《My Fantastic World Of Magic》 The Land Of Madness The atmosphere at Laurenhall was always cold. It didn¡¯t matter what season it was, be it winter or summer, as the land that knew monsters was always cold. If you found the days cold, then the nights would be freezing. Every adventurer worth his salt knew that. But not Jave. He was a good adventurer alright, he had good gear, and even knew a little magic. But he was tricked. Tricked into coming here because he was different. He had joined the adventurer¡¯s guild when he was seventeen. That was three years ago. Back then, he had nothing but a few rags to keep him warm and a small dagger he had lifted off a passerby. Before that, he was a beggar, and, if things got a little too extreme, a thief. He had never met his parents, from what he could remember. He grew up in an orphanage until the age of ten, at which point, a group of thieves and bandits burnt down the orphanage, and he was abandoned to the streets. Seven years later, as he squatted by the roadside, a trio of adventurers caught his eye. They laughed and talked merrily, feeling as if they were on top of the world. They talked about adventure, the thrill of it, and how they were going to explore all the corners of the world, fight the scariest monsters, and when they would grow old, they would settle down in some faraway land, and live like a wise old sage, recounting their adventures to merry travelers and young inexperienced adventures. Jave wanted that for himself. And so he became an adventurer, doing his best to ignore the strange looks he got, and doing his best to not let the mediocre quests he got get to him. He had known he was not strong nor smart, and to be the former, he had to work from the bottom up. And so he did, because three years later, he was one of the most liked adventurers in the city. So how did it come to this? Because he won a bet. Simple as that. A noble¡¯s son, declaring himself to be better than the ¡®filth¡¯ that was Jave, decided to challenge him to a duel. And Jave, having found no reason to refuse, accepted his challenge. And won. Gloriously. For him, anyway. The uppity brat, as it turned out, was a sore loser. And so he exchanged Jave¡¯s maps with his own modified version, where he had changed the names of many locations. Jave, having not been educated, didn¡¯t find anything wrong with the map. At least, not until he found himself in Laurenhall that is. Laurenhall was not an area where legendery beasts of myth lay. No, it just had mid ranked monsters, a bit challenging, but no problem to an adventurer like Jave. So why then, did it have such a famous reputation? The answer was simple. Illusions. There lay an artifact in the middle of the land, that did not let anyone leave until they had claimed it as their own, nor did it let getting anywhere near it easy. It drove every adventurer mad by the third day. Even the most powerful adventurers would find it a challenge. As for the reason why it was so cold, it was because of a monster that made Laurenhall its lair. The Chill sprite was usually just a pest that could be extinguished with a slap of the hand. The sprite that resided in the area, however, had taken advantage of all the adventurers that had gone crazy and died here, feeding off whatever was left of their souls, and growing more powerful with time. It was still fragile though. All it would take to kill it would a punch. Even a seven year old could kill it.The problem, however, was finding it, and finding it before you went crazy. But every adventurer usually just ignored it and made a beeline to the center, hoping to reach the artifact in time. Not Jave though. He knew that reaching the artifact in time would be near impossible for him. So would be leaving. The only hope he had was to get rid of that darned sprite so he could live whatever was left of his non-crazy days in peace, and also make it easier for the next adventurer. Maybe carve a message into a stone to avenge him too.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The forest was desolate, as the artifact drove every living thing that wasn¡¯t a monster to their breaking point, and that included all the wildlife. The trees were still alive though, though that was probably because they didn¡¯t have a mind to break. Jave was currently sitting in front of a campfire, rocking back and forth, his arms folded around himself. He hummed a melancholic tune, mostly just to distract himself. Not that it was working. His thoughts kept turning back to the life that he wouldn¡¯t be able to have. To all of the friends that he¡¯d made in the last couple of years. Would they care, He thought, If I died? Would they give Drygg what he deserves? He honestly had no idea. He was not very good with people. And yet he¡¯d still been able to make a few friends. Friends who actually cared about him. And treated him well. Not many friends as compared to others, but to him, that didn¡¯t matter. Norbert Hardstone, and Damen Enchime, were their names. Drygg was the name of the noble¡¯s son who had tricked him. He wondered what he was doing now. Maybe laughing with his other twisted friends about how the idiot who dared to take him on and win went crazy and had to be put down. Anger rose up in him. Then another, much more horrifying thought came up. Would they even know? That it was because of Drygg that I ended up here, and not because I was crazy enough to think I could claim Laurenhall¡¯s artifact as my own? Fear enveloped him, as he imagined his friends disappointment, and Drygg pissing over what was left of his reputation. That last part made him angry. Angry enough to clench his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. But it wasn¡¯t enough. He stood up, stomped over to a tree, and punched it. However, his punch delivered a lot more force than it should have, even with his enchantments, and the tree cracked. Then, what followed was lot more cracks with crunching noises, as Jave stared in shock at the huge crack he had left in the tree. Then, he realized, the tree was going to fall, and if he did not move, it would fall on him. And at the last moment, when the tree was an inch from his face, he dived to the right, saving himself from being crushed. His fire, he noted, was now extinguished, being in the path of the tree. He sighed. He got up, and dusted himself, then rubbed his hands together to put some warmth and feeling in them. Not a minute had passed by, and he could already begin to feel the numbing cold. He wanted to go find the sprite right there and then, but he stopped himself, knowing that he would freeze to death before he ever got that far, if he ever got that far. No, he thought to himself, have to wait until morning. In the mean time I need to get some rest. He went to the fallen tree, lifted it with that same superhuman strength that he was not supposed to be have, though it escaped his mind, as he was thoroughly exhausted. He then set to rebuilding the fire, and once that was done, he set up a tent, and collapsed into it, the exhaustion taking over. *** Jave woke up to the sound of his friends laughing. One was a young man, probably around the age twenty, just as he was, and had blonde hair, and brown eyes. He was not scrawny, nor was he overly muscular, in fact, he lay somewhere in middle of the two, just as all three of them were. His name was Norbert, and he held a wooden pitcher in his hand, the other on the hilt of his sword. He wore leather armor, just as Jave. Damen however, wore a set of Black leather armor, armor specially enchanted for stealth. In some openings, one could see the glint of the metal of throwing daggers. He had a long face, which always looked bored, and had green eyes. You could not make out his emotions from his face expressions, but from his body language. And right now, he seemed to be less reserved, and more open. He too, held a wooden pitcher, and was currently drinking from it. The three of them were in a room, with Jave lying on a bed, and his two friends sitting on chairs opposite to him. Norbert nudged Damen with his elbow and pointed to Jave with his pitcher. ¡°Look who¡¯s finally awake.¡± He said. Jave frowned. This didn¡¯t feel right somehow. Something felt off. And then it hit him. These weren¡¯t his friends. His friends did not drink ale in the morning. They were simply too self-disciplined for that. ¡°Who are you and what have you done to my friends?¡± The only thing he got in response were two malicious grins that spread all the way to their eyes. Their eyes, Jave noted, was now crimson in color. And then the world faded into darkness. Jave woke up sweating and panting. The dreams, he realized with dread, was only the first stage. It was only so long before he was consumed by the madness. *** End of chapter 1 Trouble In Sight ¡°It¡¯s the third day and he still hasn¡¯t come back yet. It isn¡¯t like him. He would never take a quest that lasted more than a day without us. You know that.¡± Damen said. Norbert shrugged. ¡°I know. But it¡¯s not like we can do anything about it. We have no idea where he went, and the guild will not tell us what quest he took.¡± Damen frowned. Then a thought occurred to him. ¡°What about Drygg?¡± Norbert sneered at the mention of him. But he did understand what Damen was trying to say. ¡°He and his group of followers have been acting too smug as of lately. I sense a connection there.¡± Damen said. ¡°Yes, but what can we do about it? We can¡¯t just spy on them all the time in hopes of them letting a clue slip, can we?¡± ¡°We can. And we will.¡± Norbert looked at his friend to see whether he was joking. He could not tell. ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± Damen said, as if reading his thoughts. ¡° It¡¯s what Jave would do if either of us went missing. I think if we were hesitant to do the same, it would speak loads about our character.¡± Norbert hesitated. ¡°That¡¯s different. Jave doesn¡¯t have a family, nor any expectations of him. We do.¡± ¡°But if he did, would it stop him?¡± Now Norbert had nothing to say. He was right. Even if he wouldn¡¯t admit it out loud, he knew he was right. He (Norbert) sighed. ¡°Fine. But if this goes wrong in any way, I¡¯m blaming it on you.¡± *** Norbert groaned for the umpteenth time. ¡°Oh, would you shut up! You¡¯re not the only one who¡¯s tired of sitting here in the dirt, you know!¡± Damen harsh-whispered. They were, in fact crouched in the dirt, and behind a few bushes. On the other side of the bushes was a very large yard, at the center of which was a fountain, and two stone benches on either side on it. On the benches, sat half- drunk youths who chatted and laughed, all of them in expensive attire. ¡°I know but at least could they do something more interesting than taking about girls? It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t talk about them either, but not for hours together!¡± Damen grimaced. ¡°I know, I know, but you got to keep it down, I don¡¯t think we want to be caught sneaking around the Kyras household spying on their heir.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Norbert gulped at the thought, and nodded. ¡°Why did these bastards deserve a title, anyway?¡± He muttered under his breath. ¡°Probably with some sob story they made up.¡± Damen said, making them both laugh. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but could you tell me what the sob story was?¡± A voice behind them said, making them both jump. ¡° You see, I love stories, And you have piqued my curiosity.¡± They both got up and turned around. They¡¯re eyes went wide. Standing in front of them, bathed in moonlight, was Althian Kyras, the current head of the Kyras household and father to Drygg Kyras. He wore green and black mage robes, a testament to his talent in magic. He had grey hair, a long beard, and hard grey eyes. Old age had set in lots of wrinkles on his face. He wore a grim expression, one he seemed to wear whatever the occasion. And now was no different. ¡°Run?¡± Norbert suggested. Damen, who was still in shock by the man¡¯s sudden appearance, took a second to process what he said. He glanced at his friend, and then an agreement was formed. They ran. Behind them, then could hear shouts, and then footsteps. Damen glanced back, to see a dozen and more guards of Kyras¡¯ household chasing him. And off to the side, Althian stood with an oddly amused expression, staring straight at him. His expression confused Damen, but he pushed it to the back of his mind to deal with the more immediate issue- namely, the dozen or so guards chasing them. Unlike the two boys running down the streets, they were fully armored. While they did not seem hindered by it now, he knew that would change. There¡¯s only so long you can run with fifty kilograms worth of steel weighing you down. While, yes, enchantments could lighten the armor, doing so would be quite expensive. And Damen could bet that the Kyras household was too greedy and selfish to spend their money on equipment even for their own guards. Damen and Norbert, however, had no such heavy armor. In fact, Damen¡¯s armor was specifically enchanted for speed and agility, along with its stealth enchantments. While Norbert did not have the same benefits as he did, he did not have any doubt as to whether he could outrun the guards. But Damen did not simply plan to outrun the guards. That was stupid, and he knew it. There could always be a hidden trick up their sleeve, so he had another plan. He glanced at Norbert. The blonde boy looked back at him as well, with a face that clearly said ¡®what?¡¯ . He gestured. A point to his... crotch. Norbert¡¯s eyes lit up and a grin spread over his face. That was all the confirmation he needed. He jumped to the left, and disappeared into the shadows. Some of the guards noticed it and broke off to surround the shadow that Damen had disappeared into. They unsheathed their swords, and approached the shadow warily. One of the guards sniffed. He smelt a strange faint odor, a benefit from the enhanced senses that he had got from a potion. Some of the guards looked at him strangely. Then, a loud grumbling sound filled the air. All the guards looked down, with widening eyes-and pissed themselves. And the worst part was yet to come. They cursed, and dispersed, heading towards the nearest outhouses they could find. A few hundred meters away, Norbert was finding it very hard not to laugh as the sounds of shouting and yelling came from behind. The culprit, namely Damen himself dropped down from a nearby rooftop and landed next to Norbert, and continued running. Both of them had very amused expressions on their faces as they ran. And, strangely, they seemed to run faster now. The reason behind that was the grumbling noises that continued to fill the air, along with the shouts and yells that came after. After five more minutes of running, they had successfully outrun the guard and reached a familiar inn. They barged in, panting for breath. Once they had caught their breath, one look at each other was all it took before they burst into laughter. Once they had got ahold of themselves, they apologized for the scene they made and seated themselves at a table. ¡°Well¡­ at least they didn¡¯t get ahold of our identity¡­.¡± Norbert said. ¡°....Yeah. I don¡¯t think that would end well in any way.¡± *** ¡°They were two teenagers, you say, one with the name of Norbert Hardstone, and Damen Enchime.¡± The old man, Althian Kyras nodded. ¡°They were sneaking about, and they¡­.¡± *** End of chapter 2 Lost In A Sea Of Depression Jave began to feel depressed. He already knew was going to die¡­ but still, that didn¡¯t make him feel any better. He then decided that thinking about it would do him no good, and so he got out of his tent and began disassembling it. Once he was done with that, he finished his morning work and set out to search for the sprite again. ¡®Search¡¯ would be calling it a bit too much, however, as all he was doing was wandering around in hopes of running into it. That was all he could do, seeing as how there were no clues to discern its location. If he was honest to himself, he didn¡¯t really expect to find it, and the only reason he was out on this search was because it gave him something to do. He then ran into a White Tine Boar, which barreled straight towards him as soon it realized there was an intruder in its territory. Just as it was about to hit him, Jave sidestepped it and gave it a punch which had a little more ¡®oomph¡¯ from his gauntlet¡¯s enchantments. His armor was one of his most prized possessions, as every single piece of it had enchantments on it. Needless to say, it was very expensive and therefore took him a lot of time before he could save up enough money to buy it. Right now, Jave was very glad of that decision as the boar crashed into a nearby tree, shaking off the show on its leaves. The Silver Tine Boars were known for their natural armor, which, as its name suggested, was silver. And not just any silver, but pure silver. As they grew in age, their armor would begin to gain natural magic enchantments, like strengthening, heat radiance, and other properties. Their hides were very valuable if one knew who to sell it to. Even their meat was valuable, due to their deliciousness and nutrition. Also, the more old they were, the more valuable they were, due to magical enhancements. Their tusks were made of silver too, and could be used in crafting fine swords with a proper smithy. However, for all their uses, there were disadvantages too. Silver Tine boars were very hard to find, even in forests whose danger level was that of mid rank. They were mostly found in upper ranking forests, but due to all the much more valuable monsters that lurked there, they were usually ignored. Lastly, and most important, was that they were resilient, especially when it came to fighting. For every three mid ranked adventurers who fought them, one wouldn¡¯t survive. That gave Jave a two in three chances of surviving. So he was very glad for the edge his armor gave him. In fact, parts of it were made form Silver Tine Boars themselves. He unsheathed his sword, and poised himself, ready to attack. The Boar lifted itself of the ground, and growled. Slowly, the snow on it turned to steam. The Boar¡¯s armor was glowing a slight orange, and it¡¯s tusks were glowing white. He didn¡¯t know what temperature it had to be to glow white, but he didn¡¯t want to find out. Abruptly, it charged at him again. Jave, simply sidestepped the attack once more, and thrust his sword into it. It only penetrated a few inches, before the sword was yanked from his hand as the boar¡¯s momentum pulled it forward. The boar growled, and landed a few meters away. The sword landed a few feet to its right. Shit, he thought, describing the situation in exactly one word. The boar turned around and looked at him, its eyes now crimson. Bloodlust, he realized. And then, without warning, the boar charged again, this time leaping at him. Jave barely had a few seconds to roll out of the way, putting him further away from his sword. However, he didn¡¯t have time to think about it, as the boar was charging at him- again.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Having no time to dodge this time, as the boar was too close and closing in fast, he closed his eyes, and concentrated. His five senses slipped away, and was replaced by an entirely different sense, that let him have an instinctual awareness of his surroundings, the mechanics of reality shown to him, but up to him to understand and manipulate. However, he had no time for the latter, due to the monster that was only a few feet from him. He pulled the beast¡¯s heat and kinectic energy into his fist, where he left it as potential energy. He then dashed forward, and punched it in the skull, releasing all the energy he¡¯d stole- ironically- from the boar. The boar¡¯s head split and the brain inside turned to jelly, visible through the large crack in its head. What it would look like from an outsider¡¯s perspective, however, would be that the boar suddenly stopped in midair, the glow in its hide fading, Jave¡¯s hand becoming too bright to look at, a white flash and sonic boom, and then Jave standing over the boar¡¯s corpse. And then Jave fell unconscious, falling onto the boar¡¯s corpse. When he would wake up, he would find that the corpse had disappeared, and his sword nowhere to be found. *** He had no idea whether he had just fainted from hunger and exhaustion and the fight with the boar was a dream or whether the whole thing was real. On one hand, the boar¡¯s corpse was nowhere to be found, on the other hand, his sword was nowhere to be found either. The sword not being where it was could be explained off by being picked up by a Khjung, metal loving creatures that lived underground, but the boar? He had no idea how to explain that. However, if the entire thing was an illusion or a dream, then that could explain why there was no boar, and he could have lost the sword to Khjung in his sleep. He was confused as to what to do. He could still be in an illusion, and if he was, he had no idea how to break it. But if he was in the real world, and he acted as if everything was an illusion, then that could lead to very bad things happening. Was this how everyone else went mad? He had no idea. And that scared him. He now realized why madness was so horrifying. It wasn¡¯t because it turned you into a monster, no, because it makes you doubt yourself to the point of not being able to trust anything nor anyone. Maybe the monster you see could be a sweet little girl, or the sweet little girl could be a monster. But you have to strike, not knowing whether what you killed was a girl or a monster, only that the latter could kill you if given chance, and you can¡¯t risk not attacking because of the former. And you¡¯ll never know, whether you killed a little girl or a monster. But the chance of it being the little girls eats away at your heart for the rest of your life. Jave now knew what hell meant. He felt depressed. He was going to end his life. He had to. He couldn¡¯t risk going mad. He¡¯d rather die than go mad. Because that would be a fate worse than death. So tears flowed down his cheeks, and froze. He had so many things he wanted to do. He hadn¡¯t even gotten rid of that damned sprite. On the bright side, maybe he could finally find out if there was life after death. A small part of him was even hoping for it. But another part of him knew, that it¡¯d probably just be oblivion after death. Now was not the time for those thoughts though. If he was going to die, then he would not die feeling sad. And, he still had to carve that message to get revenge for him. Now that he thought about it though¡­. Carving would take time, time he wasn¡¯t sure he had. After a minute of thinking, he decided that he would use a few pieces of parchment and empty out that bottle of wine in his bag, to use the bottle for preservation. And so he took out his quill and parchment, and wrote- This is a message to message from myself Jave, to speak out things that I wish I was able to convey myself. First I would like to say, I did not intend to come here, but was tricked. I was tricked by Drygg Kyras, son of nobleman Althian Kyras. The reasons were so petty that I feel that they do not deserve to take up valuable ink and parchment.But if whoever¡¯s reading in a time where Drygg still lives, then I ask you avenge me. If my friends Norbert Hardstone and Damen Enchime are still alive and well, thenI ask you to tell them to kick Drygg''s ass on my behalf. And, for whoever it might matter to, I want to say, that I had a dream. A dream of a life of adventure, and fulfilment. It made the last three years of my life the best three years of my life. Now though, I won¡¯t be able to live out the rest of my dream. So, I¡¯m telling you, to savor the rest of your life, and dare to dream. Do all the things I could not. From, Jave Snowborn, An adventurer whose adventure is about to end. *** End of chapter 3 Whole yet anything but Jave had just finished writing his letter before he saw the effects of Magic Sense kicking in. His other five senses faded away, leaving in an entirely different world. In truth, there was nothing different between it and the normal world other than the way it was perceived. It was the same world he had seen during the fight with the boar. What left Jave confused was that this was not supposed to happen on its own. It took effort to phase into the magic realm, yet he did not sense anything of the sort this time. And what further left him confused was that he could not deactivate it. Have nothing else to do, he observed the amazing energy flow all around him, that formed patterns that lasted for but a fraction of a second before fading and being replaced with a new one. He looked down at himself and saw a unique sort of energy, one that made all Souls. It was even more complex than the world in front of him. And yet, he understood it, or at least a small part of it. It further confused him, as staring at his soul always left with a severe headache. However, he pushed that confusion aside and decided to quench his curiosity first. The part he now understood was the part that translated information into senses and fed it to him. Seeing it gave him pause. Purple veins were attached to it, distorting it, and altering his senses. Though currently he was fine as he was not receiving his senses. He still had yet to find the cause of that. But first, one step at a time. He knew what he was going to be was undoubtedly dangerous. He had heard plenty of tales of people turning into monsters or worse, after trying to tamper with their souls. That didn¡¯t matter now, seeing as he¡¯d be a monster nonetheless if he didn¡¯t try. So he pulled on a few strands of the World Energy, and bent it to his will. It turned first to light blue, with his natural energy manipulation skills turning it to energy best suited for that. Now, though, he had no use for energy attuned mana, and instead turned it to Soul attuned mana, turning it into the same white energy of his soul. He pulled the strands into the part of his Soul that was corrupted with the purple energy and then used it to burn the foreign energy. He used whatever strands of Soul energy that was left, to form a weak and rough defense around that particular part of his soul. Then, his entire Soul pulsed, twisted and turned, changing itself. It now had a far better defense than he could ever make himself. Which was mind boggling. And should be impossible, considering he had no hand in it at ll. He was starting to feel fatigue. His awareness began slipping from him. Soon he found himself bombarded with fragments of memories, that slipped through his grasp as soon as they appeared. The rest of his sleep was uneventful. *** He blinked once, then twice, and got up groggily. The first thing he noticed was that he was no longer in a forest, and in some sort of rocky terrain. He also noticed the lack of some sort of presence that he had felt when he entered Laurenhall, but had not consciously registered it. His throat felt dry. He was sore all over. The sun scorched his skin. His armor was in tatters. He had no idea how that happened. Bruises covered his body, likely due to the rocky terrain. His sword was still missing. And then he spotted a glinting object in the distance. It was too far to make out the details, so the only thing he could see was a shiny object lodged in a rock. He frowned. There were too many blanks in his memory. Not that he could do anything about it. It seemed that he¡¯d have to work with he¡¯s got. And that was not very much. He swallowed, reminded of his lack of water. His stomach grumbled, reminding him of his hunger too. He reached over his shoulder, and found nothing but thin air.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He frowned once more. It seemed not only was his armor ravaged and his sword god knows how far away, but his backpack containing his tent, food and other necessities missing. He sighed, relenting his current circumstances. It seemed he¡¯d have no choice but to look for food and water. Glancing at the sun, he knew it would not be easy. And if he was going to choose a direction, he might as well choose the direction in which the shiny object that may be his sword lay. It seemed that his soul had changed somehow. It was one of the certain things he could discern from his memories. A lot of things didn¡¯t add up, with his memories altered. He¡¯d have to find out for himself what was true and what was not. Meaning he¡¯d have to re-learn everything he knew up ¡®til now because of the slight chance of it being altered. He couldn¡¯t risk it, seeming as his occupation consisted of a lot of fighting. A single twist of information was all it took for him to see a dragon as easy prey. Not that he¡¯d ever do such a thing. Even if his memories told him that dragon was easy prey, doesn¡¯t mean he would commit to seeing them as one. You¡¯d his entire personality if you wanted to do that. Back on topic, he had to figure out how and why his soul had changed. There was obviously more to it than his memories told him. Every single goddamn memory since he came to this place was twisted and jumbled up. But more importantly so, there was this nagging feeling telling him that he had come across something big, only for it to wiped from his memories or twisted up. How he would retrieve his memories, he had no idea, but he would do it, even if it meant fighting legendary beasts like dragons. Not like that would ever happen, though. That was one of the first things he would do, then, as soon as he got out of this place. Not fighting legendary beasts- but recovering his lost memories. Speaking about getting out of this place, he would first need to find the artifact. And to do that, he¡¯d need to be in good shape. And if anyone hasn¡¯t noticed, he was not in a good state. He¡¯d need to find some food, and some water too, or else he wouldn¡¯t last a day in this terrain. He finally reached the object, and unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t his sword. It was the Silver Tine boar that he had killed earlier. He sighed and collapsed. A lot of the wind had been taken out of his sails as he felt the disappointment of not getting his sword back. The sword held a lot of sentimental value to him. So did his armor, but he was able to push that aside for now. He was too tired to do anything. Even if it was only an estimated two hours since he woke up. The sun and heat had thoroughly sapped the strength out of him. He had eaten food or drank water for god knows how long. He wanted to sleep. It would be so easy to just give up and fall into peaceful oblivion. But a part of him resisted that thought, not willing to give up so easily. With a groan, and a lot willpower later, he lifted himself and set to explore the barren landscape. He didn¡¯t have any hope in finding anything though, as for miles all he could see was nothing. Just the occasional monster. He did his best to avoid those. Two hours later, he came across a cave, and explored it. It was empty of residents, save for a hill of ants, and even had a small pond at the back of it. Not even bothering to clean the water, Jave sank to his knees, cupped his palms and greedily drank the water, quenching his thirst. He let out a long sigh of contentment. The water felt like pure bliss to him. He collapsed onto his back. He still was hungry, but he felt he could survive another day without eating. He could eat the ant, the only problem was killing and gathering enough of them without gaining the attention of the entire swarm. And then he realized he could do magic. He felt like slapping his head for not thinking of it earlier. He once more slipped into the strange world, his other five senses disappearing. In front of him were thousands of white sparks, along with small amounts of mana and other energy pulsing through them. He did not create a flame thrower spell, as that wouldn¡¯t accomplish what he was trying to do, and instead set out to form a new spell. Runes of intense meaning formed in his head, and without hesitation he formed them in the real world. Fifteen minutes later, the spell was done, forming a massive complex pattern in front of him. He pulsed mana through it, and it activated. Thousands of strands reached out, and connected to the sparks. When they made contact, there was a flash of red, and the spark would be gone. Within seconds, all of the ants were annihilated. He opened his eyes, and let all his five senses return to him. His brow was drenched in sweat, a testament to the effort creating a new spell took. And this was comparatively easy. He got up once more, ignoring both the protests from the rest of his body and the smell permeated the cave. He kicked the ant hill and crouched down to separate the dirt from the ants as best as he could. After two to three minutes, he had gathered a small mound of dead ants, that would amount to three or four handfuls. After washing off the dirt from his hands, he took a handful of ants in his palms and brace himself for what came next. He closed his eyes and munched down. Ten minutes later, there was nothing left of the small mound. His stomach was satisfied, for the moment, something he was glad for. He still hated the entire experience though, along with the taste. It was still there, in his mouth, and took some effort to ignore. He laid back down, on the cold and hard stone, and closed his eyes. Without further ado, he fell asleep. *** End of Chapter 4 A Gift from Myself to Me Jave groaned. His back ached. His boy felt sore all over. His felt dry again, so did his mouth. He rolled over to the small pond, and delightfully took a few gulps of water. He then got up and proceeded to stretch. He wouldn¡¯t be any good in a fight if he felt like this. So he stretched until his muscles were feeling loose again. He was a bit excited when he felt his mana pool. If he had to judge, he¡¯d say it increased by a good ten percent. Not a lot in the short term, but for the long term? It meant he¡¯d swinging powerful spells around in no time. Relatively, anyway. He was hungry, again. And he wasn¡¯t willing to eat the ants again. One time was bad enough. The only choice left was to hunt for monsters. Or maybe find the Silver Tine boar and skin it. Then he realized it had probably rotted, after being left out in the open for a day or two. Jave sighed. He had no idea what to do. Except wandering around hopefully looking for the artifact, which was not a very good plan. He sighed again. He decided that he¡¯d do that anyway, since he had no better ideas. He was a bit reluctant to leave the cave since it was the only place he knew in this place that had water and shelter, but he had to relent, since he¡¯d only grow weaker without food, making his chances for survival grow less and less likely. And so he¡¯d returned to wandering the desert. Only half an hour later, he was already tired and thirsty. But he didn¡¯t go back. It was better to go back only after a substantial amount of time, or if he had found something/ At some point he found the boar, but his suspicions was confirmed, by the horrible odor it reeked of and the flies flying ¡®round it.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Two to three hours later, he was back in the cave and drinking from the pond again. He decided to wash his face too, to refresh himself. As he finished, he noticed something strange within the water. It was something brown, and hence camouflaged within the water. He squinted his eyes and did his best to make out the details. He could notice a few metal strips¡­ He gasped, and a grin spread on his face. It was a part of his armor. Or specifically, his chest plate. More specifically, a part of his chest plate. He immediately dived in and dragged it back to land, hugging it to his chest after. He loved his gear, after putting so much effort to get them. So it didn¡¯t matter if it was just a piece of what was left, because all that matter was that it was his. He then decided to inspect it, to figure out how the hell had it ended up in the bottom of some pond in some cave. Granted, he was also in the cave, but that particular bit of information was ignored. After looking over it, he frowned. It seemed the bit of armor was severed on purpose, judging from how the cuts were aligned along some particular lines where there was only leather and no steel. Jave¡¯s aromor was custom. His chestplate was no different. Now, an ordinary chest plate would be completely made from steel. But that would¡¯ve put too much weight on him, limiting his mobility. He could¡¯ve gotten a ¡®lighten¡¯ enchantment, but that would¡¯ve made it a lot more expensive. Instead, he ordered strips of metal be sandwiched between the leather, to reduce a lot of needless weight. But that was a secret known only to him, his friends and the blacksmith he had ordered it from. To anyone else, it was just a piece of leather, just a bit thicker than the norm. All of this meant the person who had cut it off was him, because he couldn¡¯t imagine his friends, nor the blacksmith ending up here too. Also because of the fact he hadn¡¯t see any signs of life besides him, and the ants ¡®til now. Looking closer at it, he could see something crossed into a bit of leather. Willpower. He frowned. What the hell does that mean? He recalled reading about Willpower in a history book. It said it was what made Gods. A large amount of people believing against all logic ended up manifesting a god. Or miracles. Oh. Then he fell to the knees, clutching his head in pain. But that didn¡¯t help. The pain was from the inside. Images passed through his vision. *** End Of Chapter 5 Hold up! > String of random words - oh, heart, king, crown, loyalty, DNA, jade, klingon,laugh, smile, frown, giggle, wink, pink, good, bad, great, shit. Sorry guys, but it looks like I won''t be releasing a chapter till next week. I was planning to do it today, but real life got in the way.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Buuuuut, as a bonus you might see some stuff I drew up myself for the book. I might not be an artist, but I''ll be damned if can''t draw something decent. And maybe I''ll make the chapter even longer than my other chapters. P.S, I couldn''t post something that doesn''t have atleast 500 characters, hence the random words. Interlude Damen and Gazette walked together, hand in hand. The atmosphere was that of a pleasant evening. Until Gazette made the mistake of bringing Jave up, that is. Everyone had heard about Jave¡¯s disappearance. No one was surprised, thinking his ego had gotten the better of him. Except for his friends off course. Jave was always well prepared before going out on quests. Till now he had never shown any signs of arrogance. So how then, did he disappear? It could be a random monster, but any monster strong enough to kill him was not something that just pops up in the middle of nowhere. That meant someone had their hand in it. And everyone with half a brain could figure out who that someone would be. But the problem was proving it. And the fact that someone was a noble. So they were stuck. Damen sighed. He was just sick and tired of the stupidity of it all. But he knew that being sick and tired of it would change nothing. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Gazette asked. Damen nodded. ¡°Yeah, just¡­ ¡° He shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Gazette frowned. ¡°Are you sure? It doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯s nothing.¡± Damen pinched his nose. ¡°I know¡­ listen, just stop talking about it. I¡¯m not feeling so great right now.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Gazette took a long glance at him before wrapping her arms around him. Damen froze, unsure of what was happening. ¡°You know you can tell me anything, right? Because I haven¡¯t been your friend all these years for nothing.¡± Damen sighed, and his shoulders slumped. ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s just that things as they are¡­, they¡¯ve been weighing down on me. Jave was a good man¡­ and now he¡¯s gone. He might be alive, but now I¡¯m not really sure. And the worst part is we can¡¯t even touch the person behind it.¡± Gazette tightened her embrace. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m sure if I can really help with Jave¡¯s disappearance¡­, but if you¡¯re feeling down, remember I¡¯ll always be here for you.¡± A small smile formed on Damen¡¯s lips. ¡°Thanks Gazette, you¡¯re the best.¡± ¡°You¡¯re damn right I am.¡± She replied, further tightening her embrace. *** The world was spinning. His head hurt. It was as if something was trying to scoop his brain out. He grit his teeth, and struggled to stay conscious. He won, but only barely. The world finally stopped spinning, returning him his senses. He pulled out his map and tried to figure out where he was. The forest behind him told him that he was somewhere in the east. The snow- wait snow? He squinted his eyes, and the world flickered, revealing a desert. Then it flickered and was replaced by the snowy landscape. He frowned. An illusion this big¡­ and that strong¡­ there was no doubt as to where he was. The question was why his map told him different. He looked closer and noticed a few irregularities. Then it struck him, the map was meant to deceive. And there was no doubt as to who would do such a thing. Jave found himself sighing again. Even if he knew the reason behind why he was here, it would do him no good if he didn¡¯t way to escape. And he would. A glimmer of light passed through his eyes, before disappearing. Jave himself was unaware of this. So he then went backwards, back into the forest. And twenty minutes later, he found himself standing in the exact same spot as before. He swore, and then stomped back into the forest. Five minutes later, panting from exhaustion, found himself back in the same spot. Then he had a crazy idea. He closed his eyes, losing all his senses and gaining a new one. He grasped at all the mana in him and formed a tight cocoon around him. He opened his eyes and found a desert ahead of him. He whooped, and then the mana cocoon exploded, knocking him into blissful unconsciousness. Unleashed Deep green blades swayed under the wind. The night could be described as a dangerous time, a time where the darkest monsters came out. And yes, that is true. But what it fails to capture, is the tranquility it brings, with its silence, and the calming cold. It is also a time for rest, where people let go of their problems and recover from all the stress of the day. It is a completely different world from the day. And some people like the night more than the day. People who enjoy the tranquil, more than the chaotic energy of the day. Fiona knew it better than anyone else. No one spent as much time awake in the night as she did. But she did not sleep. Or rather, she was not able to. It was a curse, from a lesser demon she had killed, when she was still in her prime as an adventurer. So this was her way of relaxing. A deep trance like state. When she had gotten the curse, she had laughed at the demons face thinking of it as not a curse, but a gift. The demons only reply to her was a grin, before it passed away. But now she knew. She couldn¡¯t be an adventurer, because it was simply too demanding, especially for a person that couldn¡¯t sleep. In fact, she couldn¡¯t live a normal life at all, because even that would be too stressful for her. Instead, she had to live the rest of her life alone, out here, in the woods.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Her friends had visited, but one by one they had fallen, either to a disease or a monster. But she still lived, all the way out here, alone. Old. Her parents had passed away long ago, and she did not have any siblings. So she knew she would die alone. She somberly smiled. At least it wouldn¡¯t be long. She bent down to pick a flower. It was bright orange, with the tips of the petal yellow. She put it into a mortar and pestle, and began to grind. The result was an orange paste. She scooped it up and put it into a bowl filled with water. She then mixed it, adding a few pinches of various ground up dried herbs every now and then. The result was a glowing green liquid. She took it, and gulped it down. Then some of the vigor returned to her, and she no longer looked as sickly as she did before. With some effort, she got up and went inside her small cottage, before collapsing onto a chair. Her eyes had a few tears in them, but she blinked them away. She turned towards the fireplace. The flames blazed, and then images began to appear. Each were cryptic and vague, acting only as a piece of the puzzle. A healer, who held in her hands a beating heart. An energy elemental, with an unyielding will. A mage, with runes etched all over his skin, and eyes that was infinite in its depth. A shadow, which a head a skull, and in the skulls eyes was pain and suffering. Two spots on the shadow¡¯s head was more darker , and held malice, death, and sadistic joy. She froze. The last image¡­ hadn¡¯t faded away. She felt dread build up within her. Slowly, the shadow turned to face her, and¡­ she felt something¡­ wrong. A feeling that was deeply rooted in her mind. A dark line appeared where the shadow¡¯s mouth would be, and it twisted upwards into a grin. *** A shrill scream filled the air. Suddenly, Kylos felt dread deep in his stomach. He pushed it away, and ran towards to source of the noise. He found a small cottage. Wasting no time, he pushed open the doors and froze. An old woman was lying on the floor, dead. Her face was pale, her eyes milky white. Her face was twisted in an expression of horror. And then the feeling of dread came back, ten times as stronger. Kylos started shaking, paralysed in fear. And then, he saw it. The old woman and Kylos¡¯s screams weren¡¯t the only ones heard that night. *** End of Chapter 7 Mini-chapter 1- Imminent danger Jave shot up, his eyes wide. Something felt wrong, so very wrong. He felt as if something was searching for him. He looked around, searching for the source of his fear. But he did not see anything. Yet, the fear still remained. Every ounce of being told him to hide, to not get caught. Not one to doubt his instincts, He ran, as fast as he could, into the land of madness. He did not care about the artifact, as the fear within him was causing him to lose all his common sense. After hours of running through flickering landscapes, he came upon a cave. And so, he ran into it, and fell to his knees, breathing hard. The feeling had not gone away, instead, it had only gotten worse.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He forced his mind to calm down, as he knew from experience, you couldn¡¯t fight very well when you were panicked. Then, the fear quadrupled. His eyes widening, he looked up, to see a shadow, grinning at him with a skull in its hands. When he looked into its eyes, he felt the death within it, and all its bloodlust. Then, he felt something wrong, pulling at his soul. He fell down onto his knees, feeing his strength leave him. The world was beginning to become blurry, his thoughts hazy. Just as he was about to die, he saw it¡¯s true form, waiting to eat him whole. Unwilling to die so easily, Jave roared in defiance. His mind lost the layer of fog it had over it, the strength returning to his muscles. Then, willing it to just die, he clenched his fists, and punched the shadow. There was a thunderous boom as his fist connected with its head, and Jave was sent flying back. Mini chapter 2 Bang! Run. Cower. Jave groaned, and picked himself off the ground. He still felt like something was after him, but it was just faint now. He recalled what happened and blinked. He punched the¡­ thing, and he ended up flying? That did not make sense at all. The thing was now gone though. For that he was thankful. He shuddered as he remembered the dread he felt from just looking at it. He had a lot of questions in his head. Like for example, How the hell did I pack so much power behind that punch? Obviously to a normal person, that would sound crazy as they would probably be thinking about what the hell that thing was rather than why they punched so hard. But Jave was an adventurer, monsters was nothing new to him. And as adventurer, he obviously had the desire to become more powerful. So it was natural for him to ignore a freaking demon and focus on a punch instead. Jave pondered over it. He recalled willing the demon to go away. Was that it? He looked at his hand and shrugged. Then he focused on a rock and tried his best to recreate the emotions he had earlier. He then punched it.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. *Bang!* A cloud of dust came out of the cave. A few seconds later, Jave came out coughing and clutching his head, trying to stay upright and get rid of the dizziness. A minute later he was fine, except for a small headache. Now Jave was thinking again. His last experiment was a success, that was for sure. His head was buzzing with all the possibilities. To an adventurer, what he had just found out was priceless. He could easily defeat a Stone Titan with a punch. And god knows what else he would be able to do. Where there is a will, there is a way. *** Sirien froze. The wand he was holding in his hand broke. He didn¡¯t notice. He felt a need to run. And hide. A very strong need. Almost as if something was warning him. So he ran. He ran out of his tower and into the forest, ignoring the shouts of his fellow mages. He ran further and further. Then the feeling stopped and he slammed into a tree. He got back up and rubbed his forehead. A bump was starting to form. What the fuck just happened? *** Athena screamed. The students around her jumped in surprise and looked at the source. The girl in question was now cowering under the table with all the ingredients required to make an advanced healing potion. Tears streamed under her cheeks. She was shivering. Her fellow students tried to help her but she scratched at anyone who came near. Then she blinked her eyes and looked around in confusion. Then her cheeks flushed red as she recalled what just happened. She then quickly ran out of the classroom in embarrassment. She reached her bedroom, went in, locked the door behind her and collapsed onto the bed. What just happened? Am I going insane!? *** End of chapter 8 Eyes and Paranoia What the fuck just happened? He winced and turned around, wondering how long he had been running. He shuddered as he remembered that feeling. He shrugged, and looked at the ground. A look of intense concentration crossed his face, then he was in the air, flying back to his guild. Half an hour of flying later, he was back in his room. His brother was looking at him with a worried expression. ¡°What?¡± he found himself asking. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®What?¡¯, two hours ago you just up and ran, looking like the fucking devil was chasing you! Scared the shit out of me, you know that!?¡± Kiere said. For all I knew, it certainly felt like the devil was chasing me! He shrugged. ¡°I have no idea what happened. One moment I was practicing my¡­.¡± His eyes widened.¡± ¨CMy wand! Where is it!?¡± Kiere scratched his head. ¡°It¡¯s on your desk in the Library. It¡¯s in two pieces though.¡± ¡°No! Goddamn it, that wand took me three months to make!¡± Kiere gave him a self-satisfied grin. ¡°Serves you right, for scaring the shit out of me. We thought you¡¯d went and summoned something again.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°That was an accident, and I was seven years old! Speaking of which though, that feeling¡­ it did- oh shit oh shit oh shit it is the fucking devil! We need to tell everybody fast and¡­. Why are you looking at me like that?¡± ¡°A devil would have destroyed a kingdom by now.¡± The wind went out of his sails. ¡°Oh. But I swear it felt like it. I remember that feeling very vividly.¡± ¡°Even if someone had summoned a demon, why would you be the only person to feel it?¡± ¡°Maybe¡­ because I summoned a demon before?¡± He didn¡¯t sound very certain. His brother raised an eyebrow. ¡°Akalis, Movare, Ferron, and plenty of elders have summoned demons. I¡¯m sure they would have felt it too, if what you¡¯re saying is true, and if it is true, everything would probably be going to shit now.¡± Sirien slumped back into his chair. ¡°But that feeling¡­ it made me feel like something was after me, and when it found me¡­ ¡° He shuddered. His brother got up and gave him a pat on his shoulders. ¡°Or maybe you¡¯ve been working too hard. I admire your dedication, Sirien, we all do, but you need to take a break time to time. Or else all sorts of things could happen.¡± Sirien half-heartedly nodded, his thoughts somewhere else. ¡°Well, goodnight, sleep well, because seriously, you need it.¡± His brother said, now standing by the door way. He was about to nod when he swore he saw¡­ something staring at both his brother and him, with malice. But before he could figure out more, it disappeared, leaving him looking over his brother¡¯s shoulder, his face pale. His brother, noticing his gaze, turned around to find nothing there. He turned back to his brother with concern written all over his face. ¡°You know what? First thing tomorrow we¡¯re gonna find you a girlfriend. Maybe you might be relieved from stress a little, and finally get out of your cocoon.¡± His eyes widened, but before he could protest, his brother was already gone. Some not so nice words filled the air. Just as he was about to go to sleep, he could help but remember that¡­ thing, but finally dismissed it and fell into sleep. The eyes of a mage in a painting turned towards Sirien. He shuddered once more, but did not wake up. The mage¡¯s lips turned upwards into a sadistic, horrifying grin. *** End of chapter 9 A glimpse of the future The sound of explosions, screams, and horrifying laughs filled the air. Pitch black creatures darted around the battlefield, killing hundreds each time. The bodies were swallowed immediately after by seas of red that grew with each body. It was chaos, and everybody knew it.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°We have to keep going.¡± A man made of pure energy said. ¡°I know. But¡­ what if we fail? We¡¯re just two.¡± A mage said. ¡°Three.¡± A woman said, causing the men to turn around. The Energetic man nodded at her, and she nodded back. The other man glared at her. ¡°Anyway, as I was saying-¡° ¡°Stop. Listen.¡± They did. Then they looked at each other, and ran. Auras in the lunchroom Athena was having a very bad day. Rumors were already starting to spread in the academy. Everyone whispered and snickered as she walked past them. Even her friends would laugh at her. But then again, they weren¡¯t really friends, just superficial. She wasn¡¯t much of a social person, preferring to stay away from people and any social gatherings. But she was a good alchemist. That nobody, not the girls who laughed at her, nor the teachers themselves could deny. But she wasn¡¯t a noble, and it made her life utter hell. But she trudged on, despite all of it, because she believed in herself. That one day she might be the greatest alchemist and healer in the world. By then, she would be laughing at the pettiness of all the idiots who surrounded her. She was getting a bit paranoid though, and she knew that. Though it wasn¡¯t her fault if she was seeing things that would make a grown man crap his pants. In fact, she already was paranoid, so a couple of moving and things moving in the shadows didn¡¯t make much of a difference. The bell rang. The professor dismissed the class. Time for lunch. She took the last seat, and sat down alone. Not many sat next to her, but she didn¡¯t care anymore. She had learnt enough about her fellow classmates that was glad to be sitting alone. That didn¡¯t make life any easier for her though. She sighed and began to eat the mush, while keeping an ear out for rumors. ¡°You know that adventurer¡­ what¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Is he Gastor?¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s the one-¡° ¡°Felicia?¡± ¡°I asked what was his name, not her name, idiot.¡± ¡°Oh. Then is he Jave Snowborn?¡± ¡°Yes! Apparantly he¡¯s gone missing for more than a week now.¡± Now that particular rumor caught her attention. She had heard about the adventurer a year ago, and she loved him. Well, not really, but she loved the idea of an orphan on the streets becoming the best adventurer in his town. Sometimes she had fantasized about going through the same thing herself, laughing at all the people who dared doubt her. ¡°Oooh! I bet that noble¡­ darn it, what¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Drygg Kyras?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Yes! I bet he had something to do with it.¡± ¡°Yes. That commoner should have learnt to stay in his place. Just like that bitch over there.¡± She tensed, anger threatening to control her. But she didn¡¯t do anything, pretending to have not heard them, and continuing to eat. ¡°Hey bitch!¡± Snickers could be heard throughout the hall. She ignored them and continued to eat. ¡°Oh, looks like she has some sort of problem in her ears. I bet she got it from her-¡° She shut them out, not hearing any of the words. She did hear the words, but they just flew over her. Then suddenly her table was knocked over, toppling her and spilling food all over her face. She kicked the table off her face, and got up, wiping the food off. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard some crass insults and some snickers, but she avoided them. She opened her eyes and turned to face them. All of them. ¡°Who did that?¡± She calmly asked. Everyone went silent. She had no idea why. She was expecting them to laugh, joke, or anything but this. But she accepted it all the same. ¡°Are you all cowards? I want to know who did that!?¡± At this point she had no idea who was talking anymore. She had never done anything like this before. But she was so fucking sick and tired of all this shit, so she embraced it. A couple members pointed to one group. They¡¯re faces paled when she looked at them. She had no idea why. They were the same group she was listening to earlier. She pointed to them and asked- ¡°All of you, have you no better job to do? It¡¯s almost as if you¡¯ve got your cock up your brains.¡± She shook her head in pity. ¡° I¡¯m sorry for you. I¡¯m just sorry that you won¡¯t get anywhere with your pathetic lives.¡± The leaders¡¯ face reddened with anger, but he was too embarrassed to do anything about it, as was the rest of his group. Then she simply walked out of the hall to go to the washroom. She washed her face and clothes and used a simple heat spell to dry herself. While she was walking to her room, a voice called out to her. ¡°You know, that was one hell of a performance.¡± She turned around to see a young man leaning against the wall and claping. He stopped and said; ¡°Though, as much as I loved that fact you finally stood up to yourself, you¡¯re gonna find yourself in trouble. Lots of trouble.¡± ¡°Oh, and what¡¯s it to you?¡± She asked. He shrugged. ¡°Just thought that you have good talent, and it¡¯d be a waste to see you die.¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°Oh, and I¡¯m Damen, by the way. If you need a friend, I¡¯ll be here. Trust me when I say I know how much of a pain it is to deal with nobles.¡± He offered his hand. She took it. ¡°I¡¯m-¡° ¡°Don¡¯t bother, I already know you¡¯re name and all that stuff. I¡¯m a rogue for a reason, right?¡¯ ¡°And why should I trust you?¡± He shrugged again. ¡°Like I said, those nobles are a pain in the ass, and it¡¯s always good to have some allies with you.¡± ¡°Right¡­ why do I have a feeling I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re name before?¡± She asked. He shrugged again, a grin on his face. ¡°I might just be part of the Frost Men adventurers group.¡± He said. She gasped, and stared at him with an open mouth. ¡°Yeah, yeah, it¡¯s not that big a deal, but anyway, I got to be going. Have a project that I¡¯m working on.¡± He said, then turned around, walking down the corridor. He stopped midway, then turned around, and yelled; ¡°You¡¯ve got an impressive Aura, you know that? I¡¯d be working on it if I were you. You know, assassins and all.¡± Then he turned and disappeared, leaving Athena staring wide-eyed and open mouthed at the spot he was. *** End of chapter 10 Dawn and Dusk Jave gasped. Then he blinked, sifting through his new or rather, regained memories. He frowned when he recalled the black thing. Yes, he was calling it the black thing, having no idea what it actually was. He shrugged and got back up onto his feet. He went to the pool and got rid of his thirst. All while contemplating his new knowledge. Apparently, he must¡¯ve used his Will to change his soul to get immunity to mind magic. That would explain a lot. But after solving that one mystery, he now had others, like for example, What the hell was that black thing!? And others. But first, he had to get out of this place. But he would finish off the artifact first, to prevent it from taking any more lives. He would then gloat about how he defeated the artifact right in front of Drygg¡¯s face. There, goals set. Now he had to figure out a way to reach them. Then, he had an idea. A flight spell .He was no mage, but with his new discovery, perhaps he could will himself to make the spell? He shrugged and decided to give it a try. He closed his eyes, and sunk into the other world, his other senses forgotten.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. He then pulled on his own mana, and pushed it out of him. He then Willed it to form into a spell that would allow him to fly. The formless man began to condense and form patterns. After a whole minute, the spell locked into place. He opened his eyes, and found himself still standing. He frowned and took a spell forward. Instead, he ended up gliding a few centimeters above ground. He then found himself moving towards a wall. He swung his arms around, to no avail. He slammed face first into the wall. And bounced off afterwards, spinning. If he had perhaps known about gravity, he would have realized that his spell simply rid himself of it. After all, he had asked for a spell which allowed him to fly, not a spell that let him fly around while controlling his speed and direction. Alas, he knew none of this, so he was left cursing at his luck to receive such a ¡®useless¡¯ spell while he spun around in air. Half an hour later, he had finally figured out how to properly maneuver himself, subconsciously discovering newton¡¯s third law. And so, he exited the cave, gliding across the desert inches above ground at speeds that would rival the flight of a dragon. With an extremely large grin on his face, of course. Though, a small hill had wiped that grin off his face. Grumbling, he used the same hill to propel himself in the same direction he was going earlier. In a few minutes, he was back to amazing speeds. Then, the landscape began to change. The ground was now gray and had no soil, nor vegetation on it. A bright beam of light erupted from a shiny object not far from him. He followed the beam, and finally reached it a few hours later. It was a small silvery sphere, barely the size of his fist. Every few minutes, the sphere would begin to glow, then that glow would grow in luminosity, and then it would release a beam into the sky. He walked to it, mesmerized and awed. He held out his hand, and touched it with a tip of his finger. There was a bright flash, and then the sphere was gone. *Ding!
Congratulatons! You have unlocked the system!
System Newbie Jave stared at the blue screen in front of him,blinking in confusion, half because of the bright flash just moments ago, half because of the blue screen. *Ding!
Congratulations! Since you are the one to unlock the System, you are awarded access to every feature pertaining to with the exception of administrator features!
He stared at it again, not understanding a word. *Ding!
Primary Menu:
PERSONAL STATUS
PERSONAL SKILLS
PERSONAL CLASS
INVENTORY
PERSONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
HUD (Heads up display)
***
Secondary Menu:
PARTY
PARTY CHAT
SYSTEM SHOP
BASIC INFORMATION
RANKINGS
GLOBAL CHAT
GUILDS
Okay, now he was even more confused. What was he suppossed to do? So the box that said ''Basic information'' piqued his interest. Especially because he had no idea about what was going on. Then- *Ding!
BASIC INFORMATION:
MENU
PERSONAL STATUS
PERSONAL SKILLS
PERSONAL CLASS
INVENTORY
PERSONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
PARTY
PARTY CHAT
SYSTEM SHOP
BASIC INFORMATION
LEVELS
EXPERIENCE
ATTRIBUTES
GLOBAL CHAT
RANKINGS
GUILDS
And now Jave was overwhelmed. He had no idea what to choose first, or even how to choose for that sake. His eyes settled on the first option and- Another box appeared. A menu apparantly was some sort of list, with a bunch of options he could choose from. How to choose them? Just think about it. After he was done it was replaced with the ''Basic Information'' box. He went through all of the information quickly.
PERSONAL STATUS: You status gives you the information about your body, mind, and soul. To put it simply, all the information about you is analysed, classified, and then displayed to you. Command: Think ''Status''. Request knowledge related to your mind, body, or soul.
PERSONAL SKILLS: You''re skills are abilities that are unique and let''s you be superhuman. You can obtain them through quests, a particular action, the System Shop, levelling, or by being ''skilled'' in something. Command: Think ''Skills", or request knowledge about skills.
PERSONAL CLASS:Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
INVENTORY: These are personalized pocket dimensions that allow you to store upto 9 items that may not weigh more than fifty kilograms at default. In order to upgrade it, you must spend money in the System Shop. You may also upgrade as a reward from a quest. You''re inventory will be displayed at the bottom right corner of your vision in the for of a chest. To access it, you must think of doing so, and your various items will be displayed at the bottom of your screen. Select or think of a particular object to either access, or store it. Note: Some items may not be carryable in the inventory. You may have to upgrade you''re inventory to store them.
And so on. After reading their descriptions, Jave couldn''t hep but be amazed. So much that he had trouble beleiving it was real. But after all that had happened over the past few days, he was a bit less sceptic than he should''ve been. But he wasn''t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, so he just accepted it. And now- Status!
NAME: Jave Snowborn
CLASS: Arcane Energy Manipulator
LEVEL: 1
AGE: 17 Years
GENDER: Male
MANA: 167 Points
MANA REGEN: 0.75 /Second
STAMINA : 200 Points (-40 )
Hit Points: 100
STAMINA REGEN: 1 /Second (-0.6)
ATTRIBUTES:-
STRENGTH: 16
INTELLIGENCE: 9
WISDOM: 7
DEXTERITY: 17
AGILITY: 15
MENTATLITY STRENGTH: 12
CHARISMA: 16
WILL: 13
SKILLS:-
ARCANE ENERGY MANIPULATOR: Energy Absorb Lvl 2
Energy Expel Lvl 2
Energy detection Lvl 1
Energy Creation Lvl 1
Fire Manipulation Lvl 1
Electricity Manipulation Lvl 1
Kinetic Energy Manipulation Lvl 1
CLASSLESS SKILLS: Sword mastery Lvl 3
Cooking Lvl 2
Meditation Lvl 4
Stealth Lvl 3
Analyse Lvl 1
Tracking Lvl 5
Charm Lvl 2
Zero Grav Lvl 3
Untouchable Mind Lvl N/A
STATUS EFFECTS:
Fatigue (- 50% Mentatility, -60% Stamina Regen, -40% Mana Regen)
Hunger (-25% Mentality, -70% Strength, -20% Stamina, -10 HP/ Min)
Interesting, thought Jave. He understood why he had the skills and stats he had, except for the Charisma and Mentality attributes and the ''Charm'' skill. The manipulation skils he knew came from the class, so did the energy creation skill. As for the [Untouchable Mind] skill... he had no idea what to think about that. It sounded to good to be real. And so just dismissed it. He rolled his shoulders and dismissed the screen. He now observed his ''HUD''. He had found out earlier that he could customize it, because he had access after unlocking the system, whatever that meant. So, he had left the white and gold chest as it was, and set the mana bar at his top right corner as a glass tube filled with violet mana potion, topping off the end with gold caps. His ''Health'' bar was dangerously low, he realized. The System had displayed that you would not necessarily die if your HP ran out, only that if it was that was way for too long,then you would die. Unless, of course, there was a dagger lodged in your head. Or throat. Or heart. Point was, certain status effects would not immediately kill. But that gave him a week or less before he died of hunger. And that was if he managed to reach the cave in two days. He knew thirst would kill much faster. And so he set off towards the direction he came, willing the spell he had made before into existence, with one thought in mind. The land of madness was no more. Not a chapter Sorry guys, looks like there going to be a delay. My exams are starting from Monday, and so until my exams end, I won''t be able to post anything. Bare with me. I''d say it''ll be a week and three days.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo abaababababababbabababbabababbabababababababababbabababababababababbabababaabbabababababababababba On the bright side, I''ll have a new and hopefully better cover page then. Return Jave was a decent adventurer. Others might have seen him as great, or even mediocre, but to himself, he was decent. He would call himself great the day he slays a dragon. Why? because of a small dream. Also because no great adventurer would be starving and struggling with a sprite. "Stupid sprite." He muttered. The temperature rised by a few degrees, making Jave even more miserable. The only reason the sprite was still alive was because he was using it to cook the meat. It had been raining cats and dogs for the last few hours, so he had to go and find a sprite to cook his dinner. Also to warm himself, but the sprite went out of it''s way to do just that. The smell of cooked meat was beginning to rise. Jave''s stomach rumbled. He took the tiny sprite delicately and placed it in a pouch he had made for it with the pelt of the bear he had killed and was currently cooking. He then took the cooked meat and began chowing it down. An hour later, Jave was full, and had no status effects barring [Exhausted] and [Sleepy]. Both of those could easily be solved by sleeping, but he knew better than to sleep in a forest without scouting the area and setting up a few wards first. So he did just that. He found two [lvl 5 panthers] and a [lvl 7 Fireweave spider]. The other monsters were of no importance. There were more stronger monsters in the forest, but none of them were in the vicinity, so he had nothing to worry about. The wards were simple, something every adventurer with mana learnt early on. The reason Jave had not used them in Laurenhall was because they would be of no use there. The wards he put were [Repel monster] and [Alarm]. Then he took a [Bone knife] he had made from the bear, and used it to cut down some stalks. He then used some vine to tie the stalks together into a makeshift tent frame. He then collected some broad leaves and used it as a replacement for the canvas. Then he used the same leaves to make a bed. After he was done, he just collapsed. However, he did not go to sleep just yet. His mind was still too active for that. He contemplated how everyone would react to the blue screens. And whether to reveal himself as the one to unlock it. But... he thought not. It would probably be better to mask his escape from laurenhall with the help of the blue screens. That way, it would make his story more believable. And so, he began weaving a fake adventure, of how the decent adventurer Jave Snowborn, found himself in the land of madness, how he struggled against insanity and illusions, of all the monsters he had supposedly faced, and how he finally destroyed the artifact at the center of it all, not wanting it after all that happened. And how the blue screens gave him clues to figure out what was real and what was not. He chuckled realising the effect it would have on Drygg when he got back. His chuckle slowly faded away though, replaced by anger. He had not forgotten who had gotten into the land of madness in the first place. He knew there was a very real chance of him dying in there. The fact he had been able to make it out was a miracle. There was no other way to describe it. Slowly though, he started drifting away, the exhaustion finally catching up with him and lulling him into a deep, dreamless sleep. When he woke up, he felt fully refreshed. He got up and yawned. The mist of the morning had yet to clear. He would not head out until it did, for that would be suicide. He stretched, his joints popping, and his muscles coming awake. He then dug a hole and did his morning buisness, cleaning up with a leaf. He took a few strips of meat and began to eat them, when suddenly, he froze. Right ahead of him was an owl, half his size, with dirtied and ruffled brown and white feathers, and pearl white eyes. Those eyes were staring at him hungrily. Slowly, he tore a piece of meat, and threw it as far as he could. The owl flew after it. He sighed, relieved. He had no intentions of fighting right now. The fight with the bear was more than enough for him. The ugly gash across his chest proved that. An hour later, the mist had cleared, and the sun had lit up the forest enough for hm to set out. But before he could, the owl flew back, sitting on a branch a few feet away, and was again staring at him. Jave frowned. He didn''t want to give away the meat that had taken him a lot of effort and a large wound on his chest to get so easily. But on the other hand, he didn''t want to fight. So the question was, which did he want more, the food, or to avoid a fight? He decided it was the latter, as he was in no shape to fight, and he could always find another source of food. Besides, he should be able to reach the city in two day''s worth of travelling, one if he used the spell he had learnt in laurenhall. The one that lats him be unaffected by gravity, as he had learnt, not the one that can fry ants. The latter, for some reason, didn''t qualify as a spell by the [System]. Why, he had no idea. He took a piece of jerky, leaned back, and threw it. The owl once again flew after it. He took this as his chance to leave. He rolled his shoulders, and sprinted forwards, and activated his spell. He deactivated it after a minute to avoid collison with a tree. The he use the same tree as spring board to go further and faster. He continued doing this for six hours straight, stopping only when he started to feel hungry. He laned on a tree, and took a small break to let his legs rest, and to eat the remaining jerky he had. After around forty five minutes, he was completely refreshed, and so he set out once again. After another six hours, he had finally caught sight of his destination. He landed on a tree, and walked the rest of the distance. The two guards standing by the portculis tensed when they saw him, their grips on their weapons tightening, no doubt because of how he looked. "Halt! State your name and your buiness here!" One of the guards yelled. Jave smiled, a rare sight in the past few days. "I''m Jave Snowborn, and I''m an adventurer who''s come back home." The guards'' eyes widened, their weapons lowered, if only by an inch or so. "Handover your status plate." the guard to the right said. He nodded, and slowly took off the chain necklace around his neck, and handed the small metal disk on it to them. The same guard took the status plate, his eyes widening slightly as he checked it for any sign of forgery and finding none. The guard nodded to him, and gave him his status plate, stepping aside. As Jave entered the city, he could hear the guards whisper;Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. "Is it really him?" A pause, most likely the other guard nodding. "Damn, I thought he was dead." "So did I, and the rest of the city, jackass." "Hey! I swear..." Jave too far waya by that point to hear the rest of that sentence. Still, that earlier statment left him with a bitter feeling. He had no doubt as to who to blame for him being viewed as dead. As people saw him, they stopped to stare and whisper. "Wait a second... I swear I''ve seen that man before..." "Yeah... me too.." "Huh? What are you two- oh my god, it''s Jave Snowborn!" "What? I thought he was dead!" "It seems not." And more repititions of the same thing in diffrent voices he had heard as walked to the Adventurers guild. He was happily ignoring the whispers when a boy ran up to him. "Are you really Jave Snowborn, sir?" The boy asked, dying with curiosity. Jave nodded, not really wanting to talk. And after that more questions came, from all directions, until he heard a single voice cut through the crowd, silencing them. "What is all this ruckus? CLear the way or else I shall have your heads on a pike mounted on the city walls." The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving Jave a good view of- Damen''s mother? Just as his eyes were widening, so were hers. "Jave? Oh my, dear, I thought you were dead, so did my son, and it looks like there was a very good chance of that happening." Jave looked down, at his ruined armor and his exposed chest, and scratched his head, giving her an awkward smile. "You have no idea, mam." "Oh please, call me aunt, none of that mam nonsense, you''re close enough to Damen for that." "Yes Aunt." "Good. Now let''s get you cleaned up, and sent to a healer. God only knows you need one." "Yes Aunt." "Alright, then follow me." She turned around, and briskly walked away, not giving a chance for him to reply. Shrugging, he followed her. They arrived at a mansion, that was a lot more bigger than it was the last time he had seen it. "You obviously have questions, and I''ll answer them. But after we get you fixed up." "If I may ask, where is Damen and Norbert, Aunt?" "Oh, they''re at Salt harbor, looking for some fish, that they needed for some... thing. I don''t remember what it was for." *** (Meanwhile, In Salt harbor) "Okay, Athena, we''ve got the fish, now can you make the potion?" Damen asked. Athena nodded. "After this, we should be able to find him." She took the green fish, and began butchering it. She cut off pieces of it, and put them into a cauldron, adding other bits of monster and herbs and monster pieces to it. She took a ladle, and stirred the liquid. It changed colours from blue to purple, then to green, and finally to yellow. She gestured to Norbert. He gave her a yellow eyeball twice the normal size. She put it in the cauldron. It dissolved in seconds. Everyone tensed, knowing that this was the moment, the moment where they finally figure out whether Jave was still alive, and if he was, a glimpse into his location. Athena got a notification.
Level up!
Alchemy has levelled! You are now able to easily make basic potions, have a reduced need for an advanced apparatus for any potion, and have a 10% bonus on all potion''s effects. Alchemy is now level 9!
Then, the air above it shimmered green, getting the trio to release a sigh of relief. Then air shimmered, slowly morphing to show the image of.... Jave sitting in a bath tub, getting pampered by various maids, with a serene expression on his face. "Damen... isn''t that your bath house?" Damen, who was wearing a stupified expression, just as the rest of them, blinked, and then squinted his eyes at the image. "JAAAAAAVE!!!" *** Jave suddenly jumped, not knowing why, then he blinked and sank back into the tub, closing his eyes and just enjoying the bath. He hadn''t had a bath in god knows how long, so it felt like pure bliss. He was also feeling very envious of Damen, who got to enjoy this every day. An hour later, he was fully dressed, and on his way to the healer. There was a long queue of people, butt Jave skipped the line with the help of Damen''s mother leading the way. He ignored all the glares he was getting from the people in queue. There was a large variety of herbs placed all around, some even glowing. When they reached the healer, she was fixing the broken arm of a child, while reasuring the parents that everthing was going to be fine. Jave watched as the child was led away by the parents, after getting his arm fixed, getting scolded. The Healer widened her eyes when she saw him. "My my! I thought you were dead! And to think I almost lost my most regular customer!" The healer said, in mock horror. Jave chuckled, used to the healer''s remarks by now. He had a lot of fights. His Aunt however, wasn''t, and was looking at him with a strange expression. The healer noticed her expression, and said; "This kid right here, used to pay visits to me almost every day, when he got started. The past two years he hasn''t been visiting as much though, only about once or twice a week." Jave groaned. He wasn''t a decent adventurer because he was good at it. More because he had made a lot of mistakes and learnt from them. Damen''s mother looked at him in horror. He shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing to be worried about. Damen''s mother wasn''t easily deterred though. ''From now on you''re going to have an escort with you at all times, it wouldn''t do anybody any good if you went and died on me, would it? After all, if it wasn''t for you I wouln''t have gotten my nobility." Jave blinked at her once, then twice, and gaped. "What?" was all he could say. She chuckled, and dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand. "First, you have a very large wound on your chest that needs her," She pointed her thumb towards the healer, "attention." The healer nodded, then pointed to a white bed. "Lie down, and wait, I''ll be back." He laid down on the bed. It was soft, much better than anything he had been sleepig on for the past few days. So it was lulling to sleep, but he fought against it, struggling to stay consious. He romoved his shirt and touched his wound. The pain jerked him awake. He winced, but did not say anything. Luckily, his aunt was too busy staring at all the diffrent herbs to notice. The healer came back with a few herbs in a bag, a few bandage rolls, and a bottle of clear distilled alcohol. She winced when she saw his wound. She examined his wound, staring at it closely, and even sniffing it once, making Jave very uncomfortable. He did his best not to move around, and the effort seemed to pay off, as the healer didn''t seem to notice anything. No matter how many times he had been in this very room, he still didn''t feel used to her scutiny. It always made him uncomfortable. She took some leaves, and a flower, put it in a mortar, and grind it into a paste, and gently applied the paste to his wounds. She then, applied the alcohol to the bandages, and wrapped them around his chest. It had taken two hours in total, and Jave was fighting to staw awake. "You need to rest." The healer said, noticing his sleepy expression. Jave shook his head. He wanted to sleep in his room, in the adventurers guild. He said the same thing thing to her. The healer shook her head. "No. I need to make sure the infection is fully gone, so you need to stay here." "How long?" Damen''s mother asked. "I''d say... two days, maybe three before it''s fully gone. A week to make sure there aren''t any parasites or insects in him." Jave sighed, understanding, but not really happy with the outcome. Still, he should''ve expecteed it. He found himself drifting into a deep slumber. *** End of chapter In the shadows When Jave woke up, it was to the feeling of something watching. But the feeling dissapeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving Jave blinking in confusion at the wall. He shook his head, thinking it to be a result of morning fogginess. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" The healer asked. She was carrying a tray with a bit of meat, some rice, and some gravy. There was a glass of... some murky orange sludge. Just looking at it sent chills up his spine. He flashed her a smile. "Yes mam, I did, more than any bit of sleep I''ve had in the past week." "Good, I can''t imagine what it must''ve been like. But first, you need to take your medicine." Jave''s eyes flicked towards the glass. He did his best to not heave in repulsion. He succeded, but ended up with a grimace plastered on his face. "Well, either drink it, or slowly die as the infection eats away at your heart and kidneys." A normal person would''ve blinked at her attitude, especially due to her being a healer. But Jave knew that she was only saying the truth, and in turn, saving her the hassle of convincing a person to... drink that. Jave was still reluctant, and didn''t feel like touching it with a ten foot long pole. But he slowly took it, and tried his best to chug it down as fast as he could. He almost vomited it back out half way through. He finished it in a record time of five seconds, just like any person who''d had enough experience with tonics like these. It tasted very bitter, with a hint of sweetness, and made him feel sick when it should be doing the opposite. But in truth Jave knew he''d be fine at the end of the day.
Hidden status effect cleared
The status effect [Rotting] has just been cleared by a [Sun King] tonic.
And that just proved it. Jave cursed internally. "Good." The healer said, with an amused look on her face. "Now eat up." She placed the tray on his lap. He took a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. "Now for some details that you should probably hear. The infection is going to be staying for another few hours, and in that time, I would recomend against any exercise. The tonic I gave you should take care of any symptoms it causes, and will clear it out. The fee is three silver, and forty copper. Now I know you just came back, and all your gear is gone, but since you''re a regular-" Jave snorted " I will allow you to pay it within a weeks'' time." Jave nodded, using the taste of cooked meat to get rid of the other, unpleasant taste. "Also, you might know it already, but there is some sort of [System]. Mages are still looking into it, but little is known about it. But there have been many changes that you probably are not knowing, like guilds must re- enlist all their members to make it official on the [System]. There are also these [Classes], like [Healer], [Mage] and other sorts, which I''m sure you must be aware of, but I must make sure. Any more information you should get at the [Information guild]." Jave nodded, already half done with the food on the tray. "What about Damen''s mother? How did she end up a noble? How long was I gone?" Jave said, his mouth muffled with food. "Don''t talk while you''re eating. And I think that''s a story for Damen to tell you himself. You were gone for two weeks." She said, with a wry grin.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Jave snorted, an action he immediately regreted. The healer burst into laughter while Jave tried to sneeze out the rice in his nostrils. A minute later, Jave was left with a burning nostril, a bit of embarassment, and a very amused healer. "Stay here until I come back, okay? The infection still has to leave, in the mean time, don''t do anything. Anything. At all. Understand?" Jave nodded. "Good. Now be a good boy and don''t mess anything up." "Hey!" He said, but she was already gone. He sneezed, a rice grain flying out. He sighed, and laid back done. *** "So, are you feeling better?" The healer asked, suddenly entering. Jave jumped up, shook his head and laid back down. "Yes, better than I''ve felt in some time. Thank you mam, I wish I could''ve paid you back here and now, but.. " The healer waved her hand. "Don''t worry about it, I mean it''s the least I could do considering what you must''ve gone through. Speaking of which..." Jave knew where this was going. He had a feeling she was curious. Well, anyone would be, so no surprise there. It was a good thing he''d rehearsed his story. He gave her a smile. "You''d never believe what happened to me." "Try me." "Okay, if you say so..., it all began when I took that quest, a small and simple quest to get a rare and precious herb that was deep in the Boulder forest. But then... I got lost..." *** ( 2 hours later.) "...and so, I used the [Haste] potion I found to get back home as fast as I could, because I didn''t think I would''ve lasted any longer. And after two or three days of travel, here I am, retelling my story to you." Jave finished. The story he''d come was actually very simple, he took a quest, got lost, realised it was because of a faulty map, then realised that someone must have purposely exchanged it (He left out who), ended up in Laurenhall, ended up doubting his sanity, fought a ton of monsters and illusions alike, lost his sword to a [Whip Rhino], fought it bare handed, won, and then somehow got resistance to mental attacks by some rune he found in the river, then valiantly fought his way to the center, found the artifact, and being the hero he was, destroyed it because he didn''t want it to fall into the wrong hands. And then he used a potion from a fallen adventurer''s gear to get back home. Took quite a lot of time imagining the details, though. And now, the healer was looking at him with awe. "Wow." was all she said. Jave scratched his head. There was the sound of yelling in the background. The healer frowned. "I''ll be back. I just to check on this, alright?" He nodded, secretely a bit relieved. It was hard keeping the mask up. She left the room. And immediately, he felt an eerie feeling. It felt familliar. But he couldn''t put his finger on it. He shrugged, and was about to dismiss it, when suddenly he felt chills down his spine. He turned around, startled to find two pitch black eyes staring at him with a malicious grin. He shuddered. But he was not one to simply lose all sense. He looked around for anything he could use as a weapon. And he found a small knife. A cutlery knife, but still. The shouting was getting a bit louder now, and Jave thought he could hear the signs of fighting. The eyes were still staring at him. He stared back, not at all affected by the imposing aura. Okay, alittle affected. But the was sound of something breaking, and then the door slammed open. Jave turned, and froze. Damen and Norbert was standing at the door. "What are you pointing that at?" Damen asked. Jave was about to reply, but then he realised there was nothing there. Nothing now, at least. He lowered the knife. "... Nothing." An instant later the three were in a group hug. "I thought you were dead, man." Norbert said. "So did I." Jave said. "Sorry to interrupt your little reunion, but we got trouble." A voice annouced, causing Jave to turn around, ... cutlery knife in hand. A woman- girl was standing by the doorway, hands crossed. "Who''s she?" Jave asked. "Oh right, introductions. Jave, meet Athena. Athena, meet Jave." Damen said. "Nice to meet you, now can we get the hell out of here?" "One second." Damen said, then he turned to Jave. And punched him in the face. Im Stuck. Right, um guys, this isn''t a chapter. Just here to tell you guys that I''m having trouble coming up with the next chapter. It''s ridicolously annoying to complete. That doesn''t mean I''m giving up. This chapter is a reminder that I still exist, and is still working. However, I''m afraid that the next chapter''s gonna take some time to arrive. Obviously, I''m gonna lose some readers- hell, I would be surprised I barely got couple of people to read it now, but I really appreciate the guys that are gonna stick around. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Anyway, thanks for reading! Some Crazy Friends There was a crunch sound, and Jave fell to the ground, unconcious. Norbert and Athena looked at him, then at Jave. Damen scratched his head. "I might have put a bit more force than necessary, behnd that punch." Athena coughed. "We gotta hurry up and go. The Bue Pearl guards are pissed off, and they''re... right here. Hey there, pissed off Blue Pearl guards." The two spun around, to see a dozen men in blue and white armor, holding spears in their hands. One of the guards wore darker armor, and held in his hands a halberd. He sneered. "You filthy adventurers, think you can take whatever you want. Hand over the fish, and I promise to only break a few bones." Damen flipped him off. "First of all, not yours, second of all, we''ve already used it." The fish they had used in the potion was a very rare and expensive alchemy ingreadient. And it so happened, that a couple people had caught wind of it. The man sneered again. "As if, you think I-" "You filthy merchants, think you can take whatever you want." Athena said, imitating the man.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. She took out a pouch and threw at him. The man caught it. It exploded into white dust. He coughed, breathing it in. So did the other guards. However, the Frost Men, were well prepared. They took an antidote for the hallucinogen agent when Athena began to speak. And so they guards now had very silly expressions on their faces, like a goofy smile, or a childish frown. The hallucinogen was designed to send them through time, back to their childhoods. The group then unceremoniously knocked the guards out, pausing to loot them of their precious items. That halberd, especially, according to Damen, was almost worth the potion they made. Almost. They picked up Jave, who had a silly grin on his face, and proceeded to leave the building to go to Damen''s estate. They forgot to untie the healer, who was muttering... "No... Mama nooo... I didn''t..." Or something of the sort. They then tossed an [Oblivon] potion into the Clinic. An alchemist was very useful. Norbert broke into laughter. Athena and Damen looked at him with strange expressions. "I''d never have imagined that someday, that we would casually throwing [Oblivion] potions and [Young Times] dust bags like they were ordinary, everyday use items. Hell, I''d never have imagined that we''d haave brought down an entire house!" He explained. Athena grinned, while Damen chuckled. "It''s a small, crazy world." Damen said. "Yes, it is." Said Jave, who just woke and was clutching his nose. With a crunching noise, he set it straight, and groaned. "What the hell was that for?" "For making us go through all sorts of trouble only to find you sitting in a bathhouse, my bathhouse, surrounded by servants." They arrived at his manor. They let him in. The Lady was out for a meeting. She would be back in two hours, until then they had the entire house to themselves. Jave''s eyes widened in understanding, and surprise, and embarassment. He smacked his forehead. "You mean... you actually went and collected all the ingreadiants?" He asked, still not quite believing it. Damen nodded, a hint of anger and frustration evident on his face. "You have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it was..." Jave winced. "I guess we have a lot to catch up about, huh?" A Long Recap "Yes. We do. In fact, I think it would be good to start now." Norbert said. "So.. You went for a quest, bla bla bla, everything was fine, fine, bla bla-" "Stop that." Athena said. "-bla. Then you didn''t come back. Which, you''re gonna have to explain to us, of course, but not yet. So, right, Me and Damen went to spy on Drygg, almost got caught, made a whole lot of people piss their pants-" Jave snorted, his eyes widening. " and returned home safe. Next day, bunch to soldiers came to ''arrest'' us, so we ran off, and well, since we didn''t really have a place to hide, we went where they especially did not expect to find us. Into Drygg''s house. Which, now that I think about it, seems really idiotic. So, we unintentiouly came across... Dygg''s diary." He paused for emphasis. "Yup. That idiot had gone and written every god damn thing he had done, including... the map exchange." His eyes''s flickered too Jave for an instant. "But, that wasn''t really enough to go to the city council with, nor would it explain how Damen''s aunt became a noble. No, what we had found disgusted us."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Damen nodded. "I mean, we all knew that Drygg was not someone you would call good, but even then, we couldn''t imagine him doing what he did." Damen said. "Jave, do you remember the Silver Prince?" Jave nodded, his face immediately turning serious. The Silver Prince was one of the first adventurers he had met. Jave thought him to be a good man, with strong ideals. He held tight to those ideals, and hence was one of those people who Jave whould remember for the rest of his life. No, he was no exagerrating, because the Silver Prince to him, was one of the main reasons he was able to go on, facing the ridicule. The Silver Prince got famous, fast. He had quickly gained a reputation with his blades, grey eyes, and character. And so the entire city came to know of him. One day though, one of the most dreaded days of Jave''s life, he stopped coming to the guild. At first, Jave had dismissed it, but later, he had found out that the Silver Prince had died. His eyes had been gouged out by his own hands, and after, he had slit his own throat. Jave didn''t like where he was going with this. He found himself unconsiously clenching his fists. Damen''s face darkened. "Do want to know how he died? One day, a little attention seeking greedy boy wanted the appreciation of a famous adventurer. However, the adventurer saw the boy for what he really was and told him to relearn his morals. Apparantly, that little shithead of a boy didn''t take it well and plotted behind his back. And so he went..." A Long Recap (Part 2) "...and hired a few assassins to learn everything about him. He had found out that the Silver Prince was in love. He was in love with a servant girl. And what''s worse, that servant girl worked for him. He took her to the Silver Prince''s house, and made him beg. He tortured the girl right in front of him. And when he was done, he made the Prince remove his eyes, to spare the girl from her death. But... even after he removed his eyes... the girl... to put it shortly, they didn''t just kill her, but thay did it in the worst way possible..." Damen looked up at Jave. "Do you remember the corpse we had found back in the Scarlet Hell Forest? That was her, man." He said, with a low voice. Jave shuddered. Fury was raging within him, but he held it back. All anyone else could see, was a coldness in him. "And after that... they just let the Prince go. He ended himself." Norbert continued. At that moment, no one spoke. It was hard news to bear, even for Jave. Especially for Jave. "Drygg... what happened to him?" He said, letting a little bit of the anger within leak out. The others understood his reaction clearly, after all, they''re reactions weren''t too far from himself. This time, it was Athena that spoke out. "We brought the diary to the elder council" She said. Jave blinked. The Elder council consisted of the most accomplished people in the city. Hence, he hadn''t expected them to do straight to them. "The next day, their entire house was summoned to the court. Once te cat was out of the bag, a whole lot of other grievances were released. It was an utter shitstorm. Every single one of them had their hands dirty in one way or the other. We had no idea that their house was that insane. In the end, some of them were executed, while the rest, which included Drygg, and his immediate family was sent off to the Demon''s Heart."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Jave''s eyes wide. The Demon''s Heart was no ordinary place. It was literally the heart of a demon, that had existed millenia ago. No one knew where it came from, or how it died. But one thing was clear, being sent there was a fate worse than death. And worse, once you entered it, there was no escape. The Demon''s Heart screwed with your soul. It was not a place where ordinary criminals would go. The fury within him dissipated. Now all he felt was pity. Comparitvely to the Silver Prince, this was a much much worse fate. He wasn''t sure whether Drygg deserved it. However, he was sure, that if he was left alone, he would''ve done worse and worse. "... What about your mother becoming a Noble...?" Jave asked, glancing at Damen. "Oh, um, after the whole mess, the elders decided to give us a reward. We declined, thinking that that would just bring us more trouble than good. But the elder''s guild wasn''t willing to let us go that easily. So they bestowed the Noble title upon my mother, gave Athena a full scholarship for any academy she wanted to join, and Norbert now has a Bladedancer for a tutor." Damen said. Jave''s mouth gaped. None of those rewards were anything easy to get. People would''ve killed to get a single one of those rewards. Norbert scratched his head. "Well... to be honest, my tutor... isn''t all that great. You could call him a little bit eccentric." Norbert said. The rest chuckled. Jave looked at him confused. "... Eccentric?" Damen nodded. "First day, Damen had to use a wooden practise sword to face a Blue Striped Shark. Underwater. Naked." "What!?" Jave said, bursting into laughter. It could be said that the Blue Striped Shark was a strong beast. It could also be said Jave... would find it very hard to hold his own against it. And that would be assuming he had his full gear. The shark was simply not something to be faced when alone. Damen and Athena had wide grins on their face, where as Norbert shuddered as he recalled that memory. When Jave was done laughing, he looked at Norbert with an astonished expression. "...How are you still alive?" He asked. Norbert scratched his head. "I... had attracted some mermaids... around... and... they helped me... in exchange of some ''exercise''..." Norbert''s face flushed red as he finished that sentence. Jave fell to the ground, laughing, whereas even Damen and Athena couldn''t hold it in. "Guys... it''s not that funny..." Said Damen as he tried to protect whatever scraps of pride was left in him. Jave got up, one hand on his cheeks as they were aching from all the laughing. He patted Norbert on his shoulder. "I''m proud of you, not a lot of people would have the guts... to ''exercise'' with the mermen." Jave said, and the two durst into laughter again. Norbert, however was watching in despair as his last shreds of pride was completely destroyed, A Long Recap (Part 3) Norbert cleared his throat. The others stopped laughing, and looked at him. "Anyway Jave, you still haven''t told us what happened to you." he said. Jave scratched his head. "It''s actually... kind off complicated. Very much so. Like you wouldn''t believe it- complicated." I said. "Try me." Athena said. Jave sighed. He''d decided to give them the truth. Why? Because they were his friends, and he would probably suck at hiding anything from them. Mostly because of the former. Maybe. Or not. "So... right, I went out on a quest, and followed the map detail to detail. Except the map... as you know it, was not the original. I ended up in Laurenhall." Jave paused for emphasis, taking delight in the shocked expressios and gasps of his friends. " I got trapped in an illusion. And broke out. And got trapped again. And again. And again. And again. And so on until... I got complete immunity against mental attacks. " The room was drop dead silent. Athena was the first to speak. ''What?" "One hundred percent mental immunity. It''s even a skill. [Untouchable Mind]. Pretty awesome, right?" He said. The room remained silent. Now Jave felt awkwards. So he tried to breack the silence. "Come on... it''s not that big of a deal... right?" "Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal? Do you have any idea about the amount of people who would kill for that? The adventurers that would kill for that?" Norbert said. "The Nobles would go crazy if they heard you. You have no idea about how popular mind magic is amongst those circles..." Damen said.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "... Yeah, I''m pretty sure they would want to kill you on sight if they knew. They don''t like wild cards, especially wild cards that can''t be manipulated." Norbert said. "Or if the wild cards happens to be a famous adventurer who has a lot of influence himself. And who also happens to part of the adventurer team- and [Alchemist] that took down an entire house." Damen said. Jave grimaced. "Oh." "What the hell do you mean by ''Oh?''? Just how in the world did you get absoulute fucking immunity against all fucking mind attacks in the fucking land of madness?" Athena said. "About that..." Jave suddenly felt very nervous. He was reconsidering telling them the full story. But then he recalled how bad he was at lying to his friends and decided against it. "Yeah?" Damen asked. "Um... I-I hadn''t gotten it by just being in Laurenhall. Breaking through the illusions time and time again had drastically improved my Will Power. Or so I think. I''m not exactly sure. Anyway... I had used my Will to get the immunity." Jave said. Once again, the room was silent. "What?" Damen asked, being the first to reply this time. "...That makes no sense at all." Athena said. ''Hey!" Jave said. "I agree with her." Norbert said. Jave raised his hands in exasperation. "I''m not-I''m not kidding. Really. See, I''ll show you." Jave said. He put his hands forth, and tried to will forth a sword. Why? because he was already mssing his old one. And... nothing happened. Well, a lot of things did happen in that moment- like for example, Damen''s mother''s maid had been bending down to pick up a napkin when Damen''s mother just happened to fart- right into her face, or... the sword that fell on an apprentice mage in the Tower of Light- where they were explicitly told not to bring weapons... right in front of the leading Archmage. But alas, Jave knew of none of this, all he knew was that had expended a larrge amount of willpower for absolutely nothing at all. And that he was standing in front in friends with his arms extended like an idiot. "Um..." Jave said.
Warning: You have over extended your Will. - 50% to all Mentally assigned attributes for next three days.
Jave shook his head, and groaned."Is it something only you can see?" Athena said, her eyes squinted as she glared at the area in front of Jave. He had a strong headache that he was fighting, but try as he must, he simply couldn''t. And so he fell to the ground like puppet with it''s strings cut. But not without seeing another blue message pop up.
A Lord Of Reality is watching you.
*** "Where in the world did that sword come from?" Sirien said, thoroughly and utterly confused. Side View Of A Random Kid The morning rays shone through the curtain of the window. Past all the wooden sculptures, laid a little figure curled up in a bed, with a comfortable- and expensive fur on him. He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked around and spotted a wooden carving- one with a Knight holding two serrated short swords. He picked it up as if it was the most delicate thing in the world and kissed it. He then grinned, and jumped off bed. And landed on a Knight. A wooden one, anyway. With a yelp, he fell backwards into other- pointy- wooden sculptures. "Ow." With careful, and excessively slow moments, he was out of the room, and running. ***If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It was noon when that little figure heard the news. And very crowded too. "Excuse me- I-I''m in hurry could you- could you move aside, please?" The little figure asked. Another boy turned. His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, hey, Gar. Did you hear the news?" The boy asked. The little figure- Gar blinked and shook his head. "What- what news?" "Jave Snowborn''s back. And he''s in the tavern ahead of us." the boy said. Gar''s eyes widened. "Really?" The boy nodded with enthusiasm. "That''s why there''s so many people here. It''s also the reason for why we''re going to be late for our trip today." The boy said. Gar winced. "Scar Lady''s going to give us a punishment." he said, his voice low. The other boy nodded. Voices broke out from the crowd. A commotion had broken out. The two boys turned, curious. It Comes Down To You I have no idea what possessed you guys to read this far. I mean, seriously. I went over it, and the mistakes I made were so glaringly obvious that I wanted to go and crawl in a little hidey hole. I want to fix every mistake I made, but I''d end changing everything. So, well, I''m leaving the choice up to you guys. Do you want me to go back, and fix the story, and perhaps... say, add a few new tidbits, like I dunno, a cultivator from the multiverse ending up here, acting all arrogant, then end up killing himself by announcing random beast A unworthy of his attention? I think it''s funny (If in a somewhat dark way, since the guy does die), but that''s up to you to decide. Or, I could I continue stumbling along, and turn the mistakes somehow into things that complement the story. Or hell, merge Step, and this together? That is an alluring idea to me, but, I''m not sure if you guys like it. Honestly, I like writing stuff for the fun of it. But, yeah, I should probably put more thought into what I write, cuz: This. I like to be as fluid as possible, just like how I introduced LitRPG to this, because, it seemed like a nice idea back then, to see Jave try and wrap his head around it, or making it screw up somebody''s nefarious plot...If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Okay, Humor should be one of the main genres of this, considering how most of the decisions I make are to make funny situations. Anyway, leaving that aside, what path do you think I should go down? I''m fine with anything. The only reason I haven''t been posting much lately is because I''ve lost my confidence with this story. Usually how I deal with that is to add new things, but that is also why Jave almost, or hell, actually did become a Gary Stue (One of my commenters'' male version of a Mary Sue). I''m tempted to do the same again, but I''m only barely restraining myself. No matter what, I guess, this is going to be a hell of a story. My one opponent, laziness.