Chapter 10 Part 3

Out of nowhere, the horses shake the carriage violently. "What in the hell is going on?" Christopher yells.

Heather uses her mage sight to look around her. "there is a group of eight approaching us with invisibility and there are panic traps beneath the horses. I think they may be bandits. Christopher!" Heather jumps into action, growing the fallen tree seeds in front of the bandits, creating a wall between them.

"on it!" Christopher drinks a high-grade magic mana potion and casts counter magic, reversing the bandit's invisibility spell.

"where did these trees come from!" a bandit yelled.

"our invisibility is gone too!" another yelled.

"don't lose your heads, men! They're only kids!" a deep voice said.

"looks like we found the figurehead!" Haider said.

(narrator) lets describe the bandit leader. He seems like an interesting character. He's 6ft 3in, towering far above all our young heroes. I can say that now! Their first fight! Back on topic. The bandit leader is wearing some light leather armour padded with some sort of felt fabric material. The upper legs are covered by squared, half covering cuisses. The lower legs are protected by leather shin guards which have a curved, pointed edges at under the knee. Thin pants made from leather and fur are worn beneath this, and finally some thick leather boots.

"you can handle him Haider! Me and Heather will take the others!" Christopher yelled.

"heh, this will be easy!" the bandit leader said.

"that's my line!" Haider yells.

Haider charges at the bandit leader, making an ice sabre with one hand and a shield with the other. Haider thrusts himself forward and swings his sword. The bandit leader laughs at Haider as he dodges and attempts to counter with his own sword. Haider briskly raises his shield and blocks his attack while slicing his opponent's right calf.

"ah, you little bitch! You'll pay for that!" The bandit leader puts his entire weight against a swing against Haider's shield, shattering it. The force of the swing sends Haider back a few feet, pushing him down to a knee.

"can you handle this Haider?" Christopher yells, as he drains most of the mana out of one of the bandits and they collapse. "crap, I think I overdid it."

"yeah I can handle it. It's just this bastard is tougher than I thought." Haider says.

"that's because he has buff magic on him. Don't hold back." Heather continues.

"take out the girl! She's more trouble than the rest of them!" The bandit leader commands.

"oh, how naive. It's not me who you need to worry about." Heather says.

"what? The sprout? No way he's the strongest one here. What is he going to do? Hit them with the staff?" The bandit leader chuckles.

"that's a good idea!" Christopher says. He swings his staff to the collapsed bandit, knocking them out.

"he's sucking our magic somehow sir! What do we do!" one of the bandit's shouts.

"that doesn't make any sense. All he's done is fail his spells!" the bandit leader uses mage sight on Christopher. His experience clearly dwarfed by Heather as he shouts. "I see nothing there! What does this mean?"

Haider blindsides the bandit leader with a strike to his chest, cutting deep into his armour, only just causing a bleeding cut.

"it means you're not even a threat." Haider says.

The bandit leader becomes enraged and swings wildly at Haider. His inaccurate and wide swings make it easy for Haider to cut at his joints, severing the muscles needed to move his arms.

"you bastard! How did you do that?" the bandit leader screams.

"my dad is multitudes faster than you. he trained me intensely in close combat." Haider answered.

(narrator) he really didn't need to answer the prick

Heather animates the trees she grew at the start of the fight. Having their branches restrain the remaining bandits, allowing Christopher to drain their mana, making them weak enough to capture.

Heather grabs a handful of vine seeds and throws them under the weakened and drained bandits. After Haider dragged the bandit leader to the pile of exhausted, fatigued henchmen, Heather used plant growth magic to age the vines and control them to make rope. Haider uses his ice sword to cut the base of the vine rope from the earth, then throwing them to Christopher to tie them around the bandits, capturing them.

"just to make extra sure they don't escape; I will cast lock state and magic negation on the ropes." Christopher says.

Christopher begins casting the lock state spell and collapses. "oh god! Christopher!" Kate yells. She hops down from the carriage and sprints over to him. "come on now. Are you trying to prove something by handling things like this yourself? Heather. Pass me your arm, please." Kate asks.

"oh. I dont know why you need me, but ok." Heather replies.

"now channel your mana into your hand for me, please." Kate asks.

Heather does as Kate asks, and she can feel her mana being sucked out of her. "Kate, what are you doing?" Haider asks.

"I'm using myself as a transfer point to give Christopher some of Heather's intense amount of mana. Which follows up my next question. Since you possess so much, can I fully replenish his mana? Your mana shouldn't go down that much. You have the mana equivalent to a dragonoid." Kate explained.

"is this a spell? I don't see any runes." Heather asked.

"no, a skill bestowed by the gods when I graduated from college. After you pass the final exam, the mountain god grants a single gift. The adventurer's guild controls the stone in every country. To make sure that everyone who graduates from college has the choice to receive the skill." Kate explains further.

"do you at least get options to choose from?" Haider asked.

"if the skill relates to your attribute and affinity, yeah. You can choose from all available options. It's kinda spooky speaking to mountain god, though." Kate says.

"what's stopping someone from doing it multiple times?" Christopher asks.

"the fact that only one skill can be given, and to answer a future question. The mountain god sees everything, just like the mother and father. That's the arrangement they made when the mountain god gave us magic, ores and many more." Kate says. She lets go of Heather's arm and finishes using her skill. "there we are lad, full mana. Try again." She smiles at Christopher as he clenches his hand a few times.

"huh. Thanks." Christopher says.

Kate whispers to Haider. "I feel like I just got praise from him."

"yup." Haider answered.

"he may be kinda rude, but I still want his approval." Kate says.

"and now you know the problem." Haider says.

Christopher tries again, casting the lock state spell. The spell is very simple, all it does is prevent the selected object from changing state or position. Perfect to keep breaking homes up while renovations are in progress. The spell is black in colour and consists of only a single spell circle and 10 runes. It takes Christopher a single second to cast the spell. Locking each vine restraint one at a time.

"now the magic negation spell." Christopher says.

"isn't magic negation kinda complex?" Kate says.

"do you want to risk these assholes getting free?" Christopher bites.

"back to being a dick again. What is his problem?" Kate says.

"please don't take it personally. He has a point." Heather says.

"do you want us to help with it Christopher?" Haider asks.

"yes actually. Thanks a ton. Just follow my lead and focus on the runes I create. Kate, can you make sure they don't use magic while we cast the spell? Mage sight will work." Christopher says.

Kate takes a deep breath. "sure."

Christopher focuses on etching each rune carefully. It takes a full five minutes to finish the spell, draining Christopher's and Haider's magic quite a bit, Heather barely notices any magic draining at all. The completed spell takes on a yellow glow, consisting of 7 rune circles and 56 runes.

"damn, this spell is heavy!" Christopher yelps.

Haider helps his brother aim the spell at the ropes. "magic negation!" Christopher says.

"you got em all. Well done guys!" Kate says.

Christopher catches his breath. "thanks for that, Kate. You did me a solid. I know I can be a fucking miserable dolt, but for any times I offend you in the future. I'm sorry."

"it's my pleasure. Does this mean we're friends now?" Kate says.

"welp, you just ruined it." Christopher says.

Kate looks at him, confused. "does that mean yes?" Haider replies to Kate with a nod.

"let's strap these scumbags to the back of the carriage with a rope. If they fall, then they can just be dragged along the floor." Christopher says.

"wait, no! have at least a little mercy!" The bandit leader cried.

"why should I? you just tried to surprise attack us!" Christopher spits in his eye. "maybe time in prison will set you on the right path. If I see you doing anything sketchy in the future. I'll just kill you."

The bandit leader cries, looking to Heather and Haider. "he's joking right."

"honestly I have no idea anymore." Heather says.

The bandits get tied to the back of the carriage all the way to Elwinear's north gate.