The Ruby Magician

“Wyn! Get up!”

Wyn blinked hard while trying to focus. He had no idea who just spoke to him, the sound muffled and distant. His ears rang and his his vision was blurry. Despite mentally casting Regen on himself to mitigate the damage, his senses weren’t recovering as fast as he needed.

The last thing Wyn remembered was facing the Ashen warriors alongside John and Tasha’s Calling, Zoriquin. Despite John’s aura, his own natural combat abilities, and multiple enhancing magical items, he was still struggling against the enemies along with John and Zoriquin. The combination of fierce monsters with magical support was more difficult than anything they had faced so far. Both Climbers and monsters alike traded blows, but Wyn was confident they’d come out on top knowing they could heal their injuries. His confidence then faltered when he saw one of the monster mages completely heal a solid spear jab into the leader’s thigh. In a fight that carried on for more than several minutes, which was a long time for any fight, Wyn succumbed to a blow to his head that stunned him.

His new Hat of the Magi was the only reason he wasn’t completely knocked out. Or worse. His healing spell felt refreshing in his mind and soothed his aching skull despite the blow.

But recovering still took precious seconds away from the fight that was already too close for comfort.

Marcy and Cedric were in a ranged duel with the two mages, Marcy only keeping up due to her quick shots and begrudgingly liberal use of firing magically enhanced arrows. They drained her mana ridiculously fast, but it was worth it if it meant surviving. One mana potion was already gone from her belt in addition to an alarming amount of arrows from her quiver. Cedric found it harder to fire back at the Ashen mages due to the control needed for his spells. His skills as a Lightning Wizard allowed him to help shape some his lightning spells to minimize the risk of hitting an ally, but the mages were quick and had the ability to teleport. More than once he held back a spell to avoid hitting the scuffle of melee combatants between him and the enemy spellcasters.

With everyone engaged one way or another, the odd Climber out was Tasha. But, in the end, she was the one who swayed the fight. She already contributed by using her Calling and bringing the water humanoid Zoriquin as another warrior, but she was able to keep watch on how the fight progressed. A healing spell here for John and a supportive barrier spell there for Zoriquin, she kept the close-combat fighters in check with a leg-up that was needed to overcome their enemies.

Until Wyn was hit on his head and stunned. Then Tasha decided enough was enough. She wasn’t afraid. She was angry.

Tasha drew up her wand and pointed it at the group fighting. A bright white light flashed before forming an intricate set of runes in front of her, lighting up the fighter’s area. Zoriquin, John, and Wyn were all enveloped in a white light before it settled onto each of them. When the light dimmed, they each wore a magical suit of armor like the Arcane Aura spell.

Wyn briefly looked at him and his two allies who were now covered in Tasha’s spell. Covering all three of them was incredible, and afforded them an edge where they could be more aggressive to end the fight. With a battle cry, Wyn lurched his spear forward and attacked the Ashen warrior he was fighting. Seeing the spell coating him and feeling his own healing spell soothing his head, he was invigorated to push harder.

Before the Ashen warrior could retaliate, a bright red light drew both of the combatant’s attention. Wyn spared a glance to see John’s chest armor growing brighter and brighter before John made his own battle cry and unleashed the pent up power in the item. A wave of magical energy flew out of him like a strong storm, knocking back the leader and disarming it. John quickly followed up the armor’s effect to capitalize on the opportunity.

Sensing the turn of the battle, Wyn quickly cast Flash, blinding his current enemy before rushing over to help John. Together they pinned the leader and wore it down over several seconds with strike after strike. When the monster finally dissolved into nothing, unable to heal from the mages that had cast less and less supporting spells over time, the battle truly and finally swayed. The warriors teamed up on each enemy, ignoring hits to allow Tasha’s protective spell to soak them up and instead focused on simply beating down the monsters before they could be too injured. It was crude but effective.

Before long Wyn was panting with fatigue as he stood over the final mage’s slowly disappearing body. He felt bruises and soreness all over his body, but his Regen spell healed the injuries his equipment missed. That didn’t stop him from being tired, though. He looked to his team and saw they too were run down and exhausted. The entire floor was one obstacle to overcome after another, and they needed a break.

The portal in front of them shifted from red to clear, signaling their completion and granted access to the seventh floor. Wyn took a couple of deep breaths to settle himself. Their goal was to complete both floors back to back then reassess in the evening. Based on how difficult that floor was, was it even possible to safely go into the seventh floor and expect to come out on top? If they went slow, then maybe, but it was a risk.

Being a Climber meant facing challenges. For Wyn’s situation, he needed to take some risks. Otherwise he’d never earn the money he needed for his family’s debt. But that didn’t necessarily mean every gamble had to be a blind one. A calculated risk was absolutely vital in this crazy profession.

“Alright, I know we’re tired,” Wyn said, his own voice strained. He wiped his damp forehead with his coat’s sleeve. “But let’s rest at the entrance of the next floor and get out of this hellhole.”

“We can’t go back to the city and rest properly?” Tasha asked.

Wyn tilted his head side to side. “What are the odds that you’ll want to come back today instead of wanting to push the climb to tomorrow?”

Tasha opened her mouth to speak but caught herself. Then she slumped. “Fair enough. Rest tonight. It’s what we agreed on, anyway.”

John sheathed his sword and bent over to rest on one knee. “I won’t even argue. That took a lot more out of me than I thought, too.”

“It was a… unique floor,” Cedric said, his head facing the sky to get more efficient and deeper breaths as he rested his one arm on his hip. “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” Marcy said. “If we wait a few hours I’ll have enough arrows and mana to keep going. If the next floor is worse than that, well… we’ll need it.”

Wyn solemnly nodded. “Fair enough. Let’s move.”

The group gathered themselves then slowly walked into the portal to the seventh floor. They weren’t in a rush, and they were too tired to move any faster.

The familiar pull of the portal threatened Wyn’s head with another headache but he settled himself relatively quickly with another cast of Regen. If they were going to wait for hours he’d be able to recover his mana even if it was completely empty, so he didn’t mind spending the resources to make sure he was alright. Gathering himself, he then took stock of the new area at the next floor.

The area was surprisingly small, at least compared to the openness of the previous floors. Except for the third floor which felt claustrophobic to a fault being in a prison-like dungeon in the basement of a castle. But here they were obviously in the wizard’s tower now as the portal put them in an enclosed stone room with a singular, winding staircase set against the wall that led up to another section. There were no adornments or any decor in the plain room. There were also no corners as the room was circular, and it was just enough space for a full party to be able to spread along the ground to rest. Which meant they had ample space for the five of them.

John quickly dropped his backpack and began rummaging through it. He pulled out his water skin and unfolded a large but thin cloth wrapping that held dried rations.

The others followed suit while taking places around the room, either leaning against the wall or sitting down. Marcy was the only one who laid down and used her pack as a pillow. Wyn assumed everyone would take a brief nap after their meal and thought Marcy was just a step ahead.

“Anyone need healing?” Wyn asked.

John rotated one of his arms in a circle while it held a handful of dried jerky. “I could use some more. Those spells tend to take some soreness away, and I feel more than a few bruises still lingering.”

Tasha stood up from her spot on the floor. Sensing her intent, Wyn stepped to John. “Don’t worry, Tasha. I get all my mana back in less than two hours so I have some to spare.”

Tasha paused then sat back down. “It’s a little annoying how quickly you recover. It takes me six hours.”

“Me four hours,” Cedric said. “And it’s more than a little annoying. It’s downright unfair.”

“But you two have more magic power and more total mana than me,” Wyn added after he cast his Regen spell on John. “And I don’t even have access to all of your second tier spells. Only the one granted from Tower’s Blessing, and even that isn’t normal.”

“Huh,” Cedric said. “I guess that is worse, then. So it balances out.”

“I wouldn’t quite call that balanced,” Marcy said. “Both you and Tasha are still in better positions than me and Wyn, even with his unfair skill.”

“Why is that?” John asked with a mouthful of food.

“Because I also have less mana and magic power than pure magical classes just like Wyn. I get some physical skills and unique spells like Wyn, but we still aren’t as favored.”

John swallowed his bite then looked at Marcy thoughtfully. “Not to be rude, then why did you choose to upgrade to a Ranger?”

Marcy smiled. “It’s not rude. You aren’t the first to ask me that. But when I was a Hunter, I favored the bow with a skill that helped my ranged attacking. Along with a perception skill, it was a good class. When I saw my options to upgrade I was only happy with Ranger. Then I found out about some possible third and fourth tier classes and it only reaffirmed my choice.”

“What are some of your future choices?” Wyn asked. He was curious. He hadn’t looked too far into his own future. Now that he was a class that didn’t exist, though, he was in unknown territory. There was no telling what his next class choice would be.

“I should have two choices. I wanted Druid to be one like Faye, but my growth and skills aren’t right for it. Instead, they’ll be Mystic Hunter and Assassin.”

“That sounds ominous,” John said. “But impressive, too.”

Marcy nodded. “Assassin is what you’d expect. A Rogue can get it too, but after going Ranger I should have more ranged skills instead of close dagger or short sword skills like them. The other seems more interesting to me at the moment. It’ll give me more magical abilities while still being focused on ranged combat.”

“Both useful,” Wyn said. “But with an already heavily magic-focused party like ours would another strong magic user be good?”

“All classes get more magical in the third tier, and especially fourth,” Cedric said. “It’s just the way of getting stronger.”

“And,” Marcy added, waving her water skin as she talked, “who said we’ll be in the same party by that point?”

Wyn faltered. “Are you planning to leave?”

Marcy laughed. “No. But if we join a guild, we’ll be split up at some point. You had to know that.”

Wyn looked at John who was concentrating hard on the staircase, purposely avoiding his gaze. “So you knew and still wanted to join one?”

John took a deep breath, defeated in trying to avoid the conversation. “Yea. It’s just the way it goes. If we’re in the same guild we can rejoin each other eventually, though!”

“After several seasons, maybe,” Cedric said. “At least. They’ll rate how we climb and then regroup us in a party. Only party leaders have influence over who gets in their group.”

Wyn cursed. “Then how in the world am I supposed to fit in there? We work really well together. I don’t particularly enjoy the thought of leaving and climbing with another group.”

“And that’s part of my hesitation about trying out for a guild,” Marcy said.

The group stayed silent for some time. Wyn didn’t want to continue talking about it and decided to sit down and make his time productive since he didn’t need to rest. After eating and drinking some water he pulled out his one book that Daniel insisted he bring for moments like this.

Magic of the Elemental Magicians was a hefty book, but thankfully his magic backpack kept it easily. He flipped it open to the Divine Magician and perused through it again to occupy his thoughts. Like before, there wasn’t a single mention of any of the second tier spells being usable for a second tier Ruby Magician. There were notes for first tier spells, but that was all.

Daniel had mentioned that when the Ruby Magician gets to the third tier they can use second tier spells of the other classes, much to Wyn’s dismay. Unfortunately the fourth tier upgrade didn’t give any higher spells, either. The extra circle gave more mana and power but nothing else. It was another mark against his class, taking parts of physical and magical classes and mashing them together but not being as good as either.

Still, any advantage Wyn could gain he would use. His previous strategy of using spells to augment his combat was still his focus, and he didn’t need to take many damaging spells since Cedric was in the party and Marcy provided more than enough magical ranged damaged in addition to her already impressive physical ranged damage. Which meant that Wyn focused more on support spells. He didn’t mind that at all, but still wanted to be resourceful so he could be efficient with his contribution.

Turning the pages absentmindedly, he settled on a second tier spell that intrigued him.

Elemental Weapon: magically imbue a weapon with an elemental property. The element can be chosen by the intent of the caster. Lasts 10 minutes, costs a higher moderate amount of mana.

Reading further, he reviewed the page and summary. The effect cost more magic and lasted longer than the Magic Weapon spell he used for his first climb. It was a natural progression to that spell. The only problem was he ditched that original spell when he picked up a magical weapon, and this spell wasn’t really needed since his spear already had an advantageous element.

But if the enemies for the season had various elements, than his spear wouldn’t be as useful. Like John changing his sword’s element, being able to adjust his own weapon’s element based on the encounter was a benefit. If he had a weapon that was useful in other areas but didn’t have an element, such as the Ashen Warrior’s weapon Wyn wanted, then the spell would be a great choice.

Still, he had access to only one second tier spell. Currently it was wasted on Improved Cure as Tasha could provide far greater healing than he ever could, so he needed to update it to something more useful. Something like Elemental Weapon.

Or, he could ask Cara to make him a spear version of John’s sword and save the spell slot for something else.

He took a deep breath and rested his head on the cold stone wall. It wasn’t easy having options. He never second guessed himself as a Captain, but the way forward in the military was easy. There were orders to follow and a plan in place to give to his company. Now he was a party leader without any orders from the top, and magic complicated matters far too much for his liking.

But such was the way of a Climber. He needed to adapt or fall behind, and he wasn’t about to do anything else except for his best.

So, his next goal was set. He’d secure the changing weapon and use the Elemental Weapon spell to boost it when able. Then he’d be able to handle most enemies no matter what kind of combat abilities they had or environment they were in. The equipment combination could potentially be something he used season after season.

With a lingering satisfied smile, Wyn’s breath slowed as he fell asleep. The fatigue of the sixth floor’s climb finally caught up to him.

*****

“Wyn,” Tasha’s voice called, almost in a whisper. She gently shook his shoulders.

Wyn’s eyes flew open and he jerked forward. He paused when he noticed the group was casually preparing themselves to continue climbing the floor. There wasn’t any immediate danger. He just needed to wake up and get ready.

He stood and stretched and gathered his equipment before meeting with the others. “How long was I out?”

“We rested just over three hours,” Cedric said. “We’re all topped off of mana and ready to continue.”

“Thanks for healing John before,” Tasha said. “I only had about a third of my mana but using more wouldn’t have let me recover as much in those three hours. So thank you.”

Wyn smiled. “It’s no problem. I’m here to share the load, after all.”

John had his shield strapped to his arm and his fingers fidgeted on the sapphire gemstone on his sheathed sword. “So what’s the plan? Is this floor heavily trapped like the second floor?”

“Typically, yes,” Marcy said. “But we’re in a wizard’s tower. And in the second tier. Which means they’ll be magical, more elaborate, and deadlier.”

“They were always deadly,” John mumbled.

“So we move slow,” Wyn said. “No reckless or impatient decisions without talking them through.”

“Agreed,” Marcy said. “Slower is better. We might not finish the floor today. But we need to try. We can at least find out some intricacies.”

Wyn felt a brief jolt of concern rush through him, and by the looks of Tasha and John they felt it, too. Despite having the best perceptive abilities and being a trap expert, Marcy was always cavalier and not as serious. Was she finally respecting the tower with them being in the second tier? She wasn’t this way last season. But only climbing the first tier was likely a walk in the park for her. They were finally at a point where she and Cedric were challenged.

“Good,” Wyn finally said. “Then we do what we can and leave if needed. I’ll be up front with Marcy and John can stay in the back with Cedric. Tasha needs to be in the middle like usual.”

With their formation ready, Marcy went over to the stairs and inspected them carefully while Wyn stood behind her.

“Is this really that much harder?” John quietly asked Cedric.

“Did you think the last floor was harder?” Cedric asked.

John scrunched his face in thought before nodding.

“Then this floor will be that much harder, too. Traps aren’t fun to handle as they slow climbing down and can be dangerous, but a skilled climber like Marcy makes them easier though time consuming. Now make them magical? Instead of a trip wire firing arrows it might be a hidden glyph that coats the entire room in boiling, acidic mist or one that blows up in a fiery explosion.”

John’s face paled.

Cedric patted him on the shoulder. “It’ll be alright. Like Marcy and Wyn said, we just go slow.”

“And if we find a trap we can’t overcome?” John asked.

Cedric softly smiled. “Then we leave and try another day.”

“That sounds wasteful.”

“It’s better than dying. At least there are other floors for us to climb.”

“Yea, but not floors that help us advance.”

“Welcome to the actual climb. Despite what happened last season, the first tier was just a warm-up.”

John swallowed a lump in his throat. Then, seeing the group starting to climb the stairs, he reluctantly followed them with a new respect for Alistair.