《Gnomes can't do that》 Chapter 1. Fire and Ice ¡°I fucking hate rogues!¡± was the last thing Trian thought as he selected the mage class. His world swirled and distorted into seeming unconsciousness, he rapidly regained clarity and found himself in a verdant wood. A newly created level one gnome mage: Name: Trian Race: Gnome Class: Mage Level: 1 Hit points: 50/50 Mana: 80/80 ¡°Ah yes! Bow before me filthy peasants!¡± he shrieked feeling mana run through his body. ¡°Shut it Pipsqueek!¡± laughed Raist as he too flexed his diminutive body, also a newly minted mini mage. Name: Raist Race: Gnome Class: Mage Level: 1 Hit points: 50/50 Mana: 80/80 ¡°The road to greatness is long, Raist! But let¡¯s get started!¡± Trian ran forward, selected a level 1 wild boar and began casting Frostbolt. ***** Spell: Frostbolt Level 1. 1.5 second cast time. Casts a Frostbolt at target causing frost damage and slowing target movement. 25 meter range limit ***** A second later a bolt of frost left Trian¡¯s outstretched hands and went off howling like a snowstorm towards his targeted boar. It hit with the sound of smashing glass and damage notifications flicked above the boars head (-20hp) as the boar squealed and fell over dead. ¡°Not bad Frosty! But I can beat that!¡± yelled Raist as he began casting Fireball at another Boar. ***** Spell: Fireball Level 1. 2 second cast time. Casts a Fireball at the target causing fire damage, has a chance to ignite target causing burn damage over time. 25m range limit. ***** Raist¡¯s hands flashed red with flames, then a ball of fire ripped into being and exploded towards his targeted boar. The fireball torched straight to the unsuspecting pig and exploded upon impacting with it¡¯s head. Like a napalm shower the flames engulfed the boar as impact damage notifications appeared above it¡¯s head (-30), the boar knocked flying from the impact with a smell of burnt hair and roasted pork. Quickly forgotten, the now dead boar toppled off its feet and lay smouldering. ¡°Ha this is great!¡± yelled Raist as he fist bumped Trian. The healthy green forest was crawling with level one pigs but that would shortly be remedied by the two over-enthusiastic gnomes. One by one the level one boars were set on fire or frozen to death until eventually both mages ¡®dinged¡¯ and received ¡®level up¡¯ messages. Moving through the forest the two mages laid waste to every creature they could find, boars and wolves were by far the most common but neither posed much threat individually to the two gnomes. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sometime later, another gnome, Zizek whispered to his friend ¡°Watch this, Tanner! Fifty silver says the fire mage dies¡± as he pointed to the developing scene on the open sandy shoreline just beyond the forest edge. Tanner tried to stop himself from laughing as he knew all to well what was about to happen. ¡°You¡¯re on!¡± Tanner said as Zizek climbed up a nearby tree stump to gain the best vantage. Below them on the shore, a gobbling screech type noise echoed up the beach, Raist had come into agro range of a Mudrock creeper and it had sounded the attack. A level six creature known for ambushing newbs travelling along the creek and ocean foreshores, mudrocks had gained a reputation as ferocious monsters. ¡°Ah Shit¡± exclaimed Raist as he charged a fireball spell. He released the fireball into the creature¡¯s face, dropping its health to a quarter which caused it to turn tail and run back to the safety of the water. ¡°Heh, Cowardly creature, that wasn¡¯t so bad¡± said Raist to Trian who was standing back apparently reading a skill list or possibly just staring off into the distance. The Mudrock had fled straight into the deep water of the creek and disappeared. Seconds later it burst back out of the water, its attack resolve re-invigorated by the twelve level 6 Mudrocks now joining the attack. ¡°What the Shit!¡± exclaimed Raist as he found himself rather quickly under attack from the Mudrocks. Loud screeches ¡°Gwar gwarble gwarble¡± sounding the attack of the small round fish-men. ¡°This is going to be good!¡± jokes Tanner to Zizek as the thirteen agro¡¯d Mudrocks emerge from the water clearly with the intention of killing the fire mage. Trian snapping out of his trance like state shook his head, ¡°Oh man!!¡± he exclaimed as he cast his blink spell directly towards the approaching group of monsters. ***** Spell: Blink Instant cast. Blinks the caster 15 meters forward ***** He blinked past Raist and landed right in the middle of the group of attacking Mudrocks. Immediately casting Frost-nova. ***** Spell: Frost-nova Instant cast. A wave of ice radiates from the caster causing AOE (area of effect) damage and freezing all enemies within 5 meters in place for 3 seconds ***** The wave of ice flew out from his body in all directions, the monsters were hit and had their limbs frozen to the ground, little red damage indicators flashed above their heads ¡°-5, -7, -5, -6¡± etc. Trian quickly turned and cast Blink back to his original position. Once Trian landed back behind him, Raist cast Rain of Fire over the group of Mudrocks. ***** Spell: Rain of Fire Channeled spell. Causes a 10 meter diameter rain of fire over a targeted area. Range 20 meters. ***** A dark magic cloud appeared above the group and fire started to rain down on the still trapped monsters. ¡°-8, -9, -8¡± red numbers indicating the monster¡¯s health dropping every time the spell ticked, the spell was channeled and required Raist to continue casting to extend the time of the spell. Trian wanting to make sure none of the monsters escaped started to channel ¡®Rain of frost¡¯. ***** Spell: Rain of frost Channeled spell. . Causes a 10 meter diameter rain of frost over a targeted area, has a chance per tick to freeze enemies caught within range. Range 20 meters. ***** The two mages continued to channel the AOE spells until the last Mudrock fell to the barrage. ¡°Thank Cajiao for area of effect spells¡± says Raist as he rejoins Trian. ¡°Thank me for being an ice mage you mean!¡± retorts Trian jokingly. The two mages had taken different spell paths each believing their chosen path was the greater of the two most viable options. Trian had clearly taken a frost mage path with a suite of frost spells and high crowd control whereas Raist had gone the fire mage option and had gained fire spell options which provided him with ridiculously high burst damage but very little crowd control. They both knew at their current levels, the differences weren¡¯t that obvious but at higher levels they would be like chalk and cheese. ¡°Hey you two! You agro¡¯d half the beach!¡± Zizek loudly proclaimed as he walked down to greet the two mages. ¡°I thought you were both Goners!¡± joined in Tanner as he also walked towards the group. ¡°He¡¯d be rightly screwed without me!¡± laughs Trian, ¡°Who are you lot?¡± he asked while jabbing Raist in the ribs. ¡°I¡¯m Zizek and this is my buddy Tanner. We were taking bets on which one of you were going to die first but you cleaned up those Mudrocks like no ones business!¡± Zizek said as clasped Tanner on the shoulder and greeted the others. ¡°We ain¡¯t going out like that! Especially not to bloody Mudrocks!¡± says Raist as he finishes looting the corpses, ¡°I¡¯m Raist and that little Icypole over there is Trian, but don¡¯t hold that against him¡±. ¡°You guys work well together, wanna grind some mobs with us?¡± asked Tanner. ¡°Sure! Why not?¡± said Trian as he invited Raist and Tanner to their party, which they quickly accepted. Once their details had appeared on their interface both Trian and Zizek shared an incredulous look at each other. ¡°Eeeerrrr, Gnomes can¡¯t do that!¡± Trian exclaimed, both he and Raist had looked at Zizek¡¯s and Tanner¡¯s character sheets and saw something that just couldn''t be. Chapter 2. Gnomes can鈥檛 do that! The two gnome¡¯s character sheets gave basic information into the team interface showing: Name: Zizek Race: Gnome Class: Priest Level: 6 Hit points: 250/250 Mana: 180/180 Name: Tanner Race: Gnome Class: Hunter Level: 6 Hit points: 220/220 Mana: 160/160 ¡°Yeah Gnomes can¡¯t do that!¡± gripes Raist as he remembered that the gnomish race was limited to mage and warrior classes. ¡°Well my friends, we¡± as Tanner grabs Zizek ¡°are an exception to the rule!¡± ¡°Not only that¡± says Zizek, ¡°but check this out!¡± as he cast Shadow-form upon himself. ***** Spell: Shadow-form Instant cast on self. Toggles shadow form on the caster. Allows use of shadow magic spells, makes all heal spells unavailable until toggled off. All shadow spells return 1% health to all party members for damage dealt ***** ¡°Bullshit!¡± says Raist and he continues ¡°And how in Cajiao¡¯s name is that possible? A gnomish shadow priest!? Not only that, but Tanner you¡¯re a hunter? We¡¯re gnomes not Cajiao-damned Elves!¡± Tanner and Zizek both looked at each other and shrugged. ¡°Choices were made and options opened up that weren¡¯t¡± Zizek said as he raised his hands and made an inverted comma motion with his fingers ¡°¡®Normally¡¯ available to the general public¡±. ¡°So you¡¯re fucking hackers then?¡± asked Trian. ¡°Let¡¯s just say Zizek here sucked off the right people¡± joked Tanner. Zizek exclaimed ¡°Ha NO! As far as I know, Tanner and I are the only two gnomes with different classes. Our accounts came with a few rare perks. One of which is the option to choose any class for any given race¡±. ¡°Yeah, so you are fucking hackers¡± said Raist. ¡°That¡¯s sweet, I always wanted a pocket healer¡± laughs Trian. Given the company, short jokes were obviously going to be brutally inevitable. ¡°I ain¡¯t no healer, I¡¯m dps baby!¡± Zizek exclaimed as Tanner joined in ¡°Me too!¡± the two fist bumped in what appeared to be a well-rehearsed action. It was an unspoken law after all that all healing classes were infact DPS classes. Tanner made a whistling noise and cast Summon Pet. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ***** Spell: Summon Pet Summons a previously tamed pet to fight by your side. Individual pet abilities vary by type and level ***** A level 6 boar named Bacon appeared by Tanner¡¯s side. ¡°So we gunna kill some stuff or what?¡± The group of gnomes worked their way along beach leaving a swath of death and destruction behind them. As it turned out Bacon was quite an effective tank, Tanner would send him in first and use his Stunning charge ability to stun the mob while the rest of the team DPS it down. ***** Spell: Stunning Charge (boar specific) Caster charges targeted enemy and stuns for 2.5 seconds. Cannot be dodged ***** Most mobs didn¡¯t last longer than the stun duration due to all four gnomes being high damage classes, but the few that did survive found themselves frozen to the spot curtesy of Trian¡¯s Frost nova. Unable to close to melee range the mobs fell quickly to the ranged damage dealers. ¡°That charge stun is O.P as fuck!¡± Zizek noted as a mob died without being able to turn to face the incoming damage. The group crested a hilltop and discovered what appeared to be a small settlement of ramshackle lean-to''s built into the foreshore some distance along the beach. Naga, a type of mermaid/fishman hybrid were scattered throughout the area surrounding the settlement. The team had been growing very confident in their ability to quickly down mobs but these mobs should prove a challenge. The closest Naga was patrolling along the waters edge, a massive two meter tall monster sporting an eel-like lower body and massively muscled humanoid upper body. It¡¯s neck covered in large protruding gill plates looking like it would be just as comfortable underwater and on land. The trident spear and plate chest armor also contributing towards it¡¯s fearsome appearance. ¡°Level 8, Spear Naga¡± Tanner called out as he sent Bacon charging for the foe. The Naga turned and attacked Bacon before he was in range to stun, it¡¯s long spear flashing out and piercing Bacon¡¯s snout which stopped him dead in his tracks **Stunned** appeared above the Boar¡¯s head. A second quick attack of the Naga''s spear and Bacon¡¯s health bar was dropping quickly. "Shit!" exclaimed Tanner as he saw Bacon was in a world of trouble. Zizek seeing the boar was getting killed decided to go all out and draw agro off the monster onto himself. He wound up a series of shadow spells ***** Spell: shadow word : Pain casts a damage over time (d.o.t) spell on targeted enemy, damage increases with every tick. Lasts for 20 seconds ***** ***** Spell: Unholy light casts a flash of unholy light at the target. Spell burns target for unholy damage ***** ***** Spell: Mass Panic casts an A.O.E fear spell causing all enemies within five meters to flee for five seconds ***** It seems the whole group had the same Idea as the mob was promptly set on fire, put on ice, smashed with unholy damage, feared and barraged with arrows. It''s health quickly dropping down before it could recover from the fear spell. It''s body slumped to the ground with blue sparkles spraying into the air, "Phat loot!" yells Trian as he loots the body. Five silver, some cotton cloth and a rare quality dagger with plus agility and constitution stats. "Siiick!!" says Tanner as Trian gives him the dagger knowing that the hunter will get by far the biggest benefit from the item. After healing Bacon, the group continued to attack Naga''s in their burst damage style not giving the mobs a chance to barely move before succumbing to over-whelming damage. It wasn''t long before they had filled their inventories with common rarity sell-able items and crafting materials, the decision was made to go to find the nearest town. Freeing up inventory space, buying consumables and picking up professions was the next priority.