Standing at the mouth of the cave once more, Harvey adjusted his gear. The shield was snug, covering his entire forearm with a diameter of about a foot and a half. It was large enough to catch at least a few stones, but not so big that it limited his movement overly much. He hadn’t considered blocking the light from his new cuff, but had gotten lucky that his light source still poked out.

  Before he left, he grabbed the branch he’d used as a lightpost and threw it into the weeds. Shards of glass still littered the bottom of the cart, but he couldn’t be bothered pulling them out. Stepping into the darkness, he let his essence flow into the cuffs. Light even brighter than the lamp swelled around him, illuminating the tunnel walls to the point he could see clearly for almost 20 feet. It was the warm, orange hue of a campfire, and he couldn’t believe a simple drawing by Elena let him carry the comfort of Veils End with him into the darkness.

  Confident as ever, he pushed his way down the tunnel. It wasn’t long before he reached the end of the tracks once again and confidently left the safety of the rails for the first time. The essence drain from his cuffs was already negligible, and the increased regeneration he felt while surrounded by essence crystals more than made up for the expense. Elena had explained that inscriptions had three main power sources: Ambient essence, power from a person, or essence crystals. The stronger the inscription, the more power it needed. For the large-scale defense infrastructure they hoped to create around Veils End, they would need a mountain of crystals to keep it all powered. Luckily, they had easy access to a huge supply, and Harvey had already agreed to make the mine’s true nature public when the fighting started.

  He looked around, not finding any trace of the elementals he’d fought earlier. Walking up to one of the piles of rock he’d assumed was a fallen stalactite before, he saw it was actually chunks of iron globbed onto essence crystals whose light had noticeably faded. Each rock had a crystal, leaving the pile spread out over a 10-foot area. Holding his cuff high, he saw the core sitting motionless in the center of the pile.

  It’s like it’s asleep. Harvey thought. I wonder if I can kill it before it wakes up.

  It appeared the reason he never saw any elementals when he arrived in the cave was that they were all too busy feeding. Infusing their entire bodies with essence looked like a slow process, so they spread out to cover a wide area. They only woke up to defend themselves once they knew Harvey was there. Every other time he’d come down here, he’d been blasting crystals out of the wall, so they must feel the vibrations and form up.

  Just as he was about to blast the first core, he stopped himself. His heart was beating fast with the anticipation of the fight ahead, but he realized it would be smart to check how many elementals were around before blasting away.

  Tiptoeing around the wondrous geode, he found five more iron piles. Each was in various phases of the transition, with some being almost completely iron while others were still filtering through the ore. After his last bout with these things, he took the tactical approach.

  The strongest body was farthest from his escape route, but he elected to attack it first. Hopefully, a few bolts to the exposed core would kill it before it ever had the chance to fight back, and he could end the battle facing the weakest elementals last.

  With the hammer in his right and the wand in his left, he rang the starting bell. A bolt of pure essence shot from his wand straight into the core. The ground below him rumbled as flashbangs erupted all around. The shards of iron sucking the life from the essence crystals siezed at the surprise attack, shattering a few in the process. The same wrathful energy that had swarmed into Julian when they first tried using the crystals to power level ravaged his body, and he finally experienced the harrowing feelings Julian shared.

  Emotions his body had no tools to process burned through his mind. It was impossible to understand, and his brain worked overtime to translate them into something he could digest. Pain and Progress. Fear and Immortality. Love and hate. He felt them all, all at once, his mind ready to crack under the pressure.

  Luckily, the same blue light enveloped the hazy energy leaking from the cracked core that was trying to rally its body together, boring into it until the stones fell to the ground. Through the mire, he felt the kill notification appear in his mind. His chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, and he fell to one knee. It took less than a minute for the power supplying the foreign energy to be spent and Harvey’s mind to clear, but that was plenty of time for the five remaining elementals to gather together.

  Looking out, five shadows stood between him and his exit, but that was ok. Even with the surprise mental invasion, he didn’t intend to run. Clambering to his feet, his shaking knees locked into place. Steady, he launched a bolt at his nearest foe.

  The explosion of magic meeting rock rattled throughout the cave, and countless more joined in as a hail of stones was sent his way. Running to the right, he circled around the barrage, blocking the few who had led his retreat far enough with his shield. The elementals had gotten smarter, but not enough to stagger their attacks. Having avoided the first wave, he had time to rush in for a counter while they prepared for the next.

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  A deafening clang like an aluminum bat rang out as his hammer met stone, the fires of his flamestrike devouring the energy holding the elemental together. A single blow wasn’t enough to finish the job, and a fist came flying at his head. Harvey just smiled. He could see every move perfectly. The simple gift of sight let him cover his new shield with fangbreaker and stop the elemental in its tracks.

  He’d used essence-infused ore on his new gear, both in hopes Elena could improve it, but also because he expected it would improve his ability to leverage his skills. He’d already known equipment could be affected by them – otherwise his flamestrike would be useless – but now he’d confirmed that infused gear could be charged faster. It was like pouring water into a glass instead of syrup, and those extra milliseconds of charge time could be the difference between life and death in battle.

  Stepping in close to the injured elemental, he used it as cover when the second wave of stone shards arrived. The elemental didn’t seem to mind, content to let him get close. It tried wrapping him up in a jagged hug, but he covered his forehead with Fangbreaker and rammed into its chest. The surprise impact sent it staggering back just far enough for an uppercut hammer swing right at its chin.

  A grotesque popping noise met his ear as the bubble holding the stone tornado together popped, the heavy chunk serving as its head flying high into the air. He was stunned, watching it soar away before realizing that human anatomy didn’t really apply to these things. They maintained a somewhat humanoid form, but that didn’t mean losing a head was much more than an inconvenience.

  The elemental struck back by launching a heavy chunk from its torso right into Harvey’s chest. He’d learned to watch out for their arms, but hadn’t considered if they could use their own body as ammunition. He doubled over, his mouth filling with blood as a broken rib punctured a lung. Two quick swings empowered by Flamestrike ended the elemental, but four more stood against him.

  Cursing his carelessness, he squatted to the ground and covered as much of his body as he could with the shield. The rest were maintaining their distance, content to attack from afar until he forced them to do otherwise. Stones clanged off the shield protecting his head as he spit out the blood pooling in his mouth to replace it with another ruby liquid. His final health potion surged down his throat, the strawberry summer taste returning to revitalize his body. Bones moved back into place, and flesh repaired itself almost instantaneously.

  It was the only potion he had, so he’d have to fight more carefully. Luckily, he’d saved the easiest kills for last. Like an angel carving through the darkness, he charged through the cave. Each fallen elemental reduced the pressure on him, the next dying faster than the one before.

  Deafening echoes bounced off the crystal walls while dust filled the air, until it was all over. Standing alone in the campfire light, Harvey stood bloody and breathless. The fight had felt like his early days in the trial, trading lethal wounds for minor ones in a war of attrition. His shield had worked wonders, blocking fists and projectiles alike both with and without the aid of fangbreaker. It had dented slightly when he failed to imbue his skill in time to block a nasty headbutt, but it was nothing he couldn’t fix.

  The fight had been a success, proving he could stand alone and come out the other side swinging. He’d even bested multiple higher-level enemies.

  You have slain Level 14 - Lesser Iron Elemental. Essence Gained. 1622 Merit Earned X3

  You have slain Level 15 - Lesser Iron Elemental. Essence Gained. 1731 Merit Earned X2

  You have slain Level 18 - Lesser Iron Elemental. Essence Gained. 2269 Merit Earned

  He could feel his body resisting The System’s pull to remold his weave, waiting to make sure he was safe before initiating the process. Finding no new enemies emerging from the various cracks and tunnels leading deeper into the mountain, he let the System’s power wash over him.

  Light surged as electricity crackled through his inky veins, transforming his rampage into the fuel that would sustain his next need for violence.

  Your class, Arcanist, has reached Level 12. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Wisdom, +1 Willpower, +2 Free Points

  …

  Your class, Arcanist, has reached Level 14. +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Wisdom, +1 Willpower, +2 Free Points

  …

  Your Race, Veilstrider, has reached Level 13. +1 to all stats

  Three more class levels and two more race levels. That gave him six free points, and he dumped them all into Strength. Now, both his Strength and Wisdom were tied at 74 points each. Smiling, he closed his status screen.

  He’d told himself the day before that a new man was walking down the tunnel. That was true, but the elementals hadn’t hesitated to remind him that growing from a terrified weakling into an arrogant fool wasn’t much progress. Now, he felt like he’d earned the title he’d given himself.

  He’d faced a problem and found a way to solve it. Sure, that solution came with Elena’s help, but it wouldn’t have been possible without him. For a long time, he’d felt like a little boy in a man’s body. Pretending he’d become the king of his own life, when he was stuck in the mind of a prince waiting to be told what to do…

  Now, he did whatever needed to be done to survive. He didn’t smile as he ripped the elementals apart because he loved killing them. They’d done nothing wrong other than existing near his outpost. He smiled because it proved he could do hard things. Survive even when the odds were against him. He’d have to believe that in the coming weeks, otherwise he’d be just as paralyzed standing in front of the undead general as he’d been facing the Level 1 zombie Julian had to save him from.

  Fear, adrenaline, and endorphins still surged through him, so he waited until he felt like himself again to start gathering up the cores and ore strewn across the cavern. He’d found multiple tunnels leading deeper into the mountain, but was content to save those paths for later.

  For now, he’d make sure to make the most of the Iron Elementals' deaths and get back to work. Veils End would need a lot more than one good shield if they were going to survive the coming weeks.