Syl

Chapter 80: Damage Test

Luke led me to an open courtyard at the back of the building, a large open area only cut off when it reached the inner city wall. There were circles lined with glyphs and people inside dueling, a small archery range, and a few wooden training dummies. Up against the wall was a singular humanoid construct. It was a little larger than an orc and had no face; instead, it looked uniformly made from an unknown material.

"It's level forty and only used for training?" I said to Luke, looking somewhat shell-shocked.

"The larger branches have even higher-level ones, multiples, or ones for specific training regiments. This one is mostly generic except for being more durable and providing an excellent damage target."

That was another bombshell. What did he use for himself if these were the ones he would give away? Were other Diamond ranks this strong, or was he an exception? A startling power level made me realize I still had a long way to go.

"Damage test!" A voice shouted.

I looked over to see a swordsman had approached the golem. The golem pulsed, and I watched its body light up with mana as it rapidly reinforced itself. The swordsman, not to be outdone, also began to emit mana, which rapidly focused into his falchion. There was a momentary blur as the man leaped forward and swung his blade, which let out a piercing howl as it sliced through the air before crashing against the golem. The golem made no effort to move or block, taking the blow fully. The blade itself shattered, but not before leaving a clean slice about the size of a hand.

Cheers erupted from the few onlookers, but the swordsman was silent. The golem tilted its head as if staring at the swordsman before its mana flashed, and the small cut seemed to disappear. Then it went dormant again. The swordsman looked upset, and a few other members walked up to reassure him.

"Hey, it's better than last time!"

"Yeah! Don't give up, plus you used a disposable weapon."

"If you can impress the golem, then you get a reward. Usually, it's a small magic item like a ring or something that would provide a minor boost to an up-and-coming adventurer." Luke answered, "You should definitely consider trying it, Miss Syl.'

I paused to consider it. I didn't see the harm in trying it, although a problem came to mind. "Most of my damage comes from [Sneak Attack], though..."

"That's not a problem, Miss Syl, as you can ask the golem to turn around and face the wall. Otherwise, none of our Rogue classes would stand a chance."

"Alright then, although I want to test the catalyst first to see which element I should use."

"Magic Practice," Luke uttered to the golem, and it took a different stance before flashing with a different mana barrier. He then backed off and eagerly waited for me to demonstrate my magic.

I held the small scepter, channeled fire mana into it, and formed a simple [Fire Arrow] spell. The simplest way to describe the mana catalyst was that it was like my [Sub-Cores], except... Really stupid. It needed to be handheld through the formation like a lost child before it finally boosted the spell. I cast the empowered spell at the golem and felt rather dismissive of the effort required, once again giving me a vast new appreciation for my [Sub-Cores]. After several more attempts at using the catalyst, I decided against using it, and I also suspected the golem was resistant to fire.

"I think I'm going to go with Water magic. The catalyst was interesting, thanks Luke."

"Of course, anytime Miss Syl."

"Any rules in particular I should know about with this test?"

"You're only allowed one damaging attack, but any amount of buffs or debuffs before launching the attack."

"Thanks, and how do I get it to turn around?"

"Just mention [Sneak Attack] after declaring the damage test," Luke replied, retaking a safe distance.

"Damage test with [Sneak Attack]!" I declared to the golem.

The golem immediately responded and turned to face the wall before glowing brightly with mana. Now that I was closer, I saw tiny glyphs and sigils lighting up along its body. Soon, the training ground was filled with murmurs and whispers as onlookers were eager to witness another participant.

I activated [Vanish] and proceeded to cast both [Erode] and [Permeable] with maximum empowerment. I mentally cheered when both landed successfully, and it further confirmed my theory that [Flammable] likely failed on the salamander due to its extreme fire resistance, if not outright immunity. I cast [Flammable] for the free experience, which triggered a notification for me.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Since I was only allowed one attack, I'd go with [Torrent] since it was likely my most powerful individual spell. I formed the spell construct, and almost immediately, there were some comments and snickers from the onlookers disparaging the use of [Water Magic]. I shrugged and grabbed all of my [Sub-Cores] and began rapidly empowering and enhancing the spell while also making a minor modification to lower the area on the spell for a more concentrated burst. Unmodified, the spell construct where the water would emerge had a diameter of about four meters, but I had squashed it down to one, the water mana highly dense in the tight space. If I pushed more, I could reduce it further, but I was probably already going overboard, as the crowd seemed conflicted on my display; there were some cheers and impressed remarks, but equally, there was disparagement and accusations of wasting time or showboating.

I finalized the spell and cast it; a burst of water surged forward out of the floating magic circle at a dangerous velocity and crashed into the back of the golem. At first, it didn't do much other than spraying water everywhere, and another helpful mage actually erected some form of barrier around the area to prevent the audience from being caught in the splash zone. While I wondered if I had to respect a time limit for my attempt because I could keep fueling this spell, the golem seemed to lose its footing and was sent plummeting face forward into the wall. There were some shocked shouts and a few cheers, but I quickly halted the spell as I was concerned I may have damaged the wall by sending the golem into it.

I was relieved when the wall was primarily unharmed and saw the golem slowly standing to its feet. The silence was palpable as everyone waited with bated breath for the golem's evaluation. The back of the golem had some erosion damage that was slowly repairing itself. A line appeared on the golem's chest and parted, revealing a chest cavity; it reached inside to retrieve something and approached me. At this point, the onlookers were cheering, although there was still the occasional disgruntlement complaining about special treatment, damned elves, or damned mages.

The golem handed me a small ring and an engraved square token. [Identify] told me the ring was one of lesser mana regeneration, which I felt was wasted on me, but I placed it on one of my fingers, not wanting to seem ungrateful. A typical mage would have coveted such an item, so I could see why it was the standard reward. The token, however, was a mystery, and most strange of all was the notification.

While I was staring at the token, the golem had returned to its original spot and went dormant again. Meanwhile, Luke had approached me.

"Congratulations, Miss Syl, I knew you could do it! I'm betting that was the spell you used to defeat the salamander." He said enthusiastically, then spotted the token I was staring at, "What's that?"

"I'm not sure. The golem handed it to me along with my ring. I have both [Identify] and [Appraisal], but it says they failed."

"Well, the engraving is Keld's coat of arms. But as for its purpose, I'm not sure. Perhaps Master Lisa would know."

"Nobody else has received such a token?"

"If they have, they kept it a secret. Or it's above my pay grade."

I nodded and placed the token in a pouch, as I was concerned about putting the strange object inside my [Core Storage]. Eventually, one of the staff members asked if I could clean up the water, which had partially flooded the area. I agreed and gathered it in one spot using [Water Orb] before depositing it in my storage. My success reinvigorated many other adventurers, and soon, there was a line to challenge the golem.

Since I had nothing more I wanted to do in the training area, Luke suggested we see if Lisa could inform her that I'd accept the noble's request and ask about the token. While on the way there, I withdrew the catalyst inside myself and promptly devoured it.

Trait [Blaze Slime] gained.

Trait [Slime Burst] gained.

Trait [Thermal Vision] gained.>

It wasn't a fused core this time, but I still gained quite a lot from it. Surprisingly, this slime must not have earned [Slime Shot], although I was glad to get a boost to thermal vision, which now only needed one more level to reach the maximum. I hoped my new levels in [Blaze Slime] would mean I could use [Inferno Sac] without burning away slime.

Lisa's secretary told us she could see us in half an hour, so Luke and I chatted briefly. He asked me basic questions about magic, which I answered as best as possible, mainly stealing from my conversations with Dewi. Most of my dealings with magic were based on feeling and experimentation rather than studying, so I had to fall back on his explanations. Luke was mainly undecided about the class he wanted to pursue and was currently level three in Mage, Scout, and Warrior.

"Is there anything in particular you'd like me to look for as potential for your next quest?" Luke asked since it would be at least a day or two before I would head out again.

"I'm looking for something large and flying. I'm unsure if the area has any large bird monsters or the equivalent."

"I hope you're not planning on upgrading from salamander to wyvern or drake next," Luke chuckled, "There are flying monsters, although mostly only when the floating island is nearer, then they like to pluck horses from merchants traveling the road."

"If you can't find a flying monster, try something unique or new. Avoid any monsters from my previous quests, and preferably no orcs."

"Why no orcs?"

"I already dealt with a few on my way to the mine. I did leave their ears in the room with my materials."

"Oh, so that was you? One of the merchants said they were saved from orcs by a random adventurer, but they ran off after killing the orcs. I'll ensure you get the general bounty for dealing with them."

"Thanks, Luke. So I've already fought orcs, so I'd prefer a new monster I haven't encountered if there are no flying ones."

"No problem. I'll keep that in mind."

It wasn't long before the secretary finally let us into Lisa's office.