《The tale of a missumoned demon》 A rude awakening As Mason opened his eyes he blinked a bit as there was some dust in the air. As he looked up more closely he saw cracks beginning to form in his ceiling. This shot him out of his bed as he looked out the window in shock seeing the old oak which he had worried about had finally fallen down, unluckily onto his house. However his realization was too late as the ceiling collapsed onto him, ending his unlucky and fairly short experience on earth. His last thought was of pain and exasperation at his parents for not listening when he said that tree was dangerous. Except, it wasn¡¯t his last thought. Despite his body so clearly being dead he still seemed to exist. As he grew more accustomed to not being attached to his body a doorway opened up of pure light which he seemed to be sucked into. He found himself in a void of darkness with a small circular tiled floor with a nice table and two comfy chairs around it. In the further of the two chairs sat an old woman with a kindly face. She exclaimed ¡°Sit, sit, no need for you to stand there like a statue all day¡± ending with a small chuckle. In a state of shock he did as instructed. He managed to stutter out ¡°I¡¯m sorry, who are you?¡±. He grew a bit more accustomed to his surroundings noticing portals of all shapes and sizes opening up in the space surrounding them. Some seemed stable existing as long as he was there while some were there for less than a second as he watched more he saw items floating between certain portals which seemed to be identical or paired, The items varied from kitchen mixers to guns to balls of pure light as well as creatures some he recognized most he didn¡¯t. He jerked his attention back to the woman as she began speaking.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡° Some call me Lillanna others Anubis however there is one name most recognize. You may call me Death. You are meeting me because you met an untimely death. Anyone who dies before reaching adulthood of their species are given another chance as they cannot be judged on whether they are good or evil when they have not yet truly lived. As such they are reincarnated into another world with the hope they will live to adulthood in order to have a fair shot at the afterlife.¡± He had realized he was dead, it wasn¡¯t that hard to realize when he felt it firsthand it just hadn¡¯t truly sunk in until now. He blurted out ¡°what about my parents? Are they ok?¡± She smiled and said ¡°Sadly no, they passed away, however they had lived good lives and as such were sent into a good afterlife. You won¡¯t be able to see them again unless you also get into a good afterlife. Now let me send you back to earth, I will have to remove the majority of your memories to do so. Would you mind stepping through that door¡± He was slightly shocked at the casual mention of removing his memories however as he thought it out he realized it was probably a necessity as they couldn¡¯t just have millions of people with knowledge of their past lives running around which would happen if every minor was reincarnated in this way. As such he agreed, noticing a door appear opposite the one he came in through he stood up and started walking over with no more questions as he didnt want to take up more of her time. On the way to the door he saw a red form resembling a devil hurtling towards him and as he turned to look at it it impacted his shoulder knocking him off the platform towards a portal which just barely opened. He passed through it hearing the demon screench ¡°NOO!¡± as he blacked out. Chp. 1 Mason came to feeling sticky. As he opened his eyes he saw a dark shape which resolved itself into a hooded man, he seemed crazed holding shut a door. The rest of the room was dark, lit only by a single candle. As he stood up he realized the ground he was standing on as well as himself was covered in blood. For a second he was horrified, believing himself to be possessing a dead body, before realizing this was his own body. The blood seemed to be coming from a dead goat lying next to him. The blood on the floor seemed to be covering a ritualistic looking circle made from coal or something like it. The door was shaking as if it were being bashed in. The man shouted at Mason ¡°What are you doing here, you aren¡¯t an imp!¡± At this the door crashed open revealing a group of three people who looked like they straight out of a fairy tale came racing into the room, led by a man in metal armor bearing a large shield. He shouted ¡°Matthew, you don¡¯t have to do this¡± as the other two filed in after him trapping the man in a corner as. One woman stopped and pointed a bow at Mason asking him who he was. He trembled in shock at their forceful entry. The group subdued the man in the hood and tied his hands together more faces came around to look at him and he appraised them more. They were two women and a man. The man from earlier in addition to his shield seemed to be carrying a small ax. One woman bore a bow while the other did not appear to be armed. The man muttered ¡°Looks like Mrs. Donahew isn¡¯t getting her goat back.¡± He turned to look at mason and asked loudly but not harshly ¡°Who are you?¡± Mason seemed to finally get his bearing before muttering ¡°Oh me? I¡¯m Mason. I don¡¯t know where I am.¡± The bow wielding woman asked ¡°Were you kidnapped? If so we didn¡¯t hear about this guy kidnapping any people.¡± ¡°No, I''m not from around here. I ¡­ um well i remember dying and then i was speaking with death and then this imp thing knocked me into a portal and now i''m here¡± The group began to converse among themselves before the woman with the bow stepped forward and asked him to come with them so they could sort this all out. He agreed and they got the hooded man on his feet before shuffling him out. Mason realized they were in a cellar as they trekked through a very medieval style house before exiting onto the street. The street seemed to be in a residential area of a medieval city, large enough to have a wall, which he could see from here. They walked towards the center of town where they went towards the only stone building around which appeared to be closer to a fortress than a shop like most of the ones around it. When asked what that building was, they said it was the guard quarters2. They brought the man over there where the unarmed woman explained what happened before handing off the hooded man to a guard. After that they left and went to the building next door which had a swinging sign depicting a mountain range with a sword horizontally through it. They walked inside and it fit the idea of a tavern to a t. While it was not packed there were a fair few people sitting at tables. They sat down at one of the tables and people barely glanced at the fact that mason was covered in blood. Once they sat down they introduced themselves. ¡°Hi I¡¯m Anne. I¡¯m an archer for the group. I grew up in the forest doing hunting and foraging and the like.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Dally, a self taught summoner. I picked the basics up from my uncles library, he¡¯s the local lord¡± ¡°And I am Rowan, I¡¯m a shield and axe warrior as you may have noticed, I only started learning how to use them once we joined the group¡± Once they gave the short descriptions of themselves they looked at him expectantly. Mason decided to just tell them the truth and so he did. He explained the whole situation from waking up and dying, to waking up as a summoned demon. At the end Rowan laughed, saying ¡°Well sorry to hear it but it seems for now you''re stuck in this world. We are an adventuring party, are you familiar with the concept?¡± Mason, while not an avid gamer or D&D player knew enough about the concept to understand. ¡° Uhm ¡­ Yeah so have you guys been doing this for long?¡± ¡°No, we''ve only been doing this for about a month or so now, and even what we were doing was always low level stuff. Dally and Anne are bronze rank, I''m tin rank. We¡¯ve been gathering herbs in the forest, slaying rats in barns that type of stuff. The situation we were just in would have been our biggest one even if it was just what was on the report. We thought we were looking for a goat thief but it turns out Matthew was a [Diabolist]. Lucky he wasn¡¯t actually able to summon an imp, that would have most likely been above our paygrade.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Dally shivered and then asked ¡°So you are new to the area and the world. Do you have any plans on what to do?¡± Mason thought as he was unprepared for the question and realized he didn¡¯t really have any marketable skills from his world so he decided to ask ¡°Does becoming an adventurer require much knowledge or training at the beginning?¡± ¡°No, especially at our level. We are all tin rank adventurers, that rank is almost exclusively for newbies. We¡¯re also pretty small. Most adventuring teams are 5-7 people large. Some of the more powerful ones can be only 3 and some even go in pairs or solo but for most people you need a group. Our group is actually lacking a bit of attack up front.¡± They leaned in to speak to each other and conferred for a bit. ¡°If you want to join us we¡¯d be happy to have you¡± Mason thought for a bit before realizing he had nothing else to do and these people seemed nice. ¡°Sure, Why not! However I don''t really have anything like a sword or gear in any way¡± Dally laughed. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about that I''ll just grab one from the armory. My uncle won¡¯t mind. As long as it''s not enchanted he won¡¯t care. However he doesn¡¯t have general gear so we should buy some from the stores around here. You¡¯ll probably need some level of armor even if it is just leather, as well as a backpack, rope and a potion belt. I suppose we could supply you with those and you can just pay us back in the future.¡± Rowan seemed to think of something ¡°Oh right we should go register you as an adventurer and tell them what happened with matthew.¡± With that they all got up and headed to the bar in the back of the room, one side of which held shelves of what looked like vials of glowing liquid and the other was a desk behind which a man slightly older than mason sat. Anne confidently went up to him and relayed what happened at Matthew''s house, leaving out the fact that Mason was summoned. The young man whom Anne had referred to as Julian seemed shocked before saying ¡°Well I trust you but I''ll have to verify that with the guard. If it¡¯s true you can come collect your earnings tomorrow. Also i suppose we¡¯ll have to give you more because we misestimated the threat level of that. Anything else?¡± Rowan pushed Mason forward who faltered a bit before saying ¡°Hi I was wondering if I could register for an adventurer?¡± ¡°Sure, what¡¯s your name and do you plan on grouping up with them?¡± ¡°My name is Mason Stevenson, and yes I do.¡± Julian opened up a drawer and drew out a small crystal. He asked Mason to extend his hand and then placed the crystal against it. ¡°Do you have any criminal record in the united cities that you know of?¡± ¡°Not that I am aware of¡± The crystal glowed a forest green before fading again. ¡°Alright I¡¯ll get you registered and you can pick up your tag in a couple days. That will be 7 bronze 4 tin¡± Rowan took a pack off his shoulders and withdrew a string with several metal squares strung along it. He took off the required number and mason realized these must be the money of the world. One side appeared to be made of tin and the other bronze. Once he took off the amount needed he retied the ends in fairly bulky knots and put it in his pack. With that the group took off heading to a store directly across the street from the adventurers guild. When they walked in he saw it was much more sparsely stocked than any store from his world with only shelves on the outside and some tables with stuff which might be useful to adventurers. As they walked in, Rowan went directly to a shelf with a backpack and grabbed one in addition to some other supplies which looked like they would probably be useful. They headed up to a counter, behind which sat a burly old man. He began to tally up how much they owed and as Rowan paid it they talked. ¡°Oh are you kids getting a new member? Hi I¡¯m Aldrek. I run this store. Make sure you are careful out there.¡± With that they headed out and over to the guard house where dally quickly popped in seeming to talk to some people in there before coming out with a sword in a sheathe. Rowan showed Mason how to attach it to his new belt. They headed to an area behind the adventurers guild where there was a small courtyard. Mason received an explanation of some apparently basic things. ¡°So I guess you wouldn¡¯t know about levels. This world has a system in which you get a class and every two levels you get a skill. You level up by doing whatever it is your class does. You can only get skills which make sense for your class. For example anne here wouldn¡¯t get [Power Strike] because she''s a ranger, ya know?¡± ¡°Anyway we were thinking you could become a sort of a frontline [Warrior] So we thought if you practiced that here then when you go to bed tonight you could get the class and make it easier to level up. So why don¡¯t you take that sword and go ham on that tree trunk.¡± Chp. 2 As Mason began to do that, Rowan headed inside, saying that he was going to look for a request or two to do tomorrow. As he headed inside, Dally and Anne answered a few of his questions. ¡°Adventuring is not Common for example in this fairly small to medium sized city of 170,000 there are less than 70 adventurers and only one gold rank team, the Bark Shields.¡± As Mason started asking questions about magic of dally she began to explain the basics to him. ¡°Magic is based on the energy inside yourself and the world. Here stop hitting that for a moment.¡± Mason paused in his attacks on the tree trunk to pay full attention to her. ¡°If you pay attention to what your body is doing you should be able to feel another energy in and around you. Can you?¡± Now that he had been told to look at it, he could feel an energy flowing through his body, not like blood more like he was in a stream and it was passing through him. ¡°Yes I can. It¡¯s weird it feels almost like I''m not here.¡± ¡°Good now see if you can take hold of it. This is what separates those who can be [Mage]s from those who can¡¯t. Try and control the flow with your mind. As mason attempted his he felt a resistance to his attempts to move it, however once he pushed harder he could easily separate some of it and control it. He released the amount he had separated back into the flow. He explained how it had felt. ¡°Ooh you have some talent if you were able to get it on the first try. So once you are able to do that you have to shape it. This involves giving it a substance, an intent and a form. For example.¡± An arrow of light formed in front of her before shooting out and striking the tree trunk. ¡°There I gave it the substance of light, Intent to harm and the form of an arrow. This doesn¡¯t mean you can mix these in any way. For example fire is inherently tied to the intent to harm. It can deviate slightly from that, such as the intent to move, but it can hardly heal easily. Most mages choose to specialize in one shaping idea. For example an ice mage focuses on the substance of ice, allowing for them to put less of their energy into that and more into the intent and form. This doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t cast outside your specialization; it just becomes harder. Also you tend to get skills based on your specialization so it makes it a bad idea to change your specialization. Also animation illusion and enchanting are a form. Lets see you try and do any form of magic okay?¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Mason thought for a bit before reaching into the flow of mana and drawing some out. He formed it into flames which he then gave the intent to harm. Finally he shaped it into a dagger. With this he thrust his hand forward, Shooting the dagger into the trunk. This proved to be a bad idea as the trunk quickly caught on fire, however dally quickly put this out with a spout of water. ¡°Wow that had some power to it. However you will obviously have to work on the speed as that took like 5 seconds. Anyway that was pretty impressive for a first day. I''m assuming you are feeling tired now? Why don¡¯t we head inside.¡± With that Mason grabbed up his sword and put it back in his sheath before following them into the guild. Rowan got up from talking with some other adventurers. ¡°How did it go?¡± ¡°He¡¯s got some good potential. He didn¡¯t look terrible with the sword and I was able to teach him to cast an actual damaging spell.¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s great. I have some good news. There is a request we could take on tonight. One of the farms nearby has some shadowtail foxes going after the hens at night. I was thinking we could go out there and take this on. You guys interested?¡± Anne seemed ready to go right now and dally didn¡¯t seem adverse to it. Mason said he was willing to and with that they walked outside. Dally warned mason not to be alarmed before pulling up her left sleeve, revealing a large and intricately done tattoo of a horse. He had also noticed another tattoo in the same style of a hawk on her neck. She touched the horse one and said [Bonds of Ink] And with a confusing twisting, the horse leaped off her skin and realized itself into an actual living breathing horse. Mason took a step backwards. ¡°Oh don''t worry, Ruby wouldn¡¯t hurt a fly. That¡¯s just a skill I have that allows me to keep my bonded animals as tattoos.¡± With that they set out towards the south edge of the city. It was already starting to turn to dusk and as they left the city rowan pointed to a farm, about a mile away, only visible because the city was positioned on a rise. To the east of the city lay a wide slow moving river and to the north rose tall craggy mountains. They began heading towards the farm Dally riding on Ruby and the rest walking. Once they arrived it was definitely night at that point. Rowan walked up to the door and knocked. It was answered fairly promptly by a middle-aged man and woman. They explained that there had been attacks on the henhouse the past two nights by a shadowtail fox. The couple told them the chicken coop was right behind the house and it could be watched from their back porch and that it had struck around an hour from now the previous two nights. With that the group headed to the back of the house and began to wait. Chp. 3 As the group sat there, Anne explained what a shadowtail fox was. ¡°It is like a normal fox in shape but it is almost completely balck furred normally with a few spots of silver. They tend to go after farm animals if they are hungry. Also they can hide in shadows really well and if they are in shadows they can pass through thin surfaces. Thin being a relative term of course. We have just got to keep watch throughout the night and then take it out when we see it. It has some decent strength but most of the time it won¡¯t fight you if it can find a way out. We were only allowed to take this one on cause we had two bronze ranks.¡± With this the group went quiet, watching the chicken coop which was a small building with a stone foundation. Occasionally they heard a quiet cluck coming from the coop. After about the expected hour Mason saw a dark shadow slinking towards the coop. He pointed it out to the others silently and Anne knocked her bow. She began drawing it back, silently drawing it back before loosing with a soft twang. The fox seemed to notice them right as the arrow began shooting at it and was able to dodge enough that the arrow only grazed it. With this the fox began racing towards the woods again and the rest of the group got and began racing towards it. Dally called out ruby and began racing around the field so as not to trample the crops. The others raced straight through, simply treading carefully. Dally suddenly had a falcon on her shoulder and it took off with a cry. The fox reached the woods only seconds before the group and darted through the trees starting to fade into the shadows. The group still continued in the same general direction but they could not truly see it anymore. Dally came thundering past them shouting ¡°Follow me, Kann can still see it!¡± With this she turned a bit left and they raced after her. Soon she came to a halt next to a large rock. ¡°It went under this rock.¡± She pointed at an area where the rock seemed elevated from the earth, leaving a shallow cave like area. They grouped up around the area and mason crouched to peer into it, he saw a rapid dash of movement as the fox rushed at him. He instinctively wrenched his blade out of its sheath and swung at the fox as he realized his mistake. He had cornered it, leaving it no option but to fight. The Fox rushed at him, Mouth wide before in instinct he swung at it with his sword, Knocking it off balance and cutting it a bit. With the time he had given them dally was able to shoot a [Light Arrow] into its eye, killing it. Mason breathed a sigh of relief. The time since they had rushed off the porch was less than a minute, but it felt far longer. Anne reiterated that you don¡¯t want to back a monster into its den, While Rowan Picked up the fox. ¡°Yeah we might be able to get a silver for this. Minimal damage to the coat.¡± He turned it over and exclaimed ¡°Hey there''s some mana scaling here. This alone could sell for 3 bronze!¡± ¡°What is mana scaling?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a natural phenomenon in monsters when they are in mana rich areas. Some consider it a disease, because if it grows too much it can prevent them from moving. For us though it¡¯s worth a fair bit. Alchemists and enchanters can crush it up and direct the mana rather than having to supply some from their own Flow. Makes it easier for them to produce en masse.¡± Rowan pointed it out to Mason and he saw it was a small section of blue purple crystals covering a small section the size of a quarter. ¡° Naturally the more mana rich the area the faster it will grow. When a monster is in one of those areas, it can either grow mana scales, or it can get stronger by assimilating it into itself.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Dally was looking around the forest before sticking her hand out where it suddenly burst aglow with a gaseous light. It seemed to be flowing towards the ground. ¡°Hmm I wonder where it was. This area isn¡¯t mana dense enough. Ah well we should get back to the farmhouse.¡± Rowan began crawling under the rock. Mason questioned why he was doing this. ¡°Oh monsters sometimes gather treasure and stuff at their lairs ... . Hey guys come look at this. Especially you, dally.¡± They crouched down and looked under the rock where he could see there was in fact no treasure, just what looked like chicken bones, as well as further back, cowering in the shadows, a tiny cub. ¡°Oh no, did we kill a mother? Aww it looks so scared. I don¡¯t want to hurt you little buddy.¡± Dally whispered. She slowly reached in and was able to grab hold of the cub before pulling it out. It was biting at her, but it looked like its teeth weren¡¯t sharp enough to even really scratch her, and it did not look like it was attempting to. ¡°Dally, are you planning on training it yourself or should we sell that too?¡± Anne inquired. ¡°We can¡¯t just sell him. He¡¯s just lost his mother because of us. No, I¡¯m going to take care of him, ok?¡± With that they set off back towards the farmhouse, Dally guiding them back. When asked how she was doing it she responded ¡°Oh, I have the skill [Far Eyes]. As long as Kann is within two miles of me I can see out of his eyes. Quite useful for situations like this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Assuming Kann is your falcon?¡± At a nod from Dally he continued. ¡°Cool, so do you plan on taming that fox?¡± ¡°I suppose so. I don¡¯t really have a plan for this so I can¡¯t know for sure.¡± With this they walked the rest of the way back in silence. When they arrived at the farmhouse, The couple was standing on the back porch waiting for them. ¡°Were you able to get the fox?¡± Rowan moved forward from the back of the group, Showing them the body in way of answer. ¡°Oh fantastic. And it looks like you scared it away before it could get any more of our chickens. Come, Why don¡¯t you children come inside, It¡¯s too late to travel all the way back to the city.¡± ¡°Oh no we wouldn''t wanto ...mpose¡± Rowan mumbled through. ¡°You¡¯re slurring your words. Look you can stay here tonight then head back to the city okay?¡± With this the group accepted and Anne and Dally were led off to what had apparently been the daughters rooms and Rowan and Mason Slept on the couch. As they drifted off, rowan told mason that he should get some level ups, and to ignore and cancel any level ups other than mage or warrior. As rowans eye began to flutter shut he heard a ding, Before a voice in his head said [Class Requirements Met - Summon] [Class Requirements Met - Warrior] [Class Requirements Met - Mage] He accepted the warrior and mage and then heard four more dings [Level Up - Level Up - Mage] [Level Up - Level Up - Warrior] [Skill Gained - Basic Knowledge - Blades] [Spell Gained - Flaming Daggers] With this Rowan drifted off to sleep. Chp. 4 When Mason woke up in the morning it was to the smell of sizzling bacon and eggs. He jerked around for a bit at the unfamiliar room he was in before remembering. He had been brought to another world after his death. He had joined this group of adventurers and then learned how to do magic and wield a blade. He had glossed over the fact that he could wield magic as if it was nothing yesterday, but really that alone should have been enough to shock him. As he got up from the couch, he saw Rowan talking with the couple who owned this house. ¡°Oh yeah you guys did us a real favor by coming out here. A lot of the higher ranked adventurers would consider this too small to do. We didn¡¯t really have a lot to offer the guild. However that fox killed 6 of our chickens, which is a significant loss for a farm as small as ours.¡± ¡°Oh, no problem at all, whatever we can do to help. And I feel you have already made it up to us by letting us sleep here overnight and giving us breakfast.¡± Mason got up and joined the conversation. They continued to chat until the girls came out of their room. Once they had finished eating, they set out for the city. On the way mason asked the group some questions. ¡°So are you two able to use magic?¡± He asked Rowan and Anne. ¡°No, Very few people can. Only about 1 in a 30 can grasp the flow. I am very lucky to be able to and you are able to because you are an otherworlder.¡± ¡°Oh. And you mentioned specializations in magic. What are those exactly?¡± ¡°Well each spell is split up into three parts. Intent, Form, and Substance. At level 10 your class either upgrades or consolidates some of your lower leveled classes.That is when you pick a general specialization. If you pick form you go down the route of a Shaper. If you pick Substance you go down the route of an Elemantilist. If you pick intent you go down the path of the Vowed. Your strength as a mage is determined by the size of your Pool and how much of the Flow you can grasp at once. We will test you later for that. However specializing is very important because once you pick a specialization you no longer need to fix that part in each spell, saving you time and mana. To be clear you can only specialize in one thing. You cannot change that later. I didn¡¯t get to the level where I would get a specialization before I consolidated it into my beast tamer class for the beast summoner class, but I was planning on going light mage.¡± ¡°Also what is the point of [Spell]s when i could just cast it myself? I got one when I got the [Mage] class. [Flaming Daggers] from the [Mage] class and [Basic Knowledge - Blades] from warrior.¡± ¡°The main benefit is you don¡¯t have to think about each aspect each time. You can just activate the skill and it is instantly with a small cooldown rather than spending upwards of 20 seconds on a simple spell.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Huh. [Flaming Daggers]¡± He raised his hand, and once he finished speaking two flaming daggers shot out, burning the road ahead of them. ¡°Oh I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t do that. If you aren¡¯t in combat or training then combat magic is illegal.¡± ¡°No problem, I just didn¡¯t know. Speaking of, are there any magics that are illegal? Like necromancy for example¡± ¡°Necromancy is allowed, Just not resurrection of Sentients. It¡¯s not particularly loved mind you, A lot of weirdos tend to pursue it, so it has a bad name. However there is one type of magic that is flat out banned, punishable by death for knowing a single spell or having a level in the class and that is plague magic.¡± ¡°Really? That serious? Did something happen to cause all this?¡± ¡°Yes. Very much so. The civilization you see before you today is fairly new. Only about 400 years old. There are still many parts of the continent we haven¡¯t explored. About three thousand years ago now this entire continent was murdered by a single plague mage. She eventually turned herself in for execution and at that point she was the highest level individual ever known, at Level 89. However the damage was already done. This continent was abandoned for two and a half thousand years in fear there was some remnant of that disease. We are only here now because there were a couple of human cities outside of Puecan, Which by the way is the name of the continent. People eventually came back as they were chased out of their homelands. Anyway in short, plague magic has ever since been completely banned.¡± ¡°How did the other continents not get affected?¡± ¡°They shot down any ships coming from Puecan once they heard the news. It was harsh but we survived so¡­ A quick warning, Somewhat unrelated. Never dig too deep into your mana pool. When you do your brain starts to slow, your blood feels thicker and your heart beats less often to the point where if you lose all of your mana you flat out die. Never go below 10% mana Ok? I know a mage who went too deep and could no longer use his legs and his brain never recovered.¡± A silence followed her words. A single mage able to wipe out an entire continent by themselves. He understood why plague magic was banned then. They continued to walk towards the city, and on the way they stopped for Rowan to go into a farmhouse to their side. It was fairly distant but Mason thought he could hear yelling. Rowan came out a minute later and said ¡°Sorry I just wanted to let my parents know why I wasn¡¯t there last night. Let¡¯s keep going¡± Mason decided not to ask about the yelling if Rowan didn¡¯t bring it up. There was one more interesting conversation before they got to the city. It started when Mason saw a small green cloud passing only about ten feet over one of the nearby fields, moving in neat rows. When mason pointed it out, Dally explained that it was a magic cloud powered by a local mage. Apparently he specialized in clouds, and Dally made a point of the fact that it was as a form rather than a substance. He sold his abilities to local farmers. If there was a drought he would water their fields for them and if nor he would do what he was doing now, which was apparently a cloud of growth. ¡°Magic has many uses, far beyond just combat¡± Chp. 5 The group sat in the adventurers guild discussing their plans. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it for a bit and you might not want to go touting that you are from another world. There''s no real benefit to it and it could be a risk.¡± ¡°Okay then, No problem.¡± They went up to the counter where they talked to Julian again. ¡°So the watch confirmed your story of Matthews unregulated diabolism so we are giving you 1 gold 4 silver because that could have turned into a serious thing.¡± ¡°1 Gold! Fantastic. Also we have to turn in this shadowtail fox for the bounty, the quest reward and there''s some mana scaling there which would be great if you wouldn¡¯t mind.¡± After inspecting the fox he brought it into a back room where he saw it put into a room which from the glance he saw was filled with more animals. There was a faint glow of magic across the doorway. Julian sat back down and began counting out some coins. ¡°Allright for everything that will be 1 gold, 8 silver and 3 bronze. Do you plan on taking any more quests?¡± ¡°Oh we have to go check on the board first.¡± The group went over to the board and began inspecting some of the quests. They all seemed fairly basic. ¡°Hmm, there are more combat quests than usual. Look, there are four of them even for a team of our level. There are some water slimes down by the docks, Some forest slimes out on the road, a wolf down in redford and a rat king out in one of the farms. How about we go after the slimes, first the water then the forest? We should be able to do both of those in a day.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. With this the group set out heading towards the river mason had seen last time. They got down to the docks which seemed to be in a fairly busy state, as it looked like one of the long flat bottomed boats was about to leave. Anne led the group towards a dock to the north of the rest, where there were no boats. The group paused as they began to scope out the situation. Mason could see large shapes in the water, formed of water, only distinguishable because of the way they moved and poked above the surface at times. Dally began explaining what exactly slimes were. ¡°Slimes are the result of ambient mana pooling up in liquids of all sorts. It only happens to things that don¡¯t already have mana, so it won''t happen to like a healing potion, or blood inside your body. The bad part is that they generate more of the liquid as they exist and that liquid is already imbued with mana, so one slime can quickly turn into an infestation. Water slimes are the most common for obvious reasons and they can be a huge problem for boats. If just one gets on a boat undetected it can sink an inattentive ship. The best way to deal with slimes is to take them out of the element they are in and then puncture their membrane and let them empty themselves out until the membrane collapses. They can heal so long as they are in their substance. I think we should go about this by having me and Mason lift them out of the water with magic and then you two can take care of them. Ok?¡± With this the group nodded and mason began looking for the slimes by looking for the mana within them. He was able to see 6 around this dock. He thought about it for a second and realized flame would probably be a terrible element for this. He grabbed the mana within him and began shaping it into a vine and putting in the intent to restrain. He used this to reach into the water where he attempted to coil it around a slime. It easily slipped out of his grasp. Now that he was looking more closely at the slimes he realized they looked a bit like jellyfish. He heard a commotion behind him and realized rowan and dally had successfully taken out one. With no wish to waste more time he threw himself back into attempting to grab it. He shaped more vines this time, Sending them into the water while surrounding the slime, leaving it no room to escape. He quickly scooped it out of the water and plopped it down on the dock. Anne grabbed one of her arrows and wielding it as a knife quickly slashed the slime, leaving it to drain across the docks. He shot the vines back into the water before grabbing another slime in the same way. This process continued until all the docks were cleared of the river slimes. With this the group headed out and out of the city along the road towards their next stop, which was in the forest. Chp. 6 The group reached the point where they had to turn off from the road and began trudging into the forest. The trees cast deep shadows over the party as they went further and further in. The trees all looked the same, and they began to get lost. ¡°Where were the slimes supposed to be again?¡± ¡°The request said they had been seen in the forest off to the left of the road after the 3 large boulders. I am definitely sure that those were the ones we saw. Perhaps the slimes were already killed by another party?¡± ¡°Anyway I feel at this point we should turn around and find our way back. Anne have you been keeping track?¡± ¡°Yeah sure we just have to head ¡­¡± Anne was turning around with a confused look on her face, realizing it all looked the same, even to her. ¡°Dally check for magical effects¡± Dally sent out beams of light which bounced off the trees before returning to her. ¡°Oh no. We¡¯ve entered into a confounding tree range.¡± ¡°Fuck. I should have been paying closer attention. Any idea how close we are to it? Do you think you can still dispel it or are we too close?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry but what is a confounding tree?¡± ¡°They are a type of tree which has a field in which it tricks people into heading towards it where it kills them. And no I can¡¯t dispel it at this point. We have already gone in too far. We are going to have to take it down.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t take it down, this thing is a bronze to silver rank threat!¡± ¡°Only if we get in close. If we plan this out we can take it out from afar. They are a tree so we need a lot of attack to take them down. There is a core pillar in the center that keeps it alive. If we can slice that and then wait for about ten minutes then we are golden.¡± ¡°Wait, If it is actually wood, couldn¡¯t we just burn it down with magic?¡± ¡°Well no, Despite it¡¯s very tree like appearance it isn¡¯t actually made of wood. Did you guys leveled up last night?¡± ¡°I did, but only by one so no new skill.¡± Anne said. ¡°I didn''t,¡± Dally said. Rowan took a moment to gather himself up and said, ¡°I leveled up last night and upgraded my class to [Shield Warrior]. I got the skill [Mirror Shield] Which allows me to make a duplicate of my shield and move it around anywhere within 10 feet of me.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Wow congrats, Now you are a bronze rank too! Why didn¡¯t you let the guild know?¡± Rowan looked embarrassed. ¡°I kind of forgot.¡± ¡°So how about we find this tree thing first ok?¡± With this the group started heading towards the center of the field of strange mana. Anne pointed out a clearing ahead of them, and mason could see a large tree with dark brown bark and almost blue green leaves. Other than the coloration and the shape of the leaves it looked like an oak tree, which stood out from the rest which were pines. They stopped where they could see it. ¡°Anne, do you think your arrows could do anything to this thing?¡± ¡°No my arrows wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce the bark by more than a quarter inch. It wouldn¡¯t really work.¡± ¡° Well my axe is fairly well suited for this. Dally I feel like your summons won¡¯t really help in this situation, no need to risk them. How about you two try magic from afar first.¡± With this dally and mason set about analyzing what they could do with their magic. Mason formed a very long vine, and hardened the tip while also shaping it into a drill. He had it snake across the floor, a decision which would reveal to him just how dangerous this could be. The second the vine crossed into the clearing, three roots shot out of the ground, Severing the vine. Mason pulled the rest back and began to try again, this time having it go along the branches overhead before finally dangling down next to the trunk. He quickly lined up the drill vine with the tree and began spinning it and pushing it forward. He saw it make some progress, but once it got past the bark, it seemed to notice and broke it with roots again. Alright it seems like my idea won¡¯t really work either. Perhaps we need to have more powerful instantaneous magics. Dally began working on a spell and when she released it she shouted ¡°Hard Light Broad Axe!¡± With this a flash of light shot from her outstretched hands a broad axe appeared, parallel to the ground. It hit the trunk and did a not insignificant amount of damage. Dally appeared winded though. ¡°That took more than a quarter of my mana so I can only do that twice more. With this she set about doing just that. Mason sat about thinking how he could do something similar. He decided to try an earth spell. With that he set about creating a ring of earth with sharp points on the inside. He sent it over to the tree, where it opened up and wrapped itself around it without touching the bark. He lined it up with where Dallys light axes had hit before having it constrict and begin spinning. He quickly tore a ring into the trunk and compressed the entirety of the earth into that ring. Roots came shooting at the ring but it could only break a part of the ring which was quickly repaired. He continued tightening the ring until he reached about 20% mana. He let them know and withdrew the ring. Together they had gotten nearly to the core, and they began to plan out how they would finish this. They decided rowan would go in and use his axe for the finishing blow and would protect himself from the roots using his mirror shield and anne shooting any he missed. Rowan began to hype himself up before sprinting straight towards the clearing. He summoned his mirror shield below him, Moving it at almost the pace he moved, so it was always right under him, but he never stepped on it. He approached the tree and some roots shot out from below him, striking the shield and knocking him into the air. With a crash he came down and rolled in the direction of the tree, getting on his feet just as another root shot out of where he just was only to be severed by one of Anne''s shots. At this point he had reached the tree and wildly swung his axe at the crack in the tree, Using [Extended Strike]. He heard a loud thud as his axe hit the wood before sinking into something more liquidy. With this he ran back towards the group, using the same maneuvers, but the roots seemed less energetic now. Rowan looked back over his shoulders to see the tree leaking a bluish substance. With this the group sat down to wait. Chp. 7 Chapter 7 They sat and waited, carefully out of range of the tree until eventually the liquid leaking out of the tree stopped and the leaves on the tree seemed to wilt. They approached it and seemed saddened that they hadn¡¯t been able to gather any of the liquid substance. ¡°Yeah alchemists can make confusing potions with the stuff. Too bad we couldn¡¯t get any of it. Also none of us have vials anyway. Dally can you send Kann up and see if you can see the road?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± With this she called kann out and he went above. She tilted her head strangely to the ground, already looking from his eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t see the road, but i can see the city and the river so the road must just be blocked by the trees. Wow we must be 3 miles in. And it is already approaching dusk.¡± She called kann back. Anne seemed to pale. ¡°God that tree pulled us in far. We have to get out of the forest now. We are technically speaking invading the Selfborn. We need to head to the road. Which direction is it?¡± Dally pointed not directly where they had come from but close and the group quickly began heading in that direction. ¡°What are the Selfborn?¡± ¡°Not what. Who. They are a group of intelligent golems who live in high mana places. The depths of this forest is one of them and the city has an agreement not to go more than two miles from the road.¡± Anne stopped short gesturing for all of them to stop. ¡°Godammit can this day get any worse? There are wolf tracks. Fresh. We are heading towards a pack. Lets try and go around them.¡± With this she guided them slightly off course. They continued for a few minutes before mason saw a form darting up from a gully, followed by nearly 20 more. He shouted ¡°Wolves in front of us!¡± The group dashed back in the direction they came from and the wolves followed, fast but it did not look as fast as they could be going. They seemed almost fearful of something ahead and it certainly wasn¡¯t the group. As they sprinted forwards a humanoid shape dropped from the tree, revealing itself to be a massive 7 foot tall being, shaped of rock. He was wielding a massive spear in addition to a quiver of what appeared to be javelins. He whipped one of these out and sent it towards the wolves. It landed right in front of the wolves, scattering them and making them wait behind it.. ¡°Leave now humans or I will have to kill you.¡± He rasped out in a gravelly voice. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°We are being chased by wolves! We did not come here by choice!¡± ¡° I don''t care. The pact makes no such allowances. Face certain death by approaching or waiting, or likely death with the wolves. I suggest you chose the latter. 10 ¡­ 9 ¡­ 8¡± They got the message and started heading sideways in between the golem and where the wolves behind them were. Both kept pace, the wolves more eager now seeing the golem would not protect them. They angled towards where the wolves were going to be, hoping to get ahead of them. Mason spotted what appeared to be a roof in their path and he pointed out to the group that it had a hole in it. They instantly got what he was saying and dived in, with mason staying to hold back the wolves with the last of his mana he could safely spend shooting a shower of thorns at them, just enough to keep them at bay. With this he dove into the hole too, and found himself in what appeared to be a tunnel. There was rubble on the ground and he noticed the ceiling bore what appeared to be stairs. With this realization he reoriented himself and realized they were standing in what appeared to be a tower laying sideways. A wolf jumped into the hole after them and the group raced away from it. Anne attempted to stop as she was in front, before being pushed and windmilling her arms. Mason realized what was happening a second too late and crashed into the group, knocking them off what he could now see was an edge which had been hidden by darkness. The group tumbled into the air, falling for only a second or two before crashing into the ground, out of breath. Mason could barely see the wolves pacing back and forth above before leaving. He then felt a blackness wash over his eyes as he went into unconsciousness. [Level up - Warrior] [Level Up - Level Up - Level up - Mage] [Spell gained - Vine appendages] [Passive gained - Mana pool growth] Chp. 8 Mason cracked his eyes open and at first he thought he hadn¡¯t. The darkness which surrounded him was complete except for the barest trickle of light coming from somewhere above him. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he saw he was in some sort of spacious room. Stone shelves lined the walls, each bearing dust and nothing else. He saw that the other members of his adventuring party were laid out around him, and he began to prod them awake. As they woke up Dally decided to heal everyone here, However her spell was of the light element so it illuminated the area around them and ruined any night vision they had. Mason groaned at the light piercing his eyes. After dally was done with the spell the group discussed where they were. Dally began explaining that the current Etton was built in the location of a pre plague city of the same name. The previous Etton had been the capital of a large kingdom. People had assumed the old etton was lost after no sign of it was found in the building of the new Etton. The ancient city was said to be fairly wealthy so Dally seemed excited about the idea of finding treasures down here. They stood up and began exploring their near surroundings. As they once again grew accustomed to the dark, Mason saw it was not quite as intact as he had been suspecting. There were cracks everywhere and occasional piles of rubble. However, for it to even be this intact was already an accomplishment. ¡°Hmm. I''m sensing a faint layer of magic in this place. It has an almost holy feel. It seems to be diverting attention from the place. Perhaps that is why no one has come down here before. They weren¡¯t actively looking for somewhere to hide, so the tower didn¡¯t attract their attention. If so that also means that just because we don¡¯t see any monsters here doesn¡¯t mean they aren¡¯t outside. Let¡¯s be cautious, okay?¡± As they explored the room which to be a long lost library, he came across a cylinder shaped item. It had some level of magic in it though he wasn¡¯t sure what. It was made out of a brownish metal twisted around itself, capped at both ends with a dome. He put it in his bag for later examination. They left the room and found themselves in a hallway, one end leading to a staircase and the other leading to what resembled a church room from earth. He could see at the other end of the room, a doorway leading to the outside. He pointed it out and they began walking towards it, going slowly wary of a trap. They reached the doorway and peered out of it, finding themselves in a massive cavern, with the bottom of the cavern being the ancient city they had been expecting. The cavern was not quite as deserted as they originally thought, as he could see glowing lichen and moss on the ceiling high above, Occasionally obscured by moving blotches of darkness which appeared to be eating the lichen. The group slowly walked onto the street, finding themselves on what appeared to be a shopping street, as all the buildings on the other side had what had most likely once been windows. At one end of the street was an imposing gate, and they could see a large courtyard behind it. And the other end lay a plaza of some kind, with what appeared to be a long dead fountain, resembling a knight with his sword out. The building they had just come out of took up the entire side of the street it was on. Anne seemed freaked out by the entire thing, as even with her keen eyes she could not make out everything. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. They began sweeping the shops, heading into them and seeing if there was anything of value left. While they were in the third one they entered with nothing they heard a very loud buzzing rush by outside, Heading in the direction they had come from. As they turned around to face it, two more of the sounds raced by, and this time they were able to see large beetle-like shapes, with wings flying towards the citadel. They were about the size of dogs and it was strange they were able to fly. As he observed them more, it seemed more as if they were gliding while intermittently shifting their wings to gain some height, Before landing on the ground and jumping. As he watched them he sensed the distinct feel of mana emanating from them. The group crouched down and stayed quiet. The creature seemed to stay close to the entrance to the citadel for a while before leaving again. With this the group got up and released a breath. Dally whispered ¡°Those things were wielding mana. To be clear, not infused as some monsters are. That means they are sentient. We just most likely discovered a new sentient species. That is ¡­ just insane. Let¡¯s not do anything hasty involving them okay?¡± They set out from the ruined shop and continued until they found what looked like an old adventurers shop. When they went in they saw what looked like heaps of rusted metal, in addition to 4 items which had stood the test of time, 2 looking brand new, likely due to some endurance enchantment, The others due to sheer craftsmanship and being kept in cases seemingly designed to maintain them. One of them was a shield, one was a helmet, a third was a short sword and the fourth was what appeared to be a small leather pouch. As they inspected them dally said that most likely, The sword and shield had survived because of their toughness enchantments. As such those obviously went to rowan, and he immediately replaced them, making use of the fourth item to keep his old ones. It was a bag of holding, a treasure which while expensive, was not exactly rare. However the shortsword was exactly that. However as they took the shortsword out of the case they seemed to trip some sort of alarm as there was a short and fairly quiet wailing sound. It seemed whatever enchantment was on the case had lived its last legs. The shortsword was a well-wrought blade with a sensible hilt. It wasn¡¯t anything special in regards to its design, However it was a very wide purpose blade. For example, apparently the blade had a core of holy silver, which was enough to harm pretty much any type of undead. As well the shortsword functioned as a wand, allowing the one using it to store shaped mana in it allowing for use as additional spells in a battle. In addition it was a duel wand, Allowing for two spells to be stored at once. Since it fit with both his classes this went to mason. ¡°I can¡¯t possibly accept this. I¡¯m literally just starting out.¡± ¡°It¡¯s perfect for you. Just take it okay?¡± With this they headed out of the shop, Anne wielding the bag of holding and putting some of her arrows in there for now. Since the Beetlekin, Which was what they were calling them for now. had headed towards the plaza and they didn''t want to deal with them right now they headed towards the courtyard they had seen on the other end. As they approached the archway, they could see some sort of words, written in a language none of them could read. They decided to head in, hoping they could find more artifacts. Chp. 9 As they entered the courtyard they could see that it looked like once it might have been used for combat practice of some kind as there were pits filled with sand off to the sides, and targets chiseled into the back walls. They walked up to the doorway, surprised to find an actual physical wooden door. It was the first thing of an organic material they had seen that had lasted. As Rowan went to open the door, the knob seemed to extend, before wrapping around his wrist. At this sight, Mason charged forwards and slashed at this extension of the knob. He easily cut through, separating two parts of the knob. The part around his wrist seemed to lose whatever life it had, simply becoming an oddly shaped brass bracelet. The part attached to the door however, retreated and the entire door seemed to hiss. They backed away, seeking to understand what was happening. When Rowan grabbed at the bracelet around his wrist, With just a tug he was able to break it off, so it was very brittle. ¡°What was that? Some kind of enchanted door? Perhaps we need some kind of permission to enter this building?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t sense any mana emanating from the door. It¡¯s not enchanted.¡± ¡°That thing hissed. I¡¯m sure of it. This thing has got to be alive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a door. Doors can¡¯t be alive.¡± ¡°Rowan why don¡¯t you just chop it down okay?¡± That should resolve whatever problem there is.¡± With this rowan took up his axe and approached warily. He swung from about as far away as he could, before saying [Power Strike] and chopping at the door. He was able to get a fair bit through as the door was only 3 inches thick. This time there was no hiss or even any sign that anything was unusual about the door. Mason decided to test something and pressed his sword against the door and a crater opened up to avoid his blade. ¡°Hmm. Perhaps it is because my sword has that spirit slaying core? Maybe the door itself isn¡¯t alive but rather there is a spirit within it manipulating it.¡± ¡°WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE HUMAN. I HAVE NOT SEEN YOUR KIND IN GENERATIONS.¡± The entire group backed up. ¡°Did you hear that too?¡± The message had not truly been in words but more in ideas and images. Dally warily responded ¡°You can speak? What are you?¡± ¡°MY KIND ARE THE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS THE MAGES AT THIS ACADEMY WERE DOING PRIOR TO THEM DYING OUT. I AM THE OLDEST OF MY KIND, AND THE ONLY ONE WHO IS STILL ALIVE OF THE ORIGINALS. WE ARE A SPIRIT RACE, ONE WHO POSSES OBJECTS. WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°We come from above this cavern. We discovered this place and came down here to escape some wolves.¡± ¡°I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE FROM THIS PLACE. NOTHING AWAITS YOU INSIDE BUT DEATH. THE PROTECTIONS OF THIS ACADEMY STILL STAND. WE ARE ONLY ABLE TO RESIDE HERE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT RECOGNIZE US AS LIVING BEINGS. I AM SORRY I ATTACKED YOU IMMEDIATELY, HOWEVER I WAS SCARED. PLEASE LEAVE FROM THIS PLACE.¡± A thud came from the door. And then another. ¡°What is that? The protections of the academy?¡± ¡°NO THAT IS MY GREAT GREAT GREAT TOO MANY TO COUNT GREAT GRANDSON. I BELIEVE HE DESIRES TO GO WITH YOU AND EXPLORE. WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO TAKE HIM? HE IS NOT LIKE ME, HE CANNOT YET SPEAK. MY KIND GROWS MORE INTELLIGENT WITH AGE.¡± ¡°I mean yeah I suppose we could take him.¡± With this the doors opened enough to reveal a pile of items directly behind the door. A small pen rolled out from it. ¡°Is that him?¡± ¡°YES. HE IS STILL QUITE SMALL, BUT HE HAS BEEN TRULY BORED FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO TAKE HIM IT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP¡± ¡°Okay then.¡± Dally picked up the small pen, and held it awkwardly. ¡°So are you okay going with us?¡± With this the pen seemed to do a small wiggle, which they took as a yes. The group moved away from the door, deciding to head back to the citadel. ¡°Should we head back to the surface? Perhaps we could come back with a higher ranked team and try again later. I mean we already got 4, possibly 5 artifacts. Let¡¯s not push it.¡± ¡°No! This is our big break okay? How often do you think ancient ruins are discovered? This is the type of ruin that can make a gold rank team! If we come back with higher ranked teams, we would be lucky to walk away with some coin.¡± ¡°You know they aren¡¯t like that. The teams at our adventurers guild are good people.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so naive. They won¡¯t sabotage us or anything, but once we call them in they would think they deserve a larger share of the reward. Look how about this okay? We keep exploring until we find a threat we can¡¯t take down.¡± Rowan seemed ill at ease but he agreed after a long moment. The group decided to sleep in the citadel as besides their fall they hadn¡¯t slept since this morning. They trudged in and quickly laid out cloaks and the like, before slipping into sleep. [Class requirements met - Looter] Mason knew that earlier rowan had advised not to pick up extraneous classe, however this one seemed perfect for the situation. [Level up - Level up - Level up - Level up - Looter] [Skill gained - Determine Value] [Skill gained - Metal detector] [Level up - Level up - Warrior] [Level up - Mage] [Skill gained - Power Cut] [Passive gained - Enhanced Strength] [Skill gained - Sense Mana] Wow. Four levels. Those artifacts must be worth a lot. With that he drifted off to sleep.