Gamer Chapter 41 - Striding Forwards

140k words, including this chapter and chapters foreword notes.

The reason I'm posting another chapter is because I downloaded a copy of my story for curiosities sake, was shocked to realize how long the thing is and was shocked further when I realized how much I liked my writing. This MC is so snarky.. Then I felt guilt from not posting a chapter..

Anyone want to figure out how many days its been that he entered this world? I'm really too lazy.

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With a stunned look on their faces, unbelieving of the ma.s.sive strength I had exhibited I smugly grinned at them before Kira finally stuttered out "Your magic? Its strong too?"

"Yep" my grin grew wider as I took a few steps to lay a hand on the fallen tree. *Gravity Cloak*

The trunk rose into the air as I continued to smile smugly at them. "This isn't much"

I was lying to them of course, my mana generation barely stayed ahead of the usage.. This trunk was heavy..

Rob scowled, crossing his arms in irritation "You mean you could've flown us right?"

"Well, yeah" I stuttered, "but.."

"We didn't have to walk on the trip, but no. You wanted to keep this a secret from us" he glowered.

Kira interjected before he could continue, I felt slightly relieved until she then questioned the origins of my power..

"Why you this strong? I mean I can kind of understand the magic being stronger here than it was back home. But your strength? That's not normal"

My smile had begun to disappear, they were a bit perturbed and shocked yeah, but I had somehow imagined they would just go along with this.. Welcome me as a hero or some other notion.

"I told you how I needed to conserve every last sc.r.a.p of mana I could get on earth right? One of the best ways is to store it in your body. The benefits on earth were not really noticeable, but now that I'm here.."

Kira rubbed her brow and sighed, my answer didn't really seem to convince her. "Is that all of the secrets you were keeping?" she asked

Tired and unhappy, she pursed her lips as she waited on my answer.

I was still keeping secrets from them.. But they didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, that's basically everything I think. Oh, I do know a few more spells most of which I haven't tested yet"

She sighed, "Would we want to see the spells?"

"Don't think so" I shook my head, "Its mostly research I'm doing and combat spells. Nothing you would find interesting"

"This.. Storing mana thing" Rob broke in, "Is it something you can teach us?"

"Nope" I shook my head, "It was painful when I tried it back on Earth and that was when there was basically no mana in the air to control. Here, there's tons of mana. Its a death sentence"

Rob's brow furrowed as his gaze narrowed, he didn't seem satisfied. Kira also seemed of similar mind as she looked at me with a wary expression on her face.

"Well" Kira huffed, her face clearing as she seemed to regain her confidence. "If you have magic strong enough to fly that trunk why don't we just make ourselves a flying cart. If you are too weak to fly that, then at least you can fly our packs right?"

"Or" she crossed her arms, "Is your flying magic something we can cast or something we can control if its cast on us?"

Shaking my head a little I grimaced "Not really"

"We'll build a cart then and fly that?" she suggested.

"Sure" I shrugged.

Over the next hour the behavior of the others seemed guarded, but we worked together as we stripped the trunk of branches and wove them into a mat, my job delegated to toppling trees covered in branches with a single punch before stripping the branches off.

Josh did have misgivings about killing the trees, but I managed to convince him that no one would care. And it wasn't like this place was in the middle of civilization, no one would find out. I leered evilly as I said this, the others facepalming at my evil act.

As we took a small break Kira curiously asked me to cast Gravity Cloak on her so she could try it out, even knowing she wouldn't be in control. Overhearing her, the others were in support of joining her in the experiment.

I did as they requested, and they ended the experiment less than a minute later with a shower of puke from an unnamed person. Standing with wobbly legs and gray faces they desperately refused my enthusiasm for another test run.

The mat slowly began to take shape as the resistant wood was forced into a weave, branches creaking and cracking as they were forced into positions they were never meant to take. Josh had also grown stronger I noticed, not to frightening levels by my standards, but he was certainly stronger than he should be.

The skill Crafting: Woodworking has reached level 3Finished woodworking result improved by 4.5%
Woodworking speed increased by 2.5%

As the time pa.s.sed the makes.h.i.+ft mat finally seemed finished, a low wall of woven branches erected about the sides as a safety barrier and a thickly woven floor with numerous gaps one could see through to look below. Kira did want to lay down a blanket to make it more comfortable; but I convinced her against it.

It would be nicer, but it would also create an enormous amount of air resistance. Channeling air to travel across the entire craft instead of slipping through the gaps.

We didn't need an aerodynamic s.h.i.+p, or even something that could glide. Our major problems just stemmed from safety, the looks of the craft and the wind blowing on it.

With the finished structure lying on the ground, measuring a rough 3x3 meter mat and the small twigs trimmed off, the naming rights was left to Kira who insisted on the honors.

I quickly had misgivings as she proudly dubbed it 'Flying Saucer'.

Achievement: Its my baby!Create your first object!

1500 EXP
500 EXP to related skills

You have created 'Flying Saucer'!

Use it with pride for the more famous you get, the more people will know about you and your creations!

This creation is doomed to be known by all!

Wait. Did it say doomed?

The skill Crafting: Woodworking has reached level 9Finished woodworking result improved by 7.5%
Woodworking speed increased by 4.5%

In the end it was strong, but it looked ugly as heck. We didn't have the luxury of planks to use. Wasn't much we could do about that however, none of us had the skills you would seek for this kind of thing.

Climbing on the 'Flying Saucer' and finding our seating, I waited until everyone was settled before laying a palm flat and casting *Gravity Cloak*

Mana drained through my body, sinking through my arm and smoothly flowing like an invisible liquid to cover the entire structure. I could see every leaf covered in the spell's mana, every branch and every inch of the structure. The spell tried to flow onto the others and our packs, but I mentally nudged it away as the spell settled in.

The process complete, I kept a close eye on my mana bar as I carefully began to lift the structure into the air. The strain wasn't that bed, far lighter than the solid trunk I mused. My mana regeneration was also coping just fine, I can do some heavy acceleration when needed.

As the others acted delighted at this new sensation I began to focus more on the craft making minor adjustments to our pitch and yaw as we rose further into the air, preventing us from tipping from the unbalanced weight.

Slowly, their glee began to quieten down.

A minute pa.s.sed and the wind whistled over the silent craft, Kira's voice hesitantly speaking up.

"Um. Jon. Can you uh, not go this high?"

"Hmm?" I smiled blankly, "This isn't that high".

It wasn't. I want to get at least twice as high as this.

She smiled weakly "We are more than 20 stories from the ground, I really don't think we need to be this high"

The others didn't look that good either, knuckles white as they clutched the wood beneath them tightly.

With a small tolerant sigh I began to lower us again until finally Kira sighed with relief, and with a small smile she thanked me.

Wary they would complain again about my driving, I slowly began to move us forwards in the direction of our destination. They said nothing as we adjusted to the increasing velocity and as we picked up speed I tilted the craft as the wind blew against us. This wasn't as fast as I was hoping to go, and the others definitely looked a bit queasy. But they didn't complain.

The wind resistance really sucked, we also need a winds.h.i.+eld. My eyes were getting a bit dry, this is why I wanted to fly higher.. Then we can look down instead of ahead.

Still beats walking.

As I flew the structure I began to a.n.a.lyze all the new spells I had learned, mentally picking them apart and comparing to other spells looking for similarities. I would take a book out from my inventory when no one was looking and quietly read them, a.n.a.lyzing every new spell I learned. The structure flew itself, una.s.sisted as it glided over the tops of trees.

I could just read the first sentence, learn any new skills or spells then move on, but I could also miss information this way, so I read each book from cover to cover absorbing the information I read within.

The others spent their time with eyes closed trying to relax, their backs to the wind. They all gradually started lying on their stomachs looking down through the gaps at the places we pa.s.sed, finding it vastly more interesting.

I easily adapted by using my back as a windbreaker to read the book, the books with their own Gravity Cloak increasing their ma.s.s and keeping them in my hands. I didn't need the pages flapping or the book flying out of my grasp.

The hours flew past this way, a few stops where we stretched our legs. The sun began to set and we made our final stop near a small city, almost a fortress really with the high walls and large numbers of guards that could be seen.

Landing the 'Flying Saucer' out of sight, we trekked the remaining distance and finally entered the city with curious glances from the guards at the gates. Locating an inn I booked us all rooms where we retired for the night. I didn't sleep as I continued to study the new spells I had learned.

Not how they worked, how I could use them or even their origins but why they worked. Why did this small modification in this spell make a difference where the two spells looked almost identical, but vastly different functions.

Midday, a notification appeared.

You have entered the Beastlands

If you ignored the increase in animals on the ground and the decrease of humans, there was no indicators that this area was different. So I didn't say anything.

I do wonder what to do with the others however, they are not as strong as they should be. Logically they grow stronger by fighting their way to the beastking, bas.h.i.+ng their way through entire armies of evil monsters but if we just fly over all of them.. Doesn't that mean we arrive with a severe handicap?

I didn't say anything though, I already felt we may be a little short on time.

After the forth group of monsters we pa.s.sed Josh coughed, catching our attention and forcing me to slow down the craft so that he could hold a conversation.

"We should probably walk from here" he quietly said, "We have little experience in fighting and we cannot gain experience if we fly directly to the beastking"

"Great idea!" Kira exclaimed, turning to me with a regretful look on her face "Sorry Jon, looks like we're going to be walking the rest of the way."

I shrugged, "Up to you, I'm staying aboard. Means I can read and continue to focus on this stuff"

"Stuff?" Kira questioned.

Shaking my head a little, I grimaced "You know, the books about magic and spells. Why the formless mana reinforces and restructures when placed in one array, but acts as mana storage or strengthens when formed into another type of array"

"Ah right right" she muttered with her eyes slightly glazed over. "Well, can you land us then?"

Sighing a little I lowered the structure to the ground before flying back up with the packs aboard. We continued at a vastly slower pace after that, the others looked far more enthusiastic about the adventure too.. Bored aboard the flying saucer.. I was probably the happiest to be aboard.

It wasn't too long after that they encountered their first fight, I saw the pack of wolves far off in the distance sneaking in the gra.s.s, but I didn't warn them as I watched the wolves slowly creep up and surround them.

They looked like wolves anyways, definitely a pack. 9 of them to be exact, and I didn't warn them because they wanted combat experience. And ambushes has to be a part of it. The stones in my hands incase they didn't notice in time? I have to be there for some form of backup don't I!

Gray Wolf lv.10

With average levels around 9, they should be easy enough to handle, and I was curious as to how the others would fight so I decided not to interfere. Besides, they needed the experience of combat and these low levels were not going to help me much. I did have the nasty feeling they might get unfair experience from these battles..

Josh moved to the front of the party as Rob and Mark moved behind, Mark pulling out his bow and readying his quiver even as Kira palmed two knives into her hands.

The wolves growling slowly began to circle about them, attempting to surround them even as I hung back interested in what was going on. The wolves threw me a few wary glances but seemed to accept I wasn't going to interfere in the fight.

One of the wolves suddenly bolted forwards, racing low to the ground as it bared teeth ready to bite Kira's arm, with a light spin and a slash the wolf yelped as she scored a shallow cut before it rejoined the circle growling with furious anger.

Prowling around and sprinting in a circle about their prey, the wolves growled as they eyed for a spot to strike.

Rob began chanting a spell as Mark fired arrows, keeping the majority of the wolves skittish even as another wolf made a dash inwards. This time it was Josh who took on the wolf, jumping out of the way as he scored a heavy slash across the wolves fur.

I could practically see the "Critical!" popup appear, the cut definitely didn't look shallow as the wolf howled in fury and limped away, bleeding heavily as the wolf pack seemed to ignite in furious anger.

With a snarl a group of three broke forwards, approaching from one direction as Kira and Josh moved to handle them just as another wolf dashed in from another direction less than a second later. Josh fired his bow and one wolf stumbled, arrow protruding from its muzzle as Rob finally fired his magic, sending thick spikes of ice pummelling into the lone wolf approaching his side.

Kira waited as the two wolves approached them before suddenly das.h.i.+ng forwards and spiking a dagger down on a head, using the force from her strike to force the wolf's head down and push herself to the side of the immense body. The wolf's body stumbled before collapsing as Josh eviscerated the second wolf, slas.h.i.+ng the chest open and dealing a deadly blow before he stumbled on the dirt as the heavy weight of the body pushed him back.

Recovering his stance and stepping to the side, he held his dripping blade in the air as he glared at the furious wolves.

Two of the three wolves lay dead, the single lone wolf that tried to strike from behind also dead. The wolf with just a arrow sticking from its muzzle stumbled to its feet, whining in pain. Instead of picking it off, Mark focused on keeping the other wolves away and reluctant to strike as he fired arrows, their formation recovering from the attack quickly.

With a furious look at Mark the wolf bounded away, growling intensely as it rejoined the others.

Circling around the party of four, both the wolves and my team seemed to be waiting on the next signal before finally they burst into action, every wolf running towards them with teeth bared and a fearsome growl rumbling.

Dealing slashes with her knives Kira fended them off, prevented them from advancing as she danced out of the way and heads twisted in an attempt to bite as Josh scored heavy slash after heavy slash, sending two wolves slumping to the ground in mortal death.

Mark tried to do his best, he really did. But he just didn't seem to do too well when they were trying to leap on his throat, Rob didn't fare too much better as two spells were interrupted midcast. I could see those two were never going to be close quarters fighters.

Finally the wolves slipped back, their pack decimated with only 4 still standing, one bleeding heavily with serious doubts as to its survival.

With one long last hateful glare at the four, the pack finally retreated leaving their dead behind as the team sighed in relief.

Flying lower, I complimented them "That was pretty intense"

They didn't seem to be injured, but was it me or did their levels jump by one?

"Yep" Kira grinned, her hands b.l.o.o.d.y and a small smudge of blood on her cheek. But that was nothing compared to Josh whose upper body seemed dyed red as he grinned back, blood still dripping from his sword. He didn't seem injured, his clothing still intact. An easy smile on his face.

The party of four were grinning, excited and happy about the fight. Fueled with adrenaline and excitedly relieving every aspect of their first real fight. None of that reluctance or fear thats normal to be seen.

I tried to join in, but I really don't understand them. They didn't fear the fights, they didn't have regrets. They didn't even seem to think anything of a fight to the death..

Maybe its me. I know I was terrified when I first killed. It wasn't even by choice.

Then again, it was against an actual human.. Maybe that makes a difference.

"So, did you guys want to fly now?" I asked

"h.e.l.l no" Kira grinned, "This is fun"

"Flying would be faster" I stated blandly, and its true. We can always stop for every pack of monsters.

"We might miss something" Mark grinned.

Ugh.

"Did you see water or something while you were up there?" Kira asked, and I sighed.

Yeah, they're not like me. Not really.

They're finding this entertaining.

I can do it, but only for that sweet EXP. Its different.

"Yeah, I'll show you"

I swear, its totally different.