บท 10: Wasted Time and Building Resistance
Tigra grumbled as she walked towards the room holding that giant red gem. For one reason or another, Shadow Weaver had called her down to the room, despite only returning a few days ago after a 2 day trip.
While she could ignore her request or simply deny her summons, seeing as she is stationed under Force General Judai [a middle aged female human with a missing arm from her elbow down], it would only piss Shadow Weaver off and let her potentially go through proper channels that could call her credit as a Force Captain into question.
She stretched her shoulders and was met with the usual sound of her joints popping lightly, accompanied by the light groan that followed. There are only a few times where she hasn't felt the need to pop something in the morning.
Her mood is only worsened when she remembers that she hasn't been able to do anything besides paperwork since she's gotten back. The only thing that made it more bearable for her is that her Writing skill is at a high enough level that she can do about an hour's worth of work in 10 minutes.
She went back to wearing her regular outfit and had become interested in getting a metal piece created. She talked to a metal worker and said that they could make it in about two months, since Lord Hordak wanted metal workers to focus on their assigned jobs.
She reached the room, only to run into Catra right outside as well.
"Did Weaver call you down as well?" Tigra asked the obvious question.
"Yeah. Wonder what mission involving Adora it's going to be this time." Catra scoffed at the end.
Adora…was a tricky subject between the two of them. Catra seemed angry and hurt over Adora leaving but seemed even more angry at being sent on missions to bring her back.
Tigra…she's not sure how to feel with her besides fighting. On one hand, she's glad that Adora isn't stuck here anymore and doesn't have to go against her principles. That she seems to be doing better without Shadow Weaver watching her every move, besides what she's been doing to get her back.
On the other hand, Adora just left them. The first day out of the Horde and she left while telling Catra to stay so she wouldn't get in trouble. She tried to convince Tigra to leave Catra behind. She argued about how the Horde were bad, which had been obvious for nearly everyone in the Horde. How they could stop what happened to them from happening again to someone else, yet it was still happening to them. If Tigra chose to leave, it would still be happening to Catra.
Yet not a single word about Adora wanting them to be with her. Only to prevent the Horde from having them as soldiers and making them throw away what they've been working towards since they were 6.
"Whatever it is, I hope it's not sneaking into Brightmoon. You know that she would order something like that if she got desperate enough."
Catra nodded. "We could do it, but to be caught would be a death sentence practically."
Tigra walked forward before they entered the room to see Shadow Weaver holding her hands against the Black Garnet. Magical energy circled around her arms as a red light seemed to gleam from the top of her head.
"Shadow Weaver," Tigra started. "You wanted to see us?"
The energy suddenly released a bright light that caused the two of them to hold a hand in front of their eyes before it dimmed and Shadow Weaver floated over to a cauldron.
"Ah, Force Captains. How kind of you to join me."
"What's up with you? You're acting creepier than usual." Catra asked.
"My shadow spies have located Adora. She's on her way to Mystacor with her new friends. For once, this will be too easy."
"So, what did you want us to do?" Tigra asked. "Sending us to retrieve her?"
"No, I can't trust either of you to actually succeed in retrieving her given your past failures regarding her. You two will be waiting outside and guarding this room. No one is to enter. I will be going after Adora personally. Now, go."
Tigra rolled her eyes at being given such a useless task before leaving, Catra not far behind.
...
Tigra leaned against a wall before snapping her fingers, causing her entire body to light up in yellow flames.
Catra held up her hand to block the sudden light with a slight curse.
"Can you warn me before you suddenly turn yourself into a walking flare?" She snarked.
"Sure." Tigra shrugged. "Just finding a way to pass the time that we could be doing for anything else. I mean, no one really wants to come to this room. Lord, does anyone even come to this room?"
"Not as far as I know. Weaver intimidates enough people that they don't visit places she usually goes without being ordered to." Catra admitted. "But as for passing time, you want to explain why you lit yourself up like the factories?"
No sooner did she finish talking did Tigra stop glowing.
Flame Armor gained 2000 EXP.
Flame Armor leveled up!
[Flame Armor LV 6 (1000/1200) - Multiplies CON by (1+Amount_Used/388)
…
"I'm trying to get used to this spell as quickly as I can. I can tell that I'm wasting magic that could be used to enhance the protection it is giving me." Tigra explained.
"I have two ways of training with it: using all of my magic at once to get a better feel for how the spell uses it, or…risk my health."
Tigra had gained Catra's full attention if her narrowed eyes meant anything.
"What do you mean by 'risking your health?'"
"You see, I…found this spell. From some old text that was laying around. The spell mentioned that one could use one's own 'life force' to power the spell should one run out of magic."
"Can you put that in terms that doesn't sound like you are throwing away the time you have left?"
Tigra sighed. "I burn myself alive."
"WHAT!?"
"By burning myself, I can turn parts of me into pure magic, which I can then fuel into the spell. By doing this, I could keep the spell going longer than I should."
"Can't believe I have to say this, but don't burn yourself alive! "
"Relax. I can cut off the spell at any point. Plus, I would likely start becoming fire resistant as it continued. The text did mention something like that."
Half of that was utter shite. Or at least, in connecting the spell to her in a way that makes sense. There is no text she found nor any explanation on why she would become resistant to fire in the future.
'Lord, if I practice with the spell long enough, I may become fire proof .'
[Quest Created!]
More than Resilient (Continuous)
After pushing your resistance to one thing or another, you gained the idea to become immune to that instead of just resistant.
Objective: Increase one of your Resistances to Level 100
Reward: 1x Trait point per Level 100 Resistance
…
"JUST…don't." Catra let out a long breath. "I don't like hearing you say that you could burn yourself alive.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Would it help at all if I say that I can heal my injuries?"
"No. That just means you'll likely do it hidden away and heal any damages that you take before anyone notices it."
"Fair."
Another minute passed before Tigra snapped her fingers once more, glowing in flames once more.
...
The fire went out on Tigra once more before the recurring message popped up once more.
Fire Armor gained 2000 EXP
Fire Armor leveled up!
[Fire Armor LV 24 (800/4800) - CON*(1+Amount_Used/352)
…
"This is so boring." Catra complained, tossing her pad to the side, finishing up whatever report she was on this time. "Got any spells that could provide any entertainment?"
Tigra sat there as she waited for her MP to refill once more.
'Maybe I'll get another Regeneration trait. If I get the magic one, then I double the amount of MP I can get every minute during a battle from 1/100 to 1/50. While still not that much in the big picture, that could really affect certain spells. Lord, Flame can already be done indefinitely during battle. Imagine if I could do that with other spells.' Tigra thought.
"-igra. Tigra." Catra's voice brought her back, making her look at her. "I'm guessing you didn't hear a word I said?"
"Spells and entertainment?" She guessed. She remembered hearing those two words but not much else.
"Yeah. Do you have any spells that could entertain us while we wait for whatever Shadow Weaver's doing to finish?"
Tigra thought about it.
'Flame is overused to the point it doesn't entertain us anymore; Fire is just a weaker form of Fire Armor in terms of looks; Heat just makes me give off a nice layer of heat through and around me; she's seen Flame Armor for the past couple of hours; Heal would require one of us getting hurt.' She thought through her spells.
'Haste … Haste could be entertaining.'
"How would you like to experience the spell that I use to increase my speed in the field?"
"That haste spell, right?" Seeing Tigra's surprised face as she hasn't actually said it's name up to this point, she continued. "I've heard a few soldiers on the other side comment about a spell called haste that does what you've implied."
"Well…that's the one. It increases your speed and reaction to allow you to be used to that speed. Would you like to try it out?"
"Is it safe?"
"I've used it since we've left the Academy almost every time I go into a fight." Tigra deadpanned. "It's safe as long as the person it is being applied to isn't moving when the spell cuts out."
"And you can-"
"Yes, I can control the rate. I could easily keep the spell going for about half an hour."
She looked at the spell to remind herself if that was true.
[Haste LV 28 (1246/7000) - Multiplies DEX by 1+(0.25*(1+Magic_Control). Cost: 22 MP/m]
…
Doing the math, she could do it for about 45 minutes straight before needing 7 minutes to recover the MP back, but she'll stick to half an hour at this point.
"The only way this goes wrong is if you do some kind of stupid shit. In which case, I should still be able to reach you before you would even hit the ground." Tigra threw out. "So the only thing stopping this, is your choice."
Catra stayed silent before breathing in and opening her mouth.
"Do it."
Tigra nodded before pointing her palm at Catra and focused on Haste. As she casted it, Catra tensed her body before she gained a faint orange glow around her. Other than that, she seemed the same.
"Alright, it's done. You will be quite a bit faster for the next half hour or less." Tigra informed.
Catra seemed surprised.
"That's it? I didn't feel a thing!"
"And you shouldn't." Tigra stressed. "The magic I've been practicing has not hurt me once, with Fire Armor being the only one that could hurt me without a backfire."
Catra moved her limbs around, yet she seemed to have already noticed the difference in speed.
"If I'm right, you should be able to reach somewhere that would normally take you twenty minutes in about sixteen minutes."
"That's it? You always make it look so much faster." Catra admitted.
"Because it is. I understand how the spell works and how it affects my body. My skills are best suited to helping me most while also being capable of helping y-others." Tigra changed at the last second. "Now, why don't you get the excess energy out of yourself by running around. I'll keep a close eye around here. Who knows, I'd be willing to teach you some spells if you're ever interested."
Catra seemed hesitant about doing that.
"Cat, take some time to just run and think. Feel the wind through your fur, your muscles straining under their own power, the feeling of getting that energy out-"
An orange blur ran past her with a faint laugh fading, leaving behind a smiling Tigra.
"Lord knows that we both need a break about now." She whispered to the air.
*2 hours later*
Catra had long since returned with a grin on her face, saying that she wants to do that again some other time.
Reputation with Catra has increased. 86→88 [Family]
While Catra enjoyed that time of running, Tigra grew slightly surprised at seeing a notification for Haste upon her arrival.
…
Haste gained 1100 EXP
…
'That's right. [Genius] multiplied the EXP for spells by 2. So what would have only been 550 from using 22 MP/m for 25 minutes became as if it was for 50 minutes.' She remembered.
It had honestly taken a few skill points to get Haste up as high as it was, seeing as it didn't translate well off of the battlefield where she could have practiced it more often.
More times than not, she ended up in a state of being like Catra had been, just so full of energy that she wanted to burn it off. The problem is that her energy sometimes came back after a minute of rest before she felt as if she didn't run at all. The few times she did try to train with it, she had…accidentally…destroyed an entire training room.
Tigra and Catra simply started passing time by throwing a crumpled up ball of scrap back and forth until a loud thud from within the room they were guarding.
The two of them looked at each other before Catra raised an eyebrow.
Tigra rolled her eyes before walking into the room.
"Shadow Weaver?" She questioned the room. "There was a thud so I came to…Shadow Weaver?"
On the floor next to the cauldron that she had been using earlier, laid Shadow Weaver. The glow from the gem in her mask seemed to be slightly faded and her eye sockets for the mask were completely black instead of white.
[Shadow Weaver Age: 61]
[Level 93 Status: Unconscious]
[Reputation: Disliked]
…
Tigra gave a low bark of laughter before turning around and leaving the room.
She saw Catra looking at her in curiosity when she entered the hallway.
"Her plan failed. Whatever happened, knocked her clean out."
"Probably something that Adora did." Catra suggested. "But this just paints a clear picture of what should be done. If even Shadow Weaver failed to bring her back while fighting her, that means that the weak link to getting her isn't Adora."
Tigra thought about that for a few moments before her eyes widened ever so slightly.
"You're suggesting her allies? That it would be better to target them than her?"
Catra nodded. "While it is simple and obvious, that may be to our advantage. We simply will need to find an opportune moment to target and capture them. At which point, Adora will likely either come after them herself or trade herself to get them released."
Both of them seemed hesitant about that last part.
"Why…are we trying to bring her back?" Tigra finally asked. "Adora will not return to how she was before she left, let alone be allowed to move about the Fright Zone after being acknowledged as a Traitor."
"While you are deployed under Force General Judai, I am still under Shadow Weaver. As such, she's given me an unofficial mission to bring her back. If I continue to fail, she would have the ability to bring my credence as a Force Captain into question."
Tigra lightly growled at the knowledge that, while she was slightly more free of Weaver, Catra hadn't been. Sure, she knew Catra still worked under Shadow Weaver, but she had been assuming that she was, at least, deployed under another Force General.
"Hey." Catra spoke, stopping her growl. "I can handle myself. Even if I couldn't, I do still have the trio of Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio. We may get into a spat every so often but we still have each others' back.
"You don't though. You're on your own with whatever squadron you get assigned to for the mission you are deployed for. So, you focus on keeping yourself safe for now. It's only a matter of time before Shadow Weaver does something that puts herself into Hordak's line of ire. Especially if she keeps going after Adora and pushing off her other assignments."
Tigra nodded, accepting her reasons before looking to the side.
"The same goes for you." She muttered. "While you'll have backup, you won't have them watching your back 24/7. Keep yourself safe and I'll promise to do the same."
Catra nodded before they walked away back to their quarters, with Tigra reaching hers first and saying night.
...
Tigra stood in the shower before breathing in and snapping her fingers, causing herself to catch on fire and wince from the sudden feeling of burning.
[Flame Armor] activated with 205 HP. Due to [Fire Resistance] and [Iron Body], this has reduced the actual damage by 26%, to 153 HP/m.
…
It felt hot, obviously. In actuality, it felt like hot water hitting her skin all at once after being submerged in icy water. She had decided to do this in the showers for: the ability to have water put out any sudden fires and to not accidentally burn off anything she wears on a daily basis.
She likes what she wears, thank you.
After a few seconds, she placed her right hand on her chest before focusing on Heal.
[Heal LV 16 (1853/2400) - Heals target by 152 HP/m. Cost: 10 MP/m]
…
She immediately started feeling relief but felt like she was standing in slightly too warm of water.
She thought about doing this while Catra had been off running around and determined that, as long as she could use Heal with Fire Armor , she could level both up while potentially leveling up Fire Resistance at the same time.
So, for 100 minutes, she could be gaining: 82 EXP for F.A. , 302 EXP for Heal , and maybe 205 EXP for Fire Res. every minute.
And considering that Fire Resistance is a new skill, it should be easy to level up at first and with it, easier to level up in the future as she can personally 'burn' herself alive now without worrying about burning herself to death.
So, she stayed in the shower for the longest time she had ever been in there before feeling herself start to burn once more and cutting off the spells. She glanced at her HP to see how well it became affected and liked the results.
HP: 2228/2350
…
Heal gained 30200 EXP. Leveled up! LV 16 → 26
[Heal LV 26 (1303/3900) - Heals target by 174 HP/m. Cost: 7 MP/m]
Fire Armor gained 8200 EXP. Leveled up! LV 24 → 25
[Fire Armor LV 25 (4703/5000) - CON*(1+AMOUNT_USED/350)]
Fire Resistance gained 20500 EXP. Leveled up! LV 1 → 20
[Fire Resistance LV 20 (1500/2000) - Decreases damage taken from Fire by 20%]
…
She liked the results, especially at how this should only keep increasing due to several factors. Heal takes less MP to sustain and that had been the reason she stopped in the first place this time. She simply ran out of MP to supply it with.
Then there's Fire Resistance increasing the amount of damage reduced from fire, which comes from using HP for Fire Armor . Since Fire Resistance reduces the damage the higher it levels up, it would allow her to use more HP for Fire Armor, thus gaining more EXP.
'It's like a strange circle for EXP for these three abilities.' She concluded, turning the shower off and drying herself off quickly by using Fire Armor with MP for a few seconds to evaporate the water off of her fur.
Once finished, she let the spell go before heading to her bed and flopping down on it and closing her eyes, letting her mind rest for the rest of her night.
Yet, she received a message that she would notice only after waking up the next morning.
"Lord Hordak has chosen your next mission. You are to head out to the town of Terra. It is a town that borders Plumeria and the route we will need once we have taken care of the Whispering Woods. It will take 2 days to meet up with the 60 soldiers and 10 medics. You will be given the ability to take the town through your methods, so long as the town still stands afterwards. You leave in 5 days from this message. Lord Hordak expects results within two weeks."
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง