A New Threat

It was early morning when Tigra woke up and went to work on Fire Step. She stretched her legs to prevent any sudden tenseness before jumping into the air with fire coming out of the bottom of her feet.

She angled herself and started to fly around before activating Fire Armor with 1427 HP and activating Heal with her hand.

While it was strenuous to activate three spells at the same time mentally, nearly no MP is being casted. With Heal and Fire Step, they combined to only 10 MP/m.

As she flew through the air, burning a yellow fire, she also kept an eye on her clothing to make sure that they don't burn when she uses HP.

She could see an ember every minute or so flake off of her, confirming a thought about her HP and her clothing. Despite the clothing being just cloth and other lightweight protective materials, it counted as armor.

So long as she has enough HP, it would be her body burning away but Heal would fix the damage almost as soon as it started happening, leaving nothing behind to indicate that part of her just burnt away.

For about 70 minutes, she continued flying around before landing after a notification popped up.

Fire Step gained 16,200 EXP.

Fire Step maxed out! WIS increased by 2 and 1 Skill point gained!

Fire Armor gained 85,120 EXP.

Fire Armor leveled up! LV 40 → 49

Fire Resistance gained 99,890 EXP.

Fire Resistance has leveled up! LV 72 → 85

…

Tigra grinned as she waited for her MP to restore to full as she thought over Fire Resistance.

'That gives me an 85% decrease in damage from Fire related attacks. Then, [Iron Body] kicks in and reduces that remaining 15% by 25%. So, I'm actually only taking 11% damage from Fire related attacks.'

It would take an attack doing 2000 damage regularly before she would have to worry about any fire attack. Worse case? She could just activate Flame Armor to a high degree and multiply her HP high enough that she could just stand in the fire while it would only raise her resistance even higher, making it do even less damage.

She then opened the Spell Shop and looked at any Fire spells.

Flame Charge, Fire Shield, Fire Absorption

…

Flame Charge chosen.

[Flame Charge LV 1 (0/200) - The user can condense their flames and use it to send them shooting towards any direction, should they have good control over fire. Increases DEX by 25% when used for 3 seconds or until path is interrupted. Cost: 22 MP]

...

Tigra took a breath before deciding to use it and see how it would work into her style of fighting. She focused her fire to the bottom of her feet before condensing it more before letting it out.

She shot forward but continued letting off her burst of fire and started zipping around even quicker. She kept going for another 5 minutes before stopping due to needing to let her MP recharge.

'While not seeming like much, every burst of fire costs 22 MP. Considering that, if pressured, I could use it 6 times in 5 seconds, it could use up a lot of my MP in a short amount of time.' She thought.

Flame Charge gained 7040 EXP.

Flame Charge leveled up! LV 1 → 8

[Flame Charge LV 8 (1440/1600) - Cost: 17 MP]

…

Tigra suddenly gained a splitting headache, as if she had slammed into a tree during this practice.

"That must be the drawback of using so much MP in such a short amount of time." She muttered to herself. "But hey, I got a good amount of practice for Fire Spells today. Maybe I'll come back to this later, considering that I need to do some other work for the day."

She made her way back to her temporary office before taking some pain medication.

She continued writing up reports and reading through other reports for practically the rest of the day, except for a three hour window, in which she practiced her Fire Armor extensively now that she could use almost her entire HP amount and, due to her resistances, could still heal faster than she could take damage.

Fire Armor gained 118,080 EXP.

Fire Armor leveled up!

[Fire Armor LV 60 (2623/12000) - CON*(1+AMOUNT_USED/280)]

Fire Resistance gained 295,200 EXP.

Fire Resistance leveled up!

[Fire Resistance LV 99 (0/1) - Decreases damage taken by Fire attacks by 99%. With [Iron Body], it becomes 99.25%]

...

"The hell?" Tigra muttered, staring at Fire Resistance. She used Fire Armor again for a second.

Fire Armor gained 33 EXP.

...

"Why didn't that go up? I took damage. Then again, it is extremely strange for the last level to be 1 EXP."

She looked through the Skill shop for an explanation, but didn't see anything in there about it with the only exception being a message saying: "Invalid for use of skill points to upgrade."

It didn't make much sense until the last sentence.

[To see further explanation, please look through [Trait] shop]

…

Trait Shop opened.

Everything looked the same, except for a few new things.

[One with Fire - Fire abilities only take 75% as much MP as they would normally]

[Fueling the Flames - Damage done through Fire attacks are increased by 50%]

[Phoenix - If your HP is reduced to zero, you return to 75% HP once with a 25% increase in stats for the next 10 minutes. Useable once every month]

[Fire Immunity - Grants 1 EXP to [Fire Resistance] and evolves it into the trait [Fireproof] ]

…

"So Fire Resistance is a skill…yet Fire Immunity is a [Trait]?" She muttered.

…

[Through purchasing this, every cell in your body will undergo a change to become completely fireproof]

…

"That makes a bit more sense now. It wouldn't be a skill because my body would literally be gaining the trait fireproof. But if that was the case, shouldn't Fire Resistance have been a trait?"

She sighed before heading back to her room.

She was too tired to even think about how the complexities between skills and traits are complicated yet simple at the same time.

*Next Day*

Tigra had been waiting at the entrance to the town on the wall, her legs dangling over the edge.

She wore the bottom half of her armor while only wearing her yellow shirt. Her black hair had once more been put into a ponytail.

After the enlightening moment last night, she's decided that she should start saving 5 skill points from now on in the case something like this happens or there is a better trait that she may want.

But none of that was important at the moment, as she waited for this 'Bolt' to show up.

From the intelligence she received after reporting that Terra had been taken and that someone named Bolt was heading in her direction, they provided information in the chance that she came to blows with him.

It had been quiet since she arrived here about half an hour ago. Horde soldiers posted nearby had noticed her and had the good idea of maintaining a professional look while they were on duty.

Which meant that they barely moved and seemed as if she would bite their heads off if they so much as twitched.

Tigra sighed before doing something she rarely does.

'Sheet - Reputations.'

Reputations:

Chosen - Those who will help

Family - Those who may go out of their way to help

Friendly - Those who will help more than not

Acquaintances - Those who may or may not help you

Dislike - Those who need convincing to help

Hated - Would need a good reason to hear you out

Nemesis - Those that would only help at the end of the world

Horde: 0 [Friendly]

Salineas: -10 [Acquaintance]

Brightmoon: -25 [Acquaintance]

Plumeria: -25 [Acquaintance]

…

Reward for reaching [Friendly] with Horde: CHA + 10

With reputation with Horde reaching Friendly, most soldiers will acknowledge you with respect and will listen to your commands as long as it is not telling them to sacrifice themselves for you.

'Sheet - Relationships.'

Relationships [Towards You, Towards Them]:

Catra: 90 [Family], 30 [Chosen]

Adora: 52 [Family], 88 [Family]

Lonnie: 66 [Friendly], 42 [Family]

Rogelio: 66 [Friendly], 35 [Family]

Kyle: 63 [Friendly], 22 [Family]

Serena: 57 [Friendly], 18 [Acquaintance]

Scorpia: 40 [Friendly], 28 [Acquaintance]

Lucy: 30 [Friendly], 15 [Acquaintance]

Harold: 0 [Friendly], 33 [Acquaintance] 

Susan: 40 [A], 21 [Acquaintance]

Lord Hordak: 40 [Acquaintance], 25 [Acquaintance]

Sarah: 32 [Acquaintance], 18 [Acquaintance]

Buuka: 26 [Acquaintance], 15 [Acquaintance]

Abby: 17 [Acquaintance], 12 [Acquaintance]

Bow: -5 [Acquaintance], -10 [Acquaintance]

Lukan: -22 [Acquaintance], 5 [Acquaintance]

Perfuma: -25 [Acquaintance], -15 [Acquaintance]

Glimmer: -10 [Dislike], -20 [Acquaintance]

Weaver: -15 [Dislike], -56 [Hated]

…

To the outside world, Tigra remained the same, just staring out across the open field as if expecting something to show up in the next few minutes.

On the inside…she froze from surprise.

While she has never seen names act like that on her Relationships, she knows enough that it is not good.

'Sheet - Relationships.' She calls up again.

Relationships [Towards You, Towards Them]:

Catra: 90 [Family], 30 [Chosen]

Adora: 52 [Family], 88 [Family]

Lonnie: 66 [Friendly], 42 [Family]

Rogelio: 66 [Friendly], 35 [Family]

Kyle: 63 [Friendly], 22 [Family]

Serena: 57 [Friendly], 18 [Acquaintance]

Scorpia: 40 [Friendly], 28 [Acquaintance]

Lucy: 30 [Friendly], 15 [Acquaintance]

Lord Hordak: 40 [Acquaintance], 25 [Acquaintance]

Sarah: 32 [Acquaintance], 18 [Acquaintance]

Buuka: 26 [Acquaintance], 15 [Acquaintance]

Abby: 17 [Acquaintance], 12 [Acquaintance]

Bow: -5 [Acquaintance], -10 [Acquaintance]

Lukan: -22 [Acquaintance], 5 [Acquaintance]

Perfuma: -25 [Acquaintance], -15 [Acquaintance]

Glimmer: -10 [Dislike], -20 [Acquaintance]

Weaver: -15 [Dislike], -56 [Hated]

...

They were gone.

It is as if that sheet only meant to show her that something had changed and, once it went away, it updated as if it was a sheet in a system.

It got rid of information that would no longer be useful going forward.

She took a deep breath before activating Fire Armor with all of her 2460 HP and used Heal.

It received a few looks at seeing their Force Captain suddenly combust, yet they didn't move once seeing her not be phased by being on fire.

She continued to fuel the flames with her emotions for the next 35 minutes before letting the spells go. Since it was only 35 minutes, her MP practically refilled once she stopped.

Fire Armor gained 68,880 EXP.

Fire Armor leveled up!

Fire Armor LV 65 (9536/13000] - CON*(1+Amount_Used/270)]

…

She calmed down enough for now. It would do her no good to mourn them right before an enemy would show up. Especially one that is a Magicat that seems to focus on Speed just like her.

'The information provided mentioned that he travels with three companions, each knowing some basic magic and specialize with one element. Part of me wants to believe that it is so he can be Hasted thrice, thus increasing his speed by 1.95 instead of the usual 1.25.'

One of the first things she learned once she found out about enemy mages was to see how they used the spells she uses.

Haste is one that stood out.

There is a limit to how much someone's abilities can be increased by an outside force. The recommended limit is 3 but the absolute limit is 5. Any more than 5 and the body starts to come apart.

While not many, that could still boost someone's DEX by 1.25^5 or roughly 3x.

But the outside source is what caught her attention. Apparently, the targeted person could use Haste themselves and be the target of five other people using Haste.

That raises that 3x to roughly 3.75. That extra .75 could be monstrous depending on how high one's DEX already is.

Her abilities are already proving that.

She actually got curious and went through her sheet and decided to see how high her multiplier had gotten.

'Dash increases it by 2.24, Haste does 1.35, Y.A.S. does 3, that new spell Fire Charge increases it again by 1.35. Putting them together and multiplying my 135 DEX by…12.24…'

Tigra's eyes widened in shock and slight excitement.

'My highest DEX comes to 1655. Doing more math, that comes to about 230 mph after including Hare's additional 25% to movement speed. Taking into account my low H2H at the moment, I should still be doing a little over 2000 damage per hit.'

And she could keep that speed for 2 minutes straight.

She could move nearly a mile in 15 seconds.

'Granted, after two minutes, it drops down to 552 but hey, I hope to not be fighting someone long enough for that to be an issue.'

She continued sitting there until she spotted four figures in the distance coming out past the tree line.

"Guards," She suddenly spoke, making them stand at attention. "I'm going to greet our visitor."

She hopped off of the wall before using Fire Step to slow her descent until she landed on the ground and walked about a quarter of a mile out. From there, she waited for them to reach her.

As they got closer, she noticed that the one she assumes to be Bolt had blue sclera eyes like the last guards claimed.

The three behind him wore cloaks hiding them from view.

The one on the left wore a dark blue, the one in the middle wore a light green, and the one on the right wore a light blue almost white.

"Hello there." Bolt proclaimed. "I can't help but notice that you wear the emblem of the Horde. Does that mean that you have taken Terra?"

"Yeah." She admitted.

She wouldn't try to hide something so obvious.

"And the civilians?"

"Unharmed. The Horde needs working people just as much as the other kingdoms do. However, the guards here were dispatched."

He nodded. "It means little but thank you for leaving-"

"Yeah yeah." She waved off. "I'm not a heartless monster. Civilian deaths serve no purpose but mindless bloodshed."

"But if it did have a purpose?"

"I said heartless. I am still a monster. One must become one to be able to fight against the Princesses."

He stayed silent as he seemed to study her before looking behind him at his companions.

"I think I can handle this alone."

"You are the first Magicat I've met outside of the Horde. I want to see how much I still have to grow." Tigra declared.

She was only Level 34 but had a strong feeling that he should be higher than her if he had earned his nickname, the Bolt of Lightning.

Bolt simply grinned, yet his eyes seemed wider than earlier, before popping his neck.

"Very well. Magic or no magic?"

Tigra studied him for a moment.

[Bolt   Age: 34]

[Level: 73   HP: 9000]

…

"Magic."

[Quest Created!]

Final Bolt

You have encountered the Bolt of Lightning. You must defeat him or he might just get rid of the soldiers that have only just been posted as you had done.

Objective: Eliminate Bolt

Bonus Objective: Don't get hit more than 3 times

Reward: 40,000 EXP and 5 Skill points | 80,000 EXP, 20 Skill Points

…

'Well that bonus must be impossible.' Tigra thought. '120,000 EXP would be the total reward and that would surely get me just under level 50.'

Haste became active at that moment, a yellow light surrounding her body.

He raised an eyebrow as his grin turned to a smirk as he lowered his body.

She charged Fire Charge to move quickly as she lowered her body as well.

They stared at each other before they both moved, except Tigra had a burst of fire come from behind her.

Tigra shot a punch at him.

Only for him to dodge out of the way. 

She barely had time to dodge his slash and kick a leg upwards, hitting his chest and pushing him away.

274 damage inflicted

...

Tigra didn't want to lose any momentum as this simple exchange told her something she had a hard time believing.

He could move as fast as she could go without Y.A.S. and he hadn't used any enhancing magic yet.

She shot fire out of her feet and met him once more and tried to land a kick against him. He raised his arm and allowed the leg to hit him in the side before pinning her leg against his side and spinning.

Tigra was off the ground for a moment before using Fire Charge to shoot flames out of her captured foot, allowing it to escape from the sudden force. As she glided back to a safe distance, she noticed that Bolt was coming right at her.

She barely put up a block before a foot impacted her chest.

132 damage taken!

…

She blasted fire from her left hand, shooting her to the right. Using it again to close the gap between them and land a strong right fist into his side.

He grunted before Tigra found a fist under her chin.

265 damage taken!

…

Tigra performed an uncontrolled flip before landing on the ground with a grunt. She got to her knee before shaking her head.

"So, I'm not the only one holding back." She accused.

He blinked at her before laughing.

"I knew that wasn't all you had!" He smiled. "I suggest you go all out. I'm not going to slow down from here on out."

She frowned lightly before reapplying Haste, it coming undone from the sudden uppercut.

"Fine. I'll go all out."

She crouched down and started charging fire into her feet and arms to prepare for the sudden speed she prepared to go.

She took a breath in.

And breathed out.

'Y.A.S. activate.'

And she shot forward at a speed she had never gone before.

She reached Bolt in a fraction of a second.

She boosted fire out of her right hand at an angle and slammed a sped up spin-kick into his chest, sending him flying backward.

896 damage dealt!

…

'Not enough!'

Another two bursts from her feet found herself behind him and landed another punch into his back with a slight crack echoing.

She had been afraid that she could have been outsped in this fight considering he had been keeping up with her but came to a conclusion.

He was arrogant and couldn't boost himself without his companions' help.

She threw a slash, intending on dealing extra damage before he could potentially react.

Only…he disappeared with a blue flash of light.

Her instincts screamed.

She boosted herself three times into the air, trying to get away from the ground while also trying to locate Bolt.

It wasn't enough.

She felt something kick her side that sent her flying horizontally, flying over the ground.

385 lightning damage taken!

…

'Lightning damage!?'

She boosted to the side, wanting to regain her lost momentum, only to feel a deep pain in her chest and something slam into the side of her head.

770 lightning damage taken!

…

Tigra closed her eyes as she hit the ground and rolled for a few moments.

Tigra reopened her eyes and caught a glance of a figure cloaked in lightning heading her way fast.

'Flame Armor!'

No sooner did her flames appear and cover her, did another impact hit her body.

385 lightning damage taken!

376 fire damage inflicted!

…

Tigra fell to her knees from the sudden impact but held a grimace with a smile after hearing a sudden cry of pain.

"Fracking Fire Armor!" Bolt yelled out, holding his lightly burnt hand. He then muttered something that only confused her.

"But...why does this fire feel familiar?"

He looked at her before breathing out slowly.

"Alright, I'm done here."

…

"Huh?"

"I said I'm done here. While I'm curious how you boosted your speed so much, it's not fast enough for me to be worried. You already can't keep up with my speed with my Lightning Armor and my three friends over there and I could use Haste on me as well. I can move nearly 4x this fast without suffering any consequences and yet, you could barely catch a glimpse of me at the end, couldn't you? That seemed like a fight or flight response. However, there is one inescapable fact when it comes to you fighting me."

He crouched down in front of her as Flame Armor went out.

"You're just too slow."

H2H gained 7474 EXP.

H2H leveled up! (1)13→(1)15

Flame Charge gained 816 EXP

Flame Charge leveled up! 8 → 9

Lightning Resistance gained 8856 EXP

Lightning Resistance leveled up! 82 → 83

Physical Resistance gained 816 EXP.

…

Quest [Last Bolt] Failed

…

Tigra grit her teeth as she slowly stood up.

"Seeing as there are no revolts, I can assume that you really are treating the citizens well enough." He started. "We'll leave to avoid any more bloodshed. Fair warning, I don't let my enemies live a third time. So either get fast enough to impress me the next time we meet so that I'll spare you one more time, or don't run into me. Who knows, you may make our next encounter something I may actually enjoy."

Tigra didn't hide the anger she felt from him.

"Aera, Posei, Glae, let's go."

He turned around and started walking, his companions catching up quickly before they walked away.

Tigra stayed standing as her regenerations started to kick in before she used Heal to speed it up just a bit.

Tigra growled lowly before making her way back to Terra.

…

Tigra made her way back before seeing Serena waiting at the front.

"Did you push him back?"

"You didn't see?"

"None of us could. You two were moving too fast for us to really distinguish anything. It was just flashes of yellow and a bit of blue at the end. But, considering that you came back alive, you pushed him back."

Tigra stayed silent for a moment.

"No, I didn't." She shook her head, much to their surprise. "Bolt deserves his title as the fastest person on Etheria. He didn't take me seriously until he started using lightning. Once he used that, I couldn't get more than a glance of him at my fastest."

"But…then where is he?"

"He spared me. He left since we've been treating the citizens well. If it wasn't for that, I very much doubt that we would be alive at this moment." She clenched her hand.

"How much longer until the reinforcements to hold Terra arrive, Commander Serena?"

"Tomorrow evening, Captain Tigra."

Tigra nodded before starting to walk away.

"Have no one bother me for the rest of today. The battle with Bolt was…enlightening. Dismissed."

Tigra walked away from them as they only stared at her back.

Tigra found a secluded spot before using the maximum HP for Fire Armor and started using Flame Charge.

Flame Charge would take a bit to master since she gains 44 EXP per boost at the cost of 16 MP per use. Taking into account her MP amount, she could use it 62 times before running out of MP. However, she would have to wait only 3 minutes to do it 62 more times once more.

She grit her teeth as she started zooming across the area, with the intent of mastering this.

It took 45 minutes before Tigra stopped zipping around the area and used Heal, fixing the damage she had been taking in a matter of minutes.

Flame Charge gained 55,000 EXP.

Flame Charge maxed!

[Flame Charge Lv MAX - The ability to charge fire towards various parts of the body and shoot out, sending you flying in the opposite direction at a high speed. Cost: 5 MP per use]

WIS increased by 2 and 1 Skill point gained.

Flame Armor gained 135,360 EXP.

Flame Armor maxed out!

[Flame Armor LV MAX - Cover yourself in flames that protect you based on how much MP is used. CON*(1+Amount_Used/250)]

INT increased by 10 and 2 Skill points gained.

…

Spell Shop opened [Beginner Elemental Spells filtered]:

[Spark], [Bubble], [Flake], [Breeze], [Light], [Darken], [Stoneskin]

…

[Spark and Flake selected]

…

[Spark LV 1 (0/50) - The beginning of electromancy. By sending magic to your hands, you can create small sparks of electricity to get used to the feeling of electrical magic moving through you. Cost: 10 MP/m]

[Flake LV 1 (0/50) - The beginning of cryomancy. By sending magic to your hands, you can create a small amount of snowflakes to come out of your hands. Cost: 10 MP/m]

…

Tigra gave a low chuckle before gaining a manic look in her eyes.

"You've messed up Bolt. You've shown me that lightning has its own armor. One that increases your speed. If Fire and Lightning have it, why wouldn't all of the other elements have an Armor spell."

She let out a loud laugh as a thought crossed her mind.

"And what would happen if I combined them all?"

[Quest Created!]

Elemental Armory

You were shown that various elements could have their own sets of Armor spells. Having realized this, you have decided to learn as many Armor spells as you can.

Objective: Learn additional Armor class spells from various elements

Reward: 1000 EXP per Armor spell learned [1/8], 5000 EXP per Armor spell mastered [1/8]

...

6000 EXP awarded for new quest.

Level up!

Level 34 → Level 35

…

DEX increased by 10!

…

[Quest Created!]

Armor of the Elements

After a revelation, you've had the idea of learning the Armor spell for the elements. You had the idea of combining all of the Armor spells together to create one singular Armor with all of the elements.

Objective: Create the Elemental Armor by mastering all 8 Armor spells

Reward: 10 skill points, 50000 EXP, 2 trait points

…

Tigra shook her head before heading back to her sleeping quarter, letting her mind and body finally get the rest that it would need after all the training, fighting, and eliminating people she had gone through over the past three days.

Tigra  Age: 17

Level: 35 (3430/6900)

HP: 2460  HPR: 246

MP: 1120  MPR: 312

SP: 1230  SPR:246

STR: 32  DEX: 151

CON: 123  INT: 112

WIS: 78   CHA: 44

Magic Control: 50%

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 3

[H2H LV (1)15], [Run LV 63], [Dash LV 74]

[Dodge LV 41], [Reading LV 75], [Writing LV 69], [Sneak LV 47]

[Fire Res. LV 99], [Phys. Res LV 35], [Elec. Res. LV 83], [Magic Res. LV 2]

Spells:

Flame, Fire, Heat, Flame Armor, Fanning Flames, Fire Step, Flame Charge

Flake

Spark

Haste, Heal

Traits:

[Night Vision - Allows you to see in very dim lighting]

[Obsidian Claws - Increases unarmed claw attacks to do DEX*2 + STR/2 while being multiplied by H2H's bonus afterward]

[Magical - Allows you the ability to use magic]

[Huntress - Multiplies final DEX and CON by 1.25]

[You are the Weapon - Multiplies H2H bonus by 2]

[Genius - All EXP for spells is doubled]

[Hare - Increases movement speed by 25%]

[Iron Body - Decreases damage taken by 25% after resistances]

[Primal Instincts - You're aware when someone near wants to harm you]

[Quick - Multiplies final DEX by 1.15]

[Smart - Multiplies final INT by 1.15]

[You are Speed - For two minutes a day, your DEX is multiplied by 3]

[Enhanced Regeneration - MP Regeneration is doubled]

[Healthy as a Horse - Stamina Regeneration is doubled]

[Pyromaniac - EXP for Fire Spells is doubled]