Several hours later, when the suns had set, Lev and Beatrice were lounging on top of the spire. The former didn't have anything else to do, and the latter was assigned to accompany him at all times.

Beatrice sat on her chair, bearing polite and silent. Consequently, Lev was left to read the runes collection on his own. Minutes passed in awkward silence where neither tried to initiate any conversation, though one of them was getting tired of the atmosphere.

How do I even begin talking to this icy person, Lev thought, turning over a page to read more descriptions and potential uses of acceleration formations. She has been deathly quiet since our talk about mana capacity. Did I say something wrong?

Mentally going over the conversation, Lev couldn't find anything he said that might've offended her. Guess she's just the silent type.

"Do you want to leave?" Lev broke the silence. "You don't have to tail me when I'm not fighting."

"That goes against my orders," came the neutral reply.

He almost rolled his eyes. "Just stay close to the spire in case there is an emergency. From what I've heard, things are not going to escalate for at least a week. There's nothing for you to do that in all that time except occasionally use your skills on me."

That at least got her to consider his words. She stared at the ground, lost in thought. Lev continued his reading and gave her space.

Some of these are surprisingly complex despite being two-dimensional, Lev chuckled in his head, entirely self-deprecating. So much fun and joy in store for me.

For a combat crafter like him, enchanting on the fly was going to be the norm. He had no idea how he was supposed to manage three-dimensional enchanting reliably and swiftly during life and death battles. Evolving the related skills was going to help but that was about all he could guess.

"What will you do during the downtime?" Beatrice eventually answered with a question of her own.

Lev just pointed up. "Stargaze."

"For a week or more? You can't be serious."

"Why can't I?" Lev smiled. "There is so much to practice, and I have sustenance on me. Beyond that, I have all the time in the world to do anything else once the storm passes. Nothing wrong with relaxing when I can without a problem."

****

A few hours later, Beatrice was asleep on a large couch Lev had provided for her. No sounds reached her, courtesy of the small sphere on her blocking them.

Lev was lounging some distance away, casually sipping on hot chocolate milk and considering what to work on next. High in the sky, only two of the moons were visible, illuminating the spires in a gentle glow.

No point in practicing anything that will take hours to tinker and create. Can't use them right now, or at least, not anytime soon. Might change once I go clear those platinum dungeons.

That left the more immediate options, but his practice was limited to not wake up Beatrice behind him.

Actually, I think I'll sleep first.

Two hours of peaceful rest later, the moons were still rather far from setting. Washing his face with his trusty refillable canteen, he set about the first test, which was the acceleration formation he had already used.

To start things off, he created four different lances and enchanted them with the formation at different points. The first was enchanted close to the tip, whereas the last was enchanted near the wider top.

One by one, he raised them high in the air and tested the differences. No new mental or visual feedback was registered, meaning the enchantment affected the whole projectile without any changes regardless of its location.

Going by Edward's lectures, willpower and the size of lances will be the major factors that can change that. Each formation has a limit to how much it can affect, and willpower is just wonky with small formations. No wonder the enhancement formation is so complex despite being incredibly watered down.

Time passed slowly but surely. Lev practiced carving the advanced enhancement formation runes on his barriers to practice, finally earning another level in the associated skill.

[

Barrier Carving has reached Level 9

]

Noah coming to the top of the spire interrupted further practice. He took one look at the contently sleeping Beatrice inside a sound ward and made his way over to Lev.

"I hope she didn't create any trouble?" Noah asked with a polite smile.

"Nope," Lev glanced at her sleeping form. "Told her she was free to do whatever but she decided to stay here."

Noah nodded. "Thought so. Tough to get that one to just relax and take some time off."

"So," Lev changed the topic. "What brings you here?"

"To enjoy the show, of course. Come on."

He followed the strategist, bottling up his questions. They merely moved to the edge of the spire, one facing the gates of the city.

"How do you guys allow people in if the gates are closed? They looked pretty difficult to move repeatedly."

"That is exactly what we do," Noah chuckled. "Enchantments responsible for movement shoulder the burden. We only need to supply the mana."

A low thrumming sound cut through the conversation. Lev looked down, observing the mana rushing through the edges of the vacant space around the spires. Like a sun opening its eyes, bright warm white lights came alive in a row around the entire cavity in the ground, embedded in the stone.

More lights were turned on row by row, like a wave rushing downwards. Silently, Lev took it all in, now able to scan the spires and the ground below with far more clarity because of them.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Neat," Lev remarked after a minute. "I'm assuming monsters are coming?"

"Only a small, consistent horde for now. All entrances to the final caverns have been barricaded, which leaves the base town as the only destination for all the monsters spawning in the caves. They should be here in a few hours.

"This also makes me think that your main role was to deal with the monsters coming from below. Duke Fabian acknowledged that you can keep up low-intensity offense for a long time and also fire long-range explosive barrages at will. Two birds in one stone, pretty much."

"It seems so," Lev agreed. "Do you have a way to contact me when the first of them show up?"

"I'll send a runner."

Noah left after that, leaving Lev to his own devices. Some time later, Beatrice stirred, taking in the still dark skies and the barrier mage leisurely tinkering with runes and formations.

"There's still a few hours left before I get to see any action," Lev waved her off. "Go do whatever you want in the meantime."

"What do you mean?" she spoke, suppressing a yawn.

"Take a look around."

She did so, pausing when the bright expanse came into view. All of the towers were visible down to their base, along with the hunters on the ground, preparing who knows what.

"When did this happen?" she questioned without turning back.

"Eeh, like half an hour ago?"

"I see… will you remain here?"

"Yep."

That got her to leave for once. Lev continued his exercise, individually carving the runes required for the advanced enhancement for practice. His general skill was also close to leveling, though he knew the next rank of the skill wasn't going to be anything to write home about.

"Mister Lev!" came a familiar voice after the suns started peeking from the horizon. Lev turned around, smiling from ear to ear, especially because he had been recognized without the illusion armor.

"Hey Maya. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

She stopped a few meters away to catch her breath. "We… all runners are required in the spire to carry orders."

"I see," Lev nodded. "What are the orders for me?"

She made a face, both confused and tired. "There were no orders. Mister Noah just wanted you to know that the monsters are coming."

"Is that all?"

"Yes" she answered while leaving, one hand in the air and waving at him. "Good luck, mister!"

Beatrice arrived up the stairs just as Maya was leaving. They both shared a smile in passing before the aura mage addressed him.

"Do you wish for me to fetch or prepare something before the monsters arrive?" Beatrice questioned, her face not betraying a single emotion.

Lev formed a barrier platform near his feet, extending it enough for both of them to stand on comfortably and keep their personal space.

"Step on this," he waved her over, doing the same himself. Beatrice hesitated for a moment before doing so, at which point Lev completed the bubble around them, leaving small holes for air.

The aura mage kept quiet, not voicing her questions while Lev carved the illusionist's invisibility formation and the mana concealment formation on the entire thing. Dennis had made sure both of the formations were compatible, which made things easier.

While the runes were simple, same as the formations were meant to be, making them cover the whole bubble was something he didn't have any experience in.

To start things off, he enlarged the invisibility formation until it would theoretically cover a third of the bubble. For the most part, increasing the size of the runes did nothing more than cost more mana, but Lev had much of that to spare. The whole thing was barely going to put a dent in his regeneration due to its uncomplex nature.

After testing the finished formation by letting Beatrice leave through a freshly carved hole, carved away from the enchantment, and observing the result, Lev proceeded with the mana concealment formation. That one took way less time, for it was designed to block mana perception for large spaces. Simply putting the formation on the bubble without changing anything was enough. Beatrice joined him once he was done.

"There," Lev remarked in satisfaction, feeling his mana steadily stream into the functioning enchantments. With a thought, the bubble rose into the air, ascending for nearly a hundred meters before it came to a stop. "This is more like it."

"W-wait…" Beatrice shakily voiced while crouching, scared out of her mind. "Do we need to be this high?"

Lev looked down. Other than the roof of the central spire, there was a massive drop all around, nearly a kilometer in depth. He could see why she was scared, though the ability to fly had erased any such fears for him.

"Worry not," he assured her. "I will prioritize your safety above anything else. With your passive boosting my regeneration, I can easily keep floating up here forever."

"That… that does sound better," she gulped. "Just make sure to catch me, please."

Lev chuckled. "I will."

Far below them, on the stone ground near the base of the spires, small shapes were finally streaming out of different caves and holes. Monsters swarmed the hunters present at the bottom of the spires.

Scanning the defenders thoroughly, Lev realized the whole place was littered with traps. Arrowslits in the walls of the spires allowed archers to rain hell from above, and dozens of pitfalls were prepared to make the monsters fall to their demise, dissolved in acid or impaled on metal spikes.

Minute traces of auras below the ground let him know that earth mages were present underneath, ready to bury the corpses and filter out the most valuable ones.

Even better, the hunters stayed close to spire, meaning Lev could utterly eviscerate any troublesome monsters from above without worrying about humans being caught in the crossfire.

As for supporting hunters beyond the wall, the new height advantage was obvious. Lev could see somewhat further and also observe everything much better.

"Good enough," he mused out loud and formed a few dozen arrows around him. "Can you use the Perception active on me?"

Feeling both his Intelligence and Perception improve, Lev squinted and looked beyond the walls, noticing a small horde of monsters. They seemed to be normal goblins, so he went ahead with the first test.

Ten arrows were swiftly enchanted with acceleration and filled with minor amounts of fire mana, enough to take out five goblins with each impact. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the projectiles and loosed the first.

It flew like, well, an arrow on steroids, landing a few meters away from the horde after a few seconds. By his side, Beatrice watched with squinted eyes, barely able to see the distant blast.

Two more arrows followed, both of them landing amidst the goblins this time.

[

You have slain [Goblin - Level 22]

You have slain [Goblin - Level 31]

…

You have slain [Goblin - Level 20]

]

"Did it hit?" Beatrice asked, showing emotion for the first time. Lev grinned at the excited girl who reminded him of how he had asked Alec the same question in the pit.

"Yep. Killed ten goblins."

Minutes passed with occasional barrages like that. With the aura mage's presence, Lev's mana remained full. It was honestly incredibly convenient, even if the passive wasn't comparable to the main active skill.

"Hey," she drew his attention. "Look below."

"Hmm?" Lev glanced down. "Oh, I see."

All the arrows hovering around him turned towards the ground as one. Lightning streamed into them in equal measure, amplifying their speed and lethality. With a mental command, half of them descended on the group of trolls.

They were all first-threshold monsters, yet the levels did nothing to save them. Each arrow flew like a bullet, shearing through muscle and bone while electrocuting the monsters. To top it all off, the remaining mana at the point of impact with the ground combusted at once in small blasts, further destroying their bodies.

[

You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 102]

You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 111]

…

You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 110]

]

A dozen lances came into existence around them when his gaze roamed beyond the city, each filled with a large amount of fire and lightning mana. Time seemed to slow down even further as Lev focused his all on the projectiles, enchanting them with acceleration before letting them loose.

Several kilometers away from the wall, a group of direbears was suddenly engulfed in a wave of electric flames. Some of them were immediately lethally injured from colliding with the lances, whereas the rest found themselves amidst a localized storm of charged fire.

The result was a small mushroom cloud, clearly visible from where they were standing. One of them was grinning like a loon, whereas the other was having trouble pulling up her dropped jaw.

"And that's six second-threshold monsters down."

[

You have slain [Direbear - Level 255]

You have slain [Direbear - Level 251]

…

You have slain [Direbear - Level 251]

Mana Tempest has reached Level 192

Unerring Volley has reached 3rd Level 4

]

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