Nathan Free, Natalie Bound Chapter 61: Leveled

"Oh my gods that is the worst sll ever," Elica gasped, flinching away. She reacted to the sll before she reacted to appearing out of a huge flash of blinding light. But honestly, fair, it really was pretty foul. "Sorry," I managed, and dispelled my leather and robes as I walked to the bath. "I'll shower up and everything's all right." I shut the door and shucked the only real clothes I had worn out, just smallclothes and shift, and I started the water. I hated knowing that this was actually the sa water as ... that. Magic had filtered it and had screened it back, so that only the purest water would exit those pipes. But still, I was always going to be aware that this was the sa water that those things swam in. And... worse. A tap at the door. "I'll be quick," I promised, calling out through the closed door. I stepped under the spray, and heated it up to drive the chill out of my body. Sorcery is aweso. Instant perfect-temperature shower. "Natalie?" Elica's voice ca through, with a tone I didn't fully recognize. "Yes?" Ah, blessed soap, salvation. Ti to scrub the scent of mildew and evil off of . "Were you out, like way out, wearing black leather and covered in daggers?" It was three daggers, hardly covered. "Yes. Everything's under control." "So you can just leave, can't you?" "Uh huh." Shampoo, my salvation, co to my aid, get that sll off of . "Without a pass? You can just skip the gates and the guards?" I paused, scrubbing my scalp and thinking, my mind starting to catch up to what she is saying. "You want to take you with next ti." "What? Gods no! Wherever you need leather and daggers is no place for ! I just wanted you to drop off at the shopping district for an afternoon this weekend." I started scrubbing harder. "Maybe I'm not going out this weekend." "Natalie, don't make threaten to tell the administration that you were sneaking out. Blackmail deans us both." "Maybe. Fine. But. Just a couple of hours. I want to be back before curfew, so we can't stay all day." "Sure, if you think you'll be done with killing whoever it is by then." I opened my mouth to protest. I'm not running around the city killing people! Except that I really couldn't. Not with that indicator waiting for a thought to reappear. [ You have earned 12 experience points. You are now a Level 4 Sorceress. You have 4 experience points. ] Killing monsters is not a very cost-effective way to gain XP and levels, but it's better than nothing. Also, it ans there's less monsters. And killing them while I'm low level is worth so XP, as soon as my level is higher than theirs they are worth nothing to . So, if you can level up with monster-hunting at low levels and save plot-line stuff for later, that's the most efficient way. So yeah, running around the city and killing whoever? She kind of had pegged. There were always stories about nobles in disguise joining adventuring guilds and treasure-hunting parties. Sotis for the thrill, or to bring honor onto their house, or just to get rich if they're from a minor house. So of the stories are actually true. "A few hours should be plenty of ti," I said after a long thoughtful minute. "We'll work out the details tomorrow." "Oh, yes, it'll take a little while to make arrangents anyway." I heard sothing in her tone of voice, and it made cautious. Like she was a little too satisfied, a little too confident. I paused, considered, and said "I can only bring a limited amount with . If I try more than four or five people I will probably die." "Oh yeah that's fine," she said, which is a hell of a thing for soone to say in that context, and she walked away from the door. I was left trying to figure out what she ant by 'that's fine' in that sense, and then I took a deep breath, whirled the water around at high speed to rinse, and then shut off the shower and then got rid of all the water on at once and put it down the drain. I conjured a nightgown, picked up my fallen clothes, and tossed them into a hamper. Elica was in her bed with a sleep-mask on by the ti I got out. I turned out the candle, slid under the blankets, and tried to relax myself. That cave behind the waterfall was absolutely terrifying. When Nathan finds it, there's an expeditionary force already set up, with lighting and scouting and maps, with pontoon bridges to walk along. And I, like a brave girl, went in there all alone, the hard way, and challenged them on their ho turf. Maybe not the best idea. Ho surf. Whatever. I called up the indicators, the status screen. [ Natalie Harigold ] [ Level 4 Sorceress ] [ Rival ][ Strength 6 ][ Stamina 6 ][ Intellect 11 ][ Charisma 4 ][ HP: 9/9 ][ MP: 14/14 ][ Essence Gathered: (Select to Expand) ][ Condition: Untethered Essence (can fully bind Essence 100%, can bind Essence more easily) ][ Signet of the Seer ] After consideration, I increased my Strength to 7 using my unspent upgrade point. I had a skill point to spend, but I like to hold those in reserve until I know what I'm going to need. Whereas taking a point of Strength ans that I can fight stronger enemies and keep upgrading. When I'm leveled up and don't have to worry about fighting enemies, I can start dumping ability points into Intellect to bring up my Mana, or into Stamina for more HP and more actions per day. Sadly, I'm not likely to ever spend for my Charisma. Charisma is used in the ga to get you certain challenges that affect outco. Strength is how likely you are to survive an encounter, but Charisma determines how likely you are to get a good ending to the ga. And good-ending is not a priority for . If I get the good ending to the story, that ans that Nathan did not. It is not possible for us both to win. I'm just trying to make sure we both don't lose. I sat in my bed, and thought about the fact that my whole existence here was built around the understanding that I can't win without the whole world losing. Would you be surprised that it took a while to fall asleep? I woke tired, but I dragged myself out of bed. Elica was already in the shower. I got dressed, and I opened the door when Rinnie showed up. Elica ca out to get dressed, and Rinnie went to help her, and I headed out to breakfast, passing on most of the first-hour ablutions because I showered late at night. Today it was ti for to finally try sothing. I was giddy with anticipation and I fought not to get my hopes up. I had curved the air, so it would bend to my willl. As I skipped down the stairs the wind would arrange my hair, sorting it into a long fall down to my mid-back. I hit the stairwell and I pushed, pushed into my sorcery, the curve of magic, and the air cradled and lifted . I stepped into the air above the stairs, and I was buoyant. At long last, my magic was strong enough to lift and carry . I could fly. I'm not stupid. I am not going up to the roof to find out if I can fly. Stairwells give a variety of altitudes to experint with, and people will be by soon just in case sothing goes wrong. I've been planning for years how I'll practice, when I finally have the magical strength to fly. I coasted down the stairs, my feet never touching down. It was not a whipping wind that buffeted upwards but a solid layer of air that closed around and lifted like a hand. It was comforting, this elental friend that would whirl along and keep safe. I still needed to work on strength and power output, but finally my sorcery was able to free from gravity. Finally I had enough strength in it to carry away, and I was not beholden to those laws of the earth. This last level-up was exactly what I needed. For years I had been just powerful enough that I could move at level planes with a little tension. To skate over water, to glide over quicksand. But last night, in that cavern? I did not want to skate on that water. I did not want to drift and skip over the surface of that endless drowning abyss. I did not want to sweep and swoop on the surface tension over cold depths full of ravenous things that chew first and ask questions later. I did not want to coast gracefully waiting for a webbed hand to grab my ankle and drag down. I wanted to fly. I reached the bottom of the stairs too soon, and touched down regretfully. I wanted to throw myself out the door and scream with joy and zoom around in the perpetual night sky of Hearstcliff...but I needed to lock in. Job to do. Image to maintain. Also, if the school found out that I can fly, it would add sigils to the outer walls to keep from flying over them. There was a powerful grounding spell embedded in that fence, but to prevent larger problems it was keyed to only affect people whose nas and personal glyphs had been added on. Otherwise the outer reaches would be littered with dead bats, piles of bugs, and they'd be legally liable for anyone who was flying over the city and accidentally hit the invisible tripwires and was thrown to the ground here. I could still use the portals of the void, but if I could keep myself off the school's list of flyers, I'd like that. It keeps my options open. You never know, after all. Besides, I'd be doing more flying than I could stand, soon enough. I was dressed down a little bit today. Less "evil queen", more "malignant duchess". Lower collar, simpler lines, less pronounced angles. The skirt was a series of gathers and layers crisscrossing, it had a bit of flounce and movent that kept it kind of fun. Since I had started my day curving air, I just relied on a bubble of warmth instead of bringing a jacket this ti. I almost channeled bat essence for the sensory upgrades, but I went with owl instead. The bat's ears were more sensitive, but much more forward-facing. They've got a better focus on what's in front but the owl is better for ambient sound, and people approaching from behind. Also, sharpened eyes were easier to adjust to than sonar-hearing. The day was nice enough, under a cloudless non-sky that never showed sun or weather, just the ongoing shine of a hundred-million crystalline lights that regulated their beams to keep the city lit. I was early out the doors but not the very earliest, there were others out and about on the pathways of the campus, so strictly following the white-gravel pathways, others andering the grassy lawns. The grass here grew like it did not miss the sun, the whole area was so buttressed by spells that it was probably a footnote to keep grass growing year-round with nothing but starlight. The paintings in the ga were always stunning, the architecture was fanciful but compelling. Never quite any one style that I could make out. I'm no architect, I don't know neo-Classical from Revival, and all my native knowledge of Hearstcliff styles are full of made-up history that doesn't map to how the ga's concept and design team ca up with their figures. So I'll just say that they are tall, grand, mostly made of white marble, with lots of columns and decoration and embellishnts. Underground they like flat roofs, in Cliffside they favor steep shingled roofs, sotis the snowfall here ca very heavily. If you don't already have at least so idea of the layout of this campus it would be an absolute maze. Trying to tell these buildings apart at a distance is impossible, which of course leads to a lot of wonderful misunderstandings and chance etings for the romance track. I wish them well, but anwhile I need to get to the dical station. The supplental admin building was mostly records and archives, storage and stuff like that. An overflow dining hall, a handful of assignnt and distribution offices, a mail room that I'm not going to visit and that's not because I'm scared or traumatized or anything, and on the second floor there's the healer's office. There was only one full-ti curative for the school, but they would hire in a couple of extras for special events like contact sparring or certain field events. I knocked on the door, and the doctor would see now. "Healer Licard, at your service," he said. "What did you manage to get up to on only your second day here?" "Camogie," I explained, taking a seat. He was dium-height and shaped like a triangle, broad shoulders and narrow waist with thick limbs and neck. He was almost fully muscle-bound, in the sense of being restrained by his own physique. Bound by muscle. He could definitely not put his arms all the way down. "Ah," he said, and waved hands near . "Hmm," he said. "Were you not wearing a helt?" "I was," I said defensively. "Then get a better helt, you've taken a nasty knock to the back of your head. And, it's very unusual to have taken a kick like this in practice. The muscle tears I understand. Chillblains, and the aftereffects of a close brush with hypothermia, though... And... the bends?" He gave a gaze of flat disbelief, inviting to explain myself. "Also, your entire dermis is scoured, sohow, in a way I've never seen before." "I guess I'm real bad at camogie," I tried to joke. I could feel the joke falling flat. "I suppose you must be," he gave back nothing but dry sardonic detachnt. "Also, a partially perforated eardrum, cracked bones in your hand, and the start of a stress fracture in your shin." I went a little quiet. "Ah, I didn't realize it was that bad," I said. "I guess it kind of snuck up on ." He shrugged, sort of. His elbows ca up so and then down so. "I should say so. All is well though: I've never snitched on a student that wanted to do so off-the-books adventuring during their down ti. I'll advise you to not jeopardize your grades or career, and to make sure you're still getting plenty of sleep. Young bodies need rest, after all. And to stay clear of thieves' guilds of any stripe; they like to hire on impressive new talent without telling them all the risks. Don't make yourself expendable to them." "I'm being as careful as I can under the circumstances," I promised him. "I'm not a thrill-seeker, I've just got so things to accomplish." "Forgive if I stay skeptical," he said. HIs neck bulged as he shook his head. "Second day and you've got a dozen minor injuries. So of which actually seem to be related to camogie. I've heard lots of reassurances from lots of junior treasure hunters and cri-fighters." "Can't be that many, you're only like five or six years older than ," I scoffed. He fixed a look. "Every healer is a lot older than they look. It's a perk of the job. Now, let's get you fixed up." That was sothing for to think about though. While he was nding my bruises and aches, I wondered if I was actually that different from other impulsive trouble-magnets. Surely there were things I could be doing to gain levels other than fighting monsters. And likewise, there are ways I can reduce the threat of monsters other than pushing my way into the unexplored depths and fighting them all by myself. Sure, doing things this way does solve two birds with one stone, but sotis you need to base decisions on sothing other than the ratio of birds and stones. Oh right. Almost every thod I had for gaining XP would take opportunities away from Nathan. I had to progress myself in such a way that he would not get locked in low levels by the mid-ga. "Truth is I don't like fighting," I blurted out to the healer who seed to be about half-done. "It sucks and I'm not actually good at it. I know I make a ton of easily avoidable mistakes. I wind up getting hurt a lot. And it never seems to matter how many overwhelming advantages I've got, my plans hardly ever work out right on the first try. It's always really uncomfortable and I'm worried about how I'm gonna get back afterwards. I've tried to toughen up, but I don't think I'm cut out for it. But there's people counting on ." "What kind of people?" he asked. I recognize that tone of voice. Humoring . I sighed. "All of them." "That's terrible," Healer Licard said, as he finished up. "That sounds like a lot of pressure." "Thanks for listening," I said. I stood, and reached for the doorknob. "And for nding . In about four years you'll understand what kind of pressure that really is." The door clicked shut behind , ending our conversation.