Overpowered Wizard

Floating in the sky above Ride-or-Die Village, Zarian ended his cultivation and sealed away his Overwhelming Darkness. He would return to cultivating once they left the village.

He still maintained the dark seal patterns on his arms. They were for the safety of everyone in the universe and beyond.

They also looked badass, like a pair of complicated and esoteric full-sleeve tattoos. He also felt warm looking at them, thinking back to how Ruvaria improved upon his sealing style.

Sighing pleasantly, Zarian bumbled around in the air and enjoyed the full splendors of Aura Mastery. He let the aura he controlled outside his body unfold itself and expand further and further out, growing to his full and natural mystical reach.

He could passively reach out further than before because of Aura Mastery, covering thousands of feet in all directions. Multiple village blocks under him were well within his aura range.

He didn’t, however, let his body sparkle. He even dimmed the little aura starlights in the black void that were his eyes. The last thing he needed was for someone to compare him to a certain vampire movie from many years ago.

That would ruin his rep.

He did, however, let Para sparkle as much as she wanted while she was back in her base form. It was like he wore a galaxy-eating cloak behind him. The ragged and mystical apparel wavered in the morning winds like a nightmarishly beautiful eldritch flag.

Para wanted to fuse with the wizard hat and make it sparkle, too. But Zarian kept the hat and the rest of his Dark Lord outfit mostly black for the sake of being fashionably balanced.

Zarian breathed deeply and let out another pleasant sigh. Everything felt great. Like he was breathing fresh air for the first time when everything before was toxic. Like he had evolved from a weaker, blinder, and more foolish form to become greater.

He had a lot to explore.

The more he experimented, the more he realized he was climbing a great and endless mountain of magical mastery. In fact, all he had to do was look up and see his dear teacher floating even higher above.

She was wearing a more modest green dress while weighed down by shiny gold jewelry and green gems on her neck, fingers, and toes. She even wore gold and emerald studs and rings on her ears with hoops on her wrists and ankles.

There was a magic crown on her head that shone like liquid gold, especially under the light of the twin suns. And if all of that wasn’t enough, her hair was braided with gold bands, too.

It was on this morning that Empress Ruvaria embodied the full wonder and power of being Corma’s Chosen One, the Ruler of the Promised Continent, the Sorceress Queen, and the Dear Teacher of the Dark Lord. She showed Zarian the full reach of her aura.

The power of the empress went on for miles and miles beyond the village. Everyone was inside of her full aura extension, and nobody could see it other than Zarian, hence why she was showing off now.

He was very much impressed.

Awestruck really.

Smirking, Ruvaria held herself proudly like a peacock as she showed off some more for him. She moved aura currents around effortlessly and conjured up strong hurricane winds in the atmosphere above. She made her aura rub together, creating thick strands of mystical lightning bolts and thunder claps under a mostly bright day.

With another minor flex, she swatted away blocky clouds for dozens miles in all directions and made the sky all clear above the village. The villagers and visitors below were freaking out, deeply confused by the stormy air and lack of clouds. Ř

Zarian laughed.

Ruvaria smiled.

She showed him one more trick, something a little more on the dangerous side. She condensed her aura above the village and lowered the solid aura until it touched the top of the Central Library Artillery Tower, but no more.

She dismissed the solid aura and let Zarian imagine what she could do at any moment if she wanted.

Zarian figured she could slam her aura down and wipe out the entire village like snuffing out a bug under her foot. Some people might find that horrifying. But Zarian found it all nifty.

He trusted her, and she adored him. So being inside of her aura range was not only safe, but it was another teaching experience.

The power of Aura Mastery was grand and terrifying, which Ruvaria was showing him effectively and safely. Too bad he couldn’t hang around and explore the depths of her aura some more.

He had to hustle. He had a new adventure to embark on with his fellow Floridians.

“I’ll round up everyone,” Zarian said, guiding his voice with aura. That way, he could speak directly to her ear without having to shout. “Thank you for what you’re about to do for me.”

“If it’s anything reasonable and within my power, I will do it for you,” she said. “I will even do things that are unreasonable for you, if it’s worth it. Now go and take care of the Dragon Blood Cloud Flowers like I instructed, and prepare your younglings for me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Zarian bowed in respect to her before zipping off.

He didn’t fly alone.

Surfing the winds, little spectral spiders used the network to enjoy the splendors of Zarian’s Aura Mastery. They rode on boards they’d spun from their webbing and traveled via the air.

Para transformed into four wide wings spread out from behind Zarian’s back. She thrust out aura currents from behind them, helping Zarian fly under the suns and creating more drafts for the spiders to surf on.

It was like the spiders were a small school of fish traveling with a big fish, but in the sky instead of the ocean. That came at the cost of stealth, but the spectral spiders were having too much fun to care.

When the villagers and visitors looked up and saw them, Zarian found their reactions amusing.

“Good Gods! Is that the Dark Lord flying up there? Has he become a dragon now?” shouted a gardener man, who was working behind a street food stall.

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“This is why I joined the freedom alignment. They have flying spiders! It is said his spiders steal away those who dare go against the Dark Lord and his alignment!” warned a strider woman amid an adventurer group. “You all better join up and spread freedom, or the spiders might swoop in from the sky and carry you off!”

“Is that why he has a temple for Hisscreep? Flying spiders? What’s next!? Will the spiders cast black magic and spread mass destruction?” questioned a paladin merchant on his way to a market.

“It’s the Dark Lord, it’s the Dark Lord! Wave for the Dark Lord or his cape will eat you!” shouted a wee child among the many orphans running around like wild packs of playful pups. They waved up with all of their low level Strength and Agility at Zarian.

Zarian waved back as he soared around his village.

He swooped past stone towers Hannah had built in the span of months. He flew over the restaurants, bars, brothels, and more that villagers and long-term visitors started up as part of the growing commerce and economy in this one hub on the frontier.

Then he passed over their mighty walls and the powerful siege weaponry manned by untiring and watchful skeletons.

Zarian and his flying spider squad landed in the dragon flower patch near the wall. The spiders who had remained here on guard saluted the flying spiders before scuttling off to do other stuff. Then the aura-mastering spiders staged themselves near each Dragon Blood Cloud Flower.

Zarian watched as the spiders spun out intricate cages of arcane webbing around each of the flowers. He entered the air again and hovered with his cosmic-lit cloak spread out far to help stabilize him and make him look like he knew what he was doing.

Once the spiders safely enshrouded the flowers in their arcane web cages, Zarian used a specific combination of traits: Aura Mastery + Identify.

<Identify (Rare): Translate vital profile info, languages, item qualities, or deeper designs of the Infinita Star System with focused observation. This works best against targets beneath your personal level or range of power.>

Zarian had used Identify for enemies and item qualities mainly. He had also used it to understand other languages when they moved away from the common English-like language of this world.

He’d never gone further than that until Ruvaria had taught him to combine it with Aura Mastery so he could see even deeper than before.

<Dragon Blood Cloud Flower (Epic): The bud holds concentrated energy purely distilled from the mystical blood of a dragon. The petals contain medicinal, alchemical, mystical, and other craft worthy purposes. The stems are hard and scaled, rich in nutrients while also useful for crafting purposes. You can do a lot with a plant like this, even if all you do is make good liquor from it. Concentrate further to expand the description.>

Zarian concentrated. A new info box appeared, overlaying the last.

<Dragon Blood Cloud Flower Mini Game (Epic): You don’t have the right traits and/or skills to reap this plant. That’s okay since you’re an Aura Master with the Identify trait. You’ve unlocked a mini game. Your Willpower is more than enough to face this challenge. Use your Aura Mastery and Willpower to wrestle with the Dragon Blood Cloud Flower’s trait, Dying Dragon Eternal Will. Make the epic plant submit without crushing its Willpower or the entire plant will die. Ready to go?>

Zarian jerked back in surprise. He lost some stabilization, but he was quick to correct himself and stay hovering above the dragon flowers.

He tried not to look back because he knew Ruvaria was watching him. He imagined she was having some fun with him because she had mentioned nothing about there being a mini game.

She also hadn’t gone over how to work stats with Aura Mastery, which he imagined was on purpose. She must’ve omitted that to have him struggle and learn it on his own.

You’re always so tricky, Ruvaria, you scoundrel teacher, Zarian thought quietly.

He was worried Ruvaria could sense his thoughts if they were loud. Then he realized he was being dumb again.

She can’t sense my thoughts if I don’t let her because of Floridian Mindset. She’ll probably read me based on my reactions.

Zarian relaxed and returned his focus to the mini game. He didn’t play it himself. Instead, he used one aura-mastering spider as an avatar.

The little spider raised up its front legs and waved them about as Zarian’s aura expanded out from its body. Thinking about his Willpower, Zarian focused intently on dominating the Dragon Blood Cloud Flower as the game began.

<Ready. Set. Dominate!>

…

<The Dragon Blood Cloud Flower has been dominated too harshly! It’s dead!>

Zarian jerked back again and retracted his aura. The harshly dominated flower crumbled as its aura dissipated quickly.

Thinking back to the start of the game, Zarian recalled pressing forward aggressively for a quick win. He felt some resistance, then the resistance fell apart, and the game was over.

“Ah, yeah, I have a lot of Willpower and unique ways to enhance that Willpower,” Zarian said. “Whoops.”

He felt his teacher’s annoyance. The aura currents around him kicked up some strong winds. There was thunder and lightning in the air without a cloud in sight.

Ruvaria was a little less nice now that she was in a public area and visible to everyone. She was also a perfectionist, which Zarian had noted while in the time chamber dungeon.

In that regard, Zarian and Ruvaria were opposites. He was quite messy and very imperfect. Sometimes, he learned best by failing upward or messing around.

Ruvaria disliked that about him. She had said that multiple times, although not in a way that felt too harsh.

Zarian shrugged, not letting his dear teacher’s perfectionist nature weigh him down too much. He turned his attention to another Dragon Blood Cloud Flower.

Prepared to serve, the next spider avatar waved its legs about in front of the stem.

He began the mini game again and crushed the second flower despite being more gentle.

The strong and angry winds kicked up again. More thunder and lightning roared above Ride-or-Die Village. He heard a few people screaming in terror.

“I’m going to get the third one, I swear!” Zarian shouted behind him. “Stop your nagging!”

That didn’t help much. Ruvaria kept on nagging him with all the unnecessary aura weather effects.

“You can do it, my host,” Para cheered from behind him.

Zarian felt a little annoyed. He turned his attention to the third Dragon Blood Cloud Flower. He imagined the willful remnants of the dragon remaining in the flower.

He also imagined that the dragon’s ego was also fragile and needed nurturing when compelled to follow his lead. Zarian passed his aura and intent through the next spider avatar in front of the third flower.

He carefully wrestled with the flower’s Eternal Will and did all he could to act gently and make it submit. Even then, Zarian was sure he was on the cusp of failing again.

The next notification surprised him.

<You’ve won the Dragon Blood Cloud Flower Mini Game! This flower is now yours to loot!>

Zarian had succeeded. The stormy winds, thunder claps, and random lightning bolts faded away. Ruvaria was pleased.

More importantly, Zarian figured applying stats with his Aura Mastery wasn’t too complicated. Maybe there were more mini game scenarios across Infinita that acquired similar approaches.

That’s just one flower, Zarian thought with a sigh. Alright, let’s get all of them.

He went after the fourth. Once he won the willful mini game again, he tried two at the same time. It was a little more difficult, which made it easier to hold back and not crush the flowers completely.

Next, he took on three at the same time. Then he took on more bunches until he had all the flowers looted. Para formed tentacles and plucked the flowers out of the ground by the top of their arcane web cages.

The perfect amount of soil went along with the roots of the flower, as if winning the mini game preserved enough of what the flower needed to exist.

Zarian decided not to put them in the pocket dimension. He flew with all nineteen toward the Central Library Artillery Tower. His squadron of aura-mastering spiders flew along with him like they were escorting a carrier plane filled with precious items and VIPs.

Zarian swooped toward the top of the tower. A wide doorway revealed itself as the stone slid out of his way.

He landed on a ledge with his spiders as Para contracted most of her form into a wavering cloak and nineteen tentacles that were holding the flower cages. He walked into the middle of a serious discussion where Hannah sat with legs crossed on her architect throne while Lady Rhea was kneeling on the floor in front of her.

Hm, what’s going on here? Zarian wondered.