Overpowered Wizard

“I’m sorry,” Bianca blubbered, catching Zarian off guard.

They were soaring east under the magnetic green, purple, and yellow lights. The suns hadn’t even set fully, but the majesty of Bianca’s single atmospheric slash remained a colorful mark for all to see. Zarian couldn’t see why Bianca was saying sorry in the presence of her overpowered work.

“I didn’t kill Orin. I should’ve, shouldn’t I?” she asked.

Zarian moved his head from left to right to center. He sensed Para wanting to speak. The phantom was clearly excited to chat with Bianca and comfort her, so Zarian conceded and listened.

Flickering hands, soft and feminine, with little claws on the end of slender fingers, appeared. They combed through Bianca’s golden hair, rubbed her shoulders and feet, and pampered her. Para’s reassuring voice sounded from around them.

“You sensed through your Wonder stat it was best to leave Orin alive, yes?”

Bianca sniffled, wiped at her face, and nodded. More caring phantom hands appeared to wipe at Bianca’s face for her as Para kept speaking soothingly.

“Then your choice is the best one.”

“But he hurt all those people!” Bianca argued.

Zarian agreed.

Free good didn’t work without delving deep inside and drawing out the power from within. Ruvaria couldn’t do it and had switched from free good +4 to base free evil, starting from scratch.

Zarian imagined someone like Orin, who was now a pariah to his old kingdom and old alignment, would suffer from having free good +4. He would have no proper way to use his power unless he did the spirited work like Bianca. The chances of that were slim.

“Also, Zarian left three battalions of spectral spiders to help rebuild and protect the northern islands,” Para added merrily.

“Ohhh, papi, you’re the best!” Bianca wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Zarian chuckled. “Nah, mami, you’re the best. You didn’t even open up about your new achievement.”

Bianca leaned back, mouth open, and teary eyes wide. “How do you know? Did you look into my brain spider?”

Zarian considered the word ‘brain spider’ compared to the usual ‘mind spider’ phrase. He might switch to saying ‘brain spider’ from now on, because it sounded creepier that way.

With that in mind, he shook his head at Bianca’s question.

“Come on? You’ve just one-shot an arch cherub that was Level 125 with good +8,” Zarian said. “How am I not supposed to know?”

Bianca sighed like Zarian’s words were the most insufferable things she’d ever heard. A little brattiness peeked through because of the downside of her Thematic Concept, Para La Familia.

“I can’t get anything past you, eh? I’m just that dumb,” Bianca muttered.

“You’re not dumb,” Zarian said firmly.

“Well, I’m Level 115, too, if you wanted to know.” Bianca sighed drearily. Then she extended one hand up as a mythical object appeared from the air.

It was the Scroll of Full Rest and Recovery, mythical quality. While that was a great reward to earn, the most amazing part was Bianca touching the rolled up leather parchment to her dress and making it disappear.

“The dress comes with spatial storage?” Zarian asked. “Isn’t that a gnomish design? Or did Hannah translate gnomish runes to elvish runes? Your dress is all elvish with its enchantments based on what I know.”

“You’ll have to ask Hannah. I wasn’t listening when she was talking all that blah, blah, blah. She’s all, ‘I’m so smart and Bianca’s so dumb.’ Blah, blah, blah.” Bianca groaned and kicked mildly, stewing away in Zarian’s arms.

Para took over verbally with some sweet and fluent Spanish to soothe Bianca’s bad mood.

Zarian continued as the flying taxi service under the aurora borealis. As the suns disappeared to the west, the colorful magnetic lights grew more luminescent.

The nightly moons appeared. The orange half of Cavern Hellion remained smashed into the blue side of Sea Strider, with trailing moon debris in tow.

Upon early nightfall, Zarian, Bianca, and Para had a better view of the wall that gave the continent its name.

“Huh,” Zarian said. “That’s a really big wall.”

“It also has some major cracks running through it,” Para said. “Were those there before?”

“Maybe yes, maybe no. Pero, there’s been a lot of shaking lately,” Bianca quipped.

Zarian grimaced, and Bianca’s standoffish, bratty mood flipped into a weepy depressive cycle.

It was a damn good thing Bianca’s divine trait wasn’t a major feature of her tool kit. It would be unpleasant having to deal with this after every fight.

Bianca being emotional was normal. Bianca being extra emotional and flippant was a lot to deal with.

Zarian was glad he had a two-mile tall wall and some major structural cracks to occupy his attention. His mood dimmed a little when he thought back to how the big cracks were somewhat his fault.

“Let’s go see how Gilbert and the others are doing.” Zarian sped up flight speed with a whoosh of aura and air magic.

Blocky misty clouds swept past him as he drew closer to the edge of the Windy Strider Kingdom. He noticed the dark and wet stone had pores and pockmarks that were hundreds of feet wide all over their surfaces.

Rain showers at the top of the monolithic wall sent bundles of streams and thick rivers down the uneven edges or into great falls from two miles high. As Zarian, Para, and Bianca drew closer, their attention veered from the island towns and villages underneath to the towns and cities built into the surface of the wall itself.

On a rock shelf hanging over thousands of feet of briny air, there sitting on a foldable chair was a man wearing a cream-colored shirt unbutton down the middle and brown bottoms without boots. He was a big, big man, broad at the chest, and wide at his shoulders. He had so many defining muscles that his muscles had muscles.

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Many would think him a great and fierce warrior, maybe even a barbarian of sorts, with how wild and unkempt his blond hair had grown around his head and face.

There was certainly some fighting to be done, with how fishlike monsters seemed to scramble through the large opening near the wall-carved city and forced human adventurers led by Dawson and Gisella to fend against them. Yet, the man seemed to do nothing other than sit, smile, and smoke on a roll of sharply scented plants that had a major relaxer effect.

Other than that, the only decently capable weapon near the smoking bear-sized man was left on the ground at his feet. He didn’t seem to care about it whatsoever as the adventurers nearby fought back wave upon waves of fish monsters the size of elephants.

Zarian landed on the hanging rock shelf and set Bianca down in front of Gilbert. The wizard schooled his expression, appearing neutral and at ease, while the healer sat there and smiled from ear-to-ear. Wisps of smoke trailed up from his current pastime, whisking away with the salt-tasting winds.

“Ugh, all of this tension is so melodramatic. Get a Telenovela or something,” Bianca scoffed, folding her arms in front of her chest before stomping off to the side.

She reached into her dress and set out a comfortable sofa with velvet cushions for her to lie down on. She fell face first and began screaming, her voice muffled by the seats somewhat.

Zarian mostly ignored her. He waited for Gilbert’s reaction.

There was no better place than here for Gilbert to rip Zarian a new one for his actions. They were right next to a major structural crack in the continental wall Zarian had caused by shaking the entire world.

Gilbert puffed, puffed, puffed. Then he stood to his feet with an easy-going sway, reaching his full height of six feet and nine inches. Then he swaggered over and clapped Zarian on the shoulder.

“There, fixed. Nice to have you back, bro,” Gilbert said lightly, his smoking delight pinched between his fingers.

Zarian could barely focus on the healer’s words. His mostly illusive vitality surprised him by igniting like an inferno. His body recovered so fast it was shocking.

Gilbert let out a big and boisterous laugh. “Yeah, I know! People keep getting freaked out about how I can make them practically unkillable. Want to see? Here, I’ll send it through that brain spider of yours.”

<Mega Healing Force (Level 6): You can heal damage, overcharge vital health, promote rapid recovery for vital stamina, and decrease the effects of healing for multiple targets. Scales triply with Wonder.>

Zarian staggered backward, even more surprised.

He remembered Gilbert’s previous healing skill was a +3. Gilbert must’ve healed so much he pushed it to Level 100 and had an evolutionary reset.

Unfortunately, it lost a few things. But the losses paled compared to its scaling.

“Triple?! You have triple scaling?” Zarian pointed up at the big man’s chest.

Gilbert roared with even more laughter, louder than the last. “Yup, that’s the reaction I thought you’ll have! Come on, I bet you’re wondering why I’m just hanging out here! It’s because the others don’t need me yet, and if I show up too soon, I’ll spook the bastard fishies.”

“Is that so?” Zarian questioned, looking back down at himself.

Yup, all of his wounds were gone. He also felt supercharged and energetic, like he’d taken a week off at a relaxing spa before spiking his energy levels with six shots of espresso.

“You seem very relaxed, Gilbert,” Para said pointedly, directing Zarian’s attention to Gilbert’s strange attitude.

“Para? Is that you? Where are you speaking from? I don’t feel you in Zarian’s body like usual.” Gilbert looked around, still smiling, as if it was just another part of the play.

Para made a more solidified appearance, better than any Zarian had seen from her before.

She became a dark red and faceless woman with an endowed upper body. Her lower body was large and serpentine, coiling around Zarian, with the end of the tail phased into his upper back.

If Para was like an evil genie, Zarian was the genie’s lamp. Her appearance was translucent, too, see-through like a ghost. Still, it was by far the most defined version of her to appear.

“I’ve evolved into the Parasite Phantom. I very much like this form. I lose little of anything other than how I scaled with Wonder and Mysticism back when I was a cloak. But I have double scaling to Willpower and I can do interesting phantom things with more range than my old cloak form.”

“Nice! Phantom things sound badass. Good work in taking care of Para, bro.” Gilbert winked down at Zarian before taking a few more puffs of his new rolled-up pastime. “And yeah, I’m relaxed, because I’m finally finding my groove. But let me show you something cool. Come along, y’all, come along.”

Gilbert plucked the dangerous spear off the floor. After another look, Zarian noticed the weapon was more like a fishing spear.

Gilbert then snatched up his foldable chair and made it disappear into his relaxed bottoms. He sauntered over and reached down to pat Bianca on the arm.

“Hola, señorita! ¿Cómo estás?”

Bianca raised her head and hissed. “Stop it! You’re being weird! No me gusta eso!”

Gilbert laughed it off as he swaggered by. Zarian followed, lion tail hanging low. Bianca sent a glowering look at the healer’s back before shooting the same expression toward Zarian. The wizard shrugged, and Para’s faceless head stayed focused on Gilbert as she floated along.

The healer led them down a series of stone lanes and ledges overlooking thousands of feet of air and briny mist clouds. Then they passed by rushing citizens of the walled city who were running errands or little side quests to help the defenders in the giant crack.

The closer Gilbert, Zarian, and Para drew to the fighting, the more the wizard sensed some great magic at work. It was subtle before, but now Zarian knew for sure Gilbert hadn’t left the non-rankers on their own at all.

“Those are some powerful monsters at the other end of the fight,” Zarian said. “But there’s something slowing them down while boosting the adventurers. That’s you?”

“Yup!” Gilbert boasted, finishing his smoke.

He tucked his cursed fishing spear under his arm, reached into his bottoms, and pulled out two items. He had an enchanted lighter in one hand and another rolled-up relaxer product in the other.

He caught the end of his newest smoke with the enchanted flame and puffed on it a few times. Then he blew large streams and rings of acrid but strong herbal smoke.

“When did you become a smoker?” Zarian asked.

“When the moons fell from the sky. But look here. This is what I can do because of a certain new skill I got from combining some old ones.”

As they turned a corner down a walkable path that led into the giant crack itself, Gilbert sent the info via the spider network.

Apparently, he’d combined the skills Adrenaline Jolt +3 and Tranquilizer Touch +3 to make this new one.

<Behavior Force (Level 4): Control a force that can increase and/or decrease the physical activity, focus, endurance, sensitivity, and mood of your targets. With more exposure, the greater the effect. Scales with Strength, Agility, and Wonder.>

Zarian felt some alarm from Para, but she wasn’t quick to say anything. She didn’t share her personal thoughts with Zarian either, leaving him to infer on what was worrying her.

It didn’t take long with the help of free evil +7.

“You’re not using that on yourself now, are you?” Zarian asked. “Because that’s a flexible and potent skill. And the scaling is powerful on you.”

“Oh, nah, nah. I don’t need that to relax. And look. See how Behavior Force is helping?” Gilbert waved toward the battle on some large boulders wedged into a pile inside of the crack.

There, Zarian saw hundreds of adventurers fighting hundreds of monsters that walked on four legs with flippers serving as feet. The monsters had big fishlike heads with sharp teeth and oozed salty and slick slime along their bodies.

The monsters were in the high Level 90s or low Level 100s, with each identified as the same type called sea walkers, their classes focused on Man Hunter and Sailor Drowner.

None of them were Master Rankers, but their high levels and numbers should’ve had the Vulture Adventurer Guild severely outmatched.

Yet, that didn’t seem to be the case, as Dawson the Storm Blaster called down a large bolt of lightning and shocked over sixty of the Sea Walker Monsters at once. His attack made the monsters easy targets for weaker adventurers.

Gisella fought at the front while wearing heavy armor and wielding two hammers. She struck the monster line like a meteorite and sent sea walkers tumbling backwards off their flippers. Her presence gave weaker guild members time to dart in, get some hits, maybe even a few kills, and then dart back behind the strongest at the front.

None of the monsters responded appropriately despite their notable advantages. Gilbert was keeping the monsters weak because of his new Behavior Force skill. He was also boosting the adventurers with the same skill, making them mightier and more focused while their monster foes became duller and slower.

That should’ve cost Gilbert some serious aura, but it didn’t. He had a solid amount of aura that came from having a few thousand stats and some major buffs.

How big were those buffs? Zarian didn’t know yet, but the buffs were obviously significant enough. The buffs made it so Gilbert could support from a distance and make it possible for weak non-ranker adventurers to fight monsters thirty to forty levels above them.

Not everything was perfect, especially with those crazy odds.