Chương 3: Omnimancer 3: Nimashi the Great

Nimashi, Sentinel of Snow and Fadeguard's Chosen—or was it touched? Fade touched, perhaps? Regardless, Nimashi was Chosen, and he drifted lazily above the base of Luxspire Peak, his vast form casting long shadows over the pristine white slopes. Far above, countless of his distant brethren patrolled its jagged ridges, the dutiful guardians of this most sacred mountain. To him, it was all tedium.

He understood the importance of their eternal vigil, of course, especially in light of the strange Soulfire pulse that emanated from high up Luxspire a day ago. All the Guardians had been busy since then. Patrol routes were doubled, and he'd even heard his compatriots on vacation had been summoned, as unthinkable as that was. And for what? What was duty without challenge? What was the worth of a guardian when nothing dared test their might?

The occasional band of humans—pitiful, fragile things—hardly satisfied the hunger that gnawed at his soul. He was mighty, perhaps the mightiest, and yet his power lay idle. Wasted and unused, fated to rot. He would rather spend his days curled up on his vast hoard, admiring the way they shined.

"Alas," he mused sadly, "the world produces nothing worthy of me." The beasts that stalked the upper reaches were mighty. Beyond mighty! And yet, stripped of mind in their blind pursuit of strength, did they truly count? Incapable of strategy or higher thought, Nimashi pitied them—poor, broken creatures that they were. No, he craved more. An opponent who could truly stand against him. One with cunning and intelligence as sharp as their fangs. Someone worthy of being crushed beneath his majesty.

And then, as if the Goddess herself had deigned to hear his plea, Nimashi's keen eyes caught a flicker of yellow light descending the sacred peak's slopes.

"How curious," he murmured, changing course to intercept. An unruly werebeast, perhaps? One that fled its assigned domain? As he flew closer, however, his breath caught in his chest. For this was no beast at all. No winged monster, no cursed aberration of the nightswarm. It was human. A flying human, no less! Nimashi could not recall the last time he had seen such a creature. Could humans even fly? Nimashi did not remember. Memory was a fickle thing, thin and spotty when stretched across the centuries.

It hardly mattered. What did matter was the unease he felt, rippling down his scales, his prior excitement swiftly forgotten. Humans were frail, pitiful creatures. With short lives and even shorter fangs, their lot was to be preyed upon by the sort of creatures Nimashi dined on. So, then. How had this weakling slipped past him and his brethren—the unsleeping guardians of Luxspire Peak? Sadly, there was but one explanation. The same as all the other times this happened. His brothers and sisters had grown lax again.

A gap in the patrols, a nap when no one was looking... Nimashi would be sure to put it on the agenda during their next offsite. No matter. For this human made the perfect excuse, did he not? Nimashi trembled, his lips curling into a feral smile. After all, who could fault him for flexing his magic, just a bit? This human clearly was a threat, however slight. Nothing short of overwhelming might would suffice. It was a matter of principle. Yes, it had to be done.

Nimashi was most definitely not seeking an excuse to fire off his most powerful spell. Not at all. With a thunderous surge of his inborn magic, Nimashi shot toward the golden figure, his serpentine body straightening like a lance. The human wore strange garb—a fluffy, plump thing as yellow as the sun and ridiculous blinders placed over its eyes. Laughable next to the elegance of his own sleek, scaled form.

"Clothes," Nimashi sneered aloud, "a coward's vice." The trappings of weak creatures too ashamed to show their true, glorious selves. Especially this one, whose body Nimashi's old eyes could see right through. How tragic. To not even be fully there… the human must lead a truly pitiable existence. Nimashi arched his neck and let his regal voice thunder across the snowy peaks.

"In the name of the Sentinels of Snow, I, Nimashi the Great, Water Panther of the Fadeguard's Chosen, command you! Halt, intruder!" The human froze in midair, as it well should. Nimashi sneered in derision. Foolish as it was, he had at least hoped for some amount of defiance. Some spark of fight within this insect. But alas, as he neared his prey, Nimashi learned the truth of things. The tiny human had but a trickle of Soulfire. No presence or trace of magic at all. As empty as a hollow reed, this one.

A true weakling, down to his very core. Such a poor creature. It was his solemn duty to end its suffering.

"Hear me, low one. You stand before the mightiest of beings! Though it is far beyond your station, I shall grant you the greatest honor of your short life. The honor of naming yourself before me! Rejoice!" The human said nothing, trembling in silence as it was, frozen by the majesty of his words.

"Pathetic," Nimashi growled, though he knew he ought not to be so harsh. It would hardly be the first time his prey froze before his terrifying might, after all.

"Very well! I shall grant you a quick death, and perhaps your flesh will prove a morsel worthy of my regal belly." Power began to build inside him, rising like the tide before swelling to a torrent. His vast ocean of Lux—all ten thousand drops of it—coursed through his body until his scales hummed with its force. There were precious few beings on Wakanya who had witnessed a Higher Race work their magic. For good reason—most who did never lived to tell the tale. Nor was this some [Lesser] spell, either.

He summoned his most fearsome magic, the incantation rolling off his tongue like the poetry it was. Chek'nav rek'thar, zhe'kaan vaan'lem… His proud horn lit with the terrifying might of [Apex Lightning Bolt], coalescing, condensing, just begging to be let free. Zhek'nav te'rek olen! The air warped with a terrible heat, and the very mountain trembled at his call. After too long, the world would witness the full might of the Great Nimashi. Or at least that was what should have happened.

For no reason Nimashi could explain, he found himself crashing from the sky, spasming in pain. Searing, blinding pain, the likes of which he'd never endured. When his sight eventually returned, Nimashi beheld the impossible. The yellow one stood over him, paw scratching its head in what could only have been a gesture of dominance, sparks of lightning still crackling from his tiny form. Lightning!

"No," Nimashi rasped, barely able to move his mouth. A human with magic this strong?

"Unlikely…" Or was it? Nimashi struggled to remember. The lessers lived such short lives, after all, and entire parties of the strongest humans had fallen before the great Nimashi. To think he would be brought low by some random human… One who lacked even the barest modicum of Soulfire at that. One of millions, perhaps. A shiver ran down Nimashi's spine, colder than any mountain wind. Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Better to die here, slain by this miserable creature, than live on in shame.

Had his power truly fallen so far in his old age? Or was it simply that even humans had grown so strong that magic of the Second Tier was commonplace? Time, he realized, was the most brutal foe of all.

"Yellow One, I will give you everything! My entire hoard is yours—please, just promise to kill me after! Let me die with honor!" The being in yellow scratched its head, which Nimashi recognized as the gesture lessers used to assert their dominance. Or was it happiness? It had been so long—Nimashi could not recall. Finally, the golden one bent down and began to trace lines across the snow with its paw. Nimashi watched on, bewildered. What was the strange human doing?

His mind, once so sharp and sure, felt too feeble to comprehend the act. The markings the human drew grew more and more complex, none of which Nimashi recognized. The human pointed at the symbols in the snow, then looked at him expectantly. Nimashi only shook his head, his life force ebbing. Why… why doesn't he finish me off? Why does he torment me so? The human scribbled another series of characters in the snow beneath the first set, then another, and another.

Dozens of lines of strange script Nimashi did not recognize. Save for the final one. His eyes widened. His mouth opened in shock.

"Human! You speak our language!" It was impossible. Nimashi had never heard of a single lesser who spoke his great tongue. No, it must be some mistake.

"I do now," the human replied, and Nimashi watched on in horror as the human peeled away its face to reveal its horrifying innards—pink flesh, a pair of eyeballs, nostrils, and a mouth.

"The name's Jax," the hideous creature said, opening its maw to show its fangs.

"Who the hell are you and why did you attack me?" To this, Nimashi replied the only way he could. His eyes rolled back into his head… and he fainted. It's amazing what 30, 000, 000 Aurum buys you in this world, Jax mused as he sat atop the unicorn snake's back, waiting for it to wake up. Especially in this world.

"Still can't believe the leveling System is basically a point shop," Jax muttered to himself. Schools of Magic? Bought with Aurum. Spells? Bought with Aurum, too. Levels? Yep, you guessed it... increased by buying spells and magical schools, of all things. He'd had some time to play around with the System on his descent over the past day and had learned some very interesting things. Take the School of Fire's [Apex Fireball] he'd panic-bought against the Sun Bear, for example.

Purchasing the school granted him a permanent +25% offensive magic damage boost and the ability to buy spells from a list, true, but to access the highest Apex variant of the spell, he had to purchase the Lesser and Greater variants first! Like getting upsold mandatory options at the car dealer! Jax wondered what that said about the intent of that design. He wondered what that said about the Administrator Entity presumably behind it.

Granted, it did seem like the way to gain Aurum was by killing monsters, so it was fundamentally a meritocracy. Even if any foe he dared to try his newfound power on along the descent amounted to what was basically spare change. If other peaks had fonts of power at their summits, that was definitely the better play. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Especially given that he could now fly.

Turned out 30, 000, 000 points and four Tier I, three Tier II, and two Tier III Schools of Magic to choose from gave him quite a lot of options. Not that he bought them all, of course. That would've been irresponsible. He'd just bought the bare minimum for self-defense. Well, maybe just a bit more. Okay maybe quite a bit more. Anyway, what mattered was that the Tier III School of Space had a spell that let him fly.

Which turned what he fully expected to be a grueling weeks-long journey down into a single-day flight, and that was with all the breaks he needed in between to let his Lux reservoir recharge. He'd been flying along minding his own business, thinking he'd left the more dangerous creatures behind when that terrifying unicorn snake had appeared out of nowhere, attacking him. With a chanted spell, no less! None of the other monsters ever chanted anything when they'd fired their magic.

Which was why he'd panic-bought the hybrid school Electrohydro [Plasma Surge] when he'd seen the snake dive for him. An impulse buy that had, it seemed, worked out pretty damned well. Congratulations! You have reached Level 500. Only a handful of humans have ever reached this high station, or even come anywhere close. For this monumental lifetime achievement, the Goddess Luxor grants you [Lux Compressor]. Lux Compressor: Consume more Lux to boost the magic power of any spell.

Boost percentage is directly proportional to the percentage of Lux consumed. Just when I thought it didn't get any better than the level 100 and 250 perks … He'd hit the snake with a 20x'd [Lesser Arc] on a whim, but there didn't actually seem to be an upper limit to how much he could overcharge a spell. And given that all the higher-tier spells not only had longer chants, but were less Lux efficient, it seemed to him that spamming the Tier II School of Lightning's weakest spell was the way to go.

At two one-syllable words, it was the shortest incantation of any spell he'd seen. Another message appeared only a moment later, and this one made Jax's expression darken. Warning: Soulfire output exceeds local threshold. Concealment not currently possible. While he didn't exactly know what a 'local threshold' was, it likely tied into the message the teddies had sent. Grow too strong, and he'd attract unwanted attention. From the local fauna and 'Aunty' alike.

The giant snake shuddered under him, opening one eye for a brief moment before shutting it firmly again, going motionless. Yep, he's playing dead, isn't he? Shaking his head, Jax jumped off the giant creature, walking up to its snout.

"I know you're awake," he said, smacking its nose around a few times. With no warning, the snake's eyes shot open. Its head rose off the ground, and its mouth opened wide. Jax jumped back, the chant for [Lesser Arc] on his lips when the snake let out an enormous roar. A roar that was accompanied by a prodigious amount of snot that Jax barely dodged in time. Was that a sneeze?

"Oh! Yellow Jax!" the creature bellowed, sniffling.

"How surprising to see you here."

"Uh, I've been here the whole time," Jax replied, smiling awkwardly.

"O-oh. Yes, of course! How can the Great Nimashi help you today?" Jax had to admit, he was more than a little excited to finally talk to another sapient being, odd as he was. All the monsters he'd seen thus far had been feral.

"Well, Nimashi," Jax said, patting the snake's leathery hide as he spoke fluently in the horned serpent's tongue. A handy perk of the Utility Section of his Status Screen, buried under all the available Schools of magic and their spells. It contained, among many other things, over a hundred language spells he could buy. Just that Jax had no way of knowing which of those hundred-plus languages he'd needed to speak with Nimashi, and at 10, 000 Aurum a pop, he was reluctant to splurge on them all unless he had to.

No universal translator option either, sadly. He'd checked. Still, a bit of trial and error and scribbling in the snow had solved that problem nicely.

"You're the first intelligent creature I've come across, so I'd really rather not kill you," Jax continued, "but you've got some explaining to do, my friend."

"Please, Yellow Jacks," Nimashi begged.

"It was an accident! I was merely patrolling the area and saw you. Had I known you were a being of such great strength, I would not have dared!"

"So, you guard this mountain?" Jax asked, crossing his arms.

"Indeed! It is the Guardians' solemn duty to defend the Goddess' highest peak against the unworthy." Jax pursed his lips, unsure what to do. He'd been about to get aggressive with the beast for attacking him, but if he was just doing his job…

"Please, kill me now," Nimashi replied.

"As recompense! End my misery." Jax frowned.

"Wait, are you really hurt that badly?"

"The agony I endure, I would not wish upon my greatest foe. I'm afraid I am not long for this mortal plane, Yellow Jacks. End my torment! Better that I might die with honor, doing my duty in service of the goddess than left to rot in the belly of a filthy Horned Serpent!"

"Just hang on, will you?" Jax said, placing his hands on the snake's leathery hide.

"Thank you, Yellow Jacks," it said, closing its eyes.

"Thank—ngh!?"

"Ven ko'nav ma'ai, ve'zheen te'lem vaan!"

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Jax said as he felt [Greater Heal] delve into the snake's internal state.

"Your organs are fried. Without treatment, you'd be dead." Jax would know. The [School of Life] not only permanently increased his Vitality by 25%, but its highest spell had performed a miracle that still had him reeling. His cauterized stump of an arm had disappeared, flooding him with a blissful sensation not unlike the world's best massage. All as the bone regrew, tendons and muscle forming around it. Within minutes of joining that school, Jax hadn't just become whole again, he'd come back stronger than ever.

To think that was just the tip of the iceberg… Really, the worst part wasn't even the regrowth. It was getting the clothing off his old arm stump and sewing them back with the emergency kit he'd thankfully tucked away in a jacket pocket.

"So be it," Nimashi whispered, voice empty and small. He lowered his head to the snow.

"Then there is nothing to be done. Please… leave me. Let me enjoy my final moments in peace…"

"Oh, come on," Jax sighed.

"I'm healing you now. It was just a lowly [Arc] spell…

""Lowly!?" Nimashi cried, as though that was the biggest crisis in his life right now. Well, he had overcharged it, but still… Jax patted the snake's hide, making a note to be more careful when fighting weaklings. He was reminded of the time he pierced himself with his ice axe, back when he was first learning how to use it. Though hardly the most formidable weapon, it was shocking just how easily even mundane objects could poke holes in squishy things.

"The light fades from my eyes," Nimashi whispered.

"All returns to the land…"

"Not today, pal," Jax said, patting his thick hide.

"I'm sorry to say you're all healed up."

"I knew it! I shall face death with—!?" Nimashi blinked.

"Come again?"

"You're as good as new," Jax said, smiling wryly at the beast.

"Well, almost." He'd only stopped the snake from dying. He wasn't about to heal him enough to fly. Not until he knew he wouldn't receive a lightning bolt to the face.

"Truly?" Nimashi asked, perking up his neck.

"I am alive!" the snake roared.

"I am restored! Nimashi, Water Panther of Legend, lives again! To think you were a Dual Elemental! How far humans have come."

"Uh, sorry? Water Panther?" Jax asked. He was pretty sure he'd taken down a few of those, and they didn't look anything like this guy. Nimashi swiveled his neck. While he wasn't an expert on flying-snake, Jax was fairly sure the thing was smirking at him.

"Indeed," Nimashi said with a flicker of pride that quickly died when he saw Jax's reaction.

"Is… is it not obvious?"

"No? You look nothing like a panther and everything like a snake. In fact, you look exactly like all the other snakes I've fought so far. You've even got the same golden horn on your snout."

"Fool! I am no mere Horned Serpent! I am Nimashi, Water Panther of yore! Do not lump me with those inferior beings."

"You know, you're pretty chipper for someone who was begging for death just a minute ago. Bold words from someone as weak as you." Nimashi froze like a Chihuahua in front of a pit bull.

"No! Please! Nimashi was mistaken. It is not my day to die. I am a nobody. Just Nimashi. A Water Panther cursed into a Horned Serpent's body. Who couldn't even fend off a single human! Who couldn't even find a mate even after all these centuries! Who lives alone in his dark—""Look, I, er, didn't mean it like that," Jax said, scratching his cheek, suddenly feeling bad for the guy. It was like watching someone spiral down the toilet bowl of depression in real time.

"And you're not that bad, you know? I'm sure you're plenty strong enough to deal with anything that comes along." The snake perked up, eyes wide.

"Truly?" Nope. Not even close.

"Yeah! I'm just something of an anomaly," Jax lied, wondering how something this weak had survived for as long as it had.

"Don't sweat it."

"Yellow Jacks, I sense that you are a kind soul. Please, you must come to my lair. You may take as much of my hoard as you wish. As recompense for your troubles. Anything you like, it is yours!" Jax cocked an eyebrow.

"A hoard, you say?" Now that sounded appealing. Money was useful in any world, and it did sound like fair compensation for his prior attack. Not to mention all the chances he'd have to grill the snake for information about Wakanya. Besides, the teddy rations he'd found in his inventory, while delicious, were too valuable to just munch on, considering their magical nature and how they all temporarily boosted various traits upon consumption.

"Alright," Jax said.

"So where is this hoard of yours?"

"Not far," Nimashi murmured.

"It lies on the other side of Mount Luxspire, beneath the waves…" Jax hesitated for a moment, debating whether to believe the creature. Horned Serpent, Water Panther—whatever Nimashi was supposed to be, he didn't exactly inspire confidence. On the one hand, Jax had no reason to trust him. On the other, he was fairly sure he could put the guy down with only a slightly more powerful spell if he got any funny ideas. Considering how much damage his weak spell had already done, Nimashi didn't seem like much of a threat.

"All right," Jax said at last.

"Then lead the way, and I'll follow."

"Er, yes, of course. At once!" Nimashi tried to take off but failed miserably, his serpentine body flopping to the ground. The until-very-recently-proud 'Water Panther' avoided Jax's gaze, shame practically written all over his face.

"Please… just give me a few hours to recover. I am… spent. I will guide you there… right after…"

"No need," Jax muttered with a roll of his eyes. He placed a hand on the creature.

"Ven ko'nav ma'ai, ve'zheen te'lem vaan, nav'maaa ven'ko rek'zholen!" The energy of [Apex Heal] surged into Nimashi, restoring him to full health in just a few seconds. Even having seen the spell in action before, Jax still couldn't comprehend how it worked. Sure, all sorts of magical theories tumbled around in his head, but all of it contradicted the science of Earth. Then again, this was magic, after all. For all he knew, he might not even be in the same universe.

"Oh. Oh…" Nimashi's voice trembled.

"Yes! I feel it. The magic of life, it flows through me. I… I am restored!" His serpentine body uncoiled and he shot to the sky, doing loops in the air.

"You have healed me!" he shouted in disbelief.

"Aha! Ahaha! Ahahahahah! Yes, of course you have! For I am Nimashi the Great! The all-powerful—" Jax cleared his throat. Nimashi froze in midair.

"The Humble… Nimashi the Humble! Yes." Jax canceled the [Lesser Fireball] he'd started chanting subconsciously… but it was too late. The damage had been done. Goldfish Brain's jaw dropped and he gurgled incoherently. Jax felt like that was a bit much for the weakest of Fireball spells… Not like he'd whipped out a [Plasma Surge], with its tendrils of crackling lightning and fire that promised annihilation upon anything they touched. Far more impressive than any of his single affinity spells…

albeit at an enormous cost in Lux efficiency. Jax realized his mistake when Nimashi finally managed to say something coherent.

"T-Trimancer…" Ah… oops. Whatever flicker of grandeur the serpent had left vanished like it had been drowned in a bucket of water, leaving Nimashi staring at Jax in terror. Terror… and something that looked suspiciously like awe.

"Of course, Yellow Jacks!" he said.

"Please, follow me to my hoard!" With those words, Nimashi shot off into the sky, circling as he waited for Jax to catch up. Ah, right, Jax thought. Before I forget… [Apex Flight] from the Tier III School of Space was one hell of a spell. Not only had he spent 2. 5 million Aurum just to join the School that gave it—a School that permanently doubled the range of every spell he cast—between the Lesser and Greater variants to unlock it, [Apex Flight] had cost him a whopping 2. 4 million on top.

Then there had come the painful hours of trial and error. Of crashing constantly as he figured out how to use the spell and healed himself after. Again and again. How far he'd come since just yesterday... It was so nostalgic it almost brought a tear to his eye. He wondered if that Sun bear was still rolling, even now. Given the gargantuan length of the slope, it could very well be possible.

To think he'd bypassed so many more of his kind on the way down, turning a journey that ought to have taken weeks into one that took a couple of days, including breaks. Of which there were many. Not only were there aerial threats that Jax had to land to avoid, for all its merits, [Apex Flight] was an absolute gas guzzler of a spell. This despite the already large pool of Lux he'd expanded with Lux. Not enough, apparently.

It both cost an enormous amount to manifest and also continuously drained him for as long as it was active as well. With a thought, Jax summoned the relevant Status Screen. Lux: 164, 908 / 350, 000 Increase Lux Capacity? (1 Aurum = 10 Lux) Jax confirmed, allocating an extra 65, 000 Aurum. Lux: 165, 068 / 1, 000, 000. The sensation was every bit as intoxicating as the first time he expanded his reservoir.

The pond in his chest ballooned into a veritable lake—a wellspring of unbridled energy that filled every inch of his core. The energy struggled to be contained within his flesh, pushing and shoving against his chest, desperate to break free. While not exactly painful, it was among the more uncomfortable sensations Jax had ever felt. Like swallowing a meal without fully chewing it, only for it to get stuck going down the throat. Thankfully, the worst was over in a few seconds, and he was soon back to normal.

The new normal that was, for Jax knew he would never feel the same again. That torrent of energy flooded his every vein, artery, and pore. Burgeoning Lux leaked out of his body, like a radiator venting excess heat. In short, he felt like a god. A god with an infinite font of power just begging to be used. Much better. Now, with his Lux pool no longer restricting him, a whole slew of multischool synergy spells opened up for him, and he couldn't wait to try them out.

Jax adjusted his goggles and followed the flying snake, wondering with more than a little excitement what sort of hoard could lie 'beneath the waves', of all places. For the spectacle, of course. Definitely not because Jax fully intended to take a large chunk of it for himself.