Chương 21: War.

"What are you talking about? This skill is amazing, I haven't had a chance to test the hyper-flux yet, but the boost to regen will become huge later. With this I could recover thousands of flux per day, fueling Aether Culverin and Synchronized Thunder will be easy." Nythera jumped up and down. Talvik stretched his wings.

"Child, while it is true your flux pools are… far in excess of what they should be, have you considered how your developing, a single punch from a tier 1 could kill you, you have barely any constitution, terrible reaction time, and your strength is pitiful." Wow that's... Out of character for him. He turned up to face her, glaring.

"As that skill gets more powerful, your flux regen will reach monstrous levels. That much is true, you might not realize it, but you have nearly twenty times the capacity of a regular mage. But what will happen to your stamina? If you ever reach level 100, which is well within this skills level cap, you will never regenerate stamina. 101? You will slowly die as your stamina is drained by the skill itself." No way, is he actually right?

Flux-Condenser (lvl 1) (0 tokens) A pool of Hyper-Flux equal to 1% of your flux pool with 1% of your regen is created. Flux regen increases by +1% and stamina regen decreases by 1% per level. Level cap: [Resonance] - [Endurance]. By Kronan, my own skills can kill me? That's possible? Why did no one tell me this before? Nythera continued to make her way back. There was no time to waste on this, if they didn't win the war, she wouldn't live for this skill to become a problem.

Upon arriving she was greeted at the door by Shelly and Edwin.

"Are you ok? I heard the docks were sabotaged? Damien's coming?" Shelly burst out and hugged Nythera.

"I'm fine, just fine, I was out of port when the incident happened. But yeah, looks like Damien's forces are on the way here. Reachman, that bastard stabbed us all in the back." Nythera explained. Edwin handed 3 bottles of strange dark green liquids to Nythera.

"These were brewed up by another of the local alchemists in a flashfire forge. Take them, each temporarily restores flux regen by 20%. They only last 2 hours so use them carefully." He had a hesitant look on his face.

"I'd give you some of my own products… but the recent batch has 30% more explosive force than predicted. I'm afraid you'll blow your face off with them. I'm honestly afraid to use them myself and I have skill for this kind of thing." He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"That's ok Edwin, try not to blow up half the town with them, alright?" Nythera put her hand on his shoulder.

"We got to go Nythera, Leo came by just minutes before you arrived, blabbering about forming up by the harbor, since that's likely where they will try to land. It's the only part of Grandport with deep enough water for sea vessels." Shelly said rapidly.

"One moment." She ran straight up to her room. She sat down on the bed. I am not ready for this, this is way too soon, I thought they weren't coming for months. She collapsed into her pillow and screamed silently. Talvik flew onto her shelf.

"Fret not Child, Your lineage is of Steel and Fire. This Damien is nothing more than an upstart bandit. Your superiority over that ilk is inherent." At least I've got Hyper-flux, this stuff should be just what I need to blow Damien's face off. Hyper-flux: 8/39 Nythera collapsed into the pillow and screamed again. Why is it so slow? I've got none I can actually use! Maybe Boxy has some stuff I can use? I really need to clean this thing out more often. She pulled out her favorite Boxy and checked the inventory list.

[73 ration packs] [13 quartz golem corpses] [7 quartz golem hearts] [1 communication array] [23 sparks] [4 embers] [6 rubies] [11 emeralds] [12 rolls of parchment] [5 bottles of ink] [3 quills]"Wow, am I rich now?" She said to no one in particular. None of these items would serve her much use in battle. Nythera pulled herself up and headed downstairs. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Let's go". The trio made their way to the docks, a sense of purpose about them. Before long they were joined by a dozen other men, armed with butcher knives and pitchforks heading for the rallypoint. There was a throng of armed men swarming the docks, Nythera pushed through the crowd. As people noticed her, they backed away, giving her space. At the center, by a raised boulder on the coastline, she found Lance and the Priest of Kronan talking amongst themselves.

"Nythera! You're finally here, good. We believe they will be on our doorstep any moment. We have your ship ready and waiting." Lance gestured to a mast sticking out of the crowd in the distance.

"Its good to see you miss, I'm sorry we could not come to your aid faster the other day." The priest apologized.

"Lance, what am I going to do during the battle? I want to be on the vanguard!" Nythera shouted, snickers and cheers sounded around her.

"You'll be aboard your ship, I'm afraid Reachman's rats got to most of the ballistas we built, so your domain edict won't be something we use this time. I want you to stay at a distance and harass the ships as they come in with your cannon." Lance said with a concerned look. That's… a lot less glamorous than I was hoping for.

"Alright, understood." Nythera gave a half-hearted salute. Lance stepped up onto the boulder.

"Men of Grandport, Men of Halsbury, Men of… Myrraval." Lance bellowed out. The crowd went silent, the make-shift soldiers watched Lance like hawks.

"Today we fight, not for gold, not for glory, and not for levels. Today we fight for our home. Today we fight for Myrraval. Damien threatens us all. So, let us stand together and show these fucking bastards who they are messing with!" Lance shouted, the quality of the speech rapidly degrading into a crude call to war. Cheers resounded throughout the crowd, pitchfork ends hit the ground in unison.

"Follow your squad commander please." Lance called out and stepped down from the rock. The crowd began breaking into groups as commanders rallied their men. Nythera weaved through the forming platoons and arrived before her ship, tied off to the only section of pier remaining. This is my moment! Lose and I die. She boarded the vessel while Talvik flew to the top of the mast where he perched.

She undid the lines and tugged on [Synchronized Thunder], she could feel the entire ship beneath her, every line, plank of wood, and the three ballistas, primed and ready. With a snap of her fingers the ship lurched to a start and made its way out of port. Men rushed to the end of the docks.

"Go kick Damien's ass!", "Show them the might of Myrraval!". She smiled. Nythera scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of movement.

"Where the Hel are they?" She muttered.

"Child, you may have to wait some time. I also suggest you keep adequate distance from the port, you do not want to be caught by their entire armada as it lands." Talvik squawked. Hours later, Nythera had relaxed the control of Synchronized Thunder, dropped anchor, and laid back against the deck. She watched the waves roll past them with nary a blip on the horizon.

"Are they ever coming? This is so boring." She whined.

"Child…" Talvik said.

"Yeah what is it?" she asked.

"Have you considered how you are going to utilize your augment token?" He asked.

"Not really, how do those things even work? I've heard they can really mess up skills if you don't use them right." Nythera said, then paused, a look of apprehension on her face "I was thinking of selling it. Not that it would net me much.".

"Do not sell it." Talvik's voice echoed through her skull "Since your education was so lacking, I will enlighten you to the potential uses behind those tokens.". One of these days I'm going to make him eat those words.

"Take your Aether Culverin for instance, without raising the cost of the skill, it could add an elemental effect or make your projectiles take a different launch trajectory." Talvik paced back and forth on the railing.

"Alright alright I get what you mean, we should stay focused on watching for the enemy right now." Nythera said. Nythera laid against the stern's gunwale and absentmindedly watched the horizon. Where are they already, I've been out here for hours, this is so boring.

"Child, stand up and look to the left." Talvik interrupted her reverie. Nythera scrambled to her feet and squinted against the horizon. Sure enough there was a scattering of sails.

"Kronan damn it, they are actually coming. Ok all we need to do is uh.." Nythera paced around the deck.

"Wait, Child, Allow them to approach the harbor and then pepper them with cannon fire once they do."

"Oh yeah, that, that's what we need to do." She slumped back on deck. Before long well over a dozen vessels were in sight, headed straight for Grandport. Due to Nythera's location, well out of their route, they weren't actually getting any closer to her. You bastards will regret ignoring me. She suppressed an impulse to summon Aether Culverin on the spot. Damien's Armada increased to well over 30 ships before long, Nythera watching as their sails bobbed up and down in the waves.

This is going to be a serious problem. As the first ships approached Grandport, just minutes out, Nythera activated [Synchronized Thunder], the sail snapped into place, and they began their hunt. She checked her status, flux was capped out and ready to go. Far-sight (lvl 1>3) Flux Sight (lvl 4>5) Huh I finally leveled that thing? Must have been from staring at the horizon all day. Nythera could see the men running aboard their vessels, some appeared to stand and watch her own approach.

It's time, the ballistas don't have the range or the firepower to send the message I need to send. Aether Culverin materialized on the bow, primed and loaded. She took aim at the closest ship, stabilizing her warship with [Synchronized Thunder]. She focused, as much as she ever had. The sound of waves and the wind became muted.

"FIRE!" She commanded, her voice laden with authority. The cannon roared, she felt the recoil travel through the hull. … and flew thirty meters short. Shit, this is not helping my first impression. She steadied the ship, waiting for the cannon to reload its payload. Breathing in deeply, she bellowed with all her might "FIRE!". The shell slammed straight into the enemy vessel's prow and detonated, knocking off the front third of the ship. Several vessels immediately swiveled in her direction.