“Thanks, I guess.” Lucas looked over at Nick, who had already reached the door and switched his class yet again, and he couldn’t help but add, “Just don’t let him get the kill.”

Malik snickered. “Right. Since he’s stuck as a Healer, shouldn’t be hard to stop him from doing any damage.”

Lucas let the conversation stop there as he pulled out the Mage staff and switched his class yet again. The Mage staff, like the Healer’s, was a weapon with a concealed magic board designed to help a magician turn his Arcane Energy into a useful form. Once channeled, the energy could be turned into either a defensive spell, an offensive spell, or a utility spell, but unlike the Holy Energy board, the magic wasn’t channeled in a single direction. The board found in a Mage’s staff acted as both the energy source as well as the grounding point for every magical transistor in the staff. This meant that some of the energy also flowed back into the Mage as well as into the staff, where it would be used to power the crystals and eventually the spell. In addition, this system could slowly change the caster’s energy into one with an elemental property. If a spell user only used Ice spells, then over time, his energy would have a greater cold property innately built into it, allowing the magician to cast more powerful Ice spells while at the same time making it difficult to cast even basic Fire spells—or altogether impossible if the magician’s energy had become too attuned to Ice.

The beginner’s magic staff only had four simple spells. Firebolt took two seconds to charge at Level 1 and required 2 Arcane Energy before turning into the low-damage, area-of-effect spell that, while deadly at starter levels, was relatively harmless as players grew stronger. Zap took 5 seconds to charge at Level 1 and required 5 Arcane Energy but sent a bolt of electricity through the air and into the selected opponent. This spell was great for boss fights nearly the entire way through noob island because it did great single-target damage. Next, there was the Earth Spike, which required 3 Arcane Energy and sent a sharp spike out of the ground or wall and toward the target. Finally, the last spell was a simple Ice attack, Frost Breath. It only required 1 Arcane Energy to cast and could then be channeled continuously, making it the fastest castable skill on the staff. Unfortunately, the spell also did the least damage. It was great for removing trash mobs quickly and slowing down enemies that were charging at you, but because it was a channeled spell that couldn’t accept more than 1 Arcane Energy per second no matter how high-level the Mage was, it was terrible at dealing damage to anything over Level 5 or so.

“Remember, this boss is easy. You can just sit it out if you need, brother,” Malik said. “With Valerie healing, I can tank her the entire time. You just relax.”