19 Tough Love
(Author's Note: Enjoy the first real look into the Technique system of Yggdrasil, I developed. Techniques are more versatile for spells, so usually classes will only have a single Rank technique for each rank from 1-10. But they can be used in a variety of different ways, they can interact with the environment, and have less of a formed execution than tiered spells.)
(Author's Note: I expect to see at least some nice artwork of our starlight prince kicking DemiDemi's hunting squad. Enjoy.)
Tonks walked forward swinging her staff around lazily. She had an expression as if she was bored with looking at Prince, or that she didn't even put him in her eyes. She had much more equipment on than before 3 weeks ago, and her magic staff in particular had been continuously upgraded by the guild. It wasn't DemiDemi's guild weapon, but the guild had spent significant resources to get fire-based data crystals to improve her staff up to the Legendary Tier.
It could enhance fire and curse-based magic and reduce their cast time. She also had Top-Class magician robes that improved her Mag Def. Many people on the forums had adopted Anti-Magic caster strategies ever since Treech's video was shown to many people on the forums. Even other magic casters saw the importance of Mag Def, and they based a lot of their build ideas on the idea of going against someone of Treech's level. Another specialization of the Anti-Magic caster class of players had become popular as many other players tried to mimic Treech by destroying a city or Humanoid player guild halls.
Sadly, most of those players were either seen as mentally stunted or extremely arrogant to go against such a force. The magic defense grids of cities were strengthened much more than normal. People advocated a strong urge for magic defense and when a player would be seen trying to lead an army against a city as Treech did... they would fail miserably due to counter-strategies that were already in place.
Back to Tonks, she had spent a good deal researching magic caster routes and she gained a curse affinity allowing her to specialize in Cursemancy. She had a wide variety of debuffs and crowd control effects that could stun armies on her own. She gained quite a following as she was recorded destroying a horde of Orcs with her guide in a canyon. She cast the 10th Tier spell Meteor Strike and dropped a meteor on them after her clan narrowed the orc warriors into the walls of the canyon. She then activated a large-scale curse, at the cost of her levels, to interrupt the counter spells from the Orc shamans. Resulting in the legion's complete destruction.
But Tonks was still not happy as people compared her to Treech more and more. She felt annoyed that each time she was mentioned, so was he. And she wanted too badly to tear him down from his position as number 1 player, for her own enjoyment and so that she could surpass him.
This is what led her to hear today, that she had finally hit level 70. She could use a Super Tier Spell and she planned to send Treech packing. But when she got here she found that he still hadn't contacted Prince and she needed to take out her annoyance on someone. Who better than Prince again?
"Why doesn't your so-called sensei show up anymore? Did he abandon you, little Prince? Aren't you deluding yourself by thinking he planned for all this to happen? Doesn't that mean he planned for you to die repeated to our guild then?" she smiled in a teasing tone.
Prince narrowed his eyes at Tonks. He could tolerate a lot of things, but he absolutely hated when anyone made fun of his teacher. He clenched his fist and took one last look at his stats in his HUD to make sure he had done what he needed to do. He took out a brass knuckle gear that had the words "Tough Love" written across it in gold letters. It was a Legendary Class Item he had gotten lucky with dropped during his farming. He provided the data crystal of [Cosmic Mana] halving the cost of Comic mana costs.
========***++++***========
[Name: Starlight Prince]
[Gender: Male]
[Race: Star-Dust(Heteromorph)]
Level: 60
Hp: 75
Mp: 86
Phy Atk: 57
Phy Def: 42
Agility: 70
Mag Atk: 19
Mag Def: 33
Resist: 18
Special: 7
Total Stats: 387
———————Racial Levels———————
Star-Dust Ethermorph: 15
- Star-Dust Etherite: 10
- - Star-Dust Paragon: 5
———————Class Levels————————
Mana Monk: 15
— Duality Transmuter Monk: 10 (Cosmic, Lightning)
———————Job Levels————————
Scribe: 15
— Royal Scribe: 10
========***++++***========
He closed his HUD, he was perfectly prepared for the upcoming fight. This time, he would win.
"Looks like you want to fight, let's show you the difference in our levels yeah? BBWolf!" Tonks said as she nodded to her guild member.
BBWolf stepped forward and started his cast sequence of a 10Th tier spell.
Prince started to walk forward confidently in a combat posture, his gaze was fixed on BBWolf's spell casting. Prince noted the spell circle was intricate and colored between white and silver. It had 10 circles, so it was a powerfully 10th-tier spell. He planned to try and interrupt him right as he cast it, so he wasted the mana as well as lost the effects of the spell
"Hoh, you're approaching us?" Tonks said arrogantly.
BBWolf finished casting and started to yell out the command to finish casting the 10th-tier spell. Yet right as he finished, Prince lunged at him with his fast movement speed. His fist was about to hit BBWolf, but he was a tad bit slow as BBWolf yelled out.
"[Extend Magic: Time Stop]" (Author's Note: "ZAAA WORLDO!!" joke here)
A grey light spread out in the surroundings, and Prince's character was frozen in place. His fist was less than a meter from connecting with BBWolf. He was suspended slightly in the air. (Author's Note: In Yggdrasil time stop only freezes a player, in the new world it actually freezes time.)
"It's a shame, methods against time magic are always important," Tonks muttered as she walked over to Prince leisurely. She then cast Tier 8 magic HellFlame and tapped it on Prince's blue shoulder. His body immediately lit up and started burning with HellFlame.
"Well that was boring, lets's go." Tonks then turned and started leaving.
But things didn't end there, Prince broke free from his frozen state and Tonks heard from behind her.
"[Rank 1: Flurry of Blows]"
Prince sent a quick 3 punches of his fists cloaked in unattributed mana at BBWolf. The damage wasn't much, but it was enough to bring down his health bar slightly.
"What!? But How?!" BBWolf exclaimed.
Prince didn't answer. He was able to temporarily shrug off the status effects of the 10th tier and below at the cost of some of his stats decreasing temporarily. He would spend a week in this state until the special racial skill of Star-Dust Paragon, [Star Rebirth] went off cooldown. He lost some of his stats, but he gained a small element of surprise and made BBWolf waste an absurd level of crowd control spell on him. His mana was already over half gone.
"[Maximize Magic: Bindings of Harkon]" Tonks wasted no time and immediately cast a Tier 1 curse spell.
Prince easily dodged that pathetic attempt to try and restrain him with his high agility.
"What are you doing?? Attack him!" Tonks practically screamed at TakeASeat. He had been chilling here all this time. He wasn't really too interested in fighting Prince. He glanced at Tonks and stepped forward.
"Kid, I don't really care about bullying you. Just tell me where I can find Treech. " TakeASeat says casually.
"Hmpf, as expected of someone my sensei took notice of. But I can't tell you." Prince said with a determined look.
"Well then, don't hate me." TakeASeat drew out his sword from its sheath. TakeASeat had the bare minimum equipment on him, but his sword looked to be at least a Top-Class Item.
"[Rank 5: Sword of the Mind]"
TakeASeat sent out a wave of sword qi pressure that attacked Prince's mind, causing him to enter another abnormal status of Confused.
While he was stunned and Tonks immediately followed with more spells:
"[Extend Magic: Markings of Cage]"
"[Extend Magic: Slow]"
The [Slow] spell went through, but the [Markings of Cage] Spell was resisted. Which was surprising considering Prince's low Resist stat.
"*Tsk, BBWolf! Buff me."
"[Extend Magic: Ultimate Disturb]"
BBWolf used the remaining majority of his mana to cast the 10th-Tier Spell: Ultimate Disturb. It wrecked the caster's ability to cast spells for the rest of the battle, but it granted a large buff to an ally's Mag Def. [Ultimate Disturb] was a big counter spell to the Treech magic caster wannabes.
Prince finally exited the confused state and immediately focused on BBWolf, who now had an empty mana pool. He resolved himself to fully try the new abilities of his Paragon Class.
"[Rank 7: Zipzap Burst]"
He activated one of his Rank 7 mana transmutation techniques and used up 15% of his mana bar. His mana changed to a lightning nature with the technique, compressing itself near his legs and exploding with lightning. It shot him across the area and he directly blew passed Tonks and TakeASeat, appearing right in front of BBWolf.
"[Rank 5: Weighted Strike]"
He activated another mana transmutation technique and used up another 5% of his mana pool. His mana changed to black and silver starlight around his fist. The mana became heavier and thicker and he struck BBWolf directly in the stomach, sending him rag-dolling away for a few meters.
- 23 HP
But was most surprising was the amount of damage done to BBWolf. He was already down to half his HP from this one attack! This was due to Prince's Paragon Racial class ability, [Heavy Weight - Increase your Atk Mod the heavier your attacks.]. It paired so perfectly with weight changing powers of his race and his [Transmutation Monk] class Techniques.
"[Rank 4: Heaven and Earth Reinforcement ]"
"[Rank 7: Man and Sword as One]"
TakeASeat immediately appears and used two techniques to reinforce his defenses and his attack speed with Qi.
'That last hit was powerful, I may have another idea of how to best make use of my racial abilities.' Prince thought in his mind, but he didn't think long as he noticed fire approaching out of the corner of his eye.
Prince jumped back as he narrowly avoids two silent spells that Tonks cast: [Burn Lance] and [Wave of Pain].
"[Skill: Dynamic Weight]"
"[Rank 2: Varied Movement]"
"[Rank 3: Spring Jump]"
Prince lept high up in the air, tens of meters high due to his light gravity, the special monk technique Sping Jump which increased his Jump height, and Varied Movement to alter his direction: Aiming to fall down exactly on BBWolf.
'I need to kill of BBWolf as soon as possible. It will be difficult if I let this drag on. I should use some good skills and should be okay as long as I keep my remaining mana pool above 40%'.
"[Rank 7: Heavy Steps]"
Black and silver-colored mana condensed in his feet and legs while he was in the air. It grew denser and denser as the surrounding mana started getting pulled into it as well, like a planet's core.
"[Skill: Dynamic Weight]"
He altered his weight from extremely light, to heavy in an instant. He fell towards BBWolf, with his gained velocity from the air.
"Oh, Shi-" BBWolf's voice was cut off as Prince landed a dropkick right on him with the full impact of Heavy Steps and his Racial ability [Heavy Weight] causing an exponential increase in damage. The surrounding mountain landscape compressed a small crater from the impact.
-58 HP
BBWolf disappeared into a burst of light particles as he lost 5 levels and died. He had about 55% of his mana left. Both Tonks and TakeASeat were completely stunned this time. What the hell was that damage? Were they playing the same game? They were at a higher level than him too, how is this possible? Prince stood up slowly from his crouching position in the crater and turned to look at the other two.
"I'll admit kid, you deserve to fight me at my full strength" TakeASeat says before he activated 2 incredibly strong techniques in combination. And jumps towards him.
"[Rank 9: All Under the Sword]"
"[Rank 10: Sword Domain]"
A burst of sword Qi enveloped the area and the crushing pressure of sword intent descended on Prince, his HP constantly decreased as cuts formed across his body constantly.
"[Rank 8: Absolute Fatality]"
TakeASeat used an instant death chance technique and the die was rolled.
"[Skill: Dynamic Weight]!"
Prince hurriedly changed his weight to light weight with his racial ability. He had another racial ability that could help in times like this: [Light Defense- When lighter than the opponent, convert a portion of the damage into knockback force]. He was holding out from using it till now because he didn't want to rag-doll around the battlefield, even if he knew he would be okay.
"*Boom"
Prince shot off from the attack bouncing along the ground like a rag-doll until he was about the slam into the side of the mountain. But that wasn't the end of it.
"[Maximize magic: Hellfire Wall]"
Tonks cast the 8th tier spell and placed it right behind his current direction.
"Damn it!" Prince knew he had to waste his last life-saving racial ability at this moment or he would die. He has awful Mag Def.
"[Skill: Ethereal Shift]"
His body turned translucent. It was like black and silver starlight dust, he passed through everything unharmed. He was physically there but didn't take any damage. He slammed into the mountainside and was indented from the force. His ethereal state faded and he was once again vulnerable.
Prince got another idea from what he did to BBWolf earlier, he would do something similar and hopefully Bigger than before. He might need to go all out just to fight TakeASeat.
"[Rank 3: Spring Jump]"
He leaped into the air from the mountain's crater, towards TakeASeat. While he was in the air and his inertia stopped, he activated 2 more techniques layered on top of each other.
"[Rank 8: Cosmic Projection]!"
"[Rank 5: Weighted Strike]!"
He immediately used up 30% of his remaining mana with just this combination. A large black and silver astral titan hand that was 13 meters across balled its hand into a fist. The black and silver mana condensed at the fist of the astral titan hand getting denser and denser. The attack combination was on par with a Super Tier spell in power!
"[Skill: Dynamic Weight]!"
Prince changed his weight and made himself heavier again. He flew with a giant titan arm of black and silver thrust straight out in front of him ready to punch. TakeASeat immediately tried to rush out from the impact, but the attack radius was to large.
"*Boom"
The fist left a giant crater in the earth and the power of Prince's racial talent [Heavy Weight] paid its effects again.
-76 HP
"Nice figh-" TakeASeat said as he disappeared into a burst of light particles. Prince looked at his HUDs' health. He had about 40% HP and 25% MP left. He only had one more to go.
"Damn it! What is wrong with this!? We are 10 levels more than you!" Tonks screamed madly.
"How do you beat 3 people who are higher level than you?! Forget it. I should have just taken you seriously from the start. I'm so angry! That's 10 levels! We lost 10 levels because of you!" Tonks said.
"[Maximize magic: Nuclear Blast]!"
Tonks used a rank 9 knockback spell. A burst of bright white light expanded out from her and enveloped Prince. It destroyed everything it touched, but the damage was minimal.
"[Skill: Dynamic Weight]!"
Prince used his signature racial skill habitually, but it ended up being a mistake. The damage was minimal but now he just doubled the knockback effect he received.
"*Swoosh"
He flew through the air as he rocketed halfway up the mountain, pushed that way from the Nuclear Blast spell. He slammed into the mountainside again, but this time he took significant bludgeoning damage on impact.
-27 HP
(Author's Note: He has 3 HP left now after this hit.)
'Damn! I made a mistake.' Prince thought to himself, but as he looked around and saw that there were low clouds in the area his mood improved.
'Or maybe I didn't.' he thought. The lighting element in the area was perfect to use another combination he was thinking of. But it would cost him the rest of his mana to pull it off.
"[Rank 8: ThunderGod's Sigh]"
Immediately the remaining 25% became 15% left in his MP. His mana swirled and as he inhaled, he drew in the lightning element in the air alongside his mana's nature change, empowering it. Lightning arced out from his whole body like a live Tesla coil, zapping the sides of the mountain. This was a powerful technique to empower another lightning transmutation technique.
As if on cue, Tonks flew towards him. She couldn't see passed some of the natural forming clouds in the area. And so as she saw him with lightning arcing off him and sparks coming out of his eyes, she widened her eyes and turned to retreat.
"Too late."
"[Rank 9: Static Breakthrough]"
he used the last bit of his MP to charge up his highest level technique, a rank 9. He was going all out with his biggest trump card, an armor-piercing Phy Atk. The lightning from earlier condensed and was sucked into his body and surrounded his hands. He stepped his hands directly and dealt piercing damage directly through her meager Phy Def. It's power was also doubled since he charge it with [LightningGod's Sigh].
- 50 HP
She saw her entire HP bar nearly fall to 0 in one strike. And she started to panic, she had a Legendary item on her and the guild spent a lot of time putting it together.
"No, please wait I have a Legenda-"
-1 HP
-1 HP
Prince didn't even listen as he finished her off with two normal punches of 'Tough Love' to the face.
She collapsed into particles of light, leaving her Legendary Staff on the ground as she died.
Prince picked up the staff and was about to look at the stats when he heard Treech's voice.
"Nice job kid, I thought I'd have to step in." He said with a slight smile in his voice.
(Author's Note: I tried my best so it is what it is.)
(Author's Note: I also added a fun little auxiliary chapter of Prince's posting of some of Treech's comments.)
