Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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Pallesia - Chapter 167 - Free falling.
🕑 Added 2024-09-07 15:00:09 +0000 UTCIf anybody was watching the sky from their position on the dirt road leading toward Vargus, they would be stunned into silence by the sight of a man soaring through the air. Ungracefully, uncontrollably, and cursing along the way.
“O–OH SHIT! JESUS FUCK!” Lee screamed like Nymie as he crashed through the thick canopy of a nearby tree, folding in half as a sturdy branch decided that it would not bend or break in the presence of the healer. The air expunged from his lungs, causing spittle to trail down his lips as he stammered to make sounds or breath. He flailed his arms around the thick branch during his struggles, attempting to hold on for dear life.
Even Anestheliosurge wasn’t helpful here, as it wasn’t the pain from the crash landing impact that was the issue. But on the bright side, at least he remembered to cast the spell before his attempt at flight.
And attempt it was.
He’d leveled earlier in the day, one part class quests, one part slaying a level forty plus Dread Revenant. After allocating his final points into dexterity, bringing it up to the recommended amount of thirty, he couldn’t wait to jump into flying.
Name: Lee Barnes
HP: 350/350
MP: 374/600
Level: 39
XP 112/10000
Titles:
Genesis of Healing*
Miracle Worker*
Class: Miracle Worker.
Profession: Otherworldly Academic
In Magic's Favor.
STATS:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 30
Constitution: 30
Wisdom: 30
Intelligence: 60
Luck: 10
Unused Points: 0
Skills:
Spells:
Abilities:
Skills:
Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth, Mana Manipulation, Speed Reading, Mana Dispersion, Medical Attention, Miraculous Return, Healer’s Beacon, Hidden Miracle, Alter Status, Dauntless Will, Antithesis of Healing, Life’s Guidance, Mana Infusion, Teaching, Spacial Spell.
Spells:
Basic: Earthen Strike, Gale burst, Wall of Winds, Orb of Light, Darken, Conjure Water, Blind, Swiftness, Water Wave Wall, Wall of Earth*, Aquavista, Musical Melodious Memory, Words of the Wind, Homing Light, Sonic Boom, Howling Cyclone, Depth Pressure, Water Walking, Minor Telekinesis.
Advanced: Mend Wounds, Icicle Spear, Touch of Remission, Purifying Light, Void Sphere, Bulwark of Ice, Death bolt, End of the Unwanted, Anesthesilosurge, Create Ice, Weave of Reflection, Renewal, Widespread Renewal, False Data - Life, False Data - Death, Air Conditioning, Strengthening, Reaping Field, Manual Blinking.
Expert: Glacial Cascade, Spear of Eternity. Mortality’s Embrace, Armaments of Eternity
Master:Synthesized 3/5: Drop of Life, Sphere of Annihilation, Hailstorm Blizzard.
Abilities:
Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache, Arcane Synthesis.
Now, in hindsight, being a little more prepared and sitting down to properly think about how one would actually fly without impaling themselves on a branch would have been best. At least he had learned a valuable lesson—Do not attempt to be Iron Man.
Jettisoning air out of your hands and feet wasn’t the proper way to fly, no matter what old Earth comics and movies led him to believe. Like many of the spells he created so far on Pallesia, he needed to go about flying with an air of understanding and scientific principles. While he was vaguely aware of air resistance, lift, hot air rising and cold air falling… that was about as far as he understood. The fact that Regina could fly meant that she either understood these principles, or that he was missing some of the magical science this world was accustomed to.
He didn’t know what stats Neia had, but he assumed that she was more than capable of flight as long as she understood the principles, and as she had never showcased the frankly unbelievable ability, he had to admit that she wasn’t aware of them either.
After gingerly and ungraciously falling his way down the tree he’d found himself in, Lee walked back into the open road and tried again. This time, instead of blasting air out of his feet and palms, he’d encircle himself in wind; similar to how he’d successfully created the spell Swiftness.
Billowing, buffeting winds swept around him as he focused on encapsulating himself within them. Then, once he was satisfied with the power, and worried about draining mana from failing spell creations, he focused the power of the wind and air below himself, effectively launching him into the sky like a rocket.
At first, a giant grin spread across his face as he soared up above the trees, hundreds of meters into the open air. From up high, Lee could see for miles upon miles. A field of green forests, a meandering path leading through it, and even a small clearing with a crystal blue pond.
Then, his grin faded as he realized he wasn’t stopping. Up and up he went, into the sky, unstoppable. Quickly, he realized that imagining a rocket wasn’t the best way to go about the idea of flight. He stopped his output of mana, slowing and coming to a stall below the clouds. Then, as gravity took hold, his stomach came up into his throat as he began freefalling towards the ground. The pressure from the wind caused his eyes to water, his cheeks to stretch, and his robes to flutter painfully as they slapped his sides.
Not in any position to panic, he immediately did the first thing that came to his mind. With feeble attempts, he cast an old, but useful spell—Gale Burst. Over and over again, vicious bursts of rapturous wind shoved him sideways through the air. He was aiming towards the blue pond, but even if said pond was deep, it would effectively be him landing on a solid pane of concrete.
He had roughly thirty seconds to adjust his course, break the surface tension, and pray. First, if he didn’t actually land in the pond, he was dead. So, that was priority number one. A host of Gale Bursts, fifteen seconds of time, and a prayer got him to the point of relative confidence.
Next, as the moment of truth dawned near, Lee threw as many Icicle Spears toward the lake as he could manage with the remaining time he had left. As each spear rippled the surface of the ever growing pane of crystal blue water, Lee cast Anestheliosurge and one final spell before clenching his eyes—Sonic Boom.
Then, the next thing he felt was a crushing pressure of force, breaking bones, organs rupturing, and fear.
-324 HP
Water surged down his throat as he flailed his broken, nearly shattered limbs in an attempt to swim to the surface. It worked, as his formerly noodle arms began snapping back into place as he rose. His ruptured lungs, unable to contain the water which was forced down his gullet, repaired themselves as he breached the surface like a whale.
Lee sputtered, throwing up thick red water as he struggled to heave in breaths of fresh air. Thank Shane for his Healer’s Touch, or he’d one-hundred percent be dead. At level thirty nine, and with the effects of his title, Lee was healing twenty nine HP a second. So, after spending five seconds floundering in the water as his bones fixed themselves, a few more coughing up what he assumed to be water and his formerly destroyed organs, and a final one taking a deep breath of air, he was back to full HP.
You have been the target of a failed Identify.
“My gods! Are you okay son!?” A voice shouted from the small shore of the pond. Lee cast Water Walking, enabling his hands to find a solid ground on the rippling surface, then pulled himself up to stand unsteadily.
Looking over towards the voice, Lee saw an older gentleman with a well groomed beard and a horse adorned with thick saddlebags. The man was well armed, dressed in a mix of leather and chain with a longsword in his grasp. Lee coughed up some more red water, then waved as he strode awkwardly across the surface. “I’m—YACK—I’m alright, believe it or not.”
Hemmith Hangston - Human - Level: 34 Warden of Beasts (Rare).
Chipper - Seledak Horse - Level: 28.
Lee did a double take toward the notification as he Identified the horse. Lee raised his hands up to ease the rightfully fearful Hemmith, as he had just seen a man fall from the fucking sky, faceplant, come out alive, then walk on the surface. One who couldn’t be identified. “I’m friendly, I mean no harm. I had… an accident while creating a spell.”
Hemmith lowered his sword slightly as he stared at Lee with disbelief. “An accident? What kind of spell are you making son? You mages are insane.”
When Lee reached solid ground, he shivered from head to toe. The pond was cold as ice and his adrenaline had faded. “Trying to fly. Sorry for the scare. Interesting class, are you an adventurer?”
Hemmith nodded, but was still on guard. “That’s right. Just stopping by for some water.” He nudged Chipper with his elbow. “Drink.”
The horse, Chipper, just stood there as he gazed at Lee with those all-too-knowing black orbs he had for eyes. Lee narrowed his. Suspicious….
Eventually, Chipper leaned forward to drink, but paused when a chunk of Lee floated by. From the looks of it, a part of his old lungs. Without a sound, Chipper raised his head, turned, then strutted off.
“Hey?!” Hemmith shouted at the horse, but all he was rewarded with was a loud, indignant neigh.
“Well, I think that’s particall my fault.” Lee said, slightly embarrassed. “I can summon some fresh water for Chipper if you’d like?”
Hemmith waved his offer away. “No, son. He’s just an ornery horse. Chipper, I’ve seen you drink the blood of your foes. Drink the damn water.”
Lee could have sworn Chipper shook his head. Then, the horse neighed some more. Hemmish paused, face contorted. “You wanna have a fight? You aren’t acting like a horse, you’re acting like a damn donkey—fitting, considering you’re a massive ass. Also, stop talking back, you sound like a broken wind-chime.”
With utter confusion, Lee watched the horse and the man bicker with one another and get into a verbal altercation, which turned physical once Chipper straight up donkey kicked Hemmith in the chest before galloping around the pond to escape.
He didn’t know what to say, or do, about the absolute insanity unfolding before him. Hemmith sat down as he rubbed his chest with a grimace, having given up on chasing the horse. Lee tossed over a Mend Wounds as he said the first thing that came to mind. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
“Oh, I can make it drink. You just wait and see. I’ll drown the sorry son of an ass.” Hemmith grunted as he balefully glared at the horse who wisely stayed away.
Lee nodded, slightly unsure about the statement. “Well, it was nice to meet you… I’ll be one my way…” He slinked off into the forest, back toward the dirt road as he thought about what had just transpired.
“Levels or not, those horses are suspicious… Too smart…”
He sighed as he walked down the road, thinking about how to successfully create a spell for flying.
Comments
Tyler Kimball
Grrrrr. I fixed it last on here on Patreon and forgot to actually change it in Google.dox (Where I write.) So, it stuck around. Thanks for the heads up.
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
max grok
Not sure why, but Abilities is missing Chromatic Intuition again. Also, there're three asterisks that I don't see the use of, and a few other formatting errors in Lee's status sheet. No biggie, of course, just thought I'd let you know!
max grok
Hi! Tftc!
