This one wasn't looking good anymore either. It had burns all over its body and thick boils and bruises forming. Both of their bones were broken.
It wasn't exactly that orcs were tough enemies, it was just that Ashton's weapon, with the strength and abilities that he had now, wasn't the most directly lethal to powerful monsters.
If he had been just a little more suited for something like swords or spears, that's what he would be using right now.
Ashton stared at the orc with a smile. It didn't even seem to have noticed what happened to its fellow monsters, and was just snarling and revealing its large tusks to the man before him. It was blinded by its own blood and its ears must be ringing by now. Ashton had caused some small explosions by its ears multiple times.
It was disoriented and already half-dead. And now that Ashton could focus on just it alone, he was able to whittle down on it more and more. The orc was breathing heavily, and Ashton swung his arm to the side and had the wisp shoot straight at the side of its head.
But this wasn't enough to kill it. Wisps were strong, and they could crush a goblin's skull easily. But orcs were just that much more powerful already. Ashton really had to figure out how to place a spell into the wisp, so that he could enhance its combat power.
Though, most of the problems that he had was that fighting like this was incredibly awkward. He had to control the wisp with his off-hand while trying to fight, and switch between it, the salamander's flames, and then re-establish where the bubble of water was supposed to be to have it keep choking out the orc.
There had to be another way to do this. The Summoner basically had however many hands they needed to, sprouting new ones when it ran out. At times, they appeared like a swarm of hands climbing on top of each other while channelling the things around them.
But Ashton had two hands, and if he wanted to fight at full power, he had to place both onto his staff. At least for the time being, Ashton didn't have the option of just adding more limbs to himself to make up for that. At the same time, though, the way things were right now... he was wasting the potential of the summons. And if he didn't use them to their full potential, their growth would be severely stunted.
Ashton had to do something else. And maybe this was the best opportunity he had to figure it out before fighting the rest of the orcs.
But what could he do? While dodging and hitting the monster, he kept on thinking about what it really meant to channel something.
It meant taking control of part of their abilities. Why did it just seem to instinctively work through the movement of one's hand? Magic was an extension of the mind and the soul, which were directly linked to the physical body. The body was the only way that the mind and soul could be expressed. That was why so many spells needed some kind of physical component in the form of movements or actions.
That was the basics of how spells worked. But then what about other magic users? They tended to use things like wands or staffs — obviously ones different to the one Ashton used — to help them channel their magic, manipulate their spells, and boost their power.
The Summoner was just so powerful that it had no use for that. Their body was practically the most powerful wand in existence, so Ashton had no reference-point for other ways to channel summons' powers.
But what if Ashton was able to use his combat staff as a magical staff? If he could somehow channel the summons through his staff, the options that he had would be unimaginable.
'Alright... let me give it a shot', Ashton thought to himself, as a massive, broad grin formed on his face. His excitement at doing something new, something that he didn't just copy from the Summoner was unimaginable. Ashton hit the orc in the chest one more time to push himself away for a moment as he started letting some of his mana flow into the staff. He tried to focus it on the ends and-
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
[You have killed an [Orc]. For your valiant effort, you are awarded 26 Coins]
Ashton stopped himself, almost tripping over. He stared at the monster as it slowly fell down, having died while standing up.
"Ah... fuck, okay," Ashton smiled wryly and stared at the corpse. He had just lost a prime opportunity to test out a new channelling method. The orc's heart must have stopped, or maybe it had some kind of brain aneurism. Whichever it was, the damage had accumulated and done its job by now. "Damn it... And I was so excited."
With a grumble, Ashton walked over to the corpse that was still just unconscious, slamming his staff into the back of its skull. Its spine cracked and it, as well...
[You have killed an [Orc]. For your valiant effort, you are awarded 26 Coins]
Trying to hide his disappointment as well as he could, Ashton turned back around and headed back into the garden, away from the monsters' corpses. His breathing was heavy, and though he was able to ignore it during the fight itself, now that it was over, he realised how exhausting it was to have to whittle down on a monster in that way. It also made it very clear that something was wrong in this town.
The first quest's orcs being that strong? So many goblins gathering together in one spot under another monster's leadership? Screw that, someone was messing with this place deliberately.
[Skill | Summoning - Level 4 -> Summoning - Level 5]
[Contract | Lesser Wisp - Level 5 -> Lesser Wisp - Level 6]
[Contract | Lesser Undine - Level 4 -> Lesser Undine - Level 5]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] expresses her delight over your prowess]
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] has gifted you 50 Coins]
Ashton waved the messages away, not even really reading them, "Mhm, thanks."
There was something more important to do right now. He hadn't been exactly as quiet as he wanted to be. Some goblin scouts would most definitely be coming here any second now and figure out that something had happened here.
Ashton walked over to the patch of flowers nearby and squatted down in front of them.
"Are you there?" he asked, trying to spot the little pixie between the flowers. Usually, they should be able to blend in with their environment, but maybe because they were so scared, this one wasn't able to and was openly visible.
"You don't need to be scared. The monsters are gone for now. But you need to be careful, since more are on their way," Ashton explained, turning around to the side of the schoolgrounds where they would be coming from.
Slowly, the pixie moved out from behind one of the flowers they were hiding behind. Like this, Ashton finally saw their entire body. The slightly torn wings, the ruffled and pulled-out scales. Even one of the small antennae on top of their head was cracked. The small fairy was crying, tears welling up in their eyes.
They couldn't help but sniffle, and the sound of bells run out as they cried slightly.
"It's okay, it's okay, don't worry. I'll get you patched up in a bit, okay?" Ashton tried his best to calm down the small pixie who standing barely six inches tall. "I'm Ashton. It's really nice to meet you. Do you have a name, too?" he asked, and slowly, the pixie nodded.
They rubbed the tears out of their eyes and pointed at a nearby flower.
"Poppy, then? That's a very pretty name."
Poppy the flower pixie nodded, clearly agreeing that their name was just beautiful. Fairies were very prideful beings. They knew what they loved and what they hated, and stood by it completely. So, receiving compliments was a great way to cheer them up. Plus, it confirmed to Ashton that this was really a fairy, not a spirit that had crossed over from the spirit realm and just so happened to take the form of a pixie.
To spirits, the concept of a 'name' was more than just something to be referred by. It defined their whole existence. They weren't even able to tell someone a fake name, as that was like they were denying their existence. For that reason, if someone had access to a spirit's name, particularly a summoner like Ashton, they could fully control them. It was how the Summoner forced spirits into submission, since he had a way to figure out their true names. That was exactly why spirits were usually referred to by the name of their species, rather than their own personal ones.
As for elementals or constructs... they simply didn't have a need for names. They were closer to forces of nature or concepts come to life respectively, so the concept didn't quite make sense to them. But it was likely that they would tell Ashton a name sooner or later.
Either way, since it was even more unlikely for this to be a celestial or demonic being that just so happened to look like a fairy, this was proof enough for Ashton to confirm the situation. But... he was starting to hear the goblins' voices coming closer.
"Okay listen, Poppy, I need you to help me out for a second, okay? So that I can fight those monsters without worrying about you, I need you to hide as well as you can."
Poppy immediately nodded their head, agreeing without hesitation. They looked around, soon seeing a bush in the far corner of the garden. While looking at Ashton to double-check if it was okay, they pointed at it. Of course, Ashton nodded, "That's perfect. I'll come back afterward, okay?"
The fairy fluttered away clunkily with her broken wings, and climbed into the bush. By then, Ashton turned back around, and walked onto the playground, looking at the group of goblins accompanied by an orc.
"I guess it sounded a lot more troublesome than I thought, huh...?" Ashton sighed, starting to spin his staff around. He glanced at the elementals by his side, "At least we've got some more fellas to test our channelling on, huh?"
[A Milestone has been reached]
[200 Favourites]
[Two [Bonus Chapters] will be added to the queue]
[Currently Available Milestones] (to be updated)
[+2 Chapter | 20 Reviews | 13/20]
[+2 Chapter | 150 Ratings | 123/150]
[+3 Chapter | 200 Favourites | 203/400]
[+2 Chapters | 1000 Followers | 1093/2000]
[Current [Bonus Chapters] in queue... [6 Chapters]]
! There, you will find 15 Chapters ahead of Schedule!