Accompanied by an electric rush of anticipation, Nick activated Force Acceleration and took off in a flash, leaving a billowing plume of dust in his wake.

Now then, where do I want to begin? He decided to try out his idea for a windshield first, since the turbulence generated by his streaking sprint was uncomfortable and made it hard to run in a straight line.

Fortunately, by this point in his journey, he could handle casting multiple spells at the same time. While part of his awareness scanned the terrain ahead, he visualized the shape he wanted and conjured an Arcane Shield, forming a field that was a few feet wider and taller than himself. After practicing with his newest spell for weeks, he could move the barrier fast enough to stay in front of him.

The shield was making the drag worse, so he slowed down while adjusting the spell. First, Nick tweaked the shape of the forcefield, curving the surface as much as he could. He'd been hoping to form a point like the tip of a rocket, which would have had some interesting applications, but he was only able to bend the barrier into a hemisphere before it refused to taper any further.

The rounded contour cut his air friction down by a fair amount, and when he resumed running at full speed, the turbulence was quite a bit better. Using two abilities at once increases their cost and requires more concentration, but this method should let me handle Force Acceleration's full power going forward without being buffeted by the wind.

Thrilled to have solved the problem, he moved on to trying out his new upgrade. He could have started with something simple—gone through a few basic motions while switching the ability on and off. But where would be the fun in that?

Nick grinned as he took aim for a cactus half a mile ahead and got ready to go for broke. If this didn't work out the way he hoped, he was about to crash in a spectacular fashion. But even in a worst-case scenario, Force Acceleration should absorb most of the shock and his Toughness would handle the rest, so he wasn't too worried.

He overrode his rather reasonable instinct to veer away instead of charging straight at the needle-covered plant, waiting until the last second before deactivating Force Acceleration and Arcane Shield at the same time.

The instant his skill cut off, most of the kinetic energy was subtracted from his momentum, bringing him to a skidding stop without placing much stress on his tissue. To his delight, the force mana kept right on going, creating a transparent outline of his body before slamming into the cactus.

He had been hoping the effect would be powerful enough to knock the plant over, which meant it should be strong enough to shove enemies aside, but he had underestimated just how fast he'd been moving.

Thanks to the recent boosts to Magic and increased control over his ability, Nick had been travelling over a hundred miles per hour before slamming on the brakes. Thus, when the lion's share of his kinetic energy collided with the cactus, it didn't fall over—it fucking exploded. Chunks of spiny green flesh went flying, creating a gigantic mess that stretched out a hundred feet across the brightly colored soil.

When he realized what had happened, he began to laugh.

It seemed that in addition to picking up a reliable means of going from full speed to standing still without hurting himself, he'd acquired a powerful new attack. He could only use it on enemies that were directly in his path, but being able to halt his momentum and transfer it into an opponent was bound to enable some amazing combos once he got used to the effect and ironed out a few kinks.

And that was only the first application that came to mind.

After he cooled down from his run, he continued experimenting with the upgrade—ready to find out what would happen when he was only moving part of his body instead of the whole thing. When Nick threw a straight jab and switched off Force Acceleration, a ghostly fist flew forth, along with part of his arm and a few other muscles involved in the motion.

The shell of force mana could only travel twenty feet before the manifestation lost cohesion and dispersed. His force punch didn't seem like it would do much damage to creatures his own level, but it was neat to watch and offered him a new tool to interact with his environment.

After throwing a few punches at a cluster of cacti—which shook beneath the impact but didn't explode—he moved on to some other attacks. His roundhouse kicks formed force crescents from the motion of his leg. He could control the shape and angle to an extent by adjusting the timing of his release. In addition to firing off projections that could distract or imbalance an opponent, the braking sapped his turbocharged momentum, preventing him from flipping through the air from the impetus of his own kick.

That was when inspiration struck, and his adrenaline began to flow.

He could use his new upgrade to mitigate the biggest drawback of Sonic Slice—a combo so powerful he could barely control it. Until now, unleashing a Sonic Slice had left Nick at the mercy of his own momentum, spinning like a top while fighting to remain upright. But now he could come to a controlled stop by deactivating Force Acceleration once the combo was complete.

Overcome with an exquisite tingle of suspense, he walked over to a towering cactus to use as a target. The he sheathed his blade, took his stance, and manifested his mobility magic.

Before he did anything else, he called upon Artic Clarity, letting the frigid focus hone his awareness to a razor's edge. Since I'm moving faster than the speed of sound, the timing is going to be incredibly tight, but with my current Mind, I think I can pull it off.

Nick visualized the motion, took a deep breath, and used Heavy Blow. Stamina gathered in his arms a heartbeat before he began an explosive slash that was bolstered by the combat art, Force Acceleration, and draw-speed bonus provided by his Half-Length Scabbard.

A crack like thunder rang out across the badlands as the triple-boosted blade shot out from its sheath like a bullet. Before the sound reached his ears, Blightbane cut through the cactus with no appreciable resistance. The instant the sword passed through the plant, he switched off Force Acceleration and braced himself, although he was hoping the buffering effect would keep him from spiraling out of control.

He was thrilled when the sword came to a stop without wrenching his body in the direction of his swing. However, that wasn't nearly as impressive as what happened a fraction of a second later.

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Just like before, the rapid braking was only half the story. Turning off Force Acceleration didn't just arrest the momentum of his supersonic slash—it created another that was just as powerful as the first.

As his arms came to a silky-smooth stop, a blade of force erupted from Blightbane's edge, streaking through the air at a mind-boggling rate. It sailed a good thirty feet before colliding with a boulder… then kept on going, cutting straight through the stone before dispersing with a boom that rattled his teeth.

"Holy shit." Nick began to cackle when he realized what he'd done, "Now that was a Sonic Slice!" He startled when Liz appeared at his side—too distracted to notice her approach while focusing on his new move.

"Nick, did you just fire off a fucking force blade faster than the speed of sound?" Her eyes were wide with astonishment as she inspected the shorn boulder.

"Yes. And as of this moment, my life is complete."

He explained how his new upgrade worked, and she watched as he fired off a few more new-and-improved Sonic Slices. Unsurprisingly, using Force Acceleration that way drained a ton of mana, but the results were more than worth the price of admission, adding a lethal new entry to his repertoire.

When Nick remembered to ask why she was looking for him to begin with, Liz let him know that she had finished fleshing out the city-planning committee. She hoped to add more members eventually, but she had rounded up enough experts to start building in earnest. They had switched up the meeting time to work within everyone's schedules, and she wanted to make sure he would be there.

They walked back to the mesa together and chatted for an hour or so before heading their separate ways. Most of his friends were out taking care of one task or another, so he decided to get in some skill training and conditioning before he started losing the light. Elizabeth showed him a community board someone had secured to the mesa wall, listing a series of activities that were open to anyone who was interested.

After browsing the board, Nick joined a group that was playing hide and seek with Blend into the Background, which was excellent training for both Tracking and Stealth. After a few rounds, they reconvened to discuss what they'd learned about the trait, offering tips for using it more effectively and swapping techniques for spotting invisible opponents.

The exercise was effective and a great deal of fun—a preview of what their new lives would be like going forward.

After making himself a hearty meal, he moved onto his final objective for the day—putting his body through its paces. It turned out that Nick wasn't the only one who was trying to figure out the best method to condition their superhuman attributes, so he joined a group who was deadlifting boulders, building Strength while brainstorming on devices they could built to work out more efficiently.

When he was done, he spotted Devin and V heading out with their weapons in hand. They invited him to join their sparring session and grabbed Bret to even out their numbers, letting everyone get some practice fighting against people utilizing a wide range of weapons and combat styles.

He was worn out by the time they were done, but he wasn't sleepy yet. Nick spent half the night working with some casters who were training their mana manipulation and mage sight. It wound up being a great way to learn how to sense various types of mana that he didn't have much experience with, and he ended his session immensely satisfied with his progress.

When he was done, he decided to check out his updates and peruse a few key sections of his profile.

You have conditioned your body and improved the following baseline attributes:

Dexterity has increased from [18] to [19].

Strength has increased from [18] to [19].

Through use, you have improved the following skills:

Stealth has increased from [4] to [5].

Tracking has increased from [6] to [7].

Attributes

Strength: 19 (27) Dexterity: 19 (33) Toughness: 20 (35)

Mind: 14 (24) Creativity: 15 (23) Charisma: 11 (13)

Magic: 15 (36) Psi: 3 (14) ???

Skills

Active

Acrobatics: 10

Evasion: 24

Foraging: 13

Light Armor: 6

Light Shield: 18

Pathfinding: 0

Size Up: 20

Stealth: 5

Sword: 25

Tracking: 7

Wand: 23

Active Abilities

Arcane Shield (Spell). Rank: 0. (You have enough essence to advance the ability to Rank 1 but lack the understanding required to do so).

This spell creates a barrier formed from interwoven layers of force and pure mana. As a result, it can defend against most forms of attack. This barrier can be placed anywhere within 50 feet of the caster's position but must be manually repositioned with an effort of will.

Mana Dart (Spell). Rank: 4. Path: Vital Energy Disruption.

Creates a magical projectile formed from pure mana that disrupts all forms of vital energy (health, mana, and stamina).

Piercing Ray (Spell). Rank: 1. (You have enough essence to advance the ability to Rank 3 but lack the understanding required to do so).

Creates a rotating drill of force mana. The spell moves fast but takes time to reach full power.

Heavy Blow (Combat Art). Rank 0. (You have enough essence to advance the ability to Rank 1 but lack the understanding required to do so).

Heavy blow consumes stamina to imbue a weapon strike with extra inertia, increasing its destructive potential.

Passive abilities

Force Acceleration. Rank 2. Path:

Drastically increases the speed of movement in exchange for draining mana at a rapid rate. After deactivating the skill, most of your kinetic energy will continue to travel in the direction you were moving, dramatically reducing your momentum.

Nick nodded in satisfaction when he reached the end of the list.

Now I need to rank up Arcane Shield, Heavy Blow, and Piercing Ray. I should talk to the warriors who've been focusing on combat arts and find out what they've learned about controlling stamina in general. I also need to find a way to get Pathfinding off the floor, but that might have to wait until I'm exploring a region with poor visibility.

He was getting ready for bed when the bladewind made an appearance—it's first time rolling through since he'd purchased Aurora's Weather Shield. Thanks to Storm Chaser, Nick sensed the windstorm coming before anyone else. He had Kenji sound the alarm, warning everyone to take cover inside the city's domain.

People ran to the hollow mesa as a great cloud of mana-infused dust came rolling across the badlands, erasing more of the horizon with every breath he took. Nick switched on his mage sight, watching as wind blades flew out from the stormfront to gouge the face of the biome, carving an intricate texture like the scales of a colossal serpent.

Ten minutes later, the storm arrived at the border of Aurora's domain, at which point the barrier sprang to life. The dome was formed from a dozen types of mana, forming a weave far more complex than anything Team Earth could create on their own. People let out a cheer when the deadly weather system hit the forcefield… and then flowed past like a tsunami parting around a mountain.

The stars were erased as dust engulfed the settlement—punctuated by bright flashes every time a wind blade stuck the potent barrier. Although red dirt fell like snow, none of the mana blades passed through. Nick's people let out a cheer at the jaw-dropping display. A beautiful, otherworldly sight formed from two immensely powerful magics colliding in the sky above.

The wind mages had raised a lesser barrier above the crowd, which kept the dust from coating their clothing and supplies until the storm blew past an hour later. When the show was over, everyone returned to their tents and Nick fell asleep with a smile on his face—excited to find out what tomorrow would bring.

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