It took till deep in the night before Zach hit level 24. It was a significantly quicker pace than I made it at, but back then I was focused on so much more than levels.
On top of that, I didn't have a backup plan, and I certainly didn't have the quality of food he was eating.
Food and drinks both worked to increase the natural regeneration of the body, with the most basic of them increasing it by 2, then going up by one half for every tier of item.
Like food from The Meadows was 2.5 times, and food from Dusk Falls was 3 times.
Nonetheless, even with the bonus, his mana still took time to regenerate.
"So, you think I should pick the next level in the Frost Mage line?" he asked as we sat leaning against two trees that were close together.
"Again dude, you have to pick," I reiterated. "The only thing waiting does for you is give you a more specific class. Do you even know what magic you want to use?"
"Nothing boring like yours, of course," he said quickly, then took a second to actually think. "I don't know. I guess it would be cool to summon some stuff. Having an extra would be good for levels."
"If that's what you wanna do, just wait till you see it as a class option."
"But how do I know it'll show up?"
"It will, man. Trust me."
I don't know why he would. I was talking out of my ass, but I did believe it.
"Fuck it, if you insist," he said, smiling.
"Fuck you," I said, also smiling.
It was a productive day all things considered, and I wasn't hating being with Zach anymore.
"Alright, go to sleep first and I'll stay watching us."
"Alright," he said, getting comfortable with a pillow I gave him.
It was a stackable item in my inventory, so if I could carry one I felt I should carry more.
[Whisper to Merlin] "How'd it go?"
[Whisper from Merlin] "Still in it, stuck."
[Whisper to Merlin] "Are you going to be okay?!"
[Whisper from Merlin] "I don't know, hopefully. After the King there's a caster boss. He collapsed the tunnel behind and is attacking periodically."
[Whisper to Merlin] "Why don't you charge?"
[Whisper from Merlin] "We have no mana regen because of a 'hex' debuff. Our druid is trying to devise a spell to cure it, but that will take time, and she's low on mana as well so we need to make it count."
As I was typing out my last response, something caught my eye in the distance.
It was a hunched-over figure with red eyes, sharp teeth, and that same dreadful evil feeling.
[Level 25 Dire Wolf (Elite)]
"Oh fuck, get up Zach."
I shook his shoulder a bit, waking him quickly as I crouched down and watched the beast.
"What, man?"
"We need to go. There's an elite."
"Huh?"
I sighed. His instincts really were terrible. Sadly, the sigh got cut off by a crushing force slamming into my side and throwing me a few feet from where I was.
"FUCK!"
I looked down and saw another dire wolf clamped onto me.
To add insult to injury, the one I had initially spotted was already running toward me.
[Mana: 910/1230]
I could tell Zach was already shaken. Just like me at that level, his Will was probably still low, so I couldn't rely on him to react fast enough on his own.
Summoning 20 Magic Missiles, I fired them all at the incoming beast, forcing it to dodge and lose momentum for just a second while I started prying the jaws of the dire wolf off my stomach with my shield.
[Mana: 860/1230]
Just keeping the pressure off me was costing fifty mana a second, but at least it gave me enough breathing room to think.
"Frostbite on both of them! Now!" I yelled at Zach.
[Mana: 810/1230]
I could see the start of his spell forming. It was going quick for an amateur, but he was still new to this. It was a spell he'd only cast maybe once or twice before.
So I decided to give the wolf something it would remember.
[Mana: 710/1230]
Overloading the hell out of Mana Fist, I sent my fist into the side of the dire wolf attacking me.
Sadly, the beast wasn't stupid and jumped away when it saw the attack coming. It was unfortunate, but at least it got off me.
Absorbing the mana I had used for Mana Fist, I started forming two leylines for the fight.
[Mana: 670/1230]
By then the first Frostbite landed on the dire wolf that was just about on us, so I used the leyline to send 5 Missile Bindings into its back.
[Mana: 586/1230]
I didn't delay the second stage at all. I instantly chained the beast up, then rapidly moved the leyline above myself and into the other dire wolf.
As the leyline moved, so did the chain, and so did the beast, getting yanked straight into its kin.
"Ice Lance!" I yelled, already forming 3 fireballs.
[Mana: 196/1230]
By the time my fireballs were done, the two beasts had broken my chains.
The good part was I saw an Ice Lance fly toward them, landing about a foot deep into the chest of one of the wolves.
"Another!" I yelled, already trusting he'd make it, as I sent my three fireballs down at the beasts.
Then I waited just a second, letting them track the fireballs in midair.
It was only right as they tried to dodge that I used my leylines with Missile Binding to yank them down into the ground with the full force my magic could support.
[Mana: 0/1230]
Now that the flames blocked out my vision, I stood there waiting, hoping that would be enough.
But life can't ever be that simple.
The wolf that bit me first ran out of the blast. It was horribly injured, but still fast.
The only thing I had time to do was pull out a mana potion and chug it as quickly as I could.
But it wasn't fast enough.
I saw the dire wolf go for that same pounce they always do.
I threw my arm up, hoping I'd be able to keep it after the fight, but thankfully I was saved when a lance of ice plunged into the beast's chest and killed it right then and there.
Taking a few breaths, I looked over at Zach.
"That... that was good," I said, before collapsing against a tree and pulling out a slow-heal potion to drink.
"T-thanks." He watched me struggle for a second. "How are you so fast?"
"Huh? It's just Willpower, man," I said, holding my side and trying to find a position that didn't make it hurt too terribly.
"I have Willpower though. I just... can't think that fast. I don't know."
I could tell he was unhappy about it, and honestly I was too.
Because he was right.
It wasn't just Willpower.
It was Willpower, but it was also everything else. My Intelligence, my experience, how used to panic I'd gotten, how used to pain I'd gotten. The fact that I'd already almost died enough times for this sort of thing to feel familiar.
"Just... there are roles for people who can't cast fast, man. Just not without a group."
"Okay..." He hesitated. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"No, I'm fine."
I wasn't fine. I was in a lot of pain.
But there wasn't really any point in telling him that.