Leo stood upon the roof above the battle, he looked over to see Cecelia taking a break from the front line, she was being healed by Amy and Leo could make out their mouths moving, but couldn’t hear the words.

“Damn, this new sight really is something,” he muttered.

His ability to control his vision was changed in a way that was definitely not something humans could do pre-system. He could zoom his vision in, get a wider view and make out details that he would never have picked up before. Was this really how dragons saw all the time?

A bit of an eye-catching display were the big walls of fire that stretched out across the swarm and consumed anything they touched, they came sporadically and not exactly out of a ‘danger close’ kind of range. Only one person he knew could do something like that.

Okay, I'm maybe a little impressed. Leo thought to himself.

Adjusting his attention, Leo noticed that the antlings gathered at the bottom of his building after the frost explosion were starting to lose interest, some had tried climbing but gained no purchase on the frozen walls. A few had hacked away the ice and started to climb slowly, still injured.

Too much time was spent recovering. He needed to get back to his job as Mr. Distraction before they were overwhelmed.

Leaping from the building like an olympic diver, Leo flared his aura once more, rattling as many as he could, while also invigorating his allies once again. It had still been a bit too soon since his last use of the skill so the backlash on his soul was enough to make him wince.

Wind.

Leo’s body was enveloped in a light breeze almost like a second layer of skin. It was less visually obvious than his other stances he’d tried yet he imagined it would be just as effective.

Now that he thought about it, descending from the air at speed, testing these stances during the most difficult and dangerous combat he’d had so far was perhaps a bit too far into the deep end.

Nice try hindsight, I'm doing this live! Leo smiled to himself with renewed excitement.

Leo dropped like a weight as he descended onto a poor unsuspecting antling, spinning his body into an axe kick that crashed like the heavens were falling. The body was crushed under the strength of the kick then the body was slashed by a gust of blade-sharp wind directly after.

“Ooh, neat,” Leo said, awed, shaking the ichor from his boots.

Leo moved excitedly through the crowd like a whirlwind, each strike causing slicing wind to tear into the carapaces of the unlucky targets. It wasn’t exactly a ranged attack since it required him to land a strike, but it did give him much needed slicing power which seemed to be fairly effective against the carapaces as a whole and the weaker sections of their bodies.

Minutes of fighting passed on both fronts, the Goliaths remaining stoic and unmoving no matter how many antlings died. Figuring that it was better that they not be aggroed, Leo decided it was best to leave them be until last.

The courtyard looked like the scene of a bloody war. The stench was overwhelming. Corpses were left everywhere, piled up high or obliterated entirely. Leo had been the cause of a large number of them and by now the remaining antlings were less than a third of what they were originally.

His initial estimates of about one hundred turned out to be incredibly wrong as his own kill notifications sat close to one hundred already. He didn’t have time to get out of the fray long enough to look for any more level ups, but internally he felt like each kill wasn’t giving him as much experience anymore.

Initially it was like a flood of experience after each kill, but now it was like a trickle.

Punishing me for killing, make up your mind, system. Leo complained, firing a Frost Lance through a nearby antling a moment later, surprised to see it be a whole lot more powerful than before thanks to his stat increases.

The fighting on the main lines was starting to slow down, one reason being the lower number of incoming antlings due to the piles of corpses, and the other being the state of the fighters.

They didn’t have even close to Leo’s level of endurance and ability. Especially those who came from his camp and had very limited fighting experience. Even Ruby looked to be breathing heavily with green blood spatters all over her robes. Unfortunately, this tiredness and exhaustion caused mistakes.

A scream of pain sounded out as Jonah took a really nasty hit on the front line. Slicing his leg though the armour and down to the bone. He was quickly dragged backwards off the frontline to be healed but these injuries were starting to occur at an escalating rate.

The number of injured was mounting and the lack of healers was felt more every second. The only healers were Ashley, Amy, Morgan and three from Gareth's group, and Leo already knew that Ashley’s speciality wasn’t healing but defensive screens and shields which were undoubtedly the reason more weren’t gravely injured.

Checking his resources, it was clear that he didn't have much fight left in him.

HP: 323/810

MP: 152/1000

SP: 112/900

Sitting at less than twenty percent in both stamina and mana meant that he could fight for a few more minutes at a fairly reserved pace or go all out for a last ditch effort. His health had been slowly depleting, the hits he had been taking were adding up, but thankfully his speed meant dodging was effective, even in the thick of it.

Getting into a closer position to the front line—and clear of Ruby's line of sight—Leo tried to speak to the leadership.

“I'm running on empty here!” Leo shouted, whilst dodging an ambusher’s charge overhead, taking a few strands of hair with it.

“We are too!” Nolan yelled in reply, his deep, commanding voice carrying over the sounds of combat.

“I'm gonna try and thin the horde with the attack you saw before!”

Leo spotted Nolan looking puzzled for a second before his eyes widened a touch in recognition.

“So group up and don't come out too far!” Leo commanded.

First he needed some height, so he leapt from a nearby antling and double dashed into the air, using a combination of his Spark Dash and his boots.

Then, he tapped into his Storm's Guidance once a day ability, Call of the Storm. The storm blast would cause a fair amount of disarray and damage among such a tight crowd, hopefully giving them the breathing room to finish the fight with less injuries and no casualties.

His stats had taken a metric leap since the last time he'd used the skill just a few days ago, so he was hoping to at least see a bit of improvement to the damage and radius.

Feeling the slight strain of his bloodline being awakened to channel it, Leo pushed both palms outwards towards the crowd below him.

The skill started to activate, power building up along his arms rapidly as it coalesced. Only when he expected to reach the crescendo of the skill…it kept going. Leo started falling.

The power he felt begging to be unleashed was immense as the storm within him barreled out. It reminded him of the power he had to unleash to use his Absolute Shatter for the first time due to the sheer pressure building.

Panicked, Leo shouted, his voice being carried over the fighting. “I can't control its power! Run!” The last word was fully infused with the power surging through him.

He could see people beginning to pull back as best they could in the few seconds of his slowed descent. Pushing power into his Spark Dash in a desperate attempt to gain more height, Leo grimaced as the force within him was about to burst, skin almost peeling from the pressure, his jaw clenched.

He managed to dash backwards in the air, enough to buy time. If he had been thinking clearly, he could have realised that just not shooting it towards the ants would mean there was no danger, but he was tunnel visioned.

Finally, his body shaking and his muscles straining, he could take no more and the skill unleashed, rippling forward in a surge of storming energy. Wind and lightning moved together in a brutal harmony as the blast hit the swarm, the force of the explosion blowing Leo back into the air as he covered his face from the sharp wind.

He managed to peek enough as he was being blasted to see that the energy was starting to spread more than he had anticipated, heading straight towards his people.

They were going to be hit, and based on the antlings currently being shredded by electricity and blades of wind… Leo was going to be getting more than just antling notifications.

Dread and horror filled his entire being as he looked helplessly upon the billowing storm of wind and lightning.

Suddenly, a burst of familiar, yet more powerful than usual, aura burst forth as a glowing dome of luminous energy formed over the group in its entirety, completely shielding them from the blast.

It shone a glimmering, beautiful white, with the sound of glass being rattled echoing out as it tried to resist the power of the oncoming energy storm. Cracks began to form in the seconds that the skill persisted.

His dread began mounting once again as the cracks spread. Begging for it to hold, he didn't even register the fast approaching ground, rolling across it like a ragdoll.

Thankfully it held. Ashley's power was enough.

On the ground and gasping for breath, Leo felt empty. His mana was tapped and his stamina wasn’t far off. Not to mention his emotional state after such a close call.

Raising his head, he felt a twitch of danger flow through him, urging him to move from the incoming attack. There was a lone antling, missing legs and leaping in a desperation attack to finish off its downed opponent.

Leo tried to raise his hand but it was like raising an anchor. This was going to hurt.

Leo closed his eyes in grim resignation but quickly opened them in even greater alarm as he felt Ellie leave his soul-space, she dived at the incoming threat with vigorous ferocity, her speed belying her young age.

Ellie's jaw clamped onto the antling as it started to thrash, Ellie firmly on its back, claws dug in. But her Bite was more than enough to completely obliterate its carapace and pierce flesh as it screeched in agony.

Ellie didn’t let go and instead started to channel a Dragon Breath with her mouth still attached. Red hot fire started to spew from the sides of her mouth as the antling was boiled alive until it was nothing more than cooked flesh.

She released the antling and looked to Leo with a beaming, bloody green smile. He couldn't help but smile back as he put his head back down.

Is this the mythical proud dad moment? Leo questioned with a warm feeling in his chest.

“Great job Ells. Mind looking out for me while I rest a little?” he asked in a croak.

She nodded in happiness as she took up a guard position over Leo. Even though she was smaller than even the smallest antling he had fought, she was clearly ready to rip apart the threats among them with no hesitation. A dragon was a creature of immense power, it was no wonder she was a natural.

He felt something grab his shoulders and heave him backwards, pulling him away. Looking up, he saw it was Gordon. His face was bloody and exhausted but he smiled all the same.

“You looked like you needed a bit of help,” he said jovially.

“Yeah… kinda overdid it a bit, huh?”

“You could say that,” he laughed in reply.

He was soon dragged well back from the fighting, with Ellie keeping up her guarding demeanour.

Seemingly out of the fray for now, Leo’s notifications started rolling in. The number of kills wasn’t worth counting, the SC immense, but with no use.

What he did have use for was levels, and a couple came along nicely.

Your Elemental Adept class has reached Level 25

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Your Elemental Adept class has reached Level 26

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Anchored progression:

+2 All stats, +4 Free Points

Elemental Infusion is available

Ellie has reached Level 16

Stat points distributed

+1 Free point

…

Ellie has reached Level 19

Stat points distributed

+1 Free point

Enjoying the surging warmth of the level ups, and the subsequent refills of his stamina and mana, Leo took a closer look at the little added message within as he lay on the ground in safety. It said something about Elemental Infusion.

Confused, curious, and too tired to stand, Leo brought up the prompt, and with it the description.

Elemental Infusion

Your unique class of Elemental Adept brings with it a unique ability. At certain milestones you may infuse an existing, active class skill with an element based on your Essences, permanently upgrading it and locking it to that elemental path.

Note: While path cannot be changed, potential to add new elements may become available in the future

Activate ability?

Yes/No

This was certainly interesting, perking him up even with his dwindling stamina.

A couple of things to unpack. One was this happened at ‘certain milestones’, which was a bit vague. Another was that there wasn’t a choice of skill to select from like with his previous at every five levels.

Maybe only in F rank? Hey system, want to tell me if I’m right? Yeah… thought not.

His class was also deemed as ‘Unique’ by the system, which he supposed made a little sense, as according to Iskarion, there was no one in the entire multiverse with five Essences, never mind six. But Iskarion hadn’t been in the multiverse for countless eras, so the information may be a bit outdated.

And lastly, free stuff was always the best, especially upgrades.

Activating the ability without hesitation, Leo didn’t feel anything. Only a screen appeared in front of him.

Skills that meet the Elemental Infusion requisite: 2

Powerful Haymaker (Common)

Echoing Talon (Uncommon)

So his Iron repetition was out, along with his newly acquired Elemental Stance, as were his Essence skills.

Suppose punching things until my punches get stronger isn’t exactly an active skill? Sounds like it could be though. Leo mused, knowing that if Ashley heard his thoughts she would be giving him an amused look.

Choosing Powerful Haymaker seemed like a waste, considering that he felt confident he could upgrade the skill without the elemental infusion, as surely upgrading an uncommon skill was better than upgrading a common one.

Although it didn’t say that it would be increased in rarity of skill, only that it would be upgraded.

Deciding to say screw it and stop worrying about it. Leo chose Powerful Haymaker to Elementally infuse, something he felt more confident in using.

Powerful Haymaker Elemental Infusion upgrades available

Fire Infusion: Infernal Haymaker (Rare)

Charge your strike with raging fire mana. On impact, unleash a searing detonation that engulfs enemies in a wide blast, leaving behind smoldering flames that scorch for several seconds.
Radius, damage, and burn damage scale with Strength.

Cooldown: 14 seconds

Lightning Infusion: Volt Crash (Rare)

Imbue your haymaker with volatile lightning. On hit, discharge a violent surge that explodes outward before chaining to multiple enemies, briefly disrupting their movements. Each chain grows weaker but spreads farther.

Damage and chain length scale with Strength and Agility.

Cooldown: 14 seconds

Wind infusion: Tempest Breaker (Rare)

Gather the relentless force of the wind into your fist. When released, the strike detonates with a crushing shockwave that sends enemies flying and tears apart nearby weak structures.
Knockback distance and shockwave radius scales with Endurance and Strength.

Cooldown: 14 seconds

If Leo’s mouth wasn’t so tired and dry, he would whistle. All three of these were tantalisingly fun, but he could only pick one. He was surprised to see that there was no Ice or Earth option but perhaps the skill was just not compatible.

As there was no reason—nor the time—to worry about such a thing, Leo got onto deciding the course of his skill. A permanent choice that would lock it into the same element forever.

The fire option looked fun, strong and useful, however his Scarlet Impact basically did the same thing, so he quickly wrote that one off.

Between the wind and the lightning, it was a tougher choice. One promised knockback utility and the other chained lightning after a punch.

Okay, it wasn’t as tough a choice as he thought. Take that decision paralysis!

Powerful Haymaker (Common)

Upgrades to:

Volt Crash (Rare)