| Spells known |
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Pillar of Flame lvl.2
You release a pillar of flame from your hand. Size and strength of the pillar is dependant on how much mana you feed into it.
Casting time: instantaneous
Mana cost: Casters choice
Components: Somatic
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Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The rain was sizzling against the melted stones of the alley, while I was looking at the aftermath of my spell. There wasn¡¯t much left of the giant lizards, only a few charred bones. I was going to have to wait for the red hot stones to cool down before I could move back to the main street. I needed to find some kind of a shelter, where I could hole up in and wait for the storm to pass. I really wanted to take a look at the lightning with my Arcane manipulation, to see what kind of mana it was made out of. I figured it would be a good idea to study lightning before trying to create it myself. After all lightning and electricity has a tendency to go to the nearest conductive source in their path, so I wanted to get more information before trying lightning magic myself.
It looked like the stones were going to take a while before they would get cold enough to move through. So I turned around and kept following the alley to the opposite direction. As I waswalking, I tried to keep my eyes open for any kind of structure, that would rise above the tree canopy. It took me a good half an hour or so of running through the narrow alleyways before, I got a glimpse tall tower in the distance. The tower was hard to spot through the rain and the trees growing amidst the ruins. So far it has been the only building I¡¯ve seen in a relatively good condition, and from here it looked to be a vast structure compared to the other houses around it. If I can climb the tower, it would be a great place to get above the tree canopy, so I started to head towards it.
It took me a while to reach the base of the tower, but once I was there, I could see that it was build in the middle of a large circular courtyard. The courtyard used to be surrounded by a wall, that now lay in ruins around it. What was also strange was the fact that no trees were growing in this courtyard. So far it has been only the second place in this forest that I have seen, that wasn¡¯t covered by the tree canopy, the first one being the clearing where I woke up. I activated my Arcana manipulation, and once it was turned on, I saw that this whole courtyard was utterly void of any kind mana. Even the brown mist from the ground that seemed to be everywhere was gone. I looked up to the storm and saw a bolt of lightning hit the tower, what took me by surprise was that the sound of thunder that usually follows lightning strikes, was almost inaudible, nor were there any mark left where it had struck. It was like the tower was sucking in the lightning strikes and the sound of the thunder.
I couldn¡¯t see a door that would have led inside, so I started to walk around it. After a couple of minutes of walking, I was back where I began, and I hadn¡¯t seen any doors. Deciding that I need to get a closer look at what I was dealing with, I head towards the base of the tower. As I got closer, I could see with my Arcane Manipulation, small white runes encircling whole tower base, they seemed to pulsate with more mana every time the tower was hit by a lightning strike. I didn¡¯t recognise any of the runes, so I reach my hand towards them, trying to see if I could feel them or the mana they held. As my hand touched the stone of the tower wall, I could feel it had a massive amount of mana stored within it. My own mana seemed to be only a small drop of water next to a vast ocean. A vast ocean that started to suck away my own mana into it, at a rapid pace.
Quickly I tried to pull my hand away, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. I could feel myself getting a week as the runes kept sucking me dry, I was trying to pull my hand away with all my strength, but it still wouldn¡¯t budge. And as I was running out of mana, I yelled in a panic ¡°STOP! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL ME!¡±. To my surprise, I fell to the ground, as all of a sudden my hand was free. I was lying on the ground when I heard a monotone voice saying ¡°Guest. Title. Recognised.¡±.
It was the first spoken word I''ve heard since I got here and it was clearly speaking English. ¡±What? Who is there?¡± I tried to ask the voice but got no reply. I shakily got back up to my feet and took a look around, but saw no one around me.
The runes, on the other hand, had changed, I could read a few of them. They didn¡¯t make out any sentences, it was more like each specific rune had a meaning behind it. The clearest rune that I could make out had the essence of fire behind it, or maybe the rune was the fire in itself. The rune felt like knowledge, knowledge on how to bypass the normal chemical reaction for creating fire, it showed how to create fire with just mana, thus avoiding the need for oxygen, fuel and the heat for the process of combustion. It was the formula for creating magical fire. I could make out a few other runes as well, there was one for cold, healing and one for what felt like force, these once I felt like I could barely grasp the meaning of. But I couldn''t understand the majority of what the rules were saying.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
While I was still looking at the runes and trying to make sense of them, a window appeared in front of me.
| Congratulation! You have learned a new skill! Language of Magic. |
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Language of Magic: Language of Magic allows the user to imbue objects with Magic.
1 / 100
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Once again the skill window didn¡¯t give me much of an explanation on how the skill was used, just what it would allow me to do. The lack of information on these things was starting to get irritating, but if I understood this one right, it would probably let me create magic items. I really needed to find someplace safe, where I can take my time and experiment with my magic.
If I can get inside the tower, I could use it as my base of operation. And something did say that my title was recognized, once I yelled for the tower to stop. Could it be as simple as asking it to open? I might as well try it.
I looked at the tower and said ¡°Open,¡± and after a few seconds, I could see the stones starting to move, opening a portcullis in front of me. I could see no light coming from inside, the opening was completely black, it looked like no light went in or came out ¡°Well I hope this goes better than touching the wall did.¡± I murmured as I stepped inside.
As I stepped through the portcullis, I felt an invisible force pulling me inside and lifting me off my feet. After a few seconds of weightlessness, I felt my feet touch a furry carpet, there was no source of light here, no window, no nothing, it was pitch black. I could no longer feel or hear the rain, nor the wind from outside. I quickly conjured a small flame on top of my palm.
As the flame appeared, I could see that I was standing in a small library. The walls of this room were covered in books of all shapes and sizes. There was a small table and a comfortable, but old looking lounge chair sitting next to an unlit fireplace. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly announcing the fact that no has entered this room in a long time. As I turned around, I could see a thick looking wooden door behind me.
I walked towards the fireplace, it was supplied by a generous amount of firewood. As I didn¡¯t want to keep burning my little flame on forever I decided to light it, and wood easily caught on fire, immediately giving off warmth and light.
Now that I had a better source of light, I went to take a look at the books on the bookshelves. But alas, just like the runes I saw during my walk through the city, I couldn¡¯t understand any of it. Planning to come back here later and having a more thorough look around, I walked up to the only door leading out of the room.
As I approached the door, I noticed it lacked a handle or hinges, figuring that it might work like the portcullis outside I said ¡°Open.¡± and the door started to move. The room behind the door was also dark, only a little bit of light from the fireplace reached here. I sighed and conjured my ball of flame again as I stepped into the room.
There was a largewooden writing desk, and a chair directly to me left as I walked in the room, on the desk, there were quills, parchment, and an inkwell. Directly opposite of the doorway, from where I was standing, was a large four-poster bed, with red drapes inlaid with silver hanging between the post. To my right, there was a large armoire and next to it another door. This room was also completely covered in dust.
As I walked deeper into the room, I could see through the drapes, a figure lying on the bed. Cautiously moving closer, I pushed the curtains aside. And saw the figure lying on the bed was a skeleton. I wasn¡¯t too shocked by this sight, I have seen dead bodies before after all. The skeleton was lying on its back, half covered by the bed sheets. On its chest, was a large ruby inlaid in a gold setting.
Without really thinking about, I reached my hand towards the gem, and as my fingers touched it, I could hear the same monotone voice, I heard previously outside, echoing throughout the bedchamber.
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
¡°Compatible. Subject. Found. Initiating. Automatic. Self-preservation. Transfer.¡± echoed throughout the chamber as I felt the gem in my hand starting to heat up. Unlike what happened outside, my mana wasn¡¯t sucked out; instead, it was like someone or something was trying to push in their own mana into mine and mixing them together. The gem was filling my mana pool with mana from the tower, but my relatively small mana pool was only able to hold a minuscule amount, compared to how much the tower had in storage.
After my mana was full, the voice spoke out again ¡°Not. Enough. Room. For. Full. Transfer. Initiating. Safety. Protocol.¡±
¡°Wait, what safety protocol?¡± was the only thing I managed to get out, before a wave of immense pain lanced through me, knocking me off my feet. I fell on the floor, with my back arched and teeth gritted, as I felt the gem was severing portions of my mana. I was sure it was hacking off portions of my mana pool and afterward stitching it back together, using the mana mixture it created earlier.
¡°I must have passed out again, I really need to stop doing that.¡± I murmured, as I woke up next to the four-poster bed. I was covered in sweat and dust, and I didn''t feel the excruciating pain from earlier. As I tried to stand up, my body felt extremely weak, I could hardly get myself up to a sitting position.
I took hold of one of the posts on the bed and slowly started to pull myself up, and as I got to my feet, the whole room began to spin, and I promptly fell on the bed next to me. ¡°You must be more cautious Master, what we just did will take time to recover from.¡± echoed a female voice around the room.
¡°Who are you,¡± I asked the empty room around me. That same female voice announced in a quiet tone ¡°I cannot say, Master, you haven¡¯t given me a name yet.¡± I let out a sigh, as another question plundered out of my mouth ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s try this another way. What are you?¡±
¡°I am the¡ the...¡± she sounded puzzled, like she ought to know the answer, but had forgotten it. ¡°I am sorry, but I don¡¯t know Master. I¡¯m a part of this place and a part of you now. But I think I was something else before.¡±
¡°And what is this place exactly¡± I inquired.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°This place is you and me together, us sharing the same space.¡± she sounded happy announcing this.
¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense, what do you mean ¡®us sharing the same space¡¯¡± I was starting to get annoyed by her answers.
She stayed quiet for a few seconds before saying ¡°This place is our own little sanctum, build by our combined mana.¡±
I began to rub my temples slowly and said: ¡°Well, where is this sanctum of ours located then?¡±
¡°Like I said Master, this place is you and me combined inside our mana pool.¡±
I was stunned for a moment, before exclaiming loudly ¡° Are you saying what I think you are saying? That we are currently inside me, in my mana pool?¡±
She let out an audible sigh ¡±No Master, we are inside OUR mana pool, not just yours. As our mana combined, I became a permanent part to you. I am as much a part of you as you are a part of me.¡±
This was getting crazier by the minute, I really needed to get out of this room and clear my head. Taking a quick look around the place I noticed it had changed, there was no door next to the armoire anymore. Feeling my heart starting to beat faster, I tried to pull myself off the bed, and as I did so, I realized there was no skeleton on the bed next to me either. Quickly getting off the bed I stumbled towards the armoire, searching for any signs of the door but didn''t find any. It was like there never was a door here. I turned on my Arcane manipulation, thinking that some strange magic must be messing with me.
What I saw took me by surprise, everything in this place seemed to have been made out of mana, and not only that it was clearly my mana, mixed with red veins that weren¡¯t there before. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before saying ¡°So if this place is inside me, then how do I get out?¡±.
With my Arcane manipulation still active, I could see the red veins that were mixed in with my mana, pulsating as the voice answered ¡°Inside us Master. We can go back to the real world by going to the library and using the same portal you used to get here. But are you sure you want to leave now? It is still raining outside, and the tower is gone.¡±
¡°What do you mean the tower is gone,¡± I asked.
She seemed to be pondering for a proper answer before saying ¡°That tower was the mana pool of my previous self and someone else.¡±.
¡° How is that possible, it was a solid object when I touched it¡± I uttered in disbelief.
¡°Master, apparently they created it to collect mana from surroundings, to prolong their life, as my previous selfs host was dying. But I don¡¯t know how they accomplished such a thing.¡±
¡°You seem to know an awfully many things thing about your past life, without actually knowing what you are,¡± I noted to her.
She answered in a sombre tone ¡°I am sorry Master, but when we went through our fusion, to become one being. Apparently, my previous self had to seal off a lot of her knowledge to make me fit in here. But don¡¯t worry master as we get stronger, and our mana pool grows. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get her old knowledge back.¡±
¡°Fine, if you really are a part of me I might as well make most out of this situation. So what can you tell me about magic.¡±
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Four people, covered in dirt and sweat, were running across the forest while being chased by a pack of hungry looking Dire Wolves. One of these four was a woman, clad in a full set of plate armour and carried a longsword in her hand. One of her companions, a man who was wearing leather armour and holding a bow, yelled to her while he ran ¡°Elena, I told you we shouldn¡¯t have taken this job. There is a good reason why people don¡¯t come to these woods.¡±
¡°Stop your whining Peter and keep running.¡±, Elena told him between heavy breaths. They managed to run only a short while before their escape was stopped by an old stonewall covered in moss and vines
¡°Shit!¡± she exclaimed while looking at the wall. ¡°We might as well make our stand here. Garon, raise high walls around us, make sure that there only one entrance, we need to try and funnel them inside. Peter, you get a top the wall behind us, that should give you the best view to shoot your arrows, I will stay here with Flint. The plan is to kill them one or two at a time.¡± The group moved at her command, trusting in Elena¡äs plan.
Their spellcaster, Garon, started to move his hands in an intricate pattern while chanting his spell. He tried to finish his spell before the Dire Wolves reached them. Elena knew he was no slouch when it came to magic, in fact, he was fourth circle mage, so his skills were well above the average. She had always been proud to have him as part of their group, even if he was a half-elf. Knowing that the main reason why he stayed with them was the fact that he had a crush on her, but she didn¡¯t mind. In fact, Elena encouraged his behaviour before in hopes of keeping Garon with them longer.
After a few seconds, the ground started to shake as Garon finished his spell. Two feet thick and fifteen feet high walls made from earth began to rise around them. Elena gave Garon a quick nod of approval before turning back towards the direction of the incoming Dire Wolves. Four wolves, about the size of horses, came running towards them. The wolf who was leading this little hunting pack started to run faster is it saw Elena and her companions, clearly wanting to be the first one to sink its teeth in her.
Elena took a ready stance while holding her longsword in a two-handed grip, preparing to meet the Dire Wolves charge. But before the first wolf could reach her, an arrow from Peter¡¯s bow struck it, between its shoulder plate and the wolf stumbled to the ground. It wasn¡¯t dead, based on the loud whining growl it was making, but at least it would take a few moments before it would start attacking them again. The second wolf quickly jumped over its fallen comrade and quickly reached Elena, who in a blur of motion stepped to the side of the charging wolf, striking a long and deep gash to its side when she did so. Simultaneously, Flint came up from the other side and hit the wolf on the head, with his heavy two-handed maul, felling the beast.
The whole fight took only a minute or so, but both Elena and Flint still managed to gather some bruises and scars. While Garon was bandaging the two warriors, Peter was climbing down the wall and said ¡°Guys, there is a whole city behind that wall, it looks to be in total ruin. Does anyone know what this place is?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°There were few books in the Academy, that talked about a lost city of the Rodan Empire, located somewhere in the Great Forest. But no one has been able to confirm that, like most of the knowledge concerning. I have never heard of anyone going this deep into the forest and surviving to tell about it.¡± Garon said to the group while tending to Elena¡¯s bruises.
¡°The Rodan Empire? I thought that was just a myth you mages liked to toss around to scare little children¡± Flint muttered between his gritted teeth as he was applying a healing salve to his wounds.
¡° It is not just a myth¡± Garon answered. ¡° It is in fact very real. As you know from the stories, Rodan Empire and their mages ruled over all of this continent with an iron fist. There are stories of the Empire mages being able to take down adult dragons single-handedly, and then there is the legend of Hadrax. If this city belonged to them, the Academy will want to know about it.¡± He said as he finished up bandaging Elena.
¡°Be that as it may, we are here on a mission to find the girl and take her back,¡± Elena told the group. ¡°And nothing will stop us from accomplishing our mission. Garon, cast another location spell to see what direction shewent.¡±
Garon gave Elena a nod, before taking a small bottle, filled with few drops of blood, out of his backpack and quickly cast a spell. After the spell was done, Garon said. ¡°She is somewhere on the other side of this wall.¡±
¡°Okay, let¡¯s go before any more monsters catch our scent,¡± said Elena while she stood up. And the adventurers started to head towards the ruined city.
Garon was still concentrating on his location spell, when they saw a long streak of melted cobblestone, crossing the ancient street. The group stopped about a hundred feet away from it, and Elena motioned for Peter to go ahead and scout the area. After a few minutes, rest of the group heard a sharp whistling sound, coming from the alleyway where the line of melted rock seemed to start from and saw Peter motioning to them that it was safe.
¡°I didn¡¯t find any obvious threats around. Just a few empty nests of some large lizards and these.¡± He said pointing a few charred bones in the middle of the melted line of rock ¡°What or whoever did this, I can¡¯t say, but this looks like it was made by magic. I have certainly never heard of any kind of creature that could have done this, except for dragons maybe.¡±
¡°I concur,¡± Garon said ¡°If this was done by casting a spell, it must have been at least fifth or sixth circle spell. We need to be really careful if we meet someone who is able to cast spells that powerful, I won¡¯t be able to stand against them for long.¡±
Elena let out a sigh and said ¡°If we meet anyone else here, we won¡¯t be starting a fight. Unless it is vitalto the success of our mission, I don¡¯t feel like getting burned alive today.¡±
The group continued on their search, following Garon¡¯s location spell. It wasn¡¯t long until Garon motioned everyone to stop and pointed to a ruined house only fifty feet away. All of them took out their weapons and got ready to confront their prey. As they were creeping closer, Flint accidentally stepped on a dried twig, which let out a sharp snap as it broke under his foot.
They saw a small figure running out of the ruins and quickly gave chase. ¡°Don¡¯t let her escape!¡± Elena yelled as she started to run. The small figure was darting between ruined houses and alleyways. After a few minutes, the girl ran into a large courtyard surrounded by a grumbled wall. They were only thirty to forty feet behind her now and quickly closing the distance.
While they ran right behind the girl, almost catching her. They saw a man, wearing a white toga, appear right in front of her, so close that the girl didn¡¯t have time to stop or change her path. She ran straight into him and with a loud thud, they were both knocked off their feet. Elena¡¯s group stopped on their tracks, gawking at the strange man, as he was slowly standing up while rubbing at his backside.
¡°Ouch, that is going to leave a mark,¡± the man said before noticing them and continuing with¡± Uum¡ Hello?¡±
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
¡°Are you sure we are ready to leave?¡± asked my ever-present new companion, in a sultry voice.
I decided to name her Mira, after the Latin word for ¡®wonder¡¯ or ¡®wonderful¡¯, because that is what she has been to me for these past few weeks. She was able to explain to me a lot about the theory of magic as well as few nifty new spells, chief among them, a spell that allowed me to store items here in our little sanctum.
¡°I told you, Mira, even though I have enjoyed our time here together. I need to get some fresh air every now and then, besides if what you say is true then we won¡¯t really be apart.¡± I tried to comfort her, she had become increasingly clingy as we spent more time together.
¡°Fine, just be careful, Master. I don¡¯t want you to get hurt¡± she said, still sounding sad and unconvinced.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I murmured as I closed my eyes and got ready to transfer myself back to the ¡®real¡¯ world.
I felt myself shifting back, but before I had time to open my eyes and take a look around. Something hit me on the chest, knocking me off my feet. I heard Mira¡¯s panicked voice in my head ¡°Master! Are you all right? I told you, you weren¡¯t ready to leave yet.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine. Something just knocked me off my feet.¡± I told her in my head. As I was slowly getting up and rubbing my bruised backside, I muttered to myself ¡°Ouch, that is going to leave a mark.¡± And took a look to see what had hit me. Lying on the ground next to me was, a dazed-looking young girl. She was maybe around eight to ten years old and very scrawny like she had missed at least a few of her daily meal. She had long raven black hair, covered dead leaves and twigs, she wore, what looked like an old burlap sack fastened to her waist by a piece of rope. She clearly wasn¡¯t a human, as her skin was red and she had short red horns growing from her forehead, the horns slightly curved backwards and to the side. I could also see that she had a red, thin demon-like tail.
I didn¡¯t have time to get a better look at her, before noticing a group of people wearing medieval armour, and holding weapons. At the front of this group, stood a young woman clad heavy looking plate armour while holding a sword. To her left, was a lean but fit looking man who had a bow. To her right, a large muscular man covered animal furs was carrying a massive maul. And at the back of the group was a young looking and thin man, wearing reddish-brown robes.
The group was staring at me, with a shocked expression on their faces. So I decided to greet them with an ever eloquent ¡°Uum¡ Hello?¡±
It took the group couple of seconds before they broke out of their shock and the woman clad in heavy armour, said in a clear but uncertain sounding voice. ¡°Who are you, how did you get here?¡±
I raised my hands in a calming gesture, stopping her from asking more questions. ¡°Whoa lady, let¡¯s take this one question at a time, shall we.¡± I told her ¡°You can call me Varis, as for how I got here, technically I was already here when you guys arrived. Now before you start asking more questions, I think it only fair if I¡¯d ask you a few as well. I introduced myself, be as kind and do the same?¡±
She looked a bit annoyed by my interruption of her and glanced at the dazed girl lying next to me, before answering with. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m Elena, this is Flint¡± she pointed towards the big guy in furs ¡°That is Peter and the one in the back is called Garon.¡± she said gesturing at the guy who was holding the bow and the young man reddish-brown robes, she finished with ¡° We are adventurers.¡±
¡°Adventurers you say, now that must be an exciting life.¡± The fact that there were people here, who would call themselves ¡®adventurer¡¯ really piqued my interest, so I decided to take a closer look at them with my Arcane manipulation. Elena, Peter and Flint were all releasing mana like everything I have seen so far, but Garon seemed to be more like me, his mana was held in like mine.
I saw Elena fidget a little under my scrutiny of her and her party, she quickly went on with. ¡°It can be an exciting life, we get to see and explore many unknown places, but it is also dangerous. You can never know what kind of monster you¡¯ll run into.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
¡°True, true. But isn¡¯t that, what makes life worth living? I would get bored if my life were the same monotonous thing all the time.¡± she gave me a nod of approval. I quickly followed with another question before she could start talking ¡°But I digress, tell me, what are you adventurers doing here?¡±
I followed her gaze as she glanced towards the young girl at my feet, who seemed to be struggling to stay conscious, and saw that her mana was different to all of us. Unlike me and Elena¡¯s group, her mana was deep red in colour, where ours was white.
Mira had told that living creatures white mana was called Life mana or Life essence, depending on who you asked. So it took me by surprise to see that hers was red. I didn¡¯t know what this meant, but hopefully, I¡¯d get some time to study it later.
¡°Our current job is to catch her and bring her back¡± Elena answered hesitantly with little disgust in her voice.
¡°I see, and what could this little girl have done, warrant a group of adventurers hunting her down?¡± I asked her.
¡°She stole something from a nobleman, which is a crime punishable by hanging,¡± she told me as Peter muttered under his breath ¡°And she is clearly a demon spawn¡± but Elena silenced him with a stern glance before he could continue with his remark.
Now I have never been good at dealing with authorities or with following rules and regulations. That was part of the reason why I dropped out of med school. And I certainly didn¡¯t think, hanging a little girl for stealing, was the appropriate punishment. Besides, I was always the one to root for the underdog, and she definitely looked like the underdog here, being scrawny and malnourished and wearing only rags.
So I took a step forward placing myself between Elena¡¯s group and the child. And with a stern voice told them ¡°You know, I could be called the current ruler of this place, and I don¡¯t hang children for stealing. I feel like I must take her under protection.¡±
¡°But she is a demon spawn and a thief no less¡± she almost yelled, while getting angry. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what their kind have done to people.¡±
As she got angry, I noticed her companions starting to prepare their weapons, clearly expecting this to turn into a physical confrontation. Seeing this I prepared to cast one of my new spells, before saying ¡° Be that as it may, I said mypiece. And I¡¯m prepared to stand behind it.¡±
Elena was staring at me, while she made a quick motion with her fingers signalling her party. Seeing this made me rapidly release my spell and Peter to shoot an arrow at me. If I¡¯d missed that signal, I would most likely have an arrow stuck in my chest right now. But instead, my new protection spell managed to activate in time, which turned my body into living flame. I was only able to hold this form for a couple of minutes since it used up a lot of my mana, but I was hoping it would last long enough.
My spell clearly took them by surprise, but to their credit, they managed to overcome the shock quickly. Clearly, the group has been fighting and training together for a long time.
I decided to go for their spellcaster first, as he posed the biggest threat to me while I was in this form. Seeing as he was currently chanting a spell, I raised my flaming hand and pointed my finger at him. My cast of Pillar of Flame was almost instantaneous since I was able to cast spells innately like a Sorcerer, thanks to my Archmage Class. As my spell finished, a narrow jet of flame flew from my fingertip hitting Garon in the shoulder, disrupting his spellcasting. He fell to the ground screaming while holding his shoulder that now had a finger-wide hole burned straight through it.
Meanwhile, Peter had managed to shoot me with another arrow, and both Elena and Flint were on my, swinging their weapons. My Living Flame spell made the attacks pass through my body, causing the attacks to rapidly burn my mana instead of damaging me. Knowing I couldn¡¯t go on using Living Flame for much longer, I needed to end this fight quickly. I reached my hands towards Flint and Elena, trying to grab them. As my hands touched their bodies, I started to suck their mana out of their bodies using Arcane manipulation. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be, it felt like their mana didn¡¯t want to listen to my commandsas my own did, but eventually, I managed to force my will on their mana, and it started to flow out of them. Both of them let out a scream as my touch burned them and I was sucking out their mana. It only too couple of seconds, for me to drain out all their mana, which caused both of them to fall down unconscious.
With only, Peter left unharmed and Garon still in shock from having a hole burned through his shoulder. Peter turned around and started to run, but I quickly cast Pillar of Flame and burned a hole through his thigh. I walked up to him as he was lying on the ground, trying to crawl away and started draining him of his mana as well. After I was done with him, I started heading toward Garon, who at this point had gathered his composure and was casting another spell using only his left arm.
I wasn¡¯t able to reach him before he finished his casting and I ball of water flew from his hands, hitting me squarely on the chest. The impact of the spell wasn¡¯t too bad, so I was able to stay on my feet, but the cold water caused my Living Flame to use most of my remaining mana. I was forced to turn off my spell unless I wanted to thoroughlybe drained out of mana, now back in my usual form I quickly ran to Garon and kicked him on the side of his head before he could start casting again.
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself from the adrenalin rush caused by the fight. And saw the little girl stared at me with eyes wide open.
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
| Living Flame lvl.1 |
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You change your physical body into an aspect of fire and which causes any none magical damage to drain your Mana instead harming you.
Casting time: 2 seconds
Mana cost: 10 mana per second and an amount equal to any none magical physical damage you take.
Components: Somatc
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"Did... did you kill them?" the little girl asked me in a quivering voice.
"I don''t know, I have never done this before, but I hope I didn''t," I answered her before checking if Garon still had a pulse. As I placed my fingers on his neck, to my relief, I could feel a faint heartbeat. I quickly went to check up on the rest of the group and found that they were also alive.
I let out a sigh as I looked at the girl and said: "They all live." She just gave me a sombre nod. I could take a better look at the girl now that she managed to stand up. She was skinny, covered in dirt and grime, and it looked like she hadn''t slept or eaten properly for days, based on the fact how much she wavered while just standing. I could also see she was covered in cuts and bruises.
"You don''t look too good, you should sit down," I told her as I was going through Elena''s backpack and found a bag full of trail rations. The kit of rations contained, dried meat and fruits, some nuts, cheese and salted fish. I tossed the packet of rations to the girl, "Eat, you look like you need it. Just don''t wolf it down too quickly or you''ll be puking it up."
The girl reached for the rations more quickly then I would have thought possible in her condition and started to eat. As she was eating, I began to go through the rest of the backpacks and found a bunch of camping gear, including two tents and four sleeping bags. The bags also contained some spare clothing, blankets, rope and coins. There were three different kinds of coins, gold, silver and copper. They were all roughly circular in shape and had a hole in the middle, instead of being in a pouch or some other container they were stacked with a cord running through them. I left the counting of the coins for later, as I took the rope and started to tie up Elena''s group.
This proofed to be easier said than done as I wasn''t the most spectacular specimen of athleticism. It took me a few minutes to drag their limb bodies closer to each other, and roll them over so I could tie their hands behind their backs. When I was almost done, I heard the young girl state behind me in an uncertain voice, "That is wrong."
I looked at her and said, "What do you mean?"
She pointed at the tangle of knots I had made, "The knots, they are all wrong. Really easy to break free."
"Really? How would you do it then?"
She came closer and easily untied the mess of knots I had made and quickly re-tied them in eloquent but simple knots before saying, "There, if they struggle the knots will tighten up."
"Now where did you learned how to do that" I inquired of her. But she merely shrugged without giving me an answer. "Fine, you don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to, but can I at least get your name?"
She took a few seconds before answering in an uncertain and quiet voice "Red... my name is Red."
"Well, Red, I would like to hear your side of this story."Stolen novel; please report.
Red
Red was hidden in an alleyway at the red-light district, waiting for drunken patrons of the pleasure houses to leave. Usually, she wouldn''t dare to work here, as this district was run by The Crocs. They didn''t like it when some upstart thief tried robbed their customers, they had a good reputation for keeping streets of red-light district safe from people like her. But she was so hungry that she didn''t care anymore. So she waited patiently in the alleyway, for any easy marks.
The brothel she was scoping out, was one of the more excellent establishments here and was known to be frequented by the more well-to-do people of the city. Red knew she would get into a lot of trouble if she got caught stealing here. But she waited patiently for anyone leaving. After a few hours, a man stumbled drunkenly out of the front door. He clearly had a hard time just staying up on his feet.
Red started to follow the drunken man as he began to head towards the inner-city district, Red knew she would have to get to her prey before he got there. The inner-city was where the rich and noble of the city lived, and they wouldn''t allow people like her there.
After following her mark out of the red-light district, she got lucky as the drunken man went into an alleyway to take a piss. This was the perfect time for her to strike. She quickly but silently followed him and saw him leaning against a wall, relieving himself. Looking around, making sure that they were alone she snuck up behind the man and struck.
Because of her heritage, she had always been stronger and faster than the humans who lived in this city. So when Red kicked him on the back of his knee, she could hear an audible crack from breaking of bones. The man fell down screaming in pain, she quickly punched him, knock him out.
Now that the man was no longer screaming, Red rapidly went through his pockets trying to find his coin pouch but didn''t see anything. Getting desperate she looked for anything of value and saw that he was wearing a ring on his right index finger. The ring was made out of gold and had wolf emblem on it. She took the ring off from his finger as it appeared to be the only thing of value he was carrying and started to run back to the slums, where she lived. She would have to go and meet with Croak to sell the ring.
Croak was a well-known fence, who would buy almost anything, even if he never paid the real value of the items. There were fairer and more trustworthy fences in the city, but no of them would do business her because of what she was. So she was forced to sell what she stole to him.
Croak''s base of business was in the old sewer system, the old sewers expanded throughout the whole city like a maze. If you didn''t know your way navigate them, you could spend days lost down there.
When Red arrived out Croak''s place, she heard his weaselly come from behind her, "Well well, if it isn''t my favoured little demon spawn. Now, what do I owe the pleasure for this late visit?" She turned around to see Croak standing right behind her. Even though Croak was a short fat man, he was able to sneak up on her every time, no matter how much she was prepared.
Croak wasn''t a handsome man, being short and fat. His thinning black hair shoulder length, his bulging eyes and double chin with no neck made him look like an ugly frog.
Red took a couple of weary steps away from Croak and said, "I have something to sell" while showing the ring to him. As he saw the ring, his eyes bulged even more.
"Ohh kid, now you have really done it, the people of this city might have been generous enough to let your kind live here, but now you are in real trouble," he cackled still staring at the ring with eyes wide.
Red narrowed her eyes, annoyed by his usual cackling laughter "What do you mean, do you want to buy it or not?"
Laughing even louder Croak answered "Buy it? Haha, I wouldn''t touch that thing even if you gave me all the gold in the city. In fact, I think it is time for you to get out and take that ring as far away from me and my place of business as you can. I will not do any business with you anymore."
Red was getting worried now, Croak never refused a chance for business no matter how ''hot'' the stolen items were. But now he looked to be scared of a simple ring. "What? It is just a simple ring, I''ll sell for only a few silver coins. I really need the money."
"HAHAHA, simple ring indeed. That thing is the signate ring of the Ravan family, and they would rather burn down this whole city than lose that ring." Croak said, while his now maniacal laughter echoed in the sewers.
Like everyone else, Red had heard of the Ravan family. They were a Noble family of great political and military power. They also had a ruthless reputation of dealing with anyone who opposed them, and there were even rumours that the King was only a puppet under their thumb. Knowing that if this ring really belonged to them and that she had assaulted one of their family members, there would be nowhere in the city where she would be safe.
Red quickly ran past laughing Croak and feverishly tried to think of a solution to her new problem. But she knew that there was only one choice for her now. She would have to go to the Great Forest, where not even the army dared to go.
Chapter 12
Red''s story didn''t take her too long to recount, and after she was done, I sighed and spoke up "Well, I might have bitten more than I can chew here. Red, do you have any more information about this Ravan family?"
"No, I know only rumours," she answered while shaking her head.
"I see" I muttered.
I was thinking our predicament over as I noticed Red waiver, she looked ready to fall asleep while standing. "You look like you need to get some sleep, let''s set up one of these tents so you can rest inside. And I''ll keep watch on these four while you do so."
Red still had an uncertain expression on her face, like she didn''t trust me. I tried to reassure her, "I''m not sure how much of the conversation I had with the adventurers you heard, but I told them you are under my protection now. I intend to keep my word so while you are with me, you have nothing to fear, I''ll do my best to protect you."
My words didn''t seem to have much effect on her, she clearly still didn''t trust me fully. But after a few seconds of contemplating, she gave me a short nod of acceptance. I think she might have been too tired to argue my point, so we began setting up one of the tents. While we worked on our task, asked her about something that had been bothering me for a while now. "So tell, why do you think Ravan''s people won''t come to this forest to look for you? I haven''t come across anything that an army of soldiers wouldn''t be able to deal with. So far only danger I have faced here have been some wolfs and lizard. They were bigger than I was expecting, but nothing that a group of experienced soldiers couldn''t handle."
Red gave me a tired look before responding "I only know stories how no one who comes to this forest has never returned, nobody knows what happened to them, so people stopped exploring this place."
I let out another deep sigh of exasperation and grumbled under my breath, "Well that isn''t much of a help in our current predicament, I guess we''ll have to question those four even more after they wake up."
It only took us a little over fifteen minutes to get one of the tents set up. And after we were done, Red took one of the blankets and went inside. I, on the other hand, sat down and started nibbling on some the ration we got from Elena''s group. As I was eating, I tried to figure out what my next course of action should be.
I came to the conclusion that I wasn''t ready to leave this place, and face whatever this noble family was going to throw at us. I needed to get stronger before I tangling with them, but that shouldn''t be too hard. I didn''t get a level up from defeating Elena and her crew, so most likely I will have to kill whomever I fighting to get the experience. Now I have always been more pragmatic than emotional when it comes to death. If push comes to shove, I think I''ll be able to do what is necessary. But until then, I''ll be better of fighting monsters rather than people, to gain my experience points.
I didn''t know what I should do with Elena and her group, I can''t just let them go. If I do that and they manage to get back to civilisation, I''m sure they''ll report back to their employer, and that could cause more trouble for me. If the rumours about this place were accurate, I could just let them go, and the forest would take care of them.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
''Mira, what do you think I should do?'' I inquired in my head.
Mira answered back to me almost instantly with, ''I will follow your lead, Master.''
''Thanks... But really Mira, do you not have an opinion on this matter? I don''t want to just kill them off after I''m done with my questioning. And then there is the child, Red, I told them she is under my protection, but I have no idea how to take care of children.''
''Master, I don''t think you need to worry too much about Red, she has demon blood in her and demon spawn are notoriously hard to kill. I''m sure you noticed her mana being deep red in colour instead of with like most living creatures. That red mana makes her a lot more resilient to physical and magical harm. It also enhances her speed and physical strength significantly. Same way as our combined mana will, eventually.'' Mira informed me.
While pondering this, I thought inside my head. ''You know, when I was fighting Elena and her group earlier, I thought I was moving a bit faster than I ordinarily would be able to. But what you are saying, is that she will be able to take care of herself.''
Mira gave me what was almost like a mental nod, before saying, ''Yes Master, she will only get physically stronger as she grows older. But, if you insist on keeping her along, you do need to teach her how to control her mana.''
''Why is that?'' I asked her
''The mana generation of half-demons is constant, and eventually if left untrained, it will grow to such extent that her human-half won''t be able to contain it. People used to call this event ''the awakening'' as it represented their demon blood awakening and taking control. This awakening usually happened during puberty, and if they were untrained, it causes them to go into a blood-fueled rampage.'' She explained.
''Wait, wait, wait.'' I stopped her before she could continue further, ''How am I supposed to teach her anything? I''m pretty new to this magic thing myself, I just control my own mana by pure instinct at this point. I doubt I can teach her that.''
Mira went quiet for a few seconds before responding with ''Hhm, that might be a problem Master. You could always try to make a contract with her, but that would require knowing her true-name.
''What do you mean with a contract?'' I asked ''You don''t mean like selling my soul to a demon kind of contract I hope.''
''No no Master, you can''t bargain your soul for this contract since it already belongs to me. And I don''t like sharing.''
She continued rambling about something else, but I could no longer hear her. I was completely stunned. ''WAIT! WHAT? I didn''t sell my soul to you! Did I?''
She sounded eerily happy as she answered, ''Well you didn''t really sell your soul as much as gave it to me Master, as I gave mine to you. I told you we are one now, it is not just our mana pools that are fusing together. But everything about us, our minds, mana, souls, feelings, even some of our personalities will eventually merge together. But that is beside the point Master, you can''t bargain OUR soul to anyone. I don''t want a third wheel.''
''And as I understand souls are rarely bargained in deals with demons. Usually, what they want is access to this plane, most of them just want to get out of the abyss and cause mayhem and such. But since Red is already here Master, you need to come up with something else to bargain for.'' Mira informed me.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself, before asking Mira for more answers, ''Okay let us drop this whole soul business for now, but we will have words about it later. What about this contract with Red, how will it help her?''
Mira answered with, ''When you make a deal with demons, you pay whatever price you are willing to pay, for something of theirs. Now it could be as simple as asking for them to do some task, but in this case, if you make a deal with Red for power or maybe mana. You could take some of her excess mana from her so it won''t bottle up inside her and eventually cause her demonic side to awaken. I''m not sure if this will stop the whole process, but it should give you more time to teach her how to control her own mana.''
''So you basically want me to make Red into a mana battery for me?'' I asked
''For US Master, make Red into a mana battery for us. I think this will help us to get stronger and it should help her in the process as well.''