《Silent Kingdoms》 Chapter 1: Virtual Life ¡°Cash or credit?¡± Inquired the Cashier. ¡°Cash,¡± I replied, normally one would use a credit card for such a large purchase, but given that my name was Jack Frost, everyone would think it would be a fake card. I fished the right amount from my wallet and received my receipt from the lady as I walk out with my new Virtual Reality headset. The top of line VR headset, Nervous Products Interactive''s, or NPI for short, NPI-VR 32S New Fate edition as of 2048. The NPI-VR 32 is NPI''s 6th VR platform, with the NI-VR 32S being the ''Superior'' version. The New Fate Edition, is the first VR to publicly be released allowing any person to be fully immersed in any of NPI''s titles, being able to use every one of their senses within the virtual reality. Nervous Interactive has actually lead the breakthroughs in Virtual Reality since the NPI-VR 2 Real Pain edition. I may only be 21 years old, but I bought and played almost all of the NPI-VRs I could get my hands on. Though my first VR was actually the NPI-VR 8S Magical Experience edition, where they made a standard in gaming magic sensations. It blew me away, and I was hooked. Since I have been saving my money from the job I work just for rent, food, and gaming, I couldn''t wait to purchase this edition in particular. It came with a fantasy game that was to launch at midnight tonight, it is probably the most anticipated game in gaming History, it is known by the name Silent Kingdoms. Silent Kingdoms is so big, and highly anticipated, that even a few governments funded it. I live alone, so there is no one to welcome me home or to miss me when I leave, or even berate me for playing too many games. I do fairly well at my job, I even got promoted last week. I live in a fairly small house, so my rent is small as well as the utilities. I basically have all profit after my food expenses, and I spend that profit on my hobby; gaming. I take care of myself, so I don''t end up a disgusting freak. I even went to college for advanced engineering and programming, as I had a heavy interest in robotics for awhile. I have no debt because I was very studious when I was in school, so I got several scholarships and grants. My interests in robotics died down when an acquaintance introduced me to the outstanding NPI-VR experience. I happily skip home with my new console swinging in the cheap bag in hand, I even glide over the threshold of my own door. Running up the stairs, I shred the feeble packaging that held my goods hostage. I sat only for a moment to marvel at this new device. It was a smooth headpiece with a phantom like appearance. Strapping the helm to my head, I lie down and activate the machine. Instantly, my consciousness slipped smoothly from the monotonous everyday life to that of a white screen as my very same consciousness was incorporated into the machine. I closed my eyes and opened them to a white room, a white ceiling connected to white walls that stood on white floors. Only the complete whiteness and a voice that resounded in my head. It said, ¡°Create yourself.¡± It was in a voice that was very hard to remember, and I''m not exactly sure if I heard it use those exact words, but that was the impression I got. Now presented in front of me was a mannequin. Though it was a mannequin, its appearance changed with just my thoughts. Hmm, this was new compared to the other models. All options for customizing my home screen avatar was not visible to my eyes, but I knew what they were as the information just flew into my head. It cut done making the perfect avatars from a few hours to a few seconds. ¡°Let''s see... How about make a vampire build?¡± I know that the home screen avatar is only for looks and has no effect on game play, but hey I like the pale, undead look. The hype for vampires died a while ago, I think before I was born, but the hype was resurrected by Marb Rekots and her novel, ¡°Alucard''s Demise.¡± Well I say the interest of vampires was brought back, but it might just be me. Once again I look at my mannequin take shape, it''s skin was as white as the first snow, and hair as dark as the moonless night. The eyes were blood red and the nose straight and narrow, with ears sharp like the mythical elves. The all around stature was slightly tall and slender. ¡°And done!¡± I exclaim to myself, ¡°Now aren''t you the looker. What?¡± I was puzzled as to why the mannequin started to move. I didn''t have enough time to grasp what was happening before the mannequin ran at me and disappeared right where the moment of impact was supposed to be. I quickly checked myself to see if I was okay, though it would be pointless sense I was a disembodied consciousness, except for I actually felt a body. Looking down at my hands I recognized the talon like claws that was on my monster that I had just created. This was indeed a unique way of becoming your avatar, the last series of NPI headgear, you had to possess your avatar like a phantom.
-Would you like to set up ''Home''?-
A cool feature that NPI came up with was the feature of skipping the home screen and jumping straight into the game, but what was cooler than that was if you decided to set up the Home screen you could create your very own world. Since I like creating things, I always set up the Home world, though my opinion is hardly echoed. What was absolutely amazing from my perspective that not many people knew about was that certain achievements in NPI games would unlock items for your Home world world. I quickly linked up my account with my previous NPI accounts as the option became available to me. Before I could proceed to create my Home world, another pop interrupted my vision.
-Your five previous accounts have been linked. Combined gamer treasury: 4,697,385 gold. Character options unlocked from previous accounts.-
-Due to having an account on every other NPI headset, Nervous Products Interactive allows the you to keep your Home world avatar for an in-game character. Abilities included!-
Oh yeah! That was some information that I would love to hear again. I couldn''t help but rejoice from this, I get to keep my character that I just created along with his abilities. Though I wouldn''t normally have abilities with this brand new character, but the previous announcement said that it unlocked previous character options: meaning the NPI-VR 16S Hunger for More Edition''s options were available to me. Quickly, I edited myself by looking down at my hands. I added a trait that I missed from the last VR; Vampirism Superioris. As the name implies, it is supposed to be the superior version that only premium members could get out of the many strains of Vampirism. It gave your character the abilities of Bram Stoker''s Dracula. Wall climbing, turning into mist, hypnotizing (bad in solo), animal morphing, supernatural recovery and so on, were some of the abilities. The other strains were cool, but I wanted this one particular, I even used all of my gamer treasury on that account. It even came with a princely attire that was very noble like. Now that avatar was now complete, I accepted the option to enter my Home world. My vision blurred for a second as I was transported from the solid white area to an area that was devoid of light except for the illuminated white ground. A few feet away from my boots, there were two boxes. These two boxes and I were the only things in this seemingly infinite place, so I decided to take a peek. In the box labeled ''games'', I took out a gray cube that was labeled ''Silent Kingdoms.'' The now empty box evaporated and I was left with cube with the games name on it and one last box. There was a timer on the cube, counting down from roughly ten minutes on the box. I guessed the time was for it''s launch. The cube shrank from the size of a softball to that of an ice cube, of which I slipped into my coat pocket. I set my sights on the last box. This box was labeled ''Home World.'' The only two things in this box was a book labeled ''World Catalog'' and an alarm clock. Upon touching the alarm clock, it disappeared but at the same moment I noticed a dull light shining on me and my surrounding area. I looked up to investigate to see that there was now a moon in the otherwise empty sky. Neat. I grabbed the catalog and witnessed the last box evaporate as well, I turned my attention back to catalog and I decided to leaf through it. From huts to bungalows, from trailers to houses, it had quite a few selections for housing. I didn''t see any homes that I liked until I got to the back of the catalog. From my noble attire a few castles were available to me, and due to my disease, a few cathedrals, mansions and dens became available as well as a grave yard. They catalog even had preset worlds available for a bundle price. I chose the ''A Certain Demise'' set, given that I knew the reference.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
-Purchase of the Dragon''s Castle, Spires of Solomon, Dark Forest, Ruined Town, Ancient Ruin, Secret Den, 5 Small Villages, Jutting Cliffs, Chilled Sea and Raised Mountains for 2,500,000 gold. Remaining balance:2,197,385 gold.-
The entire seen shifted before my eyes as everything transformed into a dark creepy seen of a majestic castle that look like the cross between Milan Castle and Corvin Castle on a edge of a giant overhanging cliff that overlooked the sea. Castle was situated on the cliff with the sea to it''s back side and an ocean of dark, unforgiving trees to it''s front. A long twisted path went all the way up to the front door of the castle. The cliff was elevated above the treeline of the forest. I could see a few villages in the distance despite it being so dark. I looked up once again at the moon and was almost taken aback by its breathless beauty. I could see the entire cosmos, the sky was almost dyed violet from all the light, the moon was blood red which was slightly off putting. I look back at the villages and saw that there was no life in them. It would have completed this scene. Though what really put the icing on the cake from it''s uniqueness, was the giant rocky spires that peaked above the trees and even surrounded cliff. I quickly messed with weather information that was within my head and I customized it to my liking. A bitter breeze blew by. That''s more like it. I was about to look into getting some NPCs, but I was disturbed by a certain warmth in my coat. I quickly fished for the cube, as I knew it was the culprit behind the warmth. The timer on the cube had dimmed as the timer was up, but the entire cube was lit up in a deep violet color. I set the cube down on the ground and watched it expand into a gate. The gate had tiny figurines, that reminded me of the Greek Muses, decorating it. There were some interesting figurines that probably told a story about the game but I was too eager to decipher it. The gate opened at my approach, until I walked through. My vision once again darkened as I entered the game world of ''Silent Kingdoms.''
-As the world of Aezorish has magic ley lines, soaking it''s inhabitants with magic, you must chose an attribute that is best suits you.
Water Fire Air Earth Holy
Dark Undead Light Curse Swamp
Storm Sand Ice Sand Magma
If the system held true to it''s word, then my character would have vampire skills in the game which would be sweet, but the vampire skills would go best with the magic that even suits my name, and that would be Ice Magic.
-Vampirism Detected. Alternate starts available.
  • Summoned
  • Far-traveled
NPI always loved it''s hidden alternate options, only to be unlocked when a certain thing was done to unlock it. NPI also loves giving it''s massive audience the least bit of information possible when concerning it''s games. It is probably the reason why many governments funded it to get information to see if it would harm the public or not. Right now the public only knows that it is another VRMMO, that it is a fantasy set world ripe for exploring. Also an unknown game mechanic is currently in the skill system, though some can only guess what it is by it''s name though it might be obvious, ''Free Range System.'' Though some people have their own ideas on what it could be, I guess it allows the user to use the skills in unconventional ways that other games can''t do just yet. Like placing an immovable mine on a rock and throwing it as a make shift grenade, for example. Though one of coworkers say it is nothing to do with skills and that it could be just an NPC and map development. Though to everyone surprise they did mention the map size which was crazy huge. They said that the map was supposed to be five times the size of Earth''s, so it could support the entirety of Earth''s population and the NPCs that already in it without getting overcrowded. I think the missions can be very local and you probably won''t accidentally find someone.
-Choose a Class-
Summoner Mage Assassin
Knight Priest Beast Tamer
Martial Artist Hunter Druid
I chose to the alternate start and the mage class. So, I am going to be a Vampire Ice Mage that is summoned by someone looking to use my services. In my mind, I whisper, ''status.''
Name: Jack Frost Race: Yxdan Vampire Class: Ice Mage
Health: 100 Mana: 150 Stamina: 150
Strength: 15 Speed: 150% Defense: 10
Magical Strength: 15 Accuracy: 30% Magical Defense: 15
Stealth: 25% Blood Thirst: 90% Special Points: 0
Blood Thirst? Special Points? What are these? And why are my stats this high? What kind of vampire was a Yxdan Vampire? Another window popped up before I could contemplate what it could mean.
-Blood Thirst: A trait held by all vampires and some other creatures of the night. When the creature feeds the Blood Thirst percentage drops, returning the being to rational thoughts. Should the percentage get too high, the thoughts become chaos and the being is reduced to an animal.
Special Points: When leveling up, the player gains a specific amount of Special Points that can be used to either boost an attribute, skill or even unlock a skill.
Yxdan Vampire: An attempt made by the Divine God, named Yxda, to combat the legions of Xernurochs, before the Divines eventually had to step in anyway. Yxdan Vampires are considered ''Living Vampires'' by the other forces. They have a unique racial ability called ''Double Life'', which just turns the Vampire Undead upon death, hence double life. Though they are considered good, the Yxdan Vampire still ultimately crave blood, this prompted Yxda to lock them away in a land known as Yxda''s Drawer, a pocket Dimension within the Plane of Creation.
Well, all of my questions were solved, though in an unexpected manner. I feel there is more to the story of Yxdan Vampires but I would have to find out more in the game. I also feel like I should get more information out of this help prompt as well. If I know how this lore is going to work, then the whole other dimension in another plane of existence is an explanation for the lack of vampires on the continents, though that''s if there is a lack. At least how my backstory is going to go, I will be summoned, that is how I will enter the game. I wonder about everyone else. Before I dived into the actual game I whisper, ¡°Skills.¡±
Grace I, Etiquette I, Sword Mastery I, Sword Arts I, Ice Magical Mastery I, Ice Magical Arts I, Ice Resistance I, Undead Resistance I, Stealth Mastery I, Stealth Arts I, Vampirism I
Double Life: Turn Undead upon death Ice Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Ice Resistance and Ice Mag. Str. Undead Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Undead Resistance and Undead Mag. Str. Vampirism: Increased Strength, Stealth, Stamina, and Speed Mage: Increased Mana, Mag. Str. And Mag. Def.
No titles available
No titles? Well it is an NPI tradition to have titles. Scrolling through the skills I noticed Sword Mastery. If I am going to be a mage then why do I have melee skills? Did something influence this? Just as I asked myself this question, the answered appeared when my hand brushed by something metallic strapped to my waist. A rapier! I almost forgot about it, though I remembered it just being a prop in the Home world, to think it was an actual weapon. Satisfied with my stats, I stepped through another doorway that resembled a portal.
-Your soul has entered Aezorish, may you live prosperously.-
Chapter 2: The Summons I felt a burning sensation that filled my entire being, it was like a fire had been lit on a cellular level, though it eventually let up into a buzzing, numb feeling. I was wrapped in light that quickly dimmed to a lightly wooded area with a giant circle that with interesting characters written on the edges. Looking around I saw many dark robed figures that surrounded me, and this entire scene was next to some catacomb like ruins. The robed figures donned a black robe with dark violet trimmings and they each held a stance in prayer. One man had a more intricate robe than all the rest, which was decorated in heavy gold embroidery. The man approached me with a smile on his face. ¡°Good evening, my child, or should I say monster?¡± Wow, so I was summoned by a cult it seems, I guess this a break away from the usual hero summons.
¡°My name is Thun''xanxuhm, though my given name was Stornavius, I have renounced my name to follow in the footsteps of the great Thun''quqyg. Since you were summoned, you probably didn''t know that he is immortal and that he rules over the entire Undead Quarter. In order to follow his greatness, I changed my name, like him, to a proper name of the lost Sas''yun culture.¡± he smiles even more, to the point it looked creepy. ¡°So why have I been summoned?¡± I asked, uncaring was the tone I went for, though deep down I was thrilled. ¡°Why? To help me achieve my goals. I want to lay waste to every civilized city from here, border of the Principality of Shadows and the Solaeum Kingdom, to Poison Lake, at the edge of the Undead Quarter. I am not so good with Undead Magic, but I am good at Summoning Magic as my specialty is Wind Magic.¡± ¡°Summoning Magic?¡± ¡°Yes, indeed. I am a summoner, soon to be great necromancer. Though I''ve never summoned a Xernuroch before, I needed the help of this ancient tome. Though I can''t read it, I do know how to copy rituals, even if they are in another language the procedure is roughly the same as all the other ones.¡± ¡°What is a Xernuroch?¡± This guy seemed like the monologue type information dump, so I was going to take advantage of it. ¡°Why that would be you. You are the Demons that are they only creations the Demon Gods could make on their own, they reside in only the Plane of Chaos and the Cursed Continent. This is a strange summoning price, wait what is your price?¡± He demanded from me. Before I could tell him I didn''t know, my body moved and spoke on it''s own. ¡°Blood.¡± With the very mention of the word my body started to ache and my vision started to blur. My throat became exceedingly parched, and but what was very angering was that it was the only thing I could think about. My mind was not my own. I notice his pulse quickened as he took several steps back, it is a possibility that my fangs and talons extended past their resting places. He quickly grabbed a robed figure and spoke in his ear frantically, ¡°Get the other monster,¡± before throwing him away to do his errand. Very quickly he ran back with a very beautiful lady in tow. I then saw the entirety of her figure. She had long, blood colored hair, with deep red scales that covered her pointed ears and cheeks. She was wearing the skins of beasts to cover herself, though her pants matched her ears in pattern and color. Hold on, those aren''t pants, her lower half was snake like. A Lamia? Though her standing height was that of just a little lower than that of the men surrounding Thun''xanxuhm, but her total length must have been slightly over fifteen feet. ¡°There, be of use to me you useless snake. The summon contract says blood? Well here you have it.¡± He quickly shouts at me. The thirst was driving me crazy, and I swear I could see every vein in her body, I wanted to rip her open and drink everything inside her. I held back my urges and I grabbed her arms and forced her closer to myself, perhaps a little too forced. Her heart beat picked up speed and volume and it was now the only thing I could hear, but I still kept some partial rational thoughts. I tilted her chin up so I could get a good look into her scarlet eyes, ¡°The master commands it,¡± is all I said before I pressed lips upon hers and bit down hard. The initial bite caused her to jump within my embrace, but she soon relaxed as I continued to drink my fill from the small veins in her soft lips. It wasn''t until I pulled away that I saw the lingering desire in her eyes or the status window that had popped up.
-Having fed on a Lamia, Viper subspecies, You have gained Poison Resistance I and Pit Vision I-
I dismissed the notice and licked the blood off her lips, sealing her wounds, before she realized what happened. This seemed to wake her from her daydreaming, she said not a word but she turned away revealing only her back to me. I presume she is rather embarrassed, but I felt the tip of her tail slowly start to coil around me. After the intake of blood my mental state cleared in just a few moments and my throat was no longer dry. Though with the clearing of my head, I also realized what I just done was absolutely not appropriate at all. It would be absolutely mortifying if this was real life. Though in knowing this was just a game, it didn''t fix the oddly real feeling of tension. ¡°Eh, you didn''t kill her? It was a very odd display, that was almost gut wrenching to behold, but we must carry on. Your contract now begins.¡± He seemed to just cleaned him self from vomiting. ¡°Under the commandments of the Summoning Contract, I order you to raze the Fortified City of Solastie.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Quest: This City Needs a Raze
Mission: You have been ordered under you Summoning Contract to raze the city of Solastie: Either kill 75% of the citizens and 87.5% of the military personnel or have them leave the city Optional: Burn down 30 buildings
Rewards: Human Blood, 2,000 Exp., 1 SP, -50 Admiration
I subconsciously knelt down as I spoke to him, ¡°Master, I highly suggest we attack at-¡± ¡°We attack now, the city will be in view within fifteen minutes, we will arrive in roughly an hour and a half after it comes into view. I will send many souls to the afterlife today. After that we move to Fyritae, a small community, and wipe them out as well. Within a year or two, we should reach our destination. Until then, I order you to stay silent. Within a year I should have summoned more of you demons, or even learned how to wield Undead Magic and have a legion of undead, or even both.¡± He lightly tapped the tome he was carrying, the same one I think is the very one used to summon me. I was about to make a response but I quickly found that my voice was no longer under my control either. I need to search for way out of this contract. ¡°March!¡± he yelled and all of the robed figures immediately faced east and started to march, with us ''monsters'' in the back. I glanced over at the last of us ''monsters'', she also had the torso of a woman covered in beast skin, but she had the bottom half of a spider, a black widow to be precise. Making her to an Arachnae. Her leg span should be about eight feet across, making her standing height well above mine. I noticed the beast skin was very different then the one that the Lamia wore. Her top half wasn''t inferior to the Lamia''s in any way. She had pasty white skin, much like my own, with long, raven like hair. She had small, acute features of the face, giving her a pixie like appearance. I turned my head to look at the Lamia to compare her face but I was taken aback by how close her face was. She seemed really intent on studying my face, when I stared back at her though, she immediately hid her face. That game, huh? I felt the tip of her tail loosely coiled on my leg, though it did feel somewhat strange, it did not impede my pace in the slightest so I let it be. I also played the game of stare and hide with the Lamia, even the Arachnae seemed to be amused and even joined, much at the Lamia''s discomfort. Sure enough in fifteen minutes a small, bustling fortified city came into view. Our game came to an end with the Lamia puffing her cheeks and refusing to play any further. I decided to use the next hour and a half to figure out a way to get out of this contract. I need to see the contract and read it.
-Summons Contract-
The moment the Summoned party is summoned, the Summoner and Summoned form a temporary contract that uses this time to establish a more permanent, binding contract. Once the price is accept by the Summoned from the Summoner, both parties are bound to the contract. The Summoned heeds to every command of the Summoner, within the capabilities of, and does not directly harm, the Summoned. In any case of where the Summoner grants free will in a situation, they cannot revoke the range of free will granted until the situation is resolved. Should the Summoned be required to exert energy to complete an order by the Summoner, the Summoner will have to supply sufficient compensation. Should the Summoner not be able to provide proper compensation, this Summons Contract becomes null and void.
So it seems, I have to wait until either he gets sloppy with his commands or he forgets about compensation. I like this contract in that it leaves ways to leave if the Summoner is dimwitted, but I hate it in that I become a slave at his every beck and call. I thought about this contract and any loopholes I could think of. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the far side of the fortified town, just outside the view of the gate. ¡°Alright, our men stops here, and this is where the monsters do their jobs. Go do my bidding.¡± He smiled then immediately ignored us and started chatting with the robed men. So, we have to scale these walls? I looked up at the wall, I guessed it was around 20 feet high, which wasn''t that high for a wall, but high enough to stop a march on the location. It would rather difficult to start our task, if I hadn''t observed the Arachnae building a silk and twig ladder for me to climb from her position, already atop the wall. I couldn''t help but stare in awe at the sheer nimbleness her giant body can preform. I probably would''ve gazed a little while longer, if I didn''t feel an intense gaze emanating from behind me, that I guess was the Lamia. I sighed and hoisted myself up the newly made ladder. As I had mounted myself upon the wall, I noticed the Arachnae had disappeared and the body type of the Lamia didn''t allow her to climb narrow, fragile structures like a ladder. She was going to sit this mission out it seems. Though, I don''t think Mr. Thun''xanxuhm would let her off that easily, he will probably abuse her or something. This meant I had some urgency in this particular mission. Stealthily, I moved off the wall without anyone calling me out on sneaky behavior. I observed the architecture, as it was indeed a little unique. Every building that I set my eyes upon had a stone foundation, wooden walls, and a thatch roof. It looked beautiful, but it was definitely a fire hazard. The bigger buildings shared this design, and even had their thatch roofs touch the ground. Some roofs combined and even the town hall wasn''t safe from this failure of a design. Well, I know what I was going to do. I just need a distraction to keep the guards from putting out the fires. Since magic did exist, it must be relatively easy to stop fires, but not if everyone was occupied. I would have to locate the Arachnae. After I had this thought, I heard many shouts and screams from, what I presume, the town center. The Arachnae was taking on two dozen guards and was trapping them in a ginormous web. I saw more guards rush toward the scene, one even bumped into me and kept going. It seems, I have my distraction. I just need to implement my own plan. I then rushed over to where many houses were grouped together in a rather haphazardly way, it looked poorly maintained, probably the slums. I spotted a torch that a guard might of dropped running after the Arachnae. I quickly grabbed the abandoned torch and held it up to the nearest thatch roof. It only took seconds for the dried straw to catch ablaze, I moved on from roof to roof. Eventually, I made my way of the slums and onto the regular housing and shops. It wasn''t until I lit the Town hall on fire, that people noticed the raging fires burning out of control. It caused great panic among the citizens and even trapped a few inside their own homes. With the burning buildings, panicking civilians, and a monster catching people in the town square, the guards tried to get people to escape by opening the gate they closed off when there was a commotion in progress. A mass exodus was soon let out of the town as everything burned down inside. I meant to slip into the crowd and meet back up with my master, however I was worried about my comrade. So doubling back, I went to check on the Arachnae. I found her happily dragging corpses inside webbed cocoons with a huge smile on her face, think she would have been humming if it wasn''t for her forced silence. Seeing the Arachnae in good condition, I made my way out of the town. Chapter 3: Freedom I quickly found my master and company outside the walls. ¡°Congratulations!¡± cheered Thun''xanxuhm, ¡°I can see the massive plumes of smoke, hear the cries of agony and even smell the stench of death. The spider''s payment is her- What''s this?¡± Just as he finished cheering, he stopped speaking, everyone turned their gazes to match that of Thun''xanxuhm''s. He was staring at the Arachnae. She was smiling while looking at the cocoons, as if deciding on which to eat first. In an instant her face turned from that of smiling to that of shock as a blade spouted from her chest. The blade then moved diagonally upward, removing itself from her shoulder. The Arachnae then fell and all of her legs curled toward itself. Only a soldier stood in her place. He looked much stronger than the guards defending the town, and he stood there with much hatred in his eyes. ¡°You- you dare do this to my town?! I will kill you all! I''ll make you pay for the crimes that you have committed with your very lives!¡± His face contorted with rage as he put himself in a fighting pose. Thun''xanxuhm looked terrified, but our master was not his first target. His first target was the only other non-humanoid figure, the Lamia, but I quickly stepped between them only to be bulldozed out of the way. On my way down I saw that a four of the robbed figures had tried to get a hold of the enraged soldier as he made his way toward the Lamia, only to be dismembered by his sword. He had the Lamia''s throat in hand, poised to strike her with his blood stained sword. It was then, the Lamia spat hazy green fluid into his eyes, causing him to let go over her and drop to his knees. I ran forward as he clutched at his eyes, I unsheathed my rapier and stabbed him in the neck. After a few minutes of him choking on his own blood, the soldier died at my feet. I swished the blood of my blade before returning it to my scabbard. I was disgusted to see that Thun''xanxuhm was still alive and even smiling at all the corpses on the ground, ¡°This is good, I don''t have to pay those men anymore, or even worry about the spider''s contract. What''s more, you saved my life, now we can continue our movements East.¡± Rage was boiling in my head, it even took me a few moments to realize this was only a game. Seriously, for a game to evoke such emotion, this was definitely worth playing I wanted to congradulate NPI for their writing. After I calmed down, I asked, ¡°Payment?¡± Our master just stared at me for a few moments, before resting his gaze back at the corpses. ¡°You know, it is impressive that you know the Common Tongue. I had no idea what the other two were saying, so I forbade them from speaking. As for your payment, let me see...¡± he began moving some of the corpses around. I guess that explains their silence, he had stolen their voices. He also put us in a mission that could of well killed us without a second thought, one of us actually died. He didn''t even care that his fellow men had died, truly he was scum. I decided to approach him and only stopped when I stood next to him. He gave me a disinterested gaze before continuing what he was doing, until I grabbed him by the throat. ¡°What are you- aah!¡± He choked. He desperately looked toward the remaining robed figures but saw they just stare back at him, not moving an inch. I then shook him and tightened my grip to force him to look at me. I looked into his reddening face, with veins popping, and tears running down his eyes, ¡°I''m only getting my payment, it looks like the contract wasn''t very specific. Maybe you will plan more carefully in your next life.¡± As I finish saying this, I brought my mouth upon his vulnerable neck, ripping out the flesh before I even start drinking my fill. I made sure to bleed him dry before I dropped his corpse on the ground. It seems the blood between people and races is different in tastes. Thun''xanxuhm had slightly salty blood, while the Lamia had blood that was a little tart like candy and some citrus fruits. When the deed was done, a few of notifications popped up.
Quest Complete: This town needs a raze
Results: 95% civilians scattered, 5% kill, 87% military personnel scattered, 13% dead, 531 buildings on fire
Reward: Blood, 2,000 Exp., 1 SP Bonus: 7,550 Exp., Stealth Mastery Rank II
Level Up! You Earned 6 levels!
You''ve gained: 18 Strength, 30 Mag. Str., 18 Defense, 30 Mag. Def., 18% Stealth, 18% Speed, 30% Accuracy, 60% Blood Thirst, 6 SP, 60 Health, 120 Mana, and 60 Stamina. Congratulations on reaching Level 7
¡°Ah, um I can talk?¡± The Lamia was surprised. ¡°It seems I can understand you. Was Thun''xanxuhm lying?¡± I asked. At this time, the remaining robed figures started to stir and whisper among themselves. Some didn''t hide the fact that were curious or even scared of their immediate future. ¡°No, Thun''xanxuhm couldn''t understand Aethersii, or Elvish Tongue. That is why he silenced us, in fear that we would conspire against him in secret.¡± At first it didn''t make since, but it probably means I know two languages, without even realizing they sound different. Hmm, listening to my own voice, I noticed that Elvish sounds a little whimsical, compared to the Common Tongue, which sounded a little flat. We should move away. We were still surrounded by a few of the robed figures, eight in total. Through some of the whispers I heard some plans to attack us. I looked over to the Lamia as if to start a conversation but I lunged at the closest robed figure and stabbed my hand through his heart. My hand was now blood stained, as I removed it from his chest. The Lamia used the time that they stood there motionless to attack, she shot the same hazy fluid from her mouth and blinded two more robed figures while coiling around another, crushing him. The remaining four ran toward me, three tried to grab me, while one stopped advancing only to incite a spell. The spell sounded like it was a song from another language, it was beautiful. I used my superior speed to evade their hands and even dodged an incoming fireball that managed to hit his ally. The one set ablaze screamed for help and pain, drew the other three''s attention to stomp out the fire. These men aren''t too smart, huh? I casually walk behind one of the distracted trio and slit his throat wide open with my unsheathed rapier. I was busy with these men, I couldn''t see how the Lamia was doing. One of the men actually grabbed me, which tripped me up, he then held me in front of the other robed figure who just finished his aria. ¡°End of the line.¡± he said in a gruff voice. He pointed his wooden staff at me and I witnessed a flame start to swell into a ball at the tip of it, just a few inches in front of my face. I could actually feel the intense heat starting to cook the edges of my skin, making it tingle and burn. Suddenly, the staffed leaned back and the fireball launched toward the sky. Why? I looked back the mage whom, a moment ago, almost had me toasted and saw that his neck had been bent at an unnatural angle. His body slumped to the ground and life had escaped his eyes. Seeing this happen, and that he was alone, the restraints around my hands instantly loosened and he ran away. The last robed figure ran with all his might without looking back. I figured it would be bad to leave a witness, I ran forward with all my power, easily I caught up to him. Unsheathing my rapier, I slammed my left foot down and thrusted with all my might, stabbing a hole through his body, causing him to stumble to the ground. I watched as he bled out and died. We then spent a little effort of gathering all of the corpses of the robed figures and put them into a pile and looted all the corpses. I ended gathering: 451 gold coins (mostly from Thun''xanxuhm), the tome used to summon me, three intricate wooden staves, one metal staff, a few copies of six different maps, and a magic pouch that seemed to have camping supplies in it. ¡°It seems, people may recognize us in this Kingdom if we were spotted. Let us move North-East. Around the same path as described from our late master, without killing the towns.¡± I suggest.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Quest: Journey to the North
Mission: Cross the border of the Principality of Shadows and the Kingdom of Lunari. Bonus: Discover 10 towns
Reward: 1,000 Exp.
Hmm, that is a very useful quest that is convenient to my current objective. I quickly glanced toward the sky and saw that it was a little past noon, and the sun was to my left, telling me that I was facing North. That is if the sun sets in the West here. ¡°Hey... I apologize I don''t know your name.¡± ¡°My name is Seraphine-sii. May I know your name?¡± She peeked at me. ¡°Ah, of course Seraphine-sii, my name is Jack Frost. It is nice too meet you. Though I have a question for you.¡± ¡°En, ask away.¡± She nodded once. ¡°Okay, so I am oblivious to this world, so I want to ask a few questions actually. The Sun, does it set in the West? How many languages are there? Will I hit a language barrier in the other countries?¡± She shook her head to all of my questions, ¡°No, no, no. The Sun sets in the East, and there are four languages, if I remember correctly. Well, only three is spoken regularly, the fourth is used for magic. The one we are speaking is called Aethersii, or the Elvish Tongue. It is spoken by everyone in the plane of Creation, and most of the Elves know the language as well. Though everyone on Aezorish knows Aezordii, or the Common Tongue. Next is the language only known to the Xernurochs, which is called Xernurochii, or the Demon Tongue. Aetherzii, or the Old Elvish Tongue is the last language, though it was lost when all of the High Elves went extinct mid Chaos Era. The Old Elvish Tongue is the language of magic, it is used in magic incantations, though the incatations remain mostly unchanged in the eras, the meaning of most of the words in the incantations are lost. No one alive is fluent in Aetherzii.¡± I started walking North with the new found knowledge. Seraphine-sii followed as I ask many more questions. The more I asked, the more answers I got, though the more answers I got, the more I knew that I didn''t know. But it blew my mind that High Elves are Extinct. I was expecting their snobbish personalities with their self entitlement in this game, but I guess the writers went into a whole different direction. Hmm, I am glad I won''t deal with those personalities in this game, but it does take away a lot from regular fantasy tropes. I feel conflicted, but it could be interesting. We passed by several towns and received rides from one to other by passing carriages, I ended up spending half of my money but we made it across the border into the Principality of Shadows. We ended up passing by eight small towns and two densely populated cities while we were in the Solaeum Kingdom. While in those towns we collected information on where we were, where we were headed and some necessary food stuffs. The names we passed by were Charreden, Ironspire, Ashwood, Burn Valley, Igniton, Valley Pass, Rockhaven, etc. Apparently, most of the towns and cities we passed through were part of the Iron Valley Provence. Iron Valley, a fitting name. Thinking back to the miserable time of passing through the valley between the mountain range, those mountains were just really giant mounds of Iron ore. Though we passed a small segment of the Iron Valley, apparently, most of the Iron Valley is now owned by the Principality we just arrived in. It had taken hours to get this far, almost a whole day, and we had only just got close to the border, however, we were close to the border with the Kingdom of Lunari as well. After passing the Mountain Pass Village, Ironhand Village, and Mountainview City, we got off the carriage outside of Rockmine Village. I paid my dues, and ended up with a quarter of my initial gold. I noticed the architectural differences between the Solaeum Kingdom and this country, this town had very squarish buildings that were made from stone through and through. With flat top stone houses, and cobblestone roads, the village looked washed out with grayness. The setting sun, didn''t help. On foot we made our way toward the Rockmine Village, though it was evening, it was still lively in this small town. There were many onlookers waiting by some stone paths and watched the horizon diligently. Suddenly, a man bearing a torch came into view, he was sprinting with all his might. He ran past the crowd with a determined look in his eyes, when he was almost out of view, he stopped at this huge vat of oil and tossed the flaming torch into it. The flames leaped to life as it became immense in size before calming to just a mid sized flame. With the lighting of the vat of oil, everyone cheered, some louder than others. When I pulled aside someone to ask what was happening, they gave Seraphine-sii a cautious look before looking back at me. ¡°Ahh... I don''t think you should have your summons creature walking about. You know given your... unhealthy appearance.¡± He eyed me with worry. I looked at him and asked, ¡°What''s wrong with what I am doing?¡± He breathed a sigh, ¡°Ah, I know elves have higher affinity for magic, and that they have better control of it. However, even an elf who is sick will not be able to concentrate and lose control of their magic. I don''t want any harm come to this, here village, due to someone trying to show off their magic. So, I am going to have to ask you to put your summoned creature away.¡± He gave me a serious look. Ignoring his demands, I asked another question, ¡°What is this event going on?¡± He seemed to instantly forget about the Lamia and spoke with a kind of pride, ¡°Why, it''s Sun-down Festival. It''s a festival that we celebrate every year, celebrating this half of the Principality of Shadows being liberated from the Solaeum Kingdom. On this day, 500 years ago, our nation''s founder, Cardinal Jasef, ended the civil wars within both the Kingdom of Lunari and the Solaeum Kingdom, by calling a Moot. During this peace talk, he negotiated with the the Kings and skillful made way for his people''s freedom. What am I saying, you have probably already heard about our nation''s founder.¡± His voiced raised at one point, had now calmed as he remembered where he was at. ¡°He was a Cardinal?¡± I mumble. Though I think I was heard, because he responded. ¡°Why, yes. He attained Cardinal status, shortly after he attained the title of Prince-Archbishop. He almost attained the title King-Archbishop, however once he attained the Cardinal status, all secular titles are meaningless. Though you may already know this, you do know there are only five Cardinals, they make up the Elder Council of the clergy, one of which is to always be the Bishop of the Dark hand of Shadows, the leading Church of this glorious nation?¡± He drew in a long breath, as he seemed to forget to breathe. ¡°What you may not know is that all five of the current Cardinals are bishops from the Principality of Shadows, this has only happened twice since our nations founding.¡± His voice had gotten loud again, causing others to migrate around us. The others were cheering, as he started to break into scriptures about their religion. We used this moment to slip through the crowd as more and more people came to hear him talk about the history of their nation. I turned around to look at the over zealous crowd, I had the feeling that more was afoot. ¡°They are brainwashed. All of them. This entire nation.¡± I jumped as a new voice appeared behind me. It belong to an older man that seemed to witness the whole ordeal, he had a few wrinkles, but dark hair, indicating that he was a middle aged man that had a stressful life. His clothes were nicer than some of the others that we had passed by, ¡°Come with me. I trust you can handle your beast?¡± He pointed with his jaw. ¡°Hah, I assure you, she is perfectly safe. So what are we doing?¡± I began to follow him, with Seraphine-sii behind me. ¡°We are leaving, I assume you will want to leave this place as soon as possible after you learn the truth of this place. Most everyone in the Silent Continent knows of it, so it isn''t much of a secret, but you seem ignorant of it, so I feel it is my duty to enlighten you.¡± We got to far side of town where a wagon awaited us. ¡°I am sorry, I have not enough money on me, I cannot pay for this.¡± I apologized. ¡°It is fine, I am on my way to the Kingdom of Lunari anyway, I have to stop off in the mountain village of Iglaku to pick up a delivery. I may not look like it now, but I used to be a Peddler, I am now a Shop Owner.¡± He puffed out his chest as he climbed in the wagon and took the reigns, over his six magnificent Stallions. ¡°Iglaku is also on a mountain? Why are there so many mountains?¡± I ask in astonishment of the number of mountain settles we have come across. I help Seraphine-sii, climb aboard the wagon, which her lower half fills most of the wagon. It seems Seraphine-sii has been rather silent these last few hours I just noticed. Well, she doesn''t know the Common Tongue, so it makes since. ¡°Excuse me kind, sir. I have experienced a traumatic event not long ago, and I seem to have developed amnesia, and I need to relearn the ways and teachings of the world.¡± I lied. He turned to look at me before he commanded his horses forward, ¡°Hmm, I see. Do you happen to have any maps, I can teach you some simple geography.¡± When I nodded my head, he motioned for me to sit next to him, ¡°Alright, let''s see. Ah, this map here. All of this is the continent we live on, named the Silent Continent. Around fifteen percent of the continent''s land mass is taken up by this volcano in the middle, this volcano is inactive, named the Heart of the Stars. In the Caldera, there is a lake that shows the reflections of everything above. This lake, Celestial Lake, doesn''t have any magical properties in the water at all, though the rivers that flow from it are huge sources of magical power.¡± He then circled over a few areas on the map, ¡°This entire Northern area belongs to the Kingdom of Lunari. The Southern are belongs to the Solaeum Kingdom, this area is the North-East is the nation we are currently leaving, the Principality of Shadows. Last but not least, is this large chunk here, in the South-West is corrupted and controlled by a Lich, Thun''quqyg.¡± he shivered for a moment before continuing. ¡°Remember when I told you about how everyone is brainwashed in the Principality? Well, it is true that their founder ended the civil wars in the Kingdoms, however, he was the one that started it, when he became leader of the assassin''s guild, by the same name as the current ruling church of the Principality, the Dark Hand of Shadows, founded 6,000 years ago by Zetif.¡± He went on about history of which, I got bored of listening to, as I can gather this information later in the game. It was all very interesting, but I think I want to try some other things out before I get into the Lore. While this kind man was trying to explain the wold to the ignorant me, I tried to see if an old NPI gaming mechanic was implemented in this game as well. I thought of opening the status menu in my head. I saw that everything around me slowed to a stop, sounds of nature and the grinding wheels on the dirt road faded to nothing. All in front of me was a screen, much like the notification screens. Chapter 4: Trapped
Name: Jack Frost Race: Yxdan Vampire Class: Ice Mage
Health: 160 Mana: 220 Stamina: 210
Strength: 33 Speed: 168% Defense: 28
Magical Strength: 45 Accuracy: 60% Magical Defense: 45
Stealth: 43% Blood Thirst: 60% Special Points: 7
Grace I, Etiquette I, Sword Mastery I, Sword Arts I, Ice Magical Mastery I, Ice Magical Arts I, Ice Resistance I, Undead Resistance I, Stealth Mastery II, Stealth Arts I, Vampirism I, Pit Vision I, Poison Resistance I
Double Life: Turn Undead upon death Ice Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Ice Resistance and Ice Mag. Str. Undead Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Undead Resistance and Undead Mag. Str. Vampirism: Increased Strength, Stealth, Stamina, and Speed Mage: Increased Mana, Mag. Str. And Mag. Def. Dual Tongue: Able to understand and converse between the Aezordii and Aethersii
No titles available
Special Points? I wonder if I can purchase skills and abilities, or if I can just boost my stats with them, like the older games.
SK Notification
Special Points detected: Skill Screen unlocked Title progress detected: Title Progress Screen unlocked
I''ll check the Title Progress Screen later, as it may have some good ones to get, but I''ll leave that excitement for tomorrow when I log back in, but for now I''ll go to the Skill Store Screen.
SK Notification
Upgrading Mastery Skills cost 2 SP, Art Skills cost 1 SP. Art Skills cannot be upgraded past the level of the Mastery Skills. Mastery is considered the proficiency of the skill, while the Art is considered the knowledge in the skill. There are a few exceptions.
Upgrade Skill Art Upgrade Skill Mastery
Buy Skill Set
Detection, Analysis, Cooking, Air Magic, Water Magic, Storm Magic, Dark Magic, Spear Set, Ax Set, Bow Set, Staff Set, Alchemy, Blacksmithing, War Set, -Requirements needed to unlock more-
Buy Attributes
Dark Affiliate, Water Affiliate, Air Affiliate, Storm Affiliate, Tough Skin, Xernurochii Tongue, Seer, Tamer, Breeder, Thrift, -Requirements needed to unlock more-
Some of these, I will acquire naturally, and I will acquire some of the other ones if I worked hard, so I made the decision of not buying any of the new ones. I will, however, upgrade a few of my existing ones... I will upgrade the skills that will take a lot more effort to level up than the other skills, such as Grace. Given that it takes two Special Points to upgrade it, I upgraded Grace three times, due to it being treated like a Mastery Skill, it costs me six points. I threw my last point into Vampirism, which was being treated as an Arts Skill.
Skills Upgraded
Grace rank IIIeasants will look up to you, subconsciously Vampirism rank II: Gained the Mist Form ability
Mist Form? Not bad, maybe with the Free Range Skill System, I can combine it with fire or something. I''ll test it out next time. I closed out of each screen, and resumed in the world around me. I noticed that there was a buzzing feeling in my brain that must had been there the entire time I had been browsing the screens in a paused world. Maybe NPI will fix that bug with a few complaints. ¡°Are you alright, kid?¡± My temporary companion seemed to stop his history lesson and took a long look at me. ¡°Ah, I''m fine, it''s just- Eh?!¡± There was no way for me to log out. I was beginning to freak out, but not as much the coachman was. He was looking in each and every possible way, probably looking for an ambush. ¡°What, what?! Is there an attack?¡± he kept looking around. ¡°Ah, we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Jack Frost.¡± I try to diffuse the situation with my stellar acting capabilities. ¡°Don''t do that!¡± He almost hit me with a raised hand, but due to a hiss coming from Seraphine-sii, he stopped. ¡°I thought we were under attack. Bandits are a real problem in these parts. Gah, the name is Raynereus, though most of my acquaintances call me Ray. Like the Mountain in the Solaeum Kingdom. It is interesting to know you have a last name. Could you be a noble?¡± I shook my head, ¡°I don''t remember much, I may be part of some disinherited bloodline but, I do not know for certain.¡± Ray looked at me with eyes of pity, and said not another word. I then closed my eyes and practiced searching for the Mana located at my core. Upon finding it with great difficulty, I began trying to move this Mana. Much like flexing a muscle that isn''t often moved, I had difficulty with moving it and tired incredibly fast. I only focused condensing it into a ball shape, the size of my fist. For what seemed like hours, I was finally able to do so with ease, and next was moving it about my body. With great difficulty, I was able to move it from one hand to the other, albeit very slowly. I do this, because in VR games since in NPI-VR 8S Magical Experience game, The Failed Apprentice''s Awakening, Mana skill boosting came in the form of meditating, which was about finding your inner Mana. The moment I had it go a fraction outside my body, I lost it completely, therefor ending my meditation.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Skill Gained
Mana Manipulation III: Able manipulate the Mana within, making Mana consumption more efficient, and spells more potent.
I opened my eyes, finding that my environment had changed completely, I was no longer in horse drawn wagon next to the Merchant, Ray. I was now upon a mattress, made of straw, in a small room, my body and the bed I was in had frosted completely over. I looked over where I saw Seraphine-sii looking at me from the corner of the room. Upon further inspection, I found she wasn''t actually looking at me, but rather sleeping with her eyes open. It was almost rather creepy. I quietly got of the bed I was laying in, and I gradually sneaked my way over to her sleeping body. I then shook her awake. ¡°Hyaa! Jack?Oh, you''re finally awake, I was wondering if you were hibernating. I realize that some mammals need to hibernate.¡± She sighed. ¡°You bit me, please do keep in mind that you are indeed poisonous. To act like you didn''t even do anything, and continue speaking.¡± I shook my head.
Skill Upgrade
Poison Resistance rank II: now able resist medium quantities of low quality poisons
¡°So, how long have I been meditating?¡± I asked, ¡°And where are we?¡± ¡°I''d say about twelve hours. It''s about noon, as to where we are, we are in the merchants house, I''d presume. I couldn''t understand what the man was saying, but I think we arrived in Iglaku.¡±
Quest Completed: Journey to the North
Mission: Cross the border of the Principality of Shadows and the Kingdom of Lunari. Bonus: Discover 10 towns 11/10 towns discovered
Reward: 1,000 Exp. Bonus: 1,100 Exp., 1 SP
¡°Twelve hours?¡± I guess there might be a feature that speeds up time when meditating, kind of like using the wait feature in some of the old games. This feature, if I recall correctly, speeds up time or slow it down in the perception of the player by putting the brain in overdrive. It keeps the player from getting bored and keeps things convenient in the game. Now that I think about it, this same development was probably implemented to the Skill Screen. Since you can''t pause the world in a MMO, it is due to ideas like this that games can stop the world in the perception of the gamer. It is a revolutionary tactic developed by NPI in their last platform. ¡°I guess we should go and make ourselves known to the world, let''s go meet with Ray for now.¡± When I looked over to Seraphine-sii, I saw that she was completely frozen, and that the world took on several gray hues, much like when time stops for me during the screens. The scene changed before my very eyes. It went from a medieval styled guest room, to that of an arena of gigantic proportions. It was a Colosseum that was filled with people. There was probably a hundred thousand people that were just as confused as I felt. Even though there was mass confusion, there wasn''t any commotion, as this was a video game, where almost anything goes. That is, until a three story tall Grim Reaper appeared, at that point, many voices of concern, and even protests were let out. Many people lowered their stances to a battle ready position. ¡°Silence!¡± Everyone became strangely silent, all at once, at the sound of a huge voice that sounded rather squeaky, ¡°Some of you, if not all of you, have realized that logging out is impossible. It is not a mistake, an error in programming, but on purpose. Your souls are trapped here, on Aezorish.¡± Nobody was able to respond, due to the Reaper taking our voices, but everyone wore different faces, some of anguish, some of sorrow, though some, like me, were faces of intrigue. The Reaper continued, ¡°There was roughly three billion logins within the first hour of launch, NPI is proud to achieve this number. Now if you count the one and a half billion criminals in every prison, there are now four and half billion peoples'' souls trapped in a single game. As you may know, overpopulation is indeed beyond critical levels on Earth. To fix this problem, all the governments on Earth came together decided to solve it swiftly, without severe backlash. The governments of the world funded Nervous Products Interactive to develop a way to send people to Cyberspace. Since a large variety of Earth''s People enjoyed gaming, and gamers only follow one of two paths; developing games or being bums that only game, gamers as a whole became trash of society. So, what do you do you do with trash? Why, you throw it away, of course. So NPI, developed technological ground breaking Virtual Reality headsets, one after another, until we realized our masterpiece. We developed many games that became more and more famous, quickly drawing popularity and fans. With our masterpiece we were able to achieve two goals; creating a cyberspace server that was completely independent of Earth, and being able to send people there without killing them off. We are happy to say, ''Thank you for solving our problem on Earth, and Welcome to your new home, Aezorish.'' Aezorish is roughly five times that of Earth. Do be careful though, twenty-five percent of the population we have sent to Aezorish are convicted criminals after all. Though don''t worry to much, for most of them have been sent to the Cursed Continent to live out their days being hunted, so no worries. Lastly, you all have been called here twenty-four hours after game launch, your first full day on Aezorish, some of you probably haven''t even noticed. My, how time flies when you''re dead? Sorry, too soon? After your souls leave your body, your body then dies, but you guys are alive here and that''s all that matters. So there is no return ticket to Earth, cool thing is, if in the event that the Earth is destroyed, Aezorish will continue on. Ah, by the way, as a way to say we are sorry, and that we wanted to come here as well, due to the benefits, all of the World''s Leaders and the NPI team are trapped with you guys. We won''t tell you who we are, and it is actually best if you role play for the rest of your lives, unless you would like to be viewed as crazy by the locals. Another thing, the locals are alive, they aren''t NPCs anymore, also having children is possible, and the last thing about the creators who made this world, they took on different names, and are revered as gods here. Though, if you want, if you find a way, you can kill them and even take their place. I digress from this tangent though, I meant to call everyone here within my sector, who have reached level five so far. You will all get a choice in a gift from the box of random prizes, provided by your gods. Those of you whom haven''t died yet get a second choice. Choose wisely.¡± A treasure chest appeared before me. I opened it up, as I was inclined to do so.
Divine Gift
50 SP, Home Screen, Unlimited Stamina, Land Quest, One Army One Million Gold, Ninja Skill Set, Unlimited Mana, All Tongues
I really wanted to go for the Unlimited Mana and Stamina, though I felt that it would be highly beneficial to me but it might be impulsive, so I refrained from immediately grabbing them. I analyzed the other cubes within the chest. I grabbed the cubes labeled, ''Land Quest'' and ''Homescreen.'' If it is what I think it is, than it would prove to be far more useful in my new home. Plus, it felt like those two had a stipulation put on it. I noticed that aside from my chest, all others disappeared, so I grabbed one last cube before the chest vanished like the others had. The cube I drew out had been labeled, ''All Tongues.'' This will be particularly useful to me as a mage. I would be able to customize my spells, if it turned out that I could use Old Elvish. I contemplated on why I was able to draw three out, but I concluded that my extra life counted for some strange reason. The eccentric Grim Reaper spoke again, ¡°Now everyone has selected their gifts. When an individual earns a crown, each individual doing so, shall receive another gift from us. Not only that, but after you get to level ten, you will stop getting notifications on statuses and skills. This is your new home, gods, miracles, magic and blessings are very real here and happen multiple times a day. So if you die, or an Aezorish native dies, there is a chance for them to be resurrected by previously stated sources. There is a full resurrection and a partial resurrection. A partial resurrection leads to the Undead Affliction, which can also be cured, but with a price. Since you are all new to this world, all players are granted a single Divine Resurrection. All other resurrection is up to you. You will stop getting updates and system help, etc. We are doing this in order to get you all to be-¡± He paused, ¡°I forgot the reason, but you will still be able to check your skills and status windows. Meeting Adjourned!¡± He bid farewell whimsically before fading away. My vision blurred and faded from a scene where everyone was about to protest back to where I was looking at Seraphine-sii once more.
Attribute Upgrade
Dual Tongue ¡ú All Tongue: Able to understand, converse and write in all languages of Aezorish
Also a new quest appeared.
Quest: Land and Titles
Objective one: Have an audience with a with Nobility or Royalty Objective two: Carry out orders Objective three: Return to Court
Reward: varied amount of land, exp., gold, and subjects upon completion
After clearing those two windows, one last one popped up.
Ability Gained
Homescreen: User has the ability to go to the Homescreen
Chapter 5: Troubles of Iglaku. ¡°Jack? Are you alright?¡± Seraphine-sii looked worried, though she was worried, I couldn''t help but think her furrowed brow was anything but cute. ¡°Yes, yes, I am doing well. I think we should definitely stay in the Kingdom of Lunari. For we helped raze a city in the Solaeum Kingdom, and we might get arrested if we get recognized. The Principality of Shadows has a bad reputation, and the Undead Quarter is uninhabitable. By the way what do you plan on doing? I realized that we were traveling in the same direction, but we don''t have to be together.¡± She looked at me for a while before answering, ¡°I intend to find a place where I belong in this world, as many of my kind are summoned here, but are discriminated against and even subjugated. I would like to provide shelter for anyone summoned from the Plane of Creation. I had just been summoned like you, but I hear stories from those that returned to our village.¡± she looked sorrowful. I placed my hand on her shoulder and assured her, ¡°No need to worry, I might have a place for you. As this Kingdom is far north of where we started, so it might get really cold here. Though that being said, let me help you.¡± I then turned around and used my ability, Homescreen. A portal that was in the shape of the gateway of the entrance to this very world from earlier appeared before me. The gate with muses that decorated had a picture of the Homescreen that I had created on the other-side of it. I tugged the hand of the nervous Lamia as I entered the portal to the familiar screen. I felt the Lamia gasped. I know she was surprised, but I was very relieved in it turning out how I thought it would. ¡°Is this Yxda''s Drawer? A Pocket Realm within the Creation Plane? I always knew you were a noble.¡± She looked around with amazement, staring at the large castle in particular. She then had a frown. ¡°It seems to be lacking in life.¡± She looked at my face again. ¡°It is as you say, though with this realm, it is fully under my control. I decide the very fabric of this space, it is mine to command.¡± I had the options menu pop up in the corner of my sight and I purchased some animal spawners. And I had them litter the forest with them. A window popped up for me.
System Notice
Gold from user collected, total reserves: 2,197,503 gold Gold spent on purchases: 3,500 gold Gold left: 2,194, 003 gold Would you like to withdraw gold?
I decided to empty my spacial bag and convert the contents, with exception of the Metal staff and the summoning grimoire, into gold. I chose to keep the staff to be equip my left and the grimoire strapped to my side. All, I am missing is a robe and I look like the classical mage. The gold amounted to about 5,100 pieces, practically filling the spatial bag. I then looked to Seraphine-sii and said, ¡°Well, now there is Wild Life. There is life present here, but nothing sentient. What is a ruler without any subjects. If you plan on doing what you said you were doing, then I will provide you with this much. You may use the castle as a place to stay if you so desired.¡± ¡°Milord!¡± Seraphine-sii quickly bent at her waist, ¡°I will forever follow you and swear fealty to you. My loyalty to you shall be unrivaled! Though you have graciously offered the castle, I feel it is natural that I take to the forests.¡± ¡°I understand, I will allow you to do as you please, and if I come across another, I will send them your way, or even I will bring you to them to have you tell them yourself.¡± ¡°Thank you, Master.¡± She seemed delighted, to have found place to call home. ¡°I will work hard. I will not accompany you on your travels unfortunately, for there is much work to be done.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± I nodded, ¡°I will be back.¡± With that I walked through the open portal and turned around to close it behind me. I was once again in the room that presumably belonged to Ray. I then open the door only see that a little girl was about to open it as well. The look of shock on her face was almost priceless. ¡°G-good afternoon. I apologize, I thought you were still asleep. I was sent by father to wake you up.¡± She seemed to get over her shock rather quickly. When I looked her up an down, I noted that she just like her father, dark hair, brown eyed and a snub nosed, as well as some nice clothes. She seemed to fidget when I stared so I just ruffled her hair and kept walking. Past the doorway we were both at, was a short hallway that ended at the top of a set of stairs. Following that, I saw that the stairs ended behind a bar and just left of the kitchen. I was greeted by Ray himself. ¡°Morning sunshine, or should I say afternoon? I knew you looked sickly, but I didn''t how bad it was. I don''t mind if you use the room to get better, but you have to pay for meals, I don''t mind if you work here to pay if you are running low on coin, though it may get in the way of your recovery.¡± ¡°You have got to be the kindest person I have come across. I think I will be taking you up on your offer. I am not feeling very well, so I will be resting in the room you have provided. Thank you.¡± I left to go back up stairs, while Ray was smiling to himself. I think I should meditate and increase my skills where I can here. I walked to the room and closed the door behind me. I then lay on the bed and close my eyes for meditation. I quickly found my Mana this time and I began to expand it outside my body. It was very resistant to my commands at first but then I was able to expand it into a thin bubble around me. I then condensed it as fast as I could and expanded it as fast as I could. It began to feel like a work out, I would occasionally take breaks while in meditation. As I continued, I changed up the exercise. I then condensed the Mana into a ball and moved it around my body faster and faster. I then tried moving it outside my body while still keeping within my grasp. It proved rather difficult but I was barely able manage it while I reabsorbed it into my body, this process went on for sometime, I let it out one last time before I was so fatigued that I couldn''t hang on to it that it slipped from my grasp, thus ending my meditation session.
Skill Upgrade
Mana Manipulation V: Further increase in Mana Efficiency and spell effectiveness Ice Magic Mastery II: Increase Ice Magic effectiveness and efficiency
I was covered in frost again, and this time I heard a sound. I looked over at the doorway, where I saw a the little girl wide eyed and staring at me. ¡°May I help you?¡± I ask this to break the awkward silence. ¡°A-a-ah, no. It''s just, uh, breakfast is ready!¡± She quickly ran away. Breakfast? I look out the window to see that it indeed looked early morning as the Sun was on the rise. I guess that direction is West then, I thought. I brushed the frost of me before I headed downstairs when I saw that the little girl was trying to tattle on me. Upon seeing me she closed her mouth and didn''t utter another word. Seeing his daughter this way, he quickly looked behind himself and saw me. ¡°Ah, morning. My little Snowflake was trying to tell me you were freezing in the room I lent you. She says the cutest things. Anyway, do you want breakfast? Its ready you know, just five gold coins.¡± Although, I didn''t need to eat anything it seems, I figured the humans would worry if I didn''t eat anything, so I payed the gold and ate silently. It was a simple breakfast of a fried egg and hard bread. Hmm, it seems this world''s culinary skills weren''t up to par with Earth, not even in the slightest. Maybe another player will become a chef and spread Earth cuisine. Of course there would have to be a player farmer to get the best ingredients. As it stands, I can only taste salt from the egg, and nothing from the stale bread. As I was thinking all this, Ray spoke up, ¡°In a couple of days, the Duke will be here. It is a rare thing for him to come here. He is the Duke of the Diamond River Delta, of which we are at the edge of. I wonder what he wants.¡± Ray put himself in deep thought. ¡°Perhaps I will gather with the people on that day. But for now I must rest.¡± I stood up and left Ray at the table by himself. Jogging upstairs, I went into the roomed I was lent, and sat on the bed. It was then that I saw the little girl in the corner of the room. ¡°What are you up too?¡± She looked at me for awhile before answering, ¡°I-I want to watch you freeze.¡± I nodded my head before getting in a comfortable sitting position and closing my eyes. Finding my Mana even faster than before, I quickly get into the exercises that I practiced before, this time I made simple ball of ice that I had float around me as I did the exercises. After a while had passed I stopped my exercise before I mentally fatigued myself. I opened my eyes and I had seen that there was more frost around me than usually, actually parts of my clothing were in cased in ice.
Skill Upgrade
Mana Manipulation VI: Now able to absorb magical attacks from: Ice, Water, Undead, and Dark Ice Magic Mastery III: Knowledge absorption in Ice Magic is increased Ice Resistance II: More Resistant to Ice Magic Attacks
I look to the little girl and I had seen that she was staring at me intently, though I also noted we weren''t the only ones in this small room. From the doorway, I heard the familiar gruff voice, ¡°Amazing, you were actually freezing yourself.¡± I immediately brush off the thick layer of ice and apologized, ¡°I am terribly sorry, I wasn''t trying to freeze my surroundings on purpose. It just seems like that was an unavoidable thing.¡± Ray and his beautiful wife stood in a stupor, and then seemed to have snapped out of it, ¡°That is more than fine. Besides magical ice only turns to water under magical fire, or manipulated by mage to do so. So you don''t have to worry about a mess. Who knew I was helping a mage? I know you need to learn the ways of the world, but I think you need to go to Divinity. It is Magic Academy at the caldera of the Heart of the Stars, just beneath the Celestial Lake. They will be able to teach you all there is to know about the world.¡± I thought for a moment, ¡°I see, hey isn''t that Duke supposed to come to this town?¡± Ray nodded, ¡°Yea, however, he sent a letter to the chief, saying that he will delay his visit for a week or two.¡± I nodded as I made my decision, ¡°I have decided that I will leave after the Duke comes, I would like to say my farewells then. Perhaps, I will travel to Divinity. I wouldn''t want to be a burden to you.¡± Ray then shook his head, ¡°Ah, don''t think you were a burden, but we will properly send you off when that time comes.¡± He said this as he left the room. Well, that went better than expected. It is nice to know that elements summoned through magic don''t act like physical counterparts. Perhaps I could look into doing some creative things. I might make an Elemental or an Automaton made completely out of ice or something. I closed my eyes again, knowing that the little girl was still watching me. At first I found it a little creepy, but now it seems a little cute, kind of like a curious little creature studying an object of interest. For days, my meditation went on like this, each progressing level I broke through became lengthier in time. It was a week and a half that passed by, I had regularly entertained Ray''s little girl, whom was named Yuki. I had several conversations with Ray''s wife, named Karina. I found out that Ray was from the Solaeum Kingdom originally, but made his way the Kingdom of Lunari where he met Karina and had a child. Apparently, the merchant taxes were less harsh in the Kingdom of Lunari.
Skill Upgrade
Mana Manipulation IX: Able to absorb almost all magic damage from any school, except Holy. Ice Magic Mastery V: Able to shorten incatations to just to the spells'' name. Or even forego it all together, at the expense of more Mana. Only applies to Ice Magic Ice Magical Arts II: Able to learn more basic spells in Ice school magic Ice Resistance III: Able to stand colder temperatures, and block Ice Magic
Hmm, I wondered why it stopped at level nine and not ten. If I learned anything about NPI, they really liked rounding things off by the tens. At my pondering another pop-up sprang up.
SK NoticeLove this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Leveling Skills: As you level skills, it takes longer to reach the next level. Skills max out at level IX. However, skills can reach level X if, and only if, certain titles, achievements, or blessings are gained.
I see, so in order for me to get to that Mana Manipulation skill to level X, I might have to become a really powerful mage, or even get a blessing from a god or something... well, that put a rain in my parade. I did gain a total stat base raise in my Magical Defense by about 10, and a stat base increase in Mana by about 150. Seeing as my skill had reached it''s current height, I automatically learned two spells, Ice Spike and Ice Totem. I can recover completely expended Mana four times in one day, it was an awesome recovery speed. I was able to wear my Mana around me at all times, acting as a sort of shield, though it took on the character of Ice, so it formed a mini-blizzard around me. My meditation training was done, so I decided to walk around town before my departure in the next day or two. When I exited the restaurant, owned by Ray, named The Winter Sun, I was almost ran into by a man in a rush. He didn''t even stop to apologize, he ran and joined a bigger crowd that was waiting and cheering for something. Or someone. I then realized that I lost track of time and was a day off, the Duke of this place was coming today. Maybe I can fulfill the objective of being invited to his court for my quest, if I can somehow impress him while he is here. For now, I decided to join the crowd. I then overheard a conversation between two figures within the crowd, as a caravan was being pulled by a few horses, making its way toward this usually sleepy town. ¡°Whada ya think he''s ''ere for?¡± said a man that was out of my sight. ¡°¡±I reckon, he''s ''ere to glad hand. Just a friendly reminder, one being that we outta pay taxes. Either way, let''s accept ''im in open arms?¡± said a man that was probably close to the first man, perhaps they were friends, they didn''t sound particularly educated, but as they were probably farmers, they didn''t need to be. By then a caravan that seemed more and more decorated pulled up in front of the crowd and even stopped with a rather slim, grim looking man stepping out of the outrageously caravan and spoke out. ¡°Greetings, town of Iglaku. As you probably have figured out, I am your lord, Duke Clostaru of Diamond Fields. I know I haven''t shown my face in public in these last few years, but I came as the bearer of bad news. My entire clan, aside from myself has died. I have no family, at least by blood anyway. I want you to say hello to my new family!¡± With a gleeful expression he snapped his fingers. Upon the snap of his fingers, the caravan walls fell and what was now before us was a platform on wheels, with a pile of corpses tumbled out. I noticed there was a magic circle on the platform itself. I know that all magic was in the Old Elvish Language, but now that I could understand all languages, it looked like normal words to me. I was however too far away to see them clearly, though I did have a bad feeling about it. Clostaru then stepped in the middle of the circle and held large, intricate metal staff above his head and shouted, ¡°Rise, Soulless Bodies, Rise. Reanimation Circle.¡± Upon his very words, the magic formation started to glow, and little wisps flew into the bodies, making them rise on their own. He then declared, ¡°I, Duke Clostaru, renounce my name and titles to follow the path of Thun''quqyg. I name myself Thun''malitum, and I welcome you to be a apart of my family!¡± The now reanimated corpses then charged at the stunned crowd, causing a mass panic. There were people that had chunks of flesh ripped from, and others that got trampled to death by the panicked horde of people trying to escape the hellish scene. ¡°You have got to be kidding me. Is this perhaps a regular occurrence? Why do people keep trying to follow the Lich?¡± I mutter to myself. I then cast one of my newly learned spells, ¡°Pillar of Ice, push forward, Ice Totem.¡± Normally this move is used to push enemies back with an enormous pillar of ice coming from the ground, though I used it under my feet, therefore it became a pillar that I stood on from a rather tall height. I then summoned my other spell that I knew and aimed at a nearby corpse, ¡°Chunk of Ice, hurl, Ice Spike.¡± As the incantation suggests, it was a fist sized lump of ice that was then hurled at the corpse. It hit its mark though, it seemed like it only got his attention. It was however impaled in the back of his head. So maybe if I fired a few at one target, it would take it down. No that would prove inefficient against their growing numbers, perhaps if I altered the incantation of the spell for Ice Spike...
Quest: How to Stop a Zombie Apocalypse
Mission: You wish to preserve this town and its inhabitants. Objective: Kill all Zombies or Kill Thun''malitum
Reward: Title, 2,000 Exp., 1 SP, 500 Gold, 20 Respect/ Admiration
Hmm, I guess it is time to play hero, though what would happen if I chose to destroy the town instead? A little pop-up answered my question.
Quest: How to Start a Zombie Apocalypse
Mission: Your thoughts coincide with Thun''malitum. Objective: Kill all villagers Optional: Throw ten villagers to a pack of Zombies
Reward: Title, 2,500 Exp., 2 SP, 2,000 Gold, -50 Respect/ Admiration, 50 Fear
Why are the evil quests so much more rewarding than good quests in games. I would normally jump at an opportunity to join the evil side, but since this is my new life, I better coexist with the locals, or it may be my downfall later. I do know some people that play this game will jump at the chances despite this being their life. As I was thinking of a way to deal with the Zombies, I saw a small figure darting between the buildings and attacking the Zombies. It wasn''t until she stopped and yelled at me that I got more details of her figure. She was a little short, but had long brunette hair and pointy ears, she also had a round face with a small nose. I was a little far away, but her big eyes were a soft chocolate brown that I could see from here. ¡°Are you going to help from up there or what?¡± Just then, a pack of Zombies noticed her and started to sprint in her direction, not just one pack, but three, from all directions. She was stuck. So I launched an Ice Totem beneath her feet and had her in the air in no time. She was at roughly the same height as me. She was visibly relieved, but she then turned toward me as if to say ''now what?'' I clad myself in my Mana, like I had practiced the week prior to today, and it formed a miniature blizzard as I expected. I then resummoned the Ice Spike, ¡°Chunk of Ice, hurl, Ice Spike.¡± Before I launched it at a poor zombie, I realized something, it started to spin in the blizzard. I remembered that bullets fly faster and farther the faster they spun. Since the Ice Spike shared the same appearance as a bullet, albeit a very big bullet, I put my thoughts into practice. I began my incantation again, ¡°Chunk of Ice, Spin speeds of sounds, Compact, Condense, Hurl, Ice Bullet.¡± I chose to condense it''s form to that it was small enough to ignore air resistance, but it was compact enough that it wouldn''t shatter on impact. With it spinning at high velocities, it should fly at speeds, incomparable to that of the Ice Spike, therefore I dubbed it the Ice Bullet. It was rather lengthy incantation, so I will just shortened it to its name, I might just do a silent incantation in dire situations. Satisfied with my creation, I then had it float over my finger gun. I aimed my finger gun at a zombie, and watched as my Ice Bullet disappeared and the head of the Zombie exploded hardly a moment after. I felt a considerable amount of Mana compared to the Ice Spike leave me, however, it still wasn''t much compared to my Mana reserves and Mana recovery rate. I could have fun with this. I started casually sniping the zombies from across the town and beneath as I sat on my Ice Totem. Thun''malitum must have noticed that his fighting force was quickly depleting and that I was to blame. I figured he might have noticed when all of the undead came to the base of my Ice Totem and started clawing at its base. I waited until my perch became unsteady and I fell with my Ice Totem. However, before impact, I dispersed my form into that of icy Mist, with my Mana still circulating around me. My descent slowed drastically, my Ice Totem shattered on the ground way before I even touched the ground. I was in the middle of the Zombie horde as they tried to grab at my incorporeal form. I let my Mana run amuck amongst them, freezing all the surrounding zombies solid. I had more zombies that surrounded them, so I had to walk to get them. Well, walk is the wrong term, more of a slow glide. It was rather difficult and slow. After all of the brainless corpses were thoroughly frozen, I released my Mist form and I brandished my rapier. I hacked, slashed, and stabbed my way through all of the undead popsicles. I looked toward Thun''malitum, his facial expression was priceless. He seemed to take a step back on his platform, almost falling off. As he was struggling with his balance, I made an incantation, ¡°Chunk of Ice, condense, compact, Spin, Spin Speeds twice of sound, Fly forward, Ice Bullet.¡± I changed the incantation to add more firepower to the bullet at a cost of rest of my Mana. The thin pebble sized Ice Bullet hovered in front of my index finger, as I made a finger gun. I pointed it at Thun''malitum, much to my surprise he laughed, ¡°That''s it? Wow, I know that spells sometimes falter, but wow you could only summon a pebble lump of ice that you are going to-¡± I then pulled the trigger of my finger gun. Bang! My Ice Bullet broke the sound barrier, though to the naked eye, it looked liked it exploded. Though the same could be said about Thun''malitum''s head. His poor head couldn''t handle the speeds of my Ice Bullet, and so his head opened a path for through its center. Thus Thun''malitum was no more. Thun''malitum''s nearly headless body fell and slammed into the ground with a thud. The magic circle beneath his feet faded until it ceased to glow all together. The entirety of the village fell silent and motionless. The first one to act was the girl from moments before. The long hair of hers fluttered about as she leaped off the Ice Totem and landed with a soft thud. She stood up and winced momentarily and then marched over to me with a stiff expression, probably from the pain she must be feeling in her ankles just now. As soon as she was in arms length of me, she stopped and looked me up and down before narrowing her eyes, ¡°How did you do that?¡± I glanced elsewhere, ¡°Do what?¡± She leaned in closely. Too close, too close. ¡°Anyway, what are we going to do with those guys.?¡± I hurriedly point at some robed figures that appear to be with Thun''malitum, but didn''t play any role in the Village''s would be demise, so they went unnoticed. Said robed figures became aware that I had noted their presence, and then threw themselves on the ground in submission. Villagers slowly came out of their homes and were now surrounding the robed figures, yelling at them, spitting on them, various angry mob activities. The little girl glanced at the mob, ¡°I say we do nothing, it looks like the villagers of Iglaku want to give them a piece of their mind.¡± We watched as the mob tied and beat their prisoners before hauling them off to probably continue beating them. As we watched, I asked, ¡°My name is Jack Frost, what are you called?¡± She then looked at me with her brown eyes, ¡°My name is Nin-Solana, though people just call me Sola.¡± ¡°Ah, well I guess I will call you Sola, seeing that I am people.¡± I flash a smile. Just then, Sola went from smiling to sticking her hands near my face and using her fingers to open my mouth. She checked this way and that. After she removed her fingers from my mouth, she then moved extremely close to examine my face. ¡°W- what are you doing?¡± After a minute or so of getting closer than comfortable looks at me, she sat back satisfied, ¡°Well, I am still alive after invading your personal space, and you don''t give off a holy feeling... say, are you a Yxdan Vampire? I only heard about them in stories, I never thought I would actually meet a noble vampire.¡± ¡°A noble vampire?¡± I was perplexed. Seraphine-sii also mentioned something about me being noble, but I am pretty sure that was because she saw that I owned a castle. ¡°Yes, in all the stories... well I only know of three of them, the Yxdan Vampires were called noble vampires, mostly because they were able to protect their beloved even after death. They were created mainly by Yxda, though they were altered by Vuzmes, giving up their immortality for another life, a double life. Though they are inherently good, they still need blood to sustain themselves periodically. Other vampires include, the Abelian Vampires, Kuqbusi Vampires, and Quktixi Vampires.¡± I look at her, and tell her to continue. ¡°Alright then, as far as I remember, Abelian Vampires were regarded as holy vampires, because they were able to use Holy Magic, and they were empowered by the sun due to Wiqdum''s influence. They were created by Wiqdum, Abelia and Ovthys. They are only capable of kind acts, though they still need blood every few years, otherwise they are prone to insanity where they wind up hurting someone. They usually commit suicide afterwards because of the crushing guilt, according to a legend I read. Kuqbusi Vampires, also known as the slaver vampires, being able to call back any soul of the beings they devoured. They also possess high end hypnotic powers they use to enslave the living. Kuqbusi are only capable of bad deeds as far as the stories go, they also require blood frequently. They were created by Kuqbus himself. Lastly the Quktixi Vampires, or the insane vampires. These ruthless beings, are said to have blood thirst and blood lust levels beyond anything else, and are driven insane by their own existence from time to time. They are uncontrollable and insane half of the time. They are said to have wings, incapable of good deeds. They are demons created by Fyrhena and Quktix, and since they are native to this world they are unsummonable.¡± She summarized. ¡°You say you read these in legends and stories, but you speak as if they are fact.¡± I said. She simply replied, ¡°Well, most stories, riddles, and jokes have some truth to them. Also, these are archived stories in the Lost cultures section of the Library of Ages at Divinity.¡± ¡°Divinity, you say... wait, you said that those awful demons are not summonable because they live here? Why is that?¡± ¡°Well, many of the demons that the Demon gods have created eons ago are not summonable because they live here. It isn''t like you will see them anyway. Most of these creations live on the Cursed Continent. That is the continent to the west of this one.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I muttered. Just as I was about to wring more information out of Sola, I saw an elderly man walk over toward us. ¡°Yes, may I help you.¡± I called to the old man. ¡°Many of this humble towns'' citizens have reported that you were the one to stop this small towns'' destruction single handed. We would like for you to accept this towns offerings to our hero. We gathered a little from everyone, and would like for you to have it.¡± He then pushed a mid sized pouch filled gold coins into my hand.
Quest Completed: How to Stop a Zombie Apocalypse
Mission: You wish to preserve this town and its inhabitants. Objective: Kill all Zombies or Kill Thun''malitum Bonus: Kill all Zombies and Thun''malitum (74/74)
Reward: Title, 5,665 Exp., 1 SP, 500 Gold, 20 Respect/ Admiration, Title
Title Earned
Title: Hero of Iglaku
Level Up! You Earned 1 Level!
You''ve gained: 3 Strength, 5 Mag. Str., 3 Defense, 5 Mag. Def., 3% Stealth, 3% Speed, 5% Accuracy, 10% Blood Thirst, 1 SP, 10 Health, 20 Mana, and 10 Stamina. Congratulations on reaching Level 8
A light throbbing started in the back of my head, and I felt a familiar thirst began to scratch away at my throat, though only enough to be uncomfortable. He smiled as I took the gold he presented to me and then walked away. At first glance, he just seemed like a friendly old man, but there was a certain air about him;. He smelled like leadership. So, I inquired about him, ¡°Who was he? He is surely more than just an old man.¡± Sola then nodded her head, ¡°Yes, he is the town''s Baron. Though he used to be an Archmage whom has lived a very long life even compared to an elf, though his powers and longevity has been stripped away from him through a curse made by Thun''quqyg. Since he was born here, he came back to his roots, and the citizens here made him Baron, with the hep of a noble of course.¡± ¡°What is his name?¡± ¡°His name is Baron Rolnaru. The Count of this area resides in the next town over, Glacetenko. A Baron works under a Count, a Count works under a Duke, and a Duke works under a King. Back in the glory days of the Empire, there were some Kings that worked under the Emperor, though they were vice-royalty.¡± ¡°A feudal system? I thought so, with the Kingdoms and what not. What is the Principality? A type of Kingdom or a Merchant Republic?¡± ¡°I thought everyone knew... They are a Theocracy, given that they are ruled by a man of the supposed cloth. So what now, Hero of Iglaku?¡± she teased. Chapter 6: Divinity ¡°Is that going to cling to me? Oh, well. I guess Divinity, when is registration?¡± She tilted her head as if the action itself would jog her memories, ¡°Oh, hmm, given that yesterday was the Day of Light and today is the Day of Magic... En, today is the last day for registration.¡± Wow, she likes to beat around the bush. ¡°You have got to be kidding me.¡± Sola just shook her head, ¡°Well, if I am to scale this mountain, it would be faster if I do this by myself. You, come here.¡± I demanded Sola come closer to me as I opened a portal to the the Homescreen. I walked into the familiar Gothic styled gate ending up in a clearing with my castle in full view and the forest behind. Sola looked around anxiously as I made way to a very busy Seraphine-sii. ¡°Good evening, Seraphine-sii. I see you are busy building a shelter it seems. I''m sorry I haven''t seen you in a week.¡± Seraphine-sii jumped a little out of surprise and ended up biting me. ¡°Oi, don''t bite me!¡± I ended up biting her back on impulse. Upon doing so, I was greeted with the familiar tarty flavor that accompanied her blood, as well as the sensation of relief as a dull throbbing I hadn''t noticed has been lifted.
-Having fed on a Lamia, Viper subspecies, You have gained Poison Resistance III-
Before I was any wiser, her tail had already coiled around my legs, causing me to topple over and bring her down with me. It was then I felt the presence of someone staring at us. Oh, I had forgotten about Sola. I looked over at her and saw the face of a scientist observing some interesting specimens. It sent a shiver down my spine. Sola then inserted, ¡°Don''t mind me, I would like to witness the inter species mating ritual between a vampire and Lamia.¡± We then quickly untangled ourselves, and Seraphine-sii then introduced herself, ¡°Ah, my name is Seraphine-sii, it is a pleasure to meet you.¡± Sola then gave a curt nod and slight smile as she responded, ¡°I see, my name is Nin-Solana, but you may call me Sola.¡± She then stepped forward to study Seraphine-sii, ¡°I couldn''t help but noticed that your name has a suffix, much like mine has a prefix. By any chance, does it have something to with marriage status?¡± Wait, is she speaking in the Elvish Tongue? ¡°How did you know? Perhaps you are an elf? The Immortal Elves are all gone, so a Common Elf?¡± Seraphine-sii raised an eyebrow. ¡°I am an elf, yes. I am an Allovian Elf though, a Dwarf if you will. Maybe there is a correlation between naming conventions. Nin- is used for single women, while Sin- is used for single men. Fin- is used for a married person, and Din- is used for widows and widowers. What about the Lamia people?¡± Sola pressed, visibly eager for more information. ¡°Hmm, well -sii is used for unmarried people, while -shi means married. We also have title suffixes such -ses, which is reserved for leaders like the village chief.¡± Seraphine-sii answered. I then spoke up when I saw a pause in the conversation, ¡°You are a Dwarf?¡± ¡°Officially, we are called Allovian Elves, but you may call us dwarf as we gained the nickname when our ancestors veered off from the rest of the Common Elves path, many were afflicted with dwarfism.¡± Sola said. ¡°I see, even though you are not affected with dwarfism, you are still a dwarf. Well as much as I would love to continue this conversation, time is short. I will be back soon.¡± I was about to go through the portal, but I was stopped by Sola. ¡°Hold up, you might be too late now, if this is where I think it is, then the time here moves incredibly fast compared to that of Aezorish. I believe, that spending a second here is like spending thirty two seconds on Aezorish. Since we spent around five minutes here, it is almost two and a half hours there! You won''t have time to climb the mountain.¡± I tried to will the settings to come popping up, but I just got a message instead.
System Notice
Due to obtaining a subject, Settings have been transferred to the throne room. Please use the throne to configure settings from now on.
Great. ¡°Follow me.¡± Quickly, found our way past the hazardous, creepy path that led to the massive entrance into a grand throne room, that was mostly empty. It was such a room that seemed to be expecting a massive audience. I then sat on the throne and noticed a screen that was familiar in the corner of my eye. I thought of time settings, and was quickly presented with related screens. Let''s see, time of day, no. Time of year, no. Season, no. Ah, here we are, time relatedness. Home = Aezorish. ¡°It appears that you have nothing to worry about. Time here is equal with Aezorish at present, now I must be going. Bye for now.¡± I then left the confused Sola and Seraphine-sii behind as set the Portal to a room that was adjacent to the throne room. I then proceeded through it and left my castle behind, and was faced with some astonished villagers. I chose to ignore them and set my sights at the lofty mountain that was my goal. I lowered my self into a running stance before bolting forward. With my current speed, I am almost twice as fast as a normal person. Of course I also had increased strength as well, so along with my fast strides, I took very long strides as well. I practically flew to the foot of the Mountain. I then cast several Ice Totems that were aim beneath my feet to launch me in the air toward the top. I would cast another, one after the other when I came close to hitting the ground. This probably took a few hours, but I made it almost to the peak before I felt that familiar mental drain that accompanied Mana depletion. So I then just sprinted the rest of the way. When I got to the peak, I looked over and into the caldera. There was a massive, pristine lake that only reflected the heavens above. There was also long pathway that stretched from the edge of the caldera, roughly where I was, to the center where a ruin appeared. It is hard to tell what the ruin had been at one point. I was in a daze by the beauty and mystery of this place but I then found a sign that was out of place. I then marched over to this sign. The sign read, ''Welcome to the Heart of the Stars and Celestial Lake! Up ahead is the ruins of the Marble Throne Palace of the Celestial Empire. It was destroyed about 1,200 years ago by a failed summoning of now lost cult. Under the lakes surface is the entrance to Divinity, an Academy of Mages. Divinity, Academy of Mages, is built in a pocket realm that is connected in a singular point on each of the continents. Should war break out on one of the continents, the single point of entry is closed off for that continent. This gate process requires an enormous amount of magic to stay active, which is why Celestial Lake''s water has no magic properties. Status of the Silent Kingdom''s point of entry: Open.'' Wow, a brief history lesson. Hmm, I think the history of this world is very extensive, but with little progress in technology from what I can see. Being as I was into heavy engineering projects, machines, and robotics, I find myself astounded by the little breakthroughs they have had. Even if they were in continuous conflict, war gives birth to marvelous inventions as well. Well, now that I think about it, they probably relied heavily on magic. There was probably a world wide consensus that magic was everything, and didn''t need to be improved, only the skill in acquiring it. Happy with my hypothesis, I thought about the entrance. It said that the entrance was beneath the surface. So I walked along the path and found myself half way to the ruin before I faced the edge of the walkway. I peered into the water that only showed me the sky. Seeing as the only way to progress is to stop observing but to move, I then jumped into Celestial Lake. A strange vertigo came over me as I had the feeling of falling and rising at the same time. Just as I was about to reach my limit it all stopped. I opened my eyes after I was sure that the uneasiness inside me had subsided. Before me was a massive Iron spiked gate that exuded power. They were left wide open to welcome me inside along a path that seemed to made basalt, to a cathedral of might and magical power. The very air was humming with radiance. I was taken aback by such splendor, I had to lean on my metal staff in case my knees gave from such awe. After I recovered from the sight, I remembered that I must enter the building and bring Sola out of the Homescreen. I then forced myself toward the grand entrance and walked through the threshold and was greeted by a mass of people buzzing by. I haven''t seen so many people since I was told my soul belongs to this world. Hmm, this is a place that will take awhile of getting used to. I then opened the Homescreen portal, and walked into the familiar Gothic gate. When I made my way to the throne room, I saw that Sola and Seraphine-sii had also just entered the room. Though their faces were ashen when I saw them, I still approached them. It took them awhile to notice me but that is fine. What caught me off guard was them staring at me. ¡°Is something on my face?¡± this was the only thing I could think to say to break the silence. It was after another moment of silence that one of them actually spoke. Seraphine-sii opened up, ¡°You weren''t kidding when you said you had an ''unspeakable wealth,'' that room had three mountains of gold, three!¡± Sola then piped up, ¡°There is, maybe, half of that amount in all of Aezorish, and half of that amount is even lost in random locations. How do you have so much gold?¡± ¡°Interesting, is there a fee for entry, administration o paperwork?¡± I decided to brush off the issue. Sola then shook her head, ¡°There are none, however do keep money on you, because food isn''t free in Divinity. Also, there is an aptitude test that everyone must partake.¡± ¡°I see, that is fine by me. Hey, Seraphine-sii, do you want to learn that this school? It will give you plenty of skills you can use to help people?¡± I offered. Seraphine-sii then glanced at Sola, whom nodded, then looked back at me with a timid smile, ¡°Yes, I would like to study magic. It might help me broaden my horizons.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Alright then, it is time we set out, we don''t want to miss registration!¡± I hurriedly made my way to the portal room and walked through the open portal to be greeted by another scene of onlookers waiting for us on the other side. This time however, they made a ring around us that made it impossible to pass through as they looked at my portal gate with studious gazes. Besides the low murmurs, the crowd remained still and silent. It remained this way until a withered voice called out, ¡°Is that Sola?¡± everyone allowed a old man whom had the body to match his voice. He had a wrinkled face that time was not kind to, and had donned a highly decorated, deep blue robe that was more intricate than the students around him. When they locked eyes, the old man bowed his head slightly and said, ¡°Welcome back, Nin-Solana. I see you have gathered guests, friendly I hope.¡± Sola then returned the slight bow, ¡°Good to see you as well, Professor Iceshield. I have brought new registrants, in particular, this one,¡± she motioned at me, I''m pretty sure you guys can''t wait to ask about the gate that appeared and disappeared just now, but do know that he had just scaled this mountain in under a day, with only his stamina and basic tier spells. He did it in a matter of a few hours, so he must be mentally and physically exhausted.¡± Among the murmurs that grew louder, there some scoffs and awes. Professor Iceshield looked me over, and made the same mumbles as Sola did when we first met. After a thorough investigation, he smiled satisfied, ¡°Well, one would assume that you are a sickly elf at first glance. After further examination, I find that not to be the case, I see a robust, physically healthy being, despite his pale appearance. You must be a being from the Plane of Creation, but I can''t place my tongue on what you are.¡± He started to grumble and mumble incoherently. ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°Oh, I am-¡± I was cut off by Sola. ¡°Just place him in the Elven halls. His appearance is that of an elf anyway, so it shouldn''t matter. It''s not like we have many from that realm attending.¡± Sola casually said, but from the undertones, she seemed eager. I wonder what her motives were. Professor Iceshield gave it some thought, ¡°What is your name young man?¡± To that I answered, ¡°Jack Frost.¡± ¡°From now on, you will reside in the Elven halls during your stay here, in Divinity, Academy of Mages. The Elven halls is located in the West wing. And you miss? What is your name?¡± Professor Iceshield asked. It sounded like his got a little whimsical at the end there. ¡°My name is Seraphine-sii.¡± Seraphine-sii bowed. ¡°Right, I apologize, but you will not be in the Elven halls like your acquaintance, Jack Frost, instead you will be residing in the Bestial hall, in the East wing.¡± Sola then jumped in, ¡°Even though, the beastmen have been eliminated from the Silent Continent, they are still the unquestioned rulers of the Wild Continent to the North. Divinity, by the way is actually a pocket realm of Aezorish. It has multiple entry points, one on each Continent. Though the entry point of the continent is closed if there are any wars on that continent. Right now, there is a war going on in the Hidden Continent, East of the Silent Continent. Most of the Elves withdrew from the academy before the entry point closed, to participate in the war, so you won''t see many elves here, right now. You wont see many beastmen either, because the Wild Continent is hardly at peace, those tribes are always butting heads, and even in peace, most of the brutes don''t like magic, many view as dishonorable, or lowly to learn magic. The Chaos Continent''s entry point is always open, because their aren''t any actual kingdoms or the sort over there to make any wars now a days, only Great Hunts, for lesser beings. Though I have heard of the having a King before though.¡± Beastmen aren''t around on my continent either? Wow, this is an interesting fantasy setting here. Even though I read most of this information on the sign by the lake, something was nagging me for her entire speech, ¡°This conversation was in Elvish, wasn''t it?¡± I asked he professor. ¡°...Yes.¡± He seemed confused as to why I was asking so obvious. ¡°Sorry, I can understand all languages, but I can''t tell which one is being used, only when I listen closely, do I know the difference.¡± I admitted. ¡°How peculiar...¡± Professor Iceshield, started to rub his stubble in fascination. ¡°Back off! This is my Research Subject! Where is yours? Go get your Silver Forest String Root. I''ll have you know, that my research subject is far more interesting than yours.¡± The old professor nodded, ¡°Alright, one last question,¡± he faced toward me, ¡°How many fingers, I holding?¡± The professor had both his hands firmly by his side. I am thinking that this a trick question. I wonder what he is trying to pull, his speech wasn''t very good either. ¡°I am sorry, I do not know what you are trying to do. Is this a trick question? My answer is none.¡± I say. ¡°Oh, this is extraordinary, I did have some doubts to your statement earlier, but now I am convinced. I am sorry, this was a test to see if you could understand Xernurochii. I have a minimal understanding of the language myself. You must talk to the Xernuroch students we host here.¡± The old professor stroked his stubbly chin even more from excitement. I guess he used to have a beard, until recently. Seraphine-sii looked a little worried and even furrowed her brow in doing so, to which Sola reassured her, ¡°No worries, they can''t hurt you here. Any aggressors in violence, outside designated areas, are transported to another pocket realm, where they are paralyzed and interrogated. It is immediate, and effective. If you have a particular disdain for them, like a lot of people, then you still don''t have to worry, there are only two of them on campus. And they keep to themselves mostly.¡± Seraphine-sii looked a little relieved and even breathed out a sigh. I then ask, ¡°Is there a test for registration?¡± The old professor then nodded his head, ¡°There is, however inhabitants of the Plane of Creation register free, even then, you have demonstrated a useful skill, so you''d get in anyway. If you were an inhabitant of the Mortal Plane, you have to pay and do an ability test, the more skillful you were, the less you would have to pay. Beside that matter, there is a class registration going on tomorrow morning, for now we need you to fill out paperwork, it will be due on the Day of the Mage. The prefects will show you to your dorms.¡± He bowed and dismissed himself. Day of the Mage, Day of the Mage, Day of the Mage... a holiday, perhaps? I didn''t notice it but the crowd that formed around us had disappeared and was only us; Seraphine-sii, myself, Sola, a girl whom reminded me strikingly like a monkey, and a man whom had dragon like details. Sola excused herself to catch up with the professor, leaving the four of us. The monkey like girl in Simple Orange robes led Seraphine-sii by the arm away from the other man and I. I then received a tap on my shoulder by the only person near me, so I turned to look at him. He had a gray, youthful, but solemn face, with black spikes for hair, even had some rigid looking eyebrows, he also had a pair of black reptile-like wings. He had weird red markings that reminded me of tribal tattoos, on all exposed skin. He was dressed in Jet Black robes that had intricate silver embroidery, that I swore were made to look creepy. ¡°Good evening, I noticed you spoke Xernurochii earlier, surely you know this much?¡± He raised a spike eyebrow, as if to test me. ¡°I apologize for not noticing you earlier, you must be the prefect? My name is Jack Frost,¡± I gave a short bow. I noticed my voice sounded a little guttural. Maybe next time, if I choose which tone to go for, I can decide which language I speak. I will have a small test with this hypothesis later. At this time, both his eyebrows had risen, ¡°I am impressed, you speak Xernurochii very fluently. However, I am more impressed with the fact that you are comfortable around me, most people at least flinch.¡±He leaned in close as if discern the answer from me. I think he over exaggerates with body language, because he can''t quite communicate with others with verbal perfection... maybe he can''t speak the common tongue? ¡°Why should I be uncomfortable? Is it because you are a Xernuroch? No, I would say that it is because you are one that, I can be more than comfortable around you.¡± I stretch nonchalantly. ¡°Oh, is that right?¡± He leaned back. ¡°Yes,the reason is because of the rules and punishments put in place. You won''t risk the reason you are here for, just to harm me.¡± ¡°Ha ha, I like your guts. Let us be friends. My name is Xerfic''mion Lun. Call me Fic. I make up half of the Xernurochs on campus. As you can tell from my robes, I am a Dark Mage.¡± He gestured toward his robes. ¡°You can tell what school of magic one is proficient in, and how proficient, by their robes. Fire mages have red robes, Water mages have blue robes, Earth mages in Orange, and Air mages in light violet. Those are the most common of mages. Next we have, Ice mages in light blue, Storm mages in dark blue, Swamp mages in green, Sand mages in yellow, Lava mages in dark red, Dark mages in black,and Light mages in gray. For the specialized mages, we have Curse mages in violet, Undead mages in dark green, Metal mages in dark gray, and Holy mages in White.¡± ¡°Undead mages...¡± ¡°An Undead mage is not a mage whom is afflicted with undeath, but practices Undead magics. A mage whom is afflicted with undeath is identified with the type of undead the mage has become, such as a skeletal mage¡± He clarified. He then motioned for me to walk with him. ¡°If the color of the robes tell you what the person in proficient in, then the embroidery tells you how proficient they are. The Beastman you saw earlier, she had a simple orange robe. That tells you she is a Basic Earth mage. Basic means she is in the entry level course at this academy. I don''t if you saw any, but a simple embroidery belongs to the Advanced level course, and the embroidery like mine, belongs to the Elite course. Professors have the highly decorated, gaudy looking robes. Of course these robes are only used inside this school as a way of determining skill, but mage communities and even nobility look to these robes as badges of honor. Or so I hear, where I come from, these have absolutely no meaning. Maybe if the information is provided, maybe they will become part of the trophies in the Great Hunts.¡± He seemed to be temporarily lost in thought. ¡°Right, so the registration for tomorrow will determine which course I will be in?¡± ¡°That is correct. The classes will be determined in battles. The first round of battles will decide if you need to be placed in remedial courses, or if you move on to the next round, should you be willing. The second round will decide if you stay in Basic course, or move on to the next round. The third battle will determine if you stay in the Advanced course or move on to the Elite course. If you make it in to the Elite course, there will be a battle sometime after all registrants turn in all their papers. This battle is for the honor of being the Archmage''s apprentice. A battle for this seat goes on every trimester.¡± ¡°Interesting, is this the dorms?¡± I ask as we stopped in front of a pair of massive wooden doors, that had a certain aura about them. ¡°Dorms? No, I took you to the library. I pegged you for the night owl type, so I brought you here,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Wait, actually, this is better.¡± I gave him a wave as I opened the large wooden doors. Chapter 7: So much knowledge, so little time. After I seeing Fic off, I turned toward the Library. It looked smaller from the outside, probably magic involved. As for the inside, there were books filling every shelf, and shelves as far as the eye could see. There were even stairs that lead to more book shelves. There were a few tables and chairs that marked reading areas in different locations it seems. It was probably a labyrinth of books here. Besides the mass amount of books the other things immediately noticeable was the smell of paper and dust filling nostrils, and the sounds of faint snoring and pages being slowly turned were the only noises in this otherwise silent room. I quickly found the culprit for the snoring at one of the tables I noticed earlier. As for the person reading, they remain to be seen. Looking at the signs that hung above the each of the aisles, I noticed most of them were dedicated toward a single subject. Along the main path I found several signs that gave directions for certain materials, such as the Lost Cultures section that Sola mentioned before. So the official title of this Library is the Library of Ages. Well there are books spanning from all the ages of this world here. Basic level tomes were on the first floor, with Advanced and Expert level on the second floor. Apparently there was Master level stuff in the restricted area, but I get the feeling it is available with special permission. Tomes, tomes, tomes... tomes are basically just books... wait that reminds me of the tome that I have stuck to my side. I decided that I wanted to see what this book has to offer. I walked back to one of the reading areas that I found earlier. I pulled open a chair and sat down while I undid the bindings of the grimoire. Once the black grimoire was free I opened it to its first page when a few pop-ups occurred
SK Notice -Tomes-
Opening a tome, will allow you to quickly chose which skills and spells to learn instantly.
The Tome of Deals and Contracts
Aerids, Dryads, Nymphs, Earth Bones, Shadow Puppets, Flamenids, Ice Nymphs, Lumunids, Ancestral Spirits, Cherubs, Hemonids, Cyclonids
Xernuroch, Xernuroch''cra, Xernuroch''un, Thun''xanxuhm, Thun''malitum, Kuqbus, Quktix, Fyrhana, Vuzmes, Yxda, Nindar, Wiqdum, Abelia, Niktuna, Ovthys, Arachnae, Araxi, Lamia, Minotaur, Kuqbusi Vampire, Yxdan Vampire, Treant, Dragons of Nindar, Dragons of Vuzmes, Dragons of Quktix, Hounds of Kuqbus, Serpents of Fyrhana, Stages of Abelia, Roks of Wiqdum, Hounds of Ovthys, Fairies of Niktuna, Mares of Yxda, Gryphon, Hippocampus, Pegasus, Giant, Shade, Manteon, Leviathan, Imp, Pixie, Manticore, Remnant, The Imprisoned
SK Notice -Summons-
First summon the being, then initiate a contract. Deities are limited to contact, no summoning.
Interesting, interesting. I decided to close the book and wonder toward other spells first. Since all I had to do was open the book and select the spell I wanted to learn, it would save me a lot of time. Browsing did take forever though, Since the books aren''t alphabetized by Author, but grouped together by subject, it made it a little difficult to adjust. It took awhile to find what I wanted, ''A Beginner''s Guide: Ice Spells''. It was on my way back to the table that I hesitated moving past the ''Theoretical Practices''. Hmm, well might as well test out if I will have any pop-ups with theory books like the skill books do. I walked down the new aisle and found girl that wasn''t dressed in the school robes, but in somewhat adventurer style garb. Beige vest and trousers, with a white blouse and red ascot, with pockets everywhere. Though her clothes were slightly ruffled from her sleeping position on the floor. I walked around her as to not disturb her sleep. As I was tip toeing around her, I noticed a dull gray book loosely in her grasp, the title read, ''Theory on Magic: Improving aptitude in other schools.'' Hmm, I think I could use that, I just need to coax it from her grip. I decided to go with the band-aid procedure and rip from her grasp as fast I could. I put a single hand on the spine of the book and started the countdown to myself in my head, ''3....2....1!'' I pulled as hard and fast as I could, but little did I expect for her let go the same time I pulled. Needless to say, I went overboard with the amount of muscle I put into it. I felt my balance shift to the point of no return and I collapsed on my back with my head hitting the bookcase behind me. Immediately, a dull pain throbbed from the back of my skull. But that was to be accompanied with a not-so dull pain exploding from my face as a loose book landed on me. Rubbing my face, and regaining my composure, I glanced back at the girl just a few feet away form me. She was still sound asleep but appeared to be inconvenienced by something, and shifted her position. Well, it looks like she still sleeps, I peered down at the book that assaulted me, it laid open, so I closed it to get a read on its title, ''Laws: The Governance of Magic.'' Well, I might as well take this one as well, but I had declared to myself silently that three was enough for now. I made way to the table once again, with three tomes in hand and one strapped to my side. I opened up ''A Beginner''s Guide: Ice Spells'' half way to see if the pop-ups would still trigger.
A Beginner''s Guide: Ice Spells
Ice Spike, Ice Blade, Ice Totem, Frosted Armor, Ice Spear
I already knew two of these, so I will only be learning three then? As I accepted the three new spells, I felt a rush of energy buzz around me and it flying straight through my forehead where it felt like brain was buzzing like before. This feeling isn''t so subtle, huh? Well I am getting used to it now.
SK Notice: Skill Upgrade
Ice Magical Arts III: Able to learn all Basic Ice Spells
I looked back at the book to see if there was any new pop-ups.
A Beginner''s Guide: Ice Spells
Ice Spike, Ice Blade, Ice Totem, Frosted Armor, Ice Spear, Icy Fog
Huh, would you look at that, there is another spell available to me. Accepting this new spell, I receive the familiar sugar rush like sensation before my thoughts return to the actual thickness of the book. It may just be my opinion but the book maybe just a little too thick for only seven spells, but it is probably in-depth teaching, warnings and application of each spell. Moving on, I grabbed the next book, ''Theory on Magic: Improving aptitude in other schools''. It was actually rather thin and the pages were a little ragged from usage. I wonder, if this a way if you can tell if a book is any good here, by how worn down the book is. I cracked open the book, but I wasn''t met with another pop-up disappointingly. So flipped to the first page to have a read. It is a rather thin book, and the night is still young, so I should be able to have time to read this book and maybe the other one as well. I should be able to finish these two and find more spells before morning. Looking down at the words on the first page I was struck with a sort of amazement, that I didn''t notice with signs around the library or the titles of the books in my hands. I was looking at completely unfamiliar characters that swirls and sharp angles that I had never seen before, but I understood it all perfectly. I guess I didn''t notice with the titles and signs because it was only a few word so, I quickly translated it without even actually looking at them. Now that I have a page full of text in front of me, it was clear now that was not a language found on Earth. I was fascinated by the calligraphy like style of the characters as well, but it was well written and easy to understand, so I almost finished reading the book as quickly as picked it up. I was left with new knowledge that could easily change how I manage my magic skills and spells. In short, the book mentioned that all sixteen magic schools could be categorized in a giant wheel with the wheel being split into a dark and light half. Dark, Undead, Curse, Swamp, Water, Air, Storm, and Ice were on the dark half, while Light, Holy, Fire, Lava, Earth, Wood, Sand and Metal on the light side. What was interesting about this magic school wheel, was that there was Primary and Secondary schools as well Specialized, and Technical Specialized schools. Learning the primary schools boosted your understanding and aptitude of the secondary, specialized, or even technical secondary schools. So by this logic Since Ice is a Specialization Water, if I learned some Water Magic it would make it easier to learn Ice Magical Arts, or even further my current skill as it stands. However the book also suggest that further mastery in a primary school would further increase the benefit to the secondary school, but no evidence of this being true was made clear during the publishing of the book. Well, at least the book was honest about its incomplete research. I followed the chart and saw that the Air, Earth, Fire, and Water were the primary schools. Ice was the Specialization school of Water alone, but Storm was the Secondary of Water and Air, as well as the Technical Secondary of Ice. Dark was the Technical Secondary of Air, but Curse and Undead were both Specializations of Dark. Wood is the Secondary of Water and Earth, and Swamp is the Secondary of Water and Wood. Sand and Metal were specializations of Earth, and Lava was the Secondary of Fire and Earth. Light is a Technical Secondary to Fire and Holy is a Specialization of Light.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. As I looked at these points and the connections, I noticed that it didn''t need to be a circle, but could be more Linear instead. I say this because, I noticed two points on this circular chart that were adjacent to each other didn''t have any connections with each other, as well, they were opposites as well; Dark Specializations, and Light Specializations. I look at the other points and started mapping out my own chart that still held the same relations as the circular chart. Mine resembled a pH scale, where the dark side of the circle was placed on the left and the light side of the circle placed on the right. It looked like either Water, Swamp, or Wood would be closest to the center. The Circular chart was easier to understand with the book however, so I slipped my quickly drawn version into the book as well for others to see. Maybe someone will read it some day. So, from this book, I guess it heavily benefits me to start practicing other schools of magic. I closed the book and stood up to stretch my body. After the satisfying popping of my joints, all was silent again, with the exception of some soft snoring. My gaze fell upon the window, the moon was no where in sight, I wonder if the moon was on the other side of the room. Does it also go from West to East, or from East to West. Maybe I will learn it in some arithmetic... No, I don''t suppose that will be happening as Lunar phases will probably be elementary knowledge, and seeing that this is probably this world''s equivalent to a college, I doubt they will be teaching me something so simple. My best bet is to ask someone, maybe Sola, or Fic. With my thoughts returning to the books, I sat back down, and picked up the last book, ''Laws: The Governance of Magic.'' This book was neither thick like the Skill book, nor thin like the Theory book. It was of average thickness, but the book itself was slightly weird shaped. Instead of being portrait like the other books, this book was oriented landscape. Opening this book I received no pop-ups like the Theory book, but this book had many ink drawing visuals. After some time went by, turning each page, admiring the interesting looking text, I finished it. I sat the book down and I began to process what I just read. It had a few rules on magic, like its title suggested, but they weren''t like laws that could be broken, these were laws on the reality of magic. I take out another piece of paper and quickly scratch out the following: ''Upon the depletion of ones mana, the user shall faint. The user shall not arise from mana depletion induced coma until the user has recovered a tenth of their total mana. An individual can only be reanimated a finite amount of times, each time becoming more difficult than the last. Each individual has a different number of times they can be reanimated, power and ability affects this, as well as strength of will. For reanimation, more than half of the corpse has to be provided for the ritual. Elemental magic partially acts like its physical counterparts, example: Ice Magic will only melt around Fire Magic or if the user wills it. Also magic can go out of control, fizzle out, or even fail all together if either an insufficient amount mana or skill is used for the incantation or ritual. Every three ranks makes one class, ranks 1-3 are beginner, 4-6 are advanced, 7-9 are expert, and rank ten are master class. Magical resistance in a certain schools of magic grant the user resistance to their physical counterparts, example, a Expert level Fire Resistance allows the user to walk through wild fires with ease. Reaching Master class in a skill, can only follow to routes, learning from a Master in that particular skill, or receiving help from the original Masters, spirits. Learning Primary attributes boosts ones skill acquisition of the Secondary school.'' There was a citation to the ''Theory on Magic: Improving aptitude in other schools'' among a few others. Looking down on the paper I just wrote, I folded it in my hands stuck it into the spatial bag. I looked toward the mass amount of books with new knowledge to seek. I got up and started hunting for the books I would need, I need a Skill book on Water, Air, and Storm, and need to find an encyclopedia on creatures, plants, and famous people. I''ll also need a history book, simple common knowledge of man, a Theory book on contracts and spirits. So many books, so little time. I follow the rule I gave myself and only chose three books before returning to my seat. The books I chose were; ''A Beginner''s Guide: Water Spells,'' ''A Beginner''s Guide: Air Spells,'' and '' A Beginner''s Guide: Storm Spells.'' Opening each one, made several pop-ups occur.
Skill Gained
Water Magic Mastery I: Able to start learning Water Magic Water Magical Arts I: Able to learn the most basic Water Spells Air Magic Mastery I: Able to start learning Air Magic Air Magical Arts I: Able to learn the most basic Air Spells Storm Magic Mastery IV: Knowledge absorption in Storm Magic is increased Storm Magical Arts IV: Able to learn some Advanced Storm Spells Ice Magic Mastery VI: Ice Spells are more Mana efficient Ice Magical Arts IV: Able to learn some Advanced Ice Spells
Beginner''s Guide: Water Spells
Flood, Water Booster, Short Stream
Beginner''s Guide: Air Spells
Speed Runner, Razor Wind, Gentle Breeze
Beginner''s Guide: Storm Spells
Thunder Clap, Rain, Power Surge, Hail, Snow, Sleet, Lightning Flash
Dismissing all of the pop-ups, I realized that the attribute boost was a little more powerful than I initially thought. My Ice Magic was boosted by a whole level despite it being decently high, and not only that but my Storm Magic that I just learned is now almost at the same level as my Ice Magic because it got boosted three times as much. This is clearly a really good discovery, but I think this might be to good to be true. Dismissing the negative thoughts I return to the black grimoire, ''The Tome of Deals and Contracts'' strapped to my side. I look through the pages carefully and I notice that by each summonable creature, there is a magic circle and a procedure for a ritual written by them. I focus on the words, as I could understand them all the same, but they appeared different. Unlike the loops and angles of the books in the Library, this book''s words were very linear and thick, as if written with a stick. The words looked very primitive, and yet reminded me somewhat of the phonetic alphabets back on Earth. This must be Xernurochii The same pop-up appeared from when I first opened the book, but I ignore it and I thumbed to what appears to be the table of contents.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Residents of the Plane of Chaos
Chapter 2: Divine and Demon God Deals
Chapter 3: Divine and Demon Beast Summons
Chapter 4: Residents of the Plane of Creation
Chapter 5: Spirit Summons
Chapter 6: Soul Summons
Hmm, well I am not going to commune with a god anytime soon, I do not want that kind of attention yet. Nor do I feel like affiliating myself with the Plane of Chaos yet. The book, ''Laws: The Governance of Magic'' did say something about Mastering a skill with the help of Spirits, so let us try to make a contract with one first. I will find a book about them later. I opened the book half way down it''s spine and flipped a few pages and I read down the page to find out I was in Chapter 4: Residents of the Plane of Creation. I place my index finger beneath a few more pages and pulled them back to reveal a Magic Formation. I flipped a few pages back and I saw that I was in the right place. ''Chapter 5: Spirit Summons. Spirits. I, Xertur''cra Toh, have no use for these spirits, as I have attained Cra status, which is a high honor of Xernurochs everywhere. I am powerful, and I do not need these pesky spirits as those of less power than I, do. They are not very cooperative unless you force them into a slave contract. I would like to not include these annoyances in my grimoire, but I feel it will make it complete. Spirits are everywhere, especially when there is mana involved. Though Aezorish has less mana being produced in its lay lines than it produced an eon ago, these mana suckers are not hindered as their numbers have hardly dropped. They are visible to most, as they hardly like to be seen. They are rather simple creatures as well, with your intention forced and a little mana provided, even spirits you can''t see will move the way you want. For less powerful beings than I, Xertur''cra Toh, spirits heavily influence a spells effectiveness. Different spirits affect different schools of magic, such as a Nymph will affect Water spells, and a Flamenid will affect Fire spells. More of their numbers increases the effectiveness of a spell, none of them weakens the effectiveness of the spell. Of course, I, Xertur''cra Toh, do not need them, so I influence them to remain away from me and my spells. To summon one, simply copy the Summoning Circle on the next page onto a flat surface. I advise you, once again, not to use the one in the grimoire, as it will destroy this grimoire. The circle needs to be at a minimum, the size of your palm, as the spirits are not very big, and do not require a lot of Mana. Though to actually summon one is a waste of time. You won''t be able to see them until you have acquired a Spirit Manipulation Skill, which takes a bit time to acquire. But despite my disregard for the vile creatures, I digress. Like the other Ritual Circles, simply put your mana into the formation and the nearest Spirit, which maybe next to you, will be drawn to the circle with a temporary contract. Use this time to instill your slave contract, as useless as Spirits are, they may have a use for you.'' The next page had a Magic Circle drawn onto it. It was very detailed and it had some word written around than interior, connecting each one with a line. Though looking closely at these were written in another language, and if I had to guess, they were written in the Language of Magic, Aetherzii, or Old Elvish. Each Word was rather short but from what I could tell, they had short thick lines like Xernurochii, and thin, wispy swirls, almost like the Aezordii, or the Common Language. Maybe all the languages are connected some how... Looking at each word I saw the words: Invisible Person, Slave, Summon, Mana Currency, Any Element. I wonder if I can alter the words in a Magic Circle, like I can with an incantation. I copy the Magic Circle Pattern without the words onto a spare sheet of paper I had. Looking at ''Invisible Person'', I can assume this is the word for Spirits, I write that down in the circle. Instead of ''Slave'' I write ''Friend'', I also copy ''Summon'' and ''Mana Currency'' and instead of ''Any Element'', I write down, ''Ice.'' There, all done. I set the paper down in the middle of the table and I place my hands onto the edges of the circle and I close my eyes. I will my Mana to my fingertips and then just a bit further into the Magic Circle. I open my eyes and I witness the Magic Circle shining with a faint light blue color. The air above it was shimmering slightly, it seemed like a really blurry photo becoming more focused, becoming more clear gradually overtime. It took a few seconds, but eventually I could see a tiny, blue girl, the size of my hand. She had white hair that seemed to be made of frost and a light blue gown that had ice coating on the edges. She had large black eyes for her otherwise tiny face, that held a very confused look.
Skill Gained
Spirit Manipulation I: Able to see and slightly influence Spirit Movements through your will.
¡°May I help you?¡± Chapter 8: Class Placements. The voice sound like chimes, almost like the whimsical sounds of Aethersii, or the Elvish Language. It was speaking in the Language of Magic, or Aetherzii, Old Elvish. Before I could respond, new pop-ups sprang to my attention.
SK Notice, Knowledge
Your studious pursuits have gained the very brief attention of Abelia, goddess of the Moon and Knowledge. She has given you a small stat boost, to encourage you and your pursuits. You''ve gained: 50 Mana, 25 Health, 25 Stamina, 7% Speed, 5 Magic Str., 5 Magic Def., 3 SP
Skill Upgrade
Ice Resistance IV: Able to stand colder temperatures
SK Notice, Gods
It is possible to gain attention, gifts, and even blessings from Divine and Demon Gods by performing actions that please them. It is also possible to obtain curses, by directly insulting or angering them. Some gods are easier to please or insult than others.
Good thing the attention was brief, I do not want to deal with any responsibilities until I get a better understanding of the world I live in. Best to understand my situation before I get involved with anything. I say that, but I guess I did jump at the chance to join a magic college. A sizzling sound brought my attention to the Magic Circle. I saw that the circle was starting to dissolve around the edges, I guess this is the timer for the temporary contract. I look into the eyes of the little girl once again. ¡°Yes, I am looking to Master a skill I have almost perfected, Mana Manipulation. I am having trouble with Mastering it as I need a teacher. Could you help me? But first lets make a contract, to lengthen our conversation.¡±
-Summons Contract-
The moment the Summoned party is summoned, the Summoner and Summoned form a temporary contract that uses this time to establish a more permanent, binding contract. Once the price is accept by the Summoned from the Summoner, both parties are bound to the contract. Should the Summoned be required to exert energy to complete an order by the Summoner, the Summoner will have to supply sufficient compensation. Should the Summoner not be able to provide proper compensation, this Summons Contract becomes null and void. Either party can terminate this contract.
¡°My price is Mana, I require a constant flow of mana, you know.¡± She said softly. ¡°It shall be done, with this our contract is sealed.¡± I pushed my mana out of my body and directed it to her, to which she appeared stunned. ¡°This must be your first summons. You do not need to manually send your mana to me, I can siphon your mana by being near you, you know.¡± She said as a matter of fact. ¡°I see. Take this as a gift then, as a token of our friendship.¡± I extended my hand out, to which she cautiously grabbed my index finger with both hands, I then direct my mana into her and into which she gave another surprised look before her face relaxed into a smile. ¡°Thank you. Not many see us now, even fewer can speak to us. I believe you are the first in a very long time.¡± She gave a lonely smile before she gazed at nothing as she was remembering something, ¡°There used to be a lovely village that specialized in Spirit Manipulation long ago, they were very friendly to us. I believed they called themselves people of Sas''yun. They have been long wiped out. None remain, I believe, you know. You remind me of a little boy of that village. Enough about them, you had a problem? How can I help?¡± She snapped herself out of her nostalgia. ¡°As I said before, I need help mastering a skill, Mana Manipulation. Is there a way you can teach me how to master it?¡± I ask again. She seem to be thinking for a while before giving me an answer, ¡°It does appear you are ready to Master it as you have Expert level degree of moving your mana around you, but it is not something that I, a mere Ice Nymph, can grant you, you know. You will need to see a being more ancient than I. Since there are no Immortal Elves left, you will have to find the next best thing, an Ancient Dragon. Though there aren''t too many left, I may be able to help find one, when this contract is released. Though you have to promise not to hurt them, as we Spirits will not tolerate anyone hurting an Ancient. We will curse you, you know.¡± She made a puffy face that made me laugh for a bit, because of how cute it made her. I quickly recovered my composure with clearing my throat, ¡°I promise, I, Jack Frost, will not harm an Ancient Dragon, unless they try to harm me without reason.¡± Her face relaxed a bit before she spoke, ¡°Careful with promises, they can be powerful, sometimes more powerful than a curse, you know.¡± ¡°This much is fine, but I will take your warning to heart. You should tell me your name, now that you know mine.¡± She remained silent. I was about to tell her that she didn''t have to tell me, but then she quietly whispered, ¡°Aya, my name is Aya. You can summon me with my name. I trust you, because you remind me of that little boy, you know.¡± ¡°Thank you, I will make sure you do not feel that you have misplaced you trust. By the way, can you tell me more about Ancient Dragons?¡± She nodded her small head, before she began, ¡°Long ago, the Ancient Dragons were many, but that changed after eight out of the nineteen deities gave up their power and became the first of the Immortal Elves. They lost their deity status with the loss of their power when they created the Mortal Plane and Aezorish around 75,000 years ago, you know. The Immortal Elves were all but completely infertile. They had long lives, but almost no children. They tried to remedy this to advance their civilization, they hunted down the Ancient Dragons, so that their numbers could be on par with the new Humans, who had less power, short lives but very fertile. Humans, caught wind of what the Immortal Elves were doing and soon joined the hunt. The hunts were almost never successful, but Ancient Dragons never bore children, so their numbers can only shrink, you know. Eventually the Elves made a deal with Vuzmes, Demon God of Illusions and Wishes, creating the Common Elves. Though it wasn''t until later that the remaining eleven gods were defined with Divine and Demon Gods. All forget about hunting the Ancient Dragons until about 40,000 years ago when the four of the five Demon gods sacrifice the other Demon god to make the Cursed Continent, where they make a home for their own creations, the Xernurochs. These new beings, go on hunts, for every kind of being, including Ancient Dragons. Over the eons since, new beings are made, gone extinct, but the Ancients remain, though very few, you know.¡± ¡°Thank you for this knowledge. Perhaps we may be able to find one. I promise not to hurt it, I only seek knowledge. I dismiss you now, as I still have work to do, and I hope you give me good news as soon as possible.¡± I extend my hand again toward Aya, to which she graciously accepts as I send her more mana.
SK Notice, Contract
Contract has been terminated.
She then gave me curt nod before flying off, out through the window. I lost track of her, as her tiny figure got smaller in the ever brightening sky. Oh, is it dawn? The sun looks as though it is about to break through the horizon. That must mean, I am facing West. I look at the books at the table and then back at the maze of bookshelves, this might take awhile. Just as I thought this, I noticed faint shimmers in the air around me, and all around the library. The more I focused, the clearer each image got. It got easier each time I did it as well. Their were different colored girls, in different attire. Though most were light violet or a soft brown. Though I did see one appear to be on fire that hung around the boy that was snoring softly at one of the tables. His robes were red with neither embroidery nor intricate designs. Hmm, he must be a Basic Fire Mage. My thoughts return to the Spirits that I could see if I focused hard enough. I decided to try an experiment with sending my mana out and willing a few of the Spirits I could see to move in away from the bookshelves. At first nothing happened, but as I but more effort into wanting them to move away, they slowly began to drift away from the bookshelves. I began practicing this for awhile, until I got a pop-up.
Skill Upgrade
Spirit Manipulation II: Able to see spirits more clearly, easier to assert you will onto the Spirits.
I spent some time putting up books, and trying to move spirits about. It was then that the snoring from the boy at the table got louder then abruptly stopped as he jerked up, he then glared at me. Did I do something to offend him? Can he sense my mana? Just as I thought this, he bark, ¡°Hey you, time!¡± In a slightly annoying voice. I was perplexed at what he was demanding, ¡°Pardon?¡± It took me a moment to understand that he was demanding that I tell him the time, ¡°Oh, I do not have a watch, I do not know.¡± He then stood up and staggered toward the window in an obviously groggy state, as reached the window, he stared at the now blinding, golden ray of the morning sun. He stood there, and from what I could tell, it looked like he was counting, before he shook himself of his stupor and dashed toward the library exit while yelling, ¡°We are late!¡± Whoa, I need a better grasp on time, I hardly noticed the last few hours flying by. I hurriedly ran after the boy and easily caught up to him. I would have overtaken him, but I did not know where we were headed so I let him lead, as we flew down the corridors. When reached a set of Iron Doors leading outside, we could hear loud cheering coming from far away, at this point, the boy in red knew I was following him and yelled back to me, ¡°They are already starting, we need to hurry!¡± as he opened both the Iron doors to allow himself through. Running after him, I noticed that down the stone path we were on, was a giant coliseum, that reminded me of the Flavian Amphitheater. As we got closer a new pop-up occurred.
SK Notice, Life-aidThis narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
You are entering a Life-Aid Area. You will not die in this area with exception of illness, or injuries that you have received outside of the area. All would be fatal injuries will make you lose consciousness instead.
As we entered the stadium, we heard the last of the announcements, ¡°We are now holding mock death battles for new enrollments. These battles will determine, which curriculum who will be studying in. Basic, Advanced, Elite or Remedial. Later this week, we will have a contest for the seat of Archmage''s Apprentice! All Basic Battles be done today and tomorrow, Advanced and Elite Battles will be done on the Day of the Mage. Should you win a round, you can go onto the next one today should you feel up to the challenge, or you can wait another day, no need to feel ashamed for waiting. Alright good luck to you all.¡± Seemed like a rather charismatic voice for the announcer as it should be. ¡°Ah, there you are! I was worried you would miss it. Sleeping in were you? You look well rested.¡± I heard the voice of Sola behind me. I turned to find those chocolate brown eyes studying me again, ¡°Actually, I stayed awake all night, I was reading up on magic.¡± I corrected. ¡°Wow, you don''t even look tired at all.¡± She raised her small eyebrows in surprise. She then directed my attention to the field, where two figures could be seen approaching each other. ¡°I guessing you know about how the fighting gets paired up, yes?¡± ¡°Admittedly, I do not. I got a general idea about the results, but that is all.¡± I shrugged. She looks down for a moment before explaining, ¡°For the first fight, you face off against a Basic Mage, that of which you are elementally superior. If you lose the battle, you get placed in remedial studies for a trimester. If you win, you can join the Basic Course, or move on to try your luck with the second round, against an Advanced Mage of elemental equivalence, usually the same element. Should you lose, you will be placed in the Basic Course, a win is a spot in the Advanced Course. Should you choose to go a third round, you will face off against an Elite Mage, of which they elementally superior. A win means you join the ranks of the Elite, a lose is to stay with the advanced. Later this week, there will be a contest for the seat of Archmage''s Apprentice, of which the current holder gets to decide the contest. I hope you are ready.¡± ¡°No worries, I am more than ready, I redirect my attention to the field where the fighting just started. It was a fight between a girl in adventurer garb, and a man in a plain blue robe. As I recall, his blue robe meant he was a Water mage, and that girl... there is no doubt about it, she is the one from the Library. If she held the advantage, it probably meant she was a Wood Mage. The girl summoned a tree, and as it grew beneath her feet, she hid in the leaves. The Water Mage tried calling forth water, only for the ground to soak it up before more than a puddle could form. After a minute or two of this useless effort, the ground beneath the Water mage opened up and roots tangled around the mage''s feet. Soon he was completely ensnared in the trap, becoming immobilized. Leaping from a branch of her tree, she landed gracefully on the ground with her french braid bouncing about. She struck a peace sign pose as she was declared the victor. This girl. This girl is probably another player. The Announcer said her name was Ashley Smith, this furthered my suspicion. She then left the field and two more were called to the ring, then another two after them, then another two after them. It was a total of eight rounds before I was called with a guy named Sahida Nadareum. As I entered the Arena, I saw a thin, starved looking kid in a Yellow Robe. Wait this can''t be right, I am supposed to be up against an Earth Mage, isn''t yellow for a Sand Mage? With a sleepy voice, he looked at me and said, ¡°You are probably wondering ''why a Sand Mage and not an Earth Mage,'' right? Well I am equally versed in Earth and Sand Magic, not that you should care. Normally, I would throw the match, but my superiors have ordered me to not do that do that.¡± He sounded really unmotivated. ¡°I will not go down easily, and if it weren''t for this special area, I''d would say you might die as well. Are you prepared?¡± Wow, it sounded like he was willing to lie down and sleep at a moments notice, was he okay? ¡°Yeah, I''m ready. Come at me when you feel like it.¡± I coaxed. ¡°Arrogance will get you no where.¡± He removed a glass jar that appeared to be filled with sand from his cloak and dropped it. When it hit the ground, the jar shattered, scattering sand everywhere. The sand then multiplied in quantity and had become a large pile near his feet, of which half flew to his body and circled around him to act as a shield, I suppose. The other half went into the ground. It seems he is showing off his skill with the chant-less incantations. Unlike before, I could see the spirits now with a little effort. I could see more and more beige and brown spirits, that I am guessing are Earth Bones, gathering around the ground at his feet. With an educated guess, I call out his strategy, ¡°Sending sand underground to create more sand?¡± He showed a hint of surprise on his face, ¡°You figured it out? Hmm, then you must know that I am going to turn this Arena into a desert shortly.¡± ¡°Ah I see, that is fine by me.¡± I say nonchalantly as I walk about twenty paces farther away, I then send my mana out to the Earth Bones and direct them away from the Sand Mage. I then raise my right hand and make a hand gun pointed at him and create a small, super condensed Ice Bullet spinning at the tip of finger, accelerating at Supersonic speeds. The Sand Mage looks up at me pointing at him and smirks, ¡°Times up, behold my power.¡± He flicks his hands up and a wall of sand that separates him and I, erupts from the ground. ¡°Tidal Sand Wave!¡± The mountain of sand then rushes toward me. I do not hesitate to pull the trigger of my imaginary gun and witness the Ice Bullet fly toward the ever approaching mountain. The Ice Bullet, easily passed through it, without much resistance, and continued past my sight. It was when the sand collapsed all at once that I saw the fruit of my endeavor. Upon impact, the Ice Bullet caused his head to temporarily cave in, before his head sprang back out into its previous shape. His body then collapsed, as if someone had pulled the cord on his consciousness. ¡°Battle Victor, Jack Frost!¡± The announcer scrambled to say. As I exited the field, I noticed a rather familiar snake like woman entering. The next battle didn''t last very long, as the Basic Mage was blinded and then hit over the head with a rock found in the Arena, compliments of Seraphine-sii. A few hours had gone by with most fights being quick, and some fights lasting for about twenty minutes. The announcer made another announcement, ¡°Basic Battles for Arena E are finished for today. The results are 42 new enrollments won, and eight are sent to Remedial Course. Of the winners today, those ready to an Advanced Battle today enter the field, those who would like to do an Advanced Battle tomorrow, stay seated.¡± I re-entered the field with nine others. We all stood in a line as we gave our names to a small woman in greatly intricate Purple robes, she then told us to wait in a waiting area. I assumed she is giving our names to the announcer. I found Seraphine-sii right beside me, it looked as though she was about to start a conversation, but she was cut off by the announcer, ¡°Alright, we have ten contestants ready to test their limits with going straight into another battle today. We will see more advanced battles tomorrow, but as of now, can I get Seraphine-sii and Gehzi to the field. Gehzi wore a Deep Violet robe, that seemed to constrict his muscles. He was a mountain of a man with dark skin and a mean look in his eyes. His violet robe with a simple embroidery marks him as an Advanced Curse Mage. When the fight began, she tried to close the distance as quick as she could, but he was just a little faster than her. She needed to get close, as her venom was mid-range, and her fighting required her to be in close quarters. It seemed, however that Gehzi knew all too well her strategy and kept afar, while also throwing needles. Seraphine-sii knocked most of them from the air with her tail, but a few of the needles found themselves embedded within her scales. Slowly her movements got slower as her face started to contort in pain. I believe the needles are covered in a mild neurotoxin. Eventually, Seraphine-sii was unable to move at all, and was even in tears as she silently cried in agony. She quickly forfeited the match, leaving Gehzi as the victor. The next two battles were fairly quick, one of them had the Wood Mage from earlier, eh, Ashley Smith. She barely won, as she was almost caught in the Advanced Wood Mages trap, but she pulled through by knocking him out with a flower that spewed noxious fumes. I was called next with some guy called Nikitaro. He was really pale, not as much as me, but you could tell he probably didn''t see much of the sun. He was also built rather well, well defined muscles and tall stature, he was probably popular with the ladies. He donned a light blue robed with some intricate designs on the hems, marking as an Advanced Ice Mage. When the fight begun, I noticed the ice Nymphs gather around his hand, to be honest, it kind of distracted me. I almost got hit with his Ice Totem, I just managed to dodge it by a hair width. While I regained my posture, I noticed that he had already cast Frozen Armor on himself. I cast the inferior version of it, Armor of Frost, on myself. This guy is a fast caster, huh? His Frozen Armor made him look like a medieval knight, while my Armor of Frost just look like an extra thick shirt. We cast Ice Totem at the same time, he fired one at me, while I summoned one beneath my feet. I then stood on a thin pole of Ice, towering twice his height. It was then that I asserted my will toward the Ice Nymphs that had gathered around him, and had them drift my way. He aimed an Ice Spike at me and hurled it my way. I braced for impact but I felt no force at all. At impact the Ice Spike simply shattered into dust. He threw one after another, it wasn''t until his fifth one that he actually voiced the Aria, hoping to give it more strength, ¡°Chunk of Ice, hurl, Ice Spike.¡± He put a lot more effort into this one in particular. When he launched it at me, I waited again, except this time at impact, I turned to Mist. The bug-eyed look on his face was priceless. I slowly drifted toward him and he just stood there stunned, looking back at the totem where, I once stood. I re-materialized behind him and formed an Ice Bullet at my finger tip and pulled the trigger. His head caved in, seemingly wanting to burst, before was molded back to its proper shape by the Life-Aid Area effect. ¡°Ah, um... Battle Victor, Jack Frost.¡± Mr. Announcer, are you okay? He sounded a little shocked as well. The six battles after me resulted in two wins and a four losses for the newly enrolled. The announcer came back with his speech, ¡°There are now four new Advanced Mages and six new Basic Mages. Out of the four winners, can anyone have another match today?¡± I raise my hand slowly, and looking around I notice I am the only one to do so, as the others are looking a little worse for wear. ¡°Well, it looks like we will have one last match for today ladies and gentleman. Can we have our new surprise student, Jack Frost, and our very own Princess of the Solaeum Kingdom, Litavia Solaeum, to the field please? Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a fight of Fire and Ice. Will Jack Frost, an inhabitant of the Plane of Creation, new to this world come out victorious against a future world leader and join their ranks of the Elite, find out here, at the Arena.¡± Mr. Announcer seemed to love his voice. As the announcer finishes, I notice a girl with blonde hair in drills, with sparkling blue eyes approaching me with a haughty look in her eyes. The grace she walked with, and the posture she stood with just screamed royalty, I did not need the announcer to know this. When our eyes met, she puffed at her chest, ¡°I see you one- shot the rookies, good on you. However, don''t think you can get close to this princess, if you play with fire, you might get burned.¡± Oi, is this a comedy? Did she think she was doing something cool with her lines? She probably rehearsed it. I am just going to pretend she didn''t say it, yep. I took this time to look at her robes which had very intricate gold pattern on a scarlet background. It was very pleasing to look at, and it did look like the very robe itself was on fire. Once the round started, she cast Fire Wall in front of herself. The heat was so intense, I could feel myself sweating some distance away. I tried dispersing the Flamenid Spirits that were flocking toward the huge flame, but to no avail. From behind the Fire Wall, she sent out several, slow moving Fireballs my way. I quickly moved out of the way, but what almost got me caught was the fact when the Fireball touched the ground they exploded. I quickly formed an Ice Bullet and sent it her way. Although, the flames kept her obscure from me, I know I hit her when the Ice Bullet passed through the Fire, because the of the intense scream. I probably hit her arm or leg. Suddenly the flames lashed out toward me. I activated Speed Runner, narrowly escaping the flames that would have made me extra crispy. Running like a gale of wind, I shot another Ice Bullet toward her direction, more screaming. Just then she released her Flame wall, and gritted her teeth as she ran while shouting, ¡°Flame Jettison!¡± Flames spewed from behind her and she accumulated more speed. She had a hole in her left Bicep and in her right forearm, I am amazed that she isn''t still screaming. ¡°Don''t look down on The Solaeum Kingdom!¡± She shouted with her voice turning ragged. She had a superior speed spell, however my natural speed made up the difference, so I still won out in terms of speed, though I do have to keep an eye on my stamina. I fired another Ice Bullet, but because I wasn''t used to the speed, I tripped and hit her in the leg. We both tumbled and fell at high velocities, I surprised we didn''t break our necks as we got tangled up on the ground. By the time we got out bearings, we realized she was on top of me, at which she she tried to roast with Flame Armor. I managed to escape with Mist Form, but that was a little too close for comfort, I quickly canceled my Mist Form and pointed my finger at her and said, ¡°I believe it is time to chill out.¡± and pulled the trigger. As the bullet passed through her head, her entire body dissipated in flames. That is when I heard a clearing of ones throat, ¡°I don''t think so, things are just heating up. I would have been finished had that been me. Although two of you projectiles hit home,¡± she pointed toward arms, ¡°I am not done yet!¡± There three more versions of herself, standing in front of me. I straightened my back, and I winced in pain, from the tumble earlier but I push through. I send out my mana to attract Nymphs and Ice Nymphs to come to me, as I flood the field with water using Flood. I then use Water Booster to give me a small enhancement to all of my stats, while activating Speed Runner again to reach even higher speeds. Running faster and faster, I cast Gentle Breeze to give me another stat increase, to run even faster. I run in circles around the field, easily avoiding the occasional Fire Whip, and Fireball. I throw mana creating small blizzards and snow storms. The lowering temperature causes the flooded field to freeze over, lowering the temperature of the surrounding area even more. The colder it gets, the harder it is for Litavia to cast her Fire Magic as her spells are starting to fizzle out now. She even trips on the ice and falls on her back, to which she slowly gets back up, while shivering violently. As more snow and blizzards interact with her futile attempt at retaliation, a cold fog is then created. I throw more mana, almost depleting my mana reserves entirely to lowering the temperature of the entire Arena to well below freezing. Soon the entire Arena was covered in a snow storm, with only a blinking fire in the center as the only sign of warmth anywhere. I used Mist Form and surrounded myself in Icy Fog to blend in with fog that already blanketed the field. As I approach her, I noticed she is completely unaware of me coming near her, and that she was adamant about keeping a small bonfire she made lit instead of focusing on the fight. Are you that cold? Hmm, let''s tease her a little. In my Mist Form, I pass over the bonfire and it snuffed out, her eyes started shedding tears immediately, it caused my to laugh a little, to which she jumped and threw fire at my direction. ¡°Where are you?!¡± She cried heavier. ¡°Right here,¡± I whispered in her ear. More flames, more crying. ¡°Do you give up?¡± more flames. She stood there with a fierce look in her eyes, but the fierceness lost intensity, when one noticed the whimpering, shattering teeth she had. I threw out a little more mana to drop the temperature in our immediate area even lower. ¡°How m-m-much m-m-mana do-do you-ou have?!¡± ¡°Well, throwing my mana out makes it colder and colder, it gets easier the colder it gets, because the colder it gets the more powerful I become, so I am to send out more mana, making it even colder. You could have done the same with you fire, but it is a little late to start now. Anyway, it is time for you to cool down.¡± I teased. ¡°Muuu, ugh.¡± She mumbled as she pulled the edged of her robe closer to her body. She then crouched down to keep her midsection warm. To which I glided over her and watched as her body started to form ice on the surface as she froze solid. I let the fog and the clouds subside so that way the spectators could see that I had won. I re-materialized myself, and almost fell from the light-headed feeling of using ones mana almost all the way up. It was then, I heard the announcer, ¡°I can''t believe it, I can''t believe it, Jack Frost is the Battle Victor! The lake that Jack made has frozen over, it looks like a winter wonderland. Congratulations Jack Frost, you are an Elite Mage! You also have a chance at earning the spot of Archmage''s Apprentice!¡± Mr. Announcer is spokesperson through and through, huh? Well, I might not participate in that event anyway. I think I have shown off enough. Chapter 9: Registration Complete After the spokesperson made his announcement, a new notice pop-up appeared.
SK Notice, Battle Complete
5,850 Experience gained (Tournament calculations), 1 SP
Tournament Calculations? Leaving that thought for later, I turned to exit the field only to be greeted by Professor Iceshield. In his hands were plain light blue robes, like that of a Beginner Ice Mage. I look back up at his withered face, his face showed that he knew what he was doing and this was no trick. As I picked up the light blue robes, I instantly felt my mana leave me and flow into the robe. I was soon in a slight panic as most of my mana was gone in an instant, before it abruptly halted. I felt a popping sensation in my head. ¡°Haha, truly outstanding. Most pass out when touching the rune on these robes for the first time.¡± he then pointed to another contestant, receiving a pair of brown robes. Upon receiving them, it seemed all the energy was sucked from him being as his body went limp and crashed to the ground. It was second later that the robes simmered for a bit before returning to the solid brown robe. I looked back at my own robe and discovered that heavy spike patterns appeared on my robes with thick embroidery around each spike. He spoke again as he handed me the robes, ¡°These robes will serve as your identification on Campus, so where them at all times. If you take them off outside of designated areas, you will be sent to the pocket dimension immediately. This is just a security measure, though you wont have to worry about it this week, because of registration. The battles for the next few days, you do not have to attend. However, there is an entertainment bout at the end, where previous winners and current students can participate in. It will be after dinner. I am sure the crowd will be interested to see in battle again.¡± He seemed hopeful that I would join. To which I replied, ¡°We will see.¡± As interesting as it would be to participate in all of these battles and test my mettle, something will happen at level ten if I recall.
SK Notice, Level 10
Upon reaching level 10, players will lose the hidden buff, New Worlder. Your body becomes that of a resident of Aezorish, it will be harder to level up, you will no longer receive notice pop-ups. You will only get a pop-up for titles gained, and it is still possible to check levels, and purchase skills. In order to learn skills outside of the skill shop, some effort is going to be needed from level 10 on. Skills will be harder to master as well.
It sounds like this New Worlder buff is a learning/leveling buff. I guess it will become only slightly more inconvenient, but nothing too drastic. What level was I again? I think it was level eight, so I should be fine. While I am at it, I might as well inquire about the tournament calculations, since I will lose this function at level ten.
SK Notice, Tournament Calculations
Tournament Experiences are calculated as followed: Total Battle Experience multiplied by rounds won divided by two. 100% Experience for defeating an Enemy 150% Experience for killing an Enemy 110% Experience for enslaving an Enemy
I felt my face slacken as I came to understand what this meant. Simply put, it was more profitable to enter many tournaments than to battle the same number of enemies in a big fight. More so if it was a tournament to the death, though that would be very frightening as this is my life now and not just a game anymore. As I dismissed the notices, I must have had smile on my face still, because the withered professor gave me a knowing grin. I am not sure he knows what I am smiling about, but I will leave him with his misunderstandings. I unfolded the robe as we walked further off the field and quickly slipped it over each arm and let the back flutter to the ground behind me. I made my mind that I will not be joining the entertainment bouts. I will be getting information on the Ancient Dragon from Aya, and mastering my skills before I hit level ten. Afterwards, I will be enjoying every battle that even makes itself remotely available, given that wasn''t too risky. I felt a small grin pass to my lips. Just as we exited the tunnel that lead off the field, I was reminded of the papers again by Professor Iceshield, ¡°Seeing as today is the Day of Dark, you have two days to complete your registration papers. Well, I''ll be seeing you around.¡± He made a wave as he was about to depart, but I stopped him before he could go. ¡°Excuse, I actually don''t know these days you speak of, Day of Light, Day of Dark, Day of Magic, are these the days of the week? And also how do I get or even complete the registration papers?¡± The old Professor raised both eyebrows for a moment before answering, ¡°I apologize, I keep forgetting you are not of this world. The days of the wage are as listed; Day of the Warrior, Day of the Sun, Day of Light, Day of Magic, Day of Dark, Day of the Moon, Day of the Mage. As for registration papers... didn''t the prefect tell you? No matter, registration papers are completed when you speak to a representative of a nation. Since today''s battles are over, you should find them in the Reception hall, where they made temporary signing tables. Now, I will be off, I have some business that needs attending,¡± with that he bowed and walked off toward the stadium. I guess I will find my way back to the Reception hall. ¡­ It took retracing my steps to the best of my ability from the field to the library and from the library to the area I first entered Divinity. When I finally arrived in the room I noticed that there were tables hugging the walls of this giant room that could possibly host a ball. Why hadn''t I noticed my surroundings when I first got here, this place is huge. It was then I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned to see the culprit, I was greeted by a familiar face, Sola. ¡°Hey, hero, how are you?¡± She giggled at my expense before she broke into information mode, ¡°I am guessing you are here for registration, seeing as you did complete the battles. Well, each of the tables you see represent a country. The number of representative tables changes from time to time, as war breaks out, since there is a clash in the Wild Continent and a looming war in the Hidden Continent, there are few representatives from those places at this time. At this time, there are mostly human places.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I searched around, and I saw a bunch of hardy looking men sitting with very gloomy expressions and their arms crossed at one table. At another table I saw Fic, whom hasn''t noticed me yet it seems, he was sitting next to someone that almost had the same face as he did, but a bit more feminine and with purple markings all over her body. Another table had an elf with light blonde hair with serene look on her face, just gazing at nothing in particular. There were several tables with faces that ranged in several emotions, none really interacting with each other. There was this intense atmosphere though, it was almost tangible enough to cut with a knife. I am pretty sure it is from the rivaling factions in the room, but the strict rules left them the inability to fight, so there was only this atmosphere that seem to want to choke someone unprepared for this. I unintentionally swallowed some saliva with a gulp, to which Sola just laughed awkwardly, ¡°No need to worry so much, the hardy group men over there are from the Hidden Continent, they represent the only Kingdom of humans on that continent, humans only. Over there, the Xernurochs represent the entirety of the Cursed Continent, all are welcome to join, though it is rather hazardous to your health, since the Great Hunt has begun. That Elven maiden you were probably ogling a moment ago, is the representative of the New Elven Empire, elves only, though you may get a pass, given your appearance. There are several representatives over there from the countless federations of Beastmen tribes, though they usually only let beastmen in, they are giving a pass for the select few that can best them in bare hand combat. I can''t say that is recommended though, as their strength rivaled that of the Orcs, before they went extinct.¡± I am reminded that some species of humanoids went extinct already, but I remind myself that this happened a really long time ago, and that this world, and the species that reside in it are really old. It makes me wonder why technology hasn''t advanced very far. I wondered this, and I marveled at the writers for this in-depth history that had become standard in gaming. ¡°Well, I am probably going to sign under the Kingdom of Lunari.¡± My gaze then fell on another familiar face. Miss red robes, blonde drill hair, and blue eyes, it was the princess of Solaeum Kingdom, Litavia Solaeum. She was currently in a rapidly heating discussion with someone wearing robes that looked strikingly like mine. The unfamiliar person turned around, and I quickly observed her face, she had crystal blue eyes that were lighter in shade than Litavia, and she donned a short bob-cut hair that seemed to get longer in the front. Her skin was very light, that reminded me of the snow, and she was quickly advancing in my direction and held me in a stare, as she did so, I noticed that she was accompanied by a few knights. As she drew near she halted in front of me and held her head high, with an imperial presence that was in no way inferior to that of Litavia. I figure, that this is another princess as well. A knight by her side, a female warrior of that possessed a strong aura as well, stood be side her and revealed my suspicions to be true, ¡°You are in the presence of the Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Lunari, Yumari Lunari.¡± At that the princess gave a curt bow. The knight continued, ¡°Currently single, her measurements are-¡± She was immediately cutoff from a rather embarrassed princess covering her mouth. ¡°Not another word.¡± She then turned to me, after the knight saluted, ¡°Good afternoon, I apologize for my colleagues rudeness. Jack Frost I presume? I had witnessed your battles earlier, and I have to say, I am impressed. I also couldn''t help but to hear the fact that you want to sign under the Kingdom of Lunari? The Kingdom would be thrilled to have you as one of its citizens. We are willing to grant you citizenship under the following condition, you will be in service of my personal knights, the Blue Order, Hero of Iglaku.¡± It all sounded good, until she mentioned the hero thing, to which I breathed in a little too fast and choked. She gave a short laugh before continuing, ¡°I bet you are wondering, ''How does she know that?'' I won''t tell you anything other than that I have eyes and ears everywhere, the queen has more so than I.¡± She tried to put on a mysterious act. I straightened myself from my slight choking fit, ¡°So you aren''t willing to grant me citizenship otherwise?¡± I mused. ¡°Normally we would, but with an Elite-class mage, I think it would be best to have near me at all times.¡± A knight coughed, to which she gave a murderous glance to before smiling back at me. ¡°Ah, I understand. So if I were to refuse? I could just sign under the Solaeum Kingdom.¡± I teased. I saw that her eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. I continued, ¡°As a matter of fact, I am not restricted to the human countries as I am not human, I could just give a go to the New Elven Empire. They may not be as open, but I am pretty sure they might accept me in the end.¡± Her eyebrows then came down into a furrow, as I said that. In a bit of a whinny voice, ¡°Well, the Kingdom of Lunari will-¡± I cut her off, ¡°Alright, I will be your knight, not out of patriotism, but because it sounds really cool.¡± It seemed the princess is not used to being cut off and just blinked for a few seconds, mystified. I could almost see the several emotions going through her head, it seemed she wanted to be angry that she was disrupted, but happy that she got what she wanted. She settled with the latter expression and smiled at me, ¡°I see.¡± This is all she said for a moment as she turned away from me to depart. With her back toward me, she turned her head slightly and said, ¡°I expect you to defend me well, Sir Frost. You will meet me tomorrow at this time in the Library. There are regular meetings with your squad Captain after class. Being an Elite, you may take his position shortly, given performance of course. Dismissed.¡± She walked away and sat at a table that was across from Litavia. She gave her a victory smile, to which Litavia frowned.
Title Earned
Knight of the Blue Order +5 Health, 5 Stamina, 3 Str., 3 Def., 1%Accuracy.
It was a boost, a small boost, but a boost none the less. So titles sometimes have stat boosts with them. I will have to give the title screen a once over to see if there were any worth attaining. I was about to walk away from the room, but mid turn, I saw Seraphine-sii staring at me from a distancing. She was currently at table with some merry looking reptile like people. Most likely representatives of a clan somewhere in the Wild Continent. As our eyes met, I decided to walk over to her and see if she was doing well. She had an expression on her face that I was not good at deciphering. When I was in arms length I stopped, and stood before her, much to the reptile people''s concern. Their curiosity struck a strange conversation amongst themselves as if I was not there at all. The one with a lizard like face, ¡°Human?¡± ¡°No human, is elf.¡± The one with alligator scales tried to correct. ¡°Not strong, tastes of magic. Ooh, pretty robe! Strong magic person.¡± the one with a snake like face exclaimed, to which the other two stared at me and flicked their tongues to taste the air. The snake face person then said, ¡°I want to bite.¡± Seraphine-sii then stood between us and grabbed my hand, just as I was about to ask questions, I felt a sharp pain in the palm of my hand. I looked down at Seraphine-sii''s face that was now clamped on my hand. Just as she released me, I got a new pop-up that came withwhen she bit me.
Skill Upgrade
Poison Resistance IV: Able to resist low quantities of mid level poisons
Normally it would be harder to level a skill, the higher it got, but it seems that the poison in her fangs are more potent than the poison in her blood. At least that is the assessment I got out of these last few exchanges, maybe I can get a more accurate hypothesis in more exchanges. Seraphine-sii then looked into my eyes as she said, ¡°You could''ve died the first time I gave you poison, had I wanted to give you more, but I want to make you stronger, you smell weak bodied. Usually those strong in magic, have weak bodies.¡± I heard a sigh from the reptile people, ¡°Weak bite.¡± I took this time to look at her new purple robe that covered her body with the animal skins just underneath. I wonder if she will ever wear proper clothes, or if these were her preferred clothes. What kind of animals did those skins come from anyway? They don''t look like anything that I have ever seen, maybe something indigenous to the Creation Plane. Chapter 10: Probably Too Impulsive After a short conversation with Seraphine-sii, I dismissed myself and headed to the library once more. I know I am supposed to meet the princess here in a while but might as well get some more spells before that level 10 issue. Speaking of levels, I was wondering about the Blood Thirst levels, they only seem to rise when I level up. The notice said something about my body becoming more like that of a resident here, does that mean I will need to feed more often? I also remember that if my Blood Thirst Levels gets too high, I will go temporarily insane. I may need to warn people, before hand. So far my appearance is that of a sickly elf for better or for worse. I also know that if a person were to get close enough and observe long enough, they will know that my appearance is deceiving at first glance. I think back to the events of today and yesterday, they are my first two days on campus. The battles were easy, but I don''t know if I can take a blow from any of the mages here, what Seraphine-sii said shook me a little, ¡°Usually those in strong magic, have weak bodies.¡± I felt a tiny shiver run down my spine. I know that I was in a Life Aid area and it would be nearly impossible for me to die, but this world I live in now is very hazardous to my health. Ah, I promised to join the Blue Order, I know it was a bit impulsive to agree to that, but I had to diffuse the situation somehow. She loosely said that she has a spy network that can follow me around and give her a constant news feed like she was listening to a radio station back on Earth, that is terrifying. I may have put myself in more immediate danger than I know. Oh, well it is good to be young, I can be reckless at times I suppose. Enough of giving myself excuses for my actions that are in the past, I look at the giant wooden doors again and I quickly focus on the spirits casually floating by, ah these plant like ones are Dryads I believe. I immediately had the thought of using them to alter the wood on these doors, to see if I could, but I dismissed the thought as soon as it emerges. I might get in some big trouble for something like that, instead I just open the doors and walk in. I glance at the window on the left and notice the sky has a rather pinkish hue, indicating that it is the evening. My thoughts return to Aya, I wonder how everything is doing. I opened the grimoire strapped to my side and I write down the same summoning circle I used last time, but this time I use Aya''s name to summon her. I put the grimoire back in it''s resting place and set the piece of paper down on the table while placing both hands on the edge of the paper, pushing my mana into it. The circle lit with a dim blue glow, and the edges of the paper start to burn away. I look up but I do not see Aya. The paper then caught fire and instantly became a ball of flame that disappeared as quickly as it started, leaving nothing but ash. ¡°You are lucky, sometimes they blow up all together.¡± I break my gaze from the failed magic circle to see a smallish girl in a blue robes with intricate embroidery to signify her as an Elite Water Mage. ¡°Greeting Jack, I apologize for interrupting your experiment, but I would like to keep this library intact. It seems that the summons failed, they do not wished to be summoned, whatever it is.¡± She fixed her glasses that just slid back down her nose again. She turned to walk away, I was about to call out to her and ask her name, but I figured that there would be class introductions in a day or two anyway. So Aya didn''t want to be summoned? Now that I think about it, it makes since, she is in the middle of travel and would probably have to start all over again, if I called her back to this place. I start work on the magic circle once more, though the words I use are; Aya, Friend, Communicate, Mana Currency, and Invisible Person. This time the when the circle shined there wasn''t any burning of the paper, but I did notice a constant drain on my mana instead of a bulk purchase. Next I heard the same chirpy voice, that I have come to know as Aya, ¡°Hello Jack. I am glad you used the communication circle. Ha, People only know how to copy circles, no longer do they know how to create them, I hadn''t known if you knew the circle or not.¡± I smiled at her sighing, I am not sure how this affects her any, but it maybe like when I saw old men complaining about their past glories only being in the past. ¡°How is the progress? Are you getting close?¡± The tiny voice scoffed, ¡°Do you have any idea how big this world is? I am pretty small comparatively, even if I wasn''t receiving help.¡± I laughed, ¡°Comparatively? You are small end of discussion. Anyway you mentioned help?¡± ¡°When you''ve been around as long as I have, you make friends.¡± she giggled. ¡°Though, I think some are only in it for the possibility of seeing an Ancient Dragon. I had no luck with the Diamond fields, but I have a good feeling with the Mountain of Souls!¡± ¡°Mountain of Souls? That sound ominous. Why is it called that?¡± ¡°It is translated from the elvish tongue, it was when they discovered huge amounts of soul gems and various mana crystals. It is said to have a guardian.¡± I gave this a ponder before I heard grumbling in the background and responding to gleefully, I was about to ask what was happening, but then I could feel the energy of the conversation drop from further grumbles and Aya''s response turning into that of somber understanding. ¡°Is everything fine?¡± ¡°There are many rumors of a dragon being on the Mountain of Souls, but the island mountain is overrun by Undead, I cannot go there. Where there are undead walk about, the Shadow Puppets lurk as well. I wouldn''t want to be touched by one.¡± She seemed off the conversation, and continue her conversation with the third party. Suddenly the glowing magic circle burnt away and I could hear Aya no more. ¡°That language, Old Elvish, right?¡± I look up to see the girl from earlier just a short distance from me. ¡°I apologize for my rudeness, my name is Hotari Iceshield. I am in the Elite class of mages here, I am to be your future class mate. Perhaps you can teach me some of the magic language, as it would make endeavors much easier. However, I am busy at this moment, so it will have to wait.¡± As suddenly as she showed up, she exited from the wooden doors of the library. Hmm, that was strange, but I guess she is more forward about her intentions. Shaking my head to get to focusing, I look toward the massive amount of books. I might start with a history lesson, I kind of wished that I listened to Ray a little more during the wagon ride. I might need another lesson in geography here as well. With this in mind, I went on the hunt for knowledge. ¡­ I found the books that I needed after hours of looking, I wouldn''t be surprised that it was morning already, glancing out the available window, I realized that my suspicions were false, but I have to say that it really felt like it. I set down the three books that I thought might be useful, ''Age of an Empire'', ''Eons: As We Rise!'', and ''Key Locations, Local Maps''. I reach into my pockets and notice that my stash of writing paper has been depleted. I quickly scan my surroundings and I notice a stack of blank parchments on a nearby table. I glance in a few directions before I took some of the parchments from the stack to keep as my own. They may be for public use, or I may have committed theft, there was no one to point out my questionable moral choice here. I return to the desk I assembled the books and fish out the quill pen and ink well that I stashed in my pockets. Seriously though, I think everyone has ink stains in their pockets, I guess that is why the mage robes have extra thick pockets. I set the pen in my right hand and open the book, ''Eons: As We Rise'', with my left. I start reading this rather large book and I notice that the wording is very heavy and scholarly like, the type of book that forces its readers to sleep, but I shall prevail! A few chapters in and it is established that not much is known about the beginning, and it sets up a simple Timeline that gets explained bit by bit each chapter. The known timeline could be broken up into Eras, starting with the Creation Era, then the Chaos Era, the Era of Man, and lastly the current Era, the Era of Power. Each Era is started or ended with an event. The Creation Era was described roughly like how Aya had described it. 14 out of the 19 deities created the world, 8 became the first of the Immortal Elves, 6 became divine, and the 5 that didn''t help at all had turned jealous and became twisted by it.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The Chaos Era started when the Demon Gods materialized in the Mortal Plane. The crisis ended after the Divine Gods had also materialized and fought the Demon Gods. The Era of Man started after the race of man became the betrayal of Allovian Elves to the Common Elves, quickly letting the race of man hold undisputed power in the Silent Continent. The Era of Power started with the Celestial Empire finally ruling over the entirety of the Silent Continent. I also jotted some notes down about significant events that happened in each era. In the Creation Era, races known as the Immortal Elves, Humans, Allovian Elves, Common Elves, Beastmen, and Xernurochs come to be. The Immortal Elves enslaved the Common and Allovian Elves, they also migrate from the Hidden Continent to the Silent Continent. Beastmen start colonizing the Northern shore of the Silent Continent due to close proximity. In the Chaos Era, the Divine Gods let themselves be known to the mortal races, establishing a religion. Fallen Elves, sometimes known as Orcs, come to be, many disputes are made with Beastmen with contests of strength, sometimes waging full on war. The Immortal Elves try enslaving the Beastmen and Humans, but met with resistance and a rebellion from their Elven slaves at the same time. Immortal Elves start losing battles. Fallen Elves, and their relatives the Allovian Elves are persecuted, Fallen Elves are pushed toward extinction. Immortal Elves go extinct. In the Era of Man, the Fallen Elves go extinct. Allovian Elves betray the Common Elves, the Common Elven Kingdoms fall instantly to the races of man and are enslaved with the Allovian Elves by Man. Mankind build their own kingdoms on the Silent Continent, and exterminate the Beastmen on the continent, becoming the only ruling faction on the continent. Beastmen rule the Wild Continent, with only 72 clans left of the original 100, the Common Elves rule the Hidden Continent, sharing the continent with a kingdom of Man. Mankind start their explorations during this Era. Era of Power saw the height of the Celestial Empire, and it''s fall when the the four Demon Gods are summoned and they destroy the Palace, thus fracturing the Empire in two, the only two houses with any claim to the Marble Throne. The Dark Hand of Shadows creates its own country through intrigue and civil wars. I laid my pen down and shake my hands from the cramping that my hand is currently going through, that was a lot of writing and a lot of notes on the history of this place. After I heard the wooden doors of the library open, I saw three students walk in as the started chatting about something. Why are they up at this hour? I glance toward the window and saw that a bright light illuminated the sky, indicating that dawn had passed long ago. The man in the simple orange robe started speaking, ¡°Hey, hurry up! The Battles are about to start.¡± To which the man in the gray robes ran to the table and took the many parchments that were on the table. Upon grabbing the parchments, he hastily ran back toward his group that ushered him out the door again. I guess I can give my hand a break and go view the battles going on. ¡­ After watching the matches today, I found that I couldn''t find Ashley Smith, but I noticed that in one of the battles, a dark brooding man had simultaneously cast many spells at the same time, it was rather odd and amazing to see. I am pretty sure this is another player, though he gave me no other supporting evidence, I just felt it in my gut. The battle results were called out and I followed the exodus out of the stadium, I then make my way to the Library, and I happened to see Princess Yumari on her way to the Library for the meeting. She was accompanied by her usual guards. It seems she has yet to notice me. ¡°I am only doing this because I feel like we have enough magic knights to accomplish this. My mother is becoming obsessed with regaining the lost territories, if I do this, maybe she will return to her senses and become her kind self once more.¡± The female knight that seems to be her right hand, spoke back in response, ¡°Your majesty, if you would forgive me for speaking out, but I have something to say.¡± ¡°Come now, we have known each other since I was a child, you do not need to be so formal with me. Speak, what is it you want to say.¡± She spoke with a kindness. ¡°I couldn''t possibly do that, your highness. I am knight of the Blue Order, I can not talk to my superiors with such casualness. I have concerns with the the lost territories, the territories lost to the Undead Quarter is swarmed with skeletons and zombies, especially the Mountain of Souls.¡± ¡°But I must prove my worth to mother, I must reclaim the island mountain. Surely we have enough Magic Knights for this mission.¡± She sounded desperate. I usually stop eavesdropping when I become conscious of me doing so, but this did concern me, so I listened on as they neared the door to the Library. ¡°I have concerns for the new recruit as well. Please hear the thoughts of this lowly soldier, just because we meet the standard quota for magic knights to go on these type of missions does not mean they are ready. Most of the squad are only basic mages, and all have no Martial Skills, with the exception of the veteran such as my self. They need training your highness.¡± The group stopped just before the door and the princess turned toward the knight, ¡°I realize this Mizo, how long do you think they need training to go on this mission?¡± The knight stood there without answering for a moment, ¡°My princess, from a veterans point of view, they would need at least a week of training before they can go on a simple escort mission, this type of mission should only be handled by veterans.¡± Yumari seemed to sulk a bit, ¡°I know, I know. But mother has recruited the magic knights from my Blue Order into her own Royal Army, I fear what she might do with the Army expanding like so, and her current state of mind. I will wait a week, make it an intense training that they can learn as much as they can, I will not hear any more about this. This is an order.¡± I wasn''t in a position to see the knights face, but she just bowed and the group entered the doorway into the Library of Ages. I then resumed walking and entered behind them. Upon entering, I heard the same greeting the knight gave when we first met, ¡°You are in the presence of the Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Lunari, Yumari Lunari.¡± I wasn''t sure of the proper etiquette, but I gave a bow and stated my name and business, ¡°I am Jack Frost, Elite Mage of the Divinity Academy of Mages, I seek audience with the Princess, Yumari.¡± The princess spoke, ¡°Rise, Sir Jack Frost, hero of Iglaku.¡± When I raised my head, I saw a smile on the princess''s face. ¡°I spoke to my adviser, and there is a small change in plans. You will not receive from you squad Captain, but from the General of the Blue Order, and adviser of the Crown Princess of the Lunari Kingdom, General Mizo.¡± As she introduced her the female knight from earlier stepped forward and gave a short bow. I decided to take a closer look at her face, she had a black hair that had some silver strands mixed in that was put in a tight pony tail. She had green eyes that seemed to have a shine of experience that came with some of the other knights in their company. She had several small scars marked on her face as well, with the biggest one running down the left side. The princess continued, ¡°Since we are lacking resources, since we are at Divinity, and not the Royal Capital, you will not be receiving the uniform that goes with the title knight. However, since you are in a squad known as the Magic Knights, your robes will suffice as a uniform. You will be given this pendant to let others know of your status.¡± She proceeded to hand me a silver pendant that was in the shape circle with many semi-circles in varying degrees in a radial pattern. I guess this is the royal crest. I slipped the pendant over my neck and looked back toward the princess. ¡°Your training''s intensity will be raised to prepare you for a mission that I believe to be in your skill to complete, but I will have you train with the other knights to polish up your skills.¡± I guess fighting multiple rounds of the undead isn''t completely beyond my skill, but how would she know this? I gave a nod and she continued. ¡°The original course would have been just after class hours, but given your upcoming mission, you will be training during class, since you are an Elite Mage, and will be joined with the rest of the magic knights after class. You will continue well into the night, until you pass out from exhaustion. Exhaustion collapse will be different between you an others, so don''t feel bad if you are the first one down. With this our meeting is adjourned, please meet with the new recruits down in the Life Aid Arena. Serve me well.¡± With that her knights with the exception of General Mizo accompanied her out of the Library. When they had left, Mizo asked me a question, ¡°Are you willing to lay down your life for the country?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± She then stepped closer to me and pulled by my shoulders until we were face to face, ¡°I said, are you willing to lay down your life for the country? Answer me, boy.¡± I stared at the green eyes that shone with a ferocity, I then replied after I gave some thought to a response, ¡°No. I am in no position that requires this, I will do the best of my abilities and not die in the process. Make no mistake, I will not give up in my endeavors, but I will refuse to die as well.¡± Mizo stared for a moment longer until her face loosened with some satisfaction and she released me. ¡°I am glad that you have a somewhat sensible head on your shoulders, I know that you were eavesdropping earlier. I forgive this instance, but I am sure you heard about the Queen?¡± ¡°The Queen is recruiting members for her Royal Army and expanding her forces, as if she preparing to attack something or preparing for an attack. Is this right?¡± ¡°Indeed, the queen is mustering forces during peace time, it has not gone unnoticed, the Royal Regent of the Solaeum Kingdom has done the same. There has been an increase in shady figures around the castle as well. I fear an all out war is to come soon.¡± ¡°Regent? The Solaeum Kingdom is in a regency?¡± ¡° That is unimportant, if you seek matters of the Solaeum Kingdom, ask the other princess, preferably in your spare time.¡± She started to pace a bit. I won''t have any spare time, she forgot about this point, but I guess I can ask about it after the mission. ¡°The Blue Order has been all but completely depleted of knights after the queen recruited and promoted them to the Royal Army. This mission, you are likely to be the most skilled one on it, I can not go, because of my role as General and Adviser. Let us make way for the Life Aid Arena.¡± Chapter 11: Exercize By the time we entered the arena, I saw that my fellow new recruits were just handed swords, short swords as it would seem. The hulking mass of a man, whom had been giving out the swords to the recruits turned my way with a sword in hand and offered it to me, to which I brandished my rapier in response. He had a bemused expression as he put away the remaining swords and returned to join us shortly afterward. ¡°Listen up, soldiers. You were recruited by our dear princess, to join the Blue Order, and as such we are to fight for the princess, Yumari, herself. She is the future of the Kingdom of Lunari, and in defending her, you defend the future of the Kingdom of Lunari. I am the General of this Order, and you will have the honor as being the only squad of recruits to receive training from one. The princess has given me an order to train you, in the most cruel, and unforgiving training I can think of. Try not to die on me,¡± she flashed a smile, at the irony in her statement, ¡°You first exercise is to run around this arena, I want to see you in a sustained full on sprint. Your Squad Captain, Sergeant Frostcaller will join you in your exercise. Stay in front of him, if you wish to not to meet the business end of his sword. Move!¡± In a quick, and unorganized motion, every recruit, including myself, ran for the outer edge of the field to run along. Our Squad Captain trotted behind us, as we ran, some faster than others. I was in the lead by quite a bit, but I heard that it was supposed to be a sustain sprint, so I pushed myself to go even faster. I pushed and pushed until I could feel I couldn''t raise my speed any more, so I decided to maintain my current speed. I wasn''t using any speed boosters or stat boosters, this was my maximum, unaided speed. It felt good to feel the rush of wind in my face, I even closed my eyes to feel the breeze caressing me. After a few minutes, I heard a scream. This prompted me to look in the direction of the scream, which appeared on the complete other side of the field. I noticed that the far away recruits decided to look behind them as well. The scream came from a rather pudgy, round faced man collapsing towards the ground, while Sergeant Frostcaller continued to trot past him. I figured the sergeant caught up to him and slashed him in the back. As I ran, I watched the sergeant. He ran neither fast nor slow, he kept an even pace that made his legs seem to move to a metronome. I then counted the amount of recruits we had, including me and the guy that fell already, we amounted to only six. I took this time to look at each one. There was a woman far behind me, she had a plain face with brown eyes and hair, she had sweat beading on her forehead, and she only seemed preoccupied with moving forward. I then observed the two men just behind her, trying to trip each other up, it would seem. These two men had nearly the same features, but since I divided my focus between running and observing, and that we were far apart, I could not discern their differences. There was one other girl that was just a head of the Sergeant. I couldn''t see her, due to the distance. I did see her turn her head and then she moved with extreme vigor, I could now see that she had jet black hair and a small face with a child like appearance. She ran fast enough to pass the two boys that were playing with each and she almost caught up to the girl that was ahead of them still. It was then that I saw the energy that propelled her legs forward quickly fade, and thus she stopped, wheezing. The boys then passed her and not long after, the Sergeant caught up and another scream could be held. I witnessed this event happen ahead of me, as anytime now, and I would pass the sergeant myself. I wonder... would it be okay, if I attacked the Sergeant? No, no, that is just an impish thought that would probably label me as insubordinate. I have no reason as to why the thought even appeared in my head, despite it actually amusing to entertain for awhile. I slapped my cheeks firmly to clear my head. I focused on moving my feet forward and the wind on my face. I rather did like the wind on my face, it was quite soothing. I closed my eyes for a moment, to drink in the comfortable feeling, however the feeling was short lived as I started to feel a little drained from running. I looked around to get my bearings, the two boys looked worse for wear and were even leaning on each other. The girl that was closets to me, though still far away, was drenched in sweat, but she pressed on with the same monotone like movements the Sergeant had. She neither sped up nor slowed down, almost like she was accustomed to this. I then passed the lump on the ground that I have named ''Bells''. Bells is a rude name, but this is the nicest name I can give him, as I know nothing about him and only met him today. It seems his consciousness is returning to him. I decided to see how he would be handle, so I watched him as I ran. Meanwhile, Bells slowly got up and looked around in a confused stupor. After he got up, he quickly sank to his knees and expelled the contents of his stomach onto the ground. He then cleaned his mouth with the edge of his sleeve before he slowly crawled to General Mizo. I used my sharp hearing to listen in, even the rushing of the wind made it difficult. ¡°...can''t.... ¡­ ...please?¡± I barely caught any of the words, but I could hear the whiny and wheezy voice of Bells. ¡°No, get.... ¡­ exercise, until... last... ...Sergeant... ¡­. run!¡± General Mizo had the same stern voice as earlier. I could barely pick up any of the words, but I got the gist of Bells wanting to rest or quit, and Mizo telling to continue exercising and the Sergeant Frostcaller was coming. Speaking of the Sergeant, he was right in front of me. I slowed down to match his pace and I felt it was easier to run, my stamina wasn''t draining nearly as fast, actually, this even running seem to stabilize to where it was neither dropping nor raising. Could I actually recover stamina if I went slow enough? The thought intrigued me, but knowing the NPI, there is probably a hidden fatigue gauge that heavily affects recovery and stamina draining exercises. It would be interesting to be resting while in a full sprint. Probably what the Infinite Stamina amounts to. Thinking about stats and abilities, I decided to check my own.
Name: Jack Frost Race: Yxdan Vampire Class: Ice Mage
Health: 200 Mana: 440 Stamina: 175/250
Strength: 39 Speed: 178% Defense: 34
Magical Strength: 55 Accuracy: 66% Magical Defense: 65
Stealth: 46% Blood Thirst: 0% Special Points: 7
Grace IV, Etiquette I, Sword Mastery I, Sword Arts I, Ice Magic Mastery VI, Ice Magical Arts IV, Ice Resistance III, Undead Resistance I, Stealth Mastery II, Stealth Arts I, Vampirism II, Pit Vision I, Poison Resistance III, Mana Manipulation IX, Air Magic Mastery I, Air Magical Arts I, Water Magic Mastery I, Water Magical Arts I, Storm Magic Mastery IV, Storm Magical Arts IV, Spirit Manipulation II,
Double Life: Turn Undead upon death Ice Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Ice Resistance and Ice Mag. Str. Undead Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Undead Resistance and Undead Mag. Str. Vampirism: Increased Strength, Stealth, Stamina, and Speed Mage: Increased Mana, Mag. Str. And Mag. Def. All-Tongue: Able to comprehend, speak, and write all languages on Aezorish Mist Form: Able to transform in to Mist Homescreen: Able to create a portal to Homescreen
Hero of Iglaku, Knight of the Blue Order
My, oh my! Are those seven Special Points I see? It seems like a spending spree is in order! Skill Store Screen!
Upgrade Skill Art Upgrade Skill MasteryStolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Buy Skill Set
Detection, Analysis, Cooking, Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Air Magic, Curse Magic Set, Swamp Magic Set, Water Magic, Storm Magic, Dark Magic, Spear Set, Ax Set, Bow Set, Staff Set, Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, War Set, Maul Set, Rippling Muscles Set, -Requirements needed to unlock more-
Buy Attributes
Dark Affiliate, Water Affiliate, Air Affiliate, Storm Affiliate, Tough Skin, Xernurochii Tongue, Seer, Tamer, Breeder, Thrift, Silver Tongue, Martial Artist, -Requirements needed to unlock more-
Wow, there are more to pick from, and as I recall it cost two SP to upgrade a Mastery but only one SP to upgrade an Art. So many tempting things to pick from, but I think I will just choose the things that will be hard to upgrade over time, much like last time.
Skill Upgrade
Grace VII: Peasants, Nobles and sometimes Royals treat you as a distant royal member Vampirism III: Gained the Wall Climb Attribute.
Wall climb?
SK Notice
Wall Climb: Able to run or walk up walls, even hang upside down, ignoring gravity
I almost felt my jaw hit the floor. No way! I could reenact the skin crawling scene from ''Alucard''s Demise''! I must try it out as soon as I can! I was thinking of maxing out the Grace skill line, before I moved onto another skill, but I might just finish out the Vampirism skill line instead. I smiled to myself as I looked forward to the future, as I smiled, I dismissed all of the screens. I was rudely awakened from my daydreaming by a pair of unmanly screams that emanated from the two bodies that landed to either side of me. I took this time to scan the field once more. I was just behind the Sergeant, and we both passed the two brothers that I will now name Drim and Drit, named after my favorite comedy comic stripes. They were uncannily similar. A quarter way past Drim and Drit, was the black haired girl, that I will temporarily name Pix, whom wore the same expressions as Bells while regaining consciousness. On the other side of the track was the same monotone movements of the brunette that I will call Bot. Returning to the make shift track, we have Bells, starting near Pix. It seems the Sergeant is fresh out of victims for awhile. While I started to think about how long this was to be going, I felt a sudden shift in my immediate surroundings. It was then I saw the blade inches from my face, sending my consciousness to a deep black void. My vision came into focus, albeit very slowly. I was hit with sudden urge to vomit at the sudden vertigo I was experiencing. Turning my head to the left or right sent my world out of focus again. I stay still, flat on my back, and waited for the sensation to subside. After a moment I slowly sat up and took note of my surroundings. The sergeant was still running around the track, slowly closing in on more victims, Drim and Drit, as it were. Bot was still running in a metronome like pace that uncannily matched the sergeants own. Pix was now shouldering Bells. I had intense feeling of being watched wash over me, and I look about and I spot General Mizo staring at me, as if taking notes. I placed both my palms on the ground and I hauled my self up, and started running the track again. ¡­ After I learned my lesson with keeping a steady pace, and falling once more from severe stamina depletion, the sun had started peak over the horizon in the west, informing us that morning was well on its way. It was then General Mizo called everyone to the center of the field, of course not all of us were conscious. I was tasked with dragging Pix, while Drim and Drit were tasked with dragging Bells. ¡°Sergeant Frostcaller, the crystals, if you will.¡± General Mizo commanded. The Sergeant then dug into the pouch strapped to his side, and withdrew a small yellow stone, wrapped in a small blue paper. As soon as he removed it from it''s paper prison, it had an offensive odor that permeated the air. He took this crystal between his forefinger and the thumb and waved this crystal under the unsuspecting, unconscious bodies. As soon as the smelly gem got near their noses, the bodies of Pix and Bells jerked to life, with their hands flying to their noses. ¡°Wha- What is the horrendous smell?!¡± Pix had small tears in her eyes, from smelling the noxious fumes. Bells was already hunched over, gagging. I noticed the Sergeant wrap the blue paper from earlier, and the horrible smell dissipated in an instant. I think this paper has either sealing properties or has a magic circle on it that contains this smell. ¡°That,¡± the General made her presence known again, ¡°was a smelling gem. It is a gem, made to be so smelly, that it wakes the unconscious. It was invented not to long ago, if I am not mistaken. That is neither here, nor there. You may not be feeling it now, but your muscles will start killing you tomorrow, but we must push through to the end of your training.¡± Obviously they do not know about muscle recovery being essential to muscle growth. ¡°This marks the end of this physical training session, I expect you to return this afternoon to this spot.¡± She then turned to me, ¡°I expect you to be sooner than that.¡± With that, the General dismissed herself, with the Sergeant close behind her. ¡°I feel bad for you. The name is Yue Prefrost, I am the youngest son of Count Ye Prefrost. I hope to get along.¡± The round bellied mage that I had gotten to call Bells, introduced himself. ¡°I am- hey!¡± Drim had his foot stomped on by Drit. ¡°My name is Titus! His name- brgh?!¡± His mouth was covered by his brother. ¡°I am Potitus, we are the sons of- gah!¡± He was cut off by Titus by what I could only perceive as a gut punch. ¡°¡°Stornavius¡±¡± They managed to say at the same time, at that time they began to beat each other up in wrestling that seemed very violent but non-harmful at the same time. ¡°Stornavius?¡± Wait do they mean that guy I bound me to a summons contract in the Solaeum Kingdom? No, it couldn''t be, that would be too coincidental. ¡°Stornavius Heastae, a noble in the Solaeum Kingdom, though he recently disappeared with some of his subjects.¡± Yue said. My mouth went dry. Are kidding me? ¡°The only reason I know this is because when they introduced themselves, the gut punching came after the introduction,¡± he smiled. Now that I look at them closely, they kind of resemble the man that I slayed. ¡°If they come from the Solaeum Kingdom, why are they in the servitude of the Kingdom of Lunari?¡± I asked. ¡°It is well known that the queen has been doing some questionably massive recruiting operations. They have lowered their standards and are accepting almost everyone willing to join their ranks. My name is Fuki Iceshell, we are a cadet family of the Iceshields.¡± This time it was Pix, I mean Fuki, gave a cheerful grin. Bot, the only one who hasn''t spoken yet, approached from where she was previously standing and gave a short introduction, ¡°Mae.¡± She then did an about face, and left the field. I was floored by how short that was. Fuki then gave a curt nod of understanding before she spoke, ¡°I see. A non-noble. You don''t get too many of those in a magic academy.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± I promptly asked. ¡°Well, you can tell from the name. Mae is a very common, bland name in the Kingdom of Lunari. Even then, she didn''t introduce a last name, of which nobles where like a badge.¡± ¡°You also mentioned there not being too many non-nobles here, why is that?¡± ¡°Well, a few reasons. Peasants are busy learning a trade and trying to earn money they don''t have time for schooling. Another reason, is that magic isn''t rare manifest in a person, but it is fairly uncommon. Mostly it is the nobles that have these abilities, history has taught us that magic is a genetic thing.¡± She explained this, while she started to walk off the field. ¡°I see,¡± I think I need to write this down. I may not be able to learn what I need to in class, but perhaps I can learn about this world from these passing conversations. Yue then spoke up, ¡°Hey, lets get going already, surely breakfast is being served!¡± He started to run after Fuki and Mae, Mae almost being completely out of sight. I gave a quick glance at the rising sun, surely it was a bit too early for anyone to be awake. As I began to make my way toward the buildings, leaving the twins in their fist fight, I started to think about how the day will go. Today was the final rounds of placement battles, so I will be spectating the Elite rounds. After the Elite course placement battle, there should be an entertainment bout, and it wasn''t specified when the Archmage''s Apprenticeship battle was going to happen, surely it would be announced today. After that, I will probably be training until tomorrow morning, again. I''d rather be in the library, learning the most that I could, but things could be worse. As I entered the building doors, I was met with a stream of students going in a single direction. They must be going to the cafeteria. I jumped into the steady stream of bodies, and I found myself at the destination in no time. The cafeteria was very interesting to behold, there were several long tables that had bench seats that accompanied them, as expected. What wasn''t expected was the ceiling. What was a classical like painting of a mage, castle, and dragon, actually moving. Each time the dragon spewed fire, the mage would ward against it using different spells. Truly fascinating. I looked around the room some more, and I found something missing, there were no cafeteria servers, no food bar, but everyone had food... how peculiar. It wasn''t until I saw line students quickly passing by a short column, that I found where the food was coming from. This short, white column had a large metal bowl on top of it with a large blue fire within. As the students passed by, they would stick their hands within the fire and draw out a tray with different foods. I got in line and found myself at the flames in no time, I peeked inside the bowl of fire and saw a magic circle within it, I could make out the words on the edges, ''Hidden'', ''Conceal'', and ''Misdirect''. It was strange that there were words that would make something invisible here, it wasn''t until I tried to look into the center of the circle that I understood why. The outer magic circle was concealing the inner magic circle, which looked so incredibly blurry, that I couldn''t read it. ¡°Interesting, no? This is the Insatiable Flame, there is only one in the world. It is simple to use, picture what you want to eat, then pull it out.¡± A giddy man in a Basic Light Mage robe told me. I wanted to picture the food found on Earth, but that might draw too much attention, so I just pictured Rae''s cooking before I stuck my hand in the fire. Oddly the fire didn''t burn, it felt as though a warm air was caressing my hand before I felt a cold, flat metal object in my hand. Pulling it out, I found myself holding a metal tray with a fried egg and a chunk of rough brown bread. Yep, this looked liked Rae''s cooking. Satisfied with my choice, I sat at a near by table. I still do not need to eat, I felt no hunger pains. The reason for doing this, was I felt the continuing sensation of being watched. I thought it was General Mizo that one time, but the feeling persisted after she left. I picked up the egg and tossed it in my mouth, and found it more lacking in flavor than when I had Rae''s cooking a few days ago. Was it because the fire was a poor copier? I scanned the crowds faces and found them very joyously chewing and talking, making merry with their friends. It appears they find nothing wrong with it''s tastes. Hmm, maybe something is off with me, I couldn''t tell. I quickly finished my meal, and made my way toward the library. As I was reaching for the giant wooden doors, they swung open with the gloomy figure from the bout yesterday rushing out, curiously, he was followed by the Ashley Smith, from the other day. She was pursuing him while yelling, ¡°Quickly, breakfast is almost done, so the last battles will begin soon.¡± As they ran by, I locked eyes with the gloomy kid, of which I noticed that his eyes glowed faintly red. It made no sense to me, but as I tried to recall his face the only thing I could remember was those eyes. While it did fill me with a sense of unease, I still felt like someone was watching me this entire time, so I quickly entered the already closing doors. As the doors sealed the entrance, so did they too seal the unsettling feelings. Chapter 12: Brutal Battles I stared at the double wooden doors for a while, it was then that an unfocused blob phased through it, that the unsettling feeling returned. This thing was the one watching me, all this time. As I focused into seeing it more quickly I found a pop-up greeting me.
Skill Upgrade
Spirit Manipulation II: Dealings with spirits cost less, requiring less to see them.
The dark swirling mist blob started to take shape, but it still much to difficult to see, I think I saw a limp body within the mist, but I guess it noticed me staring at it and it vanished without the feeling of being watched actually leaving. It''s still present, I wonder if I can hurt these spirits. I force myself to live with the fact that I now have a stalker. I turn my back on the invisible presence and I immediately go to find a few books. Since I had little time, I decided to grab the remaining beginner''s guides to the schools, I had yet to start. I hurriedly ran from one shelf to another, quickly finding the books, ''A Beginner''s Guide: Swamp Spells'', ''A Beginner''s Guide: Dark Spells'', and ''A Beginner''s Guide: Curse Spells''. I opened each one before setting them in their respective shelves.
A Beginner''s Guide: Swamp Spells
Slip, Bug Horde, Sicken
A Beginner''s Guide: Dark Spells
Weaken Resolve, Shift, Hide Presence
A Beginner''s Guide: Curse Spells
Venomous Spit, Toxic Needle, Toxic Dart
Skills Acquired
Swamp Magic Mastery II: Knowledge absorption in Swamp Magic is increased Swamp Magical Arts II: Able to learn some Beginner Swamp Spells Dark Magic Mastery II: Knowledge absorption in Dark Magic is increased Dark Magical Arts II: Able to learn some Beginner Dark Spells Curse Magic Mastery II: Knowledge absorption in Curse Magic is increased Curse Magical Arts II: Able to learn some Beginner Curse Spells
That went as well as I thought it would, now I must hurry to the Arena and watch the Elite battles. ¡­ Making my way toward Life Aid Arena, I was greeted with the same pop-up that greets me every time I enter here. I quickly find my seat in the already populated seats. I sat as close to the match as I could, not that I was excited for the match, but I wanted to at least see everything. On the field I see a dark robed figure with a familiar scaly face, Fic. And on the other side, I see a dopey faced man in gray robes with a white cross on the front. He had a horrible squint in his eyes. The light seem to shine off his bald head. I wonder how this will play out. ¡°I will smite you where you stand, filthy demon!¡± the bald man spat. Usually it was hard to hear things from so far away, but this strange man definitely said these things for the crowd to hear. ¡°Beg for forgiveness and I may let you give up quietly!¡± What was this strange development? I get that the Xernurochs were openly hated, but this was a strange thing to do to a fellow student.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Begin!¡± The announcement came from a feminine voice, my guess is that Mr. Announcer is on break or something. The gray robed man looked toward his palm which emitted a brilliant light, he then lobed this light toward Fic. Right at impact, the luminous orb exploded in great brilliance. Blinding me for a few seconds, I had to blink the dots out of my vision a few times before I saw the gray robed man kneeling under the foot of Fic, while repeatedly shouting, ¡°I GIVE, I GIVE, I GIVE!¡± What made the scene rather bizarre however, was that the entire time the bald man shouted these things, he was staring deeply into the eyes of Fic, who held him in his stare. Dark Magic for sure, but I wondered if it was affecting the bald man''s mind, or if it was intense fear that led him to giving up instantly. ¡°Xerfic''mion is the victor, Shantus will remain in an Advanced courses. Next.¡± As Fic lifted his boot off the shoulder of Shantus, he broke eye contact by turning around. At the moment the eye contact broke, Shantus looked part dazed, part terrified, and very confused at the same time. He hobbled off the field with some help of the professors. ¡°Next Battle; Yumari Lunari of the Elite Course, and new student, Corvinus. Begin.¡± This announcement lady really isn''t taking her time with these announcements. In a way, I missed Mr. Announcer, he filled his voice with emotion. I looked on to the fight and I noticed many Ice Nymphs gathering toward Yumari. Curious. I noticed the Earth mage, Corvinus mutter something under his breath, but because of the distance, I could not discern what he had said. At that instant, the entire ground became covered in Permafrost, which had caused Corvinus to be stuck in place. Ice then surrounded the Princess in a bulb like shape. Corvinus tried firing little pebbles and of different sizes at her, in a desperate attempt as the ice started to advance up his legs. The bulb like structure different look like it had sustained any damage, but instead started rise on a thick pillar. I noticed that the ice covered ground how taken on a different look, the ground was no longer flat, but instead the ice began making smaller versions of the gigantic structure that surrounded the Princess. It was then that I realized what it reminded me of, flowers. Not long after the ice that was creeping up the legs of the trapped Corvinus, did the ice reach his abdomen. He seemed to care about the fight no longer, but instead focused on smashing the his with his hands. The third time he uselessly hit his hands against the unrelenting ice, did all of the Ice Flowers bloom. I could feel the temperature of the field drop from where I was sitting, and knowing how the field was suppose to operate, that should been almost impossible with the Magic nullification around the audience. I looked back at the Princess smiling at her own victory while atop a flower of ice. I switched my gaze from the smiling Princess to that of the man completely encased in ice. It was then the announcer made her statements, ¡°Yumari Lunari is the Victor, Corvinus will remain in the Advanced courses. Next.¡± A team of people went on to the field to clean up the mess and recover the frozen body of Corvinus. The entire process took some time, but the audience around me were more than eager for the next fight. After the field was considered good enough for the next round, the announcer called out the next contestants as they walked out onto the field. ¡°Next Battle; Litavia Solaeum of the Elite Course, and new student, Ashley Smith. Begin.¡± This Princess walked out with a stride that wasn''t as refined as Yumari''s, but had a enough dignity to mark her of Royal Descent. Ashley greeted everyone with a smile and wave with an occasional air-kiss to the crowd. I have no doubt that she is definitely a Player. However the crowd had taken a keen interest in her and responded to her just as well as they responded to the Princess of Solaeum. At the start Ashley tried summoning a tree to hide in, just she did in her previous rounds. Though instead of going straight for the tree, like most people would. I saw a very familiar tactic being pulled by the fiery Princess. She dashed for the tree at insane speeds leaving fire in her wake, she then diverted from the path and ran around the tree that Ashley hid in. I have no idea what Ashley was up to, as she was hidden to the audience, but the Princess throwing fire left and right while running at incredible speeds, it was clear what was on the mind of Solaeum''s celebrity. It wasn''t long before the arena was cast in a sea of yellow fire, even the tree looked withered and had start to catch aflame. It looked as though Ashley''s plan was to ensnare Litavia in vines and roots on several occasions, but because of the speed of which she ran, that proved difficult. The exposed roots and dangling vines fed the flames that bathed the area. It wasn''t long until the hands of Ashley Smith rose from the tree in defeat. It was at that moment that the entire tree was engulfed and we heard the screams of poor Ashley Smith. The Life Aid Arena protected her body from the flames by robbing her consciousness, but that didn''t take away the unsettling screams. ¡°Litavia Solaeum is the Victor, Ashley Smith will remain in the Advanced courses. Next.¡± It looks like I inspired the fiery princess to learn a few tricks, either that or she just stole the idea from me because it ended up besting her. Either way, she does appear to hold her self in a slightly different way, even though it is a very subtle difference. She even dismissed the flames her self, making the efforts of the clean up team moot. ¡°Next Battle; Toruva Flarespearae of the Elite Course, and new student, Jason Blud. Begin.¡± The two figures walked out onto the arena, one being the incredibly recognizable dark figure that hangs around the bright and cheery Ashley Smith, his name was Jason Blud? I have a feeling that he is a Player from the brief abilities displayed yesterday. I watched him intently, he seem to have conflicting emotions. I decided to see Toruva was up to, given she was the only one moving. She brandished a sword, one that looked of superior design, and even had symbols engraved on it that gave it a stunning look, even from a distance. The sword appear to glow in her hands as she dashed forward. She ran very quickly with her posed to strike, with Jason Blud remained statue like until the last second, when Toruva brought down her sword. In an instant my jaw dropped, he turned to mist. This mist brushed by Toruva Flarespearae until he reappeared behind her and he grabbed both sides of her head and twisted with brute force, enough force for the violent cracking sound to be heard from the audience, which turned silent. The loud crack meant the neck had been broken, but the Life Aid effect was quick at work and mended the broken neck. The was collective sigh of relief when someone announced that she was still breathing. How much power did this man have? He almost broke the Life Aid Arena''s effects. With a loud voice, probably with the help of a voice projection spell, he spoke in the same volume as the announcer, ¡°I renounce my Victory.¡± With that being the only words he spoke with his gravelly voice, he strode off the field. ¡°Toruva Flarespearae is the Victor, Jason Blud will remain in the Advanced courses. There will be an hour long intermission before the next event, the Entertainment Bout. I will explain the rules shortly after. Dismissed.¡± With that, the audience left the stands in a mass exodus, but the scenes from the last few battles had left everyone mostly silent. While there were no deaths, or even any real consequences, the scenes were brutal to behold. I think after the break, everyone will still look forward to the entertainment bout. There was one thought on my mind though: I was not the only Vampire at this school. Chapter 13: Unsettling News I decided I would just follow the majority of the crowd to see where they would end up. It appeared that a large section of the crowd was headed in a single direction, while everyone else split away in their own directions. I remained with the crowd, walking at a rather slow speed. ¡°Did you hear what happened in the Capital?¡± A disembodied voice asked. ¡°Which one do you mean? There are three of them.¡± A sarcastic voice replied. ¡°Lunaeum of course!¡± The disgruntled first voice responded. ¡°Ha, did you actually say Lunaeum? I think you have spent too much time in the South. The capital in the North is Lunari, you know named after the Kingdom of Lunari. Honestly.¡± I couldn''t see these people, but I could visualize him shaking his head. ¡°Shut up! Anyway, I have some contacts in the North. They that there are have been an unprecedented rise in population. Apparently there have been an explosion in populations across all of the continent.¡± The third voice chimed in, ¡°Ha, probably flocking from the country side. You know how the country peasants are, always needing farm hands.¡± The first voice spoke again, ¡°I do not know, I hear a census check will be conducted shortly in Lunae- Lunari. But the most disturbing news that I heard form the capital in the North, is that the number of deaths are increasing.¡± ¡°Well with a rise in population, of course the death toll will raise. It''s natural, isn''t it?¡± The second voice asked. ¡°I concur. I mean-¡± The third voice was cut off. The first voice interjected, ¡°No, these aren''t your usual murders, the victims have weird wounds on them that look the same from victim to victim, also the victims are left with hardly any blood.¡± ¡°No blood? Do think it has anything to do with the increasing amount of nobility renouncing their ties and following that Lich in the South-East?¡± ¡°Thun''quqyg? Maybe, it doesn''t to be unusual enough to be the case. Hey, you''ve family in Royal Army''s ranks, yeah?¡± ¡°What of it?¡± ¡°That queen, everyone knows she is rapidly expanding her forces, why is that? An eminent war perhaps?¡± ¡°Perhaps. You can bet that the Principality of Shadows will involve them selves somehow toward the end. But, you know I will miss this fragile peace we have now. I don''t look forward to seeing you on the battle field.¡± The first voice paused for a moment, ¡°Yeah, I do not wish to meet my friends in combat. I have grown rather fond of you, despite what everyone else says about you!¡± ¡°Hey!¡± At this point I stopped listening to these people and I split away from the crowd, as saw my squad in the distance. I wandered over to them to see what was happening. As I got closer, I saw another group casually talking to them. It was then that the wonder twins saw me. ¡°Oi, here he is!¡± Potitus announced. Titus joined him in announcing my presence, ¡°With him on our side, you are going down!¡± I shook my head at their comments and I looked on to our supposed opponents. I saw six new faces that I have never seen before, but their were three that I recognized immediately; Ashley Smith, Jason Blud, and Litavia Solaeum. I looked at their robes and saw a gold pendant on each robe that looked like sun with eight rays coming from it, two opposite rays were longer than the rest and seemed stretch clock-wise. In the middle of the sun was a squiggle that separated it in half. Suddenly, I heard an argument burst between Litavia and our very own princess Yumari. ¡°So what if you have him? We have Jason Blud, he also defeated an elite.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? I seem to recall that our teammate beat a princess, that would be you, I believe. With that, the opposing team walked after their outraged princess. At this point, I had to ask, ¡°What is going on?¡± General Mizo spoke up, ¡°Were you not informed? For the Entertainment Bout, the three orders will go against each other. Us, the Blue Order. Them, the Red Order. And an order of diplomat spies, the White Order. A three way battle should be entertaining, no?¡± I kinda figured I was going to be the Entertainment Bout with the earlier comments, but a three way battle? ¡°So what are rules?¡± ¡°Well, they are the same for every year. A designated figure in each of the nine man teams is the ''Head''. Like in war, kill the head, and the body will soon follow. So the team with the last ''Head'' wins.¡± She replied. ¡°So protect the princess? Got it.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°That would normally be the case, but we have a different strategy in mind. See every year the princess, or the representative of the Kingdoms would be the ''Head'', but we are going to use a deception maneuver. We are going to have five members protect the princess, and three as a spearhead to get the other princess. You will be part of this spear head, but the deception is that you are the ''Head''. They will not see it coming since there is a student with more status than yours on the team.¡± ¡°That sounds ingenious. What of the White Order? I assume they are from the Principality of Shadows.¡± ¡°You assume correct, but you need not worry about them, they aren''t fighters and they will mostly likely immediate target the ''False Head'' from her shadows. We will worry about them when the time comes. The battlefield isn''t a place for spies after all.¡± She smiled at me. In the distance I heard a horn sound off, presumably from the Arena. Princess Yumari then announced, ¡°It is time, we march toward victory!¡± ¡­ ¡°Entertainment Bout is begin-¡± The Announcement Lady was cut off. ¡°Welcome to the Entertainment Bout! Hey, stop that!¡± A familiar announcement voice could be heard. ¡°Why are you here! You are injured!¡± Announcement Lady yelled. ¡°Who''s fault do you think that is?! I just couldn''t sit on the side lines and listen as you murdered this important job!¡± ¡°Go sit down! You are over reacting, I can not be that bad!¡± ¡°I can not, my ears cannot take it anymore, everyone needs me!¡± ¡°Whatever, do as you wish.¡± ¡°Sorry about that folks, let us continue the Entertainment Bout!¡± with a brief apology, Mr. Announcer continued, ¡°We have a special treat for you all this year. As you may know we have both princess from the kingdoms of the Silent Continent! What if I said they will lead a team to fight each other? Now what if I added the bonuses of a team of spies? Say ''Hello'' to the Entertainment Bout!¡± Our joyous Mr. Announcer was back. ¡°With all three teams on the field, let us begin!¡± I felt my squads eyes directed toward the Red Order, as if it were only natural. I had a strange feeling that the White Order were up to something, and so acting upon that, I glanced in their direction. Most of the people had black robes, indicating Dark magic, but there were some light purple robes in the mix as well, indicating Air magic. However, I wasn''t interested in their robes, but at their pendants, as each Order had their own. Their pendant was that of a dark hand, made of knives, with only four fingers. I know each pendant has something to do with their own country, but I think the symbolism in these were deeper than they appeared. My gaze didn''t seem to phase them, as they turned their backs toward us and made a huddle. ¡°Jack!¡± My attention was called by Yumari, ¡°We are starting, we need you to be focused.¡± General Mizo spoke as we gathered in formation, ¡°Today we seize victory for the Princess of the Kingdom of Lunari, the rightful heirs to the Marble Throne, seat of the lost empire. We are her knights, with our duty to guard her highness, and attack her foes. Today we will show the Divine Academy of Mages the might of the Blue Order! Strike true, your enemies, for we have decidedly won! Now Charge!¡± With that myself, Mae, and Sergeant Frostcaller ran forth, with Yue, Potitus, Titus, Fuki, and General Mizo ''protecting'' the Princess. To double secure the decoy, just in case they figured out our plan, or even got close enough to the princess, I wasn''t even in charge of the assault unit. That honor was given to Sergeant Frostcaller, I proposed this. Originally, I thought to recommend Mae, but something about her just didn''t sit well with me. I wasn''t in a full sprint, but I did follow closely behind Sergeant Frostcaller. It didn''t take long until we met the Red Order''s assault unit. I thought we were in for an immediate quarrel, but Sergeant Frostcaller paid them no mind as he continued forward. I caught a glance the faces that passed us, I saw Jason Blud and two faces I did not recognize. I was struck with the thought, that maybe they had the same idea as us and one of the figures that ran passed us, my bet being Jason, was the real ''Head''. I ignored my gut feeling and continued my pace with the Sergeant, until we were met with a giant earthen wall that surrounded the enemy command unit. It would be normally impossible to scale this thing as it was huge, and I doubt that I could phase through solid matter in my Mist Form. From the top of this small fortress, I could faintly see leaves. Leaves? Just I had questioned my eyes, I felt the ground give just a little under my foot. My sudden reaction to this was to turn to mist to protect my self from harm. I noticed that both the Sergeant and Mae jumped to side, as if their bodies commanded them to do so from instinct. The Sergeant I could understand his reaction times with his military background, but Mae? The reason the ground was unsteady was because of some roots jutting out and acting as tendrils to ensnare its prey. Unsuccessful, these long roots fell limply. I remained in my Mist Form, but I stayed on guard. I took note of the small movements in the roots that lay on the ground, and even the ground below them. ¡°Watch it, I do not think these roots are dormant.¡± I called out. My warning was met with two brisk nods. I was put on a team with the silent duo. We stood there motionless and stared at the wall. I could almost see the gears in Sergeant Frostcaller''s head spinning, trying to find a solution to our predicament. The roots stayed call, even at our approach, I do not think they can see us. To reaffirm this hypothesis I re-materialized my arm and grabbed a rock, which I threw at the wall. On impact, roots shot of the wall and toward my direction. Completely sound activated. Nice. I turned toward the Blue Order''s command unit and saw that General Mizo was valiantly fighting off the Mist form of Jason Blud in a stalemate. Meanwhile, the other two members of the Red Order assault force were winning in a one sided duel against the wonder twins. Meanwhile, Yue and Fuki were standing on guard of the Princess. Now that I assessed the situation at base, I re-materialized my body and I walked up to the wall, with the full intention of waking up it. I raised one foot, and slowly placed it on the wall as I could. Lifting my other foot gave me the oddest sensation of falling, as my body fell part way and halted midair. It was like I caught myself without catching my self. I placed my other foot silently on the wall and I looked down on the wall beneath my feet. In my perception, the ground and the earthen wall had switched sides. What was even more bizarre was the fact that my body had acted like the gravity had shifted from the ground to the wall. My tome strapped to my side did not flop to the side, neither did my sword slide out of its hilt. My blood normal, as if I was walking perpendicular and not on the face of a wall. I took another step, and I saw nothing had changed, it was really splendid. I decided to try my luck and quickly but quietly advance more steps. I looked back to see the faces of the Sergeant and Mae. Priceless. Sergeant Frostcaller''s usual grim face was struck with unsettled astonishment. Mae wore the face of utter shock. They didn''t keep their faces for very long and instead ran around the walls hitting the surface to draw roots out. A distraction. I no longer needed to take cautious steps, so I ran as fast I could to the top and flung myself over the lip.