[Water absorbed.]
[Growth efficiency increased by 2.5%]
[Photosynthesis efficiency increased by 2.5%]
[Quest complete.]
[+20 exp]
~Sigh, okay time for photosynthesis,~ Lucius thought to himself, before looking hesitantly at the exhausted warriors around him.
Sure his earth sense could detect any threats in a close radius around him, however, he was still skeptical about having a session without anyone trustworthy around as his full attention would be drawn towards absorbing the sunlight.
"I'll be taking a short break to commune with the sky spirits, whilst I'm doing that I'll need all of you to be on high alert," he said after some thought. After all, if he were going to be doing this every time they left the den, he had to come up with some kind of excuse. And what better excuse than the mystical Havon, doing mystical things?
The warriors looked at each other in confusion for a moment, before nodding their heads in agreement.
All of them stared intently at Lucius as he got into a cross-legged position.
[Absorbing 1640 Helios per second.]
*
45 minutes hadn't even passed before Lucius felt someone touch his shoulder. His eyes instantly shot open, and with that, his earth sense alerted him of a low-level threat approaching.
~So earth sense doesn't work while I'm using photosynthesis?~ he thought to himself as he looked toward the direction he sensed the threat coming from.
It was a whole herd of the giant-elephant creatures he had hunted two days ago. Though from the way they were charging towards them, they were clearly running away from something.
~Fuck, the cart,~ he thought to himself as he looked back at the cart. At the speed the herd of beasts was charging, he wouldn't have enough time to move it completely out of the way.
"Everyone stand back!" he shouted, before calling out his crux and rushing towards the charging stampede.
As he got closer, he began overcharging his crux with solar energy, realizing that none of his spells would be strong enough in their normal version to take this large a group out.
But anyways, his plan was to redirect them away from the cart. He didn't need to actually kill them.
~Solar pit,~ he chanted silently, now exuding solar energy as if it were a mist cloud.
It was a spell he hadn't used ever since he had created it back when he was with his first commune, however, yesterday's drama had reminded him of many of the unused weapons he had in his arsenal.
Solar pit allowed his crux to ease even more than it usually could, greatly increasing the range of his spells.
By the time collision with the herd was imminent, his crux was now around half the size of his body. Though it wasn't as dense as it seemed in its natural state, what he needed now was a powerful-looking spell, not an actually powerful one.
"Solar beam," he shouted, and for a moment there was complete silence all around him.
A millisecond later, a trail of light shot forward from his crux, its thrust strong enough to send him and the air all around it gusting back.
It sounded like a thunderclap had just been unleashed as the heat from the beam caused the air to expand rapidly.
The trail of light hit four of the nearly 15 beasts in the herd, completely disintegrating their flesh and leaving their pink insides exposed.
[Quest complete.]
[+300 exp]
Sand and rock debris were blasted into the air as the injured beasts fell to the ground. Seeing this threat, the herd took a sharp turn right and began rushing off in that direction.
~They're like large cows,~ he thought to himself, finding their herd mentality a little amusing.
However, what wasn't amusing, was the toll the spell had taken on him. His vision blacked out several times in the span of the few seconds since he cast the spell, and his body was temporarily frozen from exhaustion.
In fact, as soon as the spell had been unleashed, his crux had immediately recalled itself, having completely used up all its reserves.
~Perhaps I overdid it,~ he thought to himself as he waited for his body to start responding to his commands. Though even when he was able to move his fingers, it felt similar to how limbs became when they hadn't been getting enough blood for some time.
~Noted, tone it down just a little bit more next time,~ he thought to himself. Though this was actually good practice for him. It had been a while since he tested the limits to his power, and from what he could tell the crux became bigger the more solar energy he used, so this ought to have grown it a few levels.
It was just a pity that he had exhausted all his magic in unsafe territory.
By the time he regained full control of his body, he noticed a group of 5 golems running toward him. Their massive builds trampled down what little vegetation the elephant-beasts had left behind from their stampede.
~I see,~ Lucius thought to himself, before gritting his teeth.
With his magic completely drained, he would have to rely on pure brute strength to take on these golems. But even then, they were simply too many, and his body was still undergoing the overheating effects of the spell he had just cast.
"Why do you hunt in our lands?!" one of the golems shouted once they got into earshot range of Lucius.
Three of the golems continued chasing after the herd, whilst one of them remained with the golem that was currently speaking.
~They're not attacking me?~ Lucius thought to himself.
"Look Geynor, it's the tiny warrior Wise told Grenovarish about. Are those not the black horns, and the green skin he spoke about?" the other golem asked as his comrade continued questioning Lucius about the fallen beasts.
"Yes, Geynor can see that. What other tiny creature would've been able to cause this much damage? But still, Geynor does not understand why this tiny creature has killed our prey. What right does it have to hunt here anyway?" the golem called Geynor asked in indignance.
"So let me get this straight. The problem here is that I killed some of the creatures you were hunting, not that you want to kill me?" Lucius asked in confusion, standing up straight from the fighting stance he had been in.
"What does this tiny creature think Geynor is? What use would you have to Geynor? You could not even feed an infant," Geynor retorted.
