The Lone Wanderer

Before Synchronization was even done activating, Percy rummaged through his sack, hastily putting as many pieces of his armour on as he could manage. Not that he wasn’t confident beating a few Yellow demi-humans without it, but there wasn’t any harm in playing it safe. Regardless, he only got to don his gauntlets by the time the creatures reached them.

‘They’ll have to do.’ he shrugged.

The trolls themselves were downright massive, Percy’s head barely reaching up to their chest. The one in the middle was even taller than the others, despite its hunchback. Their thick hide was marred in warts and granules like their weaker kin, but, unlike the others, these three were covered from head to toe in crisscrossing scars. Some were deeper too – trophies from a lifetime of fighting, apparently.

Even more strangely, these trolls had something else growing on their bodies that the others had lacked. Mushrooms. And not the mundane, edible whitecaps Percy and Nesha had seen on the way here. No, these shone brightly in his vision, shimmering in a deep Orange colour. Not only that, but they softly glowed in the regular part of his sight too, sporting a strange green lustre.

Unfazed by Percy’s observation, the trolls strolled casually towards them, each of their thunderous steps lifting a screen of mud. Their heavy frames sank a few inches into the bog from one footfall to the next, but they didn’t seem to mind it much, apparently well-used to their habitat by now. Their attention was glued to their guests instead, their bulbous eyes scanning Percy and Nesha up and down.

“Take the one to the left. I’ll handle the oth–”

Percy didn’t even get to complete his sentence when the trolls suddenly halted, still thirty or so yards away from them. Then, the one in the middle – their king probably – gestured at one of his attendants to step forward.

“Are they challenging us to single combat?” Nesha asked in incredulity.

That was a sign of intelligence neither of them was used to seeing in demi-humans. Then again, the creatures weren’t that much dumber than sapients, and these three in particular stood atop their species’ ladder. Their higher grade coupled with decades of wisdom had clearly left their mark.

Stepping forward, he waited for Nesha and the other trolls to put some distance from them, giving them space. The two combatants then eyed one another for a couple seconds, sizing each other up. This troll was the leanest of the three, though it still looked stronger than the Orange variants. Sapients didn’t transform when advancing – that was a unique feature of beasts, due to their affinity. Suffice to say, Percy didn’t know if it was just a coincidence these three were a little larger, or something else.

Maybe semi-sentients carried some traces of beast mana in their bodies? Or, perhaps, the Yellow-born trolls just lived long enough to hone their physique further than the rest?

‘Or any other number of explanations…’

In any case, it didn’t really matter. The creature was unarmed, its posture carrying the aura of an experienced mage. Satisfied with his assessment, Percy waited patiently for his opponent to make the first move. And the troll didn’t stand on ceremony either. It didn’t move an inch from its spot, but Percy didn’t miss its soul and core flaring up, a trickle of mana flowing down to its feet.

‘Earth?’ he raised an eyebrow. ‘No. Water!’

He’d seen enough of both affinities by now to tell their channels apart. That said, he was surprised to see a water mage use their mana like this. Not that it was impossible for them to take advantage of their environment like earth users regularly did, but it was much harder right now, given the circumstances. All the water in the swamp was mixed with soil, slowing down its movements.

‘Still disappointing though.’ he sighed.

Another common affinity. It seemed there wasn’t anything of interest in the Grisly Bog…

Yet, Percy’s disappointment didn’t last long. As soon as the troll was done spreading its mana, it finally activated its spell. Suddenly, dozens of aquamarine bolts shot at Percy from every direction, zigging and zagging through the air like snakes!

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‘The hell?!’

Percy hurriedly leapt backwards, dodging about half the projectiles, crushing a few more with his armoured hands. Still, two of them reached him, leaving some nasty cuts. The first stretched diagonally across his chest, the other vertically along his upper forearm.

“How?”

The troll was grinning smugly, clearly amused by his surprise. Though it didn’t seem to have any intention of letting him go. Pressing on its advantage, it unleashed more spells, the magical attacks raining upon Percy one after the other. And they all had one thing in common. They all shone in a bright aquamarine light, not a speck of dirt bogging them down.

‘I’ve never seen a Yellow mage use their mana so skilfully!’

The difficulty in extracting clear water from the mud so quickly was simply staggering. Not to mention controlling so many constructs at the same time with such finesse. Evidently, Percy had underestimated the creatures, betrayed by his preconceived notions about them.

“Want help?” Nesha asked, though that only prompted the other trolls to growl angrily.

“No. I’ll handle it.” Percy spat between pants, as he continued to evade the attacks to the best of his ability.

As it turned out, this wasn’t the walk in the park he was expecting. Then again, this was a good thing.

If he wanted, he could probably end the fight with a few invisible throwing stars. While the troll had proven to be a formidable opponent in some areas, Percy doubted it was fast enough to dodge his own attacks, given its bulk.

But why would he do that? Wasn’t this exactly the kind of training he needed?

Settling at a more comfortable distance from the troll, Percy danced through the onslaught of spells, focused on evading only the most dangerous attacks, while allowing some of them to scrape him out of necessity.

The projectiles were both numerous and chaotic, though there was still a clear rhythm behind them – an unavoidable delay between one attack and the next, albeit small. After all, the troll had to channel the mana through the dense swamp water before unleashing it against Percy.

Letting his gaze sink deeper into his opponent’s frame, Percy allowed Foresight to do its job, faint projections appearing in his vision, preceding the water snakes by mere inches. After a month of nonstop training, the spell had already started working on magic, though it wasn’t nearly as effortless, nor as complete as it was for physical blows.

‘At least, not yet.’ he grinned.

Little by little, Percy got used to the pace and the patterns of the projectiles. With each blow he avoided, the projections grew clearer, as both his reactions and his eyesight were slowly honed to perfection. At the same time, he never allowed himself to relax. Whenever he got used to the troll’s speed, he took a step forward, inching closer to the creature with each passing minute. No matter what, he had to keep pushing himself to the very edge of his ability, treading the fine line between life and death. That was always the fastest way to improve.

‘Hmm? Why did he stop?’ Percy wondered at some point, as the onslaught of spells ended abruptly.

So absorbed had he been on predicting his opponent’s attacks, he had failed to spot the traces of exhaustion accumulating on the creature’s soul. The troll panted heavily, its core completely dried out, its previous nonchalance nowhere to be seen.

Its companions too had realized they had stumbled upon a formidable opponent today. They glared at him silently, their expressions sombre. Though, to their credit, they hadn’t moved to interfere yet, apparently intent on honouring the terms of the fight.

‘That’s more than I would expect from a human.’ Percy nodded in appreciation, feeling some newfound respect towards the creatures.

Next, his eyes fell back on his opponent, the troll still trying to catch its breath. Honestly, this was only to be expected. While the creature’s sheer skill in mana manipulation was arguably impressive, at the end of the day, it was still ‘just’ a Yellow. It never stood a chance of keeping up with Percy in a prolonged battle.

“Take your time. I’ll wait.” he shouted, not knowing whether the trolls could understand him.

Then again, actions spoke louder than words. If they couldn’t understand his words, they certainly got the message once he turned around, walking to a nearby tree before leaning on its trunk. He’d have taken a seat too, but the roots were covered in mushrooms and rotting carcasses.

Under other circumstances, allowing his opponent to recover might have been foolish. But not right now. After all, he had never intended to harm the trolls, nor did he much care about winning. His priority right now was only the evolution of his spell – nothing more, nothing less. And he doubted he’d find a better sparring partner.

Yet, this simple gesture seemed to be received well by the creatures.

“Garruuk!” the troll grunted, capturing his attention.

Then, it turned towards its leader, apparently waiting for permission to do something. Only after the bulky troll nodded did the water mage look back at Percy. Next, it moved one of three stubby fingers on its oversized hand, pointing at a green mushroom growing on its shoulder.

‘What is it trying to show me?’

The troll didn’t leave him in suspense for long, its following action answering his question. Pinching the mushroom with all three of its digits, it squeezed it tightly, as Percy followed a splash of mana flowing into its skin, spreading through its body. Soon, the troll’s exhaustion was visibly lifted, as its muscles relaxed, and its rugged breath settled down.

And, of course, Percy would be a fool if he failed to recognize what had happened. Between his mutated eyes, the extraction principle he had mastered, and the dozens of potions he had consumed, he couldn’t have possibly mistaken the potent life mana restoring the troll’s stamina.

He still had no idea what the trolls were up to, revealing such a valuable secret to him so easily, but he was certain of one thing as he stared at the glowing mushrooms with greed.

‘I need to get my hands on some of those…’

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