บท 162: Do you want to come as well?
Ivan could then feel her warm fingers touching his back, making him shudder slightly. Then with smooth but powerful movements, she began to massage his back. With each movement of her hands, a small amount of energy would seep into his body.
Ivan could feel himself slowly relax. First his muscles and then his mind. While focusing on the touch of her hands on his skin, he slowly felt his eyelids become heavy and not long after everything around him went slowly dark, as he fell asleep.
When he woke up, the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling of his bedroom. It seems like after he had fallen asleep Celine had moved him to his bed. He slowly stretched and enjoyed the feeling of his body. He felt fully rested and full of energy.
"This message was really great.", he silently complimented.
After getting up he first went into the bathroom to take a shower. He was still naked and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he thought about how Celine must have moved him like this.
Having finished showering and wearing some fresh clothes, he left the room and went towards the living room.
He hadn't reached it yet when Celine came towards him.
"Great, you are already awake. I was just going to wake you up.", she greeted him and then asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Great.", Ivan smiled at her, "The massage was great. I feel much better now. I really hope you can give me another one soon."
She beamed him a smile. "That's great. I'm happy that you liked it. And sure just ask whenever you want one."
"Thanks. But you could have just let me sleep on the massage table. There was no need for you to move me to my bedroom."
"It's more comfortable for you to sleep in your bed.", she told him in a firm tone, making clear that she wouldn't discuss this. And Ivan knew that she would move him again if he fell asleep during another massage.
"I prepared some food for you. You should still have enough time to eat and then reach the school in time.", she changed the topic.
"Thanks.", he once again thanked him. She had become an important part of his life. In fact ever since he had met Lara, he hadn't had to take care of himself, except when he was outside.
While they walked towards the dining table together, he suddenly remembered something. It was about him having to learn to use his strength and that his servants where his strength as well. This was valid for Vlada but Celine as well.
Thinking about it, he hadn't fought together with her at all. And he had to admit that his normal reaction wouldn't be to do it but instead try to fight by himself.
He turned towards the woman walking beside him. "Do you want to come as well?"
Hearing his question she looked at him in surprise. "You mean you want me to come with you into the dungeon?"
He nodded.
"Sure.", she happily exclaimed. "How come you asked?", she then asked curiously.
"Aren't I suppose to learn to use my strength? Aren't you a part of it?"
"Mm. That's great. I'll make sure you won't regret it."
They sat down at the table and started to eat the light meal, Celine had prepared.
"Do you have everything, to go into the dungeon?", Ivan asked.
"Yes. Remember I got an armor that's quite good when I became your servant and when we went to Jacky's Shop I got a sword as well."
"Ok. Remind me to give you some simple pills."
"The ones you made?"
"Yes. Although they aren't that great, they should be good enough."
"That's good. It is very useful to have a pill refiner in a group. Those pills can get very expensive, so having one can drastically reduce the money we have to spend.
By the way, how is the formation of your group?"
"We don't really have one. Until now, we have just fought together in whichever way seemed best. And today we wanted to practice the 'Basic Turtle Formation' and the 'Basic Spear Formation'.", Ivan explained what they had learned in class today.
Celine nodded thoughtfully. "Those two aren't bad, but they seem a bit unfitting for your group. If I'm correct then you have four mages and one paladin, right?"
"Yes. You are right. Those formations seem to be more geared towards warriors, but they are the only ones we learned.", Ivan agreed. He had seen this as well. Both formations were heavily focused on group melee fighting, which wasn't the true domain of mages, but of warriors.
"Well, it's not like it is bad to learn them. But I would recommend you to try to learn another one, that can be combined with them."
"A formation that can be combined with them?", Ivan asked surprised.
"Yes. There is a formation called 'Magical Strengthening Formation', that has been developed by a group of mages, in order to strengthen their physical combat power.
Back then they wanted to clear a dungeon that had weird restrictions. Only mages could enter it, but once they entered it they would be unable to attack with magical skills. Only pure physical attacks were possible. And while most groups would have given up, they instead developed a series of skills and formations that made use of mana to strengthen their physical combat power."
"Couldn't they just strengthen their combat skills and the relevant stats?", Ivan asked confused. After all, it wasn't like mages and warriors were mutually exclusive. It was just that mages started with mana, unlike warriors. They could use all the skills warriors could if they just trained them. Of course, normally they wouldn't do it since it was seen as a waste of time.
"Well, they had already trained as mages. And the dungeon had a level restriction to level 500 which meant that those that hadn't started with all attributes unlocked hadn't unlocked the last one. Which meant that most of them lacked one of the physical attributes."
"So did they manage to do it?"
"Yes. Surprisingly they did it. But the important thing is that they left their collection of skills and formations for future generations. Sadly nowadays they have become rarely seen."
"Why is that?", Ivan asked confused. They seemed very useful in certain situations, so why would they be lost now?
Seeing his laugh Celine laughed softly. "Do you think everyone is like you? Most mages would focus on casting skills from the distance. It is just your group of weird friends that don't. I guess that's because you are all mages. Or why do you think the school created groups with warriors and mages?
In a normal party, the mages are responsible for long-range support and crowd control. Not for tanking and melee combat like you."
"So you are saying the way I fight is wrong?"
"Of course not. In fighting, there is no right or wrong way. You have to fight the way you are best at."
Ivan agreed with her. Only by fighting the way he was best at, could he produce the best results.
"But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to fight in other styles as well if the situation requires it. And that is something you seem to be sorely lacking in."
"What do you mean?"
"Just take a look at your skills. Is there even one crowd control skill or long-range attack skill? Not to mention a large area of effect skill?"
He didn't have to check his character screen to know that he didn't have any skill of this type.
"You are right. I don't have any such skills. But wouldn't have our teacher told us about this?"
"What level are most of the people in your class?", instead of answering his question she threw back this question at him.
"I'm not sure, but I think they are below level 50."
"There you go. Below level 50 the mana pool would be much too small to fight effectively as a mage, so there was no need to teach you about the right way to fight as a mage yet. But you and Irena as well are different. The two of you have a large enough mana pool, so you should learn how to fight as a mage. This will improve team performance drastically. After all, there is a reason for the standard team formation."
Ivan fell into thoughts while continuing to eat.
"Think about it. If you want to, I can teach the two of you.", Celine encouraged him. "Now let's get finished or we will be late."
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IvanDeSchreck
IvanDeSchreck Hey everyone.
I'm sorry but because of some things IRL I have been unable to write or upload.
Hopefully, everything is now settled, so I can upload chapters regularly. Maybe even every day, but we will have to see.
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