The Center of Magic

“Why is all the mana flowing away from Boston?” I pondered out loud, much to Kevin’s approval.

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The expeditionary force didn’t have to travel far to reach Shrewsbury’s, Mountain View Cemetery. In fact, the cemetery—which was also the likely host of the Leyline—was incredibly close, taking only a few minutes to reach there. However, even that distance resulted in a massive change in the mana composition of the atmosphere.

In contrast to the calm currents I had just seen, the closer we got the more chaotic the mana in the air became. My [Mana Sight] skill continued to stay active, despite a passive draw from my mana pool.

The epicenter of the chaotic flow—spiraling like the heart of a whirlpool—was in the middle of the cemetery. The dense foliage of trees had kept much of the area obscured; however, no significant amount of mana could hide from the piercing gaze of my [Mana Sight].

As we drew closer, the cemetery itself came into view with all of its splendid magical glory. The differences were obvious. Wisps of magical essence floated throughout the cemetery, and it took me only a moment before I realized that each wisp possessed the remnants of vanquished souls, still emanating some magical residue. Every one of them likely would end up constituting an undead monster at some point in the future. It was a surreal sight.

The cemetery itself was in stark contrast to my memories. I used to visit Alex every now and again. So, I remembered what the cemetery was supposed to look like. So, the one thing that stuck out was quite a surprise to my eyes.

That spire had definitely not been there before.

The spire was small—at least by any popular definition of a spire—but still easily reached about six feet into the air. The only reason it caught my attention so effortlessly was that it appeared to be the catalyst for the upswell of mana in the area. A literal torrent of magical energy was emanating and joining itself within that whirlpool of chaotic mana.

The sight left me awestruck. The convoy came to a stop just outside the steel grated fences that encompassed the cemetery. Many of the gravestones had been toppled, and the ground beneath them disturbed. Evidence of tampering extensive. The entire cemetery looked like somebody had decided to move the entire graveyard but had left the job undone, leaving empty crypts instead.

Beyond that, the cemetery was largely—and surprisingly—desolate. Ignoring the occasional stumbling undead, there wasn’t much to fight in the area. As I glanced around the scattering of soldiers, they appeared to be almost… disappointed.

The sight produced an internal chuckle. I’m sure everyone had at least expected something—but nothing? Well, just about anyone who had worked themselves into a fighting spirit would have been a bit frustrated at the lack of an outlet.

Rick walked over to me. “You know, I came here imagining there might be something here, but for there to be nothing. I find it a bit… Well…”

“Disappointing?” I finished for him.

He nodded. Evidently, the man had not noticed the small spire obscured within the overgrowing brush. Not surprising though, after all, the only reason I noticed it was because of my [Mana Sight].

I pointed out towards the middle of the cemetery, through the towering trunks of trees, “look,” I told him. The cemetery was quite large, so one would have had to strain to see the spire anyways.

Which is exactly what Rick did, his eyes squinted as he peered into the distance. It took him a moment, but the luster of the sapphire-colored crystalline spire was hard to miss if you knew where to look.

“Ah, now that looks like something that might be interesting,” Rick said, clear excitement layered in his voice.

The commander then proceeded to shout some orders to his men while I went ahead and got everyone on our side gathered together.

After some coordination with Rick, it was decided that my team would go first. After all, ammo wasn’t exactly abundant anymore.

Eventually, without securing a way to produce more, ammunition would become a thing of the past. Rick understood that and recognized it as a valuable commodity to be spared when it wasn’t needed. Best to conserve ammo now, than to need it later and not have any.

So, as a group, we were the first to push into the cemetery. I took point, followed by both Kevin and Alex, with Priscilla and Noah in tow. I strode confidently forward, ready to fire an onslaught of spells at the first possible provocation. Kevin clomped ahead with a firm grip on his large shield—a shield which had been hastily repaired by a beleaguered Jackson—and a hand grasping his [Simple Elkinhorn Blade]. Alex was similarly holding tightly onto his Elkinhorn blade, ready for the slightest movement to encourage a response.

Priscilla clutched her fancy hunting bow, a slew of arrows held within a sizeable quiver. She had apparently fletched together some more makeshift arrows—smart considering the limited supply. Then there was Noah. He appeared unarmed, but anybody with a knowledge of magic knew otherwise. Even though his magic was by far weaker than mine, his recent class advancement had yielded a sudden backlog of attribute gains.

Confidently we trod forward, bashing away the scant few undead that drew close, until this entire side of the cemetery was cleared out.

We gave a signal to Rick, and he moved his group onto the cemetery’s main road. The Humvee surrounded by half a dozen soldiers who moved attentively, fanning the area for any stragglers we may have missed. Of course, there weren’t any.

I occasionally re-activated my [Mana Sight] skill. It functioned almost like an infrared view in detecting the mana cores of undead scattered around the vicinity. It made finding them an easy experience. It also gave me peace of mind with the knowledge that a zombie wouldn’t jump out at us from behind a tree.

As soon as Rick’s men caught up to our group, we moved further inward. The swirling pool of mana appearing larger and larger as we drew closer.

Then, suddenly, as we drew within fifty feet of the spire, I received a notice. “Stop!” I yelled, suddenly paranoid, with bewilderment taking over.

Everyone looked at me, until suddenly, the deafening sound of two scraping rocks emanated from in front of us.

Another blue screen immediately appeared afterward.

An explosion of debris—like a geyser in Yosemite—erupted from two points in front of the Crystal Spire.

“Shit,” I muttered, amidst the scattered yells of everyone present, and as two silhouettes towered up from the dirt below.

As the dust settled what emerged were tall, crystalized monsters, taller than even the spire they were deigned to protect.

On a closer glance, the crystals of the golems consisted of a rougher, less refined quality compared to the leyline’s spire. But, that didn’t mean they would be brittle or easy to defeat.

That observation was only confirmed as I cast appraisal—gaining a level in the skill—on the two entities.

The leveling of my Appraisal skill meant that I could now see the highest attribute of the targeted monster; and sure enough, it was no joke.

A strength of a hundred and forty-seven meant that the thing was capable of exerting up to three thousand pounds of force. A punch from that would hurt like hell.

Even though, my own strength was still quite a bit. I didn’t have a crystal coat to protect my body from harm. If their strength was anything to go by, then the golems probably had a large amount of constitution as well, augmented by their crystal bodies.

As I watched on, observant, I noticed their lumbering bodies slowly begin moving, signaling their agility may not be too high. But it could be a ruse. No reason to let my guard down unnecessarily.

I called out to the others and nodded towards Rick as he looked in my direction, “Guys,” I began as I signaled our group to attention. “Our job is going to be keeping these bastards off of Rick’s men. They’ve got firepower, but outside of that Humvee they’re sitting ducks.” I focused specifically on Alex and Kevin, “that means you guys.”

Turning to Priscilla and Noah, I said, “don’t let up your attacks, and keep hammering them with whatever spells or projectiles you’ve got. I’ll start activating my buffs when things get tough, but don’t count on them.”

Priscilla rolled her eyes, “I know what I’m doing, smartass,” she smoothly pulled an arrow from her quiver, loading it. Then I detected a small surge of mana coursing through her hands and into the arrow as she muttered, “[Piercing Thorn].” With a crack, like the impact of a whip, her arrow disappeared into thin air—it seemed to my unprepared eyes—only to manifest itself fifty or so feet away, impacting one of the lumbering crystalline forms. The impact only produced a clang and a multitude of sparks. However, I could see a fracture branch off from the impact sight.

I whistled in admiration, and even though Priscilla tried to hide it behind her tough facade, I noticed a triumphant smirk.

The soldiers who had fanned out around the perimeter, taking cover either behind trees, boulders, or even the Humvee all stared slack-jawed.

With the powers of the System laid bare, maybe now would be our opportunity to show them just how much benefit could be had from it.

Of course, Priscilla’s attack did not go ignored. Both towering golems stomped and beat their chests, before charging forward.

Unfortunately, my previous assessment proved wrong at that moment. The behemoths were much faster than they originally put off, and they rushed forward. Reminiscent of a stampeding elephant, it appeared like nothing would stop them in their ardent defense of the spire.

Like a well-rehearsed band, Rick’s men began to discharge their guns, and each shot that landed produced sparks of blazing yellow.

As the overwhelming amount of fire fell onto the oncoming forms their charge was beginning to falter, the volume of fire too much for them to handle. Entire chunks of crystal flesh falling away—but they were still drawing closer. Fifty feet wasn’t that far to travel.

Suddenly, an explosion and the whistle of a rocket-propelled grenade. It impacted a scant few moments later, launching one of the crystal guardians backward and into the dirt. It formed its own crater due to its sheer mass. The attack succeeded in momentarily removing it as a problem.

Then, the final golem launched into our midst, nearly skewering a soldier that hadn’t moved quickly enough. Kevin and Alex erupted forward, as though launching from a spring, and Kevin’s shield met crystal fist. It held—barely. Alex’s blade attempted to pierce the gemmed flesh but failed—it was too hard.

They were both outmatched in melee combat, and now, with the crystal golem so close, Rick’s men could no longer effectively engage. The few trees present blocked their line of sight, and the fear of firing and accidentally hitting Kevin or Alex won over.

The Tier 2 beast was going to overwhelm them. Despite their specialized classes, a unique Tier 2 monster still outclassed the both of them.

I yelled to Rick as I noticed the other golem slowly climbing to its feet, crystalized body covered in an array of cracks, and missing an entire arm, “take it out! We’ve got this one!”

Nodding, Rick’s men quickly, and uniformly moved into position to take out the other crystalline entity without interfering in our fight.

This had just gotten quite a bit worse.

Priscilla and Noah continued to assail the golem when an opening emerged between Kevin and Alex’s attacks. At the moment though, the only thing they were accomplishing was postponing the inevitable.

The beast was too strong, and through [Paragon’s Insight] I could tell that Kevin and Alex were weakening—and fast.

I chose that moment to make my move. This would be over rather quickly.

I activated several of my skills:

[Leadership]

[Paragon’s Charge]

And finally, I activated [Paragon’s Threads of the Magus], my new Tier 3 skill.

Almost instantly, Kevin’s and Alex’s attacks packed more force, and they pushed off the Golem’s attacks with more ease. It wouldn’t last though.

I felt as thin tendrils of mana burst forth from my mana core and flicked through the air until several of them connected me to Kevin, Alex, Priscilla, and Noah.

As soon as it linked, I could feel a draw from my core serving to enhance their attacks. Even though the skill was meant to enhance mana-based skills, I couldn’t help but notice that with my [Mana Sight] their weapons were also being imbued with a thin layer of mana, making their attacks slightly sharper—but not enough to deal any meaningful damage.

At the same time, I drew from my surging core, siphoning massive amounts of mana into my outstretched hands. Once again, I was going for a fire-based attack. Even if it may have been better to try for an earth-type strike, I simply didn’t have the skill level to accomplish what I wanted to do. Plus, I had a sneaking suspicion that my [Condensed Conjuration] skill would aid in performing the exact task I wished to complete, despite mana-type limitations.

Nearly four hundred points of mana pooled into my outstretched hands, tasking my mana circuits. It was enough though, and a burgeoning sphere of fire mana ballooned in front of me.

As soon as I felt all four-hundred points worth of mana conjured, I compressed it, further and further. In a direction that I had yet to explore. Until a new transformation took over. From the size of a basketball, the sphere shrunk to the size of a tennis ball. I knew the change was complete as soon as I saw the orb of now circling plasma begin exuding sparks of electricity.

A ball of lightning. I smirked, but I didn’t have time to appreciate my creation. With a final push of my now supercharged intelligence, I formed the ball of lightning—shaping it like a cluster of clay—until it was a bolt.

“Out of the way!” I called to Alex and Kevin. They didn’t stick around to find out why.

The Golem crashed its fists down again but was disappointed as its targets were nowhere to be seen.

It glanced around, as though looking for its prey, but instead was surprised by an explosion of light—a sudden hole appearing in the middle of its torso.

It stared, as the mana gushed from its broken pathways, all failing to reach a mana core that no longer existed.

Now, without the heart of its machinations, the beast fell, and the familiar glow of mana left its body.

The beast was finished, and I could only thank my new [Mana Sight] skill with allowing me to pinpoint the exact location of its mana core.