The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [24] Fire Was Still Fire

Bjorn looked up at the sky, or at least what he could see between the dense canopy. It looked like it was about time to return to the city. There was the last of his hunt's hands to collect; he found and killed thirteen of the crawling stalkers, which was more than enough to finally return home. This contract was only ten, so there should be some bonus that would surely make up for him showing up a little earlier than expected.

Bjorn was in a good mood working and doing something besides sitting around and watching people really eased his mind. He felt like it was a distraction, sure, but having a job made him feel more human. He couldn't wait until he could actually speak, which was impossible for him now. However, whether through some learned magic or simply if he decides to continue being a familiar, he will gain the ability. The first Prince and Princess' dragons assured him of that when they spoke.

"We're going back after we get the hands," Bjorn said mentally.

"Whoo! We will finally be able to take a bath!" Failsafe responded, "This crawler's blood feels weird, like being dipped in static electricity."

Bjorn walked over to the first downed creature, easily bit off its hand, and placed it in the animal carrier on his side. Then moved on to the next.

"You know what, I was trying to place it, and that sounds exactly right," Bjorn said. "It's like getting thousands of little zaps every second. Weird, I guess it is the mana holding the monsters together finally breaking down now that it is dead."

"Monsters are basically magic constructs. The more powerful ones are living creatures, but these are just faux lives made by dirty magic that clung together. They're practically the monster equivalent of mud. Good combat practice, though."

"How close until we level up?" Bjorn asked.

"Oh, nowhere near that, and we aren't going to from these little guys," Failsafe said.

"What? Why?" Bjorn asked.

"The level of experience we get from them is too low. The highest level we have faced so far was thirteen, less than half your level. The lower the level of our enemies are to us, the less experience we gain. The higher they are relative to us, the more we gain."

"Why is that?" Bjorn questions. "Shouldn't lower-level creatures gain us the same level of experience?"

"Yeah, and you can even say that they do. The problem lies in the quality of their mana and experience relative to you. The stronger a mage, or in your case, a magic beast, is, the more refined their mana becomes. It also changes their bodies, making them into a factory of some of the purest mana there is, especially when they are at the height of their power. You can almost say that extremely powerful mages and magical beasts are the same as monsters. At some point, we are going to pass a threshold in which the majority of our body is replaced with mana and faux flesh."

"What in the Infernal Planes? How do you know that?" Bjorn questioned.

"I listen when Tanisha reads to us after you go to sleep," Failsafe said smugly, "She usually reads for an hour or two after you doze off."

"So, I remember her talking about how mage bodies get more resistant to previously fatal injuries. Is that why?"

"Yep. If you were to stab a mage at level one hundred in the heart, it would hurt, yeah, but most likely not kill them unless their health regeneration was painfully low. Do the same to a level two hundred if you can, and they will shunt it off like a splinter. It is the reason you kill a mage by cutting off their head. You can overcome a mage's insane vitality by just piling on damage. Our venom does that quite effectively. I am sure Thyra would have been able to heal from anything, including decapitation if we hadn't poisoned her first."