You can buy the full version of this story here: Legend of the Crystals Chapter 3
Legend of the Crystals Chapter 3
By MagnusMagneto [ www.magnusmagneto.com ]
Version 1.0
Approximately 11,200 words
((If you are reading this, then it probably means you’ve supported me on Patreon or a site like GumRoad! If that’s the case, then thank you very much! It’s only thanks to your generosity that I’m able to spend so much time working on stories like this.
If you are reading this and you haven’t supported me, well, I hope that you enjoy the story regardless. If you like what you see, then please strongly consider dropping by my Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/magnusmagneto
You can also find tons of back content for sale on my Gumroad – which will directly support me as well: https://gumroad.com/magnusmagneto23 ))
[This story has explicit fantasy violence and nudity in it. Recommended for ages 18+] [New to the series? No problem! Check out the story so far: http://fav.me/dabjp5m ]1.) Immediately after Chapter 2
Eloy lay on his side. He was awake, but not quite ready to face the world just yet. The group still had a way to go until their destination: a small trading post named Cantlin. Collectively, the trio knew very little about Cantlin other than it was the closest notable settlement. Its population was apparently even smaller than Serenity village’s, but was better connected with the rest of the world, as merchants, adventurers, and imperial patrols traveled through on the way to other locations.
There was no overarching plan. The Chosen Ones had been given no direction, and merely hoped that by exploring the world a path would open itself to them.
Eloy hated this. Eloy liked plans. He wanted things to follow an orderly fashion. Not knowing if they were doing the right thing, or what they were supposed to do at all, gave him anxiety. Though his greatest source of anxiety was not knowing if he was actually a Chosen One. Why hadn’t he gained any power? Vala kept growing just fine. Even Alina seemed to power up after their latest battle. Yet he… Well, he felt a little bit stronger – a little more capable than before, but he certainly hadn’t progressed like Vala had.
He looked over at his traveling companions, who were fighting against one another, training their already impressive bodies even further. He felt a tinge of self-loathing for not joining them. It would be stimulating on multiple levels to square off against a woman as impressive as Alina, and while he was still having difficulty mentally overriding his past memories of her, Vala too. Eloy considered laying down again and trying to catch a little more sleep, but ultimately decided against it. At last, he fully got up and prepared himself a modest amount of food. Their supplies were further diminished than he anticipated. Must be because the blasted girls keep training and getting bigger. He thought to himself, taking a bite from a small loaf of bread.
Eventually Eloy finished his breakfast. Soon after, instead of finally getting ready to leave, the girls moved onto another training session.
“Something we didn’t touch upon back in Serenity is magic training.” Alina started.
Vala’s eyes lit up, “That’s right! Don’t you know a whole bunch of cool spells?”
Alina grinned, “I mean, I know more than pretty much anyone in Serenity except for a few elders, but my knowledge is ultimately quite limited in the grand scheme of things.”
“Let’s do it then!” Vala cheered. “Come on Eloy!” she shouted, “You can’t pretend you’re already more advanced than me when it comes to magic! Get over here and train with us!”
Vala had a point. She had him trumped in magic, and there was no way getting around it. Dragging his feet, Eloy made his way over.
“Alright. So what do you guys know so far?” Alina asked.
“I… can only really cast fireball.” Eloy admitted.
“Well.. I can also cast fireball, plus I summoned some lightning, and I also healed Eloy once!” Vala proudly declared. “That was all in one fight though… didn’t really have any other chances to use magic.” She added with a giggle.
Alina nodded. “And this was without any formal training beforehand?”
“Yup!”
“Good. That’s what I expected from The Chosen One. Well, can you explain how it went?” Alina inquired.
“Sure. We were battling an ogre, and I borrowed Eloy’s spell scroll, then I started casting spells off of it.” Vala explained cheerfully.
“Then what?”
“Well, I did the fireball really easily… but I needed something that hit harder, so I moved onto lightning – Eloy tried to warn me that one was too tough – but I did it anyways, which helped fry the ogre to a crisp. Then after the battle I cast the healing spell off of it to help Eloy.”
“All this without training?”
Vala nodded. “I just read the incantations and that was that.”
“Excellent. Well, in that case we can firmly keep the scroll in Eloy’s possession. You have no need for it.” Alina said.
“Huh? Shouldn’t I keep it since I use all of the spells? I always thought you had to read the spells off of a scroll…” Vala said.
“Nope!” Alina cheerfully corrected, “That’s more of a crux for people who can’t memorize the incantations, or need a physical talisman to help channel their magical energy.”
Vala couldn’t help but shoot a glance over at Eloy, giggling at how he needed a note to cast even the most basic spells.
Alina continued, “Go ahead and try it. Summon a little fireball or something. Just think about what it was like to summon the fireball, the feeling of the energy flowing through you and physically manifesting itself.”
Vala nodded. She thought about what Alina had mentioned – summoning the fireball, but without any verbal incantations. It seemed like an impossible task, until… suddenly a small ball of fire appeared within her palm. “Whoa!”
“Nice! That was fast.”
Vala nodded again. “I seem to be pretty good with this magic stuff…” she said, moving her hand around, observing how the beautiful flame flittered to and fro. With another bit of focus, she was able to extinguish the flame, clenching her fist to emphasize its disappearance.
“I’ve read about how gifted magi actually find incantations to be detrimental to their performance.” Alina said. “I believe the idea is that the direction of the words pigeonholes the flow of their energy. Still, incantations can be useful to open your mind to new applications of magic; but in your case, it’s likely best to experiment afterward.”
“Right.”
“Anyways, let’s try another little experiment. Eloy, you should join in on this one.” Alina sat cross-legged and squared her shoulders. She closed her sparkling eyes and breathed deeply. “This…” Alina’s focus intensified. She took another deep breath, and suddenly… a large visible red aura appeared around Alina’s prodigious form. Both Eloy and Vala’s eyes opened wide at the sight of it. “This is what I refer to as my aura.” She concluded.
“Whoa, that’s amazing Alina!” Vala exclaimed.
Eloy remained silent.
“You can summon yours too. Just sit in a comfortable position like mine.”
Vala imitated the pose, and Eloy followed suit.
“Breathe deeply…” Alina directed, “And focus on your inner magical power. Imagine it manifesting around you – forming a physical representation, but without effecting the environment.”
“Got it.” Vala focused and a few moments later a brilliant blue aura surrounded her. The light emanating from Vala was slightly smaller than Alina’s, but just as impressively bright – if not more so.
“Nice Vala! Looks like you have a ton of raw magical power just waiting to be shaped into a deadly weapon!” Alina giggled.
“Or used to save people!” Vala added.
“Right, right. Well, let’s keep meditating a bit.” The blonde replied, closing her eyes again – Vala followed suite.
Eloy proceeded to try and summon his own aura, and a small, dull green tinge enveloped itself around his body. He quickly realized his light was small and anemic in comparison to the girls’, and quickly turned it off, hoping that with their eyes closed, neither of the girls saw it. “Huh, weird. Guess I’m a special case.” He lied. “Just can’t seem to do it!”
Alina and Vala gave one another quizzical looks, clearly suppressing a laugh of disbelief. “Suuure.” Vala said.
“Well Vala, I guess I’ll just focus on teaching you then.”
“Works for me.”
“Right.” Alina continued, “So, if you focus hard enough, you can actually…” she let out a grunt of effort, “expand your aura even further!” the light turned a brilliant shade of crimson, growing even larger.
“Oooooh, my turn!” Vala focused with all of her might, single-minded in her pursuit of drawing out her own magical powers. Her efforts were rewarded with her bright blue light becoming simultaneously larger and brighter, almost matching Alina’s in size, and once again reclaiming the lead in luminosity.
“Amazing… you really are Chosen! You’re a natural prodigy Vala!” Alina cheered, “Let’s keep… PUSHING!” she shouted, making her own aura even larger – it was now almost as large as her own body.
“Right! LET’S!” Vala did the same, drawing every last ounce of energy she had, experiencing similar aura growth.
“This is kind of like a magical workout.” Alina explained, “By pushing your inner magical prowess to its limit, with enough practice, you can gain even more raw magical power.”
“You mean like… this? Stat up!” Vala proudly declared, focusing a bit and turning her aura even brighter.
“Well I guess The Chosen One can benefit much more quickly of course…” Alina added.
Eloy remained silent. In truth, he was quite intimidated by the sheer amount of magical energy emenating from the girls. Being physically weaker than Alina was one thing – same with the potential of Vala overtaking him there. But magic… Magic was a strange unknown. Eloy had read tales of wizards who could summon earthquakes by their magical might alone; beings with enough power to reanimate the dead and transmute lead into gold.
And while it was hard for him to truly understand, it looked like Vala was actually gaining more power. He had to quickly put an end to this. “Alright girls, we’ve still got a lot of journey ahead of us and need to conserve mana for it.” Eloy wearily reminded his companions.
“Well, we do have a mana potion with us.” Alina said, retrieving a small vial with a blue liquid from her pouch. “Do you want to drink it so you can continue training, Vala?”
The Chosen One shook her head, “I think you should hang onto it for now in case we get into a battle or something.”
Alina nodded and put it back in to her pouch. “Well, I guess Eloy has a point. Shall we get moving?” Alina asked.
Eloy nodded, “I think that would be best.”
– – –
At last the group was ready to depart. However, before they could leave…
“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Vala piped up.
The others turned and faced her.
Vala continued, “How about I carry ALL of our gear?”
“Uh… why?” Eloy asked blankly.
“It can challenge my muscles and hopefully give me another stat up or two!” Vala cheerfully explained.
“That seems pretty irresponsible.” Eloy replied. “Ultimately we’ll have to take a break for you to rest, and our journey to Cantlin will be that much longer…”
“That’s a valid point Eloy, but gaining strength should be our primary concern. If you can handle it Vala, then maybe it’s a good idea.” Alina offered.
Vala’s face lit up and started grabbing as much of the gear as possible, piling it onto her back. “Oof, a little tough, but I think I can do it! The Chosen Pack Mule!” she giggled.
Eloy gave a resigned sigh, and the group was finally off.
2.) A Few Hours Later
“Whew! Let’s take a break!” Vala exclaimed. Sweat was pouring from her brow, and her face was beet-red.
Eloy let out a soft groan, “Vala, this is exactly why I said we should keep the burden separated between us!”
“Oh hush Eloy. You’re looking a little winded yourself.” Alina chided, “Even though you’re carrying nothing.” She giggled.
The young man grit his teeth a bit and held his tongue. Truthfully, Alina’s assessment was right, but he couldn’t admit it – especially not after having made such a big deal of things.
Ignoring the playful feud between her companions, Vala lightly dumped all of the cargo on the ground, sat down, and stretched her limbs out. Her legs looked even more pumped than before from carrying so much weight on their trek, and the small lats peaking out from behind her chest also appeared slightly engorged.
Vala opened their supplies and grabbed a piece of bread and some water. As she consumed her snack, a thought occurred to her: “Say, why can’t I just use mana to replenish my stamina?” she asked.
“That’s preposterous.” Eloy snapped in response. “You can’t just… exchange one type of energy for another like that.”
“Why? We can use mana to heal wounds… at least Alina and I can. We can also turn mana into lightning, fire, so on and so forth. Why can’t we just transfer it into more vitality?”
Eloy narrowed his gaze slightly. “I… I don’t know. You just can’t. If you could, it would be in a spell book. Right Alina?” he asked, turning to the blonde for assistance in the debate.
Alina shrugged her broad shoulders. “I’m not sure to be honest. Such a technique is certainly absent from all of the books I’ve read and studied, but I must admit that there’s a whole universe of magical applications that nobody in Serenity could even imagine. Myself included.”
“It’s settled then.” Vala said.
“What is?” Eloy asked.
Instead of giving an answer, The Chosen One simply crossed her legs, sat upright, and focused.
“What are you doing…?”
“Hush.” Vala quipped, “Trying to concentrate here.”
“Vala, what-” Eloy started again, but he was swiftly elbowed by Alina, who pressed a finger to her lips, indicating he should be silent.
Vala brought the entirety of her thoughts to channeling and repurposing her ‘mana’, which she was coming to simply view as magical energy in general. She thought about what she said to Eloy – how it was trivially easy to use that energy to cure wounds and summon elements. Her train of thought turned back to healing, but instead of closing up a deep gash, she would simply replenish her endurance. A few moments later – it happened: Vala felt herself becoming less winded, less tired, and more vigorous. Before long, she felt as if she had recently woken from a great nap.
“There we go! Feeling good as new!” Vala said, standing up and stretching her arms upward into the air.
“Wow! I’d say you’re looking even better than ever!” Alina observed with a grin.
Vala nodded. “I probably got a stat up from carrying all of that gear. Probably have more stamina and endurance overall. Like my, maximum pool of it, if you know what I mean.”
“I do.” Alina concurred. “You also look a bit more muscular as well.” She observed.
Vala glanced down and let out a squeal of joy. She extended a single leg, and a thick bulge of muscle appeared. While she lacked extreme size or definition, the beginnings of her stems’ muscular potential made itself apparent. “Wow, my legs are starting to look like yours Alina!” Vala exclaimed. It was easy for both Eloy and Alina to visualize what a few more ‘stat ups’ would yield to the young woman.
Next The Chosen One looked at her upper body. Vala’s shoulders and lats were developing a distinct V shape to them, tapering downward to a narrow waist. In this respect, she was more impressive than Alina; the blonde’s additional height spread her muscle out more along her longer limbs – giving her a slightly less pronounced V.
Vala clenched her fist and slowly flexed her right arm. An impressive ball of bicep rose; it featured the beginnings of an impressive split, a high peak, a few choice veins running alongside it, and a deep valley of defining separation between the bicep and underlying tricep. “Wow! Who would’ve thought I would have an arm like this!” she squealed with joy, pumping it a few times.
Alina reached over and squeezed it, “Heavens, it’s so hard! Come feel this muscle Eloy!”
“I don’t know if that’s appropriate.” He replied.
“It’s a friggan bicep. Get over here and squeeze it.” Alina barked.
Not wanting to cause any problems, Eloy eventually complied. His eyes widened as his fingers met the muscle. It was just as hard as Alina claimed it to be – doubtlessly harder than his own. It was warm too, teeming with untold potential energy.
“You like it Eloy?” Vala asked, beaming at him.
“It’s… impressive. Yes.” He admitted, retracting his hand.
“Let’s see yours Eloy!” Alina taunted.
“Yeah, come on Eloy, let’s compare biceps!” Vala giggled. A mere few days ago she never thought she would be uttering that phrase.
“Err… I don’t think we can. I’m… in this armor. You know?” He nervously replied.
“You can just take it off…” Vala retorted.
“Eh… we should probably start heading out.”
“Well, alright.” Vala started getting ready to become the ‘pack mule’ again to further her training, when she suddenly realized, “Hey, wait a minute… Is it my imagination or am I… taller? My perspective is kind of wonky…”
“Huh… maybe. How about you stand up straight next to Eloy?” Alina offered.
Vala agreed and Eloy remained silent.
“Oh wow, I’m pretty positive that you’re taller in comparison to Eloy now, Vala!” Alina exclaimed.
Eloy noticed that Alina was right, but remained silent.
Vala spoke up, “That’s funny, YOU don’t look like that much shorter to me Alina.”
“I think I grew a tiny bit too, but I’m pretty sure you gained a bit more.” The taller girl explained.
Vala nodded.
“Wait, stat ups can make someone taller?” Eloy finally spoke up, incredulous.
“Of course.” Alina replied, matter-of-factly.
Eloy raised a brow, prompting Alina to elaborate: “An abundance of physical strength and stamina can end up causing a growth spurt. We usually just chalk it up to someone getting older. That’s why Vala’s mother is so tall, for instance.”
Eloy gulped. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but the thought of Vala catching up with him in height – or worse yet, surpassing him – was terrifying to say the least. He additionally loathed the idea of Alina towering even higher over him.
“Let’s all work hard and become giants!” Vala exclaimed with a giggle.
Alina nodded. “Though, I should reiterate that this stat ups don’t always cause height growth. And, unlike physical strength, which is almost always good to have more of, being taller isn’t always better. It turns you into a larger target among other things. Still, greater reach and more room for muscles is quite nice…”
Eloy rubbed his temples. He had feared that this might happen, and now he was presented with more evidence that it would.
[This is just the first ~30% of the story! Get the full thing by supporting me on Gumroad!]You can buy the full version of this story here: Legend of the Crystals Chapter 3