Chapter 191: Chapter 189: Tough Nut to Crack

Mantle of Magic: lvl 15

Active II

Magic is not a concept unknown to humans or beasts, let alone to you. The mantle allows you to surround yourself with a veil of mana, seep it into your flesh and bone, and by doing so, infuse your moves, attacks, and defenses with the power of magic. It is entirely up to you what kind you choose to use, as magic is limited only by your imagination.

Tier II - You've pulled off mana manipulation, no easy feat whether for beast or human. As such, you have come closer to your magic potential slumbering within each of us, making your magic of mantle more effective.

Mana consumption of your mantle reduced by 20%

 

My class, [Deviant of Humanity], was not a magic-oriented class, and neither was [Slave], meaning no bonuses from my classes for [Mantle of Magic] or [Heart of Magic]. It was a shame. With the kind of heart beating in my chest and Idleaf guiding my way, I was getting good at manipulating mana. After the initial struggle to cover my hand with the magical substance that Earth lacked, as far as I knew, it wasn't such a hassle to do the same with the rest of my body. A little practice, a bit of swearing, and I was able to cover my body with a layer of mana, thin as paper and smooth-ish as glass, without aid from the skill. 

Was having [Mantle of Magic] useless at this point, then? No, not at all. With Tier II of the skill, keeping that layer of mana was much less mana-intensive. Plus, if it were to come down to it, and I found myself in a bind, I could form and hold the mana layer directly through the skill without needing to concentrate on it.

But for now, it wasn't more than that, just a layer of mana enveloping my body, still far from being of any use. To make it worthwhile, I needed to master some element, a form of magic, and while I could have started with any of them, finding the right one wasn't so easy. I wish it was as simple as sitting down with a candle, a bowl of water, a pinwheel, and a rock; use my mana on those and wait to see what happens.

It would be so much simpler than sensing on my own which form of magic suited me best - which I felt most comfortable with. Not even Idleaf was much help. With all the wisdom she was willing to draw from time to time from the elder ones, she came up with nothing but that I had to figure it out for myself and find the form of magic closest to my heart. When I asked her if that was just a figure of speech or meant literally, she giggled and, without telling me more, danced away, fading away like shadows in the setting sun.

That was a few days ago, and since then, I had come to understand I was on my own in this. Both Aspen and Idleaf saw it as a sort of test. Milestone of mages and beasts alike. Only after I had figured it out were they willing to share more of their know-how with me.

Of course, I tried to argue that it was idiotic to hinder a budding mage in her training like that but to no avail. In fact, those two made me feel like that was precisely their intention; to slow me down. The only reason I could see why they would do so was for me to build a more solid foundation while I try to find the right form of magic.

So that's why, after having a few mugs of ale with my squadmates and a drink with Freyde, I was now sitting at the Broken Mug, alone at the table, trying to make sense of the candle flame in front of me while Idleaf frolicked with Tess on the small dance floor to the rhythms of the lute played by the local bard. The tavern part of the inn was not full, but it was lively nevertheless. 

Certainly not a place to practice magic.

Or so it might seem. According to Aspen, learning to master magic even in tense situations was part of the training of battle mages that she expected me to be. And honestly, this place was arguably even worse to focus on magic than the fights I've had. With my ears, the voices of the bard and the guests singing resonated in my head, making it nearly impossible to stay focused on the flame, the visible gaseous part of the fire. An element, the form of magic, that I believed might be closest to my heart. The dragons in the stories I knew spewed fire, at least most of them, and the Drakes, their cousins and the ones my heart seemed to have originated with, should be similarly inclined. 

Was it true, then?

So far, I had yet to find out.

While the mana manipulation felt in a way similar to my new limbs, wings, and tail, foreign and yet familiar, just something I had to accept and learn to control, shaping mana into the fire was a whole different story. In a way, it meant creating something new. So...I was stuck, staring blankly at the flame in an attempt to understand its nature, finding all my rusty fire knowledge from Earth useless.

As frustrating as that was, I had nothing better to do, though. Because of Idleaf, I couldn't retreat to my room, which was in a far part of the inn to the dance floor, and after all the stuff that happened today, the leader issue, I wasn't really in the mood to have much fun. It kind of came over me, and even though I kept my promise and had a dance with Idleaf, I just couldn't get the shit out of my head.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath, realizing my concentration was gone as my mind drifted off to my failure as an alpha. As much as I didn't want to admit it hit me harder than I would have ever thought. My pride took a blow today, one hard swallow.

Knowing I wouldn't grasp anything from the flame flickering in front of me today, I blew out the candle and glanced at my Status Screen to take my mind to other thoughts.

Name: Korra'leigh Grey

Race: Human/Beast

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Main Class: Deviant of Humanity

Sub Class: Slave

Level: 113 -> 121

 

Constitution: 123 (41) -> 155 (41)

Strength: 69 (29) -> 88 (30)

Endurance: 38  (28) -> 44 (29)

Dexterity: 40 (27) -> 41 (28)

Intelligence: 31 (13) -> 43 (16)

Wisdom:  29 (12) -> 34 (14)

 

'Level one hundred and twenty-one,' I thought to myself. It had a whole different ring to it than when I was only in the 100s. You could say it was the level that gave your Class Evolution its edge and relevance. It told everyone who looked at you that reaching the level of one hundred wasn't merely a coincidence on your part, that you were able to take on your new class and knew how to use it.

At the same time, that level was kind of a limit in itself. Most of the city guards were at that level, reaching it after the initial excitement of the new class. But to go further meant putting in an effort that not everyone was willing to commit to.

Not my case. At least, I believed so. I still had my drive to keep going. Only the direction of my path got a tad unclear. With what Dungreen, the crazy son of a bitch, did to my stats, I felt that magic was essentially denied to me. However, with the advances in my mana manipulation and the new skill tiers, it no longer seemed that way. Hence the distribution of skill points corresponding to that. Three more points to Intelligence and two points to Wisdom.

It wasn't just some whim of mine, a way to make my childhood dream come true. No, some of my skills required more and more mana, not to mention better control of it, and the outlook for the future me was even more mana intensive. I needed a solid magic foundation. 'Damn!' Kind of ironic me saying that after my earlier whining, huh?

Was I undermining the rest of my build with that, though? I didn't think so. My constitution was already massive, and the potential of my strength was the same. In fact, all my stats were growing so fast that I was in a losing race with them to reach my full potential. My body had more and more room to grow.

Thinking about it, all of that was likely the reason for my failing as a leader. I was too focused on myself, on my growth, on coping with all the changes that were coming all too quickly. There wasn't a day when I didn't get a level or some class tiered up. So yeah, Pinescar was right; with all this shit to deal with, I wasn't cut out to be a squad leader right now.

Seriously, how could I when I had no clue how to deal with [Eleaden Standard Language]? Sure, when I spoke without the assistance of the skill, my talk was a bit janky, but I was fluent enough that I had no problem getting my point across. I was a little worse at reading in Standard, not to the point of being unable to manage without the skill, though. Ria was simply an outstanding teacher, plus I was driven by the need to learn the language.

Only now that it came to the crunch, I had no idea what skill to replace this one with. Yeah, critical decision-making wasn't my strong suit. What a leader, huh?

Speaking of which, I was actually quite curious about our soon-to-be new squad member. Pinescar told us the one would be assigned to us tomorrow, but that was it. He didn't even mention whether the new member would be a woman or a man, let alone their class or level. He just left us in the dark, wondering and guessing. What a bastard!

Sure, there was Blaine's remark about the current City Lord's sister's kids, but it wasn't much to go by either. She had two, a boy and a girl, who no one in Squad Four knew much about. Despite the hopes Rayden had for the one, he or she could have turned out to be as arrogant a prick as their uncle, Lord Egerton. I sure as hell wouldn't put up with someone like that in Squad Four. 

An aggravated growl escaped my throat, unintended, telling of what I thought of the man and not just about him. This whole not-knowing thing was damn annoying and frustrating.

"See, I told you. She's no fun today," remarked Idleaf, who at that moment came to my table with Tess. The daughter of the innkeeper Byron, who was behind the tap while at the same time filling in for her, was taking her time off from waitressing, enjoying herself on the dance floor. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Watching her dance to the music was a favorite pastime of the regulars.

"Should I get you another beer?" Tess asked me. "It's good for quenching any sorrow."

All I could give her was a sad smile. "...but not good to deal with the root of the sorrow."

"True," gushed the girl and glanced at the spirit. "This one's a tough nut to crack, Idleaf."

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To my surprise, the meaning of the fraze was not lost on the young World Tree. "She is and quite cranky today."

"If not a mug of ale, then maybe a dance," suggested Tess, with a look of mischief in her eyes similar to the spirits who smiled broadly at that suggestion.

"Nope," I said a firm no, but talking to those two was like talking to a wall. 

"I could get Jakob to play the Falling Star," Idleaf suggested, thrilled.

"Again?" Tess moaned. "It's good, that's true. But the regulars...how about Love of Dragons?" 

"Wait, wait, wait, I said I'm not gonna dance! And who the heck is Jakob?"

"The one playing songs, Korra'leigh," Idleaf said in a tone where all she needed to add was 'duh' to make me see how my mother must have felt when I was in my teenage years, and she couldn't keep up with the trends. On the one hand, I wanted to smack her for her sass; on the other, I was upset that I wasn't able to have fun like her.

"Come on Korra. Look around you. Loads of regulars want to see you dance," Tess bellowed loudly, spinning on her axis with her arms outstretched. Half of the tavern roared back in response, but I honestly doubted that most of them gave a shit about seeing me on the dance floor and just enjoyed seeing someone go up there in the face of their apparent aloofness. Those two girls made me think about myself, though.

Being broody wasn't solving anything, and whatever was supposed to come tomorrow would still come tomorrow, be it my favored form of magic, a new skill, or a fifth member of our squad.

"Let's show them some moves, gals," I said in forced enthusiasm, half dejected that alcohol was struggling to get through my constitution, half wishing the poison in my tail would make me feel drunk instead of tired. After all, I always danced better and more easily when hammered.

"Yay, Jakob," Idleaf cheered and promptly turned to the bard. " ...play Falling Star." This time, the whole tavern erupted in a storm of protest, tired of listening to a song she so much loved.

 

***

 

"Captain, why them?" Stella asked as Rayden handed her four folders containing information on the members of the infamous Squad Four. 

"Is that a problem, Private Palemoon?" Rayden raised an eyebrow.

Blatant taunt, yet Stella had a hard time swallowing the first words that came to her mind. They wouldn't go over well with Captain. Instead of blurting out what was on her mind, she shifted her weight and gathered her thoughts. It was impossible not to hear about Squad Four in the barracks. Most of the junior squad regarded them as trash, the ones nobody wanted and who didn't fit in. She knew better. Or at least she wanted to believe that Captain put them together because she knew they'd get along. 

"They're not exactly the best city guard material, ma'am."

"Interesting," Rayden said, leaning back in her chair, curious to hear what she had to say. "You haven't looked at the files yet. I suppose you've had the pleasure of dealing with them?"

Stella flinched. She did not. "No, ma'am."

"Then what are you basing your judgment on?"

She knew very well that she had shot herself in her own foot with her remark, and Captain intended to rub it in now. A big damn slip-up on her part, one she cursed herself for. Stella couldn't help herself, though. It was Squad Four they were talking about, not exactly an exemplary squad. ‘Traiana's tits!’ Only one member was a pure human, and one of them wasn't even a full-fledged member of the city guards.

Definitely not the assignment she was hoping for.

Practicing mostly at home, with the best her mother was able to find and hire, she had achieved Class Evolution in just three years. It then took her another two years to get to level 135. They called her prodigy, the brilliant granddaughter of the late Lord Egerton. Some saw her desire to become a city guard as a waste of her talents; others said he would be proud of her. A notion she shared.

She admired her grandfather, the General of the Sahal Army. And likewise, she held an admiration for Sanysia Rayden, his right-hand woman, who took up the mantle after his early departure during the war, only to relinquish her position when it ended and move here at her grandfather's dying wish. Her goal was to get among the master guards Captain had managed to build here among the Castiana City Guards. 

With her talent, she was hoping to get a low-level position in one of their units, at worst among the city's senior guards of her level. Rayden assigning her to one of the junior squads, which she managed to push through not too long ago despite her uncle's reluctance, never crossed her mind, and now she needed to get out of the mire that the blunder had left her in.

Against all odds, she found her resolve in Rayden and how she was able to stand up to her uncle. Stella found it very remarkable and something she had to do now herself if she wanted to get her way, or at least not end up with Squad Four.

"I judge based on what I've heard and seen, ma'am," Stella said truthfully after she got her thoughts straight and went on to make her case. "I admit it's not fair to them, but I believe someone like me would be better suited for a position in a more senior unit. If you still doubt my abilities, let me prove them to you, ma'am."

"That's what I'm giving you, a chance to prove to me that you have the spunk to be a squad leader, Palemoon."

"S-squad leader, ma'am?" Stella stammered, completely taken aback. She was ready to plead her case to prove her wrong when she wanted to assign her to Squad Four. But she wasn't prepared for a fireball of that magnitude.

"Yes, squad leader, Sergeant Pinescar has just reported to me that they are in dire need of one."

Stella swallowed dry and shifted her weight again. "But..." It was still Squad Four of which she was to take command. Most of them had a level far below the evolution as she saw for herself when she spotted them on the training grounds the other day. More importantly... "I thought that was Korra Grey. I mean squad leader, ma'am."

"So you've heard of her. Quite a troublemaker, that one. No wonder, though. Her mentor was no different," grunted Rayden, looking across the table at Stella's feet. "Glad to see you're wearing your boots. Did you know she's behind that ridiculous bet that still gives me a headache?"

Stella nodded. "I heard, ma'am." And if she was to believe everything she heard about her, she was also a Guardian of one of the World Trees. The woman was already a bit of a legend among the city guards.

"Do you see this stack of papers?" Rayden asked out of the blue, pointing to a rather tall pillar of forms on her desk. "All the complaints from citizens about guardsmen without boots."

"I see, ma'am." While she agreed that the guards without shoes looked strange, she had no idea why Rayden was telling her. Was she asking her to stop it?

"Then, there are citizens who have fallen into barefoot walking...and they complain about the dirty streets. It's a problem that will soon reach your uncle, and I can already see another shouting match between us coming."

"Ma'am?" Now Stella was truly confused. Couldn't she just order everyone to wear their boots? Or did Captain Rayden expect her to help her with her uncle?

"Don't worry, Palemoon. These are my problems to deal with. I just wanted you to see that Grey has more influence on people than she even realizes. If you looked at those files, you'd find that all the Squad Four members in the last week rival your leveling speed."

"W-what?" Stella blurted out, holding herself back at the last moment from taking a swipe at the files. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Don't be. I, too, find it baffling. It pales in comparison to Grey's leveling speed, though. She's level one hundred and twenty-one now, but I'm giving it three weeks, and she'll catch up with you."

This time she had no words to respond. That was too ridiculous a claim. Even if she stayed at the same level, it was still fourteen levels in fifteen days. Not even she could level up that fast.

"I am not saying this to hurt your ego, Palemoon. I just want you to see the bigger picture of why she's not suitable as a squad leader. Sure, she can motivate people around her, but let's just say she's still dealing with what she is, and her rapid growth isn't helping. To make a long story short, she doesn't have what it takes to be a leader, and neither does anyone in Squad Four. They have decent synergy but lack leadership. Hence you, Palemoon," Rayden said, leaning across the table toward her. "I believe that you have what it takes. But say no, and I'll reassign you elsewhere."

A tempting offer Stella knew it would be a mistake to jump at. It would show an unwillingness to submit to command and quite possibly lose her the opportunity to command her own unit for a very long time.

"How about this? A month, give it a month, get to know them, try to put them in line, and if even then you still want to be reassigned I'll do it. No bad feelings or a stain in your files, how about that?"

A month? With Squad Four? She could take that, or at least she believed. "I'll do it, ma'am."

"Excellent," Rayden said brightly, grinning from ear to ear. "You can get to know each other better at the training grounds tomorrow."

 

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