Ignis' First Firesday of Harvestfall, 1442, Tidebreaker Watch, Silvergale Strand.

Vaelith hovered in the air and traced ritual circles absent-mindedly, her mind elsewhere. As she mechanically went through the motions, she mentally reviewed all the information and training she had received from Zyra's team. The first and most important rule, the ABC, was simple enough; as long as she acted quickly when picking a new target, all she had to do was to keep the spells coming.

The second rule was how maximising uptime was key to improving total damage done in an encounter. She could easily do so by engaging enemies as soon as Zyra did. Easy for a class like hers, since most of her spells fired instantly. Telekinetic Lance was the exception, which made it the best spell to use for pre-casting, a trick Orion taught her to increase damage even further.

The third rule was how area-of-effect spells did lower damage, but with enough enemies, she could do significantly better than using her best single target attack. Ryssa had told her how fighting three enemies was the cut-off point for most classes to switch to area-of-effect attacks. Vaelith had learned the cut-off point for her was as low as two targets; already, a lance would be an improvement of twenty-five percent over a volley from Telekinetic Blows.

When comparing Telekinetic Blast instead, Vaelith had realised it was another thirty-three percent increase. However, she would have to stay near the enemies, as this spell was a point-blank cone attack. Proximity would not be a problem; as long as the enemies focused on the tank, it did not matter how close she stood. Plus, she realised it would require far less movement when adjusting the firing angles for her spells if she were closer to her enemies. Simple math; moving ninety degrees along the edge of a ten-meter radius circle was much longer than on a one-meter circle.

Who knew circle math and trigonometry would come in handy when playing games? Mage might be a close-quarters caster, after all.

Vaelith felt a warmth spread through her chest, a feeling of pride welling up inside as she handed Orion and Ryssa their refilled waterskins.

The sylvani accepted hers and smiled, winking at the smile on Vaelith's face. "You good, Vaelith? You seem to be getting the hang of things."

Heat flooded Vaelith's face at the compliment, her fins turning red. "Yeah… thanks. I think I've figured out how to do better this time around."

Orion took a sip of the water before asking Vaelith, "Yeah? What have you got for us?"

Vaelith shook her head, trying to brush away the heat. "It's nothing special. I just remembered something about arc length and how that can improve my play."

His gaze, filled with a silent question, showed the burrovian's confusion as he stared at her. "Huh, care to ELI5 for dum-dums like me?"

Vaelith smiled, explaining in simpler terms. "It takes fewer steps to circle around a target if you're standing closer than if you're far."

Ryssa tilted her head at Vaelith's explanation. "The same principle behind levers and pivot points?"

Vaelith chuckled. For a second, she felt like she was teaching her class. "You are entirely correct, Ms Brightglade."

Orion shrugged, his gaze darting between the two women. "Okay, I guess? I mean. I get that what she's saying, but how does that help her?"

Ryssa shook her head at him, either in disbelief or amusement. "If she's standing closer, she won't need as many steps to find better angles. That should help her uptime and AoE damage."

Orion clapped one fist in his other hand. "Oh, I get it now! Smart!" Then, squinting at Vaelith, he added, "Are you trying to catch up to me now?"

She shrugged and beamed. "As long as I do better than last time, I'll consider it a win."

He nodded slowly, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Zyra, eating one of Vaelith's magically conjured creations, stood up and stepped closer. "You three all set, then?"

After confirming everyone was ready, Ryssa turned to the dutywarden. "We'd like to take part in Tidebreaker Watch's defence again."

The crusader smiled. "Of course. Raiders are a blight on this outpost and the city. The watch will reward you handsomely for your continued service."

With a few steps, Zyra returned to the same position she had held last time.

Orion and Ryssa stood still, a safe distance away, but both eyed Vaelith curiously. The elementalist asked her, "Weren't you going to stay close to Zyra?"

She glanced at him before answering, but quickly focused her attention on the charging pirates. "I'll blink right after Zyra establishes aggro. I don't want all of them to charge at me first."

Zyra's stance shifted as she raised her shield in preparation. "Here they come!"

Like a wave, the pirates crashed straight into Zyra's guard and started their relentless assaults. Ryssa did not hesitate and started chanting her heal spell, and simultaneously, Orion started chanting his Rain of Fire spell. Vaelith watched as Zyra swung her heavy hammer, smacking the various pirates and cementing her aggro. She appeared totally unbothered by their numbers.

Satisfied it was now safe to act, Vaelith focused on a spot slightly to the left of the tank. She felt the crackling energy surge build up, and the sudden release as she blinked, appearing instantly at her targeted location. Without hesitation, she spun toward the enemies, picking a central location for her spell. She could already see Orion's embers and ash flakes drifting down.

Alright, time to show them what mage can do!

She gathered energy between both hands, compressed it into a condensed ball of power. Vaelith unleashed the spell straight at the unsuspecting crowd. Her Telekinetic Blast hit with explosive force, a shockwave rippling outward as it connected with the enemy line, accompanied by a deafening sonic boom blasting right by her sensitive dracan fins. With a whoosh of air, the counter-blast lifted her cloak and hair. Reflexively, she grabbed her new witch's hat to keep it from blowing away. With a great effort, her tail fought to keep her from tumbling over.

She grinned as the health bars of all the targets went down all at once, proving she had aimed her spell perfectly.

But her grin faded as quickly as it had appeared. She stood still, mouth agape, watching in horror as the pirates flew away several meters, hurled by the powerful, point-blank blast.

Oh no…

Zyra spun around, glare blazing. "What the hell, dude? Don't punt my mobs away from me!"

With a snort of disbelief, the other dracan shook her head slowly. She sighed and started stomping towards the dispersed pirates.

Orion grumbled and interrupted his spell. "Well, there goes my mana…" He reached for his waterskin and took a long swig.

Ryssa looked at Vaelith with a pained expression. "Sorry, I guess we never explicitly told you not to use that spell? Telekinetic Blast doesn't work well for group-play."

Vaelith's cheeks burned as she stared at the ground, her fingers twisting nervously around the hem of her cloak. She stood rigid, an icy feeling of shame gripping her as she waited for Zyra to collect the enemies once more. A few seconds later, the pirates slowly got up and returned to charge at the guardian, as if nothing had happened.

Vaelith quickly went back to her list of spells and looked up Telekinetic Blast.

Instant Cast, eight second cooldown, Cone attack. Knocks enemies back.

She wondered how she had missed that detail. After all, this was the spell she kept repurposing to create telekinetic force.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She kept reviewing the description until she understood; the spell had two separate entries. The first was the one she had just read, while the second described how it behaved against bound enemies. Hitting a bound target doubled the damage, removed the bind effect, and cancelled the knock back portion of the spell.

Okay, so some spells work off each other to create combos?

The interaction between her spells was a welcome discovery, in theory. Bind, however, was an almost impossible condition to maintain during group play. Even if she tried to time perfectly a Telekinetic Blast right after a lance, she worried how an unlucky attack slipping between her spells would not only waste the extra damage, but it would lead to more enemies flying again.

This is such a shame… I was sure I had figured out how to do better…

Biting her lip, Vaelith considered situations where the combination attack might make sense. Even during solo play, it sounded risky to her to use the spells this way. After all, used individually, both her blast and lance spells would buy her time to run; one would stall the enemies in place, the other would knock them away. If she combined them, she would trade those effects for extra damage, but it would be a risky manoeuvre. Because of the point-blank nature of blast, she would end right next to an enemy. Trading her two control abilities for a little bit of extra damage? She concluded it could work as a finishing blow.

Vaelith let out a long sigh. She slowly headed closer to the battle. She took some comfort knowing how, this time, she had waited for Zyra to establish aggro. If she had used the spell a second sooner, all the pirates would have rushed after her, a repeat of her blunder with the swarm of sea creatures earlier in the day.

The guardian had gathered the pirates in a nice bundle again, and a new Rain of Fire was ramping up. Even if Vaelith stood there, doing nothing, Orion would end this encounter in a few seconds at most. Still, she hated the idea of leeching. She had wanted to impress them, to do better than the last run. She had messed up. Again.

Oh well, let's clean up what's left…

Once again, she blinked right behind Zyra. Not even the excitement of using her mobility spell made her smile this time. She began chanting her Telekinetic Lance spell, hoping to land at least a few before the fight was over.

She recalled how earlier today, Zyra had promised her she was welcome to the group, how she could not possibly make things any slower. But here she was. For the third time today, she had screwed up and made things more difficult for them. Three times, if she had not been there, they would have finished a duty faster.

She had called it earlier in the day; the unspoken words still echoed in her head. Challenge accepted.

If this was a team sport, the referee would have retired her by now. "Third strike? Out!"

Her group had been more than patient with her. They had guided her through the game's intricacies, boosted her to higher levels, and treated her with unexpected generosity, overlooking her mistakes.

They don't even know who I am!

She expected a friend like M-E would show such resilience, but failed to see why those three did the same.

I don't want to burden people I barely know. Maybe this is the right time to excuse myself?

Zyra had recommended she run the quest around the outpost for some easy to get gear upgrades, money and experience rewards. But if she left them only to solo quest right next to where they were still, what would they think of her then?

Ugh. What should I do?

"You have reached level twelve for the mage class."

"You have unlocked the trait Blinking Build-Up."

She only realised the fight was over when she saw the system messages. For the last few seconds, she had simply lined up enemies, throwing her line attack half-heartedly.

At least I've got the caster ABC part down.

Their duty now over, Vaelith dared not speak up. She counted the seconds until someone said anything. Surely, Zyra or Ryssa would reprimand her any minute now. She felt the urge to apologise, a knot forming in her stomach, but the desire to avoid starting the conversation held her back.

She waited, but no one spoke. Coins materialised in the palm of her right hand, but even they failed to cheer her up; she did not even look at them. She was not in the mood to count her new shards and chips, so she simply stowed them away in her money pouch. Unexpectedly, another item materialised after. It was less than one cubic inch, cold to the touch, and felt rather heavy for its size. Curious, she opened her hands to examine it.

It was a glass container. A small ink bottle, specifically, filled with some dark, shiny fluid. She brought the bottle closer to her eyes for inspection and noticed what looked like a sea of coppery stars.

Lost in front of a damage parser window, Orion finally noticed Vaelith as she slowly spun the bottle, the sun glinting off its smooth surface. "Oh, what have you got there?"

Vaelith tilted her head as she read the name of the item. "It's some celestine copper enchanted ink, it says."

Memories of her time at the magic academy flooded back. She remembered now; this was ink she could use to improve the magic circle on the first page of her grimoire.

Shifting her weight, she lowered the bottle, the smooth glass cool against her fingers, so the Burrovian could get a better look. "I think this is the equivalent of a weapon upgrade for the mage class. I can use this ink to draw extra magical circuits in my grimoire. It will improve my damage and can provide other benefits."

"Huh, more involved than simply getting a better weapon…"

Ryssa gave Vaelith an inquisitive look. "Interesting. I've not seen a mage get a weapon upgrade so far. Do you know how it works?"

Vaelith nodded, tapping at the satchel containing her grimoire. "We went through it at the academy. Any mage carrying around one of those had to scribe their own sigil as part of graduation."

Orion grinned. Vaelith felt he was more excited about this than she was herself. "Can you choose what kind of benefit to get? Does the quality of the ink matter?"

She nodded again. "Yes, to both. The level of the ink determines the grimoire's new item level, as long as it's equal or higher—it won't go down if you use a lower quality ink later. The secondary stats go up based on the glyphs you add."

Ryssa still seemed curious about something. "Do you know what you are going to improve?"

Vaelith thought about it for a second. Because of the way her spells combined, she felt reducing her cast time and cooldowns was the key to unlocking this class' hidden potential. "Mana hasn't been a problem yet, and I don't like to rely on critical attack. I think I will go for spell speed; it plays to my class' strengths."

Ryssa nodded, apparently in agreement. "Your hat already grants you a bonus to that attribute. Mathematically, it's usually better to spread your attributes around, but depending on the way your class plays, sometimes it's better to focus on a single one. Look it up online later, maybe? Regardless, it should not matter too much at this level."

Orion looked at the ink bottle expectantly. "So, when are you doing that weapon upgrade? How long would it take?"

Vaelith frowned. She was about to say she was not sure, but the exact runes she needed to inscribe for her chosen attribute floated to the surface of her mind. She opened her satchel, fetching her magic quill. After creating a force table, she gently deposited it in front of her, then put the ink bottle down.

She glanced up, offering Orion a simple shrug as an answer. She grabbed her spell book by the spine, ready to lift it out. "It should take about as long as any other ritual?"

Orion chuckled, then grinned. "Ah, going to do it right now? I guess it's ten-ish minutes for normal people, but just a jiffy for you, then?"

The silver-haired sylvani rubbed at her temples. She chuckled and shook her head, smiling.

Helped by one of her spell, Vaelith gently lifted her heavy grimoire and kept it floating ahead of her, just at the right height, and flipped the cover open.

As she raised her head, Vaelith thought she saw movement at the edge of her vision. A faint prickle crawled along the back of her neck, the odd sensation of being watched. She glanced around, her gaze sweeping over the hustle and bustle of camp TideBreaker Watch, but she noticed nothing usual—only the same calm camp they had been in countless times today.

Just my nerves playing tricks on me.

She brushed the feeling aside and focused on her grimoire. She uncorked the bottle of enchanted ink and a queer scent escaped the bottle—a sharp, coppery tang. Before she could start the weapon upgrade ritual, she heard footsteps as someone approached her group.

A voice she recognised caused a small jump in her chest. "Vaelith?"

She looked up sharply, her stomach knotting, and her magic quill floated away from the grimoire, hovering uncertainly in the air. Leoric, the tall and handsome Noble burrovian ranger Elyssia had recruited, stood at the edge of the group, his expression unreadable, his eyes fixed on her.

"Are you busy? Can we talk?" His tone was gentle, but something about it cut through the fantasy world around her, grounding her unexpectedly.

Zyra, Orion, and Ryssa all turned their gazes toward her, waiting for her reply.

She forced a smile, trying to keep things casual. "Oh, hey there, Leoric. Done with work already?"

He managed a small, awkward smile. "Yeah. You too?"

He did not ask, but the unspoken question struck her harder than she expected, and her smile faltered. "Weren't you supposed to be at work during the day and only log on later in the evening?"

She blinked, momentarily disoriented. Work. She had almost forgotten—no; she had completely forgotten.

The memory came rushing back with an uncomfortable clarity. Her principal's concerned face. The clear dismissal. The insistence Jason should see a doctor, to take some time off to figure out what was happening to him. Even if it was just in her head, remembering made her flinch.

Vaelith's gaze dropped to the ink bottle in her hand, the stars in the liquid swirling as if mocking her distraction. How long had she been in the game? She had logged on to escape, just for a little while… had she meant to get this lost?

She glanced up at Leoric again, the knot in her stomach tightening. "What… what time is it, anyway?"

He gave her a soft, concerned look. "It's almost five o'clock. Looks like you've been in here a while?" His tone was gentle, but the unspoken words were clear.

She swallowed, the weight of the day settling on her shoulders heavier than her grimoire, heavier than any spell she could cast. The game had been her refuge, a place where her mistakes did not feel as consequential, where she could laugh off blunders and keep trying without judgment. But the real world was still out there, waiting for her to come back.

I can't keep running from it forever.

Her fingers absently tightened around the ink bottle. Zyra's avatar tilted her head, as if sensing something wrong. "Vaelith? You okay? This dude isn't bothering you, is he?"

Vaelith forced herself to nod, giving her current party members a weak smile. "Yeah… I'm good. He's a friend, a member of my registered party, actually. He's the other damage-dealer, our ranger."

Leoric's presence had brought back with him the memories of the real world, pulling her away from this one, and while she knew she longed to stay here, she was not sure what would happen once she left.

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