Touch of Fate

Sera fired another arrow from the hero relic bow, once again felt slightly awestruck by the experience. In addition to the virtually unlimited supply of its mana generated ammunition and its tendency to subtly assist her aim when making difficult shots, it was also just a joy to use. Fighting with it felt so smooth and easy that she wondered if she'd ever again be able to look at another bow without disappointment.

Unfortunately, she'd yet to unlock the weapon's full potential, so its arrows lacked the killing power necessary to punch through the griffon's armor-like feathers. Until she got the chance to hit it in one of its vulnerable spots, it would be difficult to do more than annoy it.

While there were a few other things she could try against the boss, she decided to let Morris have the spotlight now. It was the least she could do after provoking him into facing his past traumas in such a blunt manner. Just thinking about how she'd been acting was enough to make her cringe mentally.

[Argh! Why is it that anytime I say something it comes out as angry criticism?]

She took a moment to glance over in the direction of the bard. He was currently taking cover near the door, mouth moving silently as he drew something on the floor. Although his actions had a ritualistic feeling to them, it looked to all the world like he was simply engaging in a piece of impromptu art.

Even while she was distracted, her newly acquired defensive abilities activated as a flash of precognition drove her to slide behind another of the columns, avoiding another hail of razor sharp feather's from the irate boss monster. She'd managed to blind one of its eyes using a close combat technique she'd developed in training, and it had been keeping its distance ever since.

When the coast was clear, she leaned out again, drawing a bead on the creature's head. With quick, practiced movements, she pulled the string of her bow back, mentally giving the command for it to generate another arrow. As soon as it was in place, she released and sprinted a few more steps, not even bothering to watch her shot. She'd already foreseen that it would glance off the creature's beak, near it's uninjured eye.

[It's starting to get better at dodging my shots.] She considered in an almost academic way as she took cover behind another column. 

For some reason, this life or death battle didn't really feel all that dangerous. Mike's presence near the back of the room, where he looked to be idly practicing Air Magic while watching the fight, might explain some of this feeling, but she had a suspicion that it was also due to her own confidence. 

For the first time in her life, she felt calm and in control in the face of danger. She fully believed in her abilities, which she knew would see her through this challenge.

It was an intoxicating feeling, this confidence, and she was beginning to see why there were so many battle maniacs in the world. The sheer joy of putting your skills to the test in the heat of combat only to triumph over all adversaries was something she could definitely get used to.

Her ruminations were interrupted when Morris finally got around to finishing whatever it is he was doing. There was a sudden burst of radiance which filled the room and forced Sera to squint against the glare. When the light receded, she opened her eyes to a changed environment.

The chamber was now filled with dozens of spectral looking warriors dressed in ghostly armor and carrying ethereal weapons. They surrounded the griffon, causing it to glance around uncertainly.

Responding to some unspoken order, the small army of spirits roared and charged, forcing the griffon to try and take to the skies to escape.

For a brief moment, she made eye contact with Morris as he nodded breathlessly, indicating that the rest was up to her. He'd done his part in creating an opening, and it was now her job to make sure that the monster was taken down. 

Or so she assumed. It was kind of difficult to get much meaning from a knowing look, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to make use of this opportunity.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her foresight and drew back the string of her bow. A rush of images and information slammed into her mind, forcing her to view hundreds possible futures. With an effort of will, she narrowed her perspective, subconsciously selecting the criteria that would allow her to eliminate unwanted outcomes and directly lead her to victory.

Without betraying the fantastic amount of effort taking place behind her closed eyelids, Sera took aim at a spot slightly above the griffon's left shoulder and released. The magically created arrow swiftly crossed the distance between them, slamming home into the ribcage of the monster's leonine half just as a surge of it's wingbeats pushed it up into the path of the projectile. It neatly slipped into the gap between the monster's ribs, punching through to impale the it's heart. 

With a strangled cry of anguish, the boss lost all strength and fell from the sky, crashing onto the stone floor before disintegrating into mana particles. It left behind a mid-sized yellow mana core that was quickly scooped up and added to their dungeon spoils.

"Alright! Well done!" Mike called from his side of the room. At some point in the intervening time he'd created a chair with Earth Magic and was eating from a bag of snacks as if their struggles were some form of entertainment.

Choosing to ignore her tactless party leader, Sera walked over to Morris wanting to congratulate him on a job well done. What came out of her mouth was, "If you could summon an army this whole time, why have we been fighting so hard?"

[*mental facepalm*]

The bard laughed nonetheless. "Well, truth be told, I only came up with this idea on the spur of the moment, but besides that, it wouldn't really work as anything other than a distraction. I was only able to summon so many spectral warriors because I used the Ode of Falingra as a focus for a ritual to enhance my summoning spell."

Even though he was explaining with his usual passion for lecturing, Sera could tell by his tone and body posture that he wasn't completely comfortable with the nature of the topic they were discussing.

"You'll have to explain what you mean by that." Mike interrupted, sauntering over to stand next to them. "I didn't even know that was possible."

"Most mages wouldn't bother, since Ritual Magic is not often considered a valid tactic in the heat of battle due to the difficulties involved in its use. The biggest of which is that it requires both a much greater casting time to complete and the use of a mana core serving as a catalyst. It would be a lot easier to simply add a second or third caster using group magic, but seeing as how that wasn't an option in this case, I resorted to this."

"...And is Ritual Magic…"

"Something I learned from my father?" Morris finished the question left hanging in the air. "Yeah. When I was growing up, he would frequently have my tutors include ritual diagrams in my lesson plans. It was a skill that he'd long ago mastered in an effort to compensate for his naturally limited mana supply. I guess he assumed that as his son, I would be similarly limited and I would need to find a workaround if I were to be a mage."

"Who cares where the knowledge came from?" Sera grumbled, wanting to prevent him from going down that particular rabbit hole again. "All that matters is that it worked. With this kind of tactic in hand, the rest of the dungeon should be easy."

The bard gave her a sheepish grin. "Umm, well...it would be a little...wasteful to do so unless we were in serious danger."

She gave him a long, hard look. "Why?"

"Remember when I said that I had to use a mana core as a catalyst? Well, truthfully, I am not very adept at Ritual Magic, so my energy conversion ratio is rather poor."

Sera could tell where this was going, and found herself rubbing her forehead in expectation of the news. "How many of them did you use?"

"Uh...about half of what we've picked up so far."

She did a quick mental calculation, and found her heart sinking. "So, you used roughly eight hundred gold worth of mana cores to create a temporary distraction?"

"As I said, it was a bit wasteful, but it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Look, I'm not going to argue that it wasn't effective, but this is a bit like using a cannon to kill a rat. There were other options. If you had talked to me beforehand, we could have come up with something else." Sera scolded him before rounding on Mike. "And you! You let him do it. He would have had to get the cores from you in the first place. Don't think I'm not holding you partially responsible for this situation."

The infuriating man had the audacity to shrug, as if it wasn't a big deal. "It's less than a thousand gold...there is plenty more where that came from." He frowned for a second, briefly lost in thought. "You know, I think I've lost touch with the value of money..."

She wanted to be angry at him, but he honestly had a point. Even though he'd essentially facilitated the waste materials worth the annual income of a small village, it wasn't like this was really hurting their wallets. In fact, she hadn't really been taking the economic benefits of this dungeon run all that seriously in the first place, since whatever they picked up didn't seem to be all that significant given their current wealth.

Nevertheless, the complete lack of common sense displayed by the pair of men was deeply annoying. This was especially true in the case of Morris, who should have at least understood what he was doing. Mike, at least had the excuse of being somewhat unused to the monetary system of this world.

Finally, she shook her head. "Gah, whatever! Let's just keep moving."

She led the way to the next floor, hoping that neither of her party members would notice her inner turmoil. Despite her best efforts, she kept falling into the role of the scolding and shrewish woman who could not stop lecturing those closest to her. It was almost as if she had changed at all over the last few months.

[Why do I keep doing this? Why can't I just calmly explain the problem, and work with them towards a solution? I mean it's partially their fault for always being so hellishly infuriating, but I also need to do better, right?]

What she wouldn't give to have the calm patience of Tal, or even the blind indifference of Lily in this situation. Alas, she was stuck in her predefined social role, locked into a never ending spiral of criticism and complaints. 

-------------------------------------------

[Let's see, a meal with a decent ale costs a few silver depending on where you get it from, and you can stay at a relatively high quality inn for about a gold a week. Which means we used several years worth of daily expenses for a brief distraction...hmmm, it seems like a lot when I put it that way...and yet I can't really get upset about it.] Mike thought to himself while grappling with his distorted sense of money.

It was hard to take the amount seriously when practically everything he'd done since arriving to this world had led him to vast amounts of wealth. Basically, he'd reached the point that even if he actively tried to spend it, he would need years to effectively get rid of it all.

[I wonder if having all this money hoarded could be having an impact on the regional economy. Although, now that I think about it, most of my wealth is tied up in the Adventurer's Guild in the form of promissory notes. Could it be that they are actually working as some kind of rudimentary bank?...Shouldn't I be making interest on it?]

He continued in his deep thoughts, oblivious to Sera's own internal struggles as they marched onto the ninth floor, which consisted of a series of circular chambers seemingly located within the citadel's three central towers. Windows, balconies, and even a few skylights gave them bird's eye views on the rest of the dungeon, as well as the golden ring that was floating around the tower.

So focused was he on his sudden realization of his economic indifference, he didn't notice that Audra was peeking her head out of his pocket and had her gaze fixed out the window. She was staring at the halo-like object with an intensity that she typically reserved for her favorite meals.

As they entered another long corridor without any external windows, she reluctantly ducked back into her hiding place, but not before licking her chops with obvious anticipation.