you kill them! It’s not a bad way for you to get some experience!” Wolf heard dozens of Monster Beasts coming.
Fortunately monsters around here were so weak they most likely couldn’t even pierce his skin. As long as he could keep them focused on him, there was no reason to worry about anyone’s safety.
Barbara was already climbing a tree without anyone telling her what to do. Her face was flushed with embarrassment. Only she failed to contribute in the fight.
Wolf didn’t blame her. Well, he did a bit, just like Anna and Matilda. These rats were nothing more than harmless Second Order Monster Beasts, and yet the girls fled from them in panic.
However, Matilda’s move was the turning point. Even though she’d fled in panic it had only taken her a moment to conquer her instinctive fear, gather her wits and then follow Wolf’s instructions and fight back. Matilda stopping and fighting gave Anna the courage, and hopefully Barbara will snap out of it thanks to peer pressure.
The group was steadily climbing their trees when five Wargs charged towards Wolf.
Wolves, Wolf grumbled inwardly. Why are there always wolves? Is it an unwritten rule that beginners get to fight wolves, rats and groundhogs?
As these frivolous thoughts swarmed Wolf’s mind three projectiles conjured by Magic Dart flew towards the lupine Monster Beasts. Just like with Quill Rats, Matilda had targeted three of them, each right between the eyes. The darts burst into motes of light, but barely managed to bloody the Wargs.
“Aim all three at a single Monster Beast, or use Inferno Ray!” Wolf instructed his party, while slapping away the Wargs with the flat of his sword. “Go for the eyes if you can!”
Wolf’s party wasn’t at the level where they could “go for the eyes”. In fact the coordination between the four students was… poor and that’s being generous.
Six glowing projectiles blasted apart the head of the Warg closest to Wolf, while a ray of fire utterly missed its moving target.
Well… I guess it’s not that horrible for their first time? Wolf thought as he focused on staying safe.
Wolf’s staying safe mostly meant he watched out for friendly fire. Every couple of seconds a “Sorry” was heard from the fir trees. However, spells stopped raining about a minute after the fight had started.
“Out of spells?” Wolf yelled his question while cleaving a Warg’s head in half.
“We have Fireballs!” Anna shouted back.
Yeah, let’s not do that, Wolf thought.
“Use crossbows. Just pick targets which are a bit further away from me, I’ll leave only the big ones for you.” Wolf issued a new command and then continued slaying Monster Beasts which were too small, too tough or too agile.
Finally, a bolt whizzed through the air and then lodged itself in the ground. Wolf had no idea who shot it, or what they were aiming at. A moment later another bolt disappeared into the bushes. The third bolt however struck a Trihorn in the flank, lodging itself deep into the Monster Beast’s flesh.
“Yes!” Wayde exclaimed excitedly.
Unlike Barbara and Anna, who tried to shoot as soon as they’d loaded their crossbows, he took careful aim and fired.
However, his exclamation ended abruptly. A bolt hit the same Trihorn he had attacked. It went straight through the eye and disappeared into the monster’s skull. The boar, still mid charge, wobbled. A split second later, it toppled over, lifelessly sliding on the ground.
Matilda suddenly became the focus of her friends and blushed. Even Wolf was stunned and turned her way while swatting an obnoxious Quill Rat.
“When I was younger I told daddy I wanted to be like Artens the Sniper and use a crossbow,” Matilda mumbled with a blush.
Matilda didn’t continue explaining how she wanted to follow in a folktale hero’s footsteps. She didn’t need to. Considering how much her father doted on her, everyone half expected that the man had brought the hero from the story she mentioned to teach her.
As far as tools for killing were concerned, a crossbow was one of the few weapons even a child could use, if someone were to crank it up for them.
“Great shooting!” Wolf exclaimed after a moment of awed silence. Crossbow really is an excellent weapon for an average Mage, but the bow is still better for me, since it can pack a stronger punch.
The slaughter continued and after a quarter of an hour the Monster Beasts were all dead. Eventually the party had run out of bolts and spells, so Wolf had to take care of the stragglers.
The results of the battle were surprising. Matilda was actually a sharpshooter. Barbara and Wayde got a hang of it rather quickly, while Anna was a lost cause. Considering Matilda’s nature Wolf was certain she wasn’t suitable for killing, but she was surprisingly good at it.
“I think we’ll have to change our formation.” Wolf started seriously. “Matilda’s talent would be wasted if she were to focus on support. Anna, how about you take on that role?”
Everyone had already climbed down from the trees and looked at all the Monster Beast corpses which were strewn about. Anna seemed furious and was about to say something, but when she opened her mouth Wolf just continued speaking.
“Matilda, why didn’t you tell us you were such a great archer?” he asked so that Anna wouldn't complain about the new distribution of roles.
When they set off she was very happy she would get to shoot things, but thirty bolts later the only thing she managed to hit was ground. She wasn’t that bad at hitting stationary targets during practice and it was natural she’d be angry with Wolf’s call.
“You never asked,” Matilda said shyly. “And I think Annabelle wants to say something.”
Wolf looked at Matilda. She really didn’t leave him a way out. Now Anna was going to start complaining about him changing her role in the party. Just like he expected, Anna started harshly.
“Wolf you idiot,” she shouted and then pointed towards the fire. “Why did we set up tents and our camping supplies if you were intentionally attracting monsters here? Our camping gear is ruined!”
Four sets of eyes followed the direction she was pointing at and saw the shredded tents and ruined bedrolls splattered with blood and burnt by fire of stray spells. There was still a small flame flickering from a wooden stool. Three people were bewildered, while Wolf was stunned stupid.
Why didn’t you mention that before I attracted the monsters here? he cried inwardly.
“...instead of keeping your sword in a sheath or taking it out of your ring ahead of time you can simply take it out of the ring at the last possible moment.” Wolf explained some of the simplest strategies to his roommate.
This was something Wolf remembered from one of his dreams, ages years ago. If you pull off the maneuver properly you can have your enemy impale themselves most of the time. You don’t have to do anything, save to summon your weapon.
Wayde gave Wolf a quizzical look before shaking his head. Based on that serious expression, Wolf wasn’t pulling his leg.
“I don’t get it.” Wayde understood each of the words Wolf had said, but not the concept his roommate wished to explain.
“Attack me and I’ll show you,” Wolf said without getting frustrated.
He was already aware that certain concepts were for some reason unfathomable to most people. Demonstrating was better than spending half an hour yapping his mouth without Wayde understanding anything.
With a confused look on his face Wayde swung his sword at Wolf.
It was a flimsy blow with a barely passable stance. The sudden appearance of silver-hilted sword and the unexpected parry immediately sent Wayde’s weapon flying. The young man fell on his butt, staring at the sword that appeared out of nowhere with wide eyes.
It was plain to see that Wayde was shocked, frightened and unable to come to terms with the reality of what just happened.
“Just like that.” Wolf casually said as his fancy sword disappeared into his Ring of Holding. Wayde snapped out of his daze and gave Wolf a complicated look.
“I can’t do that,” he said with a bit of uncertainty. “It takes at least a second to take something out of my Ring of Holding. And that’s when I know where the thing I need is. If I have to look for it, it can take a while.”
Now it was Wolf’s turn to be surprised. To him whatever was in the Ring of Holding would appear in his hands nearly instantly. It was as if the ring was a part of him.
“Matilda, how about you?” he asked with confusion.
The young lady put a finger on her lip and looked up, taking a moment to think.
“About a second seems right when the Ring of Holding is empty, save for the thing I want to take out,” she confirmed. “However, I often take longer when my ring is full.”
Wolf frowned. It didn’t make sense. He could summon things out of his Ring of Holding nearly instantly ever since he’d mastered using them. As far as he remembered his dad also took things out immediately.
However, the young man was wrong. In his memories Archibald was considerably more impressive than in reality. And in the beginning Wolf also took half a second to a second to get things out of his Ring of Holding.
That’s because the time needed to scan and summon items inside a Ring of Holding depended on how powerful one’s soul was. Wolf’s trick with summoning weapons at the last possible moment was something any True-Namer could do without practice, it’s just that such people rarely relied on weapons.
Wolf didn’t dwell on this thought. If those who could use his Ring of Holding quickdraw were rare it was only to his benefit. Instead, he focused on other things to explain to Wayde and Matilda, while Anna and Barbara slowly recovered.
An hour later Matilda was still picking flowers, unaffected by the psychoactive toxin. Anna and Barbara had mostly recovered and got up to pick Snow Petunias, but Wolf stopped them.
“We should set up camp on that clearing over there,” he said and pointed at a patch without Snow Petunias anywhere in the vicinity. “You and Wayde can set up tents, bedrolls, make a fire pit…”
Wolf rarely had the comfort of a tent with bedrolls and such when he traveled alone. He never wasted time on such irrelevant comfort. His friends however were accustomed to comfort, so he’d prepared everything they would need before the group headed out on their adventure.
As the sun set Matilda and Wolf walked over to the camp. Matilda joined the girls, hoping to mediate the matter between them, as well as help Barbara clean up. Wolf on the other hand set up six Alarms around the perimeter. The group was making camp in the middle of a dangerous place and an early warning system was a must.
Once done with securing the camp, Wolf started a fire, but then proceeded to prepare dinner on his enchanted heater.
After a couple of minutes Matilda walked over to the chef.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” she asked shyly. “We’re in the middle of a danger zone. Won’t fire attract Monster Beasts?”
“Maybe a couple,” Wolf replied nonchalantly. “You should be able to handle them, right?”
Those words didn’t reassure Matilda one bit. Sure Anna and Barbara were unhurt. After resting for a couple of hours they were more or less fine. Also, nobody had used any spells, but it was already dark and they couldn’t see that far in the fir forest.
Matilda was about to go back to Anna and Barbara when she suddenly heard a rustling in the forest. She turned her head, looking in the direction from which the noise had come.
“You have sharp senses,” Wolf complimented while looking in the same direction as Matilda.
“Quill Rats,” Wolf shouted. “They are agile and hard to hit! Second Order Monster Beasts, once you hit them they are very frail and will almost certainly die! Magic Dart to the head is the best way to deal with them!”
Just as he’d finished the introduction on the Monster Beasts, a dozen or so Quill Rats jumped out of the evergreen bushes.
The creatures were the size of an average dog, covered in dark brown fur. They had elongated, ratlike heads, while their backs and beaver-like tails were covered in dark green quills.
Wolf expected a barrage of Magic Darts to mow down the intruding Monster Beasts, however reality differed quite a bit from the youth’s expectations.
“Iiiiiii!” three young women screamed in terror and ran away.
A pack of rats the size of dogs appeared in front of them. Even commoner women, who’d often seen rats would’ve screamed if they’d seen monsters like these for the first time, let alone three sheltered young ladies, who’d never seen rats before.
Can this get any worse? Wolf thought with a sigh. He was about to take out his sword and slaughter the Quill Rat pack when he heard chanting behind him.
Wayde actually listened to him and started casting Magic Dart. Three purplish-translucent projectiles manifested in the air then shot straight towards the pack.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Luminous darts pierced the heads of three closest rats before bursting into motes of shiny dust. A moment later three lifeless bodies fell down, their legs still twitching.
“Great!” Wolf shouted excitedly. The remaining ten or so rats charged towards the pair, when suddenly another set of three immaterial darts killed the frontmost Monster Beasts.
Wolf turned around to see that Matilda had opened up a bit of distance from the monsters and was chanting her second Magic Dart.
Finally things were taking a turn for the better. And it wasn’t just Matilda, Anna was also finishing her spell. Three more missiles silently flew through the air, reaping the lives of three more rats. Only a pair of Monster Beasts reached Wolf.
“Excellent!” Wolf shouted as he smashed the agile rats’ skulls with simple kicks.
The only one who underperformed was the still fleeing Barbara. However there wasn’t much time for joy. The noise and fire attracted more monsters. Wolf’s companions were distressed by the shaking and rustling of bushes all over the place.
“Matilda, stop chanting, don’t waste your spell. Everyone should back up and climb into the trees! I’ll attract the monsters and you kill them! It’s not a bad way for you to get some experience!” Wolf heard dozens of Monster Beasts coming.
Fortunately monsters around here were so weak they most likely couldn’t even pierce his skin. As long as he could keep them focused on him, there was no reason to worry about anyone’s safety.
Barbara was already climbing a tree without anyone telling her what to do. Her face was flushed with embarrassment. Only she failed to contribute in the fight.
Wolf didn’t blame her. Well, he did a bit, just like Anna and Matilda. These rats were nothing more than harmless Second Order Monster Beasts, and yet the girls fled from them in panic.
However, Matilda’s move was the turning point. Even though she’d fled in panic it had only taken her a moment to conquer her instinctive fear, gather her wits and then follow Wolf’s instructions and fight back. Matilda stopping and fighting gave Anna the courage, and hopefully Barbara will snap out of it thanks to peer pressure.
The group was steadily climbing their trees when five Wargs charged towards Wolf.
Wolves, Wolf grumbled inwardly. Why are there always wolves? Is it an unwritten rule that beginners get to fight wolves, rats and groundhogs?
As these frivolous thoughts swarmed Wolf’s mind three projectiles conjured by Magic Dart flew towards the lupine Monster Beasts. Just like with Quill Rats, Matilda had targeted three of them, each right between the eyes. The darts burst into motes of light, but barely managed to bloody the Wargs.
“Aim all three at a single Monster Beast, or use Inferno Ray!” Wolf instructed his party, while slapping away the Wargs with the flat of his sword. “Go for the eyes if you can!”
Wolf’s party wasn’t at the level where they could “go for the eyes”. In fact the coordination between the four students was… poor and that’s being generous.
Six glowing projectiles blasted apart the head of the Warg closest to Wolf, while a ray of fire utterly missed its moving target.
Well… I guess it’s not that horrible for their first time? Wolf thought as he focused on staying safe.
Wolf’s staying safe mostly meant he watched out for friendly fire. Every couple of seconds a “Sorry” was heard from the fir trees. However, spells stopped raining about a minute after the fight had started.
“Out of spells?” Wolf yelled his question while cleaving a Warg’s head in half.
“We have Fireballs!” Anna shouted back.
Yeah, let’s not do that, Wolf thought.
“Use crossbows. Just pick targets which are a bit further away from me, I’ll leave only the big ones for you.” Wolf issued a new command and then continued slaying Monster Beasts which were too small, too tough or too agile.
Finally, a bolt whizzed through the air and then lodged itself in the ground. Wolf had no idea who shot it, or what they were aiming at. A moment later another bolt disappeared into the bushes. The third bolt however struck a Trihorn in the flank, lodging itself deep into the Monster Beast’s flesh.
“Yes!” Wayde exclaimed excitedly.
Unlike Barbara and Anna, who tried to shoot as soon as they’d loaded their crossbows, he took careful aim and fired.
However, his exclamation ended abruptly. A bolt hit the same Trihorn he had attacked. It went straight through the eye and disappeared into the monster’s skull. The boar, still mid charge, wobbled. A split second later, it toppled over, lifelessly sliding on the ground.
Matilda suddenly became the focus of her friends and blushed. Even Wolf was stunned and turned her way while swatting an obnoxious Quill Rat.
“When I was younger I told daddy I wanted to be like Artens the Sniper and use a crossbow,” Matilda mumbled with a blush.
Matilda didn’t continue explaining how she wanted to follow in a folktale hero’s footsteps. She didn’t need to. Considering how much her father doted on her, everyone half expected that the man had brought the hero from the story she mentioned to teach her.
As far as tools for killing were concerned, a crossbow was one of the few weapons even a child could use, if someone were to crank it up for them.
“Great shooting!” Wolf exclaimed after a moment of awed silence. Crossbow really is an excellent weapon for an average Mage, but the bow is still better for me, since it can pack a stronger punch.
The slaughter continued and after a quarter of an hour the Monster Beasts were all dead. Eventually the party had run out of bolts and spells, so Wolf had to take care of the stragglers.
The results of the battle were surprising. Matilda was actually a sharpshooter. Barbara and Wayde got a hang of it rather quickly, while Anna was a lost cause. Considering Matilda’s nature Wolf was certain she wasn’t suitable for killing, but she was surprisingly good at it.
“I think we’ll have to change our formation.” Wolf started seriously. “Matilda’s talent would be wasted if she were to focus on support. Anna, how about you take on that role?”
Everyone had already climbed down from the trees and looked at all the Monster Beast corpses which were strewn about. Anna seemed furious and was about to say something, but when she opened her mouth Wolf just continued speaking.
“Matilda, why didn’t you tell us you were such a great archer?” he asked so that Anna wouldn't complain about the new distribution of roles.
When they set off she was very happy she would get to shoot things, but thirty bolts later the only thing she managed to hit was ground. She wasn’t that bad at hitting stationary targets during practice and it was natural she’d be angry with Wolf’s call.
“You never asked,” Matilda said shyly. “And I think Annabelle wants to say something.”
Wolf looked at Matilda. She really didn’t leave him a way out. Now Anna was going to start complaining about him changing her role in the party. Just like he expected, Anna started harshly.
“Wolf you idiot,” she shouted and then pointed towards the fire. “Why did we set up tents and our camping supplies if you were intentionally attracting monsters here? Our camping gear is ruined!”
Four sets of eyes followed the direction she was pointing at and saw the shredded tents and ruined bedrolls splattered with blood and burnt by fire of stray spells. There was still a small flame flickering from a wooden stool. Three people were bewildered, while Wolf was stunned stupid.
Why didn’t you mention that before I attracted the monsters here? he cried inwardly.
