Attune to Nature had a fairly large flaw in that it couldn't detect monsters above the level of the caster. It was otherwise an impressive scouting power and an excellent way for Daniel to exercise his mass-marking ability through Identify Creature. Unfortunately Tak had been the one to spot the monsters he and Hunter were now fighting, which meant Daniel could only see two green auras in the distance flying evasively rather than murderously.

That was soon remedied. With the platform slaved to Khiat and the dusker making her way to aid Tak and Hunter with the others, Daniel took a moment to dive into his brother's senses. The sharpened senses and adrenaline shift assaulted him, but his mind was hardened against this now.

Hunter took a moment to orient himself in the air after acquiring his passenger, getting the majority of the monsters in his field of view. Daniel then activated Moment of Clarity, tagging them as they conversed.

Cloudborn Scion - (3, ~Evolving~)

-

Cloudborn Flickerwisp - (2, Minion)

…Huh.

That's a monster? Hunter asked incredulously. I thought they were hiding in it.

Daniel looked at the largest aura again, wondering if it was incredibly clever camouflage, but no. There was a cloud nearby registering as a monster, which was apparently in the midst of reaching the 'evolved' status. I heard they had these things out there. Judging by the fact that your body doesn't feel awful that it isn't as bad as the wyvern. Still, it could be dangerous if that evolution finishes. You need us to hoof it?

I do not think so, Tak offered. The Totem Warrior was flying nearby and included within the conversation as a matter of course. That cloud has not done much, besides making monsters it seems. Those are annoying.

The monsters Tak indicated filled the sky between Hunter's position and the cloudborn scion, sixty that he could see. They were about three quarters traditional wind elemental with no consistent body shape between those visible. The last portion composed of brightly colored gas that remained collected together inside the elemental, giving the impression of a large organelle within a cell.

Well, those definitely aren't beasts. Not to cut this short but I have been using mana on enchanting and scans today and I don't want to drink a potion if I don't have to. Are you guys ok to fill me in on the rest while I fly to you?

Not going to complain about that, Hunter replied. Despite everything, he still hated Moment of Clarity. The combination of it and Mirror Strike in recent history might have been to blame.

Daniel took to the sky once he was back in his own body, withdrawing his blast bow and loading rounds after a brief moment spent deciding on which magazine he wanted to use. Every combination possible wasn't available to him… but a decent number were.

He was starting in rifle mode, now with actual rifling on the barrel after consulting with wiki-Lograve, and decided not to go with frostfang bullets on the outset. They represented his highest damage potential as he could throw two different elemental charges on them, or three if he used the one magazine made from evolved wyvern bone. Instead he opted for a magazine of alternating fire and cold damage. Nothing fancy, but it would give him an opportunity to test out this setup with Elemental Onslaught.

"This is Captain Evalyn Lasial of hunting team Wingcraft," the Bard's voice rang as it came through the sending stone hung on his ear like a singular headphone. The 'innovation' of a durable headband that could mount one this way was hardly his, though it wasn't common to see it in lower level teams below level 3. Who else could afford to equip an entire squad with an item costing 20 viridian? "We are engaging with monsters, anyone paired with us must cease communication until we give the all clear."

That was right out of hunting guild guidelines, next to the section on what to do if meeting another team during a hunt. It was unlikely anyone else was both in range and had a sending stone on the same frequency, but you never knew. Protocol, as one Esket Marrow would attest, wasn't always bad.

One bit of good news was delivered amidst the bad as the team raced to bail out Tak and Hunter. The evolving cloud monster wasn't moving, though its minions were in pursuit. They possessed two powers thus far that had proven annoying to deal with.

First was a random elemental attack that seemed to depend on the color of gas within them, though that could change whenever they used their second ability which made them briefly intangible. The fact that they coordinated using this ability well with attacks directed against them, as well as the fact that most had shifted to a red gas to shoot fire, heavily suggested there was intelligence guiding the flock.

Tak and Hunter had initially picked them out because there'd only been a dozen and they hadn't hunted them before. Once they'd engaged, however, more kept coming as the elementals proved too nimble to quickly kill. The call for backup had been more to assure they could clear out the monsters, rather than either being in fear for their life.

"I want to try and farm these if we can," Daniel told the team, thinking back to the wastewolves. It didn't sound like there was a resource he could gain from them, but he stood to gain up to eight formulae or affixes if he could max out the Encyclopedia entry on the minions. With his Focus Shield, he didn't have to care about keeping remains around either, and scanning them while living would make the process faster.

"Got it. It'll depend on how tough that level 3 is." Evalyn wasn't bothering to play while they were going max speed, the magnitude of her bardic music was based on what they could hear, but there was a cadence to her words indicating she'd activated her personal buff. "Let us know if it moves. Otherwise, keep your distance and form up, Hunter. If the minions aren't too dangerous, we'll see if we can oblige Daniel and let that cloud spawn them. I don't want anyone getting close to it, though. Tounaki isn't here to bail us out this time."

"Can't bite a cloud anyway," Hunter grumbled. It was odd to hear his voice over the radio instead of his head.

By the time Daniel had reached the two isolated members of his team, he'd used his sharpened sight to tag every minion on the battlefield. Their outer bodies were easy to miss against the background of endless sky, but the colored portion of their interior contrasted. There were over a hundred now, with one or two occasionally spitting out of the cloud monster at the back of the enemy's formation. The evolving level 3 was fixed in place near a small gathering of floating islands no larger than the compound if put together, half-enveloping one of them.

"I've fought a normal one of those before," Shuni called out, a discouraged tint to her voice. "It could spawn these things, but not this many. Also, some of my better powers won't work on them. They don't have weak points."

Daniel wished he had a Telepathic Link to Shuni, having a good sense of where her head was at. As she was far enough away from him to make quiet conversation impossible, and beginning to engage in stealth, he just said, "That's what a team is for, we cover our weaknesses. I don't think anyone will forget you solo'ing a wyvern just because you can't stab gas."

"Never said I couldn't stab them," the Rogue riposted, brightening. "Alright, I have to take this thing off or it'll give me away. Shout if you need me."

"Acknowledged, and I agree with Daniel. You don't have anything to prove, so don't overextend. Stick together everyone." Evalyn's words came across as Daniel was using Telekinetic Reach to maneuver through his phone to the Encyclopedia's scanning function, having just used the mana needed to heighten his feature.

With the last of his preparations complete, Daniel began taking a more forward position in the group's formation than he'd normally do. The range of the scan was about 20 meters, which was a short distance when he could reliably hit an unmoving target from hundreds of meters away. Bullet math had prevented him from testing too much, but the rifling was a significant improvement. It was for that reason, and the difficulty in refitting the barrel to make sure that explosive ammo didn't hit it, that Daniel didn't enter the fray in shotgun mode.

In fact, he returned his blast bow and withdrew a scalebound shield attuned to fire, as that was the primary damage type the flickerwisps were currently blasting out. Dual wielding shields as he was, Daniel's primary intention at the beginning of this hunt was data acquisition.

Around him, the team fought to hold a section of the air plains as the elemental monster swarm assaulted them. Attacks were flying left and right from both sides, and it was only the gains Daniel had made in both awareness and instincts that led him to be mostly unscathed. All the while he did his best to group the flickerwisps in his scanning field. The number and condition of those he captured, as well as the lore pages, went ignored. The only thing he cared about was what he could enchant with, and one entry in particular got him excited.

Formulae - Elemental Thrower (Weapon)

Formulae - Kinetic Wand

Formulae - Phasing Ammunition

Affix - Essencecut

Formulae - Chromatic Vest (Armor)

The time for ghost bullets was later, though. "I got all the ones besides the few guarding the evolving monster," Daniel reported, indicating the dozen circling the cloud as he patted out a patch of his hair that had caught fire. Like Hunter's fur, Regeneration would grow it back to medium length as the skin underneath healed, and it had become more flame resistant since he'd leveled up.

"Switch to offense. Sigron, keep us anchored," Evalyn relayed, the sounds of her guitar switching from a defensive track she'd recently acquired to good old Valor Song. The enchantment he'd put on the instrument effectively increased the range of her powers, enabling Khiat to remain in the background while Tak and Hunter dove the enemy lines.

Daniel fought clear of the minions trying to roast him with gouts of flame and the occasional fast lightning bolt, which some were switching to as he continued to dodge fiery swaths. The elementals had better handling in the air considering they were partially composed of it, but his enchanted gear gave him the speed advantage.

When he was a few meters clear of any, Daniel took out his blast bow and sighted a target. He entered Elemental Onslaught's trance, and then used Snap Shot while calling out a warning. "I'm firing! Shuni, watch out!" The team was still working out the kinks with her, but after she'd assured them she could keep track of everyone. So, they'd settled on the assumption that he and Khiat were clear to attack any enemy so long as it was obvious they were engaging. It was the kind of rule that worked until it didn't, but they didn't currently have a workaround beyond adjusting their tactics and using good communication.

Daniel tried his best to watch his projectile as it flew toward the hapless flickerwisp while satisfaction spread through him. Even if he used Snap Shot that time, it didn't prevent him from using Quick Mind beforehand to aim. The degree to which the corrective power aided him could be used as a measure of how off he'd initially been. Whereas the first time he'd used the blast bow against a monster had caused it to wrench his arms to the side, the guidance this time had been gentle. His efforts were paying off, though the benefits of rifling couldn't be discounted either.

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Unfortunately, his target didn't enjoy the full benefits of his bullet. The physical bone slug passed through both the wind and colored cloud parts of flickerwisp without any apparent effect. At first Daniel thought this was due to it using its dodge power, though he'd aimed for one that had just used theirs to avoid a Cleave from Tak. You could chain powers like that, but as he'd seen through using Hunter's power himself there was a moment of vulnerability between uses.

Elemental Onslaught ticking over confirmed his other theory as it appeared the fire damage had wounded the monster. Damn it, they must be extremely resistant to pure physical damage. It was like the plant minions of the devil root core. While his projectiles carried respectable destructive power for Daniel's level, they still used piercing force to damage things. If I was a pure Ranger I'd probably have some kind of special attack that could get around this, he mused. But then again I'd have to aim by myself.

Chambering a lightning bullet this time, Daniel looked for a different target. It would have been better to finish off the first monster, but it still had a yellow tint indicating it was lightning attuned. He wasn't willing to risk the flickerwisps having damage resistance to their current element as well. His second shot required more correction as he had to quickly respond to an opportunity, but the bonus damage from the lightning affix on the bullet was enough to finish off his target.

In fact, Hey Hunter, that looked like it did better than it should have. Have you used Lion Charge yet?

Dodged, the ringcat answered distractedly.

Damn. Still skirting the outskirts of the battle, Daniel made a decision. He unloaded his current magazine and quickly swapped to another while willing the affix he'd invested into his blast bow's trigger to remove itself, reverting it back to fire. His preparations paid off as, sensing a potential vulnerability in his target, Daniel was able to swap to a magazine with alternating lightning and ice rounds near effortlessly. He could have kept using the old one, but if the flickerwisps were weak to lightning, why not try out other elements as well?

While it turned out to be pointless, Daniel still managed four kills by the time he'd depleted the magazine. Overall the hunt was proceeding well, with Tak, Hunter, and Sigron keeping the flickerwisps engaged while Evalyn buffed the team and the rest of it focused monsters that had just tried to dodge another attack. It did cause a near miss when Khiat and Shuni attacked the same target, but true to her word the Rogue was able to contort in the air to avoid the arrow's path.

They were, in fact, beating back the horde as the initial font of minions began to run dry. It was bad news for both the evolving monster and Daniel's hunger for more formulae, though at the same time if they could beat the cloudborn scion before it finished whatever it was doing they could avoid a lot of trouble.

Taking one for the team, Daniel made a suggestion. "Hey, if Shuni wants to keep helping everyone in melee, Khiat and I can attack the level 3."

"Do it," Evalyn acknowledged. "I was worried about it pulling out something, but we've scattered enough elementals."

"I'll shoot first," Khiat offered, Daniel seeing the massive bow of the dusker swing in the distance. "If it can dodge too, you can hit it after me."

"Thanks," Daniel replied, having had the same idea. His projectiles traveled faster, and while Khiat was excellent enough to time her shot appropriately, it'd be easier for Daniel. He was also ramping up his elemental damage and was in a position to give the cloudborn scion a bad time. There was definitely pain to repay, as while he'd stuck to the outside of the hunt he'd still been grazed by a few elemental attacks from the minions. Hunter had Regeneration right now as he needed it more, so for the first time since the Rogue elite Daniel had wounds that weren't healing on their own.

Khiat's arrow launched like a missile from a silo, with a slight purple afterglow as its warhead activated. Daniel grimaced, both for the monster's sake and in a Bullet Math kind of way as he was responsible for making Khiat's arrowheads as well. At least I don't enchant the shafts.

True enough, the cloudborn scion activated its dodge power, growing slightly translucent as it did so. For a moment Daniel thought he saw something within it, but it could have just been weird geometry from the part of the island it was covering. It was his turn to attack, anyway.

Frankly, he couldn't miss something with a side larger than a barn. While it was a risk to forgo Snap Shot while he was over two hundred meters from the target, Daniel decided to trust the work he'd put into his weapon and aimed at the monster's center mass. He cut Quick Mind's calculations short when Khiat's arrow was passing through the monster and fired.

The shot hit, though it was far closer to the edge of the monster than he'd have liked. Threst was a windy region and it was hard to nonmagically compensate for that. Still, the lightning from his attack coursed through the monster causing a gale-like shriek to issue forth from it. Daniel watched as its tag changed.

Cloudborn Scion - (3)

Thank god. He'd been very afraid of the 'Evolved' adjective being added to the cloud, but it appeared to have abandoned whatever it had been doing. Daniel soon realized that wasn't a complete positive as the cloud began moving contrary to the wind, multiple glowing cores lighting up within it. Oh crap.

"Pull back! Daniel, Khiat, keep hitting it. We're entering a fighting retreat." Evalyn's voice kept them steady even as two lance-like bursts of flame and one of acid shot from the level 3 monster like mortar fire. Its minions had to be relatively close for their attacks, but the scion had no such limitations. Additionally it had eight colorful gatherings of cloud and could keep up the pressure as long as it wasn't dodging an attack.

Uh, buddy, I'm going to need Regeneration back, Daniel thought in frozen time as he observed the elemental torrents coming for him. He'd braved Moment of Clarity's mana cost despite a dwindling pool so he and his brother could plan on reassigning powers.

I'm not out of danger either, Hunter pointed out.

You still have damage sharing with Tak, and you aren't being focused on the wrath of the heavens. He may have also asked for that part of Hunter's bond with Tak, at least whenever he was in danger of being hit by the mega beams, but that wasn't compatible with Blood Union. The bond benefit only extended to physical effects, which did include a lot of stuff, but direct damage wasn't part of it. Ongoing damage, like magical poison, did, but a sword cut was another thing. Share Your Pain on the other hand influenced the body, but its splitting and distribution of injuries among Tak and Hunter didn't qualify.

Fine. Stay safe.

You too. Regeneration came back to him as soon as time resumed. While he began healing again, this was stifled where he'd been burned. Trying to avoid more problems, Daniel cut the propulsion from his boots and dropped in the sky while using his extended wings to guide himself away from what was coming for him. Shit, he thought as the scion got off two more before Khiat's arrow forced it to temporarily halt the bombardment. I need to get a shot off or I'll lose the damage buff.

It would have otherwise been easy to pull up and get a quick Snap Shot off, but he had to both time the attack with Khiat's arrow and slow to a reasonable pace to make the attack possible. One of his wings was already trailing a bit of smoke as acid sizzled itself out on the scales. Items with self-repair didn't share the same weaknesses as Regeneration did, but the pace at which they reconstituted was also slower than his body. Daniel doubted his wyvern wings would be damaged to the point that they would be destroyed, but enough holes in it would cripple his ability to move to the point that he'd have to retreat.

He could just have Hunter dip into him for a second to trigger Flash Jaunt, but that would leave his brother exposed during the length of the ability. As the ringcat was one of two people holding the line in the dogfight against the minions, that was impossible. Maybe if they were using the Empathic Link to get perfectly in sync they could pull it off, but conditions had to be right to do so or else one or both of them would reject it.

I could go the random bullshit route again, but I can't afford to lose walls that way, Daniel thought, exploring his options as he was continually forced to fly evasively. There's not enough time to go Beast Mode and get up close, and that would be worse for Hunter than borrowing him to use Flash Jaunt. And it's not like I can just use Telekinetic Reach on my blast bow to leave it behind, that'd be locking my powers down and seriously risk its loss. So how… oh, fuck!

Daniel could at times be forgetful. Less so as his attributes continued to improve his mind, though it was a condition that plagued even those at high level. With all his training and attempts at bettering himself he had yet to grow perfect, and it was only now that he was put under pressure that he was reminded of one of his newer powers.

Using a sizable amount of mana, which correlated to about 4%, Daniel activated Recollective Strike. It was a power he'd used a few times to experiment with, both personally and with Might and Magic, though he'd yet to use it in combat. The power had its limits as the weapon it summoned couldn't use an affix, and was basic with its attacks. The wyverns could have dodged it easily, but against a cloud?

The spectral twin of a frostfang dagger currently wielded by Shuni appeared as far as Daniel could summon it and was set on the level 3 monster. It was close, but the weapon made it to the scion in time to trigger Elemental Onslaught. The cloud monster recoiled from the damage, pulling the closest clouds away and into itself, though it was forced to stop that when another one of Khiat's arrows shot toward it.

It can't manipulate its body when it phases, Daniel observed as the dagger stabbed forward on its own. The good news was that his trance power had reset and there was a new weapon in play the level 3 had to worry about. The bad news was Recollective Strike had to be actively maintained, locking Daniel out of other powers, and the Scion was still directing some of its attacks against him.

But he had bought time, and with that Daniel came up with a new plan. He unloaded his magazine, replacing it with one that held only exploding lightning ammunition, as he began to fly in as clean a circle around the scion as he could. Daniel had gone to a far enough range that he only need to keep to a fast pace and make midair dodges whenever a beam got close, though that normally kept him suppressed. Now?

Fifteen seconds. The monster is in the center of a circle I'm flying around. Where do I have to aim to hit that center? Quick Mind began digesting the problem, Daniel conceptualized this as a slowly tightening cone of probabilities on where his shot would go. At the beginning it was too wide and encompassed all of his friends. After twelve seconds, Khiat fired another arrow, and he had at least gotten to the point where he would avoid friendly fire.

Aiming behind him slightly to adjust for what wind he'd noticed, Daniel fired his blast bow and struggled more with the recoil than he normally would given his lack of bracing. The cloudborn scion, currently dealing with the dagger as it did its best to remove the part of itself in the way of the summoned weapon, turned intangible as Khiat's arrow sailed through it. It then rematerialized, and Daniel's bullet clipped its outer edge.

Another shriek of pain issued forth from the monster as the electrical storm coursed through it. An almost perfect sphere of the monster was dissipated from the damage, though it quickly flowed back into the cloud's normal, now smaller shape. The monster renewed its firing on Daniel, but the Artificer didn't mind. In fact, he was smiling.

Quick Mind was still at work. Firing hadn't reset its progress, and had in fact helped as he'd used the shot as another data point. The only thing that hurt his attempts was every time he had to dodge. By the time he was ready to fire again, the frostfang dagger resetting Elemental Onslaught and allowing lightning to benefit again, the cone of probability had narrowed as best as his power could before diminishing returns prevented meaningful improvement.

With the second shot hitting his aim grew slightly better. The third lucky one made it almost a guarantee, and by the fourth it was clear he wouldn't need to empty his magazine to kill the cloudborn scion. Between the destructive potential of his explosive rounds, his exploitation of the monster's weakness, and the ramping up of elemental onslaught, the monster was on its last nonlegs.

Daniel fired the fifth round of his magazine, knowing with certainty it would hit within the inner third of the monster. Not quite a bullseye, but he'd take it. The shot exploded just off the core of the monster, and with a last violent shriek its essence scattered to the wind. The remaining minions died with it, bringing the hunt to an end. Eyeing a notification that he'd just earned two advancement potential and feeling it completely earned, Daniel shouted triumphantly into the team's sending stone.

"Be advised, this is Wingcraft, over hunt is over," Evalyn said joyfully while following Threst protocol. "Regular communication over this frequency can resume."

"So, better than last time?" Shuni asked with disguised hopefulness, appearing once more and holding the sending stone in her hand rather than wear it. The Rogue had some wounds, but Daniel was relieved to see her armor had prevented most of the damage she would have taken.

"Far and above." Evalyn's voice remained positive as she fired a Songbolt in celebration, ending her combat buff. "Khiat, Daniel, excellent coordination. We'd have been in trouble if someone else had to attack that thing. Tak, Hunter, Sigron, I know you three must be hurting because you've been holding the rest of us up this entire time. And Shuni?" The Bard playfully let that hang for a second before she finished. "You're working well with the team. It was hard for me to trust someone I didn't know to be completely on their own. Sorry I didn't see your value earlier."

"It's fine," the Rogue replaced bashfully, scratching at the back of her head as she hovered in the air. "I'm just happy to be here."

"We are too," Tak confirmed. "I am glad everyone is ok. Now that the fight is over, should we do anything about that?"

Everyone looked where he was pointing, and Daniel saw what he'd briefly glimpsed through the cloudborn scion before being forced into furiously dodging its attacks. On the island it had engulfed was a withering tree. The best way he could describe it was looking half-digested, and with that thought came a revelation. Daniel would have to inspect it to be sure, but if he was right, he'd just figured out how monsters evolved.

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