162 Do you want to come as well? (2/2)
”That's good. It is very useful to have a pill refiner in a group. Those pills can get very expensive, so having one can drastically reduce the money we have to spend.
By the way, how is the formation of your group?”
”We don't really have one. Until now, we have just fought together in whichever way seemed best. And today we wanted to practice the 'Basic Turtle Formation' and the 'Basic Spear Formation'.”, Ivan explained what they had learned in class today.
Celine nodded thoughtfully. ”Those two aren't bad, but they seem a bit unfitting for your group. If I'm correct then you have four mages and one paladin, right?”
”Yes. You are right. Those formations seem to be more geared towards warriors, but they are the only ones we learned.”, Ivan agreed. He had seen this as well. Both formations were heavily focused on group melee fighting, which wasn't the true domain of mages, but of warriors.
”Well, it's not like it is bad to learn them. But I would recommend you to try to learn another one, that can be combined with them.”
”A formation that can be combined with them?”, Ivan asked surprised.
”Yes. There is a formation called 'Magical Strengthening Formation', that has been developed by a group of mages, in order to strengthen their physical combat power.
Back then they wanted to clear a dungeon that had weird restrictions. Only mages could enter it, but once they entered it they would be unable to attack with magical skills. Only pure physical attacks were possible. And while most groups would have given up, they instead developed a series of skills and formations that made use of mana to strengthen their physical combat power.”
”Couldn't they just strengthen their combat skills and the relevant stats?”, Ivan asked confused. After all, it wasn't like mages and warriors were mutually exclusive. It was just that mages started with mana, unlike warriors. They could use all the skills warriors could if they just trained them. Of course, normally they wouldn't do it since it was seen as a waste of time.
”Well, they had already trained as mages. And the dungeon had a level restriction to level 500 which meant that those that hadn't started with all attributes unlocked hadn't unlocked the last one. Which meant that most of them lacked one of the physical attributes.”
”So did they manage to do it?”
”Yes. Surprisingly they did it. But the important thing is that they left their collection of skills and formations for future generations. Sadly nowadays they have become rarely seen.”
”Why is that?”, Ivan asked confused. They seemed very useful in certain situations, so why would they be lost now?
Seeing his laugh Celine laughed softly. ”Do you think everyone is like you? Most mages would focus on casting skills from the distance. It is just your group of weird friends that don't. I guess that's because you are all mages. Or why do you think the school created groups with warriors and mages?
In a normal party, the mages are responsible for long-range support and crowd control. Not for tanking and melee combat like you.”
”So you are saying the way I fight is wrong?”
”Of course not. In fighting, there is no right or wrong way. You have to fight the way you are best at.”
Ivan agreed with her. Only by fighting the way he was best at, could he produce the best results.
”But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to fight in other styles as well if the situation requires it. And that is something you seem to be sorely lacking in.”
”What do you mean?”
”Just take a look at your skills. Is there even one crowd control skill or long-range attack skill? Not to mention a large area of effect skill?”
He didn't have to check his character screen to know that he didn't have any skill of this type.
”You are right. I don't have any such skills. But wouldn't have our teacher told us about this?”
”What level are most of the people in your class?”, instead of answering his question she threw back this question at him.
”I'm not sure, but I think they are below level 50.”
”There you go. Below level 50 the mana pool would be much too small to fight effectively as a mage, so there was no need to teach you about the right way to fight as a mage yet. But you and Irena as well are different. The two of you have a large enough mana pool, so you should learn how to fight as a mage. This will improve team performance drastically. After all, there is a reason for the standard team formation.”
Ivan fell into thoughts while continuing to eat.
”Think about it. If you want to, I can teach the two of you.”, Celine encouraged him. ”Now let's get finished or we will be late.”