Feeling his body speed up toward the ground, Astaroth did the only thing that came to mind. He activated Thousand Thoughts.
His perception of time slowed down to a point where even his fall was happening inch by inch. This allowed his brain to settle down and think of a solution to his predicament.
It was too early for him to switch melds to Morpheus, as it was freshly on cooldown. As for his other meld, it was still on cooldown too, and it wouldn't have helped.
The closest tree to him was metres away from where he would land. His next thought was to use the Ad Astra, in a form that would allow him to grab onto the cliff.
But when he looked at his distance from the surface, he scratched that option out. He was already too far away.
He tried using Propel on his body to launch himself upward, but could only apply enough force to slow his fall. He felt the jerk of the wind spell hitting his back, but it was hardly enough to push him.
A thought occurred to him. His mind recalled how Wind Walking worked, pushing his body off the ground only enough to reduce friction.
But it was enough to keep him aloft. He thought, 'What if I use Propel under my feet, while that cushion acts as the solid ground?'
He recalled how Morticia had described her thought process to upgrade her skills mastery during the siege. It was easy to understand that mastery was about innovating how you used skills and spells, more than an actual repetition of them.
He was nearing the ground, his Thousand Thoughts skill almost over, and guessed he had nothing to lose trying it. At worst, it would slow his descent enough for him not to die on impact.
Shifting his body to an upward position, Astaroth bent his legs. He then used Propel under his feet, pushing upward against the air, cushioning his boots.
He could feel the two winds pushing against each other in his senses, and his fall was abruptly slowing down. As his skill Thousand Thoughts ended, he felt a change in the air magic under him.
The two currents knocked each other away, stopping his fall and giving him a bit of upward momentum.
*Ding!*
*Your innovative use of counter-currents from Wind Walking and Propel has furthered your understanding of how Wind Walking works. Mastery level 1 gained for Wind Steps.*
Astaroth grinned, but he didn't have the luxury of time to look at it right away. Repeating his process from earlier, Astaroth was able to direct it under a single foot with much more ease.
With this, he could hop from left to right, gaining more and more height and momentum as he did. His ascent proceeded rhythmically until he was able to grasp how to use his new spell correctly.
It then became as easy as running, but upward, in the sky. If anyone had been looking, they would have seen him zigzag upward, like he was bouncing off invisible walls, using them as footrests.
Reaching the top of the cliff drained a lot of mana from Astaroth, but his large pool of the resource made it more than acceptable.
As he landed atop the mountain, he let himself fall on his back, as the adrenaline of the fall finally subsided. A fit of laughter escaped his mouth.
"Ahahaha! That was nerve-wracking! But I learned something!"
His mind rested on how he gained the mastery, and he now had a new objective, that he would have to work on as soon as possible. Gaining more masteries in his current spells.
He wasn't sure everyone could have the same masteries, either. If he were to guess about it, his thought was that mastery level allowed you five variants of a spell that you found out by yourself.
If he was right, then that meant that even basic spells could become signature moves, as long as you mastered them five times. His mind was already rushing with ideas.
He wasn't sure if any of them would work, or how he would make them work, but his imagination had just become the limit to his magic capacity.
He had been focusing on his melee fighting for a while, and decided it was about time he put a bit of effort into his magic, too. He had grabbed at that possibility at the start, because he wanted to fight with both.
He never intended to fight only with his physical prowess, but had done so, time and time again.
'I guess old habits from previous games don't die.'
He vowed to himself to use the remaining hours before the patch to better his understanding of magic. Aberon had once told him that magic, like everything, was limited by how you understood it and practiced it.
Astaroth took a few more minutes to let his heart stop thumping in his chest before standing back up. He looked at his map.
He could see the entrance to the dungeon on the map, but was still not in a position to see it with his eyes. He could feel the mana draw in his sense, though.
With that, he could tell he was getting closer.
Astaroth started sprinting across the side of the mountain, sometimes jumping to a different cliff side, using his new skill to traverse the long gaps.
He diverted a bit of his mind to reading the new Wind Walking description.
Wind Walking (Mastery Level 1/5): You conjure wind magic under your feet to reduce friction with the ground. Gain a 50% -> 75% speed increase. Lasts 1 -> 2 minutes. Cooldown 5 minutes. MP cost: 100 MP.
Your ingenuity has allowed you to find a new use to Wind Walking, and better use the current version. New skill unlocked: Wind Walking; Sky Steps.
Wind Walking; Sky Steps: Using a counter-current, you bend the air itself into becoming solid under your feet. With this, you can jump further up, or even change the direction you are going, in mid-air. MP cost: 150 MP/step.
His lips stretched into a smile as he thought of all the uses he would have for this new skill. But he then noticed something.
Both Wind Walking and Sky Steps had no level next to them. He wondered why that was.
He tried using a skill point in Wind Walking, but got a notification.
*Skill point use denied. You cannot use a skill point on this skill, as it has no higher level. Please use mastery levels to strengthen it. Good luck, Player!*
'Hmm. How curious…'
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel