《Godfather of magical technology with a pinch of extortion》 Call me Osric. Re-writen V2 Osric. Osric Thale is my name, or I believe it was before the bright flash. Not the kind of flash that you see while spectating some fireworks, no. It was the flash of death. The instant I got blinded was the moment I realized that I won`t survive any longer. In my honest opinion, I had a good run. Tried to make the universe a better place. Thrown into an academy because of my talent, my life of a slave began. Ironic that escaping their control also signalled my own demise. They rather bomb down a capital sized city then allow the escape of one of their few Dimensi¡­ ++++++++++++++++++++++ A heaven-defying, head-splitting headache. That¡¯s what I get rewarded for waking up. I can¡¯t really complain, after all I thought that I died, but damn do I hate headaches, in my opinion they are the worst. I am okay with diarrhoea or coughing or anything else for that matter. Yes, it hurts, but that¡¯s it. Only some pain, nothing major. Headaches in comparison are excruciating. You can¡¯t sleep, can¡¯t relax, can¡¯t browse or work on the computer. You can do nothing. Absolutely nothing without it fucking you up. Alright whatever. I believe I made my point clear. So, why exactly am I not dead? A question I would like to find an answer for, thus I open my eyes. A bad idea, a terrifying one at that. The headache, which got a bit better, makes itself known again in the worst possible way. I groan. Brightness, way too much brightness. It takes a while but my eyes have somewhat adapted to the brightness. Everything hurts, all my muscles from my head to my toes. I never knew that you could have muscle ache on your head. I feel like a fat guy after a five-hour workout, who started a bar fight right after. Just ten times worse. The pain was all-encompassing but brief. Sometime later I finally regained some control of my own body.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Finally, I regain the ability to reason again. Looking around, I find myself in a fairly empty attic, filled with a single bed and a big chest, presumably for clothes, standing on a dark wooden floor. The same floor where my face planted itself before my awakening. This time, I observe a bit more closely. Three things were found in my search. An open grey-goldish box, a strange book and a missing piece of the floor. It initially looks like the hole is usually covered with the wooden chest. The scratching marks on the floor suggest some movement from the big chest next to it. My first action is panicking. Which sane person wouldn¡¯t? I may have no idea what happened, or how, I still follow the best plan my panicked brain threw up. That is hiding everything back where it, most likely, was taken from. The moment I touch the book, I feel something inside me shudder. What is the reason for that? Is it possible that this book has something to do with my current situation? A bit later, I push away that thought and hastily put the book back into its box. After finally putting the half-opened box back into the hole, I push the Chest back over the hole. Alright, now what? I need some information about my situation. Going in blindly might get myself killed. Again. Window maybe? Meh, why not? Everything is still aching, but it already got better, the same with the headache. Standing up, I slowly move to the window, I see a scene appears in front of me, which shocks my mind. Something I wish won¡¯t happen anymore. The first three minutes I was in denial. My brain capacity and logical thinking got trained to a very high standard, but exactly that kind of thinking made this even more unbelievable. Hundreds of thoughts flash through my mind as I watch the city outside my window. My overview of the city is rather good. The attic window is situated above most of the rooftops of other houses. High enough that I can see a big part of the city and what lay further, but not high enough to be able to make any speculations about the standing of the inhabitants of this house. Or my potential family. It looks a bit like a middle-sized city in the 18th or 19th century. Mostly two-story houses, with some higher buildings towards my right side. There are three things which I find to be very strange. I can point out two of them. The easiest to notice is the huge tower to the right. It is black¨Cgoldish with something written or painted on it. It is too far away to make out anything specific, however. The second thing is the architecture. I lived in a rather spectacular city before, so I saw my fair share of three to four-hundred-year-old buildings. These buildings towards the centre remind me of them. They looked similar, but better build, straight walls, systematic city building, something very atypical for those times. Far to the left are buildings which look similar to stone houses. There is something further, but my eyes can¡¯t see that far. Finally, in the middle of the city is the oversized black-goldish tower. Standing majestically over the whole city. According to my speculations, it should be the centre of the city. A city like this is absolutely impossible to exist from back where I came from. Too much-wasted space. Having accepted that I came to this strange land, which is most likely in a different universe then earth, a strange feeling begins to well up inside me. I don¡¯t know where the feeling is coming from. It feels like it¡¯s coming from an organ, like muscle ache, but this feeling feels so uniform and everywhere. I feel like I have an illusionary organ. It is everywhere at the same time. It feels like power. Personal one, not like in my own world. I feel like I can do everything. Freedom also overcomes me, after realizing that I came somewhere which could not possibly be from back there. Then I plant my face back into the floor. Chapter 2: The Family Re-writen V2 Chapter 2 Darkness my good old friend, here we meet again. And fuck you too headache. ¡°Brother, wake up, wake up. Mother! Osric is on the floor,¡° says someone, shouting towards the end, apparently my brother. He also probes me with his foot. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that? I asked you to call him for breakfast,¡° my apparent mother says. ¡°He is on the floor face first. Oh, he is waking up,¡± says he. He is handling the situation pretty well. Did the previous guy pull some similar strange things before? ¡°Then get him down to eat, breakfast is ready,¡° says she. ¡°Alright, stop kicking. I am already awake,¡° I say, somewhat disgruntled. Being woken up by shouting and light kicks to my rips doesn¡¯t help my mood a lot, the fact that the whole situation feels foreign to me isn¡¯t helping my mood and confusion either. Families back on earth didn¡¯t behave like that. It was, how do I say it? Colder. Much, much colder. Meanwhile, my brother runs out of my room and down the stairs. Ugh. That goddamn headache again. At least my body- oh, never mind it hurts too. Alright, get up. Let¡¯s see what this whole joke is about. First thing let¡¯s set up a mask. Let¡¯s go with, how old am I now actually? Looking at the window, I see the reflection of an approximately 13 - 14-year-old boy with a European-Caucasian ancestry. Strange light violet eyes. But easy to overlook without looking deep into them. Dark, brown hair, some baby fat, but definitely a normal look, at least in Europe. Let¡¯s hope that the citizens of this world have a similar definition of normal. Slightly lean, but not fat. Just like a typical kid looks like or how I would imagine someone from the 18th century would look. Thus, I should use a basic facade, like a somewhat cheerful kid. Let¡¯s hope muscle memory can help out a bit here. Going down the stairs, I notice the lack of decorations, the room is plain. Next to the stairs are three doors, I drift towards the right one without thinking. It opens up into a kitchen with a dining table. In here are a lot more decorations. The dining table looks nice, a white birch table. A dark oak cabinet, a somewhat modern looking kitchen with a fridge and oven-like apparatus. Though I don¡¯t notice anything like electricity or gas. How do they work? That¡¯s a question for another day. Except me, there are three other people in the room. One and a half men and a woman. The woman looks somewhat pretty. Blue-grey eyes and blond hair. Her face is nothing to write about but definitely not ugly. Medium-sized breasts, and around 1.65 meters, her figure is somewhat skinny. Definitely middle-aged. The man has a height of 1.83 meters. Looks well build but not grizzly with an average face, black hair and a short beard. The last person is my apparent brother. He looks similar to me, just three or four years younger and with blond hair, and blue eyes.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Interesting, I shouldn¡¯t be able to gauge their heights this exactly. My eyes also seem sharper. Tough that can be normal, I wore glasses before. My eyes weren¡¯t that bad, but I still needed them for forced learning. ¡°Good Morning.¡°I say. My face still a bit sleepy and stiff from my sleep. ¡°Morning son, you are late.¡° says the man, most likely my father. I can¡¯t notice anything about him. Not that I am great at judging people mind you. ¡°What happened? George told us that you were on the floor.?¡° the woman asks a bit worried. She has the look of a worried mother. Either her acting is on point, I am bad at telling real and fake feelings apart or this is not an illusion. ¡°I just fell off my bed and didn¡¯t bother to get back up.¡° I say, the woman didn¡¯t find that strange for some reason. Damn kid, what kind of weirdo were you? ¡°Alright, go eat something.¡° she says and focuses back at her own food. Instinctively I go around the table and choose the sit closest to the man. The plate with food might also have helped my orientation. There are three pieces of food on the plate, they look like bacon, an egg and a piece of bread. There is also thick white liquid inside a glass. A glass? Strange. Making glass should be very expensive in a world like this. The egg tastes like chicken eggs, it is hard-boiled. The bread has a somewhat familiar taste, but there is more to it. Something for later. The bacon is bacon, somewhat strange, but not the strangest piece of meat I ever put into my mouth. What did I expect? ¡°Son, did you decide what you want to do.?¡° says the man between his bites. Table manners don¡¯t seem that important around here. ¡°Dad, I am still unsure. What do you recommend.?¡° I ask, looking somewhat clueless. This is sure to look strange to him, but a need information and without anything resembling the internet, he is my only option. He looks at me a bit strangely, glaring at me for a solid second. I might have made a mistake; though it doesn¡¯t look like a big one. After the glare he contemplated for a couple of seconds, then he answers. ¡°Well, you won¡¯t make a good knight with that body of yours. Scholars are irrelevant, they don¡¯t have a lot of power, so that option is out too. I won¡¯t let my son be some useless crap worker. In my opinion, you should try your luck at His Excellency Renald¡¯s tower. We can afford the aptitude test, but hopefully it won¡¯t be wasted.¡° He says. Still a bit unsure looking about the last part. A strange person, rather critical thinking, but still cares for ?me¡®, as the test doesn¡¯t seem to be cheap. ¡°Leon. Don¡¯t be like that. Osric, I am sure you will make it. The next test is going to be in two weeks so you still have some time. Be in your best form when taking it.¡° says the women, trying to cheer me up, but she doesn¡¯t look exactly sure about my chances. She seems like a typical mother, or how I imagine one to be. Nothing unexpected. ¡°Osric, can you help me with my homework?¡° Asks George. Munching down his portion like an undersized leopard. Just without the grace and posture of one. ¡°Yes, I will.¡° I say. This should be a good opportunity to gauge the level of education people get here. Most likely only well-off people can afford it. ¡°Thanks, mom. George, I will come in 10 mins to help you.¡° I say, but first I need to inspect my room properly and get my priorities straight. With that, I head back to my room. Back in my room, I close the door and sit on my bed. Contemplate a bit and think over what I already know:
  1. My name is Osric, surname is still unknown.
  1. I seem to live in a somewhat wealthy family. The house is big enough for at least four people. With someplace to spare.
  1. My family consist of: George, approximately 10 years old. Me approximately 13 or 14 years old. Leon, the father, middle-aged. And my mother, name still unknown, also middle-aged.
  1. It seems that the original inhabitant of this body got in some kind of accident. Most likely in combination with the book I found. Is he gone completely? I don¡¯t know. Needs more research.
  1. The city seems big, I would say around 40.000 inhabitants. Though I am uncertain, I could only see what is outside my window. A rather middle to big sized city. Name is also unknown.
On another note, there seems to be some change in my memory capability, a very welcome one. And my cognitive brain seems to work better too. Chapter 3: The Organ or Organs? Re-writen V2 Chapter 3 I still need more information on this world. I am at home and George is here too, which means that it¡¯s either the holidays or weekend. Homework also seems to be a thing. After helping George, I will rummage through that chest of mine. There should be some helpful stuff. In a week I need to have a better picture of the world. That¡¯s a good goal for now. Let¡¯s go to George then. Going down the stairs I encounter the three doors again, this time my hand goes towards the one on the left. Inside the room is a bed, kind of the same I have and a near-identical chest. My brother is sitting on the floor and in front of him is a small desk. Looks like a portable one. ?Come help me with mathematics.¡° he says. He seems to be struggling over some kind of notebook. He became hopeful after I came into the room. ?Alright show it to me. Maybe I can help¡° I answer. Taking the textbook from the desk, I inspect the material. It feels rough, somewhat thicker than I am used to. Seems like a luxury product in this setting. Then I inspect the words on it. Huh, lucky me. This word seems to use the same numbers as the earth did, in a decimal system. That¡¯s good. I don¡¯t need to relearn the fundamentals of the universe again. My brother seems to be struggling with some additions tough. Having a look at the book beside him, I notice strange pictures of fruits inside. It looks like the book is using those fruits illustrate addition and subtraction. Some of them look somewhat familiar. There are apples, oranges and some other familiar fruits. Then there are the alien ones, however. They are hard to describe. ?So, what exactly do you need help with?¡° I ask. ?Look here, I don¡¯t get¡­¡° +++++++++++++++++++++++ Two hours later we are finished with the mathematics homework. I also caught a glimpse of the language book. This word seems to be using a similar language system than a lot of European country¡¯s use. It feels similar to English but somewhat different. I seem to be able to instinctively grasp it. So far so good. At least I won¡¯t have problems reading in the future. The Math homework was easy for me, especially after learning Multidimensional mathematic theory, this is a piece of cake. Having a nine-year-old learn addition and subtraction is somewhat unacceptable. At least with the standards of my last world. Chatting with George also helped me with getting a better picture of our daily lives. He likes to talk and complain about school and other things. The school he talked about is not a compulsory. You have to be able to afford it. The school year is divided into three semesters. I am apparently on my last year of education, thank God. The exams are already finished. My last discovery concerns the week. This world also has 7 days, and the names sound the same or I just automatically translate it to them? Further thinking led me to believe that today is Sunday, the only day without school.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I go into the same school that George goes to. It is 20 minutes¡¯ walk away from the house, in the direction of the black tower. Next week of school is more of an orientation than learning, so I will get more knowledge of the world around me. But I am pretty sure that I will study magic. I already grasped that much from my short stay, Next on my agenda is the big chest and the book inside the small box. Tough they can wait for a little bit longer, first the big chest. Having finished my inner thoughts, I go upstairs and open the big chest. Inside are some writing utensils, three textbooks, two books and my clothes. Oh and also a small leather bag. Four sets of clothes, five including the one I am wearing. Then there are the textbooks and other books. I open one which has some mathematical stuff scribbled on top. Hm, some multiplications. Surprisingly there is also some geometry, but just basic stuff. Looks good, but very basic and especially the geometry looks a bit sketchy. The next books are about history and language. It turns out that the language is called Artes. Interesting name. It is similar to English and German. The main difference is the pronunciation. It is more precise; everything is said like it¡¯s written. Better than German at last. Having finished the first section about Artes, I continue to read the book. Surprisingly, some of their understanding of the planet is pretty deep. Yes, deep. The book mentions this planet being a round object of huge proportion. I cannot make an accurate guess about the size, but it is at least three to four times bigger than earth. I haven¡¯t thought about it yet, but jumping twice, I notice that the gravity is very similar to earth, even though the planet is much bigger. A very strange occurrence with dozens of explanations. Next. The continent is called Artesis. It has a similar size to the whole surface of the earth. So, pretty big. Strangely there are no mentions of kingdoms or empires. It looks like the continent is ruled by multiple organizations. I presume that those organizations are about the knights and mages I heard Leon talk about. Interesting, but not what I am interested in. The strange feeling I had yesterday, before I blacked out. That is something I am more concerned about. Yes, that¡¯s something more interesting. Running out of patients, I put everything back orderly and redirect my attention to my own body. For approximately two hours I check all over my body for anything strange or out of place. Having finished I decided to try meditation. That¡¯s the last thing that comes to my mind, it always helped me when I was unsure about thinks. Sitting down cross-legged, I calm my mind. It takes about twenty or thirty minutes. After emptying my mind I notice some particularities. Firstly, I can feel that ?organ¡® again. It still feels all-encompassing like earlier, but not overpowering anymore. It didn¡¯t scream ¡°I am here¡± anymore. Because of it, I notice three things. The first is that it has some connection to my body. It felt like having another system of vessels course through my body. It seems to follow the path of my bloodstream. It also has connections with the rest of my body, connecting all of it. I had a feeling that without this ?organ¡® my body would be unable to work. Like a puppet without strings. A strange feeling but something that definitely is worthy of researching. Second and even stranger is, that I seem to have some kind of rudimentary control over it. It is like being able to strengthen some of the vessels or cut off a part of my body from the ?organ¡®. It is a very strange feeling. Controlling organs is not supposed to be possible. But it is not difficult, it feels more like stretching a muscle I haven¡¯t ever stretched before, but can now control with a near frightening precision. Third and the most alarming thing is that I notice another organ overlapping my body. It looks heavily damaged, scars all over it. Though it still looks like it can function. But it feels foreign, like something that should not be there. I can also control this ?organ¡®, but it feels like moving heavy weights or swimming against a river. This amount of information is still insufficient to make any kind of informed decisions. Next, I should inspect the box and the book inside it, hopefully, that helps a bit. But first, I will wait for lunch. Afterwards, I shall have enough time. Having already used three or four hours since breakfast, it is safer to wait for it and then explore the unknown book without interruptions. Chapter 4: Soul and the Black Order Re-writen V2 Lunch is a rather simple affair. It looks like the people here eat breakfast followed by a light lunch. We are having some porridge. If one can call it that. It is unacceptable. Food is important, how can one have just porridge for lunch, and it looks like that that is normal around there. Let¡¯s hope that dinner is more acceptable. Taking out the small box again, I notice how smooth it is. Over the span of the whole day, I looked around in the kitchen and into my brother¡¯s room, but I haven¡¯t encountered anything so smooth, it reminds me of those little geometrical toys you used in second grade in advanced geometry. They were made as smooth as technologically possible. Taking it out and putting it on the floor I open it. Now that I have more time to inspect the box and its inventory, I see some rather interesting things. To begin with I categorize its contents. Laying the book beside the box, I take out everything and place next to it. There is a cube, one and a half times a Rubik¡¯s Cube in size, pitch black. Next, I take out some notes, they look messy and the characters itself remind me of the Chinese language, but with the continuatoning of Arabic, meaning that the words connect together like flowing water. Not like a European language. A very strange language indeed. Next, I take out two vials, with two different dried powders inside. Placing that next to the parchments, I take the final item out. It is a plain bracelet, it has no outstanding features, but I have the feeling that it is going to be very useful. There should be more. The bottom of the box is way higher than it should be. Prompted by this discovery I fumble around with the box. Sometime later I still haven¡¯t found a way to get to the bottom of it. It needs most likely some magic to work. Putting the box back down, I pick up the book. More specifically, it looks like a tome, a magic tome. Luckily, the words written on the cover are still readable and they look to be Artis, but a bit more antique. It looks like this box is already old enough for the language it was written in to be antiquated. But is still understandable. It says ?Introductory box. Black order of Souls¡®. An ominous name, but whether the organization still exists is questionable. Why? Because if it still exists, or is in power, this box shouldn¡¯t have landed in the hands of some random guy in the first place. Holding the book I get the same familiar feeling I had with the second ?organ¡® inside my body. Not hostile or ill-placed, more that I can somehow interact with it and that I might be able to slightly manipulate it.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The first page of the book is about the Order and warnings. It warns about the dangers of the spells, contents and the book itself. Looks like this how I got this body. Written down it says that ¡®without an affinity to souls, the practices of this book and the using of this book can lead to major soul damage or death.¡® So that first ?organ¡® is my soul? Seems logical. Then the heavily damaged second organ should be the original inhabitant of this body? Hmm, it still is heavily damaged, I have to take a look later to confirm whether it regenerates. Either way, I have to get rid of it. Sorry pal, I need this body. Not really need, but I still want it. It continues with an introduction about the order. ¡®Many think that the black order is evil, ¡® which, according to the book, is not true, ¡®we simply need to hide because of the fear of others. We do not fear anyone, but the world fears us. That¡¯s the reason The Order is undercover and doesn¡¯t exist. That¡¯s what the public believes. The mages and warriors vilified us because they are scared of our power. Everyone knows that there are 2 paths to power. The power of the body, also known as knighthood, or the path of the warrior. The second is the path of blood and magic. Those are known as magi, sorcerers or magicians. What is not taught is the 3rd path, the path of the soul. Our order is one of the few powers in possession of this particular path. What is special about it, is that this path not only leads to power, but also augments the 2 other paths, thus anyone who cultivates their soul, is usually stronger than their peers at the same grade¡® This is very interesting. And I just happened to get a legacy about souls, how sweet. The book continues ?though the image of evil users is not without reason. Soul manipulation is necessary for the most evil of rituals, whether one is a soul practitioner or not. What is also true that other rituals also benefit majorly from soul manipulation. This book helps through the 4 steps of an apprentice until he becomes a proper @$¡ì¡°&$@¡ì¡® The last word is written in a strange language. The page also mentions the 2 vials. Their purpose is for a ritual, which is necessary for the hiding of the soul affinity and soul cultivation. Let me think. I am sure that I want to be a magician. The warrior path is not to my liking, too barbaric. As someone from a civilized 25th century, I am surer about the benefits of technological powers than most. It seems like this whole situation is there to motivate me. Whatever the reason may be, I am okay with it. The next page describes soul affinity. It also has some knowledge about affinities in general. Soul affinity seems to be rare. Some people are born with it, some survive a heavy soul trauma or damage. It also warns in case of the second methods, the mortality rate is too high. It also mentions that people with a high soul affinity, who also got to use the second method gets an exceptional boost to sensing and manipulating to souls. The description is fairly similar to what happened to me. So this is good? Minus the nearly dying This also means that I have to get rid, or at least periodically damage the other soul, or it can try some nasty stuff on me. Tough that¡¯s for another day. *rumble**rumble**rumble* Someone is walking up the stairs. Faster than I thought possible, I put everything back into the small box, put the small box into the hole and push the chest back into its place and then I go to the window and look like someone contemplating life and actually caring about this family. Chapter 5; A soul lizard Re-writen V2 Leon, my father, is coming up the stairs. After closing the door, he approaches my bed and sits down. After a minute minutes of silence, he begins to talk. ?Are you really undecided? Or have you already made your choice?¡° He asks, stroking his beard in the process. He looks like a thinking bear doing so. ?Magic. Every time I look out of the window, I can¡¯t not see the big tower. But Magic is also so much cooler than knights.¡° I answer, Having a fanatic look in my eyes. A real emotion, not a faked one as I usually do. Faking emotions is an essential skill in the modern earth. Face is so important over there that not being friendly might cost your job or get you killed. Too much competition. ?Haha! Yes, that¡¯s right, but a lot more people can become knights rather than wizards. Nearly everyone can succeed in besting knighthood, but for magicians, they need talent. What do you think? Do you have the talent?¡° he asks. Still looking sceptical. Can¡¯t really fault him for that. From the small amount of information I managed to gather in the short while pointed me to a similar conclusion I play along. With sparkling eyes, I answer. ?Yes, I can feel it. I¡¯m sure. Please let me take the test.¡° I say. Continuing my fanatic fa?ade. I have already got back the grip on my emotions, but becoming calm all of a sudden wouldn¡¯t look good or logical on a teenager. ?Hoho, alright, we can still afford it. But if it is not for you, then I can still find a good job for, don¡¯t you worry and don¡¯t forget that. Being a wizard is expensive, even if you pass the test you have to work hard for resources.¡° he says. ?I understand, don¡¯t worry I will work hard.¡° I say, out of conviction. When have I not worked hard? You don¡¯t get selected as one of the few talents like me back there. ?Alright, let¡¯s go get some dinner. If you pass the test, I will give you something that should help with your journey. I but first dinner, go, young man.¡° he says. Lamenting a bit, he continues ¡°It had been unused for too long.¡± Says he more to himself than to me. ?Thanks, dad.¡° I hug him while saying it. One reason is to keep this facade, the other is that I am still a bit off with my expressions. Following my father downstairs, I can smell a nice aroma in the air. In the kitchen a Swedish looking pot awaited us. Inside is beef stew. At least it smells like beef stew. I am still unsure about the animals. At the dinner table, everyone gets some stew with a piece of meat. No one speaks while eating. A complete opposite to breakfast. It looks like they just want to enjoy the food. A sentiment I can wholly agree with. The dinner is consumed in a rather solemn tone, then having eaten my fill, I go upstairs and close the door. Another point Is that I need to investigate the cooking practices, spices and animals in this world. Food is important. Even without the time to do it, I can still teach people some recipes. Back to the introductory book. This time I only take out the book, leaving the rest in the small secret stash. Let¡¯s continue reading. ¡®Affinity. Affinity describes your ability to bend magic to your will. It is necessary to have at least one magical affinity, or it would be impossible to manipulate Mana at all. For example. A person with a strong fire affinity is able to manipulate Mana in a way to simulate other elements, like wind. But it is impossible to manipulate water magic. This limits the ability of learning spells of other schools. The special affinities are another matter entirely, however. These affinities often allow their wielder to have strange and very rare forms of magic. Examples are doom, soul, arcana, dimension or space affinity. Soul and arcana affinity are the most special. Soul is especially good at manipulating Mana and souls; thus, the wielder gets a big boost for studying formations and rituals. Meaning casting magic gets easier in general. Arcana is one of the rarest and most neglected affinity¡¯s. Very few people do have it and even fever know how to use it. Arcana is special in the way that it can emulate all other elements, though to a lesser degree. It is also the supreme element for formation and array masters. ¡®This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. That¡¯s interesting, at least I believe that I have some form of soul affinity. If I can trust my experience from the meditation session. For the rest, I need to test my potential in the black tower. Next page. ¡®In the first apprentice stage of the path of souls is the manipulation realm. In this realm, the practitioner must gain initial control of his soul. In rare instances, this stage can be skipped. The next three stages deal with the strengthening of the soul. The second is about the main vessels. The third with the strengthening of branch vessels. The last is about strengthening all the connections with the physical body. This stage has two parts. First the finding of the connections. Second is reinforcing them, until @$/(%¡ì@ can flow without any obstacles. After completing the second realm of the fourth stage, the practitioner officially becomes a @¡°¡ì/$)¡°@.¡® Good to know. The next page explains exercises for the manipulation realm. I seem to have a head start here. The methods listed are quite interesting, though sometimes too vague for my liking. They are about sensing the soul. That I have already accomplished at least. After that, they describe exercises to achieve better control over it. Most of them seem easy, but I still think that I need to exercise, directly skipping them seems to be a bad idea. Whatever the book wrote about it. Having memorized the exercises, I put the book on to the bottom of the chest and sit onto my bed in a meditational posture. Having again entered a serene mind, I notice that the second soul seems to have recovered a little. Mainly the main vessel, as described in the book, has healed somewhat. Not to the extent that I have to be vary, but, in my opinion, it is not a good development. Next, I begin to stretch my soul. At first it feels strange, but after half an hour of practice, it feels a lot more natural. This seems to be rather easy. I try to slow down and speed up the flow of the substance flowing in those vessels. It seems to be rather difficult, but I am still able to make it flow two or three per cent faster or slower. This should be the extent of it. The last exercise is about manipulating other souls. Typically, it is recommended to use a small animal for this. The larger and stronger the animal the more tenacious the soul would be. The book also mentions some additional information about souls. On a normal human, getting a deep cut on the arm would pose no threat to the soul. In comparison on a rabbit, stabbing it would leave a scar on the soul. Lucky for me, I don¡¯t need an animal. That would be very strange and dangerous in a place like this. I have my very own test subject in me. Let¡¯s call you subject#001. First, I try to link a cut branch vessel together. It¡¯s not a success, far from it. The moment the two touch the whole soul shudders, as if it is in a state of extreme pain. Which I think is possible. Next try, I begin putting the edges of the scar together. And it seems to work, until I get to the vessel. The moment I try to reconnect it, the soul shudders even more violently then the first time and the scar widens a bit. Hmm, in my opinion, one last attempt should still be possible. This time, I do the same thing, but connect the soul tissue on both sides of the scar simultaneously. The first few tries were not very successful, but that doesn¡¯t prove the method unfeasible, just that the process requires some multitasking and practice. It only proves that I hadn¡¯t tried it oft enough. Multitasking was never a problem for me. Slowly in the span of two hours, I try again and again. Just when I am about to succeed, I feel something in my soul about to breakthrough. The feeling doesn¡¯t give me anything urgent or strange, so I ignore it. Continuing with my experiment, I finish the operation. The moment I finish, I feel my soul shudder slightly. Not in the same way as subject#001, more in a joyful manner and not in horrifying pain. I feel like my manipulation improved. The first stage should be completed. If the book is trustworthy After the breakthrough, I feel sleepy. My exhaustion from fumbling around with another soul has erupted. Before I blackout, I hastily take out the book from the chest and put it back into the stash. Then I lie on the bed and blackout again. At least this time not on the floor. Chapter 6: The school or the end of it Re-writen V2 Feeling dizzy is apparently a side effect of overzealous soul training. Nothing I can¡¯t deal with, but have I mentioned that I hate headaches? I think I did. Whatever. Going down for breakfast, I notice that my mind seems to be a bit clearer than yesterday. Does that mean that exercising the soul and strengthening it boosts cognitive function? Seems logical. I can see my brother at the dining table. ?Osric you are late, hurry up and prepare for school.¡° my mother says. I still don¡¯t know her name. ?Alright, I will just grab something, and we can go. George are you ready?¡° I say while munching on a piece of bread and drinking some type of juice. I kind of except that we go to the same place. I would be fucked otherwise. ?Yes, let¡¯s go. Hurry up or we are going to be late.¡° George says. ?Alright I am finished, Let¡¯s go.¡° I say. Both me and my brother leave the house through the middle door in front of the staircase. Outside of it, a slightly damp combination of a stone road and a dirt road greets me. The one thing that I didn¡¯t notice, to my comfort, is crap all over the place. I follow George in the direction of the tower. I notice that the streets are not as clean as I had thought yesterday, but still way cleaner than they should be. ?George, say, what do you want to be when you finish school?¡° I ask. Fishing for some information. ?I want to be a knight, of course! Like Sir Ronr. Dashing and cool. What can be cooler than riding on a white horse and rescuing...¡° George let his mouth go loose and didn¡¯t stop until he had praised knighthood to heaven and back. ?Yeah. But why not be a mage, they seem to be more influential.¡° I say. Totally bullshiting. I have no idea which side is more influential. ?Mages are creepy. I have only seen some mage apprentices from afar, but they don¡¯t seem as cool as Sir Ronr.¡° George said. It looks like he is totally fascinated by this Sir Ronr. Whatever, not my problem, and it never will be. ?Why do you ask brother? Oh, you are leaving school in a week. What do you want to become?¡° he asks. ?A mage, they are the strongest.¡° While saying so I flay my arms around for a better effect and acting practice. A little kid should not be as observant as adults. ?Really? But Sir Ronr-¡° he says. I interrupted him midway tough. ?Yes, yes. Sir Ronr here, Sir Ronr there.¡° ?Don¡¯t be so mean, bro.¡° he sulks. With a pouting face, he turns to the other side of the street, seemingly ignoring me. Not that I have a problem with that. Some may think that because I got transmigrated into this family that I should be invested into it for whatever reason. That can¡¯t be further from the truth. I don¡¯t give a crap about them. Using and getting used is the plan here.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. While he concentrates on our little conversation, I am observing our surroundings. The closer we come to our destination, the cleaner the street become. Also the houses have more grandeur here. I believe that we are slowly moving closer to the city centre. At the centre, there should be some kind of merchant or central district. I would say that the people living here are upper-middle class. Their clothes tough look well made. A lot of leather clothes and clothes resembling ones made from wool. After we finish our conversation we arrive in front of a medium-sized compound. A big black metal arc welcomes us. The words ?Ronr school¡° are written on it. Huh, no wonder George is so engrossed with that Sir Ronr guy. Just before going through the door someone literally jumps at me. ?Osric, how are you?¡° a slightly shorter guy asks. The same guy that jumped on my back. ?Lampard, leave Osric in peace. You know, you don¡¯t have to annoy everyone all the time.¡° a second unknown boy answers. ?But- but¡­ where is the fun in that Peter?¡° he says. ?You never change.¡° Peter sighs, only to immediately facepalm afterwards. ¡°What did I do to get a friend like you?¡± I am asking that myself too. ?Alright, alright let¡¯s move. I don¡¯t want to get scolded for being late.¡° With that Lampard leads the way to a three-story building. Closely followed by Peter and me. He silently asks: ?Have you decided what you wanna do after the week?¡° ?Yeah, I am going to take the aptitude test at the mage tower,¡° I say. Looking proud. ?Woah, really? That is expensive. I mean I am also going to try it. Hey Lampard! What are your plans?¡° he says. ?I am going to do the same thing my dad does. You know, accountants are popular at most places, easy to find jobs.¡° Lampard says. ?Yes, yes, hurry up and take your seat.¡° I see thirty seats with small desks in front of the classroom. I rely on muscle memory and go to the last row, taking the desk by the window. ?Everyone is silent.¡° a women, who had just walked into the class shouted. She was 1.7 meters tall and had big boobs. Wow, teenager hormones, I have to watch out because of that. Don¡¯t want to do some stupid stuff because of it. She also had blonde hair and grey eyes. Not a beauty, but one of the better-looking ones. ?To begin with I will announce the ranking for the last test.¡° ?Last place Ronald Genrol, 29th place Gen?l Hudson, ¡­ 12th place Lampard Lard, ¡­ 9th place Peter Portar, ¡­ 3th place Osric Thale-¡° she announced. So my surname is still the same, good to know. And I am also somewhat smart. Good, then acting smart won¡¯t make anyone too suspicious. ?The students from place 24 to 30 have to repeat the class, better luck next year,¡° she says. Not giving a crap about them. This is rather normal I suppose. If even the teacher doesn¡¯t give a crap anymore. I can hear loud moans and curses from the people around me. This makes me believe more than failing a grade is a big thing around here. Not my problem though. ?Alright, let¡¯s begin the class.¡° she said. ?But, aren¡¯t we finished? We got our grade and everything.¡° a random guy from the second row asks. ?Yes, you finished the school, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t help you more on your way.¡° ?You all know that our continent is not the only one, the exact number is unknown, but we know of 3 more¡­¡° ?¡­As you know being a knight or a mage is a big honour. But those who don¡¯t have the aptitude for either, don¡¯t worry, the graduates of our school are still widely wanted for company¡¯s or if you have luck, as a retainer of a noble.¡° she continues. She continues to describe the glory of being a retainer or a high-ranking member of a company. I call bullshit; she just wants to motivate the untalented. Hopefully, not my problem, so, whatever. The whole day goes by annoyingly slow. While different teachers are holding all kinds of motivational speeches, I focused on training my soul. I continue to manipulate my soul. I notice that because of yesterday¡¯s breakthrough, I am now able to manipulate without a deep mediation. Which is good. Or else I would now go insane out of pure boredom. Not that it would be able to ever bore me. The highly concentrated training I received from an early age made me boring resistant. Back at home, after dinner, which was a thick chicken like soup, it was good but not excellent, I went back to my room to further my soul studies. Chapter 7: The evil art of soul strengthening Re-writen V2 According to the book, my state before the soul snitching experiment was already sufficient to advance to the next stage. Apparently, what I did is something very few people manage to do. According to the book, This action would label me as a ?genius¡® in the order. It has the benefit, that later on, I will have an easier time setting up and using formations and other general benefits. Also, in the later stages, I will have an easier time breaking through. Whatever that has to do with that. The next two stages seem similar, but the second stage must be done before the third stage, or it would be hard to temper the main vessels after the branch vessels were tempered. It also mentions, that tempering it simultaneously is ill-advised, it leads to problems throughout the apprentice stage. No reason was given for this one. ?Wow, the ?evil¡® method is pretty hardcore. But it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡° I say to myself. Am I already at the stage where I speak to myself? Whatever. A mystery for another time. There seem to be two different methods for strengthening the vessels. The first one is a mysterious meditation method; a basic explanation is in the book. The second is to take Soul essence from other people and use it as fuel to strengthen my own. The method looks evil and is most likely just that. Luckily for me, I have a very cooperative person or soul in the form of Subject#001. ?Alright buddy, you got to live up to the name of my first test subject.¡° I mumble. So the first method is rather simple. I have this basic mysterious meditation method. It has three components. First a breathing exercise, second a strange hexagonal formula, and third a method, with which I can push soul juice into the formula. I think that it is comparable to an engine. The breathing exercise is for igniting the process. The formula itself is the engine and the soul juice is the fuel. And the energy that the engine makes can be used for improving the soul. So far so good. Now the second method is similar. Instead of the third part, I don¡¯t use my soul juice, but first remove a part of someone else¡¯s, in this case, our buddy subject#001 ones, and through a method purify it and then push it into the engine. It has a couple of more steps, but it is also a lot more efficient. The Order warns that the second, evil method shouldn¡¯t be used alone, it is best if it is used with the second method. That¡¯s good for me. While in school I can meditate using the mysterious meditation method, after I get home, I can use the 2nd method for advancement. This allows for a balanced diet, I mean advancement.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Then let¡¯s begin. Firstly I sit comfortably on my bed. Then I rehear the meditation method a couple of times. When I am sure that I can execute it correctly I enter a deep meditation. For the first try, I empty my mind and bring myself to my peak concentration. The breathing exercise seems to bring my vessels to a strange harmony. Most likely this is necessary for the even strengthening of the main vessels, now I only concentrate on the main vessels and visualize the Formula. It feels strange. But not in a bad way, more like a relaxing way. It had taken me more than an hour to get the formula properly connected. It turns out, that the hexagon-like shape has the purpose of connecting my limbs, head and torso. That¡¯s unexpected. The way magic works is really interesting. Then the inner circles and figures are there for the regulation of the flow and the ?burning¡® of the soul juice as the driving force. The feeling is addictive. Physically and psychologically. It feels great knowing that I can become supermen and I also feel a physical reaction, which feels great too. I wonder why this planet is not completely filled with superman and women. Oh, talent. Whelp, too bad for you. After 30 minutes of meditating, I feel really tired and somewhat hungry. I sneak into the kitchen and take a piece of bread, quickly eat it. ?Osric, what are you doing?¡° a female voice says behind me. Who else could it be but my mother? She enters the kitchen and turns on some kind of light source. It seem to work similarly then the oven is saw earlier. ?Mom, I am just a bit hungry. I am still growing, yep, still growing,¡° I say. The last part a bit louder than the first. ?Really? Alright, but eat more, if you are hungry. No need to sneak into the kitchen after dinner. I will buy some more bread, so if you are hungry you can have some more.¡° she says and leaves the kitchen, going back into their room. It seems like their bedroom is the room behind the other door in the kitchen. I thought before, that that is a pantry. Having eaten the piece of bread, I am back in my room and ready to use the second method. I go back into a deep meditation. The second method needs to do that. How they steal a piece of soul from another person in this state is a mystery to me. Maybe the instructors help them, so they don¡¯t talk about it in the book. Finishing the preparations, the formula is properly executed. The purifying method is also rather easy to accomplish. Then I cut a piece of subject#001¡¯s soul, or rather I try to, it is harder than it seems. First, I try it with the main vessels, then the branch vessels. I don¡¯t seem to be powerful enough to cut off a piece. Then I try to cut off a piece at the edge of the soul, and tadaa, success. Afterwards, the other steps go by without a hitch. Power! I can feel unlimited power! And gone. Wow that¡¯s a lot of progress compared to the normal method. No wonder most would take this path. This order doesn¡¯t seem that innocent anymore. It also feels more addictive than the first method. This might take some people down a spiral of addiction. Something a particular order might use to control their members I repeated the same process for another hour. The amount of strengthening I had done is about the same I would get for half a day of meditation. At least that is my estimates after trying the first method. I can, of course, be totally wrong, but I trust my own judgement So I will meditate in the school and after dinner I will have fun with my roommate, Subject#001. But damn, the second method sure is tiring. And everything is black again. V2 Chapter 8: another infodump woho Re-writen V2 The last week of the school did go by fairly quickly. The teachers usually have some more motivational speeches but some of the lessons were informative for me. Because of that, I managed to get a better picture of the continent. Artesis has three major powers and seven minor ones. The Order of the black shadow is one of the minor powers. The three major powers are called, Order of the Elements, Mumon Technocracy and The League. The Order of the Elements is the closest in terms of location, while the Mumon Technocracy and the League are the further away. The Order of the Elements is a magic-based Power, while Mumon Technocracy is about artefacts and crafting. There isn¡¯t much known about the League, however. The order of the Black Shadow is in the northern part of the continent. It shares a border with the Order of the Elements and two minor powers called: Brotherhood of Iron, a knight-based order, and the League of Shadows. The other minor powers had unfortunately not been mentioned. I need to get myself a map sometimes soon. Hopefully, that isn¡¯t going to be hard. I also found out that the Order of the Black Shadow is some kind of assassination and killing force. For it to be so open about it, I think that it has to have some connections with the Order of the Elements. Or another major player. Of course, this wasn¡¯t said in the open. The teachers kind of idolized the order and everything around it, but reading along the lines paints a clear picture of what kind of organization they are and the name. No way is something with such an ominous name something good. Today is Saturday, and the school is already over. My plans and information have to be updated:
  1. Three major and seven minor powers. Osmor (the city I live in) is part of Order of the Black Shadow(one of the minor powers).
  2. This Order has bad blood with League of Shadows, so conflicts and war are a possibility. Needs to get stronger in case of a war.
  3. This family is not important in the city, thus it can be abandoned. It is not my family anyway, and in a sense, I did kill their kid, let¡¯s hope they never find out.
  4. I have a manual and affinity for soul training, also a way of hiding it is provided. I now just need to get the ritual out of that book.
  5. There are three paths to power. One of blood (Magic), one of the body (Warriors), and one of the soul. My path shall be of the blood and soul.
  6. Opportunity to join the mage tower and become a mage.
I looked up from the parchment I just wrote.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ?This is good enough, now let¡¯s make a to-do list,¡° saying that I crumble the parchment and take another one to write, this visualizing helps me in organizing myself: To-do list:
  1. Hide my soul affinity with the help of the book.
  2. Getting rid of the second soul or putting it into a vegetative state.
  3. Pass the aptitude test in the tower and become a mage
  4. Make a gang, or some kind of underground force. Useful for information collecting and secret laboratories. I can¡¯t guarantee that everything I will do will be very ethical.
  5. Researching the local spices and food market(not too important).
Looking at the parchment, I think deeply. For number one I have the ritual from the book, that shall be done tomorrow. Number two is on hold, not enough information. Number three will be completed on Monday. Number four and five can be combined. Using restaurants as a cover and somehow controlling the cooks. That is also in line with my ?Make food great again¡® initiative. That out of the way, I start to practice again. It seems that the four apprentice stages are only the beginning and their standing shouldn¡¯t be too well. ?Osric, dinner is ready!¡° someone shouts from downstairs. Before going for dinner, I burned up the parchments and throw the ashes out of the window. No one can read my writings on this planet, because they come from another universe, but better safe than sorry. ?I¡¯m coming!¡° I shout back. Going downstairs I enter the dining room, the others are already sitting around the table. ?Mom, what did you cook?¡° I ask. I was rather curious, because I couldn¡¯t make out what it is. ?It is something to celebrate you finishing school and being third-best of your class. It¡¯s called Matovel. I learned it when I was still a little child. It is beefsteaks in a roulade with cheese and some ham. With cream sauce and a lot of cheese,¡° she said. ?Sound good. Thank you¡° I replied. Oh god, those people are annoying. Too much body contact and friendliness, that isn¡¯t how earth is run. The mat-whatever did taste good, a recipe I should learn at some time. We talk a bit about the family and what I will do to do later. I repeat what I did tell my father last time. It turns out, that my mother is a merchant¡¯s daughter and my father is a bookkeeper for by a big company. Meh, whatever, I¡¯ll ditch them as soon as I get strong enough. Back into my room, I begin to meditate, or torture Subject#001. Throughout the week, Subject#001 seem to be recovering faster and faster. This meant on one hand, that I can meditate faster, but on the other hand, that his soul is getting stronger. Shortly I will need to find a solution for this problem. A fight with another soul about the usage rights to the body is something I want to avoid, if possible. V2 Chapter 9; Full body slime suit. Soul edition Re-writen V2 After breakfast, I make myself busy with preparing the ritual. According to the book, all I need are the two vials included in the box, a place where I can draw and some oil. Oil was easy to get, I just had to smuggle out a bit from the kitchen under guise of drinking some water. I did that last night too and it worked. For the circles, I will use wooden planks I found in a small storage room next to my own room. The ritual itself is not very big or complicated, thus a piece with the size of 30x30 cm was enough. Carving the ritual into the wooden board did take me most of the morning. During the process, I wasted a couple of random wooden planks to practice. Then. When I had enough confidence, I carved the ritual into the most even piece of wood. I filled the lines with a mixture of oil and reagent A. then I mixed the other reagent in the tube with some oil. Now the preparation is ready. The only thing I need to do now is to drink the vial and then use soul manipulation to circulate the oil in the carved lines below me. I am now standing on the wooden plate by the way. Though I am still unsure how I am supposed to circulate the oil inside me. It becomes clear how to do it immediately. Suddenly something really strange happens or better-said something incredibly painful. It feels like my body is burning. My soul is also shuddering. The intense pain lasts for ten minutes, bevor it slowly subsides. ?Fucking hell that hurt. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!¡± I scream inside my mind. Hoping for the sweet release of death, which never comes. After the pain subsides, I notice an irregular film on the edges of my soul. It looks like the oil mixture covers the whole soul entity. The second soul also seems to hide inside. This may be the reason why I was able to manipulate the oil mixture. It might have incorporeal and corporeal parts. Opening my eyes, I notice some differences. Firstly, there is some coal on the ground. I presume that was the plank I used for the ritual. The second thing is that I seem to be able to better differentiate colours, like my spectrum of colours has increased or I simply see more. I don¡¯t know which of the two options was true. Though I am happy with the result. Some pain is nothing in comparison. ?Who would have thought that I¡¯d think something like that, while in pain, huh?¡° I mumble more to myself than anyone else. Sweat was dripping down my body. At first, I take a towel and clean myself. Then I throw the charcoal out of the window and use the same, towel to clean up the floor. Better than nothing, but not good enough. I do not want to have to explain the black spots on the floor, thus I take extra care to not leave anything behind. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have the foresight to use something underneath the ritual table. That takes me another hour.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Looking out of the window I guess the time. It is approximately two hours before dinner. This amount of time I will use for meditation. The speed of the non-evil meditation has also improved slightly. This might be an added benefit of the ritual. After a refreshing meditation, I get called for dinner. Today it is some kind of turkey roast. I like it, but a pinch of salt would have helped. I also talk a bit with my parents about tomorrow. The test will be taking place at noon. I still can have some meditation squeezed in before going. My father is going to accompany me. Other than that we do not talk a whole lot. Tomorrow is the day when I can finally drop this silly kid masquerade to start on the road of ultimate power. ?MUWHAHAHA. Uhm,¡° I laugh maniacally after which I compos myself. I still have to work on my temper a bit. +++++++++++ The next morning, I wake up around 8 am. Then I go to have some breakfast. ?Son, how are you feeling? Confident?¡° Leon asks. Looking up from my breakfast I answer. ?Yes, I am. Are you confident in me, as well?¡° ?Haha, yes. That¡¯s my boy! Go with confidence,¡± he said. You might think that, but I am not your son, so m?h. If I saw you dying in a ditch, I would likely leave you be. Hallelujah, this is hopefully my last day with those annoying people. Playing this character for a week was nothing short of torture. Naturally, I didn¡¯t say that out loud. But that is my truthful opinion about this whole family thing. I was not very close with my family back on earth, more precisely I got taken away from them. Why do you think, that my opinion about families would magically change because of transmigration? Yes, transmigration is cool, but that doesn¡¯t make me social. My nagging left behind, I am really happy to get rid of this family and finally embark on the road of ultimate power. ?Alright son let¡¯s go,¡° he said. He promptly leaves the house. With me following him like a happy little duckling. It takes us forty minutes to reach the central square, where the black tower is located. The farthest I ever went was the school. The way there and the building didn¡¯t really interest me, thus I didn¡¯t go exploring a lot. Another reason was my lack of money with my lack of knowledge of magical thinks. I didn¡¯t wish to be the gawking idiot in a magical store who can¡¯t afford anything What I see here in comparison is fascinating. We are walking down a commercial street, I see a lot of wares. A lot of them I expect. Food, clothes and the likes. But I also see some strange shops, which sell ?artefacts¡®. Like the oven back at my former house. There were some kitchen gadgets, which would be normal on earth, but not here. Also, they do not look like I expect them to, I may have a plausible expectation when I see a portable heater. But the look and function do not add up to me. It is clear that they use some kind of alternative power source and inner workings. Not electricity. But I digress. After the commercial street, we reach a big square, a huge one. It has place for at least 5000 people, and about a third of the place is full. The most eye-catching is the towering black Tower. Next to it are building like banks, shops for mages and the like. The things I saw moving from my window turn out to be runes. Very similar to the strange language in the introductory book. The name of the Tower is written in blood red on top of the massive cave-like entrance ?MAGIC TOWER OF THE BLACK DEATH¡° Very melodramatic but hey, I like the style. Chapter 10: Whoho, i am officially an apprentice Re-writen V2 Seventy meters in front of the Tower is an elevated platform. On it is a crystal podium and two people, who seem to be magic apprentices. That should be the aptitude tester. The line consists of about eighty kids with their parents. All of them are around my age. It looks like this is the best age to start learning magic, or so I think. Maybe people just send their kids now because the tower doesn¡¯t want to deal with younger kids? I can understand that sentiment. ?Next. Your name? Age?¡° the taller men asked. ?Lolt Hump, 11 years of age.¡° the young boy replies. His parents are waiting outside the podium, full of expectations. ?Put your hand on the podium and touch it as long as you can.¡° the other man replied. Following the order, the boy put his hands on the podium. After three minutes of inactivity, the boy begins to panic. After four minutes, the podium begins to heat up. ?Alright, very weak fire affinity, go left. Next!¡° says the man uninterested. He sends the boy to the left, where other disappointed kids gather. The Boy named Lolt looks very downcast and walks away from the podium. His parents are ready to encourage him after his failure. Talking to him like how this isn`t the end, etc. The line was moving very slowly. Have I mentioned that I hate waiting in lines? The waiting is even more annoying today. This is the first time waiting in line on this new world. Back on earth, some institutions had similar ques in front of them. Simply to state superiority? I can¡¯t believe that they can¡¯t make it through the internet while we have spaceships. Apparently, not many of the kids possess any talent. With 70 per cent of the kids, the crystal podium does nothing after ten minutes. 17 per cent are like the last kid and have only a very weak reaction after a few minutes. Those are hushed away from the platform too. Most of the rest has a somewhat stronger reaction. Those are moved to another group. They seem to be the lucky, or unlucky, chosen ones. It is still to be seen. When it is my turn, Leon dropped one gold coin into the hands of one of the men. Afterwards, I am left to go to the podium. A small bubble of excitement build up inside me, with that also came some anxiousness. I already know that I have a good future as a soul mage. The path might not be as strong as in combination with another, but it can still deal out some major damage. I did find a lack of attacking method from the book. I really don¡¯t want to be a knight. A Knight would just waste my one in a trillion knowledge and aptitude. Literally As soon as I put my hands on the Podium, it immediately lights up in a bright, blinding violet. My hands feel like they are in the middle of a tsunami made of fire. This pain is also accompanied by a sense of power. Strong, but ultimately fleeting. The power comes fast, but after some times it gets drained away. One of the most horrible sensations that I encountered in my life. It felt like becoming an apex athlete and then age and become weak in a matter of minutes. It didn¡¯t feel like pain, but it hurt even more. The power threatens to overpower me, I feel the boundary made to hide my soul affinity crack under the pressure A hand takes me out of my agony, It pushes my hand down from the crystal. Both people, the short one and the taller one are so stunned, that they only came to themselves two minutes after the test ended. I am still asking myself who¡¯s hands saved me from my agony. ?What¡¯s your name again? ¡° one asks, not like a zombie as he did before. More like a friendly guy. Yeah, he was definitely an ass kisser. Alright, let¡¯s play along. ?Osric Thale, sir.¡° i say. ?Alright, go to the group.¡° he says, sounding a bit let down, but also prideful at being called sir. No idea why he changed so fast or why he appreciated that sir so much. He gets talked to like that the whole day. The group he talked about has around 40 other kids, it is located at the right side of the podium, fairly close to the entrance of the Tower. One of them seemed like he wanted to talk to me. I can still remember him from the last weekStolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ?Osric, what a coincidence to meet you here,¡± says Lambard. I turn around to find him staring at me. He looks quite relieved to see a familiar face here. ¡°Nice to meet you too, a coincidence indeed, what was your affinity?¡±. I ask, going straight to the point. He puffs up his chest in pride ¡°My affinity is medium-level wind affinity, nice right?¡± ?Yes, it is,¡° I answered somewhat enthusiastically. Having friends never hurts. At least until I don¡¯t need them anymore. I don¡¯t care about this guy, but more about being seen as a nice person from the others in the group. They obviously saw my test and they are going to be the ones talking about it the most. Not coming over like a prick on the first day might lessen the backlash of jealousy a bit. Before we could continue our chat - thank god I already grew tired of him a month ago - the shorter guy comes over to our group, with the last kid that was tested a second ago. Back at the podium, many more children wait to be tested. We are just one of the groups of today. Most likely not even the first one. ?Alright, kids. Congratulations for becoming mage apprentices, or having the path for that unlocked. Follow me. My name is Ledrock. If you have any questions, it¡¯s Mister Ledrock,¡° said Ledrock. He turned around and walks into the tower. He is bored. That is apparent on his note and dialogue. He must have made this welcome a lot of times. Looking closer, I can spot a minute amount of pity in his eyes. Finally, I have entered the Tower. The outside looks majestic and the inside does not disappoint either. This place is a type of lobby combined with anything else someone might need a clerk for. To the right are boards, presumedly for missions. Next to them are a dozen or so counters. All of them made similar to the bank counters in the 60¡¯s. Left were dozens of hallways and a huge stairway. In the short time I had before our guide continued I spotted two, three dozen people going around. ?Follow me, first I am going to show you your dormitories,¡° Ledrock said. While following him, he also explains the basic layout of the tower. ?Listen up. The first underground floor has the warehouse and the prison. The first floor, this one, has your quarters. And the arcane hall, where you will get your missions.¡° He walks quite fast, some of the slower kids have problems keeping up with him. Walking around a corner, he continues. If the sign above the counters didn¡¯t already write Arcane Hall, then now I am sure how this area is called. ?In the middle of the tower is the staircase. That is there at the left¡± He points to the staircase I saw a second ago. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, you only have access to the first underground floor and the second floor. Don¡¯t wander where you don¡¯t have permission to be or the consequences will be grave.¡° He warned. One of the students quips in. ?Are we going to get thrown out?¡° he asks. Oh, how innocent. One thing I learned early on earth is that nothing was free. The punishment and the opportunity come hand in hand. With an opportunity this big, what would the punishment be? You can see that fact from my situation. ?I was talking more along the lines of death and horrifying mutations, but whatever floats your boat.¡° He comments, a bit sarcastically. He almost enjoys the surprised and then the horrified expressions of the kids. Now that is an honest one. Most of the kids are getting pretty scared, but some kept their cool. ?Can we quit?¡° he asks. ?No,¡° he said. Then we arrive in the apprentice quarters. ?Pick one of the empty rooms. The empty ones have an identification badge hanging on the door. The ones without already have inhabitants. Put the badge somewhere and do not lose it. Without it you will be attacked by the array, wherever you go.¡° Saying that he leans against the wall and waited, occasionally yawning in the process. There seem to be around 200 rooms in this section of the dorms, and this is only one of many. It¡¯s either that a lot of people choose this career or a lot of them die. I would say the latter. Else why would there be a need for that many dorms? This test gets done every three months. In the two hours I waited, I saw over 70 people getting in. This also explains the pity in the eyes of the guide for a moment. The room I pick is at the end of the corridor. The ones next to it are already chosen. I pick up the badge and put it around my neck. Next, I take a look around my room. A small one. There is a bookshelf, a desk with a chair, a closet for my clothes and a bed. Pretty minimalistic, but enough for me. I don¡¯t need luxuries right now. After the room inspection, I leave my room. ?Continuing. On this floor there is also the dining area,¡° he said while walking. We follow behind. ?The second floor has the library, the magical garden and the laboratories for you. Everything further up is not important for you. Note that if you see someone coming and going to the third floor, he is an official mage. Don¡¯t disturb them or bear the consequences. And at last, Missions. For missions, you get contribution and library points. Without them, you will get nowhere. The first is for materials and the latter is for the library. Good luck. There is a small booklet on your desk, it has everything init you need to know,¡± he said before leaving. Chapter 11: Towerstuff Re-writen V1 So the guy left. It looks like he is on one of those missions he was speaking about. Alright, let¡¯s meet up with Leon, get my stuff and begin studying magic. While thinking I leave the Tower. I wanted to meet up one last time with my family. To be completely honest here, I don¡¯t hate them. They showed me something that was extinct in the 25th century. Familial love. The only reason that this feeling bore no fruit is that this concept had been destroyed in an early age on earth. You can¡¯t accept something into you that never existed in the first place. ?Congratulations Son, let¡¯s go home. Your mother is cooking a celebratory lunch,¡° he says. Now that is a proposal I like. Food is always good. ?Were you two sure, that I could make it?¡° I am taken aback by their confidence. Leon, I can understand, he is the type for it. The mother?, I don¡¯t know, haven¡¯t interacted with her that much. ?Of course! What a lot of people don¡¯t know is, that one of my ancestors was a great mage. He also left something behind. That¡¯s the thing I was talking about,¡° the last part of the sentence is whispered. He is beaming with pride at the mentioning of this ancestor. With that, he begins to silently lead the way home. At home, the mother is already awaiting us. I have to say the food she made was really good. It was some kind of porchetta, with mashed potato and some other side dishes. After eating I leave with my father to go to the attic. ?Alright son, take it,¡° he shoves an obsidian amulet into my hands. It has a smooth, metallic feel to it. It was barely the size of my palms, but heavier than it looks. ?Your great grandfather left this behind. Your grandfather nearly sold it, luckily, he didn¡¯t. It was a rule that this amulet is to be given to the person who has a chance of becoming a mage. This means you. Me and your grandfather didn¡¯t have the talent, but you do. So good luck,¡° he says with emotion. ?I called a carriage, it will be here in 40 minutes, say bye to your brother and mother and get your things together.¡° He says and left the room. He is as excited as in pain. The boy might not know it, but he got winds about the mortality rate of mage apprentices. It is no big secret around. Who wouldn¡¯t notice it when so many kids went missing and never came back? But he also realized that if his son wants to become someone not to be stepped on than he has to take this path. I carefully put my clothes, some textbooks, and something to write into my leather bag. The introductory box I put at the bottom. Honestly, it was heavier than expected and I was grateful for the carriage. I also count the money, which I overlook in the stash. There are three silver coins and seven bronze coins inside. The monetary system is simple. One gold coin is ten silver, one silver is ten copper. While saying my farewells my mother stealthily gave me a gold coin. My father did the same. How funny, but I have to thank them. Don¡¯t misunderstand me, I don¡¯t care about them, but when I have the means, I will pay back the three gold coins they spend on me. ?Good day sir, where to?¡° the coachman asks. ?To the tower, please,¡° I say. ++++++++++++++++++++A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. After a twenty-minute ride, I hop off the wagon, and pay the coachman four copper coins. Next, I go back to my room, stash away my clothes and put the box underneath my bed. Then I sit up and take the booklet from the desk into my hand and begin reading. ?First and foremost, congratulations for becoming an apprentice mage in The Order of the Black Shadow. Our Order is an affiliate of the Order of the Elements. This booklet explains everything you need to know about the organization. Your responsibilities and perks of becoming a part of the order.¡® I expected that much. Let¡¯s continue. ?The route of magic is not an easy one. The origin of this path comes from the blood. There are two kinds of wizards. One has a bloodline and the other does not. The difference is that the bloodline automatically summons and infuses the blood with magical particles. The normal ones have to do it themselves. Though the Bloodline gives certain advantages, but it also has major downsides. The normal wizards, which this booklet is written for, need to use a magic accumulation meditation technique. A basic one has been provided in this book. For different affinities, there are more specialized techniques, but for someone with a rare affinity, they have to do with unspecific techniques. If you haven¡¯t been told your affinity at the aptitude test, then you have a rare affinity or special affinity.¡® having a look at the mentioned technique I notice some similarities with the mysterious meditation method I got from the magic book. It continues about spells. ¡®chose your spells wisely, you soul, depending on your person, can support at the beginning 2 and at the peak of an apprentice usually 30 spells. This might sound a lot, but until the second stage, apprentices are very limited in the amount of mana they can use. They usually tire out after 3 or 4 spells. This of course depends on the spells itself. There are more and less complicated spells. For example a fireball. A fire type spell. Normally, an average apprentice can cast it four-time, then a spell-like minor teleport, which is a dimension type spell, can be cast barely once. It isn¡¯t recommended for stage ones to go on missions.¡¯ Neat that they write it like that, but then encourage us to take them because, without missions, we get no points at all. It looks like the principle is similar, just that this one is about strengthening the blood. So the blood gets reinforced with the mana I have an affinity with. In most cases like mine, the specific mana is being fused before the infusion process. This gets done through the meditation method. ?The contribution points are used for claiming the usage rights to laboratories and resources. These can be used in any of the Affiliated Towers. Most Towers are located in either a resource location or a mission side. The Tower in Osmor is situated in case of a skirmish or war with the League of shadow or an organization affiliated with the League. Wisdom point are only exchangeable in the tower where the apprentice is from. In case you need a book from another tower, you can request it through the arcane hall.¡® Useful information. ?Every apprentice is rewarded with 10 Points of contribution and wisdom at entering the tower. Use them wisely, for some this is the only points they get for a while. A selection of beginner-friendly books is listed at the end.¡® Huh, most of them deal with meditation and magic knowledge. Some are spellbooks, which are expensive. Oh, there is also a dictionary for Gorlen. I suppose that¡¯s the language. I need to continue reading the introductory book. That is enough information for now. Let¡¯s go to the arcane hall and have a look at the missions. Thinking that, I leave my room, close it and head for the arcane hall. The arcane hall feels like a bank. There were two dozen counters where apprentice help and register missions. In case of completion, they also reward them. On a big board is a listing with mission. What surprises me, is that it doesn¡¯t seem to be constant, it changes. Some non-repeatable missions get crossed out and replaced, while repeatable ones are left. It feels like one of those huge displays at spaceports that shows the departure times. Quickly searching through them I pick out the ones most useful for me. I leave all the combat missions out. I need to learn some spells before that. The three missions I chose are:
  1. Scribing scrolls. A very good one, in my opinion, I can earn some money and at the same time, I can learn some spells. Not free of charge, of course, I need to make 20 scrolls to get one free scroll, but it is a good beginning.
  2. Easy, but not many want to do it. On the plus side, I will get more familiar with the tower, but honestly, it is a waste of my time.
  3. Something I am good at. Again not a lot want to do it, It doesn¡¯t train any kind of magical skill.
With the selection made I go back to my room for some meditation and sleep. Chapter 12: The first conflict Re-writen V1 First thing in the morning, I go to the dining hall to eat something. Surprisingly it is free. Only food which has been prepared with magical ingredients or magical meat cost money. Having eaten enough, I go out of the tower and visit a shop called ?magic morsels magical supplies¡®. The shop is situated in the commercial district. A two-story building with some popularity. It is a shop recommended by the booklet. With a distance of 7 minutes on foot, it is also situated close-by. The building is built in a plain but functional style. Inside, there are different shelves with supplies. The most notable of those are different magic scrolls. The cheapest are prized at 7-8 copper, while the more expensive ones cost from silver to multiple gold coins. All of them are sadly only apprentice scrolls. Next to them are writing supplies, like quills and parchment. The magic-infused variety costs 5 copper per sheet. Very expensive. A middle-aged man sat behind the counter. He asks: ?Good sir, what can I help you with?¡° While still looking around the shop I answer. ?I am looking for empty non-magical parchments and some ink.¡° The shop owner shows me where I can find what. Having gotten enough to copy 3-4 books, I add 10 magical parchments made out of a black goat. The most common material for magical scrolls. Also two vials of magic-infused ink. With a bit of a heartache, I pay the man and put all of the supplies into my leather bag. Then, after my short visit to the outside, I visit the library. This room is also made very classy. Bookshelves with the hight of ten or so meters are placed methodically in the library. It is also filled with all kinds of books. Funnily, at the front are mostly books about random subjects. Just so that the library has more books and looks more majestic. Every book has a different ?prize¡®. The three books, ?Dictionary of Gorlen¡®, ?Magic theory for dummies¡® and ?A deeper look into blood¡® cost 2, 1 and 3 points respectably and I can only have them for a day. Then I would have to lend them again. ?Good morning, I would like to rent out ?Magic theory for dummies¡®,¡° I say to one of the Librarians. The section about the library in the booklet mentioned that to work in the library, one has to learn a spell which enables to fly small distances, only then can one work in the library. ?2 points, don¡¯t damage it and you have time till tomorrow noon to return it. Please give me your badge.¡° She says. Noticing my unwillingness to part with the badge, she explains. ?The badge is used for paying and receiving points, the guide should have explained that, whatever. Give it to me, I don¡¯t have all day long.¡° After her explanation, I give her, albeit still unwillingly, my badge. She then proceeds to update my badge. When I receive it back, I don¡¯t notice a thing. It looks like I need to begin the mage meditation technique. Going back to my room I begin copying the book onto the parchments, I bought. I did ask whether I am allowed to do this and apparently it is a common practice. +++++++++ After two days, and another lost wisdom point, I finish copying the whole book. While copying it I also summarize the main points. There are three stages as a mage apprentice. The first and the second deal with the accumulation of energy inside the blood. This process simply means meditating, thus it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. You can also use medicines and medications to improve the speed, but of course, those cost money, usually a lot more than apprentices can fork out.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The third stage is about accumulating more elements into the blood and at the same time, letting this energy permeate the body, thus reforming it into a vessel, with a better magic conductivity. The introductory book also said something about this, but I still need to learn Gorlen. ++++++++++++++++++ The feeling of meditating is different than the soul meditation method. But not by much. After an hour or two of trying I managed to accumulate some arcane particles into my blood. It is an arduous process. Like having my own small gravity and using it to entrap particles in the air, then use this particle to first combine them into special mana and then use it. Luckily, I don¡¯t need a special technique for my special mana. When the different kinds of mana come into my body, they automatically combine into that mana. The fascinating aspect of it is that the ratio isn¡¯t always the same. Sometimes different combinations come all together. Once, I saw a big accumulation of red mana transforming into the violet, special mana. The strange feeling is equal parts wondrous and confusing. Wondrous, because it lets me sense the elements in a sense. Confusing, because it goes against everything I learned on earth about human biology. Now I am also able to interact with items, through forming a connection with the elements. Now I know what the librarian meant with the amulet. Inside, it transmits my Data and my points. It is a type of ID. Now I also claimed it as my own. If someone were to steal it, he or she wouldn¡¯t be able to make any use of it. But it is still expensive to get a replacement. Finished with this, I make my way to the arcane hall again. I am the next in line, when a commotion breaks out behind me. ?Apprentice leader Isaac is here, make way everyone,¡° some kind of retainer of his shouts. Immediately, I notice some gazes into my direction. Nothing too new. I do get these sometimes. After all, people will be jealous of my talent. ?Hush, hush, we can come back later. I heard that he is a vengeful person,¡° someone whispers. ?Don¡¯t let him hear that, or you will be in trouble.¡° ?Yeah, better to come back later.¡° I am already a bit too engrossed in deciding what I should do later to reach a higher efficiency in my stay here, unfortunately, I still don¡¯t notice him right away when he appears before me. A lackey of his immediately begins shouting. ?You bastard, don¡¯t you see Sir Isaac! Why aren¡¯t you making way?¡° ?No need Lacks, just don¡¯t forget your place newbie,¡° Isaac says to me. What an asshat. ?Alright,¡° I say. Staying curt. I don¡¯t wish to offend anyone. What unfortunately doesn¡¯t work out. ?Who do you think you are, not to apologize for wasting His time? Apologise!¡° he said like I fucked his sister. Man, he isn¡¯t big with logic. This shows that talent isn¡¯t picky. ?Yes, yes, Sir Isaac, my fault,¡° I say and leave hurriedly. I notice more gazes while leaving. Maybe I didn¡¯t handle the situation as well as I could have. M?hh, the mild is spilt. ?Oh, he offended him, he¡¯s dead,¡° someone from the crowd says. ?Yeah, poor boy.¡° ++++++++++++++ Back in my room, I think back to the incident again. It seems like the first guy to make trouble appeared. It seems that some people don¡¯t like what happened in my aptitude test. I can think of two reasons why this whole thing came to be. One, he is really brainlessly arrogant and second I that he is jealous and he has an objective for what happened. First thing I do afterwards is to go out and buy two hooded robes. They should be useful, just in case. A bit later I go back into the Arcane hall. I notice that some of the people are giving me unfriendly stares. Some downright glare at me with hostility. ?Huh, looks like he has a lot of influence, ¡°I said more to myself than anyone. Surprisingly someone answers. I didn¡¯t really expect that. ?Yes, that he has. A lot of people fawn over him, he has a rare and powerful affinity and is close to becoming an official mage,¡° a person next to me says. ?I am Nelton by the way. Unofficial information broker.¡° I take a better look at the person, he is tall looks like 15-16, he is suspiciously average. ?If you need some info, then I have it. For a price of course.¡° ?Good to know. I am Osric, thanks for the info Nelton.¡° After my little chat, I had accepted the mission to make magic scrolls from a receptionist, who didn¡¯t look at me at all. Like I owed him money. I will have to report to a guy called Ildrick in the morning. Back at my room, go back to meditation. Nothing beats the feeling of getting stronger. Chapter 13: magic scrolls Re-writen V1 In another part of the apprentice quarters. A slim man in his forties is standing in front of an imposing young man. The relationship between them seem to be muddled a bit. The older men is behaving slightly submissively, but it doesn¡¯t look like he became one of Isaac¡¯s men. The middle-aged men is called Illdrick. He is responsible for overseeing the mission about magic scroll creation. As this is one of the main sources of income from the tower, his power is also high. Isaac was one of the leaders of the Apprentices, thus had a lot of free room and power, which normal Apprentices don¡¯t possess. Though it might look that they were equal, that is certainly not the case. Illdrick got his power through a long accumulation of asskising and schemes. Isaac in comparison got his position because of his talent and prowess. Nonetheless, he is still in a position where he cannot be forced to do Isaacs bidding. ?Hello Sir Isaac, I am very interested in what you wish to get. And of course, what you have to offer for it.¡° Ildrick flatters Isaac. He is polite, bordering on asskising territory. ?Have you heard of a guy named Osric? I met him yesterday.¡° Isaac says. ?Yes, isn¡¯t he the guy with the astonishing affinity for arcane? Arcane is known to be a strong element, but not in the apprentice stage. What about him?¡° Ildrick inquires. He, as one with power, of course, knows of anyone with high potential. He is usually careful about them. Most with this high potential would choose to join a group or faction very fast. Lone wolves often have problems with a lot of stuff. ?He is too arrogant. I met him yesterday and he didn¡¯t give way to his seniors. I think that his arrogance needs to be destroyed, before it can grow further. Only that way can he be an asset to the Order,¡° Isaac says. What he omits is that he doesn¡¯t really care about the whole situation. It was after all arranged by him. What he wanted is to obtain that talent. While not strong at the beginning, it can make some wondrous stuff happen later on the journey. ?Of course, of course, what do you suggest?¡° Ildrick inquires. He doesn¡¯t think much of it. Osric didn¡¯t join a group or make any action in choosing one. A lone wolf might be strong, but he is still only one man. ?He has accepted the mission of making magic scrolls, you should give him ?that¡®. You know master Renald mentioned that the produced amount is unsatisfactory. I am sure you don¡¯t want to be punished right? ¡° Isaac inquires. ?Yes, Yes, excellent idea. As expected of you Sir Isaac. If you excuse me I have some preparations to do,¡° with that Ildrick left the room with a diabolic grin. Unbeknownst to the two, their victim, Osric has made a breakthrough in the soul mediation method. According to the classification, he is now a intermediate-second stage Soul Apprentice. He received a boost to his soul strength, soul juice capacity and some incrisement in his cognitive functions. ++++++++++++++++++++++ ?Alright, no time to waste, let¡¯s go make some scrolls,¡° I say. Closing the door behind me. I made my way to the second floor, into the laboratory¡¯s section. There I walk around a bit before I find someone not busy with walking around. He is chilling and leaning on a wall.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ?Excuse me, but can you point me to the magic scroll making section,¡° I ask him. ?That way,¡° he points. After thanking him, I make my way there. The laboratories is not that different from the rest of the building. Lavish, and sometimes over stylish. At least for me, I never cared about luxury, not that I had them available. At the end of the hallways, filled left and right with rooms, sits a small guy behind a filled desk. He is probably the overseer. ?Good morning, I am here for an assignment,¡° I tell him. Then he looks up from his work. ?Wonderful, my name is Ildrick. Come, I will show you what to do,¡° he says. He seems to be a bit too enthusiastic for a newbie, or so I think. Most people would groan on the prospect of training a newbie. This looks a bit fishy. ?Alright listen. Making a magic scroll has three steps. First infuse magic energy into the ink. Second, take out the scroll and copy the spell model into the scroll, third, infuse it with magic. A first stage apprentices should be able to infuse two scrolls per hour. Our daily quota is three scrolls,¡° he says. ¡±of course that doesn¡¯t count the wasted ones and time to refill the mana and your concentration¡± ?Alright, For the first month, take this fireball spellbook, memorize it and make scrolls. For making scrolls, you don¡¯t need to engrave the formula into your soul, you just have to copy the book methodically onto the paper. Next month come to me for another spell,¡° he says while handing me a small booklet. ?Any questions? No? Great. Good luck and remember, you have to hand in 30 Scrolls at the end of the month. You are expected to succeed three out of five times, thus you get five scrolls a day plus ink. Have fun!¡° he says and promptly leaves the small isle. He is up to no good. I can smell his bullshit from here. Most likely he will give me a really hard assignment next month. But jokes on him, as a soul wizard, I have an easier time doing this. And he is even giving me money. I should be able to achieve a success rate of 80-90 per cent. Haha. After my little rant, I inspect the scroll. It is similar to the meditation methods, but not completely. There are two ways of casting magic in this world. The first is where you engrave the magic into your soul, the other is to guide magic power into the form of the formula. The second one is really hard. It is easier for a soul wizard but at the apprentice level, the difference is not big. Circulating magic power inside the body is much easier than outside. So after engraving it, one has a generator always available, one only has to fuel it with fuel. I begin memorizing the formula. It is hard, but since my memory improved tremendously, I find the task to be easier. I take the five sheets and the ink I was given back to my room. I take out the ten sheets I purchased before and compare them. ?That bastard sold me inferior products. Whatever, they should be good enough for exercise proposes,¡° I mumble to myself. Wasting some at the beginning is normal and it isn¡¯t like I need good quality paper for this. For some time, I train with a normal, non-magical paper. After I became confident, I switched to magic scrolls The first try is a catastrophe. The feel is very different. Because of the magical infused ink, the whole process feels like writing with the arms of an octopus. sticky. Five coppers down the drain. The next three are somewhat better. The last few of my own ones go by better, the last one even succeeds, but the quality of both, the parchment and the formula is subpar at best. The charging of the scroll took nearly all of my mana. I believe that the subpar quality resulted in a bad efficiency for charging. Then I make my way over to the provided goat scrolls. I manage to make two scrolls of acceptable quality and destroy three because of subpar quality. I don¡¯t need to give that guy, or anyone for that matter, ammunition targeting myself. After finishing them, I grab something to eat in the cafeteria and move back to meditate. Because of my earlier breakthrough, I am pumped to continue meditation. Breakthroughs just feel too amazing. My goal is to reach the third stage of soul cultivation and the second stage of mage apprentice. Then I will be able to accept bigger missions on my own. Lastly, I have to figure out how to speed up my meditation. While doing that I continue to translate the introductory book. Chapter 14: Spell of enslavement Re-writen V1 Meanwhile on the top floor of the mage tower. Inside a spacious and majestic office. ?Mr A, are you sure that the intel is correct?¡° asks a kind-looking old man. He is frowning over a piece of paper. ?Yes, Mage Renald. It is confirmed. We won¡¯t be able to avoid a war. The intelligence department calculated that in three to five years a war between us and the league of shadow will break out,¡° the black-robed Mr. A answered. He sighs, it isn¡¯t like this is the first war. It happens nearly every one or two century. ?We managed to find some spies, they tried to infiltrate your tower. We also had some minor skirmishes with the enemy force. The Order sent out three newly promoted mages to hold the fort,¡° Mr.A continues. ?Are you sure that three new mages are enough? ¡° Asks Renald with scepticism. It isn¡¯t his first rodeo, sending out three beginners is asking for death. It is hard enough for them to break through to an official mage level. ?Mage Arnold is supervising them from the shadow. The order hopes that the new mages can get some experience in a relatively safe environment,¡° says Mr. A. ?Alright, I am going to ramp up the magic scroll production, anything else?¡° asked Renald while frowning. At least they won¡¯t die too fast. Contemplating a bit the robed man says: ?No, but strengthening the apprentices is necessary. The Order is already preparing some mission sites. It should be done in two or three months. ¡° ?Alright, thank you Mr. A,¡° says Renald bevor continuing with his magic experiments and other not that important stuff. ++++++++++++++++ In the following month, I was busy with scribing magic scrolls and learning Gorlen. I broke through the late phase of the second stage on the soul. And I am also on the brink of breaking through to intermediate first stage on my mage path. The time I spent inscribing scrolls hadn¡¯t been wasted. While only thee scrolls were expected per day, I always manage to inscribe four scrolls and lately I often make all five correctly. Towards the end of the month, I buy three extra scrolls from the same shop I went last time and inscribe them too. Because of this, I am able to sell three extra scrolls per day. One of them goes for nine copper apiece. My savings doubled; this helped my shrinking coffer. I also have successfully translated the first of the parchments. It has been a long and annoying journey. This language is one of the most complicated things I have ever seen. And that says a lot about this language. Without the increased capacity as a mage, I believe that very few people would ever master it. Maybe it was never meant to be mastered at my rank? ++++++++++++++++ Today is the day before I will get a new spell to copy from Ildrick. My quota is finished for the day already. Now I have time to inspect the translated scroll.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The first line: ?Spell of enslavement¡®, wow that escalated quickly. So, let¡¯s see. The spell is a lot more complicated than the fireball spell from before, but still manageable. What is special about this spell is, that it is not purely a spell alone. It has three functions. First it rips a hole into the soul of the target. Then with a second formula, it implants part of my soul or a subsidiary ingredient and then ingrates it into the soul. This version is only able to enslave ordinary mortal people and defenceless apprentices of the first two stages. But that¡¯s good enough. Then the materials. It talks about a golden apple, it is a rare fruit from a rare tree. Rare at least for apprentices. An apprentice level ingredient with the soul attribute, the book also mentions some similar ones, but this is the only one I can get my hand on with my amount of points. So the preparation of the material is: make a juice out of the golden apple, add some black pepper, salt and your own blood. Then I need to soak a piece of a soul. Human soul works the best. and using the method to put an imprint inside the seed. Then the seed is completed. I saw that the golden apple is exchangeable for four points. As for the soul, I have my buddy subject#001 with me. That¡¯s good and most importantly, free. I slowly feel how it is to live without enough resources. Hopefully my next plans would take care of that. Next, I need a target. Someone from the tower is not an option. Surely someone would notice the tempering. Hmm, I want to make an underground force. Enslaving the owner of a small restaurant and digging out a small lab should work well enough, at least for making some less than ideal experiments. Not really the humans ones. The tower doesn¡¯t care about that, no I speak about experiments pertaining to the soul. I could earn a little money from the restaurant as well. But most importantly, I can teach the guy some recipes and eat some decent meals. The food in the cafeteria is not bad, but a bit bland. They don¡¯t seem to use spices a whole lot. My work as a scribe secured me some additional wisdom points and a bit less contribution points. Not a lot, but the work was easy. After putting on a robe, I go to retrieve the apple from the arcane hall. While waiting in line some people point at me and murmur. ?Isn¡¯t that the guy, who offended Sir Isaac? I heard that he wanted to punish him, but he never leaves the tower.¡° ?He sure feels guilty, if he hides behind his robe.¡° The speaker, of course, knows that this is bullshit, but for his career, he has no problem with it. Similar whispers can be heard all around me. Like, don¡¯t they have something better to do? After getting the apple, I grab two wooden bowl from the dining hall and go back into my room for the seed. I have a nice idea for the bowls. Sitting in front of me is a bowl of apple juice. It has a golden colour and smells nice. Then I cut off a piece of soul from my buddy and throw it into the bowl. When the juice begins to reduce, I add some of my blood, which gets absorbed too. Right before all of the liquid is gone, I hastily make a soul imprint into the seed. The seed is blood red and a bit ethereal. It has a physical component to it, you can touch it sure, but it is mostly ethereal. This is how I imagine grabbing through a ghost?. It has to be planted into a soul after all. The next thing I do is to prepare more fireball scrolls for the trip, in case someone attacks me. I make with great difficulty a scroll of imprisonment, before taking good care to hide it inside my robes. Getting caught with a scroll-like this would raise some questions I would not like to answer. +++++++++++++ In the western corner of the city lays a restaurant called ?Luke¡¯s Eatery¡°. The restaurant is managed by a single person. He is owner and chef at the same time. What he doesn¡¯t know now is, that his position as a lone businessman makes him the prime target for Osric. Chapter 15: The first (un)willing follower, an ambush The sun is going down. This is the perfect time to implement my plan. At first I stash away nine magic scrolls of fireball. I kept them in case I would need them sometimes, like today. I can feel that there is going to be trouble. These kinds of nagging feeling came more often as I got stronger. I am still unsure whether it is caused by the path of blood or the path of the soul. I put on my robe and take a second one with me, in case this one gets damaged too heavily. None of my goals is walking back into the tower partially naked, or into a cloth store. Then I safely stash away the seed and the parchment in my robe. Opening my door, I see an empty corridor. Silently and with much care, I leave the tower. After wandering around the district a bit, I break into a full sprint. Behind me, I hear some silent whispers. ?Quick he¡¯s escaping, we have to kill him! The Boss said that he made a killing with selling scrolls,¡° says the goon, running after me. Another person is following him. After ten minutes of sprinting, I manage to lose them. ?Pooh, that was dangerous, but they don¡¯t seem to be second stage apprentices,¡° I say to myself, while catching my breath. It also seems like they are only on the lookout. Leaving them behind, I make my way towards the west side of town. Not many people are still out on the streets at this time of the day, thus I stick to side street and small alleys. I don¡¯t want to meet too many people. While walking I organize my thoughts. First the ambushers, they are most likely related to that Isaac guy. I can leave them for later, now the restaurant is more important. Finishing my thought, I arrive in front of a restaurant. My target is ?Luke¡¯s Eatery¡®. One of the windows is open. This guy is pretty unlucky. I overheard some other apprentices talking about the restaurant while waiting to receive my golden apple. They complained about something, but it has something to do with him working all alone. Perfect for me to sneak in. Inside, I find myself in a middle-sized storeroom. It is mostly empty, a few vegetables lying in the corner. Leaving the room I search the other rooms. One is the kitchen. With only three stoves and an oven-like apparatus. Next is a locked door. I suppose this is the main storage room. Next is the dining area. Nothing fancy, only 6-7 tables with some chairs. Then I find the room I had been searching for. The bedroom. Slowly opening the door, I walk in. He is already asleep. The room is not big, it has space for a bed a closet and a desk. Walking beside the bed I see my target for tonight¡¯s operation. Luke, the owner of the eatery. He is deep in a slumber. I take out my scroll of enslavement and cast it on him. Before that though I pick up a pillow and stuff it into his face. Getting your soul ripped open is a very painful process. Heavy groans and muffled screams later, his soul is ready for the seed. I put the blood-red seed on top of his head and chant a small incarnation to bind it into his soul. Then with the last part of the spell, I heal his soul slowly. It takes me three hours of constant focus to patch the scar. Then he wakes up drenched in sweat.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ? Wha- What? Where- Who are you, what do you want? I don¡¯t have any money,¡° Luke stuttered. Is this not the first time he is robbed? My answer must have sounded like the devil¡¯s deal. ?You see, dear Luke, I don¡¯t need your money. I just need your soul. You might feel a little weird, but that¡¯s just the process of the seed integrating into you. It should be finished before tomorrow morning.¡° The spell did talk about it, not much tough. ?B-but why me? I am a nobody,¡° Luke stuttered out with great difficulty. ?There Mr. Luke you are wrong. You are a cook. Someone, I need, you see? The people around here are not good at cooking, so I need to teach someone how to cook properly. That I also need a hideout is just a coincidence. Now don¡¯t talk. I will make you a great cook. The seed has the added benefit of making you a bit smarter,¡° I say. So you can make better dishes for me, I silently added. Continuing to sweeten the deal for him I say: ?I will leave some recipes on your desk, don¡¯t worry they are unique. Now I need you to compile the local gangs and the restaurants, who have a similar situation to you. They are alone and are the cook at the same time. Understood? I don¡¯t expect a lot, so don¡¯t fret, just some rumours and a general picture should be fine. You live here after all.¡° Luke weakly nodded. Ah good the seed is slowly taking effect. ?And make a small cellar, it doesn¡¯t have to be big. I also left a gold coin for you to use. Make the restaurant a bit fancier, buy some spices and make a cellar,¡° I say. Then I knocked him out and leave the room. Here, I might have miscalculated a bit. I have no idea how much spices cost. A gold coin wouldn¡¯t be enough if they were expensive. Not my problem though. ?I hope my investment is going to pay off in the future,¡° I say to myself. I am not talking about the money aspect here. I don¡¯t expect a lot from a small restaurant. I then make my way back. Shortly before I arrive, I see some people creeping around. They seem to be my friends from a few hours ago. Their spacing around is filled with anxiousness. Now a fight is not something I want. I am still weak and don¡¯t have any spells engraved in my soul, thus I make a plan. I take four of the fireball scrolls and bind them together with a stick in between. A nice feature of the stick is that, when infused with magic, it slowly releases it into the air. With this I make a makeshift time bomb. This bomb, I leave near my original route, then I circle back and wait for it to go off. Five minutes later I hear a deafening BOOM. The bomb has gone off. Now that my pursuers are distracted, I run full speed towards the tower. Inside they won¡¯t dare to attack me. At the last corner, I suddenly catch a glimpse of a figure running towards me. I don¡¯t take any chances and throw two fireball scrolls in their face. The man has to dodge them. The time is barely enough for me to run around the corner, shortly after I enter the tower. Now leaning against a wall, I catch my breath. ?Wow, that was a display! I knew that they wanted to attack someone, but was not sure whom. Congrats by the way for making it back.¡° The speaker is Nelton, the self-proclaimed information broker. He has another person accompanying him. He is in a very similar robe than Isaac is usually wearing. Lavish, filled with gold and silver. In my opinion, it is too dazzling and useless. Feels like a Nuovo-rich trying to blend in with his new fronds and failing miserably at it. ?Well, he might be useful in the future,¡° the man says to Nelton and then leaves. In terms of arrogance, he is an equal to Isaac. Nelton then explained to me, that that person was the Apprentice leader Allister. He and Isaac are considered enemies. Maybe I will be contacted by him for cooperation. Nelson leaves me with one last sentence. ?See you later, Osric. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.¡° Yeah, that is mostly bullshit, but alright. Having this stage of my plan finally behind me felt good. Back into my room, I notice that I am covered in sweat. It seems like the situation was more perilous than expected. Next time I will need to be more careful. This time the bomb worked, next time, maybe not. Very exhausted I slump onto my bed and immediately enter the land of dreams. Chapter 16: new spells Being woken up by the banging on the door is not a pleasant thing. I was about to nag the guy while opening the door. Unfortunately, I have to leave the nagging for later. Ildrick is standing in front of my door, with a barely concealed evil smirk. ?Good morning sunshine, I have the new spells for you. First is ?minor swiftness¡®, your quota is 3 a day. Secondly ?shadow of concealment¡®, your quota is only 2. Am I not nice?¡° he said sarcastically. Yeah at this point, it is clear, that he has it out for me. My small circus yesterday might have prodded him to it. Nothing I can help about, whatever he has to throw at me, I am confident at being able to overcome. Tough I played along like I was clueless ?Yes thank you mister Ildrick.¡° He handed me the two booklets and left my room. He was fast enough to think, that my room is full of poison. Whatever. I open the booklet and have a look at the spell ?minor swiftness¡®. A wind type spell. So basically, it speeds up the user a bit. Fairly useful in my opinion. The spell formula is more complicated than ?Fireball¡®, but not by much. This scroll is the logical difficulty curve for magic scroll creation. Then I take a look at the second spell ?shadow of concealment¡®. ?What the fuck is you problem Ildrick? Can¡¯t you make your targeting a bit more subtle? This is like an elephant in a porcelain shop¡° I ranted louder than I wanted. The reason for it is the booklet in my hand. You see, ?shadow of concealment¡® is a very useful spell. It is a shadow type spell, it helps conceal oneself in darker places for 10 minutes. What the real problem is, is that the formula is complicated. About 20 per cent more than ?enslavement¡®. He hopes for me to fail, doesn¡¯t he? Tough luck boy, not with me. After my thoughts, I leave my room to get magical ink and goatscrolls. ++++++++++++++++ Walking through the arcane hall I hear a commotion. ?Have you heard of the new mission?¡° ?Yeah. The rewards had been amped up a lot, haven¡¯t they?¡° ?There are also some new locations. Lead apprentice Allister announced, that in 2-3 months even more missions will be released.¡°If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Curios what the commotion is about, I approach the mission board. A lot has changed, since the last time I was here. Nearly half of the normal repeatable missions like hunting common magical animals or explorations have been taken off and a lot of new and more rewarding mission have taken their place. Most of them were similar, but the rewards have been amped up by quite a bit. There was also a notice from that Allister guy, that in 2 or 3 months. An exploration is going to take place. What we are going to explore, no idea, but it is a very good chance to gain points. Having made up my mind. I left the arcane hall. Retrieved the allocated goatscrolls and ink, then finally went back into my room. I noticed, that lately, most of the time, I am most of the day inside my more. That may be one of the reason, why most apprentices a see have a lankier and weak build. So from today on, I put on half an hour of exercise into my daily routine. Back in my room, I look over the ?office¡® supplies I got. For ?minor swiftness¡®, I was still expected to have a success rate of 3/5. What I didn¡¯t expect is to get 8 empty goatscrolls for ?shadow of concealment¡®. It looks like even that bastard can¡¯t fool around with the allocation of the supplies. If he were to give me less scrolls than allocated, than he would be the one punished and not me. Apropo punishment. From the increased reward for which amounts to the same job, I can infer that some kind of skirmish or war is near. This might also be the reason, why he gave me that shadow spell. In normal times, people would notice the abnormality, but now? No one give a crap, they have their problems to worry about. ?shadow of concealment¡® is a magic scroll which sells for about 5-6 silver. The spell itself cost too many wisdom points for me to retrieve. Huh Ildrick, you are my lucky angel. Thanks to you, not only did I get more points because of increased difficulty and more free supply you also gifted me a very useful spell and means to make more money. Magic scrolls like these are easy to sell, in a world where conflict is everywhere. So my priority¡¯s right now are: 1. Engraving spells to my soul. Thanks to my cultivation of the soul, my soul is efficient and has more capacity than normal apprentices. 2. Continue translating the parchments, ?enslavement¡® is way too useful, I already have another application for them. I just need to learn to engrave. 3. Renting out more useful books and copying them, I am already finished with the three I previously selected and 1 more. I am in the middle of copying a book for beginner engravers. 4. Finding out, what the artefact Leon gave is good for. At least it is the plan, so none cared about it. 5. Getting more spells. 6. Building gadgets like the time bomb from last time. They seem very useful and not hard to make, that is with my knowledge from earth. Back into my room, I began memorizing the two new spells and wasting scrolls. This time, brought 2 dozen inferior goatscrolls from that shabby shop. With this is should be set for 1 or 2 weeks 2 weeks went by in a flash. Between inscribing, copying books and making my first attempt at inscribing spells into my soul and meditation, I had very little time for anything else. Though, i is till translated the parchments, and their content made an evil smirk appear on my face. Chapter 17: progress and the foundation of being a Godfather The last two weeks had been very productive. That Ildrick bastard couldn¡¯t find any reason to punish me, he seems to be frustrated because of it. The good guy I am, I even asked what¡¯s wrong with him. He played it off of course, but I was laughing inside, because of his predicament. Whelp, who can fault me for having a bit of fun? My stash of money went up to a whopping 8 gold and 9 silvers. Selling ?shadow of concealment¡® scrolls was more profitable than I thought. Of course, I left some of it for myself. ?minor swiftness¡® sold not that good as the other one, but money is money. Luckily the buyers I found wanted it too. The amulet is still a mystery to me, but I have the feeling, that when I break through to the 3rd stage of the soul, I can use it somehow. Shouldn¡¯t be too long from now. I am at the peak of the 2nd stage of the soul. I figured out, that while making the soul seeds, I made 3 btw, I still can eat the rest of the apple and it helped a long way in my soul path. I am also very close to the late stage of the first stage in the mage path, but not there yet, I should breakthrough in the next 2 weeks or so. Unfortunately, I am poor again. I used most of my wisdom and contribution points to retrieve golden apples, a set of beginner engraving equipment, some scraps to exercise on and two spells. Both of these spells were rather cheap. The main reason for that is, that for booth spells, you have to be very close to your enemy. A thing not every mage is happy about. ?minor shock¡® is a lightning type spell, very effective at paralysing the opponent, but only in close quarters, thus the price was rather low, the difficulty of the former also helped to push it¡¯s prize down. As for the second spell, initially I decided for a defensive spell, more expensive, but staying alive is worth it. Here the parchments saved me. I translated two of them, I got faster at translating the more proficient I get in the language. One is about a ritual, the other is a defensive spell. The exact science behind it eludes me, but basically, it uses soul juice to make a thin defensive layer around the body, very effective against magical means, not so much for physical one. In the city, it is plenty. Back to the second spell. It is called ?dark hand¡®. It is a darkness type spell. From the name, one can tell, but the spell works on touch. Luckily, it ignores common clothes, and magic resistant clothes only wakens the effect. The upside to its short-range is its power. The spell doesn¡¯t have to travel through the air, so it is a lot more powerful, it can make major damage and also paralyses the person through pain and fear. Very useful. Funny thing. In one of my experiments with engraving, out of boredom, I engraved this formula into a rock, loaded some mana into it and throw it up. I didn¡¯t look out and it landed on my foot. Through this unexpected experiment, I got to know 2 things. First, the spell is effective, luckily I didn¡¯t feed a lot of mana into the stone, so the pain was bearable. The second that it can make a decent weapon if utilized correctly. Spurred by this discovery, I ?misused¡® ?enslavement¡®. I engraved it crudely into a normal iron dagger. I planned to add a dark hand too, but the material could only handle one minor engraving, and about effectiveness, ripping your soul open is worse than some pain. The amount of mana the dagger could hold was also very limited, thus ripping was my favourite.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. My crowning achievement in this time was a type of hand grenade. I stuffed two wooden bowls full with fireball scrolls, then put a metallic tube into a hole I made. This tube worked as a fuse. I loaded it with a basic mana storage engraving, then I out a send smaller one inside the cylinder with the same enchantment, but with the option of rapidly releasing booth engraving. Then one of the fireball scrolls overload and explode. Leading to a chain reaction. You know overloading stuff always results in something violent. Overloading a transistor? It smokes out, no-big-deal. Overloading a fission reactor? Well everyone knows what happened to Chernobyl. And I finally engraved spells into my soul. It was a bitch. Even with my advantages, it took me days to engrave one. Because of that, I only engraved 3. ?shadow of concealment¡®, ?minor swiftness¡® and ?minor soul shield¡®. The first two for the reason of sneak attacking and/or fleeing and the last one as protection. In the limited time, I first engraved spell for protection and fleeing, for life protection. For offensive capability¡¯s, I have 3 hand grenades on my belt, 2 soul rippers(that¡¯s what I dubbed the daggers). And 3-4 of the other scrolls. For which I brought a rope with some basic defensive capabilities and a lot of storeroom. I am a walking armoury. Very atypical for most mages to rely on external items. Having finished my thoughts, I make myself ready for my second excursion to the restaurant. This time I left my room and went towards the library, midway there I used one of the concealment scrolls. Turning around, I hastily left the building. I only have 10 minutes after all. +++++++++++++++ In front of ?Luke¡¯s eatery¡®. It was already dark, but that didn¡¯t bother me, instead I was overjoyed. The reason is that the restaurant has expanded a bit and looks a lot better than before. It seems that my investment has paid off. Inside, I meet Luke again in his bedroom. The moment I enter, Luke wakes up, knees down and sais: ?master.¡° He looks a bit out of the loop, but it seems that the integration finished a week or so ago, and now he is completely loyal. ?have you finished everything I asked?¡°I said. ?Yes master, the list is inside the desk and the cellar has been expanded.¡° He said. Huh nice. But I don¡¯t like the master stuff too much. What should I make him call him? Thinking this, I thought of something funny. ?Luke, from now on you will refer to me as Godfather¡°I commanded, giving off mafia vibes. ?Yes, ma-. Godfather¡° He said hesitantly. ?Now show me the cellar, I am going to take the list with me, also I brought some more recipes¡° I said. Hearing this, his face immediately lits up. ?Yes, godfather¡° He then leads me to the cellar. It is about 10 m^2, not big, but I can work with that. ?Alright, use this as a normal cellar, I am going to expend it later. Oh and the money you earn, reinvest it into the restaurant, hire an additional cook.¡° I said. With this, I gave him an engraved stone and a seed. ?hit him in the head at night with this stone then press the seed into his head¡°. I engraved the integration process into the seed. It is not particularly complicated. ?Don¡¯t worry about him then, he will wake up after 2-3 days. Then after another 3 days, work like normal, after that the seed should have integrated enough.¡° With that, I left the shop. Not wanting to leave any trail behind, I use another three concealment scrolls to get back to the tower. This time it was rather uneventful. Feeling tired I got to sleep again. Chapter 18: preparation The list of the potential lay in front of me. There were 2 restaurants and 3 gangs. Looking through the lacking information on the 2 shop owners, I mark them for closer examination. The gangs are the problem. A normal restaurant usually don¡¯t have any backer, but gangs might be a bit different. The three gangs are called ?black mantis¡® ?dark gang¡® and ?white gang¡®. The latter two are at war with each other. Apparently since quit a while. The ?black mantis¡® is seemingly a neutral gang. Huh, not much information, not even about their leaders. Guess that leaves me with barely anything. At least the information about the two restaurants are somewhat accurate. Leaving my room I head towards the arcane hall, hopefully I can find Nelton guy around. Asking him only about the three gang might seem suspicious. The price for information like this should be cheaper. ++++++++++++++ At one of the corners of the arcane hall, I spot the guy I was searching for. ?hey Nelton, you have some time?¡° I ask him. ?Sure, what do you need? I can guarantee the best prices around¡° He said. ?Can you get me some information¡¯s about the gangs in the city? You know sometimes you need some sheep¡¯s for experimental purposes.¡° I said, while trying to mislead him somewhat. Not exactly, I do need some people to try out the ritual from the parchment. ?Sure, 2 contribution points for a simple one, and 4 for a more detailed version. A lot of people use them for their experiment, not like anyone would miss them¡° he said in a hushed tone. ?I want the more detailed version, can you also snoop around a bit for mantel grass and sool stone? I need them for an experiment. There is no stock in the tower¡° I said. He looks a bit strange at me. Might be that soul stone is something few use. Mantel grass is somewhat easier to get. It grows near big places of death. ?Sure, I will hear around a bit. 1 point¡° he said. With an aching heart, I pay the man 5 points and then move back to my room. I busy myself by making magic scrolls and other stuff. Some for my daily quota and a couple to replenish the ones I used yesterday. +++++++++++++++++ 3 days later. The number of points I have been close to zero all this time, thus I began selling some of the scrolls I make for points. Most of them go for 1-2 points, but each concealment scroll goes for 3-4 points. With this amount of points, I began to prepare a large number of soul seeds for my future organization. Controlling all of them through enslavement is necessary. At least at the start. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The lower guys can go without, as long as I pay them some crumbs, they make whatever I say. The higher-ups of the gangs are in comparison smarter, the need to be controlled. The information from Nelton is pretty accurate. The whole city has 5 districts. 1. West district, living district.: a. Dark gang i. Enemy¡¯s with White gang ii. Used to be the same gang iii. Deals mainly in extortion and loans b. White gang i. The same as dark gang c. Black mantis i. Neutral gang ii. Has no backer iii. Deals in abduction and extortion 2. East district, noble district.: a. White rose i. Deals mainly in prostitution and slavery ii. Backed by nobles 3. North district, artisan district. a. The Builders i. Protection money 4. South district, commercial and entertainment district a. The Rippers i. They deal in anything ii. Very ruthless and dangerous iii. Surprisingly there is a warning about them in Neltons information sheet 5. Central district a. The tower My goal is to take over of the ?black mantis¡®. It is a medium-sized gang as is ruling the west district together with and dark gang. I can use them and sell weapons to both, profit while weakening them at the same time, then I can clear out the benefits, enslave the leaders and voila, my influence tripled. The leader of ?black mantis¡® is called surprisingly black mantis. The man has 3 trusted aids and another 8 ringleaders. The rest are just henchman. That means, that I need 12 seeds. I want the keep the one left, just in case. So I began the hard work of making the seeds. That took me about 4 other days. The amount of blood needed for one seed is not a lot, but after 3 seeds, I would get dizzy. After calculating a bit, I concluded, that I could make 6 seeds a day tops. I didn¡¯t do it, because it isn¡¯t worth it. I still have some obligations and work to do so, I decide for 3 a day. ++++++++++++++ The day before the operation ?Seeding the world¡® began, I went to the library again to get another spell booklet. I discovered a very dust heavy booklet on one of the bookshelves. The spell turned out to be an arcane bolt. This spell is a spell only wizard with arcane affinity able to engrave on their soul, what caught my interest is that the bolt had the same colour as the crystal at the aptitude test. Maybe my affinity if arcane? The test is a bit expensive, but the results are more than worth it. The engraving process was smooth. So smooth that it was completely unexpected. The lines flowed into my soul like never before, the easy of memorizing it was incredibly fast. Normally it took me between 3-12 hours to memorize a spell formula. This time it took only 40 minutes. Every apprentice would scoff at the time and call me a liar. Luckily I don¡¯t give a damn what others think of me and prepared 3 additional scrolls for myself. Before going t sleep, I made sure that everything is ready. I will have to wake up quite early. an Otherwise efficiency would go down. Laying everything out on the table, I checked one last time and went to sleep. Chapter 19: Black mantis and friends I make some last preparations before heading out. I stash away all of the scrolls into my robe and hang the 4 grenades into my belt. Fort the operation today, my goal are the two cooks and one of the stronghold from ?black mantis¡®. I hope to at least be able to ?seed¡® 5-6 persons. And with their help, I can lure in the others. Ripping open one concealment spell, I leave the tower. My heart is burning because of it. It is not the loss of money or the scroll in this case. It is more than something that is mine had to be used because of that bastard Isaac. Last time I came out I saw some people looking around. I bet that they worked for Isaac. Leaving that aside, arrive after 40 minutes of walking at my first victim. The restaurant is somewhat bigger, but not by much. I go in and repeat the same thing a said to Luke. This time I leave different recipes for him. If in three different restaurants, the same exotic dish appears might make some busybodies curios. I don¡¯t like curious people. The streets are still empty, it is about 1 or 1 and half hour away from people waking up and going to work. Right now I am standing in front of a restaurant, which is bitter than the last two. Searching for a point of entry, I notice that the lock on the door is not well made. With some force, I was able to open it. Then from inside, I opened the lock and closed the door again. We don¡¯t want any unwelcome guests this early. Except me of course. Making my way around the house, searching for the bedroom, I hear some voices from one of the storage room. ?HA, I win bitches, here with the money haha.¡° Said, someone. ?Yeah, here he goes again. He loses more than he wins BUT THE ONE TIME HE WINS, he acts like some kind of rich kid. If not for that he loses more than he wins, I would beat him up¡° a second person commented. ?Can you people shut up? Or who wants to help her out?¡° said a lazy voice. It was not as loud as the rest. Most likely there is another room inside. Ripping a scroll of concealment, I peek inside. There are 3 tables with 4-5 people each and at the other end of the room is another door. Sneaking my way along the walls, making sure to be silent. A thing, which was very hard. The men smelled, a lot. I didn¡¯t let myself be fazed with that and continued towards the door. Peeking inside were three people and to my delight. Black mantis was one of them, next to him his right-hand man and a strange opposite them. I recognise that guy, I saw him a couple of time in the tower. None important. I wait a bit and listened to their conversation.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ?Alright so that out of the way. Master Negi, how much do you want for the attack?¡° he said respectfully. ?hmm, 20 gold would be nice, ¡° Negi said. The right-hand man was about to explode in fury for this ridiculous demand. The gang might make 4-5 gold a week in profit. And that money is usually reinvested or pocketed by the boos. Black mantis put his hand on the shoulder of the right-hand man and said¡° master Negi, a person of your standing sure can make a more reasonable price¡° black mantis said. ?But why can¡¯t I just talk..¡° he couldn¡¯t continue, because moments before, I activated three of the grenades. One I throw behind the mage and one in front of him. The third went behind me to the henchmen. I ducked behind a shelve. BOOOOOM All three of them exploded at the same time. From the henchman¡¯s, roughly a third died instantly. Those were the one closest to the explosion. The rest had varying degrees of injuries, but none of them was able to stand up, what more of making trouble for me. Having a look into the other room something unexpected happens. A Fireball is moving towards me. I only had the time to throw me to the side, then the fireball exploded in the door. Splinter were flying everywhere, some of them scratching me. Hastily standing up, I rip one of the minor shock scrolls and throw it into the direction of the scroll, hoping that the mage is trying to flee through the door. *ahhhhh* I assume that I was spot on hearing his scream. I rip 3 arcane bolt scrolls and direct them in his direction. I cast one towards him for good measure. Then I wait for him to either come out or bleed out. While waiting, the restaurant owner storms into the storeroom with an incredulous face. The reward for his action is a table leg into his face. Stepping over the bloody face of the cook, I take a peek inside the room. The room was more devastated than the other one. The table had been completely destroyed, mantis and his man lay near the wall passed out. How they survived? I don¡¯t know, maybe some kind of defensive scroll. My opponent is lying in his own pool of blood. Two bloody hole accompany him. One in his lower abdomen and one in his lungs. The other 2 arcane bolts didn¡¯t hit. I was already happy with 2 hitting. Firing another two arcane bolts. On into his head and the other into his heart. Upon impact the twitches twice, before finally laying down motionless. ?So you waited for me to lower my guard? Too bad for you.¡° Then I make my way to my VIP¡¯s, first I use soul shredder to make the participants more ?accepting¡® to the seed, and then I integrate it into the cook and the other two guy. While waiting for them to wake up, I knock out the henchman¡¯s, who was still whimpering on the floor. At least those who are still alive, and I take some rope from one of the tables and bind them all together. Having a stronger soul, then the first time I used ?enslavement¡® the integration was easier, and there was no need to slowly integrate, like with Luke. So I go to the restaurant, put out the closed sign and wait for the 3 quests to wake up. Running through my head against, to make a better impression. Chapter 20: New underlings In the innermost chamber, I roped my three guests into chairs, then I took my time to correct my hair and corrected my robe, I also put away the las grenade into a corner with the rest of my leather bag, only keeping some of the magic scrolls inside my robe for the rainy days. ?Huh, not looking like a murderous hobo is sure hard¡°I mumbled to myself while waiting for my guests to wake up. In the meantime, I also began to clean up the room from the wooden shards. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t do a whole lot against the burning spots and the smears of blood. The body of the mage was put beside the other dead henchmen¡¯s, fully looted of course. Then I spend my time meditating aka torturing subject#001. Noticing them waking up, I exit my meditation and sit down in front of them. After another minute, all of them were fully awake. ?Good morning gentlemen, I am very happy to make you acquaintance. You might be of a different opinion right now, but don¡¯t worry that will change¡°I said. Looking over al of them. The two gangsters took it relatively well, it looks like it¡¯s not their first rodeo. But the cook, oh wow, he is panicking hard. Whelp can¡¯t help it. *SLAP* In his face. ?I hope, that with that, everyone in our small circle come back to themselves. Then any questions?¡° I asked. ?Well mister, who are you and why exactly did you kidnap us?¡° He asked. Huh, he is the fearless type? Whatever, the seed is planted and all is good. ?Well, I am just your new boss, willing or not, you see, I planted something very curios into your soul. I call it a soul seed, or a devil seed. You made an unwilling deal with the devil, in this case, me. The short version is, that I implanted something into your soul, which helps me to control you and it also helps to control nasty feelings like betrayal. Such nasty stuff, as a former boss yourself, you sure can agree with me on this point¡°I said. He looks still a bit unconvinced. Whatever a small demonstration won¡¯t do any harm. With that, I triggered the seed inside their soul to give them some fear. ?You see, the thing with my seed is, that it doesn¡¯t give physical pain. Someone with extraordinary willpower might survive that, but fear and other traumas are something different. Imagine having every night a nightmare, or being stuck in the void for eternity. Not something you want to experience right?¡°I said.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ?yes, yes¡° The cook said. He caved in rather quickly. I don¡¯t think that he is one of the ringleaders. Most likely just a normal cook, who happened to be in the wrong kind of crowd. ?Alright mister cook, Your orders are to continue expanding your restaurant and expand your cellar. Here are some recipes, have fun. And you can go, I still have something to talk to with these two gentlemen.¡° I said and let out the cook from the room ?And don¡¯t forget to close the shop for the day, say that you have a headache or something, ¡° I said. With that out of the way, I turned back to the two gangsters. ?So gentlemen, I happen to lack two new underlings, interested?¡°I said. Right-man, I named the right-hand man Right-man, looked a bit unsure but black mantis still acted like a hard nut to crack. Trying to sweeten the deal I say. ?You might be unconvinced, but my vision is not about your small gang. I am more interested in taking hold of all of the gangs in the city. You shouldn¡¯t forget, that working for a magician also has its perks. Have you seen that round thing, which knocked you out?¡°I said. This time black mantis did answer, with greed in his eyes. ?Yes, we did. But would you give something like that to simple underlings?¡° Hesitation and uncertainty still in his eyes. ?Oh yes, I would and much more. Those little toys are nice. Look, this dagger in my hand. It has some very nasty engravings on it, with one cut, you can eliminate most enemy¡¯s. They won¡¯t die, just be in so much pain, that they want to go back to mommy¡° I said. Still seeing hesitation in his eyes, I give him my last grenade, then go out and grab one of the henchmen outside. ?You see him? watch¡°I said, then cut him with soul shredder. Immediately, the fully grown man goes down to the ground, I can see some wet spots in his eyes. ?convinced?¡°I asked for the last time. This time the guy seemed to be convinced, at last. ?Alright, boss, ¡° he says through his teeth. ?How should we call you? ¡° not thinking much, I throw out the same name than I said to Luke. ?Just call me Godfather.¡° I Said. The rest of my talk with them was mainly about what they do for a living and other things. This people were smugglers. Something very useful for me. ?Alright, there is a list. If you meet something on it, buy it at all cost. Next week, I am going to supply you with some magic scrolls. Ah and, before I forget, remember the dagger I gave you?¡° They both nodded. ?There are 10 seeds, Implant those into the other higher-ups of the gang including the ringleaders. Simply stab them in a deserted place with the dagger, and then press the seed on their foreheads, okay?¡°I said. they both nodded in understanding. Having finished my business for the day, I leave the restaurant. The sun is around its peak, so it¡¯s probably around noon. Not a good time to sneak back. I stroll around the city, visit different shops and eat something in one of the more expensive restaurants. The dish was some kind of stew with a strange meat. Foreign, but all in all I liked it. Then when the city darkened, I make my way back to the tower. For the next 4 days, I was busy with making scrolls for the gang. I also made some progress in the deciphering of another parchment, This time it was an attack-type soul spell. Chapter 21: a dangerous and explosive encounter(s) After four days of constantly bringing my soul to the limit with magic scroll crafting, I feel that I am very close to breaking through not the 3 stage of the soul. I just need a little push. So my plan for the next 3-4 days are making enough scrolls for thee mission, preparing scrolls and gadgets for a mission and engrave the new spell into my soul. The spell is called ?soul shock¡®. A soul type spell with a range up to 15-20 meters. The damage it does is nothing major, but on hit, it confuses the soul, thus making the enemy a lot easier to kill. ++++++++++++++ Three days later. In front of me are my prepared supplies. A big leather bag, 7 grenades, a big stack of magic scrolls of different spells, 3 throwing dagger and some food rations. In case of any accidents, I also packed two vials of magical infusible ink, enough for 15-20 scrolls and 20 unused goatscrolls. I hang three of the grenades on my belt, stuff as much magic scrolls as possible into my robe, and put the rest into the bag. On the way, I also brought two robes, in case I destroy the one I am wearing. My destination is a place called Black beetle forest. My mission is to bring back 2 string bugs alive. Those bugs are the reason that the black beetle forest is named like that. They look like oversized black beetle, they have the size of a child¡¯s fist. Are very dangerous, that¡¯s one of the reasons I choose this place. Few are willing to go there, because as an apprentice, not a lot have means of protecting their souls. Another is the dark environment of the forest itself, very suitable to sneak around and/or getting sneak attacked. Leaving the tower, I board a carriage towards black village, the village closest to black beetle forest. +++++++++++++ I day later I find myself at the entrance of the forest. While travelling, I also noticed three pursuers. They didn¡¯t dare to make a move outside of the forest, in fear of getting tracked and punished. This also made me realize how lucky I was when dealing with that apprentice in the restaurant he sneaked out without anyone knowing, thus the only thing I had to do is to make my new underling dispose of his body. Such instances happen, and in a big city, it is hard to catch the culprit. That is, as long they don¡¯t make a commotion. The instant I enter the forest, I cast ?shadow of concealment¡® on myself. The advantage of doing so, I that I can keep the spell going, as long as I use some mana and a little bit of my concentration. Getting hit by something would dispel it. Then I made my way slowly into the forest. I don¡¯t know whether my pursuers are tracking me, but I have to make sure, that they find me. For now, I am safe, they still need time to track me. So I make my way deeper into the forest.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The forest itself is in very bright, there are also a lot of spots with shades. I make sure not to expose myself in bright spots and continue my way deeper into the forest. The forest gives me a strange feeling, I don¡¯t know why, but I feel a bit restless. The number of animals I have seen so far has not been a cause for concern, so I am still in the dark. Most animals were some variation of wild pigs and deer. The main difference was their ability to sense and predict danger. Even in my concealed state, they would immediately run away if I get closer than 50-60 meters. Continuing my way in the forest, I abruptly feel my head explode. Instinctively, I roll to the side, to find wolf-like monster on my spot. Having luckily escaped, I throw a fireball at it. Dodging it growled *growl* *growl* Grenades would be not useful in this situation. Casting minor swiftness on myself, I began bombarding the wolf with arcane bolts. One of them hit right before the beast could rip open my throat. Instead, it made a big gash on my left hand. Feeling my blood flowing out, I prepared to end this fight as fast as possible. When the wolf was still licking it¡¯s wound, I activated one of the grenades and throw it, Right before the wolf could jump away, I cast ?soul shock¡®, which made the wolf unable to escape. Sadly, the casting of the spell also delayed me in finding a cover, thus now I have some boneachses in my muscle. The wolf got killed from the explosion, no sooner I realised this, a black beetle flew out from the under bush to flee. ?where are you going little buddy?¡°I mumbled, then spammed ?soul shock¡® into the beetle, after the 3rd one, he went down. Faster then the wind, I scooped up the beetle and put him into a glass container, which had been provided for the mission. Luckily, the little guy was alive. Next, a bandaged myself and rested. The wolf was a grey wolf, a beast, which often worked together with the black beetles to ambush targets. I was pretty stupid for not expecting it, and running right inside the ambush. I made my mind up to learn a detection type spell the next time I visit the library. Having sat down, my body slowly recovered. The spent mana also recovered slowly. *BOOOOOOOOM* I heard an explosion 1,5 hours after I began my recovery. ?It seems like my pursuers ran into some trouble, let¡®s have a look.¡°. I picked myself up, and packed my stuff, replacing the grenade I used with another one. Luckily half of the objective I came is already finished. At the end of the fight, I felt that I could break through any time. Just a random spot in a dangerous forest is not the perfect place for it. Getting my shit together, I left for the explosion, but not bevor using a concealment scroll. After 2 minutes, I reached the site of the battle. Which was still ongoing. My pursuers seem to be still fighting. The ambush of a beetle and wolf duo hit them a lot harder than mine. They also don¡¯t have enough power to kill it in one hit like I did. I crept closer hearing their shouting. ?Lat, use it, I know you have it for that Osric boy, but dying is not worth it.¡° One guy said. ?but..¡° the heavily wounded man wanted to say something, but he got interrupted by the third. ?Just use it, ¡° said the third guy. This time the heavily wounded one took out a scroll from his pouch. It looked a lot more expensive than the normal ones. Is it maybe a bonafide mage scroll? I can¡¯t let them waste that in such away. Thus the responsible collector that I am armed three grenades. Then cast an arcane bolt towards the one with the scroll to kill him, and tossed the three grenades towards the wolf and the two guys. I also made sure to rip open a ?soul shock¡® scroll towards the wolf. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* An extremely loud explosion followed. This time I was safe from it behind a tree. Not wanting any more complications, I capture the beetle and looted the three persons, One of them need some killing, so I graciously provided it. Not even looking at the loot, I threw everything into my backpack and made my way back to the village. Chapter 22: Breakthrough Approximately halfway to the village, I slumped down beneath a tree, completely out of breath. I was just no, that I realized how close I came to dying. The times with the pursuit after Luke¡¯s and the battle with the gangs boss were different. I had a plan and I executed it perfectly. This was the first time that I came to realize my mortality. Nothing went as expected. I thought that I prepared enough, but I forgot plenty. My main plan was to make a camp for the night, put up some rudimentary defences with scrolls, then in the next day leave 4-5 grenade below the burnt-out fireplace and ambush my targets there. Being sneak attacked helped my ego calm down a bit. I began imagining myself a Godfather of a big organization, but now I came back to earth. But enough with the negativity, let¡¯s rest a bit and then go back to the village, breakthrough and inspect my loo.., I mean my new belongings. ++++++++++++++ Back at the village, I rented a room in the same in that I was in yesterday. Tomorrow, there will be a carriage ready, which will bring me back to Osmor. I closed the door and then booby-trapped both the door and the window. I put a small gadget I bought in Osmor on the window and the door. If someone opens them, they will toss something to the floor. This something is one of my throwing soul shredders. They then fall on two magic scrolls. One has ?soul shock¡®, the other has ?minor shock¡® on it. This should ensure, that it is not lethal, but still enough to wake me up, and if necessary, give me enough time to flee. Then I made myself ready for the breakthrough, First I prepared a golden apple, which I brought for this reason. Then I meditated a bit to be in the optimal state at the breakthrough. The reason for this was not because my breakthrough would fail It would succeed, but with this, I can make the most of it. Everything ready I eat the apple and initiated the breakthrough. The first thing I felt was my soul swelling. Then a lot of the soul juice went into the main vessels, making a final reinforcement. While I backed in the feeling of utopia, I also noticed some mysterious process. This process slowly infused my main vessel with even more soul juice, and slowly, golden spots appeared on it. I also seem to comprehend a part of this infusing process. Speaking of benefits right? I don¡¯t know what it might be good for, but better having it than needing it right? People, who breakthrough in a fight would never have noticed it.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. With this, my breakthrough finished. After the whole process, in the spur of the moment, I try to infuse even more juice into the main vessel through the strange process, and surprisingly something seems to happen. Not much by any means but something. It looks like that there are some differences in the foundation. The introductory book said nothing about this. Yeah, hoarding bastards. The sensation is phenomenal, I can feel that my perception and brain have been enhanced, even more than what happened than in the breakthrough to the 1st stage of mage apprentice. I think that the soul path is very beneficial for the five senses. I likey. Coming back from the heavens, I inspect the rest of my body. I was very shocked to find out, that somehow, my body received the ability to passively absorb arcana particles into my blood. Before I had the misconception that in nature, arcane mana doesn¡¯t exist, now I know that it was simply unnoticeable by the previous me. In some way, it is logical. How can someone have an affinity with something non-existent? It¡¯s like having an affinity with plasma in a world without them. Now I take a look at my new possession. It includes three money pouches, the same amount of leather bags and some other stuff. But my most prized loot this time around was the mage level scroll. That shit is not something you can get every day. I safely stash that away into my robe. In the robes of the enemy¡¯s were 11 magic scrolls of the apprentice level. The amount of money they had together amounted to 23 gold coins. A sizeable haul. Most of them came from the guy with the mage level scroll. There was some other stuff on them, most not important. They had 4 weak artefacts, which I overlooked earlier. One of them was a bracelet which helped with sneaking. I take that. Another was a defensive artefact, which needs some refuelling. This one helped the rich one survive. At least a bit longer that is. The other two are weak amplification equipment¡¯s. One for water and the other for light spells. The later seem rare, but none of the two is helpful for me, I can sell them to Nelton for some points. Having gone through the loot, I pick up the 2 glass bottles with the beetles inside. Both of them are hibernating, but still alive. I got told, that they can survive like this for 4-5 days, so the small delay because of the carriage should not pose a problem. ++++++++++++ The next day in the afternoon. Back in the Tower. I was standing in front of a counter in the arcane hall. ?what can I help you with?¡° the bored receptionist asked. ?I want to complete a mission, ¡°I said, and explained which one I took, I also showed the two bottles with the beetles inside. Seeing them, the receptionist got a bit more polite. ?Yes mister, The beetles will be going to mage Orlens hands. The rewards will be given after he verifies the beetles.¡° With that, I left the beetles with her and she noted the progress into my amulet. The thing I am the most sad about are the points in the amulets of the three bastards, unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have the power to not kill them, and milk them of their points. Back in my room, I put away my new belongings into the closet and then go back into meditation. No break for the wicked. Chapter 23: The mysterious amulet This mission was a hard one. Honestly, in retrospect, I was lucky, very lucky. Once, I survived an ambush and prevented the bug from fleeing. The later is the most difficult. This is also the reason why the mission had ben uncompleted thus far. The reason I took is, is that it fell into my area of expertise and the high reward. The first part of the reward points. I got enough of them for the foreseeable future. The second part is a potion, which helps by breaking through the second stage of the mage path. Honestly, without the group of people, who followed me going missing, The reward would not have been amped up. The third hidden benefit is a small relationship with the mage, who posted the mission. Back to my room, I stash away my rewards and take out the amulet I got from Leon. I have been anticipating what this could be for a long time. The connection felt different this time. It is not my first time bonding with artefacts. The defensive artefact from that rich guy also needed bonding, as to know who to defend. This bonding felt deeper and stronger. With the defensive artefact, I felt that if I leave it alone, my imprint might weaken and after some time disappear. The same would happen if the distance is too large. But this amulet felt like it truly belonged to me. Even if I put it into the moon. No one would be able to use it. Before destroying my imprint first, that is. The next surprise came from the type of equipment it is. It is a piece of storage equipment. I have heard of them, but at the apprentice level, they are exceedingly rare. The amount of room it provided was also unheard of. The room inside had the dimension of a 5x3x5 meter room, plenty enough for everything I possess and then enough food for a year. With this at least I have a save space to store some of the more dicey stuff, like the introductory box. Then I took out everything I possessed and put it into the storage. While doing so, I also found a bookshelf in one corner of the room. It was full of books, sadly all of them were written in Gorlen, thus I let them be. Looking closer, I found some thin booklets. 7 to be exact. They seem to be written similarly to the spell booklets in the library, with a mix of Artes and Gorlen. I take out these for translating purposes. With the Storage artefact, I also have a better way to move larger amounts of parchments in and out of the tower. With my breakthrough in soul, I can now inscribe magic scrolls a lot faster and precise than before. A very timely improvement. I need a good amount of magic scrolls soon, if I want to further my ?seeding the world¡® plan. The next week, I plan to busy myself with making scrolls and continuing to translate Gorlen. But not before going to the arcane hall. ++++++++++++++++ In a corner, I spot Nelton again. He seem to have a habit of standing around in a corner. Maybe it is a strategy of his? Being always available. I don¡¯t care either way. ?hello Nelton, do you have some time for me?¡°I ask him.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ?For you, of course, say do you sell those round things people saw you running around with? A bard twittered me that they are kind of useful¡° he said. He most likely knows that because of the forest incident. So it was already investigated, but they don''t have any evidence against me. I presume that he is only acting on a hunch. ?Ah those, I know the guy who is manufacturing those, I could maybe sell some, ¡°I said. But not before already thinking against countermeasures in case of any copycats. ?Yeah yeah sure, how many do you want for those?¡° he asked, clearly not believing my fake display. ?well, I have something I need a little bit of help, nothing dangerous, you could say that it is your speciality. ¡°I said. ?I am interested, what is it exactly?¡° he said back somewhat interested. ?I have two artefacts, which I need to sell, do you still know what I asked you last time? Sell them for either of these or golden apples. They taste really good¡°I sad. ?Yeah, sure they are great apples, very expensive ones to boot too. So what does have to do with your ball thingies?¡° h said. ?If you can help me in this case, then I can give you 3 balls of fire for your troubles¡°. I said to him. ?Alright, give me the stuff, and await good for news, ¡° he said. Then I hand over to him the stuff for selling. ?I need some time to contact the seller, the balls of fire should be there tomorrow¡° is said. After a short goodbye, I went back to my room. First I made a ?safety feature¡® in my grenades, in case someone is smart enough to try anything with them, it goes boom. +++++++++++ Next morning I filled my bag for appearance sake with some random stuff and left my room. First I gave the grenades to Nelton, then I went back to my room and activated a concealment scroll, thus leaving the building mostly undetected. After making sure, that I am not being followed, I went to the gang restaurant from last time. There I let the cook now that I was waiting for black mantis and went into the backroom to wait for them. It didn¡¯t take long, after 20 minutes black mantis and right-man arrived. ?Hello, boss, ¡° both of them said simulates. Ah I see, the seed worked better than intended. ?have you carried out what asked you to?¡°I said. ?Yeah, mostly, there was a little mishap and we had to dispose of one of the ringleaders. He was a spy from another gang. The seed is still there¡° he said ?keep it, if you have the opportunity, you can convert someone into the organization, choose wisely. If you do good, there is a reward.¡° I said. He was visibly excited. The grenades made him very happy and more inclined towards following me I hope. ?Alright, here I have 150 magic scrolls, ¡°I said. Both of their eyes went wide. I don¡¯t know, but to them it was incredible. It is possible to buy magic scrolls in the market, but buying a lot would arouse suspicion from the city authority¡¯s, who don¡¯t want these weapons in the hand of criminals. ?You are going to keep 50 and sell the rest to the black and white gang, not too fast¡°. ?But boss, our relationship might sour with them, ¡° he said hesitantly. ?Don¡¯t be afraid to speak up, as long as it is constructive, you can even get rewarded for it¡°I said. I don¡¯t need zombies, greedy opportunist, who I happen to have enslaved is the way to go. ?They will hate us to the guts, but they wont have a choice, unless they want to get wiped out. Even if they know that we are selling it to both sides, They will still buy it. If they refuse, they might very well get annihilated.¡° I said. Then I gave out 8 more soul seeds. ?With these, if the opportunity arises, put them into their higher-ups, be smart about it, it needs around a day for full integration, then they will be loyal to me and listen to you.¡° I said. Then saying a goodbye, I left the restaurants, not giving them any chance to flatter me. Back in the tower, I spent the last 7 days before my benefactor Ildrick donates another one or two spells to me with meditating, making magic scrolls and translating Gorlen. Sometimes I got out and refill the magic scroll stock of the black mantis. Chapter 24: new free spells and a new laboratory The last expedition was a disaster, it only went well because of luck. That was the main thing that hit me in the village, and also something I have change as quickly as possible. First I need something for detection, protection is already taken care of. The ring, which I dubbed ring of protection, Is fully charged able to stop an attract similar to an arcane bolt, against a grenade, it would struggle. I also need to make more varied gadgets. The grenade is powerful, but without ?soul shock¡® it would have been wasted and the wolf would be more alert, I would be in even more danger then. While I await Ildrick, I was brainstorming the different kind of gadgets I could make. Thanks to the mysterious amulet, I was able to stash a lot more on my person, than normally possible. I threw out many ideas, but most of them, I rejected immediately. Most of them failed because of my lack of knowledge. And my inability to forge stuff. I will be able to learn it, but unfortunately, the spell necessary is expensive. ?mould metal¡® is one of the useless for battle, but very useful for forging category, thus the prize is very expensive. I am still unable to afford it after all this while. Granted, I didn¡¯t do a whole lot of missions and the magic scroll one doesn¡¯t reward a lot of wisdom points. Putting the rejected ideas into the amulet for later research, I think about the rest. I only have a very limited amount of time, thus I can only focus on some of them. While thinking, someone is knocking on the door. Opening it, I am greeted with the smiling face of Ildrick. Today he looks even more sinister then last time. ?Good to see you Osric, I have here your two spells or the month. ¡° he then hands me two booklets and continues with his speech. ?The first one is ?minor heal¡®, you should have heard about the skirmisher with League of Shadow, thus this is important. The second is minor teleport. Your quota is 4 and 1 for the first and later respectively.¡° He said. I can see that he can barely hold back his laughter. With a hearty laugh and ?have fun¡° he leaves. Closing the door, I have a closer look at the spells. ?minor heal¡® is a life type spell, only useful for wounds and very weak toxins. I could have used this yesterday. I would say that the formulae is somewhat complicated. ?weak teleport¡® is a dimension type spell, as a scroll, it teleports the user for 10-20 meters, dependent on the user. As a spell, it is less restricting, but holy fucking mother Mary is the formula complicated. So that was his laughter about, I can understand him. Too, bad I should be able to make it, but it would cost me 3-4 days to memorize. Honestly, I can engrave it in my soul the same time with minor heal.Stolen novel; please report. Thank you Ildrick for your bountiful gift. I will be sure to reward you with something nice. Alright back to my new inventions. I have picked out 3. The first is a shock grenade. Simply stuff the bowls full with ?minor shock¡® scrolls and use the same mechanics than with the other grenade. I shall call this flashbang. The second is a hidden weapon. It is an underarm armour, which I modify to have slim stitches for darts. Then I imprint them with the soul shredder enchantment and coat it with some poison. For propulsion, I use a mix of a bastardised version of, wind blade¡®, a spell which came from the bookshelf in the amulet. The third is an art gun, it is shaped like a banana. Minor shock is engraved inside, with some clever tinkering on my part, I managed to make it like a laser gun. It can shot 3 times before it needs a recharge. The best thing about it is, that I doesn¡¯t need mana, I just need to point and most people wouldn¡¯t suspect something that looks like a banana as a powerful tool. Now back to making them. Number three was the easiest. The only difficulty was the direction, but I figured that out. For the armguard, I bought one from a blacksmith. It was made with the skin of a poison salamander, that means that it is highly resistant to toxins and fire. Next for the flashbangs, I needed somewhere else than my room to work. The laboratory in the tower were too expensive for this kind of job, thus I went into my first underling Luke¡¯s cellar. The first thing I did there was to separate the cellar into to places. First is the normal one, and the second and by far larger one, is going to be my laboratory. With the help of Luke and two lingreaders from black mantis, we began the work to conceal and hide the laboratory. The ring reader made the concealment, furniture and the rest, while I engraved sound dampening runes all around the cellar. Next, I made them do a second wooden layer, where I also engraved the same runes. While working, I asked them about the situation with black and white gang. ?How is the situation with the sales of the scrolls?¡°I asked ?Good, Godfather, somehow both of them figured out, that we are selling the scrolls to both of them, but they can¡¯t stop. As for them ganging upon us? Impossible.¡° Guy 1 said Guy 2 chipped in ?Both sides lost quite a lot, We got lucky and managed to convert 2 ringleaders from white and one from dark. Both of them are giving us informations. ¡° ?So when are they going to be ripe for taking?¡°I said. ?They both wounded each other heavily. That¡¯s the reason we could convert the three. They were so wounded, that no one thought anything about them in bed for a day.¡° Guy 1 said I asked my last question ? When are they going to be ripe for taking over?¡° ?In a week or two I think, but mantis should know better, ¡° said guy 2 With that, I left the cellar and let them continue disguising the place. Black at the tower again, I continued to knock myself out with ?minor teleportation¡® Chapter 25: Experiments and exidantel results Action time. Now two weeks later, my laboratory is up and running. Next to me is a criminal, who volunteered to my small experiments. Of course, some help was needed, but no one will miss this ex-ripper. I have to say, I was very lucky with our friend here. They had I skirmish with the guys from the artisan district. No idea what it was about, but that didn¡¯t deter me from taking one of their wounded. Now, I am about to give him some medicine. The reason for that is, that even though he is the best I can get my hand on. It is still not what I wanted. A mage apprentice would have been optimal. killing the very weak ones was not the problem. Capturing them and getting away with is. All of the apprentices, who come to Osmor are people, who are somewhat competent. I don¡¯t think, that I can silently abduct them. The apprentices from my tower is also a no-go. If I start abducting them, someone would notice. How I now that? Easy. The mortality rate of an apprentice is surprisingly high. Close to 60 per cent of the people who were in my batch are now dead. Some got killed during a mission, some got the unfortunate fate of becoming an experimental ?assistant¡® for a Mage when there wasn¡¯t enough prisoners. And the others got killed by the enemy faction. The cocky ones are mostly gone. I am mostly in my room, and even when I go out, I always rip a scroll of concealment. In front of Mage that scroll is nothing, but in the number of people who come in and out of the tower daily, it is unnoticeable. I just have to be careful not to bump into anyone. So now, my goal with Subject#002, that is the guy in front of my, is to artificially awaken his blood, the same thing what happens to every apprentice the first time they correctly use their meditation method. My approach is one on the way of blood tonics. Through black mantis, by the way, I have to name my new organization, I managed to obtain a lot of magical ingredients, which are normally only exchangeable through contribution points. I have to say, smuggling is a very lucrative business. The gangsters are also behaving themselves. In fear of them doing something stupid, I have to conquer dark and white gang, as to unite the western side of the city. If that is done, they will have more then enough on their hands to do anything that they shouldn¡¯t. Back to my experiment. I made four experimental solutions for the goal of awakening the magic in his blood. The first is simply made from herbs with a very strong magic potency, but not a specific affinity. It is like pure mana solution. This was one of the harder one to make. I had to distil the solution to make it more effective, but at the same time, I had to trap in the mana. The second is the same, but with water type mana. I choose water, because it has the least volatile properties. Injecting someone with raw mana like arcane or fire would result in a spectacular firework. Something interesting, but with a very limited amount of test subject, I rather not waste them like this for shit and giggles. Maybe later.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! For the third, I used a plant, which has some weak blood property mixed with some gentle mana herds. I have the highest hope for this one. And the last is something I am not very proud of. I got bored a bit and mixed some of the leftover herbs. Luckily I documented everything, so in case of success, I can make another dose. Though it might not very useful for this particular experiment, I have a hunch, that I created something useful by accident. The order I inject him is the same I just mentioned. First the pure mana one, if it doesn¡¯t work, it will just dissipate because of the lack of suitable vessel. The second is similar. The third not so, but if that fails, I will inject the last just to see what would happen. ?good morning sunshine¡°I said while removing the gag. ?Who the fuck are you, why the fuck am I here?¡° he shouted. Too bad for him, I have inscribed enough sound dampening runes, that even an elephant rampaging wouldn¡¯t be noticed b the patrons if Luke. ?alright sunshine, here comes injection one¡°. I said and injected him with the first solution. At first not much happened. Than his pores began to bleed. No idea how that works but that happens. So a failure, alright next. I waited for two hours. A half for the mana to dissipate from his blood and one and a half for him to somewhat recover. Then I injected him with the second one. Honestly, this went a lot better. His body seems to be able to take the water type mana a lot better than pure mana. This might be because the human body is mostly made up of water. He seems to be in pain, but not as much as with the first injection. This time he only sweats a lot, but nothing else happens except that. To be honest, I expected something gorier, but lucky for the cleaners, that is what I call the ringleader, who had been ordered to clean my lab, nothing too explosive happened. Next, I give him the third. Not a whole lot happens this time. After 20 minutes of nothing happening, I inject him with the last solution. After 2-3 minutes, I can see a difference. His skin gets a light blood-red tune and he begins to paint heavily. The next thing is something that I didn¡¯t expect. He breaks the ropes he was tied with and lunged at me. ?Damn, I should have thought about something like this¡°I roar in my mind while trying to dodge and utterly failing. He catapults me through the cellar and I land on one of the bookshelves. They were luckily empty, I didn¡¯t have time yet to fill them. After getting over my dizziness, I see him lunging at me again. He seems to still have his mind. It just made him more aggressive and a lot stronger. Prepared this time, I cast ?soul shock¡®. And immediately after that ?minor shock¡®. He is twitching on the ground because of that. Getting a better idea, I distance myself from him, and use ?soul shock¡® to confuse him during the duration of the potion. After 3 more minutes of rampaging, he slumps to the now very disorganized floor of my lab. I am not happy that the lab is in shambles, but well, it¡¯s not like I have to clean up. Binding him again, I check his blood. Still nothing. ?Honestly, not what I wanted to do, but I can work with this, ¡°I say to myself, as I order more of the herbs for the third and fourth potion. Chapter 26: A suprise from Nelton But before I can figure out how to make that berserk potion, I need someone to clean up. Going out of the hidden cellar I search for Luke. Finding him in the kitchen, I wink to him and he follows me outside. ?Inform the cleaner to clean up the laboratory and to feed the test subject, ¡°I said before leaving to meet black mantis. Right as I leave the door, I can see him shudder a bit. Ah, it looks like it dawned on him what i meant with test subject and the cleaning. Buddy, you are already part of the organization, you can¡¯t back out now. True not like you had any chance in the first place. Arriving in one of the strongholds of black mantis, I wait for the guy to arrive. Instead, to begin my normal meditation, I sort through my thoughts and make a plan for the next two or three weeks. I already have heard that in a month, most of the apprentices are forced to go into an expedition. Nice words for basically a war. So before that, I have to finish my business here and bring the whole thing into the right order. The equipment I wanted to make are finished. Only the armguards needs some more time. My experiments are also on their way, I don¡¯t think I can figure out how to make a normal guy¡¯s blood into magic conductive blood, so I will just shift my focus for the short term to that berserk potion. Having that would be undoubtedly useful and lucrative. The next thing on my plan is taking over the west side of the city. I am waiting for black mantis to arrive to give a report, but I don¡¯t think that it will be too difficult. Disrupting my thoughts, black mantis walks in. ?Boss what do you need?¡° he asked. He already got used to my style. He reports, I give commands and all is good. ?Report about the white and black gang, how is it going?¡°I asked. Right man answered ?we converted half of the ringleaders from the white gang and one of the confidants of white man and two-fifths of the ringleaders from black gang. We didn¡¯t get the chance to convert any of the confidants, unfortunately.¡° I am asking myself why I even have black mantis around. It is not like he is very useful, his assistant is doing all of his work. Maybe after conquering the two gangs, I might reconsider their positions. But first I need the whole west district, than mantis wouldn¡¯t have too much sway in the organization.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ?Continue with what you are doing in a week, we are going to take over them. ¡° I said and leave the stronghold. I visit the gangster restaurant for lunch, then I go back into the tower. Halfway to the dorms. Nelton appears. ?Huf, huf. Buddy stop for a second¡° he said out of breath, it looks like he had to run after me. Not an athlete it seems. ?Why the hell do you walk that fast ¡° he nags. ?Why the hell do you run that slow?¡°I ask back. ?Haha, I just needed to talk to you about something.¡° He said rapidly, before I can say anything to decline him he continues. ?¡°We want some more of the ball of fires, ¡° he said. Ball of fires? Oh he is speaking about the grenades, speaking of which I did give him some the last time. ?So that means you sold the stuff?¡°I ask him ?Yeah, I did. I don¡¯t know what you need that much golden apples for, but I did get them and the grass is also here¡° he said. I lead him to my room and he surprisingly took out 23 golden apples and the grass out of thin air. Ah I storage artefact. He really can back up his claim of being an information broker. ?Here is your stuff, but I want to buy more of these balls, how much do you sell them for?¡° he said. I contemplated a bit. I don¡¯t need contribution points right now and he won¡¯t pay enough wisdom points to be worth it. ?Alright, I can give you 5 for the information about the expedition. If you can give detail about the ruin we are going to explore and why then you get another 5. As for more, surprise me¡°I said smirking I can see that Nelton is already getting a headache because of my attitude. ?The information about the expedition and the ruins I can give you for 20 balls. And for more, I will have a look in my collection¡° he haggled ?12, ¡°I said, then he answered with his own opinion about the appropriate amount of balls for his information. At the end, I accepted the offer for 15 grenades and he left my room. The next week is going to be busy. First I need to make a lot of grenades and enough soul seeds for the two gangs. Alright, no time like now. +++++++++++++++ A week later. Puh, this was hard. Making all of the grenades and then some and the seeds. Next to making scrolls was serious hard work. I didn¡¯t even get to continue working on the berserk potion. The next good news was that Nelton did indeed surprise me this time. The thing he took out was precious. It is called Ring of the serene mind. It helps with keeping your head cool. That what he knows about it. The reason I choose this is the hidden function he has no idea about. In comparison to other artefact and potions he had, this one was the best for me. Calming the mind can be only described as a side effect of the ring. It boosts soul manipulation a bit and also helps to easier concentrate while doing so, the effect of a calm mind is only a side effect of this, for now, soul mages. Chapter 27: The week was pretty productive. I made enough soul seeds for everyone and I finally received the fruits of my second project. After 2 hours of assembly and some slight modification, I can proclaim myself as the proud owner of it. I also prepared enough bolts and poison to coat it with. Now I am standing in my laboratory in Luke¡¯s. For the sake of making it easier, I shall name this lab#01. Right now, I am experimenting with the berserker potion. My two main goals are to recreate the effect, then isolate the components and experiment a bit with different supplements to make the potion as efficient as possible, while costing less. My two new friends in front of me are called Subject#003 and Subject#004. I abducted them while they were having a fistfight with each other. The first comes from the white gang and the latter comes from dark gang. Funny how fate, or me, brought them together. Bound side by side on the floor. Now my two new friends are the replacement for Subject#002, who deceased of natural causes. If you call being experimented on and then dying of cancer because of it. It was rather spectacular for scientist, but outwardly, he didn¡¯t change that much. Now where was I? yeah, He helped me recreating the effect. As it turns out. The third potion with the weak blood type mana residues from the experiment didn¡¯t do nothing as I imagined. Instead, they waited. When I introduced the last injection, somehow the blood energy bound it to their blood. And this blood had been rapidly infused into their muscles. That was the reason, why he became strong enough to rip open the rope and overwhelm me with his speed. A lesson I learned was to take some precaution in case something similar happens. Thus, I changed the place where I put him under the tests. I bound him to the side of a metal cage. He was inside this man-sized cage of course. When I successfully recreated the furry effect, he broke free again, but in the cage, he couldn¡¯t break out of it in the short run. Before he could do anything to it, I activated the switch on the side. That switch was connected to a very simple artefact I created. It simply releases electricity. With this, I also qualified to make simple artefacts. The thing is done until now were one-time-use inscription. The soul shredder I made was so crude that it could barely be counted as an artefact. After a lot of reading and experimenting, I qualified myself as a beginner artificer. Of course, no one now¡¯s about this and I would like to keep it that way. Back to my concoctions. I Mix again different ratios and combinations to find out the best and cheapest mixture of it. While doing so, I am still thinking about the gang fight happening all over the city. With my involvement, it escalated pretty quick.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Night, in an unknown warehouse at the outskirt of the western district. A group of people are meeting. And planning something. The man, who seems to be the leader of the group said. ?did all of you understood what I said?¡° A goon asked ?Boss, is it really necessary? We had been neutral al this while, do we need to involve ourselves?¡° The man answered ?Most of you might not now, but the boss said that it doesn¡¯t matter anymore. Boss and Lavender have become followers of a powerful mage. Today¡¯s operation is Lorenz. One of the confidence of the dark man. We have a powerful artefact to make him loyal to us. We have to get him and convert him.¡° ?But how?, he has more people then we do?¡° another goon asked sceptically. ?With these babies, ¡° the leader said and pointed towards some round object, the size of an adults fist. ?With these, we can knock them out¡° he pointed to the left one. ? This explodes and the others¡° he points to the rest ?can incapacitate the enemy henchman, so get your ass rolling¡° Then the leader grabbed the balls and left the warehouse. Followed by the still somewhat sceptical followers. The group was walking in the dead of the night towards one of the strongholds of white gang. They got the information that that Confident, they were looking for was there for today. The security is less serious then it would be usual, because of the war with the other gang. After 4 minutes the group arrived close to the hangout. It was a two-story building. Nothing is standing out about it. But if one were to look closer they could hear voices of men from the inside. A lot more men than there should be in a family house. Also candles still illuminated the place in the dead of the night. Creeping their way towards the house, the group made sure not to make any noise. In front of a window, one of the sneaks a peek inside. He whispered. ?there are 7 people, playing cars. One of them is guarding the door of the stairwell¡° ?Alright people, we begin, after I throw in the ball, duck when you hear an explosion rush inside and overwhelm whoever isn¡¯t dead or heavily injured.¡° The leader said and took out one of the balls. This ball was of the explosive kind. Arming it, he smashed the window and threw it inside. The gangsters inside were very surprised but also confused. A tall and muscular man reaches out his hand to pick it up. Thinking that someone wanted to vandalize the house. Then it blew up. The group rushed in and beat the man in front of the staircase. Then the leader rushed up and threw a flashbang into every room. Before anyone can get up and chase something. After the explosion, they checked the room. Surprisingly, not only did they find the confidant, but also a ringleader. ?Alright take a look.¡° Then he took out a soul shredder and wounded boot men. Both of them winced in pain. Then he took out two soul seeds and pressed them on their foreheads. When that was finished, they left ?Why aren¡¯t we looting anything?¡° one asked dissatisfied. ?Do you want the boss to hear it? So that they don¡¯t suspect anything¡° someone else answered. Both of them then left the building, before anyone came and had a look at the commotion and made their way back to their HQ. Chapter 28: berserk potion ?Team three came back, it was a success, team five failed, unfortunately, but they managed to at least get some out alive¡° Right-man is reporting to black mantis. ?Yeah, that crazy Godfather of ours, what is he planning?¡° mantis asks. ?I don¡¯t know brother, I don¡¯t know. But do we have a choice?¡° Right man casually asks. ?You are right. But it could be worse. You know when we began this whole thing? We wanted nothing more than stability. It¡¯s an irony that we found it as leaders of a gang¡° Mantis said. Unbeknownst to everyone, mantis and right-man are brothers, they rarely talk about it, but they still hold together. Their story is a simple one. They had been born into the slum area of the western district. To be specific, the only slums in the city. Life there was hard. People getting kidnapped happen often. A lot of them by mage or mage apprentices, who needed a ?helper¡®. Remisciding about their you mantis said ?we didn¡¯t have a choice back then, didn¡¯t we. We had to be born in that blasted slum area. Either that or getting killed in various very unpleasant ways. That¡¯s why we joined one in the first place¡° Then with more seriousness, he said ?what do you think about our new Godfather? Calling him that is weird. He looks barely 13 or 14.¡° ?I don¡¯t think that it is so bad. He is smart for his age and at least has some prospects. He might have no idea how to lead a force and I don¡¯t think he realises how important that is, but he has the volunteering followers, as he calls them to do his stuff. Maybe this whole organization is simply a side project of his. I don¡¯t know how much he even cares about us ¡° right-man said. ?That¡¯s true, but for is, it is a life or death thing. Doing our best is the only thing we can.¡° Mantis said ?Alright back to the operation. We will be ready to take over their businesses and stuff in 4-5 days. I hope that Godfather is ready by then¡° mantis said. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I am very happy right now. Why? Because I optimized the berserk potion. It took me two days and the sacrifice of subject#003 and 004, but it is finished. The potion itself has a reddish-blue colour and a vial costs 2 silver. An acceptable prize in my opinion. Compared to other potions. This one is a bit more expensive than most. But the ingredients are a lot more common. Thus I can mass-produce it. Or simply do what I just di now. Take a big pot, put on my best witch impression and cook one huge portion and then seal them in 1-litre flasks.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. They will be very useful later. Back to my laboratory, I put away the leftovers into an amulet with 6 litres of the concoction. The rest will be used in the assault in a day or two. The henchman outside, I ordered them to always have a guy ready in case I need someone, responded immediately after I called for him. ?Call mantis and right-man over, and get a lot of sealable vials, ¡°I said. He then left as fast as if his life was on the line. I mean, maybe the sounds he could hear had intimidated him. Can¡¯t fault him, The cries were sometimes pretty horrific. In the meantime, I go over the spells, I newly engraved into my souls. One came from the parchments and one from the bookshelf in the amulet. The first is ?lighting bolt¡®. It is a lightning type spell just like ?minor shock¡®, the difference is that this one''s formula is very complicated and the spell is a lot stronger with a range from 10 to 15 meters. An absolute upgrade in comparison. The second is kind of a strange spell. ?Soul takeover¡®, as the name implies, is a soul type spell. The main focus is to invade the mind of another person. Not necessary a combat spell. Then here it gets interesting. What you can do is pretty open end with this spell. It depends a lot about your personnel affinity and ability to mess with souls. For example, you can erase the memory of the last hour is easy, but selectively erasing a person is something nearly impossible to achieve. This honestly is a spell, which is important for me. With it, I can feel out the connections between the soul and body in people before I reach that stage in the soul path. After that, I meditated a bit. 12 Minutes later, the two-person came into the cellar. Strangely, both of them seemed a lot more motivated than before. They always seemed to be reluctant but now, they are eager to do stuff. Did they hit their brain? No die, but not my problem. ?Good day to you. I need you to take the vials you hopefully brought with you and fill it with the content of the big pot. We are going to need them for our final assault. They are called berserker potion. I mouthful is enough to make a man a lot stronger. More than that and let¡¯s say that it can get explosive¡°I said. Bot of them had first a bland look and then a horrified one. Yeah, intimidating people is always fun. Then, while both of them were still blanked out, I left the chamber. Having finished my short term goals. I invite myself to lunch in a very expensive location. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ?Good day, how can I help you, ¡° the receptionist asks. ?I have a reservation under Osric Thale, ¡°I said politely. ?Yes, Mr Thale please follow me¡° The receptionist guided me towards one of the tables. Then I received a menu from a waiter. Ah, I enjoy the atmosphere. Maybe I should take over this restaurant next? I ordered while thinking about enslaving all of them with a smile. After eating and having a nice evening in general I go back to my room in the tower. ?Gotta reward myself sometimes right?¡°I say to myself before going to bed. Chapter 29: the expedition In my room, I review the information Nelton gave me about the expedition. He sure knows a lot about the situation, The exchange had been worth it. The target of the expedition is an old ruin 70 something kilometres from the city, it is situated between the borders of the league of shadows and order of the black shadow. It is told to us, that it is an exploration mission, but in truth, it is the beginning of the war between the two organizations. The ruin itself is very old. Of course it had already been wiped out of anything worth something by mages. The amount of valuables apprentices can get out is very limited. Of course, that isn¡¯t told to most people. The history of the ruins is unknown even to the order. It is only known that it was an ancient order of assassins and dishonest people. At least that¡¯s what they say. I don¡¯t think that this description is that much different than the order I am part of. So continuing. The ruins had been concealed in a valley between the dragon back mountains. A natural border between the two organizations. It had been used in the past for the same purposes. It had been only discovered in the last 300 years. Not a long time, if you take the lifespan of most official mages. The freshly broken through mages have a lifespan of 100 to 300 years. It depends a whole lot when they broke through. It had been told to us that the boost of longevity depends a lot on your age. For example the boost of lifespan for someone who had been at their sixties, who have around 20-30 years at most left with their strengthened body as a mage would have an additional lifespan of 60 to 90 years. In comparison, someone who broke through in their twenties and have a theoretical lifespan of 100 would have an increase of 240 years. That means a total lifespan of 340 years. But that depends mainly on their affinity. Someone with a very weak affinity has a very low chance of becoming a third stage apprentice, not to say about becoming a mage. Persons with a very strong affinity like me have an easier time to reach the peak of the third stage, but that doesn¡¯t make the breakthrough easier. Only the way is faster. That¡¯s why highly talented people are valued, but not like I had expected at the beginning. The increase of lifespan is more a multiplicator than a fixed amount of 200 or 300 years. It is kind of logical if you think about it. Back to the exploration. The entrance to the ruins is a small entrance in a valley on both sides of the mountain. That also means that the two parties can¡¯t simply send in a huge amount of slaves to tire out the other side. It is more a skirmish with groups from 3 to 5 people, with the occasional lone wolf among them. Nelton also found out about some of the traps in the place. Most likely from earlier participants. Most of the traps are some kind of magically made traps. The triggers are either a big enough life from or heat. Nasty things can come out if I don¡¯t watch out. Some are coated in poison. These are not the most dangerous one, most of the poison lost it¡¯s potency in the millennia after it had been abandoned. The next most dangerous are the ones with inscribed pointy weapons. The effects have been described like my victims would after using soul shredder.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ?Now, with this, it got a lot more interesting. Maybe I can get out something that the others overlooked¡°I said to myself. The rest of the traps were mostly elemental ones. Stuff you would expect in a world of magic. Flame and earth traps. Very harmless sounding. But no one would say so after seeing someone getting ripped or barbequed by those traps. Skimming through the rest of the information, I find a map and some explanation about the dangerous areas. Some sound promising like the hall of echos. It reads like a huge trap for people, who don¡¯t cultivate the soil. But the rest is not important right now. The expedition is said to take off in two weeks. Particular wording right there. I might be in for a surprise. +++++++++++ At last, after months, I translated the next section of the introductory book. It talks a bit more about the order. ?The Order is a hidden organization, spanning multiple continents. We are being welcomed and shunned at the same time. Our bad name comes from our enemies and botched up assassination attempt. Make sure that if you get captured in a mission, to immediately commit suicide, or your end will not be pleasant. ¡® That just stinks of propaganda, the members shouldn¡¯t be this gullible right? ?As an official member of the order, you have the right to know about a part of the secret signs and language. The strongholds are marked with our special soul mark. It looks like a lightning in a circle for strongholds. The same as the Faust of Thunder uses. It is a kind of cover for the hidden strongholds. It had been an effective concealment for millennia. No one wants to offend those madmen. You mentor should have warned and informed about the standard layout of a stronghold. Most are made very similarly, but some are different. There are two more kinds. They are similar in layout with the standard one, but they are built on special places of interest. The first kind functions as a body strengthening facility. The remarkable thing about them is the high concentration of shadow type mana, which helps to cultivate the spell technique ?shadow movement¡®, a special spell, which integrates some parts from some ancient techniques. If you find a hidden room overfilled with traps of the soul kind, then you found one of those. The second type is ¡­¡® This part is made for some reason unreadable, maybe the apprentice was not careful enough? Whatever. The rest of this section is mostly more propaganda and painting themselves as seekers of knowledge and the rest as evil oppressors. As if I believe in that. Chapter 30 Putting down the book, I think about the last part. The book said something about spell technique and ancient techniques. These two things haven¡¯t been mentioned I any of the books I have read until now, granted, those books were at the level of an apprentice, but the spell technique in the book is learnable by apprentices. The spell technique has the ability to grow with the user to some point. I don¡¯t know the extent of it. Some ancient techniques had been mentioned, but not much was written inside. What made me very excited is the description of the training hall. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I don¡¯t have a mentor to tell me the layout of the stronghold, so exploring is going to be necessary. The last part of the translated book mentions something about the strange cube that was inside the box. Speaking of which, I kind of ignored it. ?The training cube is used by mentors to encourage their pupils and at the same time train them. With the help of the cube, the apprentice can fine-tune their soup manipulation ability. This cube especially targets the multitasking of multiple strands of soul energy. To complete the training device, it simply has to be opened. A feat not easily achieved by apprentices.¡® I get the cube out of the amulet and hold it in my hands. The cube I pith black, with a metallic feeling, also it seems to absorb the light around it. I don¡¯t know whether the material is the fault or an enchantment. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Back in the compound of the black mantis gang. In the badly lit square, three ringleaders and all of the confidantes of black mantis are talking to each other. ?Does any of you know something about our new boss? ¡° someone asked. ?We only know that he likes to experiment on people, is very powerful and only meets with the boss and his secretary.¡° Someone else answers. ?I mean, we don¡¯t have a choice now, but do you think that following him is smart? I mean, he didn¡¯t care that much about this whole thing¡° one of the confidants said. ?I don¡¯t think we should talk about stuff like that. For me, as long as I get food and don¡¯t have to get killed, I am happy.¡° One of the shorter ringleaders said. The building next to them has some silhouettes at the window. The building is used for the members of the gang, who needs a place to stay, some are permanently living there.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. On the other side of the window black mantis and Right-man are having a similar conversation. ?Do you feel confident in our chances? I mean, we have powerful weapons, but that doesn¡¯t mean everyone is going to be fine, some will die.¡° Mantis said ?That is unavoidable. Remember our last talk? The only thing we can do is minimize the losses¡° Right-man reminded him. Both of them stood at the window and watched the men under them argue about their new employer. Both of them feeling somewhat responsible for their men. Some even became their friends and family in the long time they were together. Most people don¡¯t care for the gangs, but the members are more often than not evil, they were just desperate. Some lost their parents at a young age, some were orphans and some have other bad luck. They just try to live. The members of the black mantis are mostly normal people. Black mantis made sure that no really bad people could join in. In case someone like that sneaked in and do some unforgivable crime, he would deal with it himself. ?Is everything already prepared for tomorrow?¡° Back mantis asked. ?Yes boss, everything is ready, the ringleader have been informed. I hope that we see all of our brothers survive.¡° Right-man sighed. With that, both of them went back into their building to go over the plain, again and again, to make sure nothing goes wrong. Alas, no plan can be perfect. ++++++++++++++++ ?Is this supposed to be this hard?¡°I said to myself. The object of my frustration is the black cube in my hands. Sitting on my bed, I try since the morning to progress with it, but with hardly any results. The only result is the ability to split his soul tendrils into two and somewhat control them both at the same time. I throw the cube into the corner and slump into my bed. This is the first time, where I tried and got not enough results. Feeling like a kid throwing a tantrum, what he is doing, I sit back up go for the cube and resume my training. It¡¯s not like nothing is happening, only slowly. Exhausted after an hour of training, I go back to my desk, relax a bit and then continue my other daily routines. Over time inscribing magic scrolls became some kind of relaxing exercise to me. Every time I got frustrated because something didn¡¯t go like I wanted it, I sit down and inscribe some scrolls. If I can say so myself, a very lucrative way of relaxing. After finishing my daily duties, I grab the stack of parchments and leave my room. The walkway is as deserted as ever. Making my way to the arcane hall, I notice other people. Most the majority looks motivated. Poor boys, they don¡¯t know what they are going to get into. Moving into the other waiting apprentices in front of the mission counter I wait. When my time came I greet the receptionist. ?Good morning, what can I help you with?¡° she said. I have to say, they have always a smile on their faces, that¡¯s modern marketing right here. ?I would like to stop the magic scroll mission, here are the scrolls for the month, ¡° I said. Then handed over the stack of parchments. She took it with wide eyes. I mean, it is not like someone finish a monthly mission like mine, after only two weeks. Still a bit absent-minded, she notes it into my amulet. I made sure that she signed it. ?Have a nice day, ¡° I told her, and left the arcane hall. Chapter 31: Isaac and Allistar FREEDOM. That was my thought in my room. The magic scroll inscription got pretty tedious with ?weak teleport¡®. I understand that I am just nagging, I did get an lt of benefits after all, but I still hate Ildrick for trying to set me up. No more of that. I can imagine him fuming in his room. I still resent him for gaining benefits because of my work. I talked with some of the other participants in the scroll mission, and I was told about their quotas, especially the beginners, was half of mine. At least he couldn¡¯t cheat me out of my money. Outside is still as deserted as ever, leaving the room, I had towards Nelton. I need to have a little talk with him. I am interested in working together with him. Isaac never stopped to bother me. His entry had been not very successful thus far, but I wouldn¡¯t discount him playing petty tricks on the expedition. Seeing me, Nelton makes his way over from his favourite corner. ?Hello, how nice to see you. If you hadn¡¯t come I would have looked for you myself.¡° Nelton said with enthusiasm. ?Yes nice to see you too, so what do you need?¡° I said to find doubt what he wants before making my requests. If he brings up something similar, I can request something instead of paying him. ?So, you know that we need to go to the exploration?¡° he said. Strange, did he get retarded I the short while I haven¡¯t seen him? ?Yes, what of it. Literally the whole tower knows. Even if I am cooped up in my room the whole time, I still caught wind of fit. Remember the intel you sold me?¡°I said lightly irritated. He is wasting my time. Laughing a bit embarrassed he continues. ?Yes, of course, just to make sure you don¡¯t forget, ¡° he said, trying to hush over his embarrassment ?Anyway, are you interested in some of the table deals?¡° he whispered to me. Now that is interesting He continued ?Allister the other apprentice leader wanted to deal with Isaac for a long while. He hates his guts. According to rumours, Allister and Isaac once teamed up to explore a ruin and they surprisingly found something. I don¡¯t know what, but since then they became pseudo-mages and had been bitter enemy¡¯s. Before that, they were friends.¡° I listen attentively.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ?in this exploration, he wishes to deal a major blow and if possible, wipe out the forces of Isaac. Weakening him in the guise of the war.¡° He said. ?Won¡¯t that be dangerous? I mean we are at war there.¡° I said unconvinced. ?That¡¯s the point. If they die, he has to chalk it up to their misfortune. You rarely get an opportunity like this.¡° He said. ?And what exactly is my involvement in the plan? You know, I am just a 13 years old boy, who only joined the tower 3 months or so ago.¡° I say, acting like an innocent boy. ?Oh, don¡¯t give me that crap, I know even better than most what you are capable of. Have you forgotten that I deal in information? I have noticed the strange movements of black mantis and the acquisition of a load of scrolls from white and black gang. They come most likely from you. Don¡¯t deny it, I have my resources.¡° He said Now I contemplate a bit. Having Nelton on my side would undoubtedly do something good for me. I don¡¯t want other people knowing about my small side projects. ?Also, I have heard, that Isaac is somehow connected to the Rippers, dealing with him means dealing with the gang¡° he continued to entice me. Now I am interested, but let¡¯s wait a little longer, maybe he throws out some more juicy stuff. ?uhum¡°I said. ?What uhum? Ohhh, so that¡¯s how it is well, you are worth it. If you help us in the ruins, we can give you that soul stone you have been searching for.¡° He said Now that, I can¡¯t decline that stone is really useful in the right, that means my, hands. ?Alright, what do you need?¡°I finally accepted and asked him about the whole thing. ?It isn¡®t hard, you can do it while exploring. Simply kill the persons on this list and bring me their amulets, if you get enough, we can even throw in something extra.¡° He said. ?Alright. Give me the list.¡° He handed the list over. We then went our merry ways. I was way towards one of the more important side projects of mine. ++++++++++++++++ ?Hello people, how are the preparations going?¡°I asked when I stormed into the hideout used as the centre of this operation. It was close to both gang, thus more practical than the gang HQ. ?Godfather, everything is more or less ready¡° Right-man said. ?When should we begin the operation?¡° He said again. I think a bit about it. Night would have been my choice before coming to this world, but now, I think that very early at 3-4 am would be the best time. ?We start two hours after midnight, ¡°I said. The two looked a bit strange, maybe they were used to my nightly operations. Whatever. I am the boss, no need to explain anything to my underlings. Speaking about them, I still feel it a bit strange to have the responsibility of underlings. Yes, I do like it doesn¡¯t bother me whether they live or die, but that comes over because I am not good with social interaction. If me cooping up in my room and rarely talking with anyone wasn¡¯t any indication, now you have proof. Because of some values from the earth, I still feel some responsibility for them, I just hope that not too many die. Feeling responsible about them would make me less efficient. Now back to the operation, I used my time with some sleeping and meditation Chapter 32: The assault Today, the black mantis gang and I will attack the 4 most important strongholds of white and dark gang. I decided to attack their HQ''s and 2 to three important strongholds. The main objective is to get their leaders. At this point, I don¡¯t care whether the leader survives or not. The hostility between the two of them should be the strongest, The important thing is getting their advisors and the ringleaders. Without the boss, they are the most important persons. Luckily, mantis and gang managed to convert over half of the ringleaders. They will help with the reinforcement. Most of them are positioned at more unimportant places. If the leaders ask for help, they then can deal with messengers. Even if the henchmen get suspicions, before they dare to act, we should have this whole situation sealed. ?Everyone ready?¡° I ask the crowd in front of me. This is the first time speaking to them and I still feel somewhat unconformable with this, but I have to learn this. ??YES¡°¡° came from the somewhat motivated crowd from below. I made sure that everyone disperses correctly. The typical team for the minor stronghold consists of two ringleaders armed with four grenades and two flashbang. They have 8 to fifteen henchmen with them. Of course, I had made for all of them a weak soul shredder, not the good stuff but still useful for their purpose, and some soul seeds. I might have given them more than necessary, but it is better safe than sorry. Them deserting and stealing my stuff never crossed my mind. The ?enslavement¡® spell surprises me to this day with its effectiveness. With most of the teams go, I make my way over to the team against the HQ of the black gang. Black gang managed to resist the conversion a lot better than the white gang, so we couldn¡¯t effectively disperse their strength through our moles. So in case something goes wrong, I went with them. Moving out in the dead of the night, I followed behind the second biggest team. They moved as stealthily as possible with an entourage of 40 people possible. Because of the tense situation, we cached some scout teams from the gang. Hopefully we didn¡¯t oversee anything. ?nearly there¡° whispered one of the scouts from the front. Hearing him, I go over the plan again in my head. Our goal is to take over, so if not necessary, I commanded them to use flashbangs in order to knock some out. The grenades are for distraction. Moving into the compound, the team slowed down. A person already awaited us is on the corners. He was one of the converted advisor.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ?These two buildings house the most goons, ¡° he said and pointed to two of the buildings on the left and right of the compound. I have to say that the place looks like a garbage company. Most likely one of their covers. The compound consists of five buildings and a big yard in the front. Two each side. On the left was a two-story living building and a stall for the horses and carriages, on the right, was a concealed warehouse, It looked like a waste dump, but I am sure that there is more to it. In front is a four-story building, I suppose the home of the gang leader and other necessary faculty¡¯s. He then continued ?The boss is still sleeping on the highest floor of the central building¡° he then pointed to the four-story building. ?Watch out for the night watch. They are not very strict, but even idiot would notice forty people¡° he warned us, then went back to the compound. We followed with some distance between us. First I send forward two pickpockets, they then sneaked forward and took out the two persons watching the door. It was easy, they were talking to the advisor. ?Alright boys let the show begin, ¡°I said and ordered them to throw inside the two dormitories the flash-bangs. In the meantime, I black mantis and some of the better fighters stormed into the main building. Breaking the door, we arrived at the first floor, This are is like a community room with poker tables and the like. Nothing notable, we continued towards the stairs. Occasionally, we saw some people running around in panic. Those we knocked out. The second floor was a mix of storage space, meeting room and some offices. No idea why they need it but meh. Continuing our assault we arrived at the third floor. This was a dormitory. It seems that the leader likes to keep his best fighter close to himself. ?Attack them, don¡¯t let them get to the boss, ¡° One said. ?Fuck them up, how dare they attack us?¡° another said. Most were in some kind of nightgowns, others rushed out in their tidy whities. What none of them forgot were weapons. The stood there with an abortion of swords axes and bats. My team engaged them, while I continued. Knocking out any resistance with some of my spells. Cautiously, I made my way up the stairs. Unsure about any traps, I took one of the lankier attackers, and throw them against the door. It surprisingly opened. Then the person was engulfed in flames. ?A flame trap, how careful¡°I tell to myself. White man answers. ?Well as it turns out, one can never be too careful¡° Then I walk into the now trap free room. It was astonishing. The room was like entering the office of a Nobel. Not that I ever was in one, but I would imagine it like this. A lot of loot for me I guess. The next surprise came in the form of a fireball. I curse myself and activate my defensive artefact. No time to use a spell. The next thing I do is deactivating it and casting ?weak Soulshield¡®. Then reassessing the man. He is 1.75 metres tall, very average. Dark hair and grey eyes. Nothing that would alarm me. The only thing is that he is a mage apprentice. From the strength of the spell, I would say that h got lucky to get his hands on a meditation technique but had mediocre talent. He was middle-aged, but still at that level. Having no more time to think, I dodged his next fireball and responded in kind with my own. Having bought myself some time, I cast ?lighting bolt, hitting him on the chest. He is paralysed. Having no time to lose, I whip out the improved soul shredder and ram it into his sides.¡® The effect were imminent. Chapter 33: The aftermath Outside the window, I am watching as the chaos is slowly residing. My men had won, but there were some casualties. My heart ached a little. But I don¡¯t know whether it was compassion about seeing someone I know murdered or my possessives. Lately, I found out that I became very possessive. It seems that I dislike losing something that is mine. Back in the room, I watch the leader of the white gang screaming in agony. The integration with an apprentice is a lot more painful with their stronger soul. Here and there I had to help out the integration before the soul could purge the foreign element out. So that is one of the restrictions? I ask myself. It seems that converting someone higher than the second stage intermediate would be extremely difficult to accomplish. Good to know. Not back to the white man. Taking a closer look, I see that he looks like someone from a refined background. Normal riffraff''s wouldn¡¯t take so much care of themselves. Maybe a fallen aristocrat? Who knows, that would explain the meditation technique and how he got his hands on. No, I fear that the other side also has an apprentice. I hope that the loses won¡¯t be too severe. It¡¯s already too late to rush to the base of the dark gang, I can only hope for the best. ++++++++++++++ After the sun came out of hiding, the reports slowly trickled in. Most of the teams succeeded. There were unfortunately some failures too. I luckily don¡¯t have to punish them. Unluckily they perished with the enemy using the grenades. The city is going to be in an uproar in the morning. So I commanded them to clean up and lay low. Some of them I send to the other strongholds, which were already in the hands of the converted. Feeling tired, I left them be and went back to the tower. But before that, I made sure that white man can¡¯t do anything foolish. I fed him some weakening plants and then used a second seed to make the integration stronger. At one hand he would be knocked out for longer, but that¡¯s good too. He won¡¯t wake up until the integration is complete. And hey, he is not without benefits. Because of the process, he might have a chance at breaking through the second stage. While leaving the compound, I saw a lot of my original men lying on the floor completely exhausted. That is one of the side effect of the berserker potion. Later I will let Right-man compile a list about them. More data should be useful to make the potions better. Not stronger, but if I can optimize it the way, that people can use another one after the first, it will help tremendously. Back at the tower again, I make sure that I don¡¯t have anything I oversaw in terms of damage and then go to sleep. First stage apprentice unfortunately can¡¯t replace sleep with meditation, only third stage mage apprentices can do that.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ++++++++++++++ The next day I woke up more refreshed then I thought. Inspecting myself, I found out that I reached the peak of the first stage. Next, I will need a breakthrough or a potion helping me with that. The expedition should be good for that. Now I have a look over the stuff I took form white man. The most notable being a bracelet. It is grey. Not very conspicuous. This should be the artefact that helped him concealing the fact that he is an apprentice. Highly useful in the exploration that will begin in a week or so. Having time, I look over the list Nelton provided to me. In there were 76 names. Most of them were peak first grade like me, but not very strong. The list also included the rewards for killing them. Very interesting. Some were worth more than others. This particular first stage is worth nearly as much as one of the few third stage targets His name is Mathew and he is very talented in alchemy. One of my priority target. Since making the berserker potion I got somewhat interested in it. Most of the others were nothing to brag about. Very few of the more talented people don¡¯t want to be under anyone, so they just offered a token of aid, but they are not important. If Isaac loses enough power, they would leave him too. The other VIP¡¯s I am interested in was one very talented artificer and a strong mage known for having a lot of weird things. Not strong, also not worth much but the treasures he might have interested me. Other then them, most of the first stage ones were free kills, I only have to be cautious about the late-stage second-grade ones. They were troublesome and at the level where they could defend themselves better. From this point on, they would have enough spells and treasures to make up their weak points and strengthen their strong ones. I have to either ambush or leave them be. As for the Third stage target. I would most likely leave them be. It isn¡¯t worth it. Continuing the list. I found some of the resources, which were useful. For the third stage apprentice, they even gave out a potion, which helps first stage peak people breakthrough very enticing, but I won''t risk it without a major advantage. Back from those thoughts, I went back to my normal routine of making scrolls, mediating, training with the cube and translating stuff with the occasional spell engraving, if something is useful enough. At least that was my plan. But something throws in a wrench into it. That is the gangs. I visited them a couple of times since the assault and I more or less managed to unite them. What took a lot of time was to make up rules for them. They would follow it because of the seed, but how well is another problem. The three leaders also had some problem with each other. White man looked down on the new black man because he isn¡¯t a mage apprentice and they both had beef with mantis because of the whole operation. The rules I laid down were more about keeping low and working together. They didn¡¯t work well with the three leads. The others were more or less okay with it. In my last attempt, I made an announcement. When I come back, I would help the one who made the best progress is taking over the west district with making them a mage. Luckily all of them possesses a weak affinity, so it won¡¯t be too hard. I already have some ideas. And for white man I said, I could enchant his potential. At least giving him a chance at becoming a mage. For whatever reason, he was a lot more enthusiastic about it then I thought. The other leader was also very interested. But I also didn¡¯t allow them to sabotage each other. Healthy competition is good. Sabotaging the whole organization for it is another matter entirely. With that out of the way, I am already very excited for tomorrow, the start of the expedition. It was told that I flying ship is going to pick us up, but what he exactly meant eludes me. Since when do ship fly? Chapter 34: the beginning of the journey Waking up, the first thing I hear is knocking. *knock* *knock* *knock* The person outside is Nelton. ?Come, the assembly is going to begin any minute now.¡° He said. I followed him outside, then we made our way to the arcane hall. When we arrived here, there were already more than 200 people around and more were still streaming into the hall. A lanky, man stood on the podium, He looks like some kind of zombie. He has a slight hump on his back, very skinny his hair looks like a birds nest and his eyes are like geeks from the earth after a 3 day non-stop gaming session. All in all, he looks like an evil guy. ?Alright when everyone is here, we are going to go to dragon back mountain. You cannot imagine what a chance that is. It is a relatively newly discovered ruin¡° he said. Sure just 300 years old. Young my ass. At least he tries to motivate the people with very mixed success. He continues ?So everyone is here right? Then let¡¯s move on, everyone, a flying ship is going to take us to the mountain. Go to the scare¡° He made his way through the crowd and leads the rest into the place in front of the tower. Outside, a ship of massive proportion floated. I mean it isn¡¯t really big. Is 90-100 meters long and 40 meters wide? It isn¡¯t the biggest ship I have ever seen, but looking at a floating ship from the bottom gives one a whole new perspective about the sizes of this thing. The outside was layered with different runes. Those runes were even more complicated than those of the tower. Some of them were a bit familiar, I couldn¡¯t read them, but I was fairly sure that it had some connection with minor swiftness, others were extremely foreign and complicated. From those I understood nearly nothing. Some parts resembled the weak teleportation a bit, but I can¡¯t be sure. ?Alright everyone line up. Everyone is going to get a small cabin, you get the access amulets when entering.¡° He said then floated on top of the ship. We were a bit confused until a hatch opened on the side of the ship. Two strongmen were arranging the entrance. Then we lined up and entered the ship. Inside, it was similar, but very different than a normal ship. Most ships from earth were pretty stuffy, not much room, thin walkways. Now this one was very different. The hallways were wide with plenty of light.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ?Albright guys, there are the amulet, The first number is about the floor and the two afterwards are about the room number, for the idiot''s amulet 254 means, second floor 54th room.¡° He said then gave out the amulets. Mine was 365. Before walking into my cabin, I explored the ship a bit. The top resembles a modern yacht. It had a small tower at the front, where I presume the bridge is located, then there was a wide space. To be honest, not very much in the way of entertainment, but what did I expect? Continuing my exploration, I continued to descend the floors. The ship had 8 floors. 5 of them were cabins floor 200 to 400 were for apprentice and the floor of 500 and 600 were for mages. The fifth floor had 10 suits and the 6th had only 3. The person who led us here is taking one of the rooms in the 5th floor. The first is for storage I believe and the 7-8th floor for the engine(or something with a similar purpose) and other installation. I also met a lot of other people from other towers in the ship. I made some talk with a couple of them. It seems like that the order took nearly all of the apprentices available to them from all of the towers. While watching everything under us from the railing, Nelton approaches me. ?It is nice, isn¡¯t it? It should be you first time¡° he said. Surprisingly, I had the mood for some idle chatter. ?Yeah it is. Never know a ship could fly.¡° I Said in, this time not played, awe. It is like flying on an aeroplane, just with a lot slower and more room to look. The engineers of the ship also took into account the wind while travelling on the deck, so I only felt a slight breeze. ?Yeah, I was similar at my first time. Tough this flight should take only half a day or so. We are making a detour to take some other apprentice from a resource zone tower, then we go to dragon back mountain.¡° He said. ?Is it going to be an exploration? With so many people I imagine an army more easily¡° I Said. Nelton burst out laughing from my naivety. ?Oh Osric, this is not yet war. Maybe you a misconception about the ruins. It is huge it could house more than 20 thousand people in its prime time, that¡¯s the reason. The other is that this war is very important. We are a subordinate of the Order of the Elements, while the other is a member of the league. This war isn¡¯t really about us. You could look at it like an entertainment for the big Organizations. The Mumons are neutral, but they are the guys, who build the best stuff. The Tower in Osmor? It is an entry-level tower. Only there to watch over the border before The one where we are heading was build. Now it is simply used for recruitment. You don¡¯t have to worry about that Isaac guy that much. The Ones with the best affinity are shipped to better Towers in recourses zones.¡° He said. I asked him about something which popped up after his statements ?Then what about me? I have the strongest affinity than everyone I have met so far¡°I asked very puzzled. Nelton laughs ?That¡¯s because they can¡¯t do anything with your affinity. Our Order specialises in dark, shadow and similar affinities. Not even the Order of elements can do anything with your arcane affinity. There are simply no, or very few spells for that affinity. You might be able to use any affinity, but that isn¡¯t very useful for the Order. You are born on the wrong continent buddy.¡° He said. Chapter 35: Nelton While talking, we arrived at a strange place. It was surrounded by rocks and strange animals. It was a mix of a swamp, but with rock-like structures and organism ?This is the Rock swamp resource zone with the Rock tower. Not a very creative name if you ask me but it describes it perfectly. This one is one of the most profitable zones of the Order. The only reason we still have it is that the Order of the Elements is in a lockdown with the league and it is on our side of the mountain, Else it would have already been sacked by one of the major organizations. Still, we pay most of the resources from here to the Order of the elements. Watch out for the apprentices from this place, They have brownish robes and they are strong. Not like those willy nillys who followed you into the black beetle forest.¡° He said. The ship rocked to a halt. The Rock tower in front of me was a lot bigger than the one in Osmor. It was 50 per cent higher and somewhat thicker. The most astonishing were the runes on the sides. I understood nothing, but they looked beautiful, like art. ?That tower is a beauty. Bought from the Mumons, it is one of their more expensive products. The Runes are beautiful aren¡¯t they? ¡° he said. ?Yes, Yes they are, ¡°I said a bit dazed ?Don¡¯t drool, you couldn¡¯t afford it even if you slave away in your magic scrolls business forever¡° he said ?So expensive?¡°I asked ?Yes, this baby cost 20 times more than the one in Osmor¡° he said I sucked in some air from my surprise. That¡¯s a whole lot of money, even though I don¡¯t know how much the Tower in Osmor cost. ?So why exactly are you so forthcoming with information?¡°I ask in puzzlement. Normally every bit of info from him is expensive. He rarely gives out information for free, but this amount is unheard of. He laughs ?It¡¯s an investment.¡° ?in me? Why?¡°I ask ?Because you are the smartest persons I know with the most potential. Maybe they don¡¯t have interest because of your affinity, but what you did until now astonished me a lot. You are not a genius in leadership, but your ability to make things is very rare. I am very confident in you¡° He said.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I am sure that there were some things that he left unsaid. Some things that left me very uncomfortable, but nothing I can do about it. ?Look, I know you are paranoid, but I won¡¯t be able to become a mage, like ever because of some reasons. And the only person I know and might be willing to help out is you. It is a long shot, but I am getting older. The older I get the harder it is going to break through and the less lifespan I get¡° he said a bit anxious. So he is desperate, he put some hope in Allister, but most likely he lost that hope and he just stays for being useful. I mean why not? It isn¡¯t like I am making an underground organization. I think that the biggest argument for his decision is my small gang escapade and how I go about with them. Hmm, a sly fox, but nothing some good old soul sorcery can¡¯t manage. ?So what exactly am I supposed to do with that?¡°I asked ?Please don¡¯t be like that, I am getting pretty desperate around here. Some info as means of my sincerity.¡° He said ?The black and white gang used to be one gang under the leadership of an aristocrat, one of the hidden places they put in the west district. The noble already got assassinated by someone a decade ago, that¡¯s why it is fractured¡° he said ?Some of it, I already deduced, so what¡¯s the freebie?¡°I asked. He winced a bit ?well, both of the leaders and some of the advisors used to belong that family, so you should know how to motivate them, but be careful, they are more dangerous than someone like black mantis and finally, I have here some Infos about the other league. I hope that that shows some of my sincerity¡° he said. I throw him an uhum and then left with the Infos towards my room. On the way, I met with some of the rock people as I dubbed them. Some were friendly, but the majority was arrogant. They have three apprentice leaders. Funnily they are triplets, look very similar, but for some reason hate each other. They have something similar going on then Allister, but are a lot more open about it. The mages don¡¯t seem to care that much either way. They have the creative name of One, Two and Three. I don¡¯t know why they didn¡¯t change it or who would name their children this way. Someone who doesn¡¯t give a fuck, I presume. Back in my room, I resume my training with the black cube. Since the first time I tried it, I progressed a lot. First, I am able to simultaneously have 10 soul tendrils. This is the limit of my soul right now. Second, I can command 5 of them precisely at the same time. A major improvement that helped me tremendously in nearly everything. With it, I can somewhat draw the spell and cast it without engraving it into my very limited soul. By the way, I already have something in mind to combat that, unfortunately, that has to be until I become a soul mage. This improvement doesn¡¯t seem huge, but there are spells, which are a waste to engrave, like ignite or weak light. Very useless as scrolls and a waste of precious space on the soul, but a surprisingly useful spell for exploration and survival in general. There were dozens of such spell for cheap in the tower. Spells no idiot would engrave, but very useful for utility. Chapter 36: Enemy attack PART 1 The ship began moving towards our next destination. Back in my room, I think about the conversation I just had with Nelton. That he wants to work with me or for me is not a bad thing. Now I only have to figure out whether he means it. Someone to backstab me isn¡¯t what I am searching for. I also wonder about the rock resource zone. Until now the most I saw of this world were fairly explainable. Like I don¡¯t understand it, but nothing was so out of my imagination that I just came up blank. The airship was a minor blow in this regard, like it isn¡¯t the first time I see something man-made fly, but the resource zone hit me in this regard a lot more than I thought it would. It felt like going into Disneyland as a kid or finding your favourite novel or film world. Simply fascinating. I am now more than ever motivated to explore this strange, fascinating and sometimes very frightening world. I am not going to lie, the last couple of months flew over me a lot and I just passively accepted a lot of things This experience helped me a lot to get a grip on this new world. With everything good comes unfortunately some bad. I officially can scrap some of my plans and gadgets I wanted to make. A gun in a normal sense wouldn¡¯t make a lot of sense. *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM* The cabin is shaking with me falling into the floor. Rapidly I stand up and make myself combat-ready. Whatever this was, it didn¡¯t sound like a turbulence. With those thoughts, I make my way towards the upper deck. +++++++++++++++++ While moving rapidly on the corridor, I make my defences ready and not a second too early as a black dark disc-shaped projectile hits my shield. Luckily, it did get deflected enough that it only grazed my arm. Not the best outcome, but better than having it sticking in my stomach. Coming to a halt, I recast another armour spell and search for my opponent. At the end of the corridor stays a black-robed guy. He chuckles evilly. ¡°So someone survived that, it seems that you are better than those trashes from before¡± Then he releases some type of concealment spell and I catch the sight of multiple bodies in different states of dissasamblence. A gruesome sight I hadn¡¯t noticed while rushing down the corridor. Being encouraged on my silence the guy continued to speak. ¡°So another unexperienced guy, how lucky of me¡± he said looking very casual and relaxed. At least he looks down on me, something I can very much appreciate. ¡°Has the cat got your tongue? Whatever better finish you off before someone steals you, my darling¡± Then laughing like mad he sprints towards me while holding a black dagger. A surprise came across my face. He would be the first mage that wanted close combat. The ones I saw until now preferred playing tower defence. Surprised but not hesitating, I also charge in his direction preparing some of my gadgets. ¡°I see, an artificer¡± He then removes a violet scroll from his robe, ready to use it. Having no idea what that scroll is used for, I toss out a grenade accompanied by a flash-bang. Then retreating and covering my eyes. *Puchi* I feel a stabbing pain on the sides of my ribcage with searing hot blood running out. Being a bit dazed from the wound, I fall on my back. While being a little bit dazed, I see the black dagger approaching again. This time very ungrateful, I flail my arms in the hope of achieving two effect. First that he thinks that I am vulnerable and to make my armguard ready. He wounds me again on my left hand, luckily the hand where I don¡¯t have the armguard. Then he makes some distance from me which puzzled me for a second, but then I felt my left arm going numb. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Hay, so you noticed, too bad this is the end of the road for you, you seem to have some good stuff on you, I will make sure to enjoy everything,¡± he said while laughing manically. I don¡¯t believe that he is sane. Wait stop, that isn¡¯t what I should think about. I raise my arm to shoot the armguard. He doesn¡¯t even flinch, so sure in his victory. Then I fire the projectile. It luckily hit and the poison is rapidly going into his bloodstream. This time, his face change quite a bit. ¡°What poison is that? WHAT IS IT¡± He screams the end while wailing in absolute pain. I use this time to fish out a weak antidote potion from my amulet and drink it. At this time, I only can hope that the poison is of a common variety, else this all-purpose-anti-poison potion won¡¯t help a whole lot. After 2-3 minutes, I slowly regain back my freedom of movement and after another 2 minutes of praying that none comes across the corner, I recover mostly. I still feel somewhat stiff, but I can move. Now I inspect the corridor and my attacker. Close to the stairs are the bodies of the other apprentice from my faction and then there is the corpse of the attacker. His skin is green now. I move closer and inspect the guy again. He has short brown hair with no beard or moustache, a straight nose and a unibrow. Expect his now green skin, he looks very unremarkable. I put on gloves and remove all of his valuables from his person, then I move to the other corpses and unceremoniously loot the, putting the valuables like scrolls and potions and some miscancellous stuff into the amulet and their ID amulets I hang onto my robe, the amulet of the attacker hangs on the other side of my robe. His amulet as somewhat different, black and it seem like absorbing light. Interesting, but I heard about the material. Not something useful but good looking. A low-level material. Making sure that everything else is in order, I continue my way towards the deck, this time a lot more cautiously PART 2 I didn¡¯t meet any other enemies on my way to the deck, or they didn¡¯t wish to engage me after seeing the foreign amulet hanging on my belt. Anyhow, I made my way to the deck and what I saw was equal part terrifying and wondrous. Four persons fought in the air dozens of meters atop the deck. If I had to compare their fight, I would call it a photoshopped version of a mock battle between cruisers in the orbit of earth, but different. The man in the middle was stationary and was defending against the other three they surprisingly didn¡¯t thrash talk like my opponent, but were fully fixating on attacking the middle guy, who I noticed was on my side. Not a very good discovery. Two were going full out on attacking the man in the middle while the last was watching out for any kind of counterattack. The situation on the floor was in comparison much better, we were much more numerous than the enemy and we are holding out pretty good. Deciding to join the fray, I go to the left side of the boat and join some other apprentices. ¡°Attack the middle section or defend, but try to stay alive,¡± said a hideous looking guy with surprising good intentions. Following his remark, I went to their group of 7 and focused on defence and waiting for any opportunities that might arise. While doing the defending, I also notice the massive amount of magic thrown around. The spells might seem weak, but the sheer amount of them made the magic consumption much higher than the high-end fight above our heads. Lucky for us, the ship''s defence shielded us against any leftover power from their battle. The enemy used in majority dark and shadow kind of magic, what came out the most was their equipment, they used a lot of it in their gadgets and stuff. That dark stuff from the enemy amulet. Anomalies came with the massive amount of magical discharge. Not very strong yet because the strength of the spells used weren¡¯t that strong, but some of the anomalies close to the official mage fight looked a lot more frightening than those. Some looked like balls of electricity, some looked like kinds of fire elementals, while the extreme ones had something to do with space and/or time. Can¡¯t tell with my lacking expertise and time. Continuing on the fight, I use a chance to throw a grenade flashbang combo into the mix with somewhat mixed results. 2 of the enemy got killed in the rain of other spells, but the others were doing fairly well, the guy closest to the centre of the explosion looked like nothing had happened and simply shrugged it off, after which he attacked a lot more frequently into my direction. I calculated my chances of surviving this group fight and the chance I calculated weren¡¯t very rosy, thus I did what every competent football player is good at, I faked an injury. Lovering my shield, I waited until one of the more explosive spells came my way and lowered my shield. *BOOOOOOOOOM* An explosion rang into my ear, while I also exploded a smaller fireball in my face. Strong enough that I looked wounded, but not strong enough to overcome my slowly growing resistance to magic. *Woosh* I flew back a couple of meters and got hit against the railing on my side. Looking as pitiful as possible, I slowly made my way to the small base my side build for the wounded. ¡°Here is a potion and there is a bed, have fun¡± one of the Medics? said and pressed a potion in my hand while pointing to an empty bed. Not having to tell me twice, I lied on the bed and swallowed some of the liquid and did a nice trick I learned a while back. With the help of my soul tendrils, I can enclose a liquid in my mouth and then teleport it into my amulet. Something I am sure normal people won¡¯t be able to do. I mean normal in a sense of a normal apprentice. While lying a strange thought overcame me. I learned and read that there are three ways to power, but I have seen a suspect little amount of decent squires or knights. Not on the boar except as servant and not in this fight. Either their legacy got cut off or they are simply more inferior than mages? I mean, I wouldn¡¯t tell their people that being a knight sucks in fear of losing useful servant. Back to my situation, I take another sip from the potion and this time I don¡¯t use my amulet to store it. The warm feeling overcame me as times before and I experienced the miraculous wonders of alchemy. A concept back on earth I would scoff at. Another fascinating facet of this world. Some spells came dangerously close to my position, but luckily, some people are tasked with defending the base. *BOOOOM* Another explosion and a lot of wood flying around. A person emerged and was furiously flying towards the mage level fight in the air. In one Swoop, he nearly incarnated the whole the enemy mages. He is a level higher than the other mages and I don¡¯t know what they used to distract him. ¡°Retreat¡± shouted one of the three mages and managed to barely defend while most of their forces retreated into what is basically a flying saucepan and they hurriedly left, but not without leaving a volley of spells as a goodbye gift. After a sigh of relief, I relaxed a bit and sat up on my bed. ¡°Everyone, the other mages are going to hunt the enemy''s left inside of the ship, while those that managed to kill some people should go the Henry to exchange the shadow amulets for rewards. Because of the situation, everyone gets double the rewards¡± The guy who rushed in the end said. Some people cheered, but a lot more were downcast. The attacks from that mage destroyed most of the shadow amulets on the ground. Luckily I had one. With that I made my way over to the Henry guy, eagerly awaiting the rewards Chapter 37: breakthrough PART 1 Lying on the bed, I make myself ready to face my reward and also going through my story again. Not that I have used some super-secret techniques, but it never hurts to be careful. Then I stand up and thank the medic guy. Following the directions from before, I make my way to the reward zone. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of people got any of the enemy badges. I am one of the few who has one. Only one guy has two badges. One of the rock trio. Some other people are spectating with unknown intentions. After 6 minutes, I get to know this Henry guy. He is the person who had been fighting, or taking a beating opinionwise, against the three invaders. In front of his desk are some of the more valuable resources. Is he the quartermaster? Who knows. ¡°badge,¡± he says, clearly very annoyed with his job. I speculate that the normal quartermaster had been killed and they hadn¡¯t appointed a new one yet, so better don¡¯t piss him off. ¡°Here, Sir,¡± I said politely while handing him my badge. I make sure to appear extra humble. Something he seems to like. ¡°So pick something from the desk, and give me your badge. Oh and don¡¯t forget the other badges. I suppose they were the victims from that guy¡± he said. After taking my badge, he, without any change in expression, takes off al the points from the other badges and transfers it into his own. No idea why. ¡°Problem?¡± He askes me and provocatively raises his left eyebrow. ¡°No Sir,¡± I said and directed my attention into the tables of valuables. There were some raw materials, potions, scrolls and artificer products. The scrolls was a very valuable one, but not on the mage level, so I can do without it. There were some interesting ingredients like shadow crucifix, thunder iron or flaming glass, but the one thing which I found the most valuable for the current me was a potion. I read about it and was planning to get one one way or another. It is called the formless mage potion. A strange name, but it is basically a potion for first stage mage apprentice like me as an aid for breaking through. Expensive to make and normally not very worth it. Apprentice either accumulate and slowly breakthrough, try that in a battle or use a potion of their respective element(s). That is not a problem for most people. Having a dual affinity is rare. But for them and people like me with a special affinity, we need a potion like that. No chance in getting something more attuned with our elements. The person behind me is also eyeing this potion. ¡°This potion, Sir,¡± I said and point at it. ¡°Well whatever, here are your extra points,¡± he said and handed my badge back to me. It got richer with 36 points in both contribution and wisdom as well. So normal rate would be like 25. Not a lot, but enough to motivate people. Today, their generousness should be because of the quality of the attacking force, maybe the formless potion was put in because someone noticed me? I will never know. I don¡¯t think we will get anything for killing normal guys. ¡°If you want more stuff like that, there is the wanted list,¡± he said and went back to whatever he was doing before being disrupted by me. On the other side of the hall, is a board choke-full of wanted posters. It was about strong people like the apprentice leaders or special talents, which the enemy might choose to nurture in the future. You have to know that elevating someone to the official mage level is possible, but so expensive, that it gets extremely rarely done. Another fact I noticed while mingling a bit on the ship, is that being talented in the path of the mage, speaking speed, breakthroughs and spell power, doesn¡¯t really have anything to do with other talents. For example, a genius in making new spells might have a higher chance of having a breakthrough and in spell power, but that knowledge does nothing in terms of speed. They likely remain as an apprentice forever. The same goes to golem makers, artificer aka Engineers and other magical professions. Especially artificer and alchemists have it hard. And those lucky few, the Organization might help them becoming a mage. Of course, there are some cons to it. Progressing later would become very hard and the organizations wouldn¡¯t let them go easily. I think that they would work them to the bones, but that isn¡¯t something they would advertise. Being deep in my thoughts, I nearly run into a small blockade in front of me. Four men at both sides and the guy who eyed the formless potion from before. ¡°Good morning to you. Would it be possible to sell that potion you just acquired to me? I would pay a good price for it¡± he said. Some of the men beside him glared at me a bit, but nothing that I cant shrug off.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°No,¡± I said, not bothering with him. To this, one of the lackeys growls and is ready to shout .¡±Do you know who ¡­¡± Before he could end his sentence, the leader of the small group cuts into his words. ¡°Jeff, no need to be a dick about this, we can talk,¡± He said, still smiling like an innocent teenager. A rather dangerous person in my books. Calm and not unreasonable. So dangerous ¡°You sure you won¡¯t sell it? I can give you these¡± Than he winks at a women behind the wall of flesh and forwards her with a tray in her hands. On it were some of the same materials than in the desk from before and some which are completely foreign. They looked useful, but nothing I need more over the bottle. About to show disinterest, I catch sight of an amulet, not like my storage one, but closer to the one used by the ambusher, but it has despite the similarities, very distinguishable design and look. I am also able to feel some kind of familiarity from it. Something I am interested in, but not enough to delay my progress. Showing disinterest, I shoo her away. ¡°Unfortunate, but expected¡± he said ¡°Anyways if you get another potion, or a formless ginger than inform me and you can have anything from here. Or if you need a potion, I also can provide some. Name is Jeral by the way¡± He said, politely bowed and left with his entourage. I mean, I didn¡¯t expect it to go that way. Forgetting the little episode, I go back to my room. PART 2 Back in my room, I decide to continue my cooping in the room. That much social interactions were enough for me. I also take a note of that Jeral guy, he might be useful in the future. You never know what you get from your slain foes. Apropo slain foes, I still have to go through my loot from the enemy and the other ¡®unfortunate¡¯ victims. This makes me instantly happy. Before I were to consume that potion, I go meditate and make preparations. +++++++++++++++++++++ Sometime later. I changed the arrays on the door to the do not disturb mode. I mean, I have no idea what the actual name of it is, but whatever. Having my mana refilled and being in my most optimum state, I open the potion and glug it down. It has a bittersweet taste, not unpleasant but also not pleasant. Do you know Chinese food? It is the feeling of not knowing whether you like the taste or not and need a couple of bites to be sure. That is the feeling I have right now. Luckily, I don¡¯t feel it very long, before a very strange feeling overcomes me. My whole body is being overloaded in terms of pain and feelings. Apparently, when you breakthrough, you experience and get baptized by your affinity or affinities. Now the problem with arcane is, that it can be pretty much any other kind of affinity, so following this logic, I have to feel through a whole range of different elements. Some wich are easy to categorize like fire, earth, metal and such. Now there are the weird ones like dimension, Ink and sop on. They don¡¯t hurt or anything like this, they are just a very strange experience, which is hard to explain. Dimension, for example, felt like being part of something bigger at the same time as feeling minuscule. Then there are the frightening ones, some are painful, some are stuff straight out of horror movies. For fire, I felt myself burning, something I can identify and categorize. But the feeling void game was like gazing into the abyss in its literal form. Very horrifying and very damaging to the ego of anyone. I also got to know some other affinities with unknown names. They had often psychological effects of horror, despair and the like. After 40 minutes of sensual overload, this part stopped, then the rest went pretty smoothly. The feeling after the breakthrough is very serene and refreshing, like having a nice rest and boosting that feeling by 100 times for 5 ¨C 6 minutes straight. I can¡¯t complain, can I? So after my breakthrough high wears off, I inspect my body and the changes it underwent. The biggest and most glaring thing was the colour of my blood. It isn¡¯t as blood-red than before, it is somewhat more like neon red with occasional violet streaks in it. I presume that that means that it becomes either more magically attuned, or my blood becomes magical. I lean to the latter. The infusion method I learned a while back seems to be one of the reasons of this phenomenon. I have seen some blood over my short time on this world, but they never had any other streaks of colour. It was more of a different colouration of red. The fire user I met in the forest hat brighter blood then the dark mage comrade of his. An interesting discovery, but nothing useful for now. Except having more efficient mana usage. After another 2 hours of experiment, I managed to differentiate the two blood types. Another thing I confirmed is that mana comes from the blood, and mana regeneration is nothing more than the production of blood. Not sure yet which component is exactly responsible for mana, but that can wait. So back to the two types of blood. With the normal mana, I use spells like before. It got stronger and able to store more, but in terms of efficiency, nothing changed. The other blood I call violet cells. They are a kind of supercharged mana. Very strong, much more efficient, but a lot less than the normal mana. The normal spells got 30-40 per cent stronger using this kind of mana, which isn¡¯t very surprising after the discovery, what made me near ecstatic is its effect on arcane spells like the arcane bolt. The penetration effects of it went through the roof. It got smaller and more condensed. It felt like shooting a pistol. An idea for the later me. The only thing stopping me from celebrating with a good sandwich is the fact that I don¡¯t have any arcane spells except that bolt. And I highly doubt that that guy had the spell booklet with himself. Such a pain in the ass. I can only hope that he has another of those scrolls, then at least I can copy those scrolls¡­ I am a retard, why haven¡¯t I thought of this? I thing and slap my hand. I hastily get out some of my magic scroll making supplies and meticulously make an arcane bolt scrolls- Nothing is different while writing it, but when I add the magic power and instead of the normal one I use the better one, the scrolls instantly absorbs it. Slowly waiting for it to fill up, I forget to stop grinning when. *BOOOOM* It explodes in my face. Dumbfounded, I stare for a minute or two at my hands. Luckily without any damage, the defence artefact barely manage to keep the damage away from me. That cannot be said about my ego. Not being right is a big hit. After three minutes of being dumbfounded and another 2 minutes of thinking, I conclude that the scroll and ink were unable to handle that much-concentrated power. A fact which becomes more and more logical the longer I think about it. In hindsight, I could facepalm myself for being such an idiot and not thinking about something like this. The room is still in the do not disturb mode, so, fortunately, no one heard my failure. After calming down, I do the thing which helps me calm down the best. A good ham sandwich with some very tasty fruit juice before taking a nap Chapter 38: arrival PART 1. ?How refreshing, ¡° I say to myself after a refreshing nap. Now that my breakthrough high has subsidized, I go back into making more scrolls. Preparations are important. ¡°Ah yes, there is that¡± Before I begin to inscribe any of the scroll, I discover that I forgot the inspection of the loot. Not having to think twice, I dumb all of the things I received into my desk. The majority of the stuff were scrolls, some unidentifiable artefacts and some artefacts I know what they do. First the scrolls. I received 79 scrolls in total, I sizeable haul. The best thing about them is that violet scroll, which prevented my grenades from exploding from before. The scroll itself is of a higher quality than normal goatscroll. If my memory serves me correct, they are called blackmountain sheep scrolls, sheepscrolls for short. They cost a silver apiece and are much more suited for making magic scrolls. I have never used them before because they weren¡¯t necessary before. The magic spells I had never needed this scroll. And I forgot about using them. The power of the scrolls would go up by 10 to 20 per cent, but were much harder zo inscribe and require more mana. Maybe later, I use it for defence scrolls and arcane spells, of which, I still have very few. Lying that besides, I continue to look through my spoils. There were two expensive-looking artefacts of unknown use and some cheap-looking stuff. For most, I had not even a remote idea what their uses were. Next to them were half a dozen of easily recognizable artefacts. Two very weak defence trinkets and some simple spell artefacts, all of them very weak. Those spell artefact function like scrolls, just reusable. The kind I have in front of me are rather useless, so I decide to sell them all. They have to be recharged and it would clash with my ¡®poor-weak-untalented¡¯ appearance. Having my body full of artefact looking stuff would make anyone a lot more apprehensive. I go for quality than quantity. I still have my old defence artefact and my scrolls. They might cost more money in the long run, but I have now some money to spare. And hopefully, my enemies will help to replenish my scroll warehouse. The raw materials, I just leave them in my storage artefact. I don¡¯t see anything valuable. The clerk can help me appraise their values later. Some of the more useful ones like golden apples, potions and ointments are put into a corner for later use. *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* I stand up slightly annoyed from my work for forgetting to turn back the do-not-disturb mode. Opening the door, a guy I haven¡¯t seen before appears. ¡°Good morning, I am going from door to door to trade, would you like to see my wares?¡± the guy said. I am not exactly sure something like this is normal, or even allowed, who knows? ¡°So what exactly are you selling, and is it normal to go disturbed other people?¡± I asked putting on an annoyed face, which might have come over differently because of my low age. Luckily, I grew pretty fast since starting my venture into magic. As a 14-year-old, I am already 1.71 meters. Very high for my age, but nothing astonishing in comparison to my other peers. Btw the only guy I saw after the months in the tower was the guy who wanted to be friends with me, the others were slightly extinct after the time. The turnover rates of newbies sure is high. ¡°I sell everyday useful potions like health potions, mana potions and stuff like that. I also have some artefacts and a wide variety of scrolls, would you like to have a look at them?¡± he asks. ¡°Why not?¡± I say. Buying some stuff and selling other things wouldn¡¯t be that bad, would it? Letting him in, I give him 5 minutes to lay out his wares on my desk, after I cleaned it off my stuff of course. Making some necessary preparations, like preparing a grenade or two, because you never know. Without making anything too suspicious, he lays out his wares on my desk. ¡°Anything witch catches your fancy?¡± he asks me. Taking a look over the stuff, I impatiently ignore the scrolls. I don¡¯t need new ones, the ones I can make were fairly balanced and too many types of scrolls will confuse me. ¡°Nothing yet, but I would like to sell those,¡± I say. I then show him the 6 weak artefacts and the surplus scrolls I don¡¯t need. He first frowns, but when he sees the artefacts he began to look more serious. He took 10 minutes to inspect everything I laid in front of him. Most of the is used for the artefacts. ¡°So if I understand correctly, you have two defence artefacts here and four magica artefacts¡± he sais. Ah, so that¡¯s the name of those. ¡°I can give you 70 gold for everything¡± that sure is a lot, the scrolls shouldn¡¯t be worth more than 5 gold. I still have the feeling that he is trying to rip me off.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°150 gold,¡± I say a random number, not having any idea about their worth. He face of the merchant immediately changes. ¡°But mister, that¡¯s ripping me of, how could I make money like that?¡± he sais. After staring at each other for 2 minutes he said. ¡°85 gold¡± I don¡¯t respond, and just continue to stare at him. He slowly is becoming anxious, I can feel it. After 3 more minutes of looking hesitant, he cautiously shows me a crystal radiating mana. ¡°This good sir is a mana crystal, very useful for your path of mage, this is the same thing the richest use to boost their accumulation speed. Normal it costs 100 gold coins, but none wants to sell it. I am making you an absolutely fair deal here good mister.¡± He said looking pained. Yeah good fa?ade you have here. Whatever this did interest me somewhat, so I buy it. ¡°Alright, you have a deal. I don¡¯t need any of your wares.¡± I say and after the transaction, I help him get out of my room. ¡°Oh and don¡¯t forget that tomorrow morning is the date of our arrival.¡± He said while leaving. END OF VOLUME 1 PART 2 BEGINING OF VOLUME 2 The next day, I make sure to clean my room. Using two of my wind type scrolls to make sure that anything about me is either gone or an absolute mess. Having still some time, I visit the deck. In the distance, dragonback mountain is already visible. It is majestic. Going on both sides longer than my eyes can discern. I am still unsure whether it is some unknown limitation or the curving of the planet. I am still not sure how strong this curving exactly is. I just know that the planet itself is a lot bigger than earth. I can¡¯t wait to have a look on it from space. Unfortunately, that has to wait for a long time. I don¡¯t believe that I have the necessary resources for that even after becoming an official mage. The ship is flying 40 meters above the uneven forest-mountain like terrain. Some monsters can be seen in the distance. To the backside of the ship, I can see some giant eagle-like monster flock following us. Some of the crew is already ready to use the cannonlike weaponry to deal or scare them away. Talking a bit with some of the crew and other people, I got to know that the ship had been attacked by ariel monsters dozens of times. They were easily defended, but rarely slain. One of the senior engineer I talked a bit about the ship boasted about the capability of this ship. He was on the other hand extremely scare with real, usable details about it. What I now know is that this ship is not exactly a property of my order. More exactly it has been ¡®lend¡¯ to the order from the elements. A name some people use for the Order for the Elements. As long as you don¡¯t get chatted by someone, who would get offended by it, all is good. Not having any more time to talk I go back into my room and stash away the last remaining of my stuff, then leave it. 2 hours later. We arrived at our destination. While the crew is docking at the landing-place, I overview the compound. It has five main areas. First the landing place for the airships. Some smaller ones were used to bring in the out of way people. Not lower in quality than our batch, but from resource zones which are farther and would make too big of a detour for the big ship. Second and third were used for accommodation and a cafeteria with some restaurants. Forth was the main administrative building for the missions, rewards, bounty and resources. The resource warehouse is very close to it. The last main area is the entrance to the ruins. Without taking a better look, it is easy to ignore. The only thing which makes it more memorable is the big camp around it. Not surprisingly, it is supposedly a secret stronghold. ¡°Landing completed, listen here you little buggers, get off my ship and put the badges into the box while leaving. The consequences are nothing you want to experience were you to steal one.¡± He said. Some of the people were surprised at the rude voice. What I later got to know, that he is the captain of the ship and also an official mage with a nasty temper. Not getting noticed by him is a good thing. While leaving, I throw my badge into the box and heading towards the accommodations. They were organized like huge dorms, there were also some bigger villas, but they were a privilege of the mages. ¡°Badge,¡± Said the receptionist at the main are. He sounded very bored. Can¡¯t fault him for that. I gave him my badge. ¡°Alright, go to building number #3, your room is one the 4th-floor number 53. Your ID badge functions as the key.¡± He said, returning my badge and hushing me to make place for the next person. There were still dozens waiting after me. Not very surprisingly, most of them were weak. The apprentice leaders and strong, or uniquely talented people already god something better. A privilege I guess? Not that I care. Some people might get offended, but I think that that is foolish. Luxury is not a neccecety and also not an investment. If you can afford it, it will come naturally. Seeking it as a sign of status is foolish. That is one of the similarities this world has with earth. Some people use luxury without really deserving or being able to pay for the lifestyle. I saw some of the apprentices getting killed because of their nice and expensive-looking artefacts. Some weren¡¯t even useful, just looked fancy. You can¡¯t cure dumb can you? So back to the dorms- The room was slightly bigger than in the Osmor Tower. The room had 14-15 m^2. A big enough room for a lot of things. There was a big desk, a bed, some chairs and a closet. Enough for me, I suppose. We are going to stay here for a couple of months anyway. Maybe years. The Size of the ruin should be massive and the time has different definitions for folks who can live for 2 ¨C 3 centuries. I am not complaining. Conflict is very useful for me. As long as I don¡¯t get killed of course. This time, another booklet was on the desk. This world sure loves informative booklets, don¡¯t they? At least I don¡¯t get into action without any information. Binge reading the book, I only spot a couple of difference to the info I got from Nelton. First is the amount of time this expedition would consist. It is said that it would go on for a whole 4 years. Another addition is a clear reward chart, where most of the different contributions are listed and how to get them. Bureaucracy is strong in this world. I like that, less confusion and less useless conflict. Chapter 39: ruins, the begining Alright then. Today at 7 pm is a briefing in front of the house. Not exactly sure why they do that. I am perfectly fine with the booklet anyway. Having time until then, I leave my room and explore the warehouse and library of the building. ++++++++++++++++++ In the administrative building. The building of course is a tower. A lot bigger than the one in Osmor and it also looks fancier. The runes at the sides of the walls don¡¯t look as complicated as the ones on the airship, but still somewhat more than then the one in the rock resource zone. No idea why exactly. It doesn¡¯t look like a good investment to put a gib fat and expensive tower into the middle of nowhere. Even for the war that has begun. Coming to the resource section, I inspect the stuff, which is available for redeeming. Wow, it is a lot more than is Osmor tower. The variety is basically 2 to 3 times. Some are more expensive, there are even some special local products, like Redgroom mushrooms, Allstar lotus and more. These two were just the more expensive. Costing more than 300 points to obtain one. The Allstar Lotus is supposedly nourishing for the soul, I imagine another misconception here like that mind-calming artefact I obtained earlier. Something worth looking into. Redgroom Mushrooms are herbs very useful for making potions as main or secondary ingredients. As a secondary ingredient, it is only used for the inborn mana of the herb. Some absorb innately fire mana or water mana, with no special or unique properties. Those can be used to strengthen or weaken a property of another herb. Most herbs fall in this direction. Redgroom Mushroom in comparison has a special property. It can either be used for a very strong minor invisibility potion. Similar to my shadow concealment, but way more potent. The other use is to drink it as a propellant for the breakthrough to the 3rd stage. Like the formless mage potion I used, but for individuals with dark or shadow affinity. The potion for similar affinities like dark and shadow can be used by both, but with different effect. A potion made from Redgroom mushrooms works best for dark affinity, but also works for shadow affinity, albeit a bit weaker. In my opinion, Allstar Lotus is more precious. The mushroom had been pushed to its prize mainly because the most mage apprentices in the organization specialize in dark and shadow magic. So it isn¡¯t very strange. A waste if you ask me. Why no of the bigger organizations grabbed it yet is unknown to me. Maybe because of different naming conventions? They simply don`t realize what it is and an apprentice level herb is not worth the effort of properly identifying it. I should look through the other cheaper herbs, maybe I can make a quick buck there. Who knows? My badge heated up while I was looking through the list. The same thing happened when the airship came in the Osmor tower, so I made my way towards the assembly point. With me were other ones who made their way, but most of the people just stayed put. This just concerns the new batch. +++++++++++++++ Outside the tower. Already 2-3 thousand apprentices were waiting when I arrived. They all kept a meter or two distance, while most were in a group. Apprehension was in the air. A grey-haired old man floated atop the crowd and begun his speech. ¡°Good afternoon everyone, Some had an unfortunate accident while arriving, but luckily most made it here safely. So First, This Tower is the centre of trade through the mountains. You don¡¯t have to concern yourself with it, just don¡¯t attack any caravans. The fighting will take place inside the ruins. Not the way we repurposed on the top. Second. Never and I say Never try to infiltrate the enemy camp on the other side. In case you try. You will die. On both sides are two mages, in this case, me, overseeing things. In the range of the Tower, they know everything. At least everything you can throw at them.¡± He paused for a bit, seemingly taking a breath. ¡°Another change we made for the time of the war is opening the library to every apprentice fighting. It has a much bigger variety than most towers, except the main Tower maybe. So don¡¯t get killed, yadda yadda and have fun¡± With that, he flew away into the tower. Not caring about us anymore.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I believe that it is a leadership thing that they let the Mages appear whenever something major is about to get announced. They could make perfectly do with an apprentice, but this way, they have more of a wow effect. Not that they would call it like that. Walking away from the tower zone, I go to the cafeteria and restaurant section. What I didn¡¯t see before were the small stalls further back the alley. In a small piece of land where some huge trees were growing, merchants set up booths for their wares. Walking around, I spot three very interesting booths. One of them sells spices, one nuts and the last is selling waffle-like food. My first stop is at the waffle station. It has a rather clever mix of contraptions and heating stones to function like those Belgium waffle makers you could buy in the shops on earth. Where you could rotate the waffle iron. He has something similar, but bigger, more complicated and it looked much more impressive. Behind the counter, a female gnome is sitting. ¡°Hello what can cheeros cheery waffles do for you? Do you want some waffles? You are at the right place, we have all the waffles you can imagine.¡± She sais. Very enthusiastic. Before she can continue with her monologue, I stop her with a raise of my hand. ¡°How much for a waffle?¡± I ask. ¡°We have different kinds sir apprentice, some with strawberries or other fruits. Today we received a packet of chocolate. That would, of course, be expensive sir¡± She sais and shy away a bit after mentioning the chocolate. It seems that chocolate is prohibitively expensive, like it used to on earth 700 years ago, before the industrial revolution. ¡°I take one of each,¡± I said. She looked shocked for a while, then made all of them fresh in 3 minutes. I very appreciate that. After paying a big prize of 1 gold and 2 silvers. Most of it was for the chocolate, I left towards my room to make myself ready for my first exploration of the ruin. Somewhat forgetting about the other two stalls. After the waffles, I decided that I rewarded myself enough, they should still be here later. PART 2 The waffles were really good. Much better than the one on earth. Even the so-called flavour optimized ones were by far inferior. Back to important stuff. I prepared some rope, some pieces of metal from a blacksmith. For trying out traps and stuff. I imagine they might be useful. At least computer games told us that. The others were a but load of scrolls, I have of the most important ones like fireball, soul shield, etc. 50 each and for the other between ten and twenty. The newest arcane scroll is not included yet. I haven¡¯t had enough time to go through it. Next were 2 robes with protection runes inscribed into it and 3 others without any inscription. Standing around naked would be a very dangerous thing to do in the catacombs of an unknown powers stronghold. Next were potions and ailments for all kinds of thing. Poison, anti-dote, something for health, something for mana etc. This time, with the big amount of points I got for selling all the loot I acquired until now, I proudly purchased a barrier artefact. This is superior to normal defence artefacts. My reason for buying it is two. One for defence and two to capture some animals alive. Live animals can be sold for heavy money in the tower. Especially the ones from the ruin. The only thing is that it is hard. Most of them feel them in darkness home, in comparison, I don¡¯t. So the second option will be only a theoretical use. I don¡¯t think that I will ever use it. The last thing was a backpack I got for camouflaging my storage equipment. I know that I have been a bit stupid with my caution until now, some people might already have a suspicion about me having a storage equipment, but not enough to make any moves, until now that is. There is no way to investigate anything about the death of an apprentice inside the ruins. Whether he had been killed from the same side or not. I also lack friends or people I cooperate with. That is completely my fault. Talking with people not under my control is a very strange feeling. I don¡¯t mean literally controlling them like my enslavement spell. It is also about knowing people good enough to have the ability to predict their reaction. Something Nelton might have noticed. Whatever, he is at least on the best way to have a cooperation with me. I am not gonna complain about that. Leaving the dorms, I walk towards the entrance. The distance is only about 10 minutes on foot. No need to invent mopeds yet. Successfully ignoring everyone, I walk towards the guards guarding the entrance of the ruins. There were two different entrances. On the left was the one for the actual ruins. The second on the right is the artificially remodelled tunnel towards the other end of the mountain. They cut off part of the ruin, separated it and made this tunned. Luckily, most of the vital infrastructure with the loot is deeper in the earth. ¡°reason of visit?¡± the guard asks bored, but still respectful. ¡°The war, here is my badge,¡± I say. I am about to hand him my badge, but he just winks me through without even looking at it. ¡°Alright,¡± I say, then move into the ruin. Honestly, the first couple of kilometres weren¡¯t very exciting. They were mossy, stinky tunnel slightly downwards. I am certain that this isn¡¯t the only tunnel into the ruin complex, but this seems to be the only one found due to a failure in the ancient formations or other things. Still unsure what they exactly use for stuff like this. The Order prefers formations, but on the ship, I met plenty of mechanic apparatuses. At least knowing how basic Engineering works is good for me. If I want to build artefacts later, I might be able to buy some springs and other stuffs. They would be a pain in the butt to make. Even with that mould metal spell. I already found out a bit about its limitations and springs were one of them. The tunnel continued without anything noteworthy for more than 4 kilometres. Then I came into small-sized champer with different tunnels going from there. This part is still very close to the entrance, so there were some waypoints. Most read like speculations, some were more clear. Like dorms or laboratories. Some were purely speculative like assembly hall or kitchen. Rooms which look the part, but could also be other stuff. The information I received from Nelton also rated those ways according to danger. Dorms were moderately trapped and dangerous, the library and laboratory were heavily trapped, thus they were very dangerous. I decided to go into the direction of the dorms. I don¡¯t wish to risk it going into very dangerous areas. Unfortunately, this chart only talked about the danger of the ruin itself, where the enemies are still a mystery. But I strongly believe that the strongest would go into to the more dangerous places. There were still some stuff to loot from newly opened hallways. The others had basically no loot and where the main area of the war will be. Made up my mind, I glug down a potion for seeing anything in the night and continued my way towards the dorms. Chapter 40 Part 1 The potion doesn¡¯t work like the video games wanted us to believe it. At least this one doesn¡¯t work like that. It simply made the darkness more like a very dark dusk. Still hard to see, but it is somewhat better. Now for comparison, I activate the night vision artefact I have. Now everything is a lot better. I can barely see clearly, but it is a major improvement to the potion. Like a bright night. colours are still out of the picture for obvious reasons. Continuing to walk through the slimy, wet and barely visible hallway, I do spot minute amounts of movements. Most move way to fast to catch anything, but I would say that they were insects. Nothing too worrying until now. The deeper I go into the ruin, the less marks and signs I encounter. After walking around for 2 hours, there were no signs left anymore. The only reason most people don¡¯t just get lost and die of hunger or starvation is the floor and the moss on the wall. They are eatable as written on the booklet and contain plenty of water for the human need. Except for guys with similar affinities to fire or light. They burn up more calories and water than normal ones do. The pathways leading to the exit are used so often, that the longer you walk around, the more noticeable it is. You can even find the exit this way. Is the stone more polished on the tunnel to the left than the rest? Then you most likely found one of the tunnels connecting to the exit. Those signs stayed here for millennia or more. Earlier, I still met some people, but now I barely encounter time in 20 or 30 minutes of walking. Perfect for testing whether this was part of that order I got my soul magic from. The method is about shaping my soul tendrils into a specific form and seeing whether I feel anything at all. The book didn¡¯t really describe what is supposed to happen or what I should feel. The form I had to do is ridiculously hard, even for someone like me with a very good affinity for the soul. It took me three days to flawlessly execute it for the first time. How did I know it was flawless? Easy, once you have it flawlessly, then the form is in a strange equilibrium, it holds itself in shape without needing to bother with it too much, like a very complicated compass you first have to assemble before it works. The construct is still somewhat fragile, so fighting is not recommended, or you would have to redo it again. Something which costs me 29 minutes to do. Back to topic. After having the compass, I don¡¯t feel a lot. There is the tiny feeling of going into a direction, but nothing more. It is like a gut feeling. Most likely, gut feeling and the soul have some connections. Not really knowing what to do, I continue to sneak my way around the ruins. Sometimes finding abandoned places. There were a lot of dorms around here. After arriving at the beginning of the dorms, I begin to search for anything valuable. The whole thing was made like a normal college dormitory, just underground. Very few had stone doors, in most cases, those doors were lying in the form of a ruble somewhere in the corridor of the building. Looking inside one, I got to know how it looked. It had a stone bed, also known as a slab of stone wide enough to lie on it. I really hope that they got at least a matrice. Next is a broken desk. It simply comes out of the wall. Most of it has already crumbled, so nothing much to know about that. The last piece in the stone collection was a stone shelve, in a surprisingly good shape. Nothing of value yet, just some rotten remains of something organic and a lot of stone rubble. The only traces inside were of time. No marks from swords or craters from spells. It gives me the impression that they retreated rather hastily, but not completely unorganized. The rest of the rooms are also broken and empty. There are 5 doors which are still intact, to two os those rooms were made accessible by someone. Their method was to blast into it from the room next to it. The other three had extremely damaged doors, but still standing ones. These might have been the rooms of someone important maybe? I find that rather unlikely. But who knows? For all I know about this architecture style, it could very well be a warehouse or kitchen. Leaving the dorms area behind, I move now into a direction I have no idea about.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Walking around, I hear a very silent *click*. Not a millisecond too late, I dodge backwards, not having time to use any scrolls, I just hope that my defence artefact can hold. A wave of pain shoots through me. Spasming on the ground, I try to take back control of my muscle with very minor results. For the next 2 minutes, I continue to spasm. Then slowly I regain control over my body. The compass has been long dissolve at this point. Drinking half a potion of recovery potion, I inspect the place I just got nearly killed. It really isn¡¯t that much different from the rest, just a tiny change in the colour of the tile is noticeable if you look very closely at the tile. Most likely, the trap can reset itself, or most of the traps wouldn¡¯t have survived that long. This time, my soul tendrils do disappoint unfortunately, they are unable to give any support with the trap(s). I suppose that they weren¡¯t arrogant enough to think that they were the only ones capable of nurturing soul mages. I still don¡¯t exactly know why I haven¡¯t heard of the soul path. It is an extremely strong path on its own, and in synergy with mage training is already making me stronger than most of my peers. Even without a very big stash of artefacts. PART 2 I think whether I should stop the exploration and go back into the camp. I already familiarized myself a bit with the ruin and found out that it has some connection at least to the mysterious order. Not having used much of my supplies yet, I decide to continue my exploration. I build up the compass again and continue my way in the ruin. I am forced to use light in this area, the traps are very hard to spot without it. I also take out the Booklet and go through the types of traps. Most were dodgeable, like the one I just triggered, some were totally undetectable and you simply have to look out for other signs. Those are the ones most likely attacking the soul. Something I should be able to avoid with my soul magic. Continuing my way, I encounter some other traps after some time, I catch sight of another light. We both turn of our light at the same time, I activate the artefact again. The potion has already run out. The effects were worse, that¡¯s for sure, but I don¡¯t need to use one the whole time. I am not made of money you know. Slowly walking forward, I spot a group of people. Luckily, they were wearing the same robes as I do, and not the easily identifiable light swallowing robes of the enemy. Still, to be sure, I followed the advice given in the booklet and took out my ID badge. After infusing some mana, it began to glow in a blackish light. The only thing I could compare it to was when the sun was blocked by the moon on earth. This is a very safe way to identify friends from foe. The other side could of course don our robe, but they could never use our badge. After we die, they are in a locked state, they were a type of one use trinket, after the wearer dies, it destroys its inner component. They fear that some people might copy it. The same reason why I haven¡¯t tried to take it apart yet. Explaining that it got broken without me having anything to do with it would a hard conversation to have. In response, all of them take out their respective badges and light them up too. ¡°Hey, brother, what is in that direction¡± The leader of the group asks. Still on guard, I answer ¡°The dormitories and some traps.¡± He seems to be somewhat disappointed by my answer. I don¡¯t know whether he believed it or not and I don¡¯t really care. I cast a soul shield before going past time. Luckily, they didn¡¯t attack me for whatever reason. Maybe they are very cautious against solo people exploring. People like that shouldn¡¯t be people casually annoyed. Not noticing that one member of their team split with them. The last part of my way was rather carefree. I lit again my light and continued to follow my compass. Walking through corridors with increasing amounts of traps, I encounter my first soul trap. They made themselves noticeable to my soul through the compass. It felt like the gut feeling split and it simoultanasly told me how to disable the trap for the next 5 minutes. What I did. On the outside, none of this interaction could be seen. The trap didn¡¯t give off any signs that it had been disabled, or that there was a trap in the first place. After some time, I encounter a hole in the wall it was the hight of a very big man, 2,20 metres or so, and it was also had the same width. This whole was a strange sight in the otherwise orderly tunnels. It felt like someone ripped off a piece of the stone, but I can¡¯t be sure. While contemplating what I should do, I notice someone behind me. Having no time to think of anything, I activate the barrier and hope for the best. The person just wanted to ¡®help¡¯ me over my inner reluctance to jump into the whole. After having done his deed, the shadow tries to retreat, but to his horror, he gets to get dragged down the hole too. My bad reaction caused him to fall in me too. Noticing this, I turn off the barrier and push him away from me and reactivate the barrier. Not a second too early, as we make our way to the bottom. *platch**platch* He falls on the ground hard, I can hear some of his bones break and dislocate themselves. I in comparison had a lot more luck. The description from the barrier didn¡¯t write that it can save you ass in a fall, but I won¡¯t complain about it. All of my bones are without any damage, but I still feel like everything is hurting inside me. The barrier helped to damp some of the force and put less force at one point and disperse it over my body. Very helpful, but also very painful. Standing up with some difficulties, I make my way towards the guy, who ¡®helped¡¯ my descent into this cave. He is barely alive at this point, a lot of his bones were broken, he isn¡¯t able to use any potions, because those potions shattered after he landed, so a part of my loot was unfortunately destroyed. Careful not to touch any of the glass shards, I put away any other valuables he had. Then I looked around the cave. It was big, with a lot of skeletons lying around, also a lot of damage on the walls, some tried to escape with magic, some seem to have succeeded, but most don¡¯t. Not a lot of apprentices have ways to climb a 90-degree wall. And what lay on the other end of the cave looked even more impossible to get out from. Chapter 41: THE LOOTZ PART 1 Getting out is not an option. I think to myself. I have no way to climb that wall. Making my way through the slimy and wet floor, the stench of a rotting corpse assaults me. There lays a half-rotten man in a blue robe. His skull had been bitten off by some kind of small rodent, his shoes and other clothes except the blue robe also gave a rotten smell, only the metallic parts of the boots survived more or less intact, the rest is useless crap. Holding back my slowly rising disgust, I ¡®clean¡¯ his corpse of his valuables. His robe is expensive, though the scrolls inside were destroyed. Around his neck lays a deep ocean blue necklace. Made with a style completely unknown to me. I also freed him from his rings, two to be precise. After making sure that his rotten corpse has nothing of value left for me, I dump the whole corpse into my amulet. Luckily the space inside can¡¯t get dirty. Gotten rid of the stench, I continue to look through the skeletons lying around. There was a surprising variety of them around. Most had the features of human. A group to the left had obvious dwarf or gnome-like skeletons. They were picked quite clean. I imagine that they had some kind of armour and weapons, but nothing was left. Upon closer inspection, I smelled a very strange smell. Moving a bit to zero in the smell, I found myself in the middle of the dwarf group. Thinking that it most likely is something below me, I took out my shovel and began to clean away the dirt. The smell and an even stronger stench assaulted me in the middle of the work. Taking out a piece of cloth, I made it wet and put it in front of my nose and continued my work. Sweaty and breathing heavily, I hit my shovel against something hard. *clink* Hoping that it isn¡¯t a stone, I clean away the rest of the dirt and small stones. I find it very strange that in a cave in the middle of a mountain there is a place where I can use my shovel. I unearth a rotting chest the size of a trashcan and a jade-like skeleton. It had a smooth, green-transculent consistency. It felt very hard and most importantly valuable. The Skull was the bone which I was able to smell from the cave. The other bones also have the same smell, just a lot weaker. The skeleton definitely belonged to a human-like creature. It was slim and surprisingly high at 2.13 centimetres. I would say that they are elves, but I haven¡¯t heard of similar creatures yet and putting legends into this new world would be foolish. The box was obvious very precious. The metal looks like the day it had been made, in comparison, the wood is slowly rotting away, very slowly I have to add. The piece of wood without any rot has a very smoothing touch, very hard even harder than stone. The metal it is made from has a violet-dark colour. Very pretty. It had a lock in the front with no visible key lock. It has some kind of other opening mechanism. Not wanting to take any risks, in case the box is trapped, I put it into my amulet. Which was surprisingly hard. *ARGH* I winced in pain on the floor, blood leaking from my body, pain wrecking everywhere on my body. I feel some fear. I never thought that storing that extraordinary box would be so dangerous. What happened is that for whatever reason, the amount of mana needed to store the box was ridiculously huge. It sapped all of my mana and then continued to use my vitality to fuel the process. At least I didn¡¯t get killed. I jug down a health potion. *ARGHHHH* I cry in pain. This time a lot worse than before. I did get healed a good amount, but the expenditure this time didn¡¯t look like a normal wound. Having no better alternative, I drop the idea of drinking any more potion. Way too painful, and most likely would do more harm than good. Out of options, I simply take out some simple herbs with weak healing effects. These don¡¯t use the body¡¯s natural regeneration, they give the body medicine.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Before I could rest to regenerate, I moved my aching body to the entrance of the cave, where I landed and carefully planted half of my grenades there, I hooked it up with the barriers generator. Luckily, I didn¡¯t use a lot of mana when nothing happens to it. I simply made it that when someone drops, the shield pops, and thus the grenades falls to the ground, where I put some mana active ingredients to overload and explode the grenade. ¡°This should be enough,¡± I said to myself. Then I went inside to regenerate for a while. I expect that I should be reasonably healed after 3-4 days, fully only after one and half months or so. Moving into the place I picked, A small corner with moss usable as a bed and some light, facing the thing on the other side. The things an entrance, most likely the same thing my compass pointed towards, too bad that I don¡¯t have any energy to remake it. Not in this state at least. The entrance has been carved into the rocks. It looked somewhat like a Greek temple entrance, with big pillars ¡®holding the entrance¡¯. The entrance itself was a big slope of dark wood, with metal mechanical pieces holding it together. An exquisite creation I would say. If I want to imagine how dwarfen architecture would look like, I would point my finger at the entrance. The whole diggy diggy hole thing is supposed to be a dwarf thing anyway. At least that¡¯s what I know about them, they don¡¯t like mages that much. I wonder why? PART 2 After a day of resting and healing, I was able to move slowly again without hurting myself. Out of boredom, I made my way through the damp cave. The amount of corpses is really astonishing. I counted a grand total of 63 different corpse of 4 different races. The first three were the ¡®elf¡¯, the dwarfs and humans. The last were human-like, but with strange ¡®extra¡¯ limb at the back. They didn¡¯t die of old age, so whether those bones were used for wings or an additional arm is hard to judge. Nonetheless, I did store three of the most complete skeletons of each race for further research. I suppose that the deceased persons should have been powerful before their death. Unfortunately, someone already brought out most of the valuables from the corpses. The only lootable things were from people who fell inside from the last dozen or so years. They were all apprentices and I surprisingly found a squire with a sword and armour. I, of course, stored all of their valuables, which, to be honest, weren¡¯t a whole lot. After 3 days I was fit enough to use magic again. I wouldn¡¯t dare to fight an extended fight against anyone, but at least I had enough to use it if necessary. On the fifth day of my stay, I recovered enough to continue my journey. The way towards the door was plastered by mud and bones. These were different than the other skeletons from before. I suppose that these were maybe the bones of the apprentice? Who weren¡¯t resilient enough to stay whole? In my thought, I made my way to the entrance. Crunching bones and other hard to identify stuff under my boots. Following the now rebuild compass, I follow it to the right side of the entrance. There a part of one of the pillars light up with a very similar image to my compass, *VROOOM* The cave is shaking, dust coming down from the top, the door is slowly opening and unveiling the secrets inside. Slowly edging inside the new hall, I was greeted by a closing door, which made me panic a bit, to be honest, and a very plain hall, not decorated, but still made with style. In the middle is a shadowy podium, and beside it is a fully clothed corpse. The corpse is making me a lot more scared then the whole situation together. His state means that he has been inside for the same amount of time than the corpses outside, but neither his clothes or himself got any signs of it. Approaching the podium, a fresh smell assaults me. A small part of my soul tells me not to breath it in. Hastily I make some countermeasures against it. Soulshield in combination with a wet towel works good enough. Still clueless why it should be dangerous, I take the black book from the podium, flipping it around, I notice the thick and heavy pages. The whole book doesn¡¯t have more than 20 pages, but weighs 3-4 kilograms. I store it and continue my way to the person. She is very small compared to the corpses from the outside. She looked like a celebrity, just shrunken down by 36 per cent. A very strange sight, not for the average racist. She has a dark-shiny robe, at a side is a big gaping wound, most likely the reason she died. A one-piece dress underneath. The difference between a normal one-piece dress I know from earth is that there isn¡¯t a place anywhere to take it off. I carefully take off her amulet and her rings, she had three. Somehow all wizards have a lot of rings. The amulet, I was unable to store, which made me very excited. Then I stored her body. This time I was very careful, ready to break off the process at any moment, not wanting to get killed by being sucked of all the magic from within. On the other side of the room, there is a dark hallway there. I make my way towards it. Nothing is crunching under my feet this time, the room is pristine clean. Except for the blood from the corpse. Not even water can come into the room. In my book, it being this dry is a lot more impressive than the still intact door after the 3-4 century of exploration. You might be able to make something resist a lot of power, but making something in a damp environment which would stay for millennia dry, without water infiltrating it is very very impressive. The hallway continued for another four hundred meters, where I found another corpse, this one has the stench of a normal corpse, nearly everything has rotten off of it, except a small bag hanging on his hip and his shoes. As the good grave robber, I am, I store the bag and the shoes separately. The bag used up a big chunk of my mana, but by far not enough to make me dry like that box. The skeleton also came with me. I am pretty sure that the skeletons of powerful figures, preserved a good as this one could be useful for something in the future, unfortunately, I will not be able to show most of my loot. If the Order catches wind that I might have been inside here, all hell would break loose. I can¡¯t imagine what riches they managed to excavate from here. Only the armour and weapons from the dwarfs fighting the blue robbed person should be absolute treasures. Whatever. On this end is another door like the one I used to enter, it is only a lot smaller. Like a mini version of the other door. I activate it with the same compass as the one I used for entry. While walking, I think why that other person didn¡¯t leave. From the looks of it, he didn¡¯t die from fighting, he should have had the ability to make the compass and leave this place. So why didn¡¯t he? A mystery for another time Chapter 42: The escape The smell and the look of this part of the ruin was very different than where I entered. I suppose that I am either somewhere nit yet found, rarely visited or close to the enemy exit. Of course, I don¡¯t think that I walked that much, but who knows? The whole building was very strange. Picking a random direction, I continued my way. The silent hallways following in my journey. The smell got slowly less mouldy and the hallway less abandoned, I was able to slowly find the way towards an exit. *speaking noises* I stopped dead in my track. After not hearing any human fellows for over a week, I am very happy to hear some civilized noises. Before I could stop myself and be cautious again, I already met with the fellows. Only then did I realize that I fucked up. ¡°Who do we have here? A rat?¡± He said. Seeing a fireball coming into my direction, I take the wise option of immediately fleeing. Behind me 4 or five pairs of boots can be heard clicking on the ground. I was somewhat faster, The walls began to shake from the force they were forced to withhold. Running on the crumbling hallway, I solely focused on defence. I don¡¯t have any chance at all at defeating their group. Between casting and using scrolls for soul defence, I occasionally looked behind me. Two people followed me closely and the other was farther away, unable to see them, but they still made plenty of noise following me. In front of me, approximately 80 meters, was an especially unstable looking construct, I doubled my effort and redied all my grenades I could use at once. Still hearing shouting behind me, I dodge a dark bolt, and throw the grandee back. *BOOOOM* The hallway crumbles as excepted behind me. What I didn¡¯t expect was two of the fellas crossing over the grenades in the meantime. I don¡¯t know whether they were reckless, dumb or calculative. Whatever. Turning back, with a smirk I talk to them ¡°Well, well well, what do we have here? Dou you want to surrender or do you need some help in that regard?¡± Taunting them a bit. Two versus one is still manageable on my part. ¡°Shut it, dirty Order slave, give me your life to strengthen myself.¡± The larger fellow said. Not a good trash talker I suppose. I readied a grenade, then spoke a bit ¡°So do you accidentally know where we ¡­¡± Not ending my sentence, I threw the grenade in their faces. For a brief second, they were caught off guard, the larger fellow reacted a bit slower than his companion and got caught up in the blast. *BOOOOOOOM* Flying into the wall, the larger man grunts and stands up again. While this is happening, the other guy bombards me with spells. They mostly spelt somewhat weak in power, but with extra effects like extra pain or paralyses. This turned out to be a boon for me, because they were shielded of easier with soul shield. One of the spells hits my left hand. In this unfortunate moment, the defence artefact and my soul shield gets overloaded by an unknown spell from them. Wincing in pain, I retreat slightly, still somewhat hesitant to use a potion, I just bandage it in a second and continue my fight. While dodging and defending an idea stuck me. Something I forgot in my panic. I immediately execute it. I take out my flashbangs, activate them and threw them all out. In the meantime, I activate the barrier, make it only big enough to cover me and wait. *SHOCK**BOOM* They go off. My idea was to simply corner them. Behind them is the now unpassable hallway and in from of them is me. So I simply spammed the flashbangs. Walking through the crunchy bits of cloth and the strong pungent smell of burned flesh, I approach my two barely recognizable enemy. Unfortunately, all of their valuables, except their badge got destroyed, Their artefact destroyed too. Leaving them, I walk away in disgust. The smell of BBQ is not very comfortable while you rummage through corpses. All in all, this fight brought me barely anything. I just hope that the badges didn¡¯t get completely fried, else I would take a big loss. I explored more into the part of the ruin where I am. I occasionally met some patrols from the enemy faction, this time I didn¡¯t stupidly charge into them, I waited for them to pass. This I accomplished by playing spiderman on the top of their heads and some magic. In retrospect o got lucky a couple of times. After wandering around for what felt like days, I arrived at a bigger hub. Exploring the old and cleanly picked rooms, I concluded that I somehow got to the laboratory part of the ruin. A very hard to explain the distance from my previous location.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Picking out one of the empty rooms, I put the approximate map of the ruins onto the stone table, The only piece of furniture remaining in the room. Using some wood to make some light, I tried to figure out where I am right now. There were two news, one bad one good. The good one was that I know where I am. The bad one is that I know where I am. The crossing I just chanced up is one of the main hubs for the war. The bad thing is that it is the hub for the enemy. Luckily, none of the sides has any permanent base like infrastructure, but this is one of the more used hubs. Now I have two choices. I try my luck and try to go back somehow. Two, I shadow another team passing by and wait till they meet another team and hoping that they will help me out on my way back. Naturally, I choose the second option. Getting lost is the last thing I need right now. PART 2 The wait wasn¡¯ a long one. After only 4 minutes, a big group of 8 people came around the corner. Making extra sure that I am concealed, I waited for them to pass by. Their group was way too big. In case they find me, they can simply spam me to death with scrolls. The wait was rather uneventful. One solo person nearly found me. He suspiciously eyed the whole hub. It might be possible that they spread the news of one cocky guy running around very close to their side of the mountain. He might have been just stuck with that suspicion filled gaze. I waited for 5 hours until I finally found a good group to follow, they consisted of 4 people one women and three men. Or one woman one man and two boys. The two were younger than me. I don¡¯t even know what they are searching inside this ruin. Their team was the one I followed. They surely won¡¯t go to the thick of the battle, just like me, exploring stuff away from the main battlefields. Except that they don¡¯t get distracted by ancient soul wizardry. The clean floor from the hallway helped me in this case a lot. Spells might be good for masking myself. No amount of magic, at least on my level, can help with stepping on stuff and that stuff breaking in loud suspicious noises. Having nothing better to do, I simply listened to their conversation. ¡°So Marie, why exactly do we have to come here?¡± asked the man The women named Marie said ¡°because of Rudolf, you know how he threatened you¡± ¡°But then why do we come down here? Here he doesn¡¯t even need an excuse, he can simply kill us, that¡¯s illogical.¡± He nearly shouts, then remembering their situation, he continues in a whisper ¡°I still don¡¯t get why you urged us to go down here¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? He has influence and resources, he might be a bottom feeder, but for us, he is simply I giant. Even if we find something worthless for most, for us, it would still have a use. Imagine if we somehow get to kill one of those dirty pigs. We could escape from all our troubles.¡± ¡°But, but ¡­¡± He tried to say. ¡°Silent, we are already here, concentrate more on spotting people. If any of you three got killed, I wouldn¡¯t know what to do¡± Marie said. So this is how normal people are? I am lucky and have special abilities and some strong power for my age. I might be just 14 and not very strong in comparison to the elites at the peak of the 3rd stage, but few people wish to mess with me because of my potential and the painful gadgets I slowly got to get famous for. Comparing me to those people is difficult. I come from the 26 century, my thinking is highly evolved, there¡¯s not. Still surprising that not everyone is a selfish dick like me. At least most were who I met until now. Whatever the case, I won¡¯t ever know, someone is approaching. With that, I stopped thinking and focused on the coming fight. Their team is already weak, so I don¡¯t know hoo well they might fare against the solo guy approaching. I think I read somewhere that being a fisherman is very profitable. I went back a bit and changed out my robe for the unique robe of the enemy, to level out the playing field. When I come back, the two parties already met. With two deaths and one injured. The two kids lay dead to the side, poisoned. The other two were still fighting, Taking a closer look, I identify the man as one of the priority targets from Nelton. So an enemy I can freely kill, how sweet. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I came to help¡± I Said heroically to them. Managing to briefly take away the concentration of the friendly. I luckily know his weakness and his strong points, while he knows nothing about me. I Used mostly scrolls in the beginning. Looted from the guy in the airship. To mask my true identity. I also played weak. Not attacking with all my might, just here and there and looking engaged and busy. Like doing work. After a tragic scream, he finally died The woman, with bloodshot eyes stopped and glared at the enemy. ¡°You are going to regret this. If they are dead, so better be i¡± Then she took out something. Sensing something not good going on, I retreated. A wise choice, because the women went full kamikaze and blew up herself in the face of the man. Not wanting to let her sacrifice go to waste, I finished the job on the heavily wounded man with a soul shredder. ¡°So you, my friend are worth quite a lot¡±. Storing his head, which I had wrapped in towels, in my backpack, I looted him and made my way from where he came. The parts luckily didn¡¯t have a lot of traps, the ones I could, I deactivated, the others I simply went around. After some trying, I found the right pathway towards the exit. Excited, I walked faster. Meeting more and more people along the way. I didn¡¯t speak with any of them, less they identify me with my voice. Honestly, even I don¡¯t know why I am so paranoid, might have to do with the constant surveillance from my past. Thinking back, I got the shudder. Back, you couldn¡¯t even poop or masturbate without the authorities knowing about it. Really scary times. Luckily the nutjobs who wanted to make masturbation a crime, murder, were already long gone. Apropo, my hormones are slowly beginning to work. Bad timing really, in a dog eat dog world, I don¡¯t want to make stupid teenager mistakes. Getting killed over it would make me injustice. Finally, the end of the tunnel was in sight. Chapter 43: The deal with Nelton, Soul stone acquired The situation at the exit is pretty much the as when I left for the ruins. Guards looking at the merchant and their wares, other apprentices entering the ruin and so on. Even some stalls were set up. For me, the difference was huge. Before, I had to be alert a tall times, be prepared before something unfortunate could hit me any time, or someone sneak on me and I wouldn''t even know how I died. Before leaving the tunnel, I hastily changed into a new, and by this point, the last robe. This one didn¡¯t have any enchantings. I really hope that I get some worthwhile loot this time around. The two badges I initially thought were good are wasted. The material is right, but the innards were basically fried into kingdom comes, handing them in right now might not be the wisest decision. The other four badges got destroyed while the women self-destructed, so that¡¯s a no-no again. They didn¡¯t have any valuables of course. The only tangible thing I have is the stuff from that VIP from my faction I killed. The other stuff like the skeleton, the box and the robe and bag from the others aren¡¯t things that I can take out simply. The storage item is still unknown whether it has any valuables inside. ¡°Any luck?¡± asks one of the guards. ¡°No,¡± I said curtly and leave the place. While walking, I appreciate the environment once again, for a long time. The fresh air, the vibrant soil under my feet and the smell of nature. Who knows that staying so long underground would make one miss the surface world so much? Might also be a simple adaptation. Maybe I am just not used to it yet. Deciding to sort out my things later, I go to the dumping site, where all the excrements are stored, and dumb the body from the cave inside. What surprised me, besides the really really bad smell and pungent experience were other dead bodies. It seems that I am not the only one using this place as a convenient dump. Before leaving, I start a fire just in case. For which case? I don¡¯t know. The sun is in it¡¯s highest place ad the wind is rustling the leaves of the trees. Walking inside this Elysium like place was the main administrative tower, my destination. I marvel every time I see one of those architectures. I have seen plenty of more impressive building back on earth. Hell, I even saw spaceships, but that doesn¡¯t make this less impressive. Feeling free from the constant stress of having the possibility of getting murdered, I walk while humming a song back from earth towards the administrative tower. I see some people I met while roaming the airship, but also a lot of foreign faces, some with very different robes than I encountered until now. Not thinking too much about it, I continue my way towards the resource tower. My main objective is Nelton, ht second is inquiring about the destroyed badges, I am sure that I am not the only person who destroyed the badges of enemies. At least I hope that. Excessive force is the best force in my opinion. I immediately can spot Nelton after entering the tower. He stays in one of those corners where few people reside. Sometimes I have the feeling that he is nothing more than an NPC in a game. He stays always at the same place and I rarely see him elsewhere. I mean creepy, but not my problem, so ignore it. ¡°Hello, Nelton¡± I greet my favourite shady character. ¡°Hello Osric, what can I help you with?¡± He asks. In a very good mood. ¡°Two things, I have the head of one of your VIP¡¯s and the other is about the order policy about damaged badges?¡± I Ask him. Taken aback, he thinks for a minute or two and then answers. ¡°For the head, please show it to me later in behind your dorms, I don¡¯t wish for you to run around the compound with a severed head from one of the same order, as for the second thing, there is a policy regarding this. Most of those badges from either side were made cheap, translated into money, it would cost something like 5 contribution points. The materials are cheap and not worth mentioning, the only expensive thing inside that is the formation. Now that thing is complex, it is basically mass-produced by a mage level artificer, he can produce ten thousands of them in a month. The only problem is in a mage fight, when the shield is gone and the most deadly spell hits the body, he or she easily dies, but a small amount of that is enough to fry the amulet. You are really lucky to not have yet destroyed yours, they cost 10 CP to replace.¡± He lectured. ¡°Unfortunately, without the insides, it is hard to identify who it belonged to, so it is invalid for bounties, for normal rewards, it counts as 20 points, instead of the usual 25. Don¡¯t ask me why I don¡¯t know.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I like him, straight to the point, no bullshit. ¡°Alright, meet me at the back before nightfall,¡± I said. We said our goodbyes to each other and I made my way towards the exchange zone. ¡°Good afternoon, what can I help you with?¡± Asked the receptionist ¡°I have these badges,¡± I said and handed over the six badges I got from my victims. They were all damaged. ¡°Yes, wait a moment.¡± She said and took out a strange microwave looking apparatus. He put the badge inside one after another and then took them out. Maybe it transmits the information through another route, or it uses negative response to prove it positive? It can only detect whether it is fake and if nothing happens then it means that the badge is legit? ¡°Thank you, the Points are getting transferred to your amulet,¡± She said. I got surprised by this. After I asked her about it, she said that the gadgets they have are better than the ones I have in my tower. Actually, they are outdated and the new ones work by proximity. Being happy with my points, I go back to my dorm room. PART 2 Firstly, I restocked my wardrobe with robes. The one with protective enchantment had been so damaged, that they couldn¡¯t be saved anymore and for the normal ones, they aren¡¯t worth repairing in the first place. ¡°I still have time before the meeting,¡± I said to myself and sorted all of the loot that I acquired. First, the box. The one which nearly killed me. I decided to leave that one inside and not bother about it. If only storing it is such a dangerous thing, then I better not touch it. Who knows whether I activate something and die in the process. Then I move to the other stuff. The clothes of the small women. They are fine. After I infused a bit of mana into it, I noticed that it went into the direction of the slash in the cloth. Very slowly it repaired itself. Way slower than it should, so my mana shouldn¡¯t be good enough for the process, so it went into the unmovable asset pile, with the blue robe, and al of the skeletons. My amulet is pretty full at this moment, so I decide to store the skeletons except the jade one inside boxes. They have been outside for so long, that they don¡¯t smell after everything. The only thing about them is their hardness. After a quick trip to the administrative tower to request the chests, I continue with sorting my stuff. The men delivering it arrived after an hour. ¡°Sir, where do you wish to put those chests?¡± The man leading the rest asked respectfully. All of them were normal people without magical power. Or at least that¡¯s what I thought before they began to haul big heavy chests into my room. One chest per person and they used a minimal amount of power for that, they didn¡¯t even break out in a sweat. Maybe they were squires? ¡°Are you people squires?¡± I inquire. ¡°Yes, sir we are squires and the logistic department of the tower.¡± He said. ¡°I thought that the two paths are equal?¡± I ask while putting on an innocent expression. Really wanting to know it. ¡°No sir, a knight can never become a strong as mages.¡± He replied respectfully. Upon seeing him being very unconfrontable, I allow them to leave. Stalking them from a distance. ¡°Raul, what was that? He might not have noticed, but you nearly exploded into his face.¡± The leader said ¡°But Boss, what right does he have to ask that? He is looking down on us. What both paths are equal, bullshit. Maybe eras ago, but not now.¡± Raus said. A very interesting piece of information, so the ruin and my introductory box is even older than an era? Interesting. For an era long building. The ruins sure are holding themselves a lot better then I thought. Marvellous. ¡°Raul, shut up. What if they hear us? We are just squires, not even knights. Even knights are just glorified bodyguards, so shut up and do your work.¡± The leader snaps back at Raul with a bitter expression. Losing interest in their other conversation, which consisted mostly out of gossip, I made my way back to my room. I got some really interesting information here. My most likely guess is that their inheritance got cut off at some point, or that a war happened between mages and knights and they lost, with that, they lost their right to be free. I mean, I don¡¯t really blame the order for not making it public, who would ruin their free servant making scheme for cheap stuff like moral? No one. At least not in a world like this. Not my problem anyway. Storing the skeletons in the boxes, I put the stuff I wish to sell into my bag, next to the severed head inside clothes. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Before coming here, I met Nelton again and sold off some of my loot through him, he might take a share, but it shouldn¡¯t be too much. At least not after our conversation on the airship. Speak of the devil. After waiting twenty minutes, he and some other people are approaching me. They have a chest with them. I hope that they were simply the guard for the chest, and not the ¡®tax¡¯ collectors, with the tax being my head. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t come to that. ¡°Osric, which guy did you kill?¡± He asks, going straight to the point. His companions look at him a bit strangely, most likely because of his no-nonsense attitude he is displaying while talking with me. Taking out the head, I show him ¡°This one¡± He inspects a bit, then confirms it. ¡°Yes that is Runard Reimman, good job he was one on one of the highest position on our kill list.¡± He is very delighted by this discovery. Then he goes back to my preferred attitude and takes out something from the chest. ¡°We have a lot of stuff, but I imagine that this is the thing you want the most right?¡± He said and shows me a black stone, with some white spots. It is also lightly glowing in those two colours. The signature move of the soul stone. A thing I wished to acquire for a long time. Unfortunately, it is rare, not expensive, but just rarely found. Lucky for me that they don?nt know its usage, or it would cost me a lot more to get my hands on it. ¡°Yes, thank you very much,¡± I said excitedly. Being thrown off by my break of character, he smiles a bit, but immediately goes back into character. ¡°I hope for a happy correlation¡± He said. ¡°me too,¡± I said and left the scene of the crime. Chapter 44: Interlude, The attack on the organization Interlude PART 1 Osmor. In the heavy rain, a group of people are wandering through the wet and smelly streets of the west district. The group of people consists of mostly males, with a rough-looking women mixen in. They all have used-down clothes and questionable hygiene. ¡°We are fucked¡± Said one man, complaining to the leader of the group ¡°Larry, that¡¯s how it is, I mean I prefer not killing too, but we have a job and none of us want to find out what happens when he is unsatisfied with any of us, do we?¡± He said back ¡°No/nope/I am too young to die,¡± said the group behind him. The leader sighs. What a mess he had gotten himself into. He and his group are on their way to attack One of the warehouses of the new gang which unified the western district. For some reason, two gangs decided that it was the right time to attack that newly formed gang. Their expansion did not amuse the rippers and the builders, why they attacked at the same times both seems fishy and strange. The builder never bothered about anything else other than their district. They were content with living their lives, cooperate and live as a community. Yes, here and there, there were some disputes and shouting matches, but they usually never killed anyone. They were like the black panthers of old California. Defending their community because the nobels don¡¯t give a damn outside of taxes and the Tower didn¡¯t give a fuck about them either way. If they become too problematic than their solution will be very radical and bloody. That is well and good, but confused the leader most was their cooperation with the rippers. None in their community has any lost love for them, they are the worst of the people, worse than all of the gangs. All of the deaths from the three other districts doesn¡¯t add up for their monthly killing. Who ends up killed is no surprise. Most of the gang is very confused and a minority even outraged, but the leadership of the gang was not open for discussion, so there they are, coming into the territory of a gang, which whom they don¡¯t have any problems, fights or any kind of conflicts, and attack them brutally. A decision which nearly resulted in a civil war inside the gang. Continuing their march, the group arrived in front of a cluster of buildings, mostly poorly made stone houses. Enough to live inside, but the modern comfort of cheap magical products are bared from them. ¡°Alright, we have to kill them, then burn down the building, don¡¯t let anyone escape or spot you, we want to stay anonymous.¡± He said and lead the group armed with mostly cheap daggers and any kind of blunt object they can use for attacking. Inside their objective, a middle-sized house with a garden at the back, a group of people are playing cards in the main room, All of them have something next to them, a bat, every one of them has in common, that they had something to defend themselves with next to them. They consisted of 14 people, half sleeping, while the rest were playing cards. ¡°Have you heard? Kathlin is now gone from the wild rose, too bad, she was my favourite girl¡± One said, while throwing a card onto the table. ¡°Her? Man you gotta some heavy taste, I prefer Lisa, She is thin, big boobs and a nice ass, what else can you expect? The best thing is that she is cheap¡± One boasted ¡°I wonder why she is cheap,¡± One man said, while smirking ¡°Maybe she has some illn ¡­¡± ¡°Shut up Greg, no one cares about your opinion.¡± One snapped back and throw his cards onto the table ¡°Bitches I win, here with da money.¡± He said and excitedly collected the cards. A soft clicking sound can be heard, one of the men seem to notice it. ¡°Hey Tord, what was that just now?¡± He looked around with a hint of suspicionStolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Just a mouse,l nothing happens around here anyway¡± Tord shrugs and continue to fiddle around with his cards. ¡°But I am I heard something just now, here it is again,¡± He said. Another soft sound could be heard. ¡°Whatever, Grog take a look,¡± Said the leader annoyed, and sends one of the guys to have a look. Annoyed, Grog walks off to have a look, not before giving the guy who gave him extra work a glare. The guy simply shrugs, that is their jobs or not? The activities continues, until a loud thud with a silent scream is heard. *ARGH* This time, all of them are very suspicious. ¡°Grog, how are things?¡± The leader shouts. After not receiving any answer, he shouts louder. ¡°Grog, answer something, HEY¡± After not receiving any answers, he said. ¡°Everyone, wake up the rest and ready yourself¡± After commanding it, he grabs his own kitchen knife, and stand next to the door. While the sleeping gang members are being woken up, the enemies rush into the room. ¡°Attack,¡± Said the leader of the warehouse. A chaotic battle ensures, a battle which the invaders win. Except two of the guards, the rest were butchered. The attackers made out without any casualties, they had surprised the defenders, who weren¡¯t ready or awaiting any kind of attack. ¡°Boss, what to do with the two we captured?¡± Asked The women from the builders. ¡°Ask him about any valuables and any kind of other information, then kill him¡± It pained in his heart. Killing was never his favourite activity, but for himself, his family and his friends, he has to do what he was told. Once a gang member, always a gang member. ¡°No, don¡¯t kill me, I have kids.¡± One of the two shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t go after your family¡± reassured the leader. Whether he was consoling the now dead guy or himself is unknown. PART 2 Similar scenes are playing out everywhere in the living district. Most of the ambushes are successful, while some have time to prepare themselves, all in all, the new organization got hit hard. Not enough to crumble, but a sizeable hit. The next morning. Inside a four-story meeting, at the top floor, a meeting is being held between three individuals. Two of them are dressed in white and black respectively, while the last is clothed in normal, well-to-do way. They were arguing. ¡°How dare they attack us, we didn¡¯t even try to expand into their direction¡± Dark man said. He carried himself like an aristocrat, not completely succeeding tough. ¡°I don¡¯t think they care what we did, this reeks of a conspiracy. I couldn¡¯t believe that the builders got involved, I haven¡¯t heard of them doing something like this in like ever.¡± Black mantis said. ¡°We can¡¯t do anything against it now, can we. On another note, how should we defend us? Godfather is away for another couple of years, defend or counter attack?¡± white man said. He is similar to black mantis in temperament, calm but a lot more calculating. He added. ¡°Defending is the better option, thanks to the help and resources, mainly some artefacts and magic scrolls, we secured a good control of the smuggling routes, that might be the reason why the rippers attacked us. The amount of scrolls we can buy from the normal shops are few and far between on normal times, now with the builders actively acting against us, the scrolls available to purchase have been halved, selling the smuggled good is also harder to get rid of.¡± Smashing his hand on the table, black man raged. ¡°Damn, it what do they want? We have to smash them¡± ¡°No, we don¡¯t have to. Or we can¡¯t do so. The best method is to lose some ground and after when godfather comes back, we can fight back.¡± White man said. Still feeling strange calling Osric Godfather. He argues that it is fine, calling a 13 or so year old kid godfather is fine. Then he gets cooled down from those thoughts by some strange effect. Time goes on as normal. After the first wave of ambush, the organization abandoned a lot of the outer bases, focusing primarily on the triangle of their three main bases. They also stopped the bulk of their smuggling activities, focusing more on higher-quality goods, or goods which are very easy to get rid off. Even if some artisans didn¡¯t want to buy their stuff, sometimes they are forced to do so. This situation went on for half a year. After the first two months, the situation specialized, not caring about common goods anymore, and making up the quality with quantity, making a lot of contact with the tower. Those contacts mainly worked for Nelton. A small surprise he left behind for Osric. Skirmishes happened frequently, but rarely anything bigger. After their first try at attacking one of the main bases, they gave up of taking control of one. This had multiple reason. The main ones being first the magic scrolls, Osric left behind hundreds of them, using them with the very effective weak artefacts which he also left behind, they easily defended against mobs. The other were their fighters. Through their constant fighting, most of the survivors proved themselves as capable soldiers. Bribing a guard instructor had been a major help in this case. Luckily, the persons from the builders were common mobs, not very good at fighting, just at brawling. The rippers were a different story, they weren¡¯t really good fighters either, just a lot more vicious than the other parties, they used everything to win a fight, from ganging on a person to throwing sand in their eyes, everything was allowed as long as their enemy is dead. Six months later, the situation is pretty good for both sides. The war has been spread in the city, and officials tried to look the other way for a time, but after 6 months, even they can¡¯t completely ignore it. This led to a reduced rate of attacks. Big groups of hooligans were often spotted by guards and escorted back to their district. Unfortunately, none of them were detained. Money is useful in a lot of ways. Another meeting ¡°The situation is looking good,¡± said black man smugly. ¡°And it does not merit alright¡± Said white main ¡°Here they go again¡± mumbled black mantis to himself and then watched the two quarrel for some time. Something that has become increasingly common in the last couple of months. The nerves of everyone are at their end. The leadership is no exception here. They get the most of it. Thinking back, mantis still has a lot of sadness inside of him. His comrades died, His friends also got killed. In the first ambush, a good fifth of their forces were killed, later on, the war, another fifth got exterminated. On one hand, it strengthened the whole organization, it made them one and not three cooperating ones. That he made sure. He often mixed the members of the three gangs, behind the back of the other two, who are more interested in their rivalry, then properly manage their gangs. At the beginning white man was promising, but he succumbed to stress. He got more and more inefficient. That isn¡¯t the biggest problem. Their competition led to even more deaths. With a tear in his eye, he thinks back to two months ago. It was an ambush. He and right man, his brother, got caught in the fight and to safe him, right man died. This lead to him becoming more harder on his subordinates, but also on himself. Gone was his laidback attitude and his laziness, now he put his soul and body into the organization. His commitment saved the gang from fracturing, or even getting wiped out, he just hopes that Godfather comes back before something happens even he can¡¯t solve Chapter 45: The ritual preperation Part 1 I am pretty happy. I finally got the last ingredients necessary for the ritual. The soul stone. A rare and precious material with the soul attribute. In my case, it is going to used for cleansing. The ritual I am planning is the soul clean ritual. It is used for various porpuses, with a lot of possible variation. It is like a lego for soul related rituals. I have to say, the person who made this ritual is a genius. It is usable only on the level of apprentice, but it is still impressive. Imagine that you have one toolbox for every of your evil soul needs. Want to wipe the short term memory? The long term one? Or clean away soul spell? This toolbox has everything you need for that. The needed materials differ, for most, it uses common material, for my purpose, I had to get a soul stone from somewhere. My purpose will be to wipe away any kind of consciousness from subject#001. Until now, this wasn¡¯t very important, he had been very obedient for most. I didn¡¯t notice it, but it did affect me. In minor ways. It makes cultivation harder, damps my senses and making thinking a bit harder. Not in an obvious way, like in the ruin, I wouldn¡¯t have walked so close to the ledge without rechecking whether anyone was nearby. This has to stop before it evolves into something I won¡¯t be able to deal with, so without further ado, I make my way to the administrative tower to rent a ritual room for the first time. Having everything prepared, I set off. Outside, it was still sunny, warm and everything. Something strange, because it is, in fact, true, but I wouldn¡¯t care normally for it, as long the weather is not hideous, it doesn¡¯t bother me. They walk was uneventful. Inside the tower, I make my way to the reception desk. ¡°What can I help you with?¡± Asks the bored receptionist, maintaining a nice attitude. ¡°I want a ritual room, do you have any free?¡± I ask him. ¡°let me have a look, one second¡± he sais and goes to the back room for a bit. After coming back, she informs me. ¡°There are two low-level, zero mid-level and one high-level apprentice ritual room available at the moment, which would you want? The price is charged by the hour. Low-level costs 10, middle level 15 and high level costs 20 per hour¡± Not wanting anyone to notice, I hesitated a bit. Maybe doing it inside the tower is not a good idea, why did I think of that? ¡°Never mind,¡± I say and leave the tower. The receptionist is a bit puzzled by my abrupt loss of interest, but shrugs it off as a normal eccentric of an apprentice, he has seen a lot worse in his career. My next possible destination is the mountains, being hesitant at making it either in the dorms or close to the tower. I prepare for a week-long excursion into the mountains. Wanting a good excuse, I take on a mission in the tower. It is about killing some monsters and bringing back their purified blood. Nothing major, The equipment I need is some wood and a pot for the purification. A normal alchemical process, so it shouldn¡¯t make anyone suspicious, next I prepare food. Gritting my teeth, I pack away some jerky meat. Not what I really want to eat, but better than nothing. Next, I make sure that I have salt and pepper with me. Now that I think of it, there was a stall selling spices close to the waffle station. I also could stock up some waffles for the journey. Having made my mind, I pack the rest of my stuff and make my way to the commerce zone. ++++++++++++++ Some stalls were gone, some stayed. The bigger ones didn¡¯t move. This also meant that the two of my targets today stayed at the same place, first I made my way to the waffle station, and asked for a buck load of waffles, which I asked to be sent at the fastest speed to my dorm room, I paid upfront. Then I am going to stash them away in my storage equipment. ¡°Good morning, what can Rukit do for you?¡± A small built vendor asked me. In front of me is his stall, packed full of spices and whatnot, he also had some salt with very strange colours. I am not that interested in that right now. What didn''t much surprise me was the price, the weighing scale was measured in grams and sold in gold. Very expensive. ¡°I am searching for spices, mainly for meat, what can you recommend for me?¡± I ask. The vendor immediately becomes very motivated and lists of two dozens of spices. ¡°Do you have anything spicier?¡± I ask. Coming from a country, which loves spicy food, I was more interested in those. That doesn¡¯t mean that I need everything sharp, it simply meant that I like some food spicier than others. ¡°Yes, yes we have here goln Chilly, it comes from the mainland of the Order of element, highly favoured by the masters of flame, Also here some figure pepper, very tasty indeed.¡± He saidReading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°If I can take liberties, I would recommend these two spice mixes,¡± he said ¡°An what is so special about them?¡± I ask ¡°They are called the epitome of flavour in their home country. It is in another continent you must know.¡± He boasts about it. ¡°I wish to have a taste test of them¡± I demand. Looking a bit hesitant, I release some of the pressure from my path. Being scared a bit, the vendor of course agrees. The chilly and the pepper were good, but I would call them average, still I will buy some. Now the spice mixes were surprising. One was like curry and the other one was similar to the ones I did at home. For creamy dishes. All in all, I was very satisfied, not with the prize of course, but in the end, I did pay the ten gold, PART 2 Having everything already ready for my small excursion, I made my way towards the nearby forest, going to the right of the whole mountain, I heard that in that direction are some smaller caves, the perfect location for my not evil ritual. The forest is called dragonback forest. It¡¯s close proximity to the dragonback mountain made it an ideal hunting spot for humans and animals alike. The death toll it asks is high, the amount of money you can forage from this place is also big. High risk, high reward, but that is not my objective today. A cave 20-30 kilometres away from the tower, the hike should take 5-6 hours normally, but with the thick vegetation and the abundance of predators, I made my goal to reach the distance in two days maximum. My main mode of transportation was walking close to the mountainside and constantly keeping up shadow concealment while looking out for any animals that might pose a threat to me. The woods around me is silent, so am I, not making anything to disturb the forest, but I know that there are predators around. Once I was nearly spotted by a big, grey wolf. Reminding me of the wolves which I met in the black beetle forest, but twice the size and with a meaner look. Nothing I want to have a date with on the short term. Oher predators also roamed the woods. The wolves were the most abundant. Than come foxes, big cats and other small predators. I call them small, but in reality, most of them were the size of a big dog. Facing a cat which looks cute when half in size might not be so cute anymore when it has claws sharp and long enough to skin your face. My journey of the first day was uneventful. I made camp in a very small cave, one of the many I saw until now, a couple were big enough for my purposes, but by far not far enough from the tower. There I slept. Made some arrays at the entrance of the cave. Mostly camouflage, no formation that were in my capability were potent enough to protect against an angry mob of grey wolves, so I went with camouflaging the cave. The next day was also rather uneventful, the only problem was that the further I came from the tower, the are suitable caves became. After finally reaching my goal for the distance, I barely managed to find one. This one had a small entrance, and a big cave inside, first, I closed off the smaller cracks, in fear of anything making their way towards me while doing the ritual, melting the stones with fire and then manipulating it top to close the crack. The whole crack crackdown cost me half a day. Satisfied with still being in my time plan I began to set up the ritual. Now, this part is somewhat tricky. In the original ritual, there are two different parts for the ritualist and for the volunteer. Now I am the same person for both cases, so I had to change it a bit. The ritualist place, I left as it is. The second ritual, I overlaid of the first and made the triggering and targeting a bit different. First I changed it to only accept, not forcefully invade the person and cleanse it all together. The targeting I changed to be made by the ritualist, so I can connect the second set of souls inside me with the ritual, before the cleansing would begin. This I already made in the dorms before I even received the stone. I was already prepared for this. After this ritual, I would eliminate the only uncontrollable thing inside me. It either gets destroyed in the process, or I get another soul in the process to play around with. I stopped controlling the healing of the soul for a couple of days already. If the soul is too damaged, some unforeseen circumstances could arise. Something I don¡¯t need, +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In another part of the mountains, inside a small conference room, a couple of people are meeting with their leader. This leader being Isaac. ¡°What happened to Joe? How did he die?¡± Isaac asks. Clearly angered by the fact that one of his most valuable underlings got killed. He placed a lot of importance on Joe, hoping to one day help him ascend to the ranks of an official mage. What the other didn¡¯t know that he received an ancient ritual. The only problem was the he was unable to accomplish it alone, he needed an expert alchemist and ritualist for the procedure. The thing he placed big hopes on Joe. Now his death angered him more than anything else. ¡°Our spies confirmed his death ..¡± One reported Cutting into his word, Isaac shouted ¡°I know that he is dead, I want to know why and who did it¡± indignation clear on his face. The figure shrank back, not wanting to face the angered Isaac anymore. One of his colleagues come to his rescue, however. ¡°We received a report from one of ou spiel under Allister. The person who got the reward for the kill is an apprentice called Osric Thale 13 years old, had been inside the tower for a little over 1 year. He''s rumoured to be a great artificer and competent at fighting with his gadgets.¡± ¡°And how did someone like him got recruited by that dimwit Allister?¡± he raged on ¡°Sir, it was you who pushed him there, do you remember sending some people after a newbie a year ago?¡± he asks ¡°Yeah what of it?¡± He said. Having already forgotten the incident ¡°He is the same person, he later got recruited by Nelson,¡± He said. ¡°And where is he now?¡± Isaac said ¡°he left the tower for a mission a couple of days ago into the woods, his whereabouts are unknown,¡± He said ¡°Then I want him dead, ambush him when he returns, shouldn¡¯t be too hard,¡± he said and stormed out of the room. Seeking peace in the embrace of a woman. Chapter 46: The ritual PART 1 The ritual is finally ready. This also meant that I emptied my storage equipment quite a lot. More place for loot. Back to the ritual. It looks kind of glorious. Geometrical shapes, mainly circles, with silver, with and other colours. It feels like being back in college. Those automated drug testers. They had similar colours. Whatever back to the ritual. First I used some meditation to be in my peak. Very important in any kind of ritual or experiment. If this whole things blows in my face because my mind wandered somewhere, I wouldn¡¯t know where to cry. The ingredients would be wasted. As the last component, I put the soul stone into the middle of the ritual. The whole cave lights up for a second and then goes back to into an inactive state. Now I have a couple of hours for preparing subject#001. A lot of time. Inside the ritualist circle, I connect my mind to the control of the ritual. It is a bit like an array, like in the mage towers, but very simple, barely any commands. It is more like an on/off switch with the potential to become a computer and maybe an AI. The next hurdle was connecting the second set of soul to the right circle. Which was fairly easy for me at least. The amount of times I experimented on subject#001 is uncountable. Manipulating his soul may not be as easy as my own, but sure am better at it than most mages would assume. I believe that not even the maker of this particular ritual thought about my situation. Back to the ritual. After some time, the second soul is attached to the right space. The ritual is ready to begin. First, I turn it on, then I watch as the ritual is doing its magic. First, the room lights up in silver-white light, not exactly expected in a borderline evil ritual. Next, the mouldy, wet smell in the room gets replaced by a strong odour. Hard to describe, I would say it is a mix of iron like smell, like in blood, with a mix of citrus. A strange combination I know. After making sure that the ritual is making it¡¯s intended thing and not doing anything strange, I go into myself and watch what exactly the ritual is doing there. Hoping to get some kind of enlightenment or idea for future spells and/or gadgets. My bet had paid off. Not in a direct way like the infusion technique I learned the last time, more like giving a spark of insight while watching. This might be the legendary state of enlightenment that was talked about in novels back on earth. The soul is literally getting a scrub down. It gets deformed often into strange shapes, then left in that shape for slow self-recovery. This way the whole process went on for half a day. The last part of it was dozens of snapping sounds. Twelve were the loudest. Maybe this was the meridian network Chinese traditional medicine practitioners talked about? The whole movement had been somewhat popular when I was a teen, so I know a bit about it. Plausible, possibly just a coincidence. Making a mental note about the placing of those major meridians, I continue my observation. After the snapping sound, the soul and the body, which in this case was mine, was completely destroyed. The contact points were either completely, or nearly completely disconnected. This, in a roundabout, way solved my previous problems. Now something undocumented happened. The snapped meridians and the mater is was made from didn¡¯t simply disintegrate, they combined with mine. This also happened to the soul tissue close to those meridians. These also combined with my soul. Strengthening my soul across the board. I also feel that my cultivation also advanced rather rapidly and after breaking through the 4th stage of the soul path, I will have the additional benefit of already knowing those points and have them already have strengthened them. A very lucky coincidence. The last benefit provided that enlightenment. I theorized a system similar to a hard drive back on earth. While in school, I had a group project to research and compare ancient and newer modern storage techniques. Nowadays we used a kind of quantum database shrank down a lot. This also only for those not wanting to use the cloud. Where nearly everything was stored. I, of course, am not able to replicate such a complicated system, but maybe making something similar to a HDD was possible? It will stay as a theory for a good while. Not having the necessary resources and ability to even remotely try something like that. Begrudgingly, I had to leave this until I breakthrough as an official mage. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A group of people were walking around the woods, in front of them is one tracker, looking around at the trees and bushes. ¡°What do you think he is doing? I haven¡¯t seen him cast any magic yet. Do you really think that he will be able to find his track?¡± said man A.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Yes, he should. The boss paid good money for him to find Osric, then lay an ambush. Watch out, he might be listening, you don¡¯t want to offend that guy, I heard some stories.¡± Man B said. ¡°Yeah, unfortunately, he won¡¯t help us in the fight,¡± Man B said. They get interrupted when the tracker shouts for them. ¡°Come here lads, there it is,¡± he shouted. Then he shows them some remaining magic, which is about to dissipate. ¡°Your boss got lucky, one more day and your mate would be gone for good, now follow me¡± He said and laid the group onwards. After a couple of hours of walking, the tracker stops. ¡°Now lads, this place is the best if you want an ambush, he would come through here¡± Confidently, he walks into the place void of trees in the middle of the forest. ¡°Why, the forest is big tough¡± Man A couldn¡¯t hold back his doubts ¡°Because you dimwit, the rest of the area around is full of monsters. If he treasures his dear life, he will come through here. Now, lads, my job Is done, see ya¡± He sais and leaves the place before anyone in the group could say anything else. PART 2 Until now, I was a bit confused why some of my movements were so sluggish. In comparison to my old self, it was still better, but it is nothing than some of the squires were able to do. Now I know why, because the meridians were split, the control of the body was also split, just that the other participant in this carsharing was not able to steer the vehicle, so it only interfered minimally, until when his soul got slowly strengthened through my efforts. After every heal, it got somewhat stronger. Theoretically, this is another way of training in the path of the soul. I am pretty sure that I am not the first person who discovered this and why this method I not popular isn¡¯t hard to guess. Who would survive this? My next course of action is destroying any evidence of the ritual. Soul magic is rare, so rare that I haven¡¯t heard of it in the Order yet, but the official mages shouldn¡¯t be this oblivious to it. So I decided to dump all of my grenades and flashbangs, expect two of each for. And either destroying everything inside the cave, or causing it to collapse. Either is fine. Outside the cave, I activate the makeshift igniter, causing the whole cave to be embroiled in a chain reaction. *BOOOOOOOOOOM* With a massive explosion, the cave collapsed. The only witness of my ritual is now the rubble which formed from the cave. Satisfied at my finished job, I make my way back to the tower. Watching out for the target of the mission. Easy points never disappointed anyone. My aim was a one-horned werebeast. It had a horn on its head and looked like a goblin sized Werewolf. Very sneaky creatures and hard to kill. Sneaking my way through a valley, I notice I a bush shaking in the distance. Inside the bush, I can make out a bit of dark-blue, a colour my prey has plenty of. Sneaking towards it, I prepare some spells, my normal soul shield wouldn¡¯t be of much use against a purely physical beast, so I don¡¯t waste my mana on it. After closing in, I am only 6 meters from my prey. The bush shakes once more, this time harder and a dark-blue ball of fur is cannoning himself into my direction. Clawing in my direction, I use one soul shock to widen the distance and the attack with arcane bolt. The creature keeps dodging them. Even when hit with a soul shock, their instinct allows them to dodge the relatively slow spell. Relative to the monster, of course, no human would be able to dodge that. After wasting 5 minutes and half my mana, I lure the monster into a false sense of victory. When he makes a charge for it, I use soul shock again, but this time I use violet mana to power the arcane bolt. Which becomes a lot faster than before and pierces the skull of the beast, coming out at the other side. Not having time or a mouth to make any noises, the werebeast goes down without a problem. This type of creature is only dangerous when ambushed, else they are pretty manageable. Smelling the iron-like smell of blood, I don¡¯t lose any time and take out a big pot and drain his blood, making sure that no brain matter dilutes the blood. All in all, I got 2-3 litres of blood from the creature, which I refined into one vial of purified blood. Not a lot of reward for killing one beast, but what can I say? It was not exactly hard. Not for me at least. Satisfied, I pack away my utensils, and leave the body for other predators to dispose of it. Back on my track, I don¡¯t meet anything dangerous and continue my journey. Waking up in the morning, I break up my campsite inside another cave and take on the last leg of my journey. My gut is warning me from something. I don¡¯t know what, but it is doing it now. This Is not the first time something like this happened. Back when I accepted the mission for the black beetle forest, the sensation was a bit similar, just much weaker. Might be because the danger was either less or that I got stronger. Whichever it may be, I now know that continuing my path forward is dangerous. Thinking back, I search for the best ambush spots from my way towards the tower. There were three of them. One being too close to the tower, and the other two farther away. The remaining two option was a valley which I had to pass through and the second where I dodged some of the stronger monsters close to the mountains. From the two, the first seems more likely. Using the latter would mean that they have to cover a lot more ground than the first. The first valley is a chokepoint between two monster territories. Common knowledge for anyone who bothered to take a look at the map about the vicinity of the tower. Now my main objective was not fighting. I can already imagine who and why the attackers are doing this. Evading is the best choice. Thinking over a bit, a plan begins to hatch in my mind. It consists of two parts. First I plant one of my grenades somewhat far from the valley, as to lure away some of the ambushers, second is to lure into the valley some grey wolves. Both parts are rather easy to accomplish, just getting away later might be more problematic. So, I prepare everything now and do it today. The first part succeeded rather easy, I have already experimented a bit with a timed bomb, so making one which explodes after 40-45 minutes isn¡¯t hard. Only the timing would be a bit difficult, but manageable. Then I searched for any group of grey wolves in the vicinity. I found two. The second was 6 minute run away from the valley so I choose them. Now the only remaining part is waiting for tomorrow. Very early when the sun is barely up. Chapter 47: The grand escape The echoing sound of birds cheeping woke me up. The forest was as active as ever in the morning. Standing up, I eat some meat jerky and drink a glug of water. After having my fill, I break up my camp inside the small cave. The rest of the firewood put away with the bedroll, I removed the camouflage and alarm formation from the entrance. The formation is rather simple, it has two parts, one for camouflaging and the second for alarming me. Simple. In comparison, an array is more complex and permanent. For example, the formation can be powered by people, but most arrays need an energy source. The sun is barely up. Perfect for my plan. To be sure, I jog to the location of my bait, make sure that everything is at the right place. Making sure that the group of wolves is around the same place as yesterday, I go back to arm the grenades. The amount of time necessary for the trigger to explode is 30 something minute. A manageable amount of time to count in my head. Having everything finished, I make my way to the wolves. This takes 5 minutes. There, I wait for 21 minutes, theorizing that the rest of the time is survivable. I don¡¯t wish to make too much of a noise. Attracting the ambushing fellows ahead of time would prove disastrous. Dispelling shadow concealment, I shoot some arcane missiles in their direction, making sure to hit some of the wolves, but not exactly aiming at their fatal spots. Like their head or heart. *AWOOOO* The group of wolves, after registering my threat, immediately begin their chase through the forest. The feeling of being followed is not a very nice one. One wolf came too close to me, nearly close enough to take a bite out of me. As a reaction, I attacked him with minor shock. My rarely used lighting spell. As time went on, it got more and more useless. Back to the wolves. After the first wolf got its share of pain, the wolves somewhat more apprehensive. Our chase followed a similar pattern for the most part. I run, recasting minor swiftness the whole time and when a wolf came too close I cast minor shock. After trying and failing, the wolves came now ingroup, 4 wolves sprinted out of their group, trying to overwhelm me. My reaction to this was a free round of soul shocks. Which scared the wolves quite a lot. After some time, I was already very close to the valley. My main advantage was that I didn¡¯t get spotted yet. The wolves are silent predators in nature and didn¡¯t make a big fuss while hunting me. Too afraid of bigger and meaner predators being lured through their howles. *BOOOOM* A loud explosion rang out. Echoing for a second before the silent tone of the forest took over again. Estimating that I had at most 6 minutes, I made a beeline for the valley. I approximated that they need 2 minutes to reach the spot, 2 minutes to search and find out what exactly happened and then 2 more minutes to rush back. A time I wished to use to slip through their encirclement. Approaching the clearing, I spot a group of 5 people standing clueless in the clearing. I don¡¯t know why they act like idiots, but I take it. On second thought, they might act as bait. Maybe they wisened up a bit? Doesn¡¯t matter have fun with the wolves. With that, I sprinted towards them, throwing a flashbang or two behind me, to distract the wolves a bit while I slip away. This wouldn¡¯t have normally worked, but having other volunteers close-by helped in this aspect. I cast every spell, which prove useful in this situation, shadow concealment, soul shield and more. This whole, time I get bombarded by bolts and some spells. Because of the distance, most missed, and the ones which hit already lost a lot of their power, enough for my enchanted robe to damp the rest. It sill hurt, a bit like getting shot by a paintball gun. Running through this barrage of attacks, I run into the trees close to the other side of the valley. Cursing, or I assume that¡¯s what they did before they came after me. Combined with 5 obvious baits, I saw 4 more coming out of the shadow of the trees, they were the crossbow users. A weapon I haven¡¯t used yet, I find it too obvious and clunky. I much more prefer my self crated hidden armguard. Much more power with poison and very concealed. Good as a trump card, like one the airship. My full speed sprint helped in leaving my ambushers and the wolves to dance with each other, what it didn¡¯t help with are the branches which happily collided into me since the beginning of my action. From running from the wolves until now. Not feeling safe enough, I continued my sprint. I could of course take a longer road. Not the shortest way I make now. This is for two reasons. Maybe this confuses my followers and this leaves no time for them to set up another ambush. From their ambush spot, I can infer that they had at least a good tracker helping them. Giving them more time this way might be simple suicide. Luckily, they didn¡¯t invent short-range communication yet. What am I talking? That is already there, just too expensive for them to afford. Completely out of breath, I lean against one of the many trees surrounding me. Yes, my physical qualities got strengthened quite a lot after my repeated breakthroughs after becoming a mage, but that didn¡¯t make me a very fit person. Especially cooping in my room making experiments, magic scrolls and translating. After 2 minutes, I continued. It doesn¡¯t matter how big of a distance there is and whether the wolves were able to stall them. When the lured away group comes back, they would have an easy time dealing with the wolves.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! PART 2 In a slow jog, I made the rest of the journey. It took me another 4 hours to do so. Something I used twice the amount of time previously. This time I was faster partly because I already got used to the terrain and the dangers, second and the more important reason is that I am fleeing from my pursuers. I jogged for 50 minutes and made a 5-minute break. An hours before I arrived at the outskirt of the tower, I hear a someone sprinting behind me. Looking back, I see an unarmored individual following me in a full sprint and he is approaching fast, he should only take another 6 minutes or so to catch up to me. Not enough time to reach the outskirt. He is wearing not a lot. Seeing strap marks on his skin, he most likely ditched his armour to follow me, his job is to stall me, so that the other have any time to catch up. To test the waters, I haul a normal arcane missile into his face. The missile flies the whole distance and hitting somewhat off into his chest. At least it should have, when it got absorbed into a barely visible bubble. ¡°Shit,¡± I say to myself. He is carrying one of those pesky barriers. The same one I wear. So my next best action is to overload it. I throwback all of my remaining grenades and flashbangs. Not a lot 5 combined, hoping to destroy the barrier. *BOOOOOOOM* Most of the damage gets absorbed. Veiled in the smoke and dirt flying through the air, I make something that the guy sure won¡¯t ever expect. I turn around and sprint with the remainder of my power towards him. I also charge two dark hands, a spell with very limited uses until now. Perfect for a situation like this. Confused, and a bit out of focus, the squire looks into my direction. Needing a second to realize what I am about to do. A second too late for him, unfortunately. When his brain caught up with the events, I have already mauled both of my hands into his body. At the end of the day, I can say that I won this fight, but hitting someone, who is a lot more stronger physically is not fun. He went down, later finished by me with a violet mana loaded arcane missile, ending his short life. I resumed my run with hurting hands. Yes becoming a mage made me stronger, but my strength is nothing compared to that fellow, I got really lucky that the got shocked by my audacity to go into close quarters with a knight. This episode exhausted me quite a lot, but I needed to continue. That he was so close by scared me a bit. My situation would become very dire if more squire came running. The barrier generator I put away, so at least they can¡¯t use it again me. And those generators are very very expensive. Like even expensive for me, who made a lot more money than most through magic scrolls. This might have been their trump card and whoever this barrier belonged before is going to be royally pissed. Not my problem though. After jogging for another 40 or so minutes, some building came into view, some very small animal farms. Some guards moved around in pairs. Now I am at least somewhat safe. One of the team approaches me to question me. Before they could reach me, holding my knee, out of breath, I show them my badge, when it lights up, the guards leave me be. Unfurling, my hair, leaving anything which might have caught itself in my hair onto the ground. I also change my robe behind one of the small shacks. Then nothing stopped me from going back into my room. For some amusement, I waited around for some time longer. Sometime later, a bunch of people follows me out of the forest. They are even more unfurled then me. Some even have branches stuck in their robe. It was a comical sight to see. I looked extra hard to not forget it. They glared at me quite hard after finding me leaning onto one of the shacks. Looking rather normal. Laughing aloud, I went on my merry way. Later I planned to meet up with Nelton and ask how exactly they found out about my small venture. Which in itself is a small problem, the Tower is rife with gossip and finding out about it isn¡¯t too hard. The question is why they were so obsessed with killing me. Most likely the news of me killing that guy came out and now they are out for revenge. Whatever reason, them coming after me with close to two dozen people is very very unlikely. And if I can get some benefits out of this then why not? I never said that I am some kind of justice warrior. +++++++++++++++++++ In a dark room, somewhere on the tower compound, Nelton and another figure, most likely Allister are meeting. ¡°This is going to be a headache,¡± Nelton said. ¡°Why, he killed Joe, and Isaac sends his men after him. Not our fault.¡± Allister said. ¡°that is unfortunately not that easy. That guy is smart, he will know that there was some problem on our side.¡± Nelton nursed a headache while replying. He can already foresee the head each he is going to get from his future patron. Why the hell is Allister such a dimwit sometimes? None of the two apprentice leaders are any good. At least Allister is only a dimwit occasionally, while Isaac offends and is arrogant left and right. Both bad options. At least Osric is until now very competent. Ans most importantly, he is an inventor. Fighting power is important, but making a strong organization is difficult with only martial power. Something those two idiots don¡¯t get. You need the ability to invent stuff. Making products only available inside your organization. Why do you think that the three major powers are this strong? League has strong individuals and a load of privatized planes. Elements has a load of rare and special spells, so they have a lot of diverse talents. And the technos have artificers and builder. Stuff others can¡¯t build a power on. They are a neutral bunch anyway. Nelton lamented, then left the room, tired of this conversation. Unbeknownst to him. Allister sends him an annoyed and somewhat angry glare Chapter 48: Compensation and new spells A dense fog surrounded the vicinity of the tower. A very unusual phenomenon. It is the first time I see it. Or maybe it is frequent, and I just missed it while I coop myself up in my house, who knows? What made me marvel was the fast transition between the fog and the sunshine just 5 minutes ago. It is marvellous, maybe it is of magical origin? I walk through the fog; it smells a lot different than normal fog. Not that I know how they taste. Back then, natural phenomena were as good as extinct. Happening only for the amusement of the rich folks. Not something people like me could have enjoyed back then. I sigh remembering memories from earth. In comparison, the society here is more forgiving. Being productive to society was very important back on earth, this also meant that not a lot of time was left for social interaction. Even for parents. Sometimes I barely saw my parents for a couple of hours a week. They worked a lot. Like everyone else. For students and kids like me, our daily lives were also full. The amount of stuff to learn and study is mind bogging. If you want to specialize in any kind of thing than you have to learn for two decades straight. Mathematics got more and more abstract after Einstein¡¯s theories. When quantum physique matured in the 23rd century, it made a sharp rise in difficulty for young ones to catch up. I was one of those. Studying engineering, I was close to being finished, then the accident occurred. I stopped lamenting about my past and went back to walking. I still need to reach my room today. Barely being able to see, it took me some time to find the right dormitory building. In the week I had been gone, they build additional dormitory buildings. The amounts of space nearly triplet. Are the moving even more resources and humans into this war? What¡¯s the point? It is not like they can break through and occupy anything on the other side of the mountain. The Towers made sure of that. It felt more like a bet between two powers. Like golfing. Throwing apprentice into a meat grinder like environment and hope for the best. I can¡¯t say that I have any misgivings about it. Earth was not that much different. Back in my room, I went to take a nap. Somewhat recovered from my hour-long jog, I still feel very tired. Too tired to bother about anything else. +++++++++++++++++ The next morning. Sun is shining outside. Birds chirping. Of course, I didn¡¯t notice any of that, nor did I care. Back up again. I first ordered something to eat. Then I made my way to the desk and take out the barrier from that squire from before. Turing and twisting this generator in my hand, I notice some differences. This one is slightly golden, with silver lines covering it. It looks very different from mine, which looks more like hastily made job. This one could be said as elegant. Elegance didn¡¯t safe his user. The reason that it was used by a squire was also a reason. They aren''t adept at magical artefacts and are unable to properly use the shield. He should have activated it shortly after he saw me, else the wind resistance would have been too big to bear. Running against the wind at the speed necessary to catch me would have tired him. Whatever the case, it is his now. Some tasting later, I was positively surprised that this barrier is of a much higher quality than mine. This kind of barrier is expensive, very expensive. I can afford it, but I never found it necessary. It is too unhandy, needing time to set up and to care about it. I rarely fight, so in my priority list, acquiring a new one was not very high up. After playing with it for some time, I put it into the closet. Not wanting to bother with it. Now that I have a lot of points, I plan to learn new spells. Fighting right now Is still a bit dangerous alone. Finally, I am also able to afford the mould metal spell. A spell I wished for a long time. Then I can make more effort to expand my armoury. Some people would call external help useless, not your own strength. Bullshit. If I have a nuke, then I don¡¯t need anything else. A lot of countries from earth showed this principle. Like North Korea, until they went too far and got wiped out by the new global government. External items are important. I also have plenty of money to continue my experiments. For this reason, I am also going to transform my dorms room into a small laboratory. I don¡¯t plan dangerous experiments, at least not a lot, so a general place to work should be enough. The bed can get out, I can sleep on a bedroll. I also need a bigger desk. After thinking it through for a bit, I called the leader of the workers to come to my room. By the time he arrived, I already finished my breakfast. Some meat with eggs. ¡°Good day, sir apprentice. What can I help you with?¡± The women ask submissively.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I wish to remove my bed, put a bigger work desk and some more shelves. Transform this room into a workplace¡± I commanded. The woman felt a bit unwell. My assumption that she is in the process of seducing me. She is clothed in very little, just a cheap blouse with a bigger than necessary cleavage, very short skirts and meticulously groomed body. She gives out more for make up than for clothes. Maybe later, my hormones are still not too overpowering. ¡°Where do you stay? How do I call for you?¡± I ask. Prepared for the future. Hormones are nothing that I can block or disable. Trying to do so might result in more harm than good. ¡°Sir, if you need me then I come immediately. The changes to your room will be finished as fast as possible¡± She said. Immediately brightened up at the prospects may be coming into my pants. This is the most lucrative job for any female servant. She looked kinda good, so using her is okay in my book. When I was a kid, I learned a bit of German. One phrase stuck to me in particular ¡°Eine Hand w?scht die Andere¡± It means that one hand washes the other. A simple quid pro quo. PART 2 The room had been changed relatively fast. The desk is bigger now, also a lot more robust. There are no enchantments or formations of any kind on this furniture, but their material, a dark oak-like wood, made them more resilient than my earlier desk, made for writing on it. The closet had been changed out for bigger ones with more store place. All in all, it is better than before, but not by much. I still am going to have to change some things. My first idea in that regard was to coat the working table with a thin layer of metal. From my understanding of mould metal, it should be possible. This would make the desk more resilient than it would be with any other kind of formations and enchantment. So, it made more sense. Now I have two things to do. Buy a big amount of iron, some other materials and speak with Nelton about that small incident from before. Having decided everything, first I went to meet Nelton, he was standing as always in one of the corners of the arcane hall. Walking toward him, he was visibly helpless. ¡°What can I do for you Osric? Another bounty?¡± Nelton said. He tried to change the subject, or not even begin with said subject. That is not how things are done with me Nelton. After my cold gaze, he spoke again ¡°Fine, we fucked up. We are sorry, the spy is already killed.¡± ¡°So, the compensation?¡± I asked, not in the mood for blushing with him more. I am too excited to get mould metal ability. So, this conversation better be over fast. ¡°We do have some stuff, but whether you really want it is another question entirely. Now I have three things. First is a very old book about formations. Written in Molden. In addition, we can offer you copied books from the library. Don¡¯t decline, it is safe. The tower doesn¡¯t bother about those. Spell booklets are entirely different, however. Last you can pick whatever you want from that chest from before.¡± He offered. Very generous. At least in my opinion. I contemplated for a while. The books from the library do interest me quite a lot. Nelton has a good amount of men and he is working with Allister, they surely copied down a lot of books. The books about formations sounded interesting. Why would they give away something like that? Either they found out anything there is, or they think that that is the case and something is still concealed. My abilities from the soul would be a tremendous help in searching for hidden and concealed stuff, so it was worth taking a look. The chest did have an abundance of stuff. Nothing I need to much, but I did see a formless herb inside. This I can use and exchange with that guy from the ship. Hopefully he is still alive. ¡°Alright I accept, with an additional condition,¡± I said. Having already expected it, he only nods for me to continue. ¡°I need some common supplies and some laboratory supplies, here is the list¡± I give him the list. This is the same list I prepared for the clerk in the tower. The stuff isn¡¯t very expensive, costing 50 or so points. The amount makes it expensive. Now this is a trick question. I didn¡¯t specify some of the apparatuses. They can buy the cheap ones or the better ones. I don¡¯t expect the best ones. Neither will they provide me with them, they cost a fortune. A definition which keeps changing thanks to my rise in power. Looking over the list, Nelton frowns. After contemplating a while, he said. ¡°Alright, where do you build this laboratory if I might ask?¡± He was a bit confused. There isn¡¯t a lot of places to rent or buy outside of the dorms. Most houses are mainly inns and not to sell. And a stall place would be too expensive and small for the long term. ¡°In my room, I changed it a lot. Later I will permit you to enter it. It is empty either way. You have till sundown to finish it¡± Then I left. Not bothering whether he accepts or not. I do hope that the does. Sneakily looking back, I see Nelton still frowning over the list. After a short while, his eyes filled with determination and he puts away the list into his pocket and leaves the hall. This is my first time seeing him leave his spot. The outlook is positive. After giving a short notice to one of the clerks about the permission, I continue my way to the library. Not needing normal books for a short time, I make my way to the spell section. This is a lot more abundant than in the Osmor tower. First is check the section for arcane spells and surprisingly find 3. One is the already learn arcane missile, while the other two were foreign to me. One costing 13 and the other 20. Not even looking at their description, I mark them for myself. Then I continue my shopping inside the Library. My next step is the mould metal spell. Buying it instantly too. With those three purchases, the amount of wisdom points I have left is only enough for one more spell. My choice is a spell from the wind affinity. Used for scouting. Satisfied, I pay the points at a library clerk and move to the other side of the compound to eat something nice. It has been a while after all. Chapter 49: new spells and the new lab It has been four hours since my talk with Nelton. After the library, I ate something in the stalls close where I bought the spices. The food was some kind of fried chicken. At least it tasted like chicken and it was fried too. You have to know that oil is fairly expensive, not for an apprentice, but for normal people it is. So it cost me one silver to eat a portion. Might be overprized but I don¡¯t really care about that. While strolling on the street, I catch a sight of one of the handlanger of that guy from the airship. The one who wished to buy from me the formless mage potion. What was his name again? Jeff? Something with J. Oh yes, it is Jerald. A fairly strange name. ¡°Good morning Jerald, I have something for you.¡± I said. Thinking about it, I really don¡¯t talk to a lot of people. ¡°Yes, yes, you are the person who got the formless mage potion, is it possible that you acquired another potion?¡± He asks excitedly. This confirms to me that he didn¡¯t get his hands on one yet. Good for me. ¡°Yes, I got a formless herb, come later to my dorm room with those things you showed me last time. I was deeply interested in some of those items.¡± I said. He accepts, thinking that my ¡®deep interest¡¯ is mainly about reminding him of the prize he has to pay for a potion. Just that one amulet is my point of interest. I don¡¯t care about the rest. Are they valuable? Yes of course. Does that mean that I have a use for the majority of them? No, it doesn¡¯t. Treasures are nice to have, but useless ones don¡¯t really help me a lot. ¡°Alright, bye.¡± He says and nearly runs away. His helpers next to him hastily follow him. Youth, so easily excitable. Then I go back to strolling around. After taking in all the fresh air I am going to need for the next month or so, I go slowly back to the dorms area. In front of the house, a person is awaiting me. At least I suppose he is waiting for me, he is one of the people from Nelton when we met and I gave him the head. After spotting me, he comes and begins to speak. ¡°Mister Thale, Master Nelton sends his regards to you. Your room has been retrofitted as you wished. We also hope that the bad blood because of that incident is over.¡± From my perspective, blackmailing him into giving me some stuff does qualify in leaving bad blood behind, so I happily accept his hands and shake it. ¡°I am happy that it went without a problem. Mister Thale, I have to go have, a nice day.¡± He bowed and the went on his merry way. Feeling a bit excited inside, I went into the building. A short while later I arrived in front of my door. The first thing I noticed is that the door from next to me has vanished and is replaced by a wooden wall. This made me very excited. Entering the room felt instantly different than before. The layout changed a lot. The wall is gone on the right side, connecting the two rooms together, making it look a lot more spacious. Now, this action might not have been expensive, but to achieve this, one needs some influence amongst the tower. In the middle of the room is a big table, on top of which a lot of different vials and chemical appliances are placed. Taking a closer look, I notice their quality. Not the highest grade available, but nothing to scoff at. In a sealed container on top of the table is the formless herb. A strange combination of a flower and glass-like translucency. Strange, but no stranger than some things I have seen so far. On the other side of the table are chisels, hammers and writing utensils. For making formations and array¡¯s, something I still am on a basic level of proficiency. This might help me change this fact. Now on the right side are boxes. Two big ones and dozens of small boxes, taking up a fifth of my room. In combination of the boxes from before, it takes up a big amount of space. Luckily, I can put quite some of them under the table to a safe space. Besides these two things, the rest of the room is filled with cabinets and other storage spaces. Even the light source has been changed and made brighter. Something I can change any time if I want to. All in all, I quite like this place. Enough for me to spent the next couple of year uhum, months cooped up inside. I still have to go out occasionally, or else my fighting capabilities will worsen a lot. The same thing that in the end killed Joe, the VIP. After the full inspection, I notice a small booklet on top of the table. It was written from Nelton. He talks about how sorry he is for getting ambushed, how he is already after how the spy could infiltrate his network, which by the way is ironic because he is a supposedly intelligent handler. Oh what irony. I hope that he will learn from this that no organization is spy free. Not even mine. I am pretty sure that some of the gang members or even the ringleaders have spies under them from other gangs. The ring leaders are pretty much silenced because of enslavement, but you never know.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Back to the booklet. It also writes about the books he talked about. The old one about formations he has should be inside one of the boxes, but the others from the library are too numerous, so he simply send the title and a short description in the book. If I want to have them, they would deliver it. How cunning. This restricts me a bit and also gives him a small amount of control over me. He knows what I do. As expected from him. PART 2 Making sure that the door is closed, I put down the three booklets from my bag. And begin to copy them for later use. This took me around a day. The complexity of the spells I choose this time are very high. Even higher than minor teleportation, which I used too rarely for my good. I really shouldn¡¯t¡¯ forget about other spells. Lamenting over my own lack of experience in fighting, I stand up. After copying for a day, my shoulders feel a bit stiff. Standing up and moving them is the right exercise to do. After some moving, I take out paper for a letter and make my first letter about the books. In between, when I got too bored or stiff, I read through the books available and boy, he didn¡¯t lie when he wrote that it is too much to put into one room. Basically, most of the booklet was about the books. In the range of hundreds of books. It took me some time to read them all and decide on a dozen of useful ones. I have also contemplated about taking up the job of a magic scroll scribe up again. It had been a good exercise and also a good venue for new spells. A couple of seconds later, I forgo the idea. It isn¡¯t efficient anymore and the spells I might get wouldn¡¯t necessarily be useful. I am not that desperate for spells anymore as I used to be. having finished copying them, I look over them again. The first spell is wind scout. A wind type spell and a very rare one in that affinity. It is a doped-up version of smelling the wind. I can detect abnormal airflow around me. The only up and downside is that if the wind is especially strong then it can interfere with the spell. It is also very difficult to learn and engrave. This also means that the scroll of such a spell would bring in a good amount of gold. High utility. This spell also helps me in regards of having minimal or close to no scouting ability. Once this spell is cast, for a small amount of mana it can be sustained. It is also a fairly stealthy spell, so it isn¡¯t immediately picked up in comparison to a fireball. The next is called Arcane wall. This is a fairly strange spell in my opinion. Very different from other spells I have read and seen until now. It erects a three times three wall in one direction. This wall weakens spells considerable and when someone tries to walk through, he will receive catastrophic damage. This spell is building on deception. A lot of people would dare to run through a wall of fire, because in and itself it is not that damaging. With a decent defensive artefact, it is survivable. They are just very good at messing with spells. Prematurely unloading and detonating the spell. If they try the same trick with this one, then they are in for a very nasty surprise. This spell is of course arcane type and is very complicated. I sometimes really envy people with more normal affinity who don¡¯t have such a hard time building spell models. For them, something like minor teleport is already the apex of complexity that they will ever make in the apprentice level. For me, minor teleport is only on the middle levels of difficulty, with soul and arcane type spells being more difficult. Sighing, I continue my thought. The last spell of the arcane type is called arcane sight. It is also a utility type spell, but one far more useful than wind scout. It enables the user to see magic. Not like in a fight, where the concentration of mana and the transformation of mana enables the naked eye to see it. It is more like seeing a new colour, that is magic. It is highly useful for spotting magical traps, seeing through magical contraptions and spells like my arcane wall and in unearthing anything useful and search for secrets. Even if a tiny amount of mana is leaking out, it is easily seeable. Even a normal stone that no one would bother about. If it had been in contact with concentrated mana for a long time, then I could spot that. And what means a spot with concentrated amounts of mana? Treasure, rare places and ruins. Places that had been used for millennia¡¯s, but very well hidden. Now I am pretty sure that this I not omnipotent. On a ruin like the one in the mountains, it would be useless most of the time. It would be laughable if some apprentice-level guy could see through stuff that could even fool official mages. They might just kill the apprentice out of embarrassment. Something I heard has already happed some time ago. So being better, at least openly, than an official mage is a bad idea. Becoming stronger doesn¡¯t mean that they become more human, on the contrary, they get even worse. Power is corrupting in and of itself. Then imagine a society where the strong ones are revered and you get the picture. All in all, they can become massive dicks, with egos the size of the moon. Now going on to the last spell. This is one I wanted for a very long time. Mould metal. The dream spell for everyone who works with metal in any shape or form. This spell enables to change the metal in forms that are very hard to make with traditional smithing techniques. One of the reasons why mechanical stuff is a thing here. Most of the small parts are made with this spell or similar spells. Or else, making something like a spring would be too hard. This is also the reason why those contraptions are so ridiculously expensive. Chapter 50: Making the launcher P1 In a brightly lit room, three persons stand in front of a throne-like chair. Isaac is sitting in that chair and fuming with anger. His three underlings are shivering with dread. None wants to imagine what Isaac might do if they annoy him more than he already is. ¡°So, just for me to understand it better, you made a foolproof ambush, at a spot he had to take and then he somehow got wind of it and tricked all of you?¡± Isaac says he gets more and more agitated while speaking. Fury written all over his face He shouts ¡°THEN HOW THE FUCK DID HE COME BACK WITHOUT ANY VISIBLE DAMAGE?¡± Luckily, there were no desks nearby or else Isaac would have flipped a couple of them. ¡°Yes¡± One of the men whispered. ¡°I can¡¯t hear you. What did you say?¡± He asks back. He has heard him; he just needs a place to go his anger. Ant this place just volunteered himself. ¡°Yes, Sir¡± he says, louder this time. ¡°AND WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM THEN? YOU HAD TWO DOZEN PEOPLE. EVEN A RETARD YOULD HAVE PULLED THIS AMBUSH THROUGH. ARE YOU WORSE THAN A RETARD?¡± He shouted again. Spit flying everywhere. Some onto the faces of the three underlings. They endured it though. Not wanting even more punishment. After some time, he cooled down and asked what exactly happened and how it failed. This time, his three underlings explained everything they found out. Including where he out the timed bomb. ¡°Send in Hognar, I need to punish him.¡± He said tiredly. Hognar was the one responsible for the ambush. The three underlings wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they see him vanish. It isn¡¯t like it was the first time this happened. While they were having they''re come together, an informant barged into the room. *Huf* *Huf* ¡°Hognar is gone, we can¡¯t find him anymore¡± *Huf* *Huf* The informant said. When he sees the cold fury on the face of Isaac, he faints. Whether he is playing or he really fainted will stay a mystery for all eternity. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My mind has been in a storm of new ideas for a while. The new spells, especially mould metal, the new ideas are endless. The first thing I do with these ideas is sorting them into categories. The first two are achievable with my limited resources and the second is unachievable and ridiculous motions. I mean, yeah making a helicopter is may be achievable with the spells I know, maybe even a plane, but what for? I neither need a plane or have the resources for one. While metal is cheap, ink and other materials for formations too, the amount I need would be riotous. Doesn¡¯t matter how cheap, tons of iron are still very, very expensive. The other hurdle with my supersized projects is space issues. I don¡¯t believe that I can cramp enough space into this room to make anything bigger than a desk. So, most of those are out of the window. My next object are guns. Not the new ones like laser or plasma rifles. They function at a level, which I am unable to reproduce right now. Laser might be an option, but it¡¯s the manufacturing industry on this plane is so behind that making any of the more delicate details would prove hard. Engraving might help in that aspect, but then I come back to another problem. I can only put so many engraving on one piece. Making a laser rifle might be possible, but that contraption would take me months if not years and it would be the size of a building. Not very handy for a fight. So first of all, I make a weapon to replace my grenades. They are strong and good, but since the time I invented them, I have progressed a lot on making artefacts. Having captured this idea, I take out some papers and a quill, and begin to make drawings of my weapon of choice. It is not a rifle, or anything really destructive. It is a handheld grenade launcher. This launcher makes a compromise of a rifle, grenades and the tech I have currently available. The first advantage is that I can make the small parts rather easily. A grenade launcher is rather chunky and needs bigger parts. Not like a rifle, which needs a buttload of small ones. These parts are, after my estimates, makeable with mould metal. The second major advantage is that I can use it to throw the grenades further with more precision. I had never been good at those games. Neither have I played that often. Having a big field to use was a bit too much luxury for my school. The last and most important one is that with this I can make my grenades more uniform and more varied. I can make stronger and more powerful grenades. A spell which is too strong to explode in my vicinity can be used dozens of meters from me. All in all, this weapon has the biggest utility for the current me. Also, this weapon is very novel on this plane, so no one would ever expect a similar weapon. Now the new kinds of rounds I thought out are these:If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. PART 2 Before I continue developing my grenade launcher idea, I have to invent something more important first. That Invention is called the pressure cooker. One of mankind¡¯s greatest invention, next to laser guns, interstellar travel and other unimportant stuff. So, earlier this week, I requested a blacksmith to make me some pots. Normal ones with a bright of 30 cm and height of 25. Also, something to close it on top. What I got is fairly similar to what I wanted, but not exactly. My first job was to smooth out the edges on both parts. These two have to fit perfectly later. Next, with mould metal, I make a small indenture on the inner side of the top. So that when pressure is inside the pot, that the material I am using to seal it gets pushed out, while another mechanism will glue the two parts together. I also made a small valve for the steam to escape. That part took me longer than the rest of the work. Now the only part is assembly. So, I used a Kauchuk-like material, and used as the sealer. I moulded it through heat into the shape of a ring. Now this ring, I glued to the inside of the pot. To finish off this part, I also gave it a thin layer of metal so that the gummi doesn¡¯t come in contact with the meal while cooking. Next, I inscribed two runes on top of the cover and on the bottom of the pot. These two use some principles I learned from the intermediate artificer book I got yesterday from Nelton. This Rune uses two incomplete runes. Both are the same runes, but because I deleted a part of it now acts like a magnet. The principles behind this are still foreign to me, but I am sure that I can find out the reason later. New that the wholly overprized, but functional pot is finished, I put it into my amulet and begin the planning and manufacturing part of the grenade launcher. I went with an oversized revolver style. This means that the parts where the grenades are located rotate and thus change the grenade. It is both useful for a fast reload and to use selective grenades. This weapon is going to be my main weapon of choice. For emergencies, I also make a second kind of grenade launcher. The design for this one is stolen from signal flares. A pistol-like weapon which has one slot for the grenade, and after shooting it once I have to reload it again. This is only for emergencies. In case that the grenade launcher is knocked out of my hand or it has a malfunction. The reasons why it might not work are numerous and I am sure that I am unable to list out everyone. Sometimes weapons have problems for reason no one, not even their inventors, thought about. From the main gun, I plan to make one and two of the smaller ones. Finished with thinking, I begin my work. First, I take a metal sheet, which had been roughly beaten into the sheet form. Not the best kind of work, especially not for someone used to precision made parts. I cut them into 13 centimetres in length, and long enough to make a cylinder with I diameter of 6 centimetres. The best shape for the grenades. One might ask why I do first the launcher then the grenades? Well, the reason is that I already know through experiments what the best dimension is for smaller grenades. And these diameters came out from that. The only part I have to make are later the cylinders for the grenade. A rather tedious work. Now that I have finished 8 cylinders, I put 2 away for the handheld versions, and continue with the other 6. I wield them to a 35-centimetre-long cylinder of solid metal. It has the diameter of one centimetre. Now I have a revolver on a stick. Now is the part for the rest of the weapon. First, I make a 30-centimetre-long cylinder with the same diameter for the barrel. This part doesn¡¯t really have to belong, because I am not going to shoot these grenades over long distances. A hundred meters maximum is perfect. Fights between apprentice rarely go over 50 meters or so. The spells simply don¡¯t have the necessary power after 30-40 meters. Now with the other parts, I kind of make my life easier. First, I changed the usual mechanic trigger to a magical one. This means that the gun doesn¡¯t need so many small parts. I simply use some magical power, and poof, the gun triggers. Next, I make a small shell for the explosion part. There, I also make a lock and load mechanism. I use a similar technique than I used for the pot. When the grenade is at the right place, then this mechanism is active. Means that when no grenade or after the shot there is no grenade inside that it releases and I can rotate to the next grenade. This came to me as the simplest mechanism to trap the energy of the explosion. This also meant a bigger recoil, but this is with my improved physique unimportant. Chapter 51: Making the launcher P2 Part 1 While doing all of this, I get disturbed by a knocking on the door. *knock* *knock* Annoyed, I stand up and move to open the door. The person is about to knock again when I rip open the door a new one. The handlanger jumps in fright after seeing my face. That the door got opened this violently also played a role in this reaction. ¡°Si ¨C Sir Osr ¨C Osric, Our B-Boss is re-ready for y-you¡± The handlanger stuttered his sentence through his teeth. Fear and horror evident on his face. Is my annoyed face really this ridiculous. *HAhahaha* I think that I heard someone chuckling for a while. It sounded like an older man. Not sure whether it really happened; I turn my attention back to the guy stammering in my doorway. ¡°So is he coming inside or not? I don¡¯t have all do to listen to you stuttering¡± I say. The man who knocked turns red from shame and makes his way back to his boss. Who is close by. Sitting on a chest in the hallway. Amused, he stands up and winks to one of his men close-by. Getting the hint, two of them walk towards the chest and pick it up, following their boss. While carrying the box, one of the man trips, nearly falling to the ground. This scene ruined the cool entrance the guy had planned. Not my problem really, but is it really needed to walk so slowly? After they managed to come into my room, we continue our conversation. ¡°Alright, I have the ginger, can I have a look at those babies again?¡± I say. Not bothering to greet him at all. I don¡¯t care about him, I care about that medallion he has in his possession. ¡°Yes, a good day to you too Osric and yes I do have them, take a look,¡± he says, pointing his fingers to the chest. One of the guys open it and this time, his chest is a bit different. It opens up like a closet. It reminds me of some joke project from a classmate of mine. He explained that he was inspired by an ancient game called Borderlands. Never heard of something this old. It is still impressive. There are also some more stuff inside it. I don¡¯t really understand why he is bringing his stuff around like that. If someone, say an unscrupulous individual steals it, what will happen? A question for him. I lead him to the other side of the room, and point to the formless ginger lying on the table ¡°Is this thing what you are searching for?¡± I ask the obvious. Excitement can be seen on his face. He tries to reach it, but my body blocks his way. Obviously, I won¡¯t let him get it before I get my stuff from him. ¡°Aham¡± He coughs ¡°Sorry, I was a bit excited,¡± He says, then he looks back into the chest he brought with him. ¡°You can have one thing¡± ¡°Two, do you know how hard it was to find one of these gingers? I had to risk my neck for it¡± I say. Overplaying it a little bit. I acquired it on the fly, without any difficulties, but he doesn¡¯t have to know that. He looks a bit unsure and reluctant, but in the end, he cracks. ¡°Alright. The amulet you were interest in last time? You can have it as a sign of friendship. Now choose something please, I have to get back into making the potion¡± He urged, throwing the amulet towards me. He most likely found it somewhere and thought that is something expensive. I doubt his ability to get out any of the secrets from this amulet. Even I, who has absolutely no idea what it can make, only knows that it is special, nothing more. Oh, it is also somehow connected to that black order. ¡°Then I pick this,¡± I said and picked up a strange metal. ¡°Fine¡± he said. ¡°Boys pack up we are leaving¡± He said. Closely before the door closed, I heard someone cheering. And guess who this someone was? When the door closed with a click, the tranquillity returned to my room. Taking a look at the two loots I acquired from that idiot, I grin and then throw it into the amulet. Deciding to bother with them later. A weapon is waiting for me to finish it and I can¡¯t wait to use it. ¡°Where was I? yes there¡± I go back into my work. The feeling from before got back. Until now I wasn¡¯t able to categorize it, but now I am sure that someone is observing me. I don¡¯t know how or why. Theoretically, not even the tower can spy on me effectively. They never thought about spying on the apprentices. Yes they can monitor the outside, but the minute details are over them. At least that is what I heard from multiple people. I do believe it only with a grain of salt of course. Control of information is far too easy in a society like this. Not bother about it anymore, not like I could change it, I go back into my work. The gun isn¡¯t going to build itself.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ In a dark corner, somewhere unspecific. A dark figure is enshrouded in a mist-like environment. His surrounding is an ever-changing black. In his hands is a small dagger and a mirror. The dagger is blood red on the edges, while violet-silver inside. It has beautiful engravings on all sides. It has the appearance of a piece of art than a weapon for murder. The mirror is also heavily adorned. Not tasteless, but eerily fitting. Inside the mirror, the black man is watching interested a young man working on a metal-looking worktable. Fumbling around with a strange metal cylinder. After the young men look around for a second, the old man freezes in astonishment. ¡°His affinities are this strong? He is just an apprentice for fucks sake. Meh whatever, maybe he is worthy and, more importantly, fun¡± The men mumbles to himself and leaves his place in the void. His destination as unknown as his arrival to anyone else. PART 2 So the first prototype is finished after a day of work. It isn¡¯t pretty, but it is already usable. I went in with a bullpup design. Smooth and it also allowed me to leave out the trigger. You can imagine it like an oversized underside of a p90 and in the middle is the revolver for the grenades. The grenade launcher has to be reloaded one at a time, unfortunately. I am unable to make it like a normal revolver so that I can reload 6 at a time. Not really a problem. Putting the grenades on my belt is fairly efficient and I can hide it under the robe. Now for that belt, I let a tailor make one for me. I have no idea how to tailor and make stuff like that. Yes, I can cheat a bit like I did with the armguard, but that is the extent of it. And the belt isn¡¯t a magical artefact, so it isn¡¯t a problem. The only thing I am going to do later makes it more durable with some runes. Nothing more. Now the first test. I pick up the oversized grenade launcher and immediately notice that it is too heavy. It weighs 23 kilogrammes. I can use it, but I would tire too fast. Combined with the recoil I will get, this will get too hard to handle. So for the next day, I organized myself some lightweight wood, and re-designed the whole gun. Cutting iron out and making more out of wood. These changes cost me half a day. In changing the upperparts and working on my woodworks skill, the gun received a new shape at the end of the day. I had quite a bit of fun making it. Working with wood is something I enjoyed in particular. Wood was something rare and precious on earth. Using it for something like a gun would get you shot. So expensive, was it? It was a special kind of fun making something with your hands. Even if that thing is a weapon of mass destruction. The new weapon looks similar to the old one. The upper body still had an unrefined iron colour. The bottom part is made out of a dark, oak-like wood. It has a nice flowing design. From afar, it looks kind of cool, only up close can you see the unrefined spots The iron isn¡¯t smoothed out and the wood is still rather raw. Here and there are some rough edges. Not always flowing like the design is supposed to look. The purpose of this prototype isn¡¯t to look great, I can bother about it later. Picking it up again, I notice how out of balance it feels. It is a bit too heavy on the top. This time I am pretty comfortable with the weight. I might be able to add some metal at the bottom to even out the wight. A too high centre of weight would make it unhandy. Harder and more unnatural to use. I lay the gun to the side for now. The design is somewhat okay. Yes, I can make improvements and redesign it a couple of times, but that right now is inefficient. I better make the finished grenades and then I can put some finishing touches on both. Now for the grenades. I make out one cylinder and make it a bit smaller than the other one I used for the gun. Apropo other guns. I also take out one of the two cylinders, which function as the champer, and make one just a bit smaller, so that it fits, but doesn¡¯t get stuck. That was fairly easy, after taking the dimensions for the other cases, I continue my design process. So this case is going to be closed after it is finished. The making of the case is a fairly straightforward process. Making a bottom for the cylinder, then I put a small iron bar inside. This one is used to orient the scrolls. So that they don¡¯t go in a random direction. In case that I need that. They also help the stability of the grenade. Making sure that the thing doesn¡¯t crack and the scrolls explode. That would make this thing way too dangerous. On the note of magic scrolls. I use a more expensive kind of scroll. This new scroll is made from the skin of black stripped boas. Then these strips are used to make the scroll material. Now, these strips are usually made into a 15 x 15-centimetre scroll. The perfect size for my grenade launcher. Now for this scroll, I also need a better quill and a somewhat better ink. Buying these isn¡¯t really expensive. The ink is made with normal ink, tiny amounts of monster blood, and a tiny amount of materials to bind the two together. So not really expensive. The quantities necessary isn¡¯t that much either. The best thing about them is, that compared to potions, alchemists can¡¯t scam people, because making inks is too easy for that. Basically, as long as someone finds any kind of combination, and they are usable, then they can sell it. They are classified into how much mana they can hold. I am unsure how they made these classifications. It is too complicated then it needs to be, but after some tries, I found the right one. So, the most costly part are the scrolls used in the grenades. The other parts like the metal an ink are negligible. One grenade is still a lot more expensive than their old model though, so I did make some of them. Either to sell them at a high price, and I was complaining about scammers a moment ago right?, or use them when I don¡¯t need the grenade launcher. Chapter 52: time skip Finally, after working on it for a week, my weapon is finished. For the finished version I used a dark oak-like wood. And painted the iron black too. I also used in the paint minute amounts of that light-absorbing metal. I had enough of them from the destroyed robes I got throughout my journey. Some time was needed, but I did make a good mix at the end of the. It was a strange-looking gun, which is a dark environment is hard to spot. That is the sole reason for making it. I don¡¯t plan to make this weapon public. It isn¡¯t too strong per se. It is more random than I want it to be. One person can shoot at me from 100 meters and I wouldn¡¯t notice it until it is too late. I won¡¯t sell them until I can make some kind of safety feature. Not for the user, but for me. So it won¡¯t be used against me. Standing up from the worktable, I stretch a bit. Sitting all day long is annoying, even with a strengthened body. Finished my stretching, I look over my ammunition. On the desk, two dozen small grenades lye in wait. For distinction, I made some noticeable differences in their design. I marked their bottom part with different stuff. The arcane wall grenade had a violet block on it. The fireball had a red ball. And so on. All in all, just barely enough for me not to get confused by it. That I am a horrible artist never came to my mind. The most numerous were the normal fireball grenades. They numbered a dozen. The others were the rarer spells and more difficult spells. In the short time, I managed to only make one arcane wall grenade, so I have to use it wisely and only when fleeing. Two arcane penetration rounds, and five soul shock rounds. These wouldn¡¯t be very effective normally, their range is too small, but in the tunnel, it is very handy. I Also made some paralyzing rounds just in case. Now, I load into the launcher one arcane wall, for fleeing, three fireballs and one of each arcane penetration and soul shock. As for the small, handheld versions? One was filled with another arcane penetration and one with soul shock. Wait that might not be the best. I contemplated for a second, and decided to exchange the arcane wall with soul shock. If necessary, I can simply take out the small launcher and use it, finding the right round and then launching it would take too much time while fleeing. I also don¡¯t except human failure. Everything ready and loaded, I plan to explore the ruin again. This time armed a lot better than before. +++++++++++++++++++++++ For the next year, I slowly accumulated resources and points. Normally, I would go into the ruin at night and come back 3 or 4 days later. This was the timeframe which I can do without sleeping and still stay reasonably concentrated. When meeting some other people, I mostly hid the launcher inside my robe, trying as good as I can not to show it. Alas it didn¡¯t work out perfectly. Slowly rumours went around the compound about the mysterious weapon I carry around. This forced me to use a dummy every time I entered the ruin and explored it. This, all in all, didn¡¯t make a big difference, but it left less room for loot. I choose my fights very carefully. I hid in the shadows and waited for prey. I made a big circle from the more dangerous areas. They have the best loot, but also the strongest contenders. Occasionally, I ran into some fights I either couldn¡¯t win, or winning it wouldn¡¯t be worth it. This mostly happened when groups of 15-20 came together. These were rare, but as time progressed, they become more common. This happened partially because of me. Groups without a third stage apprentice and small in numbers, around 3-4, were easily wiped out with my grenade launcher. The best scenario was when I caught them by surprise, and one or too cheap fireball grenades finished them off. Most of the time, it didn¡¯t work out. One or sometimes two surprised, mostly the leaders. They often possessed defence artefacts. Weak ones, but enough to defend against the normal fireball grenade. They had two choices. Immediately use an artefact to flee, like a minor teleportation scroll, or die. In the first month, as I wasn¡¯t that familiar with the ruins yet, I only fought twice, while I stayed in the ruin for over half a month. The most difficult was gauging the opponents power. On my very first fight, I choose the opponent too hastily. He was too strong. This led me to waste my only arcane wall grenade. A fact that annoyed me a lot. Making one arcane wall grenade cost 8 to ten times more than a normal fireball grenade. That person relied on a strong defence artefact to defend against the weaker grenades. Having no choice left, I used the arcane wall grenade and fled. This situation made it plainly obvious that my strength is still too weak and relying on the launcher, while great, is not always the best option. Over relying on it cost me today only an expensive grenade. In another situation, it would have cost me a lot more.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. With this in mind, I operated a lot more carefully. This also meant that for the first 4 months, my spoils were a lot less than others. In terms of monetary reward, these four months were inefficient, but that was not the case. This time taught me a lot. I got experience fighting people head-on. Later, I directly left one person alive to duel me. Of course, this wasn¡¯t fair. If he was winning then I killed him of course, in general, I killed all of them. This taught me to be careful, how to move silently, to gauge opponents and how to fight them. As a sport, I practised some moves on the earth. Simply as a means to stretch a bit, but that meant nothing. This fighting was my welcome ceremony into this world. Bloody, but honest. PART 2 On the fifth month to now I picked up my space. The fights occurred increasingly more often and I also won more and more of them. I dared to go deeper into the ruins, fighting solo enemies three times. Every time I lost. Not bad, but I still lost. Then I always left, either with the arcane wall grenade or other tricks. My reputation and my spells become so famous after some time, that even casting a normal arcane wall confused the enemy, hesitating whether to pursue or let me leave. This misconception made my trips cheaper. Through all the fighting, my income increased a lot. Compared to before, where my income was nearly nothing, now I used hundreds of points per month. Mostly I bought potions to fasten my progress towards grade three. I also bought materials which helped in the soul path. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have a potion formula for such a potion, so I consumed these ingredients either by itself or with some supplementary ingredients. This approach is a lot more wasteful and expensive than the other one. The only light at the end of the tunnel was that some of these ingredients weren¡¯t too expensive. No one knew their usage or only as supplementary ingredients. Still, it cost me a pretty penny to buy all of them. ++++++++++++++++ I sigh, the last year was very eventful. I think while meditating. I am at the cup of breaking through as both mage and soul mage. I am close, but at the same time so far. I only need a small push, but what is that push? This thing has bothered me all this while. Why is it necessary that people break through mostly by being pressured and under great danger. Is it really true that when one is between life and death that one can break through all of the shackles? This is still a mystery for me. My gaze changed to a more resolute one. I decided to go into the ruin again. Not like I usually do. This time I will go deep, take a look at what my soul compass pointed towards last time and, if possible, breakthrough. I go to the worktable and take inventory of my weapons. The launcher got damaged a lot over time. Normal iron wasn¡¯t made to resist the forces used. It got often damaged and I had to repair often. The gun now in front of me has close to nothing to do with what I began with. The metal I use now is a lot more head and explosion resistance. It also got enchanted by me for its durability. In the year, I didn¡¯t neglect my other interests. I advanced a lot in terms of runes and formations. Alchemy also advanced through my efforts to make a potion for my soul path. The only thing remained is that I still can¡¯t make an array. The wood had changed also. Still dark in colour, but it is a lot more like jungle wood, than the earlier oak. The rest of the improvements are inside and drastically made the launcher more durable. The grenades also changed. They still used normal iron, but now I enchanted them to be more durable. This also lead me to put more scrolls into it. This also increased the range of the gun to 150 meters. Stronger explosion + better-surviving shells = higher firepower. Now I had, through accumulation, made a dozen of arcane wall grenades and even more from the others. In comparison, I don¡¯t have that many fireball grenades. They get used too often. I packed everything into my grenade belt and moved out of my room. I kind of looked like a cowboy with an oversized gun at this point. Something which brought me a lot of fame at this point. Very few people had any ideas of ambushing me like it happened a year ago in the ruin. Yes I found the skeletons and even more stuff, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I am not a vengeful person. I killed the leader of the group from where the rouge came. Walking through the street, a lot of people had admiration in their gazes. Some had reverence even. The smallest part had a strong hostility. These were mainly Isaacs men. We are in a cold war right now. He tried to send some people after me, but after they all vanished, he stopped. I also didn¡¯t fight against him yet. It isn¡¯t the time. I am not that confident yet. When I break through the third stage, then I will fight against him. He annoyed me too often. Sometime later, I arrived at the entrance of the ruin. The guards all know me well, so no one stops me from entering. Inside, I breathe in. The air inside gives me a sense of conform. Only two ways to ambush me. From the front and the back. Easy to oversee. The way took as long as ever. I also went through my experiences with Nelton and Allister. The two, who had been cooperating closely, had some strange things happening. I imagine that the two might split after dealing with Isaac. This is good news for me, that meant that Nelton might want to join me later and that dealing with Allister later will be easier. The chamber with the directions is the same as ever. Cool and damp. The air is stale, with some kind of fungus smell. Can¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t miss it. I choose the most dangerous root this time. This leads to the number one deathtrap inside the ruin. Also the place with the most resources. It is the gathering place of geniuses from both sides.