"Cough! Cough!" When Castro got back on his feet, he was already in a sorry state. Although he had promptly used a scroll to raise a magical shield, the heat and smoke from the explosion had still left the cold-faced assassin filthy from head to toe.
"What is that?" Castro did not care about any of that. He had suffered far worse injuries before. What truly shocked him was the flaming giant that had suddenly appeared. Well, that was not exactly an accurate description, but Castro had indeed never seen anything like it.
At the same time, Solam was examining his own transformation. This was the signature ability of an advanced Elemental Shaman: Elemental Avatar!
Once this ability was used, he could transform into a Huge elemental of a chosen type. Huge elementals were also known as Elemental Elders; they stood below Elemental Lords in power and were very close to legendary rank. At the same time, he would gain all the abilities of that elemental.
The duration of this spell was extremely difficult to define. No two shamans ever maintained their Elemental Avatar transformation for exactly the same amount of time. Its duration was directly related to the shaman's level, affinity with the elements, and mental strength. No two shamans were alike in those respects.
Take Solam, for example. He was an eighteenth-level shaman with outstanding affinity for all four elements, particularly fire and air. Combined with his exceptional mental strength, he could remain transformed into an air elemental or fire elemental for as long as an hour! His duration with the other two elements was slightly shorter.
After transforming into a Huge fire elemental, he became immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and critical hits. He was also immune to ordinary weapons and fire damage, but took double