Overpowered Wizard

Leaving Bianca to consider his warning, Zarian went over to the crafting wagon. He found Hannah sitting on a bench and diligently journaling as she looked intently into Reiki’s dungeon core.

Instead of inquiring about Hannah’s new hobbies, he realized he hadn’t fully informed everyone of the situation at Castle Grimrock. Thinking over that, he made use of his Spectral Spider Network and sent everyone a ping. Once they all responded, he pulled them into his head except for Hannah and talked aloud.

“I got some major news. I haven’t mentioned this yet but I figured now is the right time. During my meeting with the evil gods, I’ve settled disputes through negotiations or the tried-and-true method, violence. Evil Gods Sinfeast and Killall are definitely our enemies. Hisscreep might be an ally and seems to have a close connection to Reiki of the White Silk Dancers. Beyond that, I had a pleasant chat with Shadowfell through her altar.”

Zarian was keeping aware of everyone through his other spectral spiders.

He watched Gilbert jerk in surprise while sitting on his steed. Naomi pushed up from her napping position to a seat in the wagon. Bianca skipped around all excited, her mood rising again. Hannah shifted to the edge of her seat as she placed the dungeon core aside.

He really had their attention now.

“Shadowfell, apparently, is the biggest and most tragic goth goddess girl ever. I like her, though. And she likes me. So we’re friends now. Also, if you had Shadowfell as Ariana on your raffle ticket, you were wrong.”

Bianca let out a string of Spanish that detailed her disappointment. Zarian barely caught half of it without using Identify to translate. He carried on.

“Ariana remains a mystery, but I think Shadowfell is connected with her somehow. She won’t say, but I’m sure of it. Anyway, Shadowfell is pretty nice, if really slothful and messy.”

Gilbert snorted.

Zarian continued. “After we became friends, I received a new achievement and divine item for that. It’s a crystal ball that could connect to any reflective surface with the help of a god. We can also call Shadowfell through it.”

Zarian soaked in the stunned and amazed expressions from his party before pushing forward. “I used it to call Foodie through her mirror while she was getting ready for the morning. She’s not doing so hot. Apparently, her slave mark is stricter now. She’s part of a plot to kill me. And she’s getting forced by her mother to help my biggest hater, Jack Masters.”

Zarian waited as everyone reacted in semi-predictable ways. Gilbert gripped the mane of his eight-legged horse and clenched his jaw. Hannah wore a blank face, withdrawing into herself. Bianca frowned. Naomi looked like she wanted to run all the way to Castle Grimrock and finish what they’d started.

Zarian didn’t hold back on explaining the rest, such as how Jack was learning to kill adventurers while growing his legendary class, the Star Crossed Hater, and he could end up being mythical along with Foodie, who was the Indomitable Cook.

They also couldn’t be sure of the Grimrock Warlock’s level and of the defenses the Castle Grimrock fortress contained other than knowing it was better to attack from over the top than through the subterranean floors. He also went over how Foodie wished to cook for all of them and she looked more fragile than when they last saw her.

“I suggest we push back the Forgotten Kingdom Dungeon for later,” Hannah said. “I know how to access it now. There are several locations that would lead us there. But the case of Foodie’s rescue and Jack’s destruction is more time sensitive.”

Zarian prodded at Gilbert’s connection and let the Knighted Healer speak through him: “I only care about saving Foodie. Jack … I don’t give a damn about that bastard.”

Naomi spoke through Zarian next. “I care. Thanks for the vote of confidence that I can beat Jack, sir. That’s a tall order, since he’ll be mythical and I’ll be stuck at epic quality.”

Bianca was next to use Zarian as a medium. “Do you think you can hold off Foodie without killing her, Zarian?”

Zarian spoke with his own mouth. “I can and will. Maybe this is premature, but let’s say we get the ideal conditions. I hold off Foodie. Naomi deals with Jack. Then Bianca, Hannah, and Gilbert go after the Grimrock Warlock. If nothing messes that up, that means we’ll need to be as strong as we can before hitting Castle Grimrock.”

“The wolf dragons,” Hannah said. “If there’s enough monsters to fight there, we can certainly raise our levels and our combat readiness.”

“Exactly,” Zarian said.

With nothing more to add, Zarian sent everybody back to their own heads. He kept the spiders active in their minds in case they wanted to look around or speak with one another using the Spectral Spider Network.

Meanwhile, Zarian stripped out of his Wolf Dragon Hunter suit and tossed on some casual clothing he had stored in Para’s pocket dimension. Hannah took the damaged suit to work on later.

The crafting wagon had an enchanted tanning rack, a work desk for magic sewing, chiseling, engraving, carpentry, and more. Hannah had found the time to learn multiple disciplines on top of exploring new facets of her Runic Engineer abilities. Somehow, she still found the time to study the makeup of the evolving dungeon core. She was busy all the time, but at least she was enjoying herself.

“How’s Lore Eater been treating you?” Zarian asked.

“Everything I can ever dream of plus more,” Hannah said, sounding satisfied. “My learning speed skyrocketed. It’s astounding. I can also retain most of what I learned. And if I can’t quite remember something, I can almost dig into my memory and pull forth what I’ve gone over much easier.”

“I haven’t used it yet outside of combat. I’ve eaten surface observations and thoughts to make enemies blind to me. Works like a charm.”

“Oh, that’s a creative use of the trait. Impressive, Zarian. Well, I’m sure you’ll speed through most of your grimoires when you get to studying again. If I were you, I would get as many as I can out of the voidling one. Then finish up the gator one.”

“And then the gravity spell of the black magic grimoire. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

Zarian didn’t want to admit that even with Lore Eater’s help, the gravity spell would still end up as an unwieldy and immense beast to learn. But at least the time it would take to learn it was drastically cut down because of the epic trait.

“Planning on making some cool magic gizmos?” Zarian looked over at a rack filled with various runic devices.

From what he knew, most runic devices come from certain magical stones and minerals that were conducive to different effects. There was one stone that was neutral that could conduct many elements, too.

The neutral stone wasn’t as effective as having a single stone that focused on one element, like having fire stone and fire minerals invested in a runic device for fire.

As of now, Hannah was working with neutral elemental materials. They came with weaker effects, but near endless possibilities for variety.

“I have too many ideas after all that I’ve researched,” Hannah said with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. “You might have to drag me out for monster hunts if I get too caught up in this wagon. I can still level up here, but I imagine not as fast as I would if I’m crafting and fighting.”

“We’ll make sure you eat and sleep, too.”

“Please don’t send Bianca.”

Zarian was totally going to send Bianca to ensure Hannah took care of herself. There was nobody better for that than Bianca.

Before he left, he rubbed his hand over Reiki’s dungeon core, then he hopped out of the crafting wagon. He looked over at Gilbert who rode on his steed like a cowboy overlooking a herd.

Gilbert tipped his cowboy wizard hat in Zarian’s direction, and the Madness Wizard tipped his hat in return. He stopped short of blurting out anything to do with one-night stands and the Infernal Witch.

Truly, Gilbert had suffered enough. Or maybe he hadn’t. He wasn’t drinking much, and he seemed more relaxed.

In some way, my sparing of the Infernal Witch was like doing a solid for a bro, Zarian thought. I should take credit for that.

But not now.

He would hold on to this one for when it was most needed.

Zarian hopped into the wagon next to Naomi. She was back to laying down and resting. This wagon had the cover propped up, shading them from the suns, which made it easier for Zarian to relax.

He was going to take the night shift while the other party members rotated around on shifts depending on when they wanted to sleep and be awake. Since Zarian hadn’t rested last night, he figured he better get some sleep now.

“I felt it,” Naomi said from her side of the wagon. She rolled over while readjusting some pillows and blankets.

“Felt what?”

“The disturbance in your mind.”

“Through your Psionic Affinity?”

“Yes.”

“Sinfeast did a number on me.”

Naomi took a deep breath in and out. “I want to destroy him for you.”

“You can’t.” Zarian chuckled darkly. “I’m Sinfeast’s number one hater.”

“Fine then. I’ll do this for now.” Naomi scooted over to Zarian’s spot where he lay. She slapped her hand on his forehead.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Wait for it.”

Zarian waited until he felt a sense of tranquility passing from Naomi to him. He felt it strongly through the network as well, but he also felt it through the connection of her hand on his forehead.

That was her Tranquil Mind at work with the addition of Psionic Affinity reaching out.

If he paid close attention with his aura manipulation, he could feel sparks of psionic activity through her aura as she worked on him. It differed from when he used his Level 0 Tranquil Mind. When it came from the original skill, from Naomi, the tranquility was more potent and reassuring.

“This is nice,” Zarian said. “Thanks.”

He fell asleep. His dreams were shapeless and forgettable. There was one sharp moment when Ariana walked through his dreams. But she didn’t stay for long. She came and went, letting him rest.

It would’ve been a nice slumber if something jarring didn’t disturb him from his sleep.

Zarian snapped awake before rushing out of the wagon and hitting the cobblestone ground. He scanned the area and saw it was sunset.

There were more wild blocks in the fields flanking the road, which meant they were truly going through the wilds between Central Bramblevale and North Crown Peak.

Zarian checked through his spectral spiders, but none of them could see anything definite at a low elevation. They had to crawl around and find the nearest blocky hill or search from on top of the wagons to survey the landscape.

Then one spectral spider saw something strange on the western horizon and directed Zarian’s vision there.

He invited the others to see through the same spider as a large humanoid figure stood shaded in front of the setting suns. The creature roared with the voice of a giant and moved like one, too.

The soldiers and acolytes were panicking.

Zarian and his party united on the side of the caravan and faced the incoming giant. They had several skeletons positioned nearby, while others covered the caravan from all sides.

“So, we’re going to kill it?” Naomi asked.

“Most likely, yes, but that’s not one hundred percent,” Zarian said. “It’s yelling something.”

Indeed, the giant was roaring out words that were barely intelligible.

“Maybe it’s calling out for a challenge like everybody in this crazy place,” Gilbert said. “I’ll be around if any of you knuckleheads need healing.”

Did the Infernal Witch heal your desperation? Zarian thought to himself before refocusing on the incoming giant. It’s really hard not to mess with Gilbert right now. Bianca has more restraint than I’ve given her credit for.

Out loud, Zarian said, “Let me send over some spectral spiders. Now that they’re in the Level 40s, they can move pretty fast.”

He sent a scouting group. A few minutes later, the spiders drew close enough to hear the giant clearly and see more details. Zarian invited his party members to observe through the spider scouts before he realized the problem.

The monstrous giant yelled, “My home! Someone destroyed my home! Who destroyed my home? Who did it!”

Zarian looked through the eyes of a spectral spider standing on a tall pile of debris and saw a massive crater behind the giant. If there had been a home fit for a giant there, something obliterated it, and Zarian knew what it was.

The enchanted super dark javelin had landed here and destroyed the giant’s home.

“Whoops.”