《Let's Form a Party to Kill God》


 Mother

    He hungered in the dark.


    It was because the lady that smelled sickly sweet hadn''t come in two days.


    She called him ''boy'' since he had no name, and she didn''t want to give him one and grow attached. It was a passing fancy for her, a night-worker at the nearby brothel, to feed him from a skeletal looking goblin to a pale and thin young child. He didn''t know his name, didn''t understand much language, and reeked of excrement. A few pieces of hard bread and a dunk into tub full of cold water had been enough to check if he was at least an intelligent race.


    He was growing desperate enough to violate the rule of never leaving the room in order to eat. One more night of cold starvation would probably make him give in. He should try to sleep and conserve strength, because the next day, he may be back into the alleyways of the dirty city.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The sound of the door jolted him awake. The sweet-smelling lady entered her small apartment, and opened the door to his room. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked about as tired as he was hungry.


    "Here, I worked hard and got some better food this time," she said as she dropped a basket onto the floor.


    She smiled as he tore into the hard bread and cheese. "Eat slowly, or you''ll hurt your stomach," but he either heard nothing in his ravenous hunger, or didn''t understand. The basket was empty save for a single fruit in a matter of minutes, and reluctantly, he picked up the fruit and tried to hand it to her.


    Her smiled became almost saintly for a moment, as she pushed it back to him with a light chuckle. "You eat it, but slowly, alright?"


    He tried to smile back, although it looked like a lopsided grimace. Maybe smiling wasn''t his thing, she thought, as he slowly chewed the apple down to the rind.


    "You''ll live with me now, boy, and if I ever get out of this mess, I''ll properly give you a name. I''ll be your mother."


    "Ma-their," the boy whispered.


    The saintly smile returned to linger on her face.

 Clergy

    The weeks became months, and the months passed.


    The boy still only whispered, but his language skills had reached literacy and his math was up to simple multiplication. She taught him based on what she remembered from school, a decade ago.


    The woman, Belinda, had originally been from a merchant family. As the only child that survived infancy, she had been sent to school to gain literacy and learn math. Her father was doting enough to value her as more than a marriage-bound expense, but pragmatic enough to make sure she could live well on her own.


    None of it mattered, of course. She was just out of school when her entire family was murdered by a rival merchant. Her family dog had bought her enough time to escape with the clothes on her back, and for the next ten years, she had scraped out a living with a fake name in the brothel. Her three-room apartment had been bought from selling her virginity to the highest bidder, and her daily bread came from her nightly earnings.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Despite all that, she had saved money. Her dreams of becoming a merchant hadn''t died along with her family and a good amount of her emotions. Lately, she thought to herself that her dream of becoming a gentle but strict mother like her own might still be intact as well.


    She had filled up two secret compartments full of money, and on the completion of the third, she would be able to procure a wagon, animals, and began trading. She had been writing male names on a piece of cloth for the boy, and her heart warmed at the thought of choosing one soon.


    Very soon, as a matter of fact. The madame had hinted to her that a wealthy clergyman was interested. His requirements were strict; the woman must be under thirty, good-looking, with no family, and no diseases. Since the boy was a secret that never left the apartment, which she never used for work, she fit the bill. It was a wonderful opportunity to go out with a bang, earning insurance money as well as the potential protection of a big shot. Everyone knew that the church controlled the kingdom in all but name.


    She went out of her way to buy the expensive perfume and a new negligee before the madame introduced her. It was a success, as the pudgy geezer in the large, strangely shaped hat grinned and licked his lips. "Tomorrow night," he wheezed, "I shall baptize you."


    She went home early in the afternoon, surprising the boy with rarely bought candy. Using the sweets as encouragement, he struggled through the rest of basic division in one night.

 Awakening

    The clergyman was one of the arch-bishops in the kingdom, controlling a third of the church, and he had an unusual hobby.


    He was a necrophiliac, who enjoyed corpses only when they were still warm.


    He had a deal worked out with pimps through an intermediary, where they would bring him girls of his specification, freshly poisoned, and he would enjoy himself for upwards of two hours. However, he would have to arrange the pimp to be followed and killed to maintain silence, even after paying them extravagant amounts for the girls.


    Of course, the other two arch-bishops would be bound to find out, so he used his own spies to make them think that he was doing the city a service by assassinating pimps while secretly liberating young girls. Even if they thought he was having sex with the girls, it was commonplace for all three of them, so they wouldn''t be able to move against him with just that.


    The only problem was that it was an expensive hobby with many compounded costs. Pimps had good protection, and contracting the assassin''s guild was expensive. He couldn''t afford for one of his own to be found killed in an attempt, after all. Pimps were also careful with their money, and he rarely recovered any of the amount her paid for the girls in the first place. The donations from the people and the extortion from the royals and nobles weren''t enough to satiate his lust.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    To fix this problem, he began slum-crawling. Madames were uneager to kill off their girls, but they were quick to jump on what may be a large earning and the chance to enjoy a high-level connection. They were fixed in one place, and easier to scare into secrecy than the pimps as well, so assassination was rarely necessary.


    The arch-bishop was supposed to be currently engaged in the act right now, but the woman had woken up half-way through and bolted. Even though it was a high-class magic poison rarely used in the city, somehow she either survived it, or didn''t drink enough of it. It was becoming a huge problem for him, to the point where he ordered his most trusted operative to find her.


    He took about half an hour to locate her address and confirm she was inside, making preparations to flee.


    She collapsed to the floor in surprise, still holding the boy''s hand, as the arch-bishop burst through the door with his men. She had managed to cover the boy entirely with her body as they ran her through with daggers.


    The arch-bishop, enraged at the fact that the girl had family and lied about it, pointed at the boy, who was now covered in blood. "BEHOLD, THE WRATH OF GOD PASSES JUDGMENT ON THE FILTHY WHORE AND HER BROOD."


    The shadows in the room danced wildly, though the candles lighting the room never flickered.

 Magic

    For the first time in his life, the boy spoke at a volume above a whisper.


    "Aaaah....AAAAAAAHHH......"


    He moaned, holding his mother in his arms, covered in her blood. The humanity that had returned to his eyes after two years instantly became bloodlust. It seemed that he was more of an angry person than a sad one.


    The first man that stabbed the woman went for him, and he instantly froze.


    No, he didn''t so much freeze as he was bound. The thing he was bound by started digging into his skin. They head operative rushed the arch-bishop out of the room as all of the other men charged the boy at once.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    It was a massacre. The 4 men lay scattered across the room, along with most of their innards and well as the contents of the room. Only the woman lay untouched, still in the boy''s arms. The men and the furniture had been ripped apart by their own shadows.


    For hours, the boy sat in the room, his eyes wide open, holding his dead mother. The shadows kept flickering, and the corpses of the arch-bishop''s men dwindled into ever-smaller pieces.


    A man and a woman wearing robe-like clothing carefully stepped into the room, which looked more like the inside of butcher ogre''s cave than anything people used to live in. Their shadows didn''t waver, but the other shadow in the room instantly stretched towards them.


    "Shit," the man muttered, as his hands glowed. The woman immediately took action as well.


    An orb of condensed air hit the boy full on, as beams of intense, white light seared the shadows and prevented them from moving forward. The boy flew backwards into the wall, and the man barely prevented his death by catching him with a wind wall. The dead woman slumped to the floor as the shadows in the room returned to normal.


    A single candle in a miraculously undamaged candle holder cast a feeble flicker on the room slick with blood.

 Name

    Sound slowly filtered into the boy''s consciousness.


    "...talented, although he might try to kill you when he wakes up." A man''s voice.


    "And you waited to tell me until now? Can he even read? No, wait, can he even speak?" Another man.


    "Probably? The cleanup crew found this cloth with names on it, along with a decent amount of money. There was a flat box full of sand with different handwriting in the other room as well, probably for practice." The first man.


    The boy opened his eyes, and immediately received a raging headache from the bright light filtering into the room. He had never seen so much light in his recent memory, and the suns filtering into the apartment was from a small hole that was blocked with wood when it rained. He closed his eyes while holding his head with both hands.


    "Hey, he''s awake. No, put that thing away, that last thing we want to do is scare him after that mental scarring." The first man again; he sounded alarmed.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The boy opened his eyes again, slowly. The pain from the headache throbbed as the light pierced into his eyes. The sun was an enemy, the boy decided.


    The first thing he saw was his mother''s handwriting, on the piece of cloth. The bottom edge was crusted with something dark.


    "Hey, do you have a name?" The boy looked up and saw two men, one was the person who had blasted him with wind, and the other was younger, with hair on his chin.


    "No," the boy said, wondering why he was so sure it was the man that used the wind and the woman who had used the light beams.


    "Then pick one from this cloth, the woman...your mother, was probably planning on giving you one of these."


    The boy brought the cloth closer to his face with a shaking hand. The smell of blood lingered, as well as perfume, lingered on it. His eyes moved to the name in the bottom right corner, barely visible beneath the dried blood.


    "This one."


    "Right then, from today onward, your name will be Kynos. Geez, the brat chose something unreasonably cool, why the hell did I have to get Steve? The luxury of choice is too much."


    "Kai-nous," the boy said, and looked up from the cloth.


    "Yup, and I''m Steve," the older man said, pointing to himself. "This idiot over here is Lucy."


    The boy closed his eyes and burned his own name into his memory, as Lucy complained loudly that his name was Lucidien von something or the other.

 Wagon

    Steve had hoped beyond hope to himself and whichever gods were in attendance that the boy wouldn''t be too annoying, and his prayers were answered. The boy never yelled and mostly spoke in such a small voice that no one could hear him in the wagon''s carriage.


    They had spent a week at the small, remote hospice, letting the boy recover while teaching him what would happen next. Steve had brought the boy there via wind walk and called for reinforcements to minimize causalities if the boy went berserk. All things considered, it was a success, but...the boy, Kynos, had the eyes of every serial killer he''s ever put down.


    ''Oh well,'' he thought to himself, that kid can make friends at the school and put all of this behind him.


    At this point, Steve had transported the boy all the way from the holy kingdom of Deiarcha to the mage city-state of Incanta, and journey from the west that crossed several countries and a mountain range. The boy couldn''t get revenge even if he wanted to and knew who to go after.


    The wagon stopped with an abnormal jarring motion. Steve called out to Lucy.


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    "What''s the matter?" "Um, a merchant is being robbed."


    Steve wearily climbed forward to poke his head out and have a look.


    "Woah, those are some ugly bandits." "No boss, those are goblins." "Look Lucy, you said robbed, so those are bandits."


    The pointless argument had draw Kynos out of his seat as well. He shaded his eyes and looked on in mute curiosity at both the men and the wagon ahead that was surrounded by a small mob of mottled bodies. Kynos tilted his head; strange, in the picture book of monsters, goblins were green?


    Steve sighed and told Lucy to take the wagon closer.


    "Let''s see if they actually need any help first."


    The merchant indeed needed help. He had no guards and looked like he was worse at fighting than the thin Kynos. He was also on top of his wagon pissing himself.


    "Okay then, let''s help. Lucy, get the..." "I''ll take the ones on the left!"


    Lucy jumped out of the wagon and rushed at the goblins on the left, some of which had notices his group. The earth near him cracked and javelins of rock rose up. Lucy grabbed two and quickly shish-kabobed two goblins, one pale yellow and the other muddy brown. Steve sighed again as raised his index finger.


    Goblins around the merchant erupted in blood as invisible blades made of wind cut them apart. He also pointed at Lucy, but it only made Lucy speed up. Actually, it looked like his feet were no longer on the ground as he enthusiastically turned the vicinity of the merchant''s wagon into a goblin graveyard.


    Kynos gawked at the spectacle.

 God

    Kynos wanted to kill the fat man with the funny hat. He wanted to kill the thin, masked man that saved the fat man as well. Actually, Kynos wanted mostly to kill the god that dared pass judgment on his mother. He wasn''t a very happy boy.


    However, his attitude took a complete turnaround once he saw the two mages fighting. His mother had only told him of mages in stories, that they were great and powerful. Actually, it was how he learned the word ''powerful'' among several others. With that kind of power, he could actually get his revenge, instead of hiding in the dark for the rest of his life. Even though the sun was an enemy.


    If he was lucky, the sun was god and he could kill two birds with one stone.


    The merchant''s stock was candy, and after receiving some, Steve and Lucy boarded the wagon to continue the trip. Lucy looked like he wanted some, but Steve immediately took the pouch and gave it to Kynos. Steve was an ally, he thought, and Lucy was competition. As the wagon rolled along, Kynos stared expectantly at Steve.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Look kid, even if you look at me like that, I don''t have any more candy. Or rather, you should probably not take candy from strangers, y''know?"


    What a fool, Kynos thought, free candy was the best candy. Still, he suppressed the insult and asked, "can I kill like you?"


    Steve leaned back and closed his eyes. After a long while, he opened them.


    "Yes, you can probably surpass me. However, if you kill good people, I will become your enemy." Steve paused for a bit, then leaned forward menacingly.


    "Also, I''ll never give you any more candy."


    Kynos thought deeply about this threat, and about what ''surpass'' meant, and then asked one more question.


    "Is god a good person?"


    Steve chuckled for the first time since he had met the boy. Mages tended to be neutral when it came to gods, but there was one sect he particularly hated.


    "If it''s the god from the place you were before, then no, that one is bad, probably."


    Kynos nodded, convinced. He was going to get his revenge. And his candy.

 Charlotte

    Incanta had no walls, instead, there were floating ramparts segmented around the city. Kynos stared in wonder as Lucy stopped the wagon. They had traveled through the night to arrive by early morning, as Steve taught Kynos about his own abilities.


    Steve stepped out and held up his hand to a nearby statue.


    It was not a statue. The golem lit up, scanned the hand, and a rampart descended and split open, revealing a portal. Lucy stifled a yawn and waved goodbye as Steve guided Kynos into the portal.


    They appeared inside a fairly large room, which had a single large desk with a lady behind it. She nodded towards the two.


    "Welcome back WindSeer, it looks like you brought me another student?"


    Steve bowed back stiffly. "Ah, yeah, I''d like this one to be enrolled on scholarship to the magic division."


    The regal-looking lady stood up and disappeared. Kynos looked around, feeling a strange sense of apprehension.


    "Oh? So the young man has talent. Did you check his mana capacity?" The lady said from behind the two.


    Kynos abruptly swung his body around and took some distance to her, while Steve''s hand found its way to his face.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "He uses the same type as you, VoidSeer, so if you could not give him strange habits, I''d really appreciate it. And yeah, I checked, or more like he forced me to check by trying to strangle me with my own shadow. I''d say he''s highly talented in magic detection and manipulation, and his mana levels are around mine."


    The lady nodded, satisfied. She turned to the boy. "And what are you called, young man?"


    "Kynos." "Can you read and write?" "Yes." "How advanced is your math?" "Easy division." "Last question, how old are you?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Well, that''s new. WindSeer, do you know?" "No idea Charlotte." "Alright, you look around seven, so that puts you at the early stage of primary school. Your math is much better than most kids your age, but you seem to have only basic language skills. This is a good chance."


    The lady, Charlotte, disappeared back to her desk and rang a bell. A bored looking young girl walked into the office and was immediate handed a small white slate and a stern look.


    "Mithandra, you will show the boy around, as you''ll be the to tutor him in vocabulary until he''s caught up. Feel free to instruct him in other things too. His identity card will be produced soon, so take this for now and come back with him at the end of the day."


    The girl who looked like she couldn''t be bothered grabbed the boy''s arm and left the room.


    On his way out, Kynos heard the last bit of conversation between the two mages.


    ¡°So Charlotte, why don''t you ever call me by my name?¡± ¡°Because ''Steve'' is a stupid name for someone with so much power.¡± ¡°Look, I can''t help it, someone else chose for me, unlike the boy that...¡±


    Mithandra slowly dwindled her pace into a dead stop.


    "Great, now I have to look after someone too? Genius is never appreciated in any world, it seems."


    In actuality, Charlotte had found Mithandra''s arrogance and coldness towards other unbecoming of their best non-magic student, and had forced the role on her in an attempt to teach her how to care for others. A non-noble orphan with no preconceptions that could protect himself would be the best choice. She''d have very mixed feelings about introducing the two to each other in her twilight years.


    Mithandra turned around to get a good look at the boy.

 Mithandra

    Insanity. Kynos saw the madness lurking behind the intelligence of Mithandra''s eyes, as she saw the hatred lurking behind the curiosity of his. Her mouth twisted into a grin so wide it could only be construed as perverted or evil.


    In fact, it was both. Kynos took a step back, but managed to keep pace with her stare. He wasn''t about to be intimidated by some girl that looked like a spoiled noble''s daughter, even though he was. ''This is scary,'' he thought to himself as he fought to keep from running away.


    "You, can you use magic?"


    It was a question out of the blue from the girl. Kynos nodded mutely.


    "What kind?" "Shadow." "What did they say about your mana?" "Above average."


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    "Damn," she muttered to herself while looking at what appeared to be his knees, "considering those looks....if only it was high, at least..."


    She snapped her head back level with his face violently, causing Kynos to almost take another step back. Her hair''s purple ringlet''s bounced.


    "Listen, from today onward, you will call me Mith, and I will call you Ky."


    ''Don''t shorten the name I just got!'' Kynos retorted in his mind.


    "You''ll work hard and become strong, and I''ll help with my genius. In return, you have to help me do just one thing."


    Kynos tilted his head and looked questioningly at Mithandra.


    "Help me kill god."


    This time, they both smiled. Kynos had his eyes opened wide and a crooked grimace on his face, while Mithandra narrowed her eyes and split her small, lovely mouth like a bloody crescent moon; a single fang-looking tooth showing on the left side.


    A student passing the two who had the misfortune of glancing their way tripped over herself and tumbled into the flower bushes nearby. She was in tears as she untangled herself and ran off.


    The tears were certainly not from falling into the bushes.

 Geography and Religion

    Mithandra explained the structure of the world to Kynos as she guided him halfheartedly around the primary school campus.


    Kynos was now in the Mage City-State Incanta. Incanta was part of a coalition of city-states that occupied the eastern half of the continent of Alva, including a large amount of island city-states. Incanta itself was landlocked, although a large river ran right through it. There were several kingdoms on the west side of the Alvan Mountains, including the Holy Kingdom Deiarcha.


    There were two other continents, a smaller continent named Zalta to the far West that only has the Zaltan Imperium ruling it, and a large continent to the south which connected to the other two by land, named Ladria.


    In regards to religion, there is a polytheistic one which is not worshiped too seriously that covers most of the islands to the east of Incanta, and the city-states within the vicinity of Incanta have no set religion. Incanta itself worships no gods, but does acknowledge that the various churches and shrines have power outside of the realm of normal magic. The Imperium only allows the worship of the emperor from their citizens, and Ladria has several different religions with varying tolerance for others based on region.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The religion, or rather, the god Kynos and Mithandra were after, was worshiped in the west of Alva, calling itself the Church of the One God. It''s a monotheistic religion that claims there is only one god and it created all other things, including the gods of the other religions. Since all the worshiped religions have demonstrated specific holy magic, it couldn''t just discount the other gods, so it made them into demi-gods. This belief obviously made them unpopular, so the clergy tailored its doctrines to reward common peasants rather than the wealthy or the powerful. However, those rewards are all after death, and since there''s no resurrection magic, no one has confirmed if any of them exist. The countries became kingdoms ruled by the nobles and bound to the authority of the church.


    In time, a particularly violent sect appeared, naming themselves as the Crusade of the True God. That particular sect, on top of the original doctrines, does not consider the the other gods to be gods at all, hence their endless wars with the Imperium. They war against other countries too, albeit more rarely, due to the interference of the mountain range completely cutting them off from the east side of Alva and the land bridge to Ladria.


    Mithandra didn''t give a reason about why she wanted to kill that particular god, but she also didn''t ask Kynos his. They had reached an agreement to build trust first.

 Friend

    Kynos returned with Mithandra later that day to receive his own identity card. He heard that it could be use in any country on the east side of Alva, as well as most places in Ladria and the Imperium as well. He was amazed that his came with the ability to eat for free.


    According to Mithandra, the card stored magic identifying himself as a scholarship student in the primary school system of Incanta, and could also store guild information, titles, and if he used a bank, his entire fortune as well.


    Kynos was also assigned shoes, underwear, a uniform, paper, and writing utensils. The identity card, which Mithandra always called ID, was truly a wonderful thing, especially since Kynos could opt for baked sweets as one of his three daily meals.


    He would''ve done it for all three meals if Mithandra hadn''t forced him to do otherwise. She was still scary.


    Kynos split from Mith when it was time to sleep, and he was introduced to his roommate, a boy one year older hailing from the plains country of Ertalia on the Ladria-Alva land bridge, named Axal. Unlike the pale Kynos and the equally pale Mithandra, he was bronze-skinned and muscular, a user of water magic and a possessor of the unique skill, honest, straightforward friendliness.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Shadow magic? Rare! Nice! Let''s have a good year as roommates buddy!"


    Kynos stared at him, and slowly nodded. He hoped he could last the year without going insane. He had met and spoken with more people in the last few weeks than the previous handful of years. If Mithandra actually had friends to introduce him to, he might have collapsed from exhaustion before he made it to the dorm.


    Despite sleeping for nine hours, Kynos was still barely able to drag himself out of bed at the insistent urging of Axal, early in the morning. He had been sleeping till late afternoon, eating at past midnight, and studying until morning before this, so his owl-like habits were particularly ingrained.


    Cursing at the rising sun, he began putting on his uniform, only to be stopped by ever-trusty Axal and dragged off to the bath. Axal made clear that he had to clean himself at least once a day, and that he had only let him off since he almost collapsed of exhaustion the previous day.


    "It''ll also help you wake up," Kynos was told.


    After cleaning the body was cleaning the mouth, which was particularly new for Kynos. He had lucked out though, a diet of practically nothing accompanied by the loss of baby teeth had kept his mouth in fairly good condition. Technology was still per-industrial in most sectors, so microscopes of course did not exist. There was healing magic that could mend teeth however, so it wasn''t a huge problem.


    Axal then forced Kynos to skip breakfast to get to class on time, also skipping his own. He was silently cursed at by teary eyes, but doggedly continued on the road of becoming the most reliable friend.

 Cake

    Unlike the non-magic classes which were attended mostly by nobles, the magic division was selected purely based off of talent, and had children from all walks of life. Kynos was introduced to his class without much trouble. He gave off the impression of a shy boy that didn''t talk much to his classmates.


    Class, especially history, was difficult for Kynos. The high-speed lecture was unforgiving, unlike the gentle, adaptable, but persistent way he was taught by his late mother.


    Still, it was classes designed for seven-year-olds, and Kynos was barely able to scrawl his notes onto the paper notebook her had been given. How luxurious, that he could keep his writing instead of having to erase the sand, but his handwriting was still small from force of habit.


    It was time for language class, which he was on behind his year for.


    "Hi Mithan...Mith." "Ky, stop standing there and sit down." Mith patted the seat right next to hers.


    Mithandra''s classes were terrifying. Instead of just teaching him vocabulary at an accelerated pace, she crammed math, etiquette, logic, and several other subjects down his throat. When his hand stopped or the light of comprehension left his eyes, she whispered to him threats which would make grown men tremble.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Kynos let the room with Mithandra and a dizzying headache. It was going to be a long year for him, but at least he could look forward to the magic classes after lunch.


    The lunch was served in a cafeteria, where he could order as many things as his plate could fit, provided he had the ID. He loaded up on a meat and vegetable stew, a soup that looked red and had some noodles floating in it, several slices of what looked like the softest bread, and left the last fourth of his tray to a slice of what Mithandra was calling ''cake'' with approval.


    Everything was delicious. The stew was meaty and thick, without being salty, and the vegetables had absorbed the meat''s flavor fully. The red soup looked thick but was surprisingly refreshing, and the noodles were chewy and gave off a slightly sweet flavor. The bread was white bread, and while Mithandra kept harping about the lack of nutrition, it was soft and delicious, and became almost heavenly when soaked into the juices of the stew.


    All of that was before the cake.


    Kynos had one bite, and immediately knew the existence that was greater than god. Cake is the strongest, he thought to himself, slowly savoring each bite. Food was good, candy was better, but cake was the only thing close to joy in this world, Kynos thought.


    Cake and revenge, but mostly, sweet, moist, soft, delicious cake.


    A few students stopped to watch the boy who ate cake slowly while leaking tears down his face, before being shooed away by the sharp glare of the embarrassed girl beside him.

 Elements

    Kynos was invigorated. He would become the most powerful mage, and then he would eat the most delicious cake.


    Wait, he was going to kill god. He would eat the most delicious cake as a reward for killing god. That was it.


    Kynos contemplated eating the second most delicious cake after killing the fat priest in the weird hat, but realized that the man was too disgusting to be a good appetizer. As he entered the classroom at the edge of the school for magic class, he decided he would eat that when he killed the masked man that had helped the fat priest.


    As a first-time entry to the magic class, Kynos listened to a lecture about the types of magic and what mana was.


    To put it simply, there were quite a few types of magic and mages were usually able to use one to two types:


    Fire magic, magic that generates combustion anywhere there is oxygen, highly destructive, mana consuming, and hard to control, a commonly found type among mages.


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    Water magic, needs already existing water from vapor in the air or a nearby source, but easily controlled with low mana requirements, also common.


    Earth magic, different mages have affinity with different rare minerals even though they can all manipulate loose grains like dirt and sand, favored for smithing, construction, and various other things; widely considered the most useful type of magic, and thankfully, common.


    Wind magic, the ability to manipulate air itself, extremely useful in combat due to synergy with arrows, other magic, speed buffs, and low mana usage, uncommon among mages.


    Light magic, the ability to create and/or concentrate light, can be used to light rooms or start fires, can vary from useless to powerful depending on the amount of light available to focus, moderate mana consumption and calorie consumption is creating light, uncommon among mages.


    Shadow magic, the ability to give form and direction to any kind of shadow, the power varies with the darkness of the shadow and is unrivaled at night, low mana consumption. rare among mages.


    Life magic, a magic with large variations, can manifest anything from the ability to heal to the ability to influence the minds of lesser creatures, the magic type is common, but several variations are extremely rare.


    Divine magic, magic from the blessings of the gods, unrelated to inborn talent but consumes much more mana and depending on the god, can have various effects.


    Kynos was told that he had demonstrated an affinity with shadow magic, but might have more. He also learned that each type of magic branched out into advanced magic as well, like the principle''s portal magic, which is a derivative of shadow magic. Mana is the resource to use magic, and is fixed from birth for each person. A lack of mana results in high mental fatigue.


    Since he was the only one at the lecture room, the affinity tests were also conducted there.

 Affinity

    Kynos was sat on the floor as the instructor prepared various things.


    ¡°Magic is about visualization and imagination,¡± the instructor said, ¡°first, since this room has shadow, imagine the shadow cast by the wall under that window lengthening all the way to yourself.¡±


    Kynos stared at the shadow, which did nothing. He stared at it harder, and imagined in his mind that it slowly creeped towards him. Before he noticed, the shadow was stretched out all the way to his feet, almost merging with his own.


    ¡°Good, go ahead and release that.¡±


    Kynos wasn''t sure what the instructor meant, and the shadow stayed put.


    ¡°First time huh? Just stop focusing on it, and it''ll go back on its own.¡±


    Ah, the shadow is back below the window again. The instructor motioned with his hands, one of which was holding a cloth with a vivid rendition of a small fire.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Okay, look at this,¡± the instructor brought out a small plate with his other hand, ¡°and imagine that small fire on top of this plate.¡±


    Kynos stared at the fire and the plate until he felt cross-eyed. A flicker appeared on the plate. He fixed his eyes by rubbing them and tried again.


    ¡°Ooooh, it lit up! That mean you have affinity with fire too, I''m glad that wasn''t the thing you used when you awakened,¡± the instructor said with mild surprise.


    ¡°Awakened?¡± Kynos accidentally leaked out. Ah, it must have been when his mother died. The flames of revenge flared up in his eyes, which made the instructor a bit uncomfortable.


    ¡°Well, mages usually show their strongest affinity during a time of high stress after their infancy. And fire mages tend to harm themselves and people around them when they awaken. Even though the magic type is common, not many fire mages become proficient, either because they fear their own magic, or because they...uh...become too injured.¡±


    Kynos nodded with understanding. Wasn''t this a bit too heavy for a seven-year-old?


    ¡°Ah, sorry, let''s continue with the tests.¡± The instructor shook his head and brought out a small pitcher of water.


    If turned out that Kynos was only able to use shadow and fire magic. There was no actual way to fully test the nature magic variations, but he found out he wasn''t able to heal the prick on his hand or to speak with the mouse in the cage.


    The instructor packed up. ¡°That''s it for today. Since it''s late, we will find you an instructor tomorrow so you can begin image training. You seem to have good control, so you won''t be too far behind.¡±

 Instructor

    Somehow, the next day Kynos found himself back in the principle''s office. There was a man with a sword as his waist sitting down across form her when he entered.


    ¡°Ah, Kynos, have you acclimatized to the school?¡± The principle, VoidSeer Charlotte asked.


    ¡°A..acclima...?¡± Sorry, are you used to the school yet?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Kynos bowed his head, like he had seen Steve do before.


    ¡°Good, now for the bad news,¡± Charlotte continued, ¡°we have no shadow magic instructors in this school except myself, but unfortunately, I''m too busy to teach as of late. We will have you attend only the fire magic class for now...¡±


    Kynos nodded weakly. He liked that fire was powerful, but he felt much more comfortable with shadow magic. Besides, it was rare. Rare is stronger, right?


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    ¡°However, since you are only at the beginning of training, I will have AquaSeer Roland here instruct you.¡±


    ''AquaSeer? There sure were a lot of seers around, maybe seers weren''t strong?''


    Mistaking the furrowed brows on the child''s face as disappointment, Roland stood up grandly and made a sweeping bow.


    ¡°I, Roland, assure you that I will be more than capable of teaching you how to use shadow, for I am....¡±


    ¡°He can freeze things, and if he mixes enough impurities when he freezes pooling water, it looks like the beginning stages of shadow magic training. My own instructor was also an ice mage.¡±


    Ah, Charlotte cut him off. Roland still had a hand sticking out to the right from his bow as sweat beaded on his forehead. Kynos had better save him a little.


    ¡°Mister Roland, I look forward to being strong.¡±


    Well, that came out a bit weird, but Roland grasped at the chance.


    ¡°Of course young Kynos! I shall make you worthy of the title of Seer!¡±


    So it was seer after all. Maybe it wasn''t a big deal?


    ¡°Roland, must I kindly remind you that no child this young has managed that in the history of magecraft? Please cease making frivolous promises to my students.¡±


    Roland almost collapsed at the end of his second bow. Charlotte was scary too, it must be where Mithandra got her personality.

 Bully

    It had been some time since Kynos started training, and he felt that he had a good grasp of his own abilities. Mithandra had grumbled to him multiple times about not being able to use magic. She kept saying, ''even though it exists in this world,'' or ''what a shit game with no respec''.


    It was all nonsensical to him.


    Kynos was somewhat fawned over by both his shadow magic teach Roland as well as his fire magic instructor. Both teachers had classes of approximately a dozen students each, but they spent more time with Kynos since he had a better grasp of magic manipulation and image. There was bound to be some jealousy.


    Behind the scenes, Mithandra had arranged for a trial. ''If he can''t beat this, then he''s worthless,'' she thought to herself.


    Kynos waved goodbye to Mithandra and started heading to the boy''s dorm. There was the long-awaited cake as dessert for dinner tonight, which boded extremely poorly for the group of seven students that surrounded him as Mithandra watched from behind a tree.


    Kynos immediately sensed the danger, and since it was late in the afternoon, there was plenty he could work with. The only issue was that he had overdone it a bit in magic practice, and was feeling quite empty on mana. He lowered his head and pretended to be scared while backing slowly towards the shadow of a large tree. Magic was forbidden unless it was supervised by an instructor, but he would use it if it got him to the cake.


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    The kids jeered at him. ¡°Look at the puny kid, forget magic, just let me punch him once and the fight''ll be over!,¡± a fat kid yelled. ¡°I can''t believe he has the nerve to stick to mister Roland like that,¡± a girl with a long face bitched. The other two girls nodded.


    So there were people that actually liked that kind of person? Kynos shook his head a bit from the rude thought.


    To the sounds to insults, Kynos finished his image. He looked up with a face that showed anything but fear. ¡°Let me through.¡±


    ¡°Screw this,¡± yelled an eleven-year-old who was the top in fire magic class, ¡°get him!¡±


    Three of the kids looked visibly afraid as the ball of fire formed in mid-air, and two others started preparing more fireballs as a third began siphoning water from nearby. They were preparing to set him on fire and put it out before he burned to death.


    Kids were assholes, after all.


    Kynos swallowed his pooling saliva and acted first. Every single one of the seven kids surrounding him was tripped at the ankle by a shadow coil while he ducked and made his own fireball. The three fireballs that were formed flew wildly, one hit the tree behind him and two flew off and dispersed in the air. The half-formed ball of water collapsed on the ground with a splash.


    He shot his own, much smaller fireball at the head of the oldest kid, the first one to attack him, and smashed the heads of the other six into the dirt with his shadows. The hair of the oldest kid lit up like a bonfire before he smothered it out with a final shadow.


    Tired from mana exhaustion, but victorious, he walked back to the dorm to enjoy delicious cake. He didn''t even turn around to look at the tree, now ablaze. Mithandra left to get an instructor; she still needed to spin the story of how seven older kids were bullying her precious friend after all.


    The next day, the oldest child was expelled from the school while the other six were punished harshly. The rumors of the strongest bully that burns hair and gets people expelled was born thereafter, also with a bit of prodding from Mithandra.


    It was the reason why Kynos couldn''t make any other friends at school.

 Birthday

    At some point, Kynos was about to turn eight.


    Actually, Mithandra was about to turn eight and said to him, ¡°It''s annoying to have to decide another date, so your birthday will be on the same day.¡±


    How unfair, but Kynos thought that birthdays didn''t particularly matter. He had never celebrated one, as Axal was still eight himself.


    Somehow, working behind the scenes, coercing adults left and right, Mithandra had managed to turn it into a big deal.


    It turned out that Mithandra was born to wealthy nobles, which was to be expected from the non-magic class. Furthermore, she was an admiral''s daughter, the admiral belonging to the largest island country to the east, which was the largest trade partner to Incanta. On top of that, she was the youngest sibling of a large family, which meant she did not have the lineage obligation of her eldest brother, or the marriage obligations of her two older sisters.


    In short, she was rich, free of obligations, spoiled by her entire family, and a self-proclaimed genius.


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    Well, she was actually a genius though. She had long since surpassed the university level, and she spent a vast amount of each day holed up in a lab, researching who knows what. No one understood why she was wasting time in primary school, and no one had any idea what the word ''shota'' that she kept giving enthusiastically as the reason meant.


    She also revealed to Kynos that her mana was immeasurably large. In order to directly manipulate magic in or within the extreme vicinity of a person, a mage had to overcome a person''s entire residual mana pool. Mages were able to offset the amount of mana consumed with more skilled magic manipulation, both on offense and defense, and generally used an attempt at intrusion as a measure of another person''s mana.


    It was why Kynos couldn''t force Steve''s shadow to move, and why most mages used mana to form phenomena instead of trying to exert control inside or near another person. Non-human races and monsters commonly had innate mana as well.


    Mithandra, despite absolutely no affinity with any magic, even after extensive nature magic testing, could not be intruded by the most powerful mage in the school, Charlotte. As a matter of fact, she could not even be intruded on by the most powerful mage in Incanta''s council. Even though it was regarded as a more or less useless trait, it could help somewhat against assassination. Also, it was celebrated just because it was extremely rare, to the point where no one currently alive should have as much as she did.


    As Kynos thought, ''rare is better after all. Maybe if he could get his hands on a rare cake, the party would...'' As if reading his mind, Mithandra dropped a bomb.


    ¡°Of course, if you come with me, you can bring Axal, as he''s the son of one of our bigger trading partners, and there will be a giant cake with sweet fruits from the ocean you''ve never eaten before.¡±


    It too good to be true. If he could get a giant cake on birthdays, he would remember to celebrate it every year...no, every month.


    After a bit more convincing with some vivid descriptions of the cake she was presented last year, Mithandra convinced him to relent. They would be going to celebrate on the next break.

 Ocean

    ¡°Wooooooo!¡± Axal yelled with delight as the magic-propelled carriage sped along the ground.


    ''Mithandra was rich after all,'' Kynos thought. Her doting parents spared no expense on her first birthday with friends to celebrate. Charlotte was invited, but declined due to work. She also stopped Roland from tagging along by forcefully thrusting a portion of her work on him.


    His teary eyes followed the carriage carrying his prized student to beyond the horizon.


    Due to the speed of the carriage that used a wind mage instead of horses, as well as one of the well maintained and protected highways leading from Incanta, they reached the nearest harbor in just three days. The wind mage powering the carriage was swapped out twice, and Kynos could only imagine what that kind of service would cost.


    He still remembered the bumpy, uncomfortable ride from before, when Lucy had driven a horse-drawn wagon. Kynos hadn''t left the school grounds though, so he was unaware of how people got around.


    Along the way, they had eaten a packed lunch for the first day, then dinner at an inn. Before they left, they would get another packed lunch for the road. It was an uneventful journey during which Mithandra taught the two of them advanced math. Kynos had moved beyond simple decimals and fractions, and he was beginning long division. Axal''s mental capacity was much more similar to that of an eight year old, and being constantly stared at by a drooling Mithandra made him uncomfortable. He mainly stayed outside on the exposed back portion of the carriage where he could feel the wind and watch the scenery.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°Well, I''m glad I took the time to make this thing, the shaking from that horse drawn carriage was ridiculous,¡± Mithandra mused, ¡°a couple leagues and my ass felt like it would fall off.¡±


    ¡°Mith, is a league long?¡± Kynos wondered.


    ¡°Oh, well, yes, sort of. I''m used to using it because I came from the islands, but it''s roughly three and a half miles? Something like five kilometers?¡±


    ¡°What''s a mile and a kilometer?¡± ¡°Um, do you know any length to measure by?¡± ¡°I know what a foot is.¡± Kynos motioned a distance with his hands.


    Axal, who had come back inside for some water excited chimed in.


    ¡°That''s not right.¡± Axal grabbed Kynos and moved his hands closer together. ¡°That''s a foot, and if you do this, it''s a yard.¡± He moved the hands out significantly further this time.


    Mithandra was breathing a bit heavily while watch two boys hold hands, but snapped back and pitched in, unwilling to yield in a battle of knowledge.


    ¡°That''s right, a kilometer is a little more than a thousand yards, and a mile is about 1.6 kilometers.¡±


    Axal nodded in agreement.


    ¡°How do you know any of this, Axal?¡± Kynos asked with tilted head.


    ¡°We have to measure distance on dad''s farms, since there are so many and they''re so big,¡± the older boy answered, full of pride.


    As Kynos was struggling to grasp the concept of distance measurement, Axal opened the back door again. Mithandra immediately perked up.


    ¡°I can smell the ocean, look.¡± She pointed at an angle out of the window.


    Kynos saw the ocean about ten seconds before an excited Axal grabbed his arm to pull him outside for his ''first'' glimpse of the ocean.


    It was tough being popular.

 Attack

    Mithandra''s entire family showed up on a large, threatening warship with 3 masts.


    ¡°Hey everyone, I brought some friends,¡± she managed to get out, before being squeezed into a family hug then passed around for a few more.


    All of the women in the family were beautiful, and Kynos briefly wondered what it would be like to be squeezed into those bosoms. He had never been hugged, after all, as his mother had been trying to keep her distance before giving him a name.


    The father and elder brother kept giving Kynos and Axal hard looks, especially Axal, but the women of the family fawned over them as if telling the men off. Everyone boarded the ship as the supplies were replenished.


    Mithandra''s father was a rugged man with jet black straight hair, a square jaw, and a powerful looking visage. Her mother had lavender curls and a petite face, with a bodyline that would make someone 20 years her junior grow weak at the knees with envy. The family had certainly been blessed with good looks, and the genes didn''t lie.


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    The older sister had tight black curls and a handsome jawline, the second sister had lavender straight hair and huge breasts, and it looked like Mithandra had inherited the petite face with softly curled dark-purple ringlets. The son, the oldest of the children, had developed into the type of man with a face that women across the land would fantasize about, having inherited the handsomeness and raven hair of his father, but the delicate features of his mother.


    ¡°Wow Mith, everyone in your family is good looking,¡± Kynos let slip in awe.


    The men narrowed their eyes again, but the delighted gushes of the women kept them silent. It looked like the females being in control was also hereditary.


    Axal quietly went to stand over by the two men, abandoning Kynos, who was still surrounded by the circle of women. A short clap on the back let him know that he was immediately accepted into the brotherhood, and they gave him a set of baggy sailor''s clothes for the journey.


    Kynos ended up getting a strangely frilly shirt and tight pants for instead. Axal wouldn''t trade him, of course.


    No one was heavily seasick, although Kynos had trouble sleeping the first night. On the fifth day of sailing, as he was staring out into the ocean, he caught sight of a small black object. He focused on it and it grew larger; suddenly, it was looking a lot more like a ship. Mithandra came looking for him right then for their daily tutoring session, which, to his chagrin, never stopped.


    ¡°Mith, whose ship is that?¡± Kynos pointed.


    Mithandra cupped her hands over squinted eyes to check the flag. It was pure black, with a white symbol in the middle. She cursed quietly before turning around to yell. ¡°PIRATES, ALL HANDS TO ARMS!¡±

 Pirates

    In five minutes'' time, every fighter available was on the deck and armed to the teeth. Mithandra''s family was quite capable.


    Her father stood next to the tiller, a crossbow in one hand and a saber in the other. ¡°We find ourselves glorious battle once again! I, Mathias Corvodas Lenas, shall lead you to victory!¡±


    The men and women all cheered. Kynos looked around, there were many armed women as well, it seemed. Mithandra held a short bow, her mother held a buckler and had a rapier on her belt, both of her sisters held crossbows, and her brother seemed to be below, directing the cannons.


    Aside from Axal''s regular sailor''s clothes and Kynos'' frilly getup, everyone was now wearing leather, with a few wearing metal protectors over vital areas.


    Kynos silently watched the pirate ship as it cut through the waters. According to Mathias, their goal was to ram the ship, then board it, rendering the superior amount of cannons worthless.


    Chances are it would become a melee unless they could sink the pirates first. Sink...couldn''t Axal do it? He was supposed to be a water mage, after all. Kynos moved towards Axal and whispered, ¡°can you sink it?¡±


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    Axal trembled as he walked towards the starboard side. Kynos wished the best for his friend, but had the disquieting feeling Axal would fail. Magic required concentration and calm to form the image needed to manipulate mana into an effect. Axal was trembling already, and the magic Kynos felt from him was too weak to generate enough water pressure to drill a hole in the ship''s heavy wooden hull.


    On top of that, it was during the day. His prized shadow magic wasn''t worth much on the backdrop of a glittering ocean, and in either case, he was too far to attach his own shadow to that cast by the other ship''s sails. He considered his options as Axal''s magic wavered and dissipated.


    Kynos stepped forward and put a hand on his friend''s shoulder. ¡°It''s alright, let me.¡±


    Mathias looked on with no anticipation showing on his face. He knew the value of mages, but these were just children. He couldn''t expect all children to be as capable as his youngest daughter.


    Axal put his hand down and backed away, mortified. He had been bragging to the crew that in the sea, he was invincible.


    Kynos imagined a giant ball of fire, flying towards the enemy ship, which was looking rather menacing now. A cannon volley boomed out from under him, and the ball of fire hovering above him disappeared like a dream. Mithandra glared at her father, but said nothing. She knew that the veteran sailors and marines on board weren''t apt to rely on children.


    The cannons all missed though.


    Kynos steadied himself and took a deep breath. He would have to prove that he was strong. He couldn''t have cared less about Mathias or his crew, but he needed to show Mith that he had improved. She was the one that allowed him to sharpen his image of magic, giving him various bits of hints and advice from books even his instructors haven''t read. A good majority of all of his knowledge on other things were from her as well.


    Steadying himself and shaking off the shame, Axal stepped up beside him. He wasn''t about to let a friend fight alone.

 Application

    Mathias watched the two boys line up on the starboard side, and he quietly send the order to his son to stop the cannons for a minute.


    If a minute could show him something amazing, then it would be worth it. If not, the cannons were unlikely to hit the small silhouette of an oncoming pirate frigate, and he would have to engage them in a melee either way. The pirate ship was moving quickly with the help of the wind, while his own galleon wouldn''t be able to out sail the frigate even if they turned to run. Also, being rammed in the stern would be troubling if the rudder got damaged.


    There would be enough time left to let the bows have a volley, then turn the ship so the pirates could only ram his prow.


    Axal was no longer trying to sink the ship. He had heard Kynos ask him to see if he can make the ship turn instead, and now he would focus on merely moving the water on the pirate ship''s port side so it would slowly angle, showing more surface to hit.


    Kynos had created another large fireball and this time, he sent it flying. It looked a bit too high to hit the ship directly, so he must have been aiming for something else.


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    Mathias saw it first, as soon as the Kynos let fly. The boy was going after the sails! The most flammable part of the ship, large sails made with cloth. The attack might have been dispersed by the ramming speed of the enemy ship if shot at the prow, but a blazing fire was a sailor''s worst nightmare.


    Even as the conflagration flew through the air, the pirate frigate was slowly turning. The churning water on the front of the port side showed that the water mage Axal was also doing his job. The giant ball of fire split into several smaller fragments and impacted. The black sails exploded in fire, and a small figure fell flaming from the crow''s nest.


    ''Good job!'' Mathias cheered in his mind.


    The pirate ship''s crew looked like they were trying to put out the sails, and in their haste, had forgotten to correct their incoming angle. It was the perfect time.


    ¡°FIRE!¡± Mathias yelled out, and heard his son echo that shout in the galley below.


    Ten cannons roared out from his galleon and three giant lead balls lodged themselves into the side of the pirate vessel. A mast was snapped, and fell onto the ship itself, scattering incendiary everywhere. A disgraced politician''s supporters would have been impressed at how quickly the pirates jumped ship.


    Mathias ordered the figurehead of the pirate ship harpooned as the ship capsized, and dragged it, along with a piece of the prow, back to his own ship as proof. Then he sent his daughters and the two mage children below deck before he ordered the crossbows to massacre the pirates helplessly clinging onto the flotsam.


    Pirates were tenacious, and the last thing he needed was another ship accidentally rescuing two dozen pirates and being seized.


    The fight was over.

 Port

    Two days later they encountered another three frigates, each flying a purple flag with black insignia; they were Mathias'' fleet that had deployed to hunt pirates.


    According to his men, a rather notorious pirate was pillaging rich-looking large ships. They had minimal firepower and relied on speed to engage in melee. The ship''s captain reportedly always brought fights to fisticuffs and hit like a troll, and the first mate used various types of swords at high speeds.


    Either way, both of them and the rest of their crew were feeding fish in the depths.


    Escorted by his fleet, Mathias returned to his territory on the largest island in the Alvan Sea. Currently king-less and ruled by four admirals, Mithandra''s family home was on the island of Ailize. Her household was responsible for the south side of the island, and unlike bishops in the west whose authority was regulated and distributed evenly by the church, her family was the most powerful, controlling the trade routes with Incanta and the Ladria continent. Also unlike the bishops, the four admirals of Ailize got along fairly well, as Mithandra''s sisters were married to the western and northern families, and the daughter of the eastern noble was married to her brother.


    As they were slowly guided in to harbor by several small cutters, Kynos caught sight of a fast moving shadow, which emerged and became the strangest creature he had seen yet.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Its head was an oval, adorned with large oval eyes, with no nose and no hair anywhere. From the top of the head was a long fin that extended out behind its back into a tail. It had two legs that ended in flippers, and it had fins on the side of its hips and thin arms which emerged from smooth, sloping shoulders. Webbed, three fingered hands were attached to the end of the arms, and something that looked like gills could be seen extending from its cheeks down the the base of its neck.


    Kynos thought it was a streamlined and beautiful creature, but he was on guard from force of habit.


    ¡°Those are merman,¡± Mithandra said casually, ¡°they can''t, or won''t, talk, but they do trade with us. They can''t breath air, seem to live in villages underwater, and nearly all of our aquatic fruits and deep-water seafood is from them.¡±


    Kynos dropped his guard somewhat. ¡°Merman?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the women are called mermaids. Because the trade from them is so important, it''s the death penalty by drowning if anyone attacks them in any way. We trade land products back to them, especially crafted things.¡± Mithandra beckoned Axal over. ¡°You might also be interested to hear that all of them can naturally use a little bit of water magic. They help us fight defensively when their homes are threatened.¡±


    Mithandra''s family had gathered by this point, and all of them were proud that an eight-year-old girl could explain things so clearly. Actually, they had been used to her genius from shortly after her birth, so none of them were too surprised. That also went for Mathias'' sailors.


    Looking away from the merman, who was pushing a net filled with large, ball-like fruits onto a boat nearby, Kynos took in the harbor and marine city that was Mithandra''s homeland.


    He wanted to try seafood, but more importantly, there was going to be cake. A giant cake.

 Celebration

    The docks were crowded. Almost a hundred retainers lined up to celebrate their lord''s most spoiled child''s birthday. Every single one that wasn''t too far or too critical to return had been made to come, and although a few grumbled, the mood was overall festive.


    As Mathias disembarked with his family and two young mages in tow, the line of retainers split and escorted them all the way through the harbors and to the seaside castle that was the home of the Lenas family. Kynos followed with his mouth slightly opened in wonder, and Axal ran around, excited by each and every sight. They left behind the figurehead of the pirate ship strapped to a large rock near the docks in public display, a sign of warning and a show of power from the admiral.


    Leaving behind the large throng of commoners, they passed the the sturdy stone walls of the fort, built into a peninsula jutting into the sea, and within the fort was a modestly sized castle bristling with armaments. Kynos wondered how often this place was attacked, seeing all the ballistae and cannons on the walls of the fort and parapets of the castle.


    Finally, after Mith showed him the room he was to share with Axal, he was allowed to change out of his frills and back into his school uniform. The clothes had become slightly worn from wear and lack of proper care, but the school itself was prestigious enough to cover for that. It was the outfit he would wear to Mith''s, and his own, birthday celebration the next day.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    That night, Mithandra dragged him out to walk along the fort''s walls, mostly because she was bored, but also to give him an idea of a new way to use magic.


    The magic of the world could be used just by imagery, but many mages chanted and used hand motions as ways to focus. With Kynos having such talent in magic control, but not an amazing amount of mana, Mith had suggested that hed form the habit of only using his mind to control magic. It would open the way for him to also fight in the frontlines, which could become an incredible skill set.


    Mages were potent in battle, especially a supporting wind mage, but they were awful at hitting fast moving targets and needed to be protected carefully. Mithandra had read that one of the mages who founded Incanta was an exception. He used water magic exclusively, and engaged in close combat with various weapons made from ice and by encasing his feet to slide at incredible speeds. That mage also had two direct disciples, the current weakest seer, Roland, and the second strongest seer, Charlotte. She imagined that''s why Roland always wore a sword, even though no one had seen him draw it at school.


    Part of the reason she had grown interested in Kynos was also because of the attention his talent had drawn from both of them, as well as the strongest wind mage, Steve. Coincidentally, Steve had declined any position above seer, though he was considered the third strongest mage alive. The council of mages were having trouble convincing him to take a high seat because he had a complex about having a fancy title after his name.


    After teaching Kynos the new trick, and forcing him to practice for a few hours, she retired to bed. She would have to give a speech tomorrow. Also, at all costs, she prevent Kynos from crying just from tasting the cake.

 Disaster

    Kynos was ecstatic. He thought he had smelled something sweet, and saw a gigantic box being wheeled in to the great chamber of the castle.


    Mithandra had been keeping a sharp eye on him all day, but it wouldn''t be enough to bring down his mood.


    The preparations began that morning for the girls, who were all being bound by fancy dresses held up by wire mesh. Kynos briefly wondered if those dresses were supposed to serve as armor in emergencies. He had heard of something called ''chain mail,'' but had never seen it, as mages rarely wore armor due to weightgetting in the way of casting. Mithandra had opted out of a dress and wore her school uniform, which looked brand new.


    They were made to stand in the great chamber as two retainers, followed by Mathias himself, gave speeches of congratulations and praise. Even though they were partially for him, Kynos was bored and hungering for cake. Axal looked bored as well, though he forced himself to pay attention. It must be because he had been brought up with those habits.


    Finally, the turn for Mithandra''s speech came. She grabbed Kynos by the arm, just like when they had first met, and dragged him to the stage as well. Kynos was bewildered, and stammered out to try to stop her, but something else saved him from his fear of public speaking.


    The large twin doors burst open, and a voice yelled into the crowd, ¡°ATTACK!¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Kynos blinked his eyes as the room instantly became hectic. He briefly wondered how the pirates would do against the hundreds of siege weapons he saw facing the water.


    The real surprise came next, as a wall of water gushed into the chamber itself. Kynos quickly covered Mith with his body, and did his best to create a shadow barrier to shield them both. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the day, and the chamber was brightly lit. The water crushed the shadow like it was a sheet of paper, then crushed his consciousness as well.


    Again, Kynos was awakened from the sound of voices nearby.


    ¡°...money, right?¡± A cruel sounding woman.


    ¡°All three brats got t''magic school clothes, each one could buy a new ship, boss.¡± A man this time, speaking with a crude accent.


    ¡°And that water mage?¡± ¡°Aye boss, stuck ''im like I stuck me wenches I did. Got all our coin back before ''ee figured out we was nabbin'' mages.¡± ¡°Good, go make sure we''re sailing at full speed. Those idiot Ailizeans are probably scrambling to launch right now.¡±


    The woman laughed like a dying cat, then abruptly stopped. ¡°Oh, and those brats are young, but dangerous. Go in there and make sure they''re all blinded and there''s no water near. Dakka was done in by a fireball and some water magic, we can''t have that happening to us.¡±


    Kynos heard a ¡°shhhh¡± from Mitha few seconds before the door to his prison was kicked open. He let his body stay limp and calmed his breathing. Rough hands tightened his blindfold, and he heard the same thing happening two more times near him.


    The door closed. He heard a soft whisper next to him.


    ¡°Hey, used your magic like I taught you, take off your own blindfold first, then help me.¡±


    Kynos nodded to himself. These pirates would pay. They would pay for attacking Axal, they would pay for attacking Mith, and most of all, they would pay for attacking a perfectly good cake.

 Escape

    Kynos imagined a small disc from the darkness between his eye and the blindfold. He then made the side facing away from his eye slowly protrude outwards as a thin bar, smoothly cutting the blindfold in half.


    It fell away from his eyes, and he saw the closet-sized dark room he was it. There was a single wooden door, and checking next to him revealed Mith, curled up on his right and blindfolded, and Axal, in similar condition, but still knocked out. He cut the rope binding his hands behind his back with the same magic, and by making a thin shadow blade on his finger, cut Mith''s bindings as well.


    ¡°What''s next?¡± He asked her, as he freed Axal.


    ¡°Well, don''t wake him up, I don''t want any more noise than necessary. We need to check out where we are and figure out a way to get back.¡±


    Mithandra then tried to explain to him how to make a spinning drill head with his shadow, which made no noise, to peek out the other side of the door, but the image was too complicated for Kynos and there was no paper to draw it for him. She settled with peaking past the seam where two crude door hinges were attached.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Kynos took a peak himself after Mith was done, and saw that they were locked in the back of a room with all sorts of crates, sacks, and barrels. ¡°It must be the hold,¡± Mith whispered, ¡°let''s get this lock out of the way.¡±


    There was a large padlock on the other side of the door, holding it closed. Kynos had no idea how to open it, but Mith was the girl with the plan.


    ¡°Listen, try using your shadow blade to cut the metal.¡± The shadow blade broke through the wooden door easily, but it only left a small mark on the thinnest part of the padlock.


    ¡°Fine, use that shadow blade and punch a hole behind the lock big enough for my hand and arm to go through,¡± Mith said as she pulled out a smaller silver cylinder from somewhere. Kynos had been robbed of all his possessions but the clothes on his back. He wondered how Mith managed to keep such an expensive-looking thing hidden even though she was unconscious.


    Reading his mind as she stuck her hand holding the cylinder through the hole, Mith said, ¡°ladies have secrets, I''m going to need you to use your shadow and hold and move the lock after I open it.¡±


    Mith pressed the back of the cylinder, and it molded into the lock like a key. She turned it with some difficulty, and Kynos lifted and moved the lock off of the door as soon as Mith withdrew her hand.


    Axal was stirring, so Kynos let Mith to deal with him as he carefully opened the door to look around. The hold was crowded, with the only light coming from an open hatch at the other end. There was a narrow path leading away from the closet prison, and Kynos could tell that it wasn''t nearly the size of the ship he had been on before.


    Mithandra emerged from the small prison with a shaking Axal in tow. She was appreciating the fact that at least one person was scared, but for Kynos, it was time for revenge.

 Psychopath

    After a few minutes to frenzied whispering, Mithandra laid out her plans.


    First, Kynos would scout the crew quarters which were usually above the hold. If they were asleep, he would massacre them all. Then, Kynos would scout the deck with the cannons, and massacre everyone silently. As Axal sabotaged all of the fire crystals with water, Kynos would scout the deck above, and silently massacre everyone. Finally, as Mith and Axal prepared a small boat for escape, Kynos would leave a few pouches of non-sabotaged fire crystals around the deck and light the sails on fire.


    In short, Mithandra clarified, Kynos would be doing almost everything. She then pompously told Kynos that he at least had to be able to keep up with someone called Ramirez and pointed authoritatively towards the ladder leading to the crew quarters.


    Unbeknownst to Kynos, Mithandra had arrived at a hypothesis during their time together: Kynos was a psychopath.


    Observations showed that he had curiosity and obsessed over the goal of revenge, but he felt most emotions very shallowly and seemed to have no qualms with her instructions to carry out ''experimentations'' on small animals during magic practicals. She would be testing that theory in full.


    Kynos nodded before Axal could protest, and clad shadow over his head and the front of his body, leaving only his eyes and air holes showing. He poked his head through the hatch carefully, then immediately ducked it back.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The hatch from the cannon deck was opened, and someone was climbing in. He heard sounds of a struggle as a pirate kicked another awake for his shift. The first one collapsed into a bunk and began snoring in moments, and the other grumbled as he left. Kynos turned around to see Mith covering Axal''s mouth. He said an unnecessary ¡°shhh¡± and climbed out of the hold.


    His first victim was the recently entered pirate. Covering the man''s mouth with a shadow, Kynos stabbed a pitch black dagger into the man''s throat. The man convulsed a few times before a final twist sent him to his death. Kynos had been told to use this method my Mith earlier, and the very thing she taught him the night before was to use shadow like weapons and armor, instead of as a projecting attack.


    His first kill caused a vague sense of discomfort, but he neither trembled or grew queasy as the smell of iron drifted from the wound.


    The other 17 or so odd men were dispatched one by one with the same method, and Kynos only sped up with each kill. Finally, he climbed up the hatch leading out and poked his head onto the cannon deck.


    A dozen cannons on small carts sat around, many of them aimed at closed hatches. A single pirate patrolled the room, but unluckily for him, his back was turned when Kynos had poked his head out to look. Before he had a chance to react, a shadow gagged his mouth and a blade slid past his spine, squeezed between his ribs, and penetrated into his left lung. The man died without a struggle.


    Kynos leaned back into the crew quarters to signal to Mith that it was safe, and saw Axal dry heaving halfway across the room. Mith gave him a thumbs up, the sign to proceed. He hoped his friend would be alright, the cannons needed sabotaging.


    Grabbing three pouches of crystals, Kynos moved towards the slanted door lead to the deck. As he neared it, a cutlass burst through and made contact with the black film covering his chest. He staggered back quite the distance from the impact as the woman pirate captain kicked in the door.


    ¡°I thought I smelled blood, and what in the cursed sea are you?¡± The woman pirate was struck with surprise at seeing a small boy covered head to toe in a black, undulating film.

 Loss

    Kynos backed further away from the woman. The pain from the bruise forming on his chest was causing him some issues with breathing, but he did his best to lay a web of shadow covering the entire area in front of him as he retreated. For the current Kynos, that was the extent of how much he could do, and he hoped that the woman would be stupid enough to step into it.


    ¡°A quiet boy huh? I like the quiet ones too,¡± the woman said as she licked her lips, ¡°but in my experience, boys are only quiet when they''re dead.¡±


    She sauntered forward, hips shaking, and Kynos did his best not to smile. She was walking right into his trap. To lure her a bit more, he clutched his chest with his right hand and and dropped down on one knee.


    As she stepped onto the edge of the web, he sprung his trap, making five spikes fly at her from almost point blank distance.


    She stopped it.


    She had known all along, and stopped all five spikes with the flat of her cutlass. Then she moved so quickly that Kynos lost her for a moment in the darkness.


    The next thing he felt was pain. She had ran at high speeds through his web without him being able to react, and dropped a two-handed swing sideways into his stomach. Kynos flew back and almost fell down the hatch into the crew quarters.


    The thick layer of shadow on his stomach had protected him from being cut in half, but now he was in serious pain and lost control of his shadows entirely. The woman inched forward casually.


    ¡°Okay boy, I''ll give you two choices. One, you die, or two, you serve me. Of course, bad boys need punishment, so to repay me for killing my men, you''ll be killing the girl and the other boy with your own hands.¡±


    She stepped forward again as Kynos crawled around the open hatch, desperately trying not to retch.


    ¡°Oh, but don''t worry. I''ll let the only 4 members of my crew that are still alive rape them both before that, so they''ll be begging for death.¡±


    She raised her sword and pointed it at Kynos.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°Chose quickly boy, or I''ll be the one doing all of the honors.¡±


    Kynos looked up and spit at her.


    Enraged, the woman leapt forward. A jet of dark red blood flew from the hatch right at that moment.


    The liquid shot out with enough force to knock her sideways, and a jet black spike followed from Kynos, impaling her through the stomach. The woman coughed blood and slumped over, glaring eyes still fixed on Kynos.


    Mithandra emerged from the hatch first and immediately began stomping on the woman''s corpse.


    ¡°Hah? Rape? How about you get fucked? You like that big black spike? How about I have my boys give you a few more, bitch?!¡±


    Kynos coughed, both in pain and as a reminder to Mith that there were more important things to do, as he watched Axal crawl up shakily from the hatch. Kynos thought he was admirable, really. Axal had not only helped kill the woman pirate, but was actually doing his best to not watch the eight-year-old girl stomping on a bloody corpse two feet away.


    Mith abandoned the plan to sabotage the fire crystals after hearing just 4 more pirates were alive. Instead, she had Axal wheel a cannon to point at the opening to the deck, with the support of shadows. Kynos sat on the floor, far too beat up take up physical labor at this point. Mith then cupped her hands and yelled towards the exit to the deck.


    ¡°Hey, you dumbshits, I killed your bitch queen and we''re about to blow this whole tub up!¡±


    Ever since the woman pirate had died, Mith had been using a lot of ugly sounding words neither Kynos or Axal understood. Also, Kynos could''ve sworn he was the one to land the killing blow. Maybe Mith thought her stomping had finished the woman off?


    Four men crowded into the entrance, brandishing swords, and Mith snapped her fingers. Kynos lit the fire crystal protruding from a hole on the top of the cannon and a giant lead ball roared out a second later, turning four men, a door, and a fair amount of ship into mush and splinters.


    Mith triumphantly waved a thin rapier she had found in the hold. According to her, the three of them had just commandeered a pirate vessel.


    That being said, it was too difficult to sail a vessel with three children, so she took the other two to the boat strapped onto the side of the ship. As Mith helped Kynos into the boat, she sent Axal to get various supplies, including a large piece of sail canvas and dried provisions. She didn''t bring any water, because the large ocean to the east of Alva and west of the Imperium was freshwater. Only the cursed sea sandwiched between the northern ice shelf and the three continents was saltwater.


    As Axal loaded the last crate of food onto the boat and lowered the boat along the ropes, Mith let out a horrified sound. Kynos, who had been resting with his eyes closed in the boat opened them in time to see the woman pirate, cutlass in hand and bleeding profusely from the stomach, behead Axal from behind. She looked like a demon, mouth opened in a maniacal laugh as she coughed blood.


    Without thinking, Kynos threw what he had been holding in a death grip in his left hand at her, along with a shadow spike and a small jet of fire. Mith, watching the three pouches of fire crystals flying through the air, made her decision and slashed the ropes with the tip of her rapier, dropping the boat into the water.


    Mith held Kynos as he whispered goodbye to his best friend. The explosion triggered the rest of the fire crystals scattered on the deck, capsizing the pirate frigate.


    Kynos turned eight.

 Adrift

    The two of them were adrift. Mith said it was the twelfth day, but Kynos had long since lost count.


    Although they had no map and Mith could not guess the direction because there were two suns, the boat was actually moving smoothly through the water. Mith had directly Kynos to take apart the wooden crates and cut the sail canvas, and they had created a small square sail. With the remainder of the materials, they had made a small area for shade and cover against rain in the back half of the boat, where they took turns sleeping.


    As expected, Kynos mostly slept during the day, and Mith at night, but even with this schedule, she forced him to do the tutoring sessions.


    Mith also arranged for food rationing and used the medicine box to treat Kynos the first night. According to her, they would be able to drift for three weeks before running out. Kynos mostly just missed Axal and thought about eating cake.


    The ocean at nighttime suited Kynos, who was used to being cold. He thought about the many things Mith had taught and was teaching him.


    She had explained her magical device to him. According to Mith, there were ruins of an ancient civilization buried beneath the ground, scattered across every continent. Some of these ruins had been exposed by something called ''volcanic activity,'' which Kynos didn''t understand, and so it was easier to find relics among the islands and their reefs, especially for the merfolk.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Most of the things that were found were useless, but Mith mentioned that some of them extremely advanced retained functions. Several types of metal and materials that couldn''t be made with current refining techniques had also been found.


    What Mith was researching most of the time were these relics, especially the ones that retained functions, like her silver cylinder. She said the it required immense amounts of mana to operate even the simplest tools like the cylinder, which she called a ''skeleton key'', but some objects responded to different magic affinities as well.


    The people that could use them were rare. Mith said that above-average mana occurred roughly in one in a thousand people, and high levels were roughly one in a hundred-thousand. On top of that, people who had magic affinity, and therefore were commonly tested for mana levels, were one in ten-thousand, making mages extremely rare and mana testing uncommon.


    Kynos was taught that the chances of a mage like him occurring were greater than one in ten million, as his shadow magic made him even more rare. He withheld the urge to ask if rare was the best. It did explain why there was only one primary school that taught magic, and why the instructors were all so high level.


    Mith was looking for the power necessary to kill god, but unlike Kynos, she didn''t luck out with a magic affinity. She could, however, use artifacts no one else was able to due to her mana being nigh immeasurable. As an example, she asked Kynos to shoot off a fireball, and based on that, confirm how many he could shoot continuously. Kynos over-estimated to around eleven, and Mith mentioned that a single fireball of the same level from an artifact would eat the mana of around fifty of his own. Even then, she could still shoot more than eleven in a row.


    Kynos was suitably impressed.


    On the ninteenth day, Mith caught sight of shore. She shook Kynos awake and changed the heading of the boat with the rudder. As they neared, they saw that the beach was teeming with life.


    Very agitated life.

 Land

    Their small sailboat had no anchor, and the wind was blowing them straight towards the three giant crabs on the beach.


    The crabs hadn''t noticed them, thankfully, and were snipping at a pile of boulders. It looked like they wanted to get at something inside the large crack between the rocks, but couldn''t fit a claw inside.


    Mith whispered to Kynos to prepare a fireball. She was well aware that a shadow blade wasn''t going to get past the shell of a crab, and had planned on having Kynos roast the crab whole.


    It was going to be nutritious and delicious.


    The great ball of fire flew forward as the boat scraped onto the sand. It caught the nearest crab and exploded, drenching a second crab in fire. The first crab collapsed, red from roasting, and the other two foamed at the mouth. Kynos quickly tried to prepare a second fireball as the the crabs scuttled with incredible speed towards the boat.


    Mith ignored the disgusting sideways shuffle of the large crustaceans and dragged Kynos off of the boat as the nearest crab smashed into it, dispersing his fireball. The boat ripped in half. Drawing her rapier, Mith thrust it at the oncoming crab. The tip of the rapier caught a protruding edge on the shell and promptly snapped.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Kynos reflexively tried to restrain the crab with shadow magic, and found that he could easily overcome it. The crabs weren''t magical beasts, just large crustaceans, and the second crab tripped over itself as half of its legs clammed up.


    Kynos looked at Mith, and she immediately told him to imagine the shadow as an ooze that seeps into the crab''s mouth and eyes. If he could get enough shadow inside the crab, he could just mutilate it from within.


    As one crab dragged bits of rope, sail, and boat with it around in a frenzy, Kynos made a shadow sea urchin inside the other. It collapsed, still foaming at the mouth. After he had taken care of the last crab, he helped Mith drag the remaining half of the boat towards the rocks. In the worst case, they would need it as shelter to sleep at night.


    Mith also told him to be wary of the rocks. Whatever the crabs had been looking to eat first was in there, after all.


    As the two of them neared the rocks, having dropped off the remains of the boat a bit further way, Kynos made a shadow shield. It would be a bit flimsy during the day, but could save their lives if something were to shoot out at them. They neared the gap in the rocks and Mith peered through a slit Kynos formed on his shield.


    ¡°Hey, there''s a brat in there.¡±


    Kynos dropped the shield to take a look himself, and took a rock to the face instead. The young girl inside was panicked, and she frantically cried at the two in a language they had never heard before.


    It was odd, Kynos thought everything just spoke the same language. Even though the sailors and the pirates spoke in strange ways, he could more or less understand them. He backed up a bit from the rocks and pebbles flying from the crevice and saw Mith standing back, hand on her chin, looking at the girl and thinking.


    After a few moments, she beckoned the the girl with a gentle hand motion. ''How unlike Mith,'' Kynos thought, and immediately received a glare.


    She was starting to be able to read his mind more frequently. This was not good.

 Himi

    After a while, the mostly naked girl warily crawled out of the crevice between the rocks.


    Mith pointed to herself. ¡°Mithandra. Mithandra Lenas.¡± The girl repeated a bit hesitantly, ¡°Mee...Mitan...Mitanna Lena?¡±


    Mith pointed at Kynos. ¡°Kynos.¡± The girl obediently replied, ¡°Kaino.¡±


    ¡°Oh well, it''s better than nothing.¡± Mith leaned forward and pointed at the girl, ¡°so, who are you?¡±


    The girl, looking a year or two younger than they were, proudly thrust out her non-existent chest, pointed at herself, and said, ¡°Himi!¡±


    After going through a good amount of trial and error, a lunch break of roasted giant crab, which Kynos had to pry apart with his shadow magic, and a lot of drawing in the sand with a stick, Mith managed to figure out that Himi was a local, that she had come to play and ended up having to hide from giant crabs, and that he village was nearby.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    After securing the boat wreckage firmly against the rocks, the two followed Himi to her tribe.


    They pushed their way through the foliage, following the excited cheering of ¡°Mitan! Kaino!¡± and finally reached the other side of the island. The village was build half on a large mesa jutting out into the ocean, and half inland, where the villagers had cleared a good amount of shrubbery.


    Small shacks made of leaves, wood, and vines dotted the area, and a larger hut made of rocks stood alone in the center of an outcropping. A small dirt path lead down to the beach beside the rock, where there was a few crude rafts of varying sizes being pulled out of the water. Women were busy making what looked like a communal dinner, while men returned with vine nets full of fish. A few children kicked around with a ball made from vines, leaves, and twigs.


    All work stopped as Himi led Kynos and Mithandra into the village. Given the mostly naked conditions of almost all of the villagers, the two stuck out like sore thumbs with their battered but mostly intact school uniforms.


    Kynos was feeling a bit apprehensive, but Mith boldly walked into the center of the village and tossed a giant crab leg segment she had been using as a cane onto the ground. With the sheath of her broken rapier, she drew an arrow back the way they had come and a picture of three crabs in the dirt. Himi had also pulled aside an elderly man and was speaking to him animatedly.


    The entire village mobilized immediately. Three crude sledges made of wooden logs and bound by vines were dragged out by seven men and four women, as Himi, Mith, and Kynos lead them back to the area where the three crabs had been killed. Birds were already pecking at the remains, and scattered from the yelling of the villagers as they neared. The children had only been able to eat three legs earlier, one per person, and there was a lot of crab left.


    Kynos and Mith were made to sit on top of two of the crabs as they were dragged back to the village, with Himi occupying the third one.

 Village

    It was going to be a feast that night for the tribe.


    Himi was the progeny of the alpha warrior and the elder''s daughter, making her the most important child in the tribe. Not only had Kynos saved her, but he had also brought down three giant crabs, the top predator and most common killer of villagers on the island. He was being given the hero treatment, and since the villagers saw that he moved at Mith''s command, she was being fawned over by Himi''s mother and a few other women accordingly.


    The feast consisted of crab innards and fish bone soup, cooked in the three giant crab shells. The two uncooked crabs had their meat scraped out and dried, while the cooked crab''s meat was scooped into crude wooden bowls along with the soup. The meat on the fish were filleted off and cooked on stone plates, in a stone oven with some plant shavings on top. Some bluish vegetables and white, soft fruits were passed around on a huge stone platter as well.


    Villagers ate surrounding the cooking fire, and Kynos was made to sit next to the alpha warrior as he was served by Himi. Mith was served by the other young girl of the village and sat next to Kynos. All present dug in to the food with relish, and as the last bowls were cleared away, a smoothed crabshell drum and wooden flutes were brought out.


    The grown women stood up as one and put on a dance full of swaying and twisting, then some of the men joined in with stomping and jumping. Mith was entertained, but Kynos, who had never seen song and dance before, was rather confused.


    Following that, two large, muscular stood before the alpha warrior and yelled at each other. The alpha warrior gestured wordlessly, and the dancers cleared as the two combatants faced off in front of the fire. They fought in a style that focused mainly on what looked like slapping, thrusting, and diverting with their hands. After a short while, Mith became excited and nudged Kynos.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°They...They''re using mana! Look, they clad their bodies with mana and fight by using it to add force or protect themselves!¡±


    The two fighters continued to attack each other, ramping up their speed to the cheering of the crowd until their hands were a blur. Interestingly enough, neither of them moved their feet much, and seemed to be attempting not to give any ground to the other. After a dozen minutes, the smaller fighter was struck cleanly on the chest, and fell flat on his back. The alpha warrior stood up and grunted, which seemed to signal the end o the fight.


    A woman brought out a stone with a carving on it, and placed it next to a large slab of drying crab meat. The larger of the two fighters would eat well in the coming days. Everyone cheered as the man helped the other up. A bit more song and dance followed, then, as if choreographed, everyone cleared the area before the fire while Himi dragged Kynos up from where he sat. She then pushed him towards the clearing and made explosion and stabbing gestures with her arms. Mith also gave him a thumbs up, and all of the music had stopped.


    Kynos scratched his head as the entire village stared at him, and without warning, pointed at the fire. A pillar of flames shot up from the large bonfire, curling into the sky. The villagers cry of awe turned into a stream of panic as it came crashing down back on Kynos. Mith giggled as the fire dispersed around him, whose arms were now completely covered in shadow.


    Kynos swung his arms around meaninglessly, and the shadow took on the forms of all sorts of weapons as they flew through the air, changing from flail to sword, hammer to axe. Flushed with confidence, and in accordance to Mith''s plan, who had already anticipated he would need to show his power as some point, Kynos gathered a thick shadow disc around his feet.


    Riding on the disc, he lifted slowly into the air, until he was floating above the bonfire, then he glided in a tight circle around the clearing, finally landing back where he began. He took a bow and the villagers howled their pleasure, and walked back towards Mith. As he moved towards her, he had a bad feeling about the glint in her eyes.

 Tribe

    Kynos deftly trimmed wood in the dead of night. He was putting the finishing touches on the bowspirit of the Leviathan Mk. I, which Himi affectionately called the ''Levatan.'' He had been reluctant to go with Mith''s naming sense, but she shot down all of his suggestions for being too childish and made him carve her selection into the side of the hull.


    Kynos hadn''t bothered counting and the villagers had no real way to keep time in the first place, but according to Mith, it had been almost a year. With no means to travel a long distance across open water, the two had been stuck on the island with Himi''s tribe for that long.


    At first, Mith had been excited about the tribesmen''s ability to clad themselves in mana, but it turned out that the rock structure was a shrine, and it was a tribal divine magic. The bad feeling Kynos had manifested when Mith had tried to dissect a recently dead tribesman a few days in. Unfortunately for her, Mith could not use divine magic due to what she called a ''curse'' from god. Kynos was also unable to use divine magic, as he was already compatible with other elements. Divine magic couldn''t be used by mages at all.


    After the feast, Kynos had tried to fit into the village life. He joined the men to fish, hunted small animals and birds with the women, and eliminated any crabs that showed up with extreme prejudice. Mith had sat around for a week as the women unsuccessfully tried to coerce her into helping with village tasks. Instead, she watched the men practice fighting, and taught Himi the common language. She also learned the tribal language with astonishing speed, which Kynos was still struggling with, and had started designing what looked like a ship by placing small rocks and bits of wood into a blueprint under the tent they slept in.


    When the looks of the tribe started changing from curiosity to contempt, Mith gathered all of them and taught them the wheel and axle. Three weeks after that, she taught the women to peel the vines into thinner strands, then weave them into a braided rope after drying. Three months in, even the sage was deferring his seat of leadership to Mith, who had more or less taken over the tribe with her wisdom. They still all called her Mitan though, and she had reluctantly accepted the fact.


    The village looked quite a bit different now. Hand-drawn carts were littered around, and the shacks had become small wood and stone houses. The women no longer worn slings, but hunted with bow and arrow. The crude and leaky fishing rafts, once merely logs bound by thick vines, were now made with even planks and thin rope, waterproofed with pitch made from dry distilled wood. The tribe''s fishing range was much wider, and they fished with strong nets made of woven rope. Mith had even made them befriend the nearby merfolk, who they had avoided from fear before. Kynos was able to see a mermaid with their long fish tail for the first time in his life, and he was able to taste the sweet ocean fruits that he had missed out on.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Mith had never ceased her tutoring sessions for him, and she had also made him learn the warriors'' way of hand-to-hand combat. While his strength was still low, being eight-years-old and all, Kynos was now able to move his body smoothly in a fight while still controlling his shadows. He often sparred with Himi''s father, compensating for a lack of power by using magic, and lately, the alpha warrior was often seen encouraging Himi to serve Kynos at all times. Kynos himself had adopted the attitude of being aloof, and Himi was generally seen following Mith around, mimicking her actions and style as she ordered Kynos around. Himi was also being tutored by Mith, who found the young girl cute and intelligent.


    The villagers had great hope for their young princess in the future.


    They also made a dry dock over the water with vines and rocks, and Kynos had built a ship according to Mith''s specifications on it. She was calling it a ''sloop,'' and had him go through great lengths to smooth coral and rock into nails for sturdiness. She taught the villagers about waterproofing with sticky pitch, and had them make an ample amount for curved hull as well. The ship had been lowered into the water recently, and it was looking downright majestic.


    The tribe had cheered the day they helped Kynos erect the mast, and they had made sails with sturdy, cloth-like leaves stitched together with string made from vines for it. The store was loaded up with dried fish, shellfish, and fruits. The armless bust of the woman with flowing hair had been added to the prow by Kynos, with approval from Mith, as the finishing touch. They were ready to sail.


    The villagers held a feast for the departure, and as Kynos finished a spar with the alpha warrior for the last time, the tribe burst into tears. They would lose their most promising warrior and their de facto tribe leader; for these people, it was going to be a sad day indeed. Mith seemed like she was about to ask them to go with her, but held her silence as a distraught Himi wept in her arms.


    The villagers were mostly peaceful folk, and they would be nothing but baggage if pirates or monsters were to attack. Himi wanted to go alone, but was made to stay by Mith, who told her that if she wanted to stay at the side of Mith and Kynos, she would have to grow her tribe into a large country, capable of fielding thousands of warriors on hundreds of ships.


    The burning gaze of the young girl, freshly educated in mathematics, carpentry, and on a whim, small unit tactics, followed the Leviathan as it disappeared into the distance.

 Journey

    Mith notified Kynos that they had both turned nine two weeks and some change into the journey.


    They both wore clothing half from old pirate sail canvas, and half from stitched leaves. The school uniforms were too tattered, and had been cut into pieces and presented to the various families of the tribe before they left. They kept only the insignia, which were both stitched into a dark green flag made from a particularly large leaf, placed above their sail.


    Mith carried a short bow and wore a quiver of arrows with stone arrowheads strapped to her waist, having become a first-class archer due to boredom. Her broken rapier had been given to Himi, who wore it like a treasure. She was also adept with the spears strapped to various places on the boat, in the case that they needed to fight a marine monster.


    Kynos wore a crabshell dagger, tucked into a rope sash. It was the best item the village had to offer, handmade by the village elder, who was mostly retired after Mith had assumed his few duties. He was still weak in terms of raw strength, but the agility from daily sparring and the amount of practice he had put into magic put him on the same combat level as a full-fledged mage. Had another seven kids been brave enough to go after him, he could''ve massacred them all using minimal effort.


    They had indeed fought a sea monster, just once. A giant fish with a ridiculous amount of fins and spiky teeth had been chasing a mermaid, who swam towards their ship in panic. Kynos made an explosive arrow for Mith by cladding an arrowhead in a thin layer of fire, followed by a layer of shadow. That arrow flew into the water and impacted inside the mouth of the giant piranha, causing it to flail wildly. A second arrow tore into an eye and enraged it, causing it to rush the Leviathan Mk. I.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Kynos had skewered it with the shadow cast by the sails before Mith could stab with her spear. The mermaid placed her hands on the side of the boat in thanks, and did a few flips out of the water for them. Mith grumbled about breast size as Kynos deftly filleted the monster fish with magic and pulled two slabs of meat out of the water. The mermaid took the remains and disappeared.


    A day later, the mermaid had returned and was swimming leisurely beside the ship. Kynos fed it a piece of dried fish before Mith reminded him about rationing, and the three traveled together for a number of days. Occasionally the mermaid would share her catch, and to thank her, Mith, or rather Kynos at Mith''s direction, made her a necklace from the shells of the food she shared.


    On the fourth day, the mermaid waved goodbye and turned back. Kynos and Mith waved back, and resumed their journey.


    They replenished supplies by trawling a net behind them, and Kynos was able to do rudimentary cooking by using fire magic. They also kept buckets of water on board in case of fire, and for ease of drinking.


    Mith increased the frequency and length of the tutoring sessions to alleviate her boredom, and Kynos did his best to bear with it. In actuality, though Mithandra was a peerless genius in this world, Kynos was already nearing the university level in several subjects as well.


    They continued sailing west, and Mith continued to mark notches on a spear to track the days. After a month, they saw a corvette sailing at abnormal speeds against the wind. It bore a purple flag with a black anchor.


    It was the wind mage retainer that had also transported them on the last stretch of the wagon journey a year ago. They had finally rendezvoused with Mathias'' fleet.

 Return

    The mage was far from panicked or emotional.


    He had welcomed Mithandra with a simple, ¡°the admiral will be pleased to hear you are safe, my lady,¡± and proceed to give a vague speech to his crew about how sailing out to subjugate an unidentified pirate ship with green sails turned out to be the missing daughter.


    Mith herself was calm as well. After ordering his men to hook up the sloop to tow, the mage reported to her like a subordinate, updating her on what had happened in the past year.


    Driven by rage, her father had used his family''s marriage connections and began waging war on all pirates, which essentially meant all of the island countries and city-states that were considered pirate harbors. After a four-month rampage, the four admirals were pushed back to Ailize by a hasty coalition of over twenty pirate fleets. Two admirals, the east and north, had perished in the retreat, and the western admiral now had a large fleet over two hundred vessels closing on her isles.


    Mathias had sent his son to personally negotiate with Incanta, and to their surprise, Incanta agreed to send reinforcements with no conditions. The newest member of the council, given the title ''Mountain Bridging Gale,'' had left the city with two dozen mages and a proclamation that Incanta was joining the war on behalf of their ally, giving the abduction of three mage trainees as the reason.


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    Meanwhile, across the Alvan Mountains, the kingdoms of the one god had began moving against the Imperium. The world, having only come to a tentative peace less than one hundred years ago, would again become engulfed in war.


    The wind mage had adamantly stated the Mithandra was not to return to Ailize, as the island was engulfed in war and ships traveling to it were often attacked. He bravely volunteered his own men to take the sloop to deliver the news, and Mithandra accepted it as if she had no intention to return in the first place.


    The two children were delivered to land, and the wind mage, whose name was Arlaand, personally ferried them via carriage to Incanta. Along the way, Kynos learned that the carriage was unique, a product made by Mith from pieces of recovered relics. Unlike relics that used pure mana, if wind stones were inserted into it and reacted with wind magic, it could move at speeds faster than horses by gliding over the ground.


    Charlotte and Roland were waiting at the gate to the primary school, at the edge of the magic university and smack dab in the center of the city-state, to receive Kynos and Mith. Kynos had healed from his constant sunburns, and his skin was back to the normal pale white. Mithandra was sporting a healthy tan. They had stopped only to procure clothing and supplies.


    Charlotte took Mith''s hands with a rare look of concern, which passed as Mithandra gave her a wry smile. She stepped back and cleared her throat.


    ¡°Welcome back children. New identity sheets and uniforms will be issued to you immediately. I''m...glad you''re both safe.¡±


    Roland looked around, puzzled. ¡°Where''s Axa...¡± he opened his mouth to ask, and saw the look on Mithandra''s face. Kynos showed no emotion, but couldn''t stop his hands from twitching.


    Roland closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ¡°He will be missed.¡±


    Charlotte''s face cramped into grief for a moment, and she didn''t reprimand Roland for opening his mouth for the first time in a long time.

 Exam

    Kynos packed up his friend''s belongings for the school to send to the family, and brooded mostly in silence. When he was free, which was all of the time not eating, sleeping. or being tutored, he trained alone.


    Mithandra, on the other hand, seemed to be busier than ever. The wind mage Arlaand stayed in the city nearby, and he was often seen arranging for one thing or another. The unique carriage, named the Apheliotes Mk. II, was being reworked by Mith. It would once again have wheels, but they would be inside a special casing. The carriage portion would be replaced by a two segment wagon, with less luxury and much more storage room. Adding a few more hidden components, Mith planned to change its name to the Mk. III.


    Then, a summon came from the principle. Kynos went to see her at once.


    ¡°Kynos, I have some news for you.¡±


    The boy was surprised. He didn''t have anyone but Mith to receive news from, and she could just tell him during the tutoring session that day.


    ¡°First, Mithandra has informed me that your tutoring is to be put on hold. You may not be able to find her for a week or so, as she is holed up in her workshop. Here is a note from her.¡±


    Kynos glanced over the short note, which merely repeated what he had heard from Charlotte.


    ¡°Also, as you missed several sets of exams, they will be administered to you now The written portions will take you three days, one per subject, and there will be a practical test to place you for magic afterwards.¡±


    Kynos nodded. He was eager to test his strength and knowledge.


    ¡°As this upcoming week will be a holiday for the other students, I will have Roland oversee your tests.¡±


    Was that alright? Kynos thought that he must have become stronger than Roland, training and learning every day for a year without break. He had even fought pirates and monsters and come out ahead.


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    ¡°The subjects will be mathematics, language, and history. As a combat type mage, you will be sparring for the magic test. They start tomorrow.¡±


    Kynos nodded, thanked her, and left the office.


    Over the next three days, he breezed through the math and language tests, and struggled through history, which Mith hadn''t bothered to teach him much of. The fourth day came, and he found Roland waiting on the field of the magic training ground, with many of the teachers, including Charlotte, watching from the side. Some of the teachers stood guard around the area, preventing students from peeking in.


    Roland took a bow as Kynos walked forward to stand opposite of him. The setting suns cast long shadows over the grounds.


    ¡°Now, young Kynos, let this Roland ascertain the growth of his most promising pupil!¡±


    Kynos glanced at Charlotte, who raised and sharply lowered her hand. Kynos took it as the signal to start.


    He silently clad himself in shadow and dashed towards Roland with blinding speed, followed by a phalanx of shadow spikes. Roland broke the pose of his bow in time to put up a solid wall of ice, summoning water from several buckets placed around himself, uttering the single word, ¡°freeze.¡±


    A concentrated beam of heat melted the ice, and the weakened wall was smashed apart by a shadow hammer, converged from the spikes. Kynos reached his arm, clad in shadow, through the falling ice, sure of his victory.


    As the black mass reached Roland, he drew his sword.


    A blue-silver streak swatted away the shadow, cutting off a segment. Had Kynos not withdrawn his arm, it would be flopping on the ground. The boy took some distance. No student in the school had ever seen that sword drawn, and most people assumed it was there to accentuate Roland''s personality. Roland opened his mouth.


    ¡°Not too shabby, young Kynos, but I would recommend you not underestimate the power of a seer level mage.¡±


    Roland didn''t dash after Kynos, but his sword spread into frost-encrusted segments, linked by a thin stream of water. The shattered ice wall had now reformed as hundreds of ice shards.


    Kynos created a large shadow shield in front as Roland began his offensive. The ice shards clattered off the front but the sword cut a large swath into the shadow. As the shield began reforming, the sword twisted itself around as if alive, and making a sound like the screeching of a bird of prey, tore the shield apart once again. The entire shield collapsed under the assault, and Roland stopped moving his arm, looking like he wanted to speak again.


    Kynos burst open the floating balls behind the shield, releasing blasts of fire towards Roland. The seer quickly twisted his arm, flailing the whip sword through the flames and dispersing them. Through the steam left behind, he couldn''t make out Kynos at all. Roland chanted a single word.


    Kynos had taken the opportunity to glide on his shadow in a wide arc outside of Roland''s vision, and he closed in from the side at the highest speed he could muster. As he stabbed towards Roland with the short shadow blade he had formed around his hand, it felt to him that the world had come to a halt.


    Roland had said, ¡°fly,¡± and Kynos found his blade blocked by a large falcon made entirely of ice, looking as if it was flying from the tip of the whip sword. The sword had curved backwards at unreal speeds to to meet his own blade, and the falcon had already frozen his hand, holding it in place.


    The final test of the exams was over, and over the course of the entire fight, Kynos had forced Roland one step back.

 Choice

    ¡°So he forced your hand.¡±


    Charlotte gave Roland a sideways look as they walked, her face betraying no emotion whatsoever.


    ¡°He''s grown, Steve was right about him being the most promising one we''ve had in years.¡±


    Kynos waited alone in the office, awaiting his results. He feared the worst, having had such a shameful display against the weakest seer. Kynos wondered if they would take away his magical eat-for-free ID. It had been a full week since he had seen Mith as well, and that too weighed on his mind.


    The door opened, and the two seers of the primary school entered. Roland stood beside Charlotte, who sat down in her usual chair. She pushed a single document towards Kynos, with four numbers and a single line below them.


    Kynos received the paper, which read: 95 83 67 86. He didn''t have a clue what it meant.


    ¡°Congratulations, young Kynos,¡± Charlotte spoke, before he could read the sentence, ¡°you are now an official certified mage of Incanta, having passed a university level exam and being able to fight on par with a seer.¡±


    Kynos blinked in surprise. The line read ''A-class mage certification granted.''


    Charlotte continued. ¡°Sadly, as our city is less than a hundred years old and we mages are yet considered more weapon than scholar, we cannot continue to keep such talent wasting away in this school, despite someone''s best efforts. You will have to make a choice.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    She cleared her throat as Roland looked on.


    ¡°The first and most popular, is to register with the Incanta mage''s guild and be assigned work. It is generally safe, though some work will involve extermination of monsters and bandits.


    The second choice, and second most popular among combat oriented mages, is to join or form a party and explore the various labyrinths in the cities of eastern Alva and Ladria. It is dangerous, but can be highly profitable, and many artifacts of great worth have been discovered.¡±


    Kynos tilted his head at that one. He knew from Mith''s lectures that there were labyrinths scattered across every continent. They were a valuable source of magic crystals and artifacts, and were essentially the ruins of what Mith thought was an ancient world-spanning civilization. Monsters had taken residence in many of the ruins, and tunnelers made many additional paths, creating dangerous dungeons and infested sunken cities to explore.


    It seemed that the Imperium was hiding information about their labyrinths, while the holy kingdoms banned any exploration of theirs. The countries and city-states of eastern Alva and most of Ladria allowed delving, and many smaller cities were formed around such labyrinths. He had even heard Mith mention that Incanta was built on a cleared labyrinth for a specific reason.


    ¡°Also, as a third option, generally taken by mages sent by influential families, you may become a retainer of a noble in another country. You would move to that country and carry out the wishes of your lord,¡± Charlotte continued, ¡°it is something you may wish to do for Mithandra''s family, if not now, then in the future.¡±


    Kynos nodded to the third option. He would obviously consult with Mith, but it seemed unlikely that he would choose anything else. She would be the person to empower his revenge, after all.


    Roland then spoke up.


    ¡°However dear lad, Ailize is embroiled in war at the moment. I would like to present a fourth option, which is to train with a colleague at the college of magic nearby. She has already agreed to accept you as an apprentice. You may be interested to know that she is also on the council of mages as the eight seat, and a life magic user.¡±


    Kynos left the office in some confusion, holding a new ID. He had been given a good amount of money, which he was told had been inherited from his mother''s possessions, and miraculously, he retained the scholarship and the free food benefits that came along with it. The card also qualified him as a certified mage, allowing him to use many facilities non-mages weren''t allowed into. He returned to his room and opened the door.

 Separation

    Mithandra was sitting on his bed, fiddling with a metallic cube. She looked up as he entered.


    ¡°Good, come here and sit down.¡±


    Kynos was reminded of their first tutoring session as he took a seat next to her.


    ¡°Ky, listen and don''t panic. We''re going to be splitting up for a while.¡±


    Kynos nodded, wondering what new plan she had concocted.


    ¡°I''ve hit a limit to what I can do alone. We both need the right tools if we want to take on god, so I need to find the dwarves. They have metals I can''t easily get a hold of here, and they have smiths and techniques which I absolutely need for my plans.¡±


    Kynos nodded again. He wondered why he couldn''t just go with Mith though.


    ¡°You want to come right? But you can''t. I need you to do three things before we can meet up again. First, I need you to get stronger. You can''t even beat the weakest seer now, someone with less mana, less talent, and just a common magic type. Once you reach Charlotte or Steve''s level, we can think about the next step.¡±


    Kynos understood that much; Roland had only taken one step back.


    ¡°Second, I need you to gather some strong allies. I''d love to put the nail in that bastard god''s coffin myself, but I can''t be with you as you carve your way there. You need people who are strong enough to help you and close enough with you to share your goal. I''ve set the basics up for you, now you have to learn how to get along with people. You''ll never be able to be my right hand if you can''t even inspire others.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Kynos grimaced at that. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was usually in few words. He would have to put in some serious effort to find strong people and befriend them.


    ¡°Third, and this is basically the most important, I need you to at least be able to imagine traveling across realities. With shadow magic, which can evolve to control mass, gravity, space, and time, even if you don''t know what those things are exactly, you need to be able to bridge the gap in your imagination. Otherwise, we''ll never be able to reach that god, much less kill it.¡±


    Kynos had no idea what Mith was talking about at this point. He understood some of the basic concepts of physics, as he had been taught, but he couldn''t connect the dots. Then again, he was only nine.


    ¡°I know you''ve been given some choices, so take the one where you can train with the life mage. She can teach you a bit about how everything is connected.¡± Mith tossed the cube to him.


    ¡°That is a tool I call the Variable, it has a core that reacts to the type of magic being poured in, and it''s appearance, composition, really any property except for the core can change. Playing around with it will teach you about what shadow magic affects, and you can make it into a weapon as well, once you learn to control it.¡±


    Mith pointed at an tray on the desk. She had taken some inspiration from a famous strategist, who had made an emperor from a sandal maker.


    ¡°There are three letters in that tray. Open the first one after a month of training with the council life mage, open the second letter once you''ve mastered the Variable, and open the third letter once the life mage tells you that she can teach you no more.¡±


    She then pulled a large box from under the bed.


    ¡°Ky, you are absolutely not allowed to die. I think it''ll be at least six years before we can meet again, so you will travel to Ailize in exactly six years from today. This is a cake to celebrate your eight and ninth birthdays.¡±


    Kynos lit up in anticipation.


    ¡°Eat it once I leave. Also, in three or four years, you''ll probably become interested in girls. You have my permission, just don''t catch any strange diseases. I''ve already taught you what to look out for. When you round out the party, make sure there are at least four strong people you can count on.¡±


    Mith stood up and briskly walked to the door. The last thing Kynos would hear from her for six years was, ¡°don''t fail me, I''ll see you in Ailize.¡±


    He ate the entire cake alone.

 Eliza

    Kynos was relocated from the primary school male dorms to the university researcher apartments. He had taken over a recently departed mage''s living space, free due to his scholarship. That particular mage was off in Ailize, warring with the pirate confederation.


    His new home came with several amenities, including a modest kitchenette and an extra room which the previous owner stocked with books and had been using for research. He also gained access to the public baths, magic practice arenas, and other facilities as part of the deal.


    As he had skipped secondary school, which taught advanced subjects and honed magic control, he was now part of the college, which taught specializations and functioned as the apparatus that carried out the will of the mage''s council. Kynos dropped off his meager belongings and headed off to meet his new mentor.


    Her name was Eliza, titled the Root of Life, and she held sway over the growth and decay of all living things. One of the more powerful casters in the world, she took the eighth seat of the nine-person council and is one of the leaders of Incanta. She was a few years the senior of Roland and Charlotte, fellow mages she met at university, but looked like a younggirl, no older than Kynos.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    She greeted Kynos as he walked into her study.


    ¡°Well hey there, you must be Kynos?¡±


    Kynos nodded, giving a quick dip of his head in courtesy as Mith had taught him.


    ¡°A quiet one? We''ll see what I can do about that.¡±


    Kynos, in a burst of effort, gave a quick, ¡°Pleased to meet you.¡± Eliza motioned for him to take a seat, and continued.


    ¡°You''re lucky. I''m so damn busy these days, but I owe Mithandra and that underclassman. He used to be so cute, but now he''s just a pompous dick.


    Well, I can''t do shadow magic, but trust me, I can teach you plenty. Also...¡±


    Kynos tensed up out of habit as he sensed the door opening behind him.


    ¡°...you will be training along with my daughter~~ have a seat and introduce yourself honey!¡±


    A slightly-gloomy looking young girl, with light green hair and her mother''s dark green eyes, looking around the same age as Kynos, walked in and sat shyly in the chair next to him.


    ¡°P..pp...pleased to meet you,¡± she stammered in a quiet voice, ¡°I''m Elise, a life mage like mother.¡±

 Elise

    ¡°That girl...well, she''s got some serious skills ya''know?¡±


    Kynos nodded slowly. Ever since Elise entered the room, he had sensed constant activation of magic. He had no idea what it meant, as it wasn''t having any effect on him.


    Eliza sprung up. ¡°Alright! Let''s go outside for some show and tell.¡±


    Kynos followed the mother/daughter pair, who looked like sisters, out of the fancy mansion that served as Eliza''s house, and entered into a spacious field looking for all the world like a bizarre park. Several different trees grew in impossible ways as vines that would have long since killed those trees coexisted with them, twining around their branches. Flowers actively bloomed and withered, roots floating in the water, and not a single animal could be seen. A large mound of soil was piled in the middle of the area, near a deep hole.


    Eliza casually dug her hand into a small pouch on her waist and threw the contents, what looked like several seeds and bulbs, into the hole.


    ¡°Okay Kynos, show me what you got!¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    A variety of plant creatures crawled out of the hole, including a shrub bristling with purple thorns, a tangle of vines that waved tentacles menacingly while slithering along the dirt, a stunted, grayish tree with 3 holes making a face that looked like it was having a hard time living, and what appeared to be a giant apple with tiny feet. Kynos prepared himself for combat.


    He had invented a new way to use his magic, after listening to Mith musing dreamily about one day having metal sticks that spewed deadly missiles and metal tubes that exploded into city-destroying fires.


    Kynos created a large mass of shadow, extending them into long and hollow tubes. Then, he created a fireball in a shadow furnace that fed into those tubes, which extended to stab into each plant creature.


    While fending off a few vines and thorns, he exploded flames through the tubes, immolating the creatures from within. He had planned to use the trick on monsters that needed to be destroyed from the inside.


    The creatures collapsed, smoldering or outright blazing, and Eliza clapped her hand excitedly.


    ¡°Ooooh, Roland was right! You ARE worth training. Sweetie, show him that it won''t so easy!¡±


    Elise wrung her hand together, ¡°b...but mother...¡±


    ¡°No buts! I can''t afford to have my own girl not do anything after seeing that!¡±


    The girl lowered her head, but stepped forward obediently. She raised a single finger to point at the dying plant monsters.


    ¡°Rise.¡±

 Change

    Kynos backed off a fair bit as he watched all the creatures stagger back upright.


    The fight had suddenly become a lot more difficult. The vine creature was on waving flaming tentacles around, and the thorn bush was shooting burning spikes. The stunted tree was billowing smoke and staggering towards him while the giant apple, now roasted, had split its front in wide open to reveal a grotesque maw lined by rows of sharp teeth.


    Eliza put her arms on her hips and made a triumphant pose.


    ¡°You see how my girl is now?¡±


    Kynos fought desperately with his shadows, weakened by the afternoon sun, as Elise tugged on her mother''s blouse to make her stop talking.


    ¡°She the only one in the whole world! And she can even mutate things after they die, like all of those flowers in the pond. She''s my pride and joy, definitely gonna succeed my seat!¡±


    Kynos slipped past the smoking stunted tree, jumped over the roasted man-eating apple, dodged a set of burning thorns, and slashed at the vine creature, which was starting to lose steam. He was being given very little leeway by the undead plants.


    Eliza called out, ¡°so, this is the first lesson! Everything is made out of smaller parts, and all of those parts are made of even smaller things!¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Kynos gathered his energy to make a large shadow zweihander to finish off the vine creature. As he swung towards it, the vines split into two halves, dodging his sword and slamming his shadow armor with a cluster, sending him flying towards the apple. Eliza was still lecturing.


    ¡°How I made them grow from just seeds and how my girl made them live again is because we manipulate things so small, they can''t even be seen. That girl Mithandra, she should''ve taught you the basics of all of that.¡±


    Kynos remembered that particular lesson. Mith had taught him that all living things were made of cells, and all things, including cells, are made of smaller bits called molecules. As the man-eating apple crunched down, he made a small explosion to send himself away from it.


    Kynos landed on the ground, dislocating his shoulder, and rolled to a stop, barely avoiding another set of thorns. Luckily for him, the vine plant had just about burned up and was now just mostly a pile of ashes on the ground. He shot a volley of small firebolts towards the thorn bush to hurry it along to the same end.


    ¡°Think! Do you know why even small knives can be sharp?¡±


    Kynos panted for breath as he dodged yet another set of thorns. The thorn bush was burning out as well, but the apple had proven more resilient to fire. There was also the stunted tree, which had stopped moving since a while ago.


    He felt his mana draining as he shot a fireball to end the thorn bush. Kynos was thinking about how to re-kill the apple as spiky roots suddenly sprang up all around him.


    Elise looked concerned as she whispered that they should stop to her mother, but the council life mage only grinned and told her that men were forged through challenge and hardship.


    As the roots closed around him, the image of Roland''s sword sweeping away his shadow made things click for Kynos. He was having trouble cutting the creatures, but larger didn''t mean sharper. There was no need to pretend he was some knight.


    As Elise was about to call off her undead, a single razor-thin wire flew out from inside the roots, shredding them completely. Following that, the shadow wire flailed wildly and cut the apple into several mismatched pieces, then bisected the stunted tree with a wide curve, lopping off half of its body. Both creatures stopped moving.


    Kynos had fundamentally changed how he approached his ability.

 First Letter

    Eliza may have had a frivolous personality, but she was deadly serious as a magic instructor. The life or death situations she encountered adventuring in her youth fueled her lessons.


    Kynos worked himself mercilessly, pushing to hone his shadow wire to the point that it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and, motivated by the boy''s relentless dedication, Elise also increased the amount of variations to her ability.


    To the two children, the month passed all too quickly. Kynos could now control up to five wires, using the fingers on his dominant right hand as an imagery tool, each wire thinner than a fine strand of hair. Elise had managed to evolve her undead, letting one consume another to create a stronger creature capable of using traits from both hosts.


    She was still struggling to get over the revulsion from her new ability, but with some monosyllabic encouragement from Kynos, who wanted stronger training opponents, she continually improved her art.


    Kynos picked the letter marked ''first month'' from the tray on the exact date it was to be read.


    ¡°Dear Kynos,


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I imagine by now that you should have learned one or two ways to use your magic that you never considered before. Thinking in those ways is the right path, and it''s something like that which you''ll need to be capable of for us to get to god.


    If you haven''t figured it out by now, shadow magic is one of the two types of creation magic, the other being light. However, it''s much more useful because what you''re making isn''t just photons, light particles, but actually have mass. That''s why it pushes against you when it blocks strong attacks and why it can get into other people''s magic fields. The other thing is that your particles remain dark, meaning they absorb light, meaning what you''re making is some kind of actual material, even if it''s just for a moment.


    Kynos, it means that you can control creation. Making something from nothing, that''s outside the realm of reason or logic, and it steps into the realm of gods.


    Do you understand?


    It means that you can make anything that can do anything, you can cause any phenomena, maybe even imaginary ones! Well, as long as you have mana, I guess.


    You should take what you''ve learned and hone it in actual combat. With what you know now, the variable can become a weapon or a shield to defend you, making it less taxing on your magic, especially during the day. I think that only by going out and using it will you master my little present.


    Also, take the girl with you. In the worst case, her mother will come searching and you won''t be abandoned in some forest.


    I put something inside the Variable. If you truly are able to master that, it will divulge the object and give it to you. That hidden thing is the most powerful artifact I''ve ever found, a superior version to even the one powering Incanta, and I think you can put it to use.


    But! That hidden thing will be more powerful the earlier you can get your hands on it. Work hard!


    Don''t die on me now,


    - Mith.¡±

 Date

    Kynos was finding it difficult to ask the overly shy Elise to go delving into a forest with him.


    In the first place, he wasn''t sure were to go. Incanta was relatively large for a city, and he had never left the magic college campus alone in his time there. His school uniform was also no good as equipment, and while he understood that he needed to have supplies for the wild, he had no idea where to get them and what to get.


    Kynos sat in the shade and stared at the crabshell dagger in his hand, now more of a keepsake than anything useful, wondering where to begin.


    ¡°um...uuu...h-hi Kynos,¡± a quiet voice whispered from behind him.


    Suppressing the urge to jump out of his skin, Kynos turned around and came face-to-face with Elise, whose pale, almost grayish complexion ghoulishly contrasted with his pasty white. He had gotten so used to the constant hum of magic during the month they trained together that he was forgetting whose presence it signified.


    ¡°Hi Elise.¡±


    ¡°t-that''s really interesting...c-can I...look?¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Kynos handed over the dagger.


    ¡°Here, be careful.¡±


    ¡°this...what is this? A shell?¡±


    ¡°From a giant crab.¡±


    ¡°that''s really cool...¡±


    Despite barely being audible, Elise was still sounding very excited. Kynos wondered why she thought a simple, crude piece of shell was of any interest.


    ¡°...you know...I al-always wanted to see what outside is like...¡±


    Kynos was surprised, ¡°you''ve never been?¡±


    ¡°n-no...I''ve never left here, since birth...because my body is...weird...¡±


    Kynos wasn''t one to let a gift horse slip away. ¡°Well, do you want to go?¡±


    Elise furrowed her brow and scrunched her face up.


    ¡°what? b-b-but mother will...i-i-I can''t leave...¡±


    ¡°We''ll go together, it''ll be a secret.¡±


    The faintest twinge of color settled in her cheeks.


    ¡°b-b-but...¡± ¡°Come with me, please.¡± ¡°o-okay...¡±


    And so, Kynos bagged his first ever date, hunting monsters with a shy nine-year-old necromancer. Now he merely had to figure out the logistics of getting geared, getting supplies, and finding out where to go and a how to get there.


    The next day, Kynos popped a piece of hard candy in his mouth and set out on foot to the mage''s guild.

 Guilds

    Kynos pushed open the double doors to the guild hall and for his efforts, was greeted with a fantastic view.


    The guild was built into the base of the council''s tower, a structure that stood impossibly tall in the exact middle of the college campus. Security booths stood in a front enclosure, verifying that only mages and people with permission may enter.


    Passing the checkpoint, a marble tiled floor spread out into a grand chamber, large enough to fit a small castle inside, with a grand spiraling staircase leading to the tower proper in the back. Various people bustled about inside, with desks and counters forming a large semi-circle around the periphery.


    Kynos showed his ID and was ushered right in. It took him very little time to learn that this was the location where all of the bureaucratic work for Incanta was undertaken. It also functioned as the mage''s guild headquarters, a central relay point for all of the guild branches across the continents. There were no branches in western Alva, and only a single embassy in the Imperium.


    Kynos was able to buy a city map at a service desk for mages, which showed the multi-ringed structure of Incanta and where each district was. The council tower is at the dead center, surrounded by the college campus and various magic schools, fenced in the with inner wall. It was followed by a small ring comprised of private residences occupied by higher ranked mages and the wealthy. The second ring from the center included the main market district and all of the guilds and their various services, along with a slew of workshops. The third ring was a large, mostly residential district, and the main floating walls and defenses were outside of that. There weren''t many plots of farmland outside of the main wall, as Incanta heavily imported food and other basic goods.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    In addition, Kynos was given the instruction to obtain a sum of money from the bank in the second ring, being told that Mithandra had left him the message. It seemed that she had anticipated the need money to procure equipment and supplies.


    He paid a fee to board the large carriage that ran between the mage''s guild and the market ring.


    Two hours later, Kynos had doubled his fortune, having received a rather large sum from Mith, and promptly spend much of it to secure dried food supplies and a tool which used crystals to condense water from the air, along with backpacks and various utensils. He now found himself in the adventurer''s guild, which handled dangerous requests of various kinds.


    The atmosphere was much different than the mage''s guild, which had a strict entrance policy. The entrance was near the request board and the service counter, while tables a chairs were strewn haphazardly across the left side of the room. A large circular bar dominated the left wall, surrounded by adventurers ordering copious amounts of alcohol and food. At the tables, brawny fighters slammed down mugs of frothy beer and shadowy figures lurked in every noticeable corner. A good many mages were scattered around here and there as well, drinking with their comrades in arms.


    Kynos scanned the notice board and took a request to subjugate goblins from it. The creatures bred like cockroaches and were about as annoying, constantly stealing from any farm, ranch, or traveler they could find. They were generally organized into small groups, but could form dangerous swarms if left alone for too long.


    The buxom woman at the counter bemusedly eyed him as he trotted up to register the request.


    ¡°Honey, ain''t you a bit too young for this? Come back in five, six years.¡±


    Kynos was taken aback. The glasses lady at the mage''s guild was prim and proper, and downright respectful after she saw his ID. He decided to hand it over to this woman as well.


    ¡°Well! Ain''t that a surprise!,¡± she exclaimed, turning to call out into the drunken room. ¡°Gentlemen! This young child is a fully certified A-class mage!¡±


    The drunken, festive atmosphere dissipated instantly as the adventurers turned to assess him, eyes cold and professional with the experience of many years of combat and survival.

 Solicitation

    Kynos barely had time to see the reception woman wink before he was surrounded by people twice his height and many times his size.


    From the jumble of voices coming at him, he managed to figure out that A-class mages were very rare, and that he could have his pick of the litter when it came to parties. The commotion left Kynos a bit confused, as he had interacted mostly with very powerful casters in their base city, which led him to believe they were commonly found. Even Elise was on his level in terms of combat, being able to reanimate a variety of creatures to form a small army.


    A short moment later, a pair of objects that looked more log than arm pushed through the crowd and separated it. The giant of a man that the objects were attached to made way for a much smaller man in a white coat, who immediately spoke up.


    ¡°That is...a request to kill goblins? I imagine you''re new here? Goblin extermination is usually left to the weakest of the newbies, and in this city, with so many powerful mages, those requests are usually very unpopular.¡± He paused a moment. ¡°Ah, excuse my rudeness; my name is Erwin, an alchemist. Please to meet you.¡±


    The man bent down a little to extend his hand, which Kynos shook. He noticed that Erwin was a beardless young man, dressed very well.


    ¡°Now then, as you are a master magician, I would like to hire you as an escort for my expedition into the forest outside of Incanta. My purpo...¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The surrounding crowd booed as the alchemist solicited Kynos. The large man stepped in and cracked his knuckles threateningly, trying to shut them up. Unfortunately, it turns out that adventurers were far too jaded to care about an overgrown, clearly inexperienced largish man. They turned to focus on taunting him instead, some of the burlier ones grinning at the thought of some real entertainment. Kynos took the chance to follow slip out of the crowd and ask a question.


    ¡°Erwin, I''m Kynos. It would be me and another mage, you''d have to hire us both, is that alright?¡±


    The alchemist pondered for a moment, and replied, ¡°sure, but I was going to offer you a gold coin, which you''d have to now split. It return, we''ll shoulder the cost for food, water, and horses.¡±


    Kynos nodded slowly. Gold was definitely valuable, as his entire fortune was less than a hundred of them. A single gold coin had been enough for all of his previous purchases, minus the water machine, all of which had been delivered to his residence along with the rest of his purchase. He followed Erwin to a table to sit and listen to the request.


    Erwin was interested in safety first, so he decided to overload on combat power. The large man, still surrounded by ornery adventurers, was introduced as his companion from early childhood. Erwin claimed to be a ''field scientist'' and was planning to test out several concoctions he had formulated, both in combat and on the local wildlife. They would camp out on the outskirts of the forest or in a clearing, if they could find one, in order to observe the effects over a period of several days. The whole trip would take two weeks.


    Kynos added a condition, that Erwin would buy the supplies and water machine, which they needed anyway, for market price from Kynos in addition to providing additional supplies and the transportation for the trip. Erwin accepted it without negotiation. The two shook hands again and agreed to meet at the guild in ten days.


    Kynos quietly slipped out of the guild while offering his condolences to the large man who was stoically enduring the insults and taunts. He needed to make time for a day out with Elise to pick out equipment.

 Demilune

    Elise held her cloak tightly to her body as the carriage bumped along the brick-paved road. She had never went out to town without her mother and was rather excited to be exploring with her new friend.


    Kynos had shown up in her life less than two months ago, surprising her with his ability and tenacity. She was terrified of his gaze at first, struggling to keep herself still in his presence, but as they trained together and time passed, she found that he calmed her when he spoke. There was no fancy praise and references to her mother''s authority, or scorn at her sheltered position, just a simple, straightforward response to any question or request.


    She glanced at Kynos, leaning against the side of the carriage and looking out of the window. The moment when he had asked her to go on an adventure with him flashed in her mind and she fought the blood rushing to her face. Elise didn''t understand her own feelings, but before now, she would never have let anyone aside from her mother coerce her into leaving the safety of the college campus.


    As she collected her emotions, the horses slowed to a stop and the coachman swung open the door of the carriage, announcing that they had arrived at the market district.


    Elise had been here before, but only with her mother. They always gone to the same tailor, followed by tea at a fancy cafe nearby. Her mother''s personal butler usually delivered them and waited outside as well, so Elise had never walked much on the cobbled sideways.


    He pushed open the door to a shop marked with the magic crest of Incanta. Kynos had done his homework; shops with these crests had a general selection, but the real prize was that mages could see an additional inventory others were not allowed to browse. Kynos was hoping to pick up some trappings that offered good protection against the elements as well as some pieces of light armor to protect vitals for the two of them.


    Elise saw him handing his ID to the clerk, who instantly bowed and lead them into a door behind the sales counter. The new room revealed a series of cloaks and small metal and leather armor pieces, as well as a diverse selection of specialized weaponry lined up on the back wall.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Kynos had himself and Elise measured, then asked her to find a weapon as he went to pick out traveling cloaks and armor. Elise walked over to the long table near the far wall to take a look, but in actuality, she had never swung a sword or shot a bow before. She gazed at the various items, eyes glazed over with confusion, until the clerk that had shown them in walked to her side and asked, ¡°excuse me miss, you look troubled, may I ask what combat style you prefer to assist you with the selection of one of our high-quality armaments?¡±


    Elise nodded shyly and squeeked out, ¡°u-um, I just s-stand in the back, since I use magic...oh b-but, I don''t know how to shoot a bow...¡±


    The clerk nodded and stroked his goatee in contemplation. He reached for what looked like a metal shortstaff with a split crescent at the end and a silver knob at the other. Elise found that it looked elegant, but she wasn''t sure how it could be used as a weapon.


    ¡°Esteemed customer, I assume that as a back-line mage, you won''t be needing a weapon for offense. This is, in its current form, a short demilune. The concave bladed crescent is designed to catch weapons, teeth, and claws and can be braced on the ground or a nearby wall, so you don''t need much strength or training to use it defensively. However...¡±


    The clerk shifted his grip to below a silvery ring around the shaft and pulled the knob at the base of the weapon. A thin chain was pulled out, attached to the knob from from the bottom, and the concave edge split into two halves as a sharp, curved blade swung out from the side of the weapon and clicked into place under one falcate half.


    ¡°Like this, it becomes an exotic weapon called a kusarigama. This hidden blade is extremely sharp at the tip and the edge is in the concave, allowing blood to be drawn with the slightest pull or swing. The blade will be locked in place until you push this switch back up.¡±


    The clerk retracted the chain with a small switch near the base, which pushed the blade back into the shaft, then handed the weapon to her.


    ¡°This is a rare item an adventurer brought in some months ago. How does it find your fancy?¡±


    Elise held the weapon out lovingly as Kynos returned with two cloaks, one gray and one black. He also had an assortment of chestguards, armguards, and so on in a bag slung over his shoulder. The clerk whispered to price to Kynos, who nearly gagged at the thought of how many cakes he could''ve bought instead.


    Kynos was now down five gold coins, mostly from the weapon.

 Erwin and Otto

    Spiriting Elise away while her mother was handling council business, they met Erwin in front of the adventurer''s guild. Kynos had the gray cloak draped over his shoulders as he sported guards over his chest, wrists, elbows, and knees, with brown gloves and sturdy boots covering his hands and feet. Elise was clad in the long black cloak, hood covering most of her face and similar protectors hidden underneath, looking very much her role. They both had packs on their back and water canteens strapped to their belts. Kynos wore a small, sharp knife in a sheath on the back of his belt while Elise held her demilune.


    Erwin was still in a long white coat, but he had a giant wood framed leather potion case attached to a large belt at his right side, extending all the way down to his knees. He was barehanded, but on his belt hung a pair of unusual gloves; the right one looked like a regular light leather glove, though it extended almost to his elbow. The left glove was a heavier gauntlet with a hooked blade on the back of the hand portion. The fingers on that gauntlet were also metal jointed and pointed like claws. A pair of sturdy goggles hung around his neck. Kynos could see a light leather breastplate peeking out from under the white coat, as well as the usual hard leather knee guards and boots.


    Erwin''s companion looked much more menacing this time around, enough to startle Elise into hiding behind Kynos briefly as he made his appearance leading the horse-drawn wagon. He had plate metal armor attached to most of his body and a large scutum on his back. A wicked looking flanged mace was affixed in a leather holster on the right of his belt, while a long knife hung in its sheath at his left. His right arm wasn''t covered by plate, but by metal shoulder, elbow, and wrist guards, leaving his hand and parts of the arm bare. A long green tattoo ran from underneath his shoulder armor to tip of his right index finger. His name was Otto.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Kynos and Elise quickly learned that Otto, like the two, hardly ever spoke. There wasn''t much need for him to, as Erwin dominated the conversation in the wagon.


    As Otto managed the reins, Kynos and Elise learned that Erwin hailed from a city to the north, the single heir to a rich estate and medicine business. Despite being in such an enviable position, he had never cared for the lifestyle of luxury and merely wished to become the world''s greatest alchemist. He spent his childhood alternating between his personal laboratory and experimenting on any of the family servants or locals that he could get his hands on.


    As could be expected, Erwin''s family servants and childhood acquaintances began avoiding him like the plague, and, after an especially tragic incident involving a maid losing all of the hair on her body and committing suicide due to her reflection, Erwin''s parents sent him to Incanta''s famed school system. They figured that as long as their prodigal son was indulging in a particular field, he might as well as learn from the best. Also, they wanted to keep him out of their city, as he had wreaked a good amount of havoc to their brand name.


    Now Erwin was Incanta''s most infamous non-mage, having earned the nickname ''Bad Medicine'' and been kicked out from several dormitories and apartments. Still, he was being sent a fortune every month, allowing him to afford his own home laboratory and reagents. He was having the time of his life. The only person that could be called his friend was Otto, a slave he bought in his youth. Otto had long since been given his freedom, but he held a deep-rooted belief that he had been rescued by Erwin and therefore owed his life to the man. Somehow, Otto had been able to survive quite the series of experiments, his hairless state, large size, and green tattoo having all been the effects of different potions.


    Two days of Erwin later, the group reached the edge of the forest.

 Forest

    The last vestige of civilization before the Widalian Forest was the pioneer town of Widala, named for the sea of trees whose bounty allowed a few dozen hardy men and women to earn a livelihood.


    The small town boasted a wooden palisade and a single stone tower bearing the crest of Incanta. The magic city had placed the area under its protection, both as a fore-warning against goblin incursions and as a valuable staging point for gathering or hunting expeditions. A mage and ten guards were constantly stationed are the tower, along with a quartermaster who kept wagons and other such things expeditions left in the town secure.


    Near the tower, several taverns and hostels sprung up, accounting for the livelihood of most of the town''s inhabitants. At any given time, small groups of adventurers could be found frequenting these establishments, attempting to get drunk on watered down liquor in preparation or celebration of a successful expedition.


    Erwin''s party would leave their horses and much of their supplies with the quartermaster, taking only a few days worth with them. The fee was nominal, since the quartermaster would be entitled to a portion of anything dead adventurers could no longer reclaim. Staying one night at the tavern, the group shouldered packs at the crack of dawn and left the town on foot, following a wide trail formed from countless boots.


    The edge of the forest was tame. The trees were barely taller than a man and only small animals that scuttled away from them could be found. The path was reasonably even and cut a clear line into the forest, and the group even encountered other adventurers as they walked further in. A single stray goblin had its face casually smashed in by Otto''s mace as they proceeded. The lack of reaction showed that the both the alchemist and the armored warrior had experienced battle before, though Elise felt a bit sick when she saw the gore.


    The group finally reached a clearing littered with tree stumps and campfire ashes after walking for over half the day. This was the true entrance to the dangerous part of the forest, and it was currently deserted. Erwin proclaimed that he was tired and needed a break, carefully setting his backpack and potion case down before slumping down to the ground, leaning his head against a stump. Otto wordlessly put his bags down and began pitching a tent as Kynos turned to observe Elise.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Erwin was clearly tired, Kynos felt a bit winded, and even Otto''s face could be seen beaded with sweat, but strangely, Elise looked absolutely fine. She had wandered around behind Kynos, eyes aglow with interest as she looked at the trees and other plants along the path. Even now, she was twirling the demilune as she walked between stumps. The others had been considerate and only gave her the bare minimum to carry, but it looked like it was a needless concern. Erwin was left to broach the subject.


    ¡°Well miss, it looks like you''re the sturdiest out of all of us.¡±


    Elise stopped wandering and fidgeted. ¡°u-uuu, I''m n-not really...¡±


    Erwin casually waved his hand from his position on the ground, chuckling a bit.


    ¡°It was a compliment, we''re all likely to need that kind of energy from now on. The path of a researcher like me isn''t easy in this barbaric world.¡±


    Kynos shut his ears down and pitched his own tent as Erwin began another rant. He wondered how the man could look so physically tired and yet be so verbose.


    An hour later, two tents had been fixed into the ground with metal spikes. Erwin had gotten up and sprinkled foul smelling potions around the perimeter of the clearing, an action every adventuring party took to doing as a courtesy. The potion was designed to keep beasts and most monsters away from the camp, increasing safety at night and making sure the clearing wouldn''t become a goblin encampment if left alone for too long.


    Otto prepared some bread and cheese, letting everyone partake of a light lunch before the real work in the afternoon. Kynos dropped his heavier pack in the tent and prepared a smaller backpack, which would strap tightly to his body under his cloak. As a matter of fact, all of the things he carried were tightly strapped to his body, as his fighting style revolved around quick martial movements and sharp, melee magical strikes. Elise carried a larger pack, on which she had hung her demilune. She would be at the back and stay mostly passive until there was a usable corpse.


    As the two stepped out of their tent, Otto, wearing a large pack underneath his scutum shield, and Erwin, still carrying his heavy bags, greeted them. Erwin explained that he would need the equipment to carry out his experiments properly, so the fighting would be left mostly to Kynos and Otto for now.


    The four of them stepped into the forest, following a rapidly narrowing dirt path into the trees.

 Experimental Subject: Goblins

    Erwin made it clear that the first few outings were for scouting areas where monsters or beasts nested and looking for alchemical supplies. The weaponized potions he would be using the most often would be the ones he could replenish on-site.


    The first thing of note they came across was a patch of thick reeds near the side of a stream. Giving the others a light warning, Erwin put on his goggles and gloves and gathered a large bunch of stems, quickly and efficiently squeezing their milky sap into several vials. These would be his main weapons for the next few days, as each vial of concentrate could make ten bottles of corrosives that would eat into skin and flesh.


    Half an hour later, they were on the move again, pushing ever deeper into the foliage. Otto had taken to marking trees with his knife, creating a series of directional aids for their trip back. Kynos was also doing his best to keep track of the camp''s direction while urging Elise to keep up. She was trailing behind occasionally due to her interest in various plants and especially insects, and had already gathering quite the number of zombie bugs as they walked. This had elicited only the bare minimum of surprise from Erwin and Otto. The two were used to strange sights, Kynos supposed.


    As Otto mentioned that they had roughly three hours before the sun went down, the group stumbled on a mass of irregularly arranged bramble and other shrubbery. Kynos instinctively felt a sense of danger from the area as he stopped Elise from crashing right into it. Otto and Erwin also stopped dead, and the grin on Erwin''s face showed that they had discovered one major objective.


    The alchemist turned and whispered, ¡°this is a goblin nest. They gather nearby junk to make an enclosure for protection against wild animals and other monsters, where they bring back food for their larvae and sleep at night.¡±


    He deftly uncorked a small bottle at the bottom of his potion bag and set it to drip slowly. Apparently the potion would leave a scentless mark which glowed when a certain chemical light was shined on it, making tracking extremely easy work. Still, as with many of Erwin''s inventions, it was highly corrosive and they would have to be careful not to touch it. Erwin kept up his commentary.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°What a stroke of luck. Finding these types of goblin nests are rare, since they like to live in small caves. Those are much harder to invade for experiments.¡±


    Erwin carefully backed away from the bramble wall and motioned for the group to follow him as he explored the size of the nest.


    ¡°Still, this nest is gigantic. Usually these host a dozen goblins and maybe thirty to forty grubs. This nest, just looking at it makes me think it''s got at least a hundred goblins in here. The amount of unhatched young had got to exceed a thousand.¡±


    Elise carefully drew her demilune as Kynos used a slight amount of magic to extend thin shadows in every direction. They would help him detect motion where his senses could only do so much; it was a trick he learned when training with Himi''s tribe.


    He had read up on most of the forest''s creatures during his studies, and goblins were one of the weakest. They had sub-par hearing, eyesight, and smell, and were weak enough that any novice could fend one off. They had hard nails but would never be able to pierce even the lightest of leather armor, and they were quick, but only in relation to out of shape humans. Goblins were definitely on the stupid side of the intelligence scale as well. The real issue was that goblins were horde animals that cooperated for survival. Every adult goblin could lay young, and goblins were omnivorous to the point of being able to eat leaves and bark when other food was lacking. Their insect-like young was a bit more picky and required softer food, which meant their population surged and ebbed based on food. Usually when they ate up too much of the forest''s bounty and spilled into areas near the border towns, adventurers and militia would be drafted up and vast amounts of goblin nests would be burned, giving the forest time to recover before their numbers surged again. As a result of their high population but disgusting taste, many carnivorous forest creatures ate goblins when other food wasn''t available.


    The large amount of goblin subjugation requests in the guild was a result of the current population upswing, something Erwin was eager to take advantage of. These surges happened only roughly once every fifty years, so the alchemist wasn''t going to let this golden opportunity pass.


    They left the brambles after finding one of the passage holes where a few goblins were lurking, making their way back to the encampment. On the trek, Elise had her large zombie insect army collect berries, mushrooms, and other items that looked edible for Erwin to sort through, while Kynos speared a few small animals with shadows. They would try to conserve the rations as much as possible, making do the first night with rabbit and mushroom soup and a side of berries.


    Leaving the insects on watch duty, the four slept heavily the first night in the forest.

 Experimental Subject: Insects

    Kynos groggily shook his head and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The other sleeping bag was empty, and the hum of familiar magic nearby showed him that Elise was up and about. He heard the crackle of a flame as he grabbed his cloak and opened the tent flap.


    The pale predawn light showed Elise walking in a large circle around the camp area, constantly casting magic. While the stink potions kept out monsters and beasts, it was much less effective on bugs. The lack of insects in their vicinity had been because Elise''s undead bugs had fought a long and attritious war with living ones, swarming into the area attracted by warm bodies and food refuse. The amount of bodies the insect civil war had left behind surprised even Kynos.


    Otto was tending to a small fire, boiling water, and Erwin was already at his potions, popping out corrosive vials like they were going out of style. Erwin the chatterbox was strangely silent and absorbed, so the large warrior nodded a greeting at Kynos. Elise walked over.


    ¡°g-good morning Kynos...¡±


    ¡°Good morning Elise.¡±


    Her mother had once told her that it was necessary for party members to always greet each other and maintain a good relationship, and Elise went out of her way to greet each person. It left everyone with a rather favorable impression of her, especially since she was obviously shy and pushing herself.


    Kynos was rather curious about what Elise had been doing, as the usual buzzing magic he felt around her was now intensified by a good amount. Eliza had taught him that he needed to make a habit of asking questions if he wanted to get better, something he took to heart.


    ¡°What spell were you casting just now?¡±


    ¡°t-that...it was my usual...¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°But why can I feel so much magic around?¡±


    ¡°b-because all of the little ones, is..is it bad?¡±


    Kynos considered it for a moment. Having such a large amount of magic presence dulled his detection, which he needed if any dangerous magical beasts came attacking.


    ¡°It makes it harder for me to sense dangerous magical beasts. Can you tone it down?¡±


    Elise nodded reluctantly, and a massive swarm of bugs rose into the air and began consuming each other. Otto was incredibly alarmed, but Kynos motioned for him to calm down. It was Elise''s special trait of creature evolution, where her undead could consume each other to gain additional abilities. Erwin stopped brewing for a moment to look with interest, then, like the sun that was slowly growing brighter, his eyes shined with an idea.


    ¡°THAT''S IT!!¡±


    Elise was surprised and instinctively hid behind Kynos, who was about to turn his ears off again. It was the unnecessary skill that he had begun to master. Otto kept making breakfast, no reaction showing on his face. Erwin dangerously dropped a vial of acid and sprang up, pointing at Elise.


    ¡°If we make those bugs drink my potions, and then have them bite and inject it into various creatures, we could test so many things!¡±


    Elise cringed and even the undead insects, whose feeding frenzy had subsided, seemed to hover in hesitation.


    ¡°Please, this is....this is for SCIENCE!¡±


    Kynos prepared himself to fend off the rapidly approaching frenzied Erwin as Elise clung tighter to his robe. Before Erwin made it to them, Otto heaved a sigh and intercepted his friend, picking him up by the back of the coat collar. Erwin''s feet dangled in the air as he continued to reach towards Elise, hands desperately outstretched.


    Once the alchemist had calmed down, the four sat around the campfire to eat breakfast. All four were drinking tea, made from powder they had brought along. The food was a single starch biscuit for each person, simple coarse flour heated with water, along with a piece of jerky. Elise spoke hesitantly.


    ¡°if...if it''s just a few of them...a-and the potion doesn''t melt them...¡±


    Erwin pumped his fist in victory, almost spilling his hot tea all over himself. Otto somehow looked visibly disapproving even though not a single muscle moved on his face. Kynos thought that he was starting to figure the big guy out.


    The four began their second day as Erwin spoke animatedly to Elise about the various ways in which he would subject her undead insects to serve, causing the timid girl to almost change her mind.

 Kobold

    Kynos squinted through the sunlight filtering through the trees, slowly removing the Variable from a pouch at his waist. His party members prepared their weapons as well.


    The four of them had once again ventured into the forest, heading up the creek instead of across it. Along the way, he caught sight of some medium sized fish lazily drifting in the clear water, and he stopped the party to make a trap with twigs and some kernels of grain. Elise splashed about in the water, barefoot, as he worked, and Erwin began collecting various plants nearby, watched over by a silent Otto. Dinner, if they were lucky, would be what was in the trap when they made their way back to camp.


    Half an hour later they were back on the move upstream. Erwin was the first to notice that the vegetation was growing thicker on the stony riverbank and soon, Otto was scything shrubbery out of the way with his long knife. It didn''t take long for the sound and commotion to attract some unwanted attention.


    The dog-like creatures with abnormally long hind legs and large sizes fanned out and moved in from the front. Kynos had read about these kobolds, which hunted in packs with superb coordination. Otto, shield and mace readied, moved in front of Erwin, who uncorked a bottle and drizzled some of the contents on the claws of his bladed gauntlet and on Otto''s mace. He also put on his goggles. Elise, reading the atmosphere, gripped her demilune tightly as she called her insects to protect her.


    Kynos began putting a few new tricks to practice. Nothing present noticed, but he had already clad his boots with shadow and, utilizing the shade cast by the grass nearby, was spreading a field towards the kobolds. As the alpha barked instructions and his pack inched forward, Kynos took the first strike.


    He removed the friction from his boots and glided at high speeds into kobolds moving in from their left flank, the Variable taking form in his hands as he thrust it. Before any of the creatures had a chance to blink, the leftmost one gurgled bloody death throes, a thin metal spike in its throat. Kynos moved quickly, changing the spear to a razor and neatly slicing the Variable out of the kobold''s neck as he slid through the tall grass, cutting into the next one.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As the second kobold''s head fell off of its body, the entire pack pounced into motion. The alpha led two grizzled veterans towards Elise as most of the pack surrounded Otto and Erwin. A few stray, rough-looking canines circled warily around Kynos, not willing to be slaughtered like their brethren. Excluding the two dead, there were seventeen of them.


    Kynos quickly glanced at Elise as Otto intercepted one with a shield bash, breaking bones and sending it flying. Elise was looking like a swarm of angry bees, and he could barely see her shape amidst the buzzing of a hundred zombie insects, every single one flight capable and poisonous after the ability merging. He judged that she would be fine as he scythed down a kobold that tried to approach him with the Variable, now a dancing silver string.


    Erwin took the next move, throwing a vial at an approaching kobold. The thin glass shattered on the creature''s shoulder, and it howled in pain. The corrosives were working so quickly that Kynos was already able to see bone before the creature stumbled into the tangled grass, desperately trying to rub off the liquid.


    Sensing the panic of his pack, the alpha pounced Elise. Perhaps it was trying to raise morale, or perhaps it thought the girl was the weakest of the four, but when the insects cleared, the pack alpha was cleanly impaled on the crescent blade. Large swelling bumps from where it had been bitten and stung dotted its body and both eyes were already lifeless, a sign of fast-working poison.


    Kynos quickly finished off his remaining three as Otto clubbed a kobold off of his shield, breaking a foreleg. The poison from Erwin''s vial acted quickly, paralyzing the creature and removing it from the fight. Erwin himself laugh maniacally as he clawed a oncoming kobold in the face, causing the creature to flinch away from him. The fast-acting paralysis poison dropped it to the ground a second later.


    Having lost nine members of the pack as well as the alpha, some of the kobolds whimpered and a weak looking runt fled the scene. The cowardice caused the rest of the creatures to turn tail and run, excluding one of the veterans that had been stung to death by insects and another that Kynos speared in the back. Otto and Elise cleaned off their weapons with water and cloth while Kynos flicked the blood off of the Variable. He was satisfied with its performance and wondered how much more powerful a shape shifting weapon could get.


    Erwin, who was still cackling manically, poured all sorts of potions on the paralyzed and wounded kobolds. One was mostly melted through, steaming amidst now-dead grass, another two had started to grow several strange appendages from where their bones had been broken. The fourth one was foaming at the mouth and twitching, a huge empty glass bottle clamped between its teeth.


    Elise refused to look, Kynos shut down his ears, and Otto said nothing.

 Ch. 51 – Experimental Subject: Living Grove

    Once Erwin had calmed down, they moved further upstream.


    The grass grew thick and hemmed in the party from both sides. Otto''s knife had been covered in a corrosive liquid to make the bushwhacking more efficient. The elevation was rising slightly, and Otto, who was constantly swinging his arm, was beginning to breath heavily as the sun crested overhead.


    Though he looked the most eager to continue, Erwin surprisingly ordered a break for lunch. Kynos cleared a patch of tall grass and weeds for a place to sit while Otto removed wrapped ration blocks from his pack. Once that they heard these had been handmade by Erwin, Kynos and Elise were ready to skip lunch. Erwin bit into his block, looking slightly hurt, and the lack of immediate health issues convinced Elise to try a nibble.


    She quickly found that the taste was sweet but not overbearing, and the ration was crumbly but didn''t dry out the mouth. After Kynos heard about the sweet part, he bit into his without reservation. The first one to finish, Erwin tested the water from the stream and found that it was strangely clean, almost as if it had been purified. The four washed down the lunch with some of said water and moved on, looking for the next unfortunate victim.


    Suddenly, the tall growth of the grass and weeds stopped, and they burst into what looked like a large grove. The stream also spread into rivulets of water, which looked like they were running down a rocky slope leading down from a series of ponds. A few herbivores lazed around, grazing or taking a drink of water. Tall, gnarled trees and exotic plants of various types dotted the area but didn''t crowd each other, giving the grove a tranquil atmosphere. Elise moved forward, captivated, but Erwin immediately stopped her and slowly forced the party to move back into the grass. Kynos, sensing a large amount of magic, immediately readied the Variable and voiced a question.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°What is that?¡±


    Erwin crouched down and explained quickly in a low voice.


    ¡°That is a living grove. We so much as take one more step and everything alive in there will wake and attack us.¡±


    ¡°e-even the animals?¡± Elise asked tentatively.


    ¡°Especially the animals. These groves themselves are alive, and every living creature in it is bound by the same life magic.¡± Erwin gave a devilish smile. ¡°And that''s why these are some of the best experimentation grounds I could ask for.¡±


    Kynos nodded slowly. He recalled that Eliza had spoken excitedly about trying to recreate an ancient living grove with her magic, which was what the garden with the giant hole was supposed to be. She was having trouble getting the life magic to circulate by itself and was mainly working on water purifying flowers at the moment. This grove easily explained why the water from the nearby brook was so pure.


    As with the goblin nest, Erwin marked the area with the tracking potion, then the party returned to camp. Kynos was happy to see his fish trap bouncing with bounty.


    They had grilled fish and berries that afternoon, and the insect night guard was increased by one slightly mutated alpha kobold zombie.

 First Experiment

    They ate the usual biscuit and jerky before setting off towards the goblin nest.


    Erwin had worked through a portion of the night, brewing and mixing several nasty surprises for the goblins. Elise had replenished her insect army with the battle of the bugs overnight, keeping her swarm fresh. The kobold, which was made to eat all of the unused bugs, now had venom dripping from its fangs and two sets of compound eyes. It was starting to grow exoskeleton plates in a few places as well.


    As Otto led the way with an alchemic lamp, which showed bright blue splotches on the ground where the tracking potion had dripped, Erwin gave them the plan one more time.


    ¡°We''ll set up the goblin experiment today. Aaah, I can''t wait! Look at this beautiful purple, this one is...¡±


    Kynos fought hard against his auto-ignore skill to pay attention. He barely heard Erwin rattle off the names of three or four, possibly five compounds and eventually lost that battle. His snapped back to attention as the speech came to an end.


    ¡°....distillate, for direct consumption.¡±


    That''s bad, seemed like Kynos missed hearing about his role. Luckily for him, Erwin was a scientist and used to recapping.


    ¡°So here''s the short version. I want to test four things. The first we''ll use with food bait outside a few side entrances, the second is for the insects to inject into the larvae, the third will be a gas bomb that''ll only affect the air in about a quarter of the hive, and when that goes off, we''ll secure a few live samples.¡±


    Erwin cleared his throat and continued.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°We have to remember to not touch one large section of nest with anything, for the control group.¡±


    Kynos was designated as the scout, having left behind everything but a water canteen and his Variable. When they reached the nest, he used shadows to support his weight and smoothly scaled the bramble wall. He noticed that the nest was larger than they had initially assumed, covering a large swath of the forest. The bramble wall encased several trees and thinned out at the top, revealing some of the underlying structure. He deployed a hair-thin shadow web as he traveled, scouting for movement.


    Luckily for Erwin, the nest had an irregular shape, and about a third of it was built separate from the rest, making for a perfect control. They could even collapse two trees to completely cut it off.


    Erwin had already prepared the food paste with the chemicals mixed in for Kynos to deposit, which he dropped down in globs around two rarely used side entrances. Since the goblins were as good as blind during the night, most of the nest''s population was out gathering food, so it would be som time before the bait was discovered, just like how Erwin planned it.


    Kynos also suspended the glass vapor bomb in some vines about the main entrance of the nest. He could cut it any time with magic, and it would shatter on the fall, the liquid inside quickly reacting with water vapor in the air to become gas. They would set it off before they left.


    He saw many clusters of grubs lying about, but on his way back around the far side of the nest, Kynos discovered a particularly dense area where the top wasn''t exposed, but completely covered by a branch and mud ceiling. Erwin made directly for it, letting the group know that those locations are known to house a dense population of larvae.


    The alchemist quickly melted through the thick outer wall with corrosives and handed Elise a potion for her insects to drink. As the two busied themselves with the packed rows of larvae, Kynos quietly injected lone, wandering goblins that his web discovered with a syringe held by a shadow tendril. The toxin knocked the goblins unconscious, and he would ferry them via shadows to Otto, who had unfolded a light metal platform with a pulley and two small wheels. The goblins would be gagged and bound, then tossed into a large net on the makeshift cart, which they would escape with as the gas bomb went off.


    Kynos had been forced to kill one particularly resilient goblin, which the toxin had no effect on, but the rest of the plan went off without a hitch. Otto carted away ten goblins as Kynos dropped the bomb and cut two trees with his Variable. He looked on as the resulting sound and gas alarmed five dozen goblins out of the nest. Erwin was a bit disappointed that he couldn''t watch the entire thing, but all of his concoctions needed some time to really take effect.


    That afternoon, as Erwin cackled maniacally over the goblins at a corner of the camp, guarded by the kobold zombie, the other three relaxed at the stream. Otto polished his equipment, Elise wandered around nearby, replenishing her insects and gathering edible plants, and Kynos was perched on a rock, fishing idyllically. The three exchanged less than ten words in the many hours before dinner.

 The Plan

    The dawn of the third day found a pile of dead goblins in a corner of the camp, in such bad condition that not even insects wanted to approach them.


    The four had the usual breakfast in unusual silence. Erwin hadn''t been able to figure out a way to effectively experiment on the grove, and actually, he had never expected to find such a thing. Kynos had shot down his suggestion that they fling a few random poisons into the water supply of the grove with a simple but very convincing ''no.'' Erwin had been forced to concoct potions he could directly throw at the creatures, but Otto mentioned very clearly that dealing with enraged grove guardians could cost all of them their lives.


    Now the alchemist was quiet, deep in thought during the trip, something Kynos was grateful for.


    As they neared the stream, Erwin was struck by inspiration. He stopped the group.


    ¡°That''s it! Everyone, gather around and listen. We''re going to kill two birds with one vial of acid today.¡±


    Kynos did his best to pay attention as they all sat down to hear the new plan.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°First, we''ll head back to camp and sleep some more.¡±


    Kynos almost fell off of the rock he was sitting on, and even Otto looked visibly surprised.


    ¡°See, we''ll go visit the goblins at dusk, when they''re all coming back to the nest. What we want to do, is alarm all of them.¡±


    The other three were rapidly growing apprehensive about fighting a massive swarm of goblins in the dark.


    ¡°Listen, goblins can barely see in the dark, but we have this chemical lamp. We can have the kobold carry it to attract the goblins, and we''ll lead them all the way to the living grove.¡±


    Elise nodded uncertainly. That plan would reduce the risk to the group, but excluding the goblins, how would they see in the dark?


    ¡°We''ll all drink these potions I made, which will dilate our pupils and augment our vision at night. We should be able to see moderately well, and with the goblins causing a ruckus in the grove, we can get away with throwing some of these potions at the treants.¡±


    Erwin crossed his arms as he finished, pleased with his genius.


    Otto sighed, knowing that the plan was bound to go wrong somewhere. Still, the warrior stayed true to his convictions, ready to give his life to make Erwin''s plan a success. Elise thought that the plan sounded strangely reasonable, so she readily assented. For his part, Kynos was used to that level of danger, and once Elise gave in, he had no objections at all.


    They all returned to camp to get some more rest, eating another meal and setting off once again as the two suns began their descent.

 Kiting

    They first needed to drip the tracking potion from the grove to the goblin nest.


    Elise had shown that her physical abilities were seemingly bottomless, but her zombies could only autonomously execute simple commands. She would have to keep a short distance from the kobold in order to see the path and guide it properly. Kynos would escort her, being the strongest and most mobile.


    Erwin and Otto would wait near the grove, ready to lob potions at the creatures of the grove, especially the guardian treants, as they engaged the goblins. Erwin would observe the reactions and any mutations on the goblins for as long as possible. They would have to sacrifice the kobold, but there was a backup alchemical lamp in the wagon in border town.


    After the four of them regrouped, Erwin would set off a contained fire to prevent any pursuers and they would move back to camp.


    Kynos lifted Elise into a tree near the main nest entrance as Erwin and Otto walked towards the grove. The two of them sat on a high branch, watching an increasingly larger amount of goblins find their way back to camp. The creatures didn''t have a uniform color, and many bore scars, but they all blended into the mossy, earthy colors of the forest.


    He did his best to count the ones that he could see or that triggered his shadow web, but Kynos lost count at a little over two hundred. Any seasoned adventurer would''ve immediately aborted the mission and rushed back to Widala to report on the imminent surge and attack of the goblins, but having seen how weak each individual was, Kynos didn''t think much of the numbers.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Elise had also noticed that some of the goblins were carrying sticks and stones. Goblins were supposed to be stupid creatures that mobbed prey with their hard nails, but some of these had started using tools all of a sudden. Still, she couldn''t risk speaking to convey this to Kynos, since goblins were constantly passing underneath.


    In time, the last few beams of light faded and the flow of goblins stopped. Kynos hooked up the alchemic light to the kobold in the meager glow of the moons, then lowered it to the ground, following after with himself and Elise. They downed Erwin''s potions, albeit reluctantly,


    The light, mounted on the kobold''s head, easily picked up the bright blue stain on the ground in the darkness of night. As Elise moved to the side and the zombie got on all fours, Kynos slung a vial at the nest entrance. It shattered and shortly after, a firebolt followed it in, erupting into a giant explosion.


    The goblins that flooded out of the nest was met by the sight of a howling kobold, marked with a clear blue glow. The first few let out a bloodcurdling screech, and the rest of the nest poured out like a flood. The kobold took off, running relatively slowly with a staggering gait, and the goblins immediately gave chase.


    Normally they wouldn''t think to engage a kobold pack, but against a single one, the goblins lost any semblance of fear. Kynos glided along the ground, using his magic to keep Elise from tripping over any exposed roots or stray rocks, as they shadowed the kobold from the side. Elise was masterfully manipulating the creature to run just slowly enough that a few goblins could get at it.


    In reality, the kobold had insect carapace on almost all of its back, so the goblins would''ve been hard pressed to even hurt it. On top of that, the thing was a zombie in the first place, meaning it wouldn''t be slowed until its body was destroyed beyond repair. Still, the goblins chased it, thinking they were on the verge of bringing it down.


    Any goblins that closed in on the two were silently skewered by Kynos, so Elise used her insects to encourage the goblins from the back and sides, stinging to keep them running in a tight knit pack. A few dozen stray goblins in the back gave up on the chase, but like that, the two herded nearly two hundred goblins into the grove.

 Treant

    Erwin and Otto were nowhere to be seen, but the grove was rapidly becoming a massacre.


    Carried away by their momentum, the goblins had rushed right into the middle of the grove and onto the kobold zombie, which was prone on the ground. Then, all of the creatures around them attacked in murderous rage. Mandragoras popped from the ground and and stabbed with poisonous thorns, various animals attacked with horn, hoof, claw, and teeth, and many of the giant trees rose up out of the soil on their roots, swinging boughs with monstrous strength, sweeping away rows of goblins all at once.


    Suddenly, a giant red cloud engulfed a treant at the back of the grove, causing it to flail about in agony. The leaves began turning red, then became brown and withered, and as Kynos watched, the entire creature came down with a crash, a pile of firewood amidst the verdant grove.


    A short while later, a smiling Erwin and a harried looking Otto, whose scutum shield bore a large dent, came stumbling into the brush where Kynos and Elise were hiding. Although it looked like Otto was trying to keep him quiet, Erwin was babbling with discovery.


    ¡°Did you see that? The same agent I put into a bunch of the larva just turned a treant into a pile of wood! Imagine how useful that could be!¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Erwin was gesturing wildly at the goblins now.


    ¡°And those goblins, don''t they look bigger? See how they''re still fighting even though they should be fleeing by now? What?! Did that one just throw a rock? Did they learn to use tools in two days?!¡±


    Elise had turned her eyes away, both from the sting of having had dilated pupils for so long and because she no longer wanted to see the slaughter. Otto was keeping a lookout by scanning in different directions, and the only two watching now were Kynos and Erwin.


    A goblin flew over their heads and landed behind them with a sickening crunch, an unlucky creature caught by the backswing of a treant. The grove''s guardians were powerful, but the goblins had come in overwhelming numbers. For some reason, many of the goblins refused to retreat despite the one-sided ambush, and they were now fighting back with zealous glee. Several animals had already been killed, a dozen mandragoras had been trampled underfoot, and one treant was being overrun to the point where it was more goblin than tree.


    Still, the goblins were mostly taking a one-sided shellacking. Over eighty had died, and at least another fifty had fled. The remaining goblins managed to take down a treant and another dozen other creatures before they fled as well. Kynos estimated that a bit less than half of the goblins had gotten away.


    The four managed to get back to camp as the last of the three visible moons crested overhead. They would sleep in, then take the tents down and return to the town to resupply.


    Erwin couldn''t erase his grin the whole way back.

 Border Town

    They deconstructed the tents and left the camp after brunch, breakfast having been delayed due to Kynos sleeping in.


    Erwin scattered the repellent potions before they left, and Otto buried the remains of Erwin''s experiments. Unable to keep her zombie insects supplied with freshly killed parts, Elise also had them settle into the impromptu grave.


    She looked a bit sad doing so.


    They made it to Widala in the late afternoon, Erwin and Otto sweaty from exertion. Kynos had used his shadows to help support the weight of his packs, and Elise, though carrying a full pack now, looked unfazed.


    Erwin checked in to the inn and ended up paying for two nights, having originally only planning to stay for one. The lack of sleep and desire for creature comforts were starting to catch up to him, who usually lived in luxurious conditions. Kynos was more than happy to be able to sleep in two nights in a row, and Elise was thankful for the opportunity to bathe. Otto, as usual, stayed quiet.


    The tavern that night was a raucous place. Erwin was incredibly pleased at being able to conduct a field experiment of such a scale, and he was continuously buying rounds of drinks for the entire room. The clientele was a large group of adventurers that had been employed to track and hunt a particularly troublesome hydra, which had somehow wandered in from the marshes south of the forest and was disrupting the environment in very noticeable ways. Being mostly veterans who risked their lives on nearly every mission for years, they were partying hard and living life to the fullest while they could.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    When Kynos and Elise stepped into the tavern, both fresh from baths and changed out of adventurer clothes, the volume dropped a bit. All of the adventurers were wondering why two children were crashing the party, and were properly flabbergasted when Erwin waved them over and announced that they were the heroic mages he had been regaling the adventurers with tales of just now. All of the seasoned warriors present had thought that he was joking, and was still joking, until their one and only mage opened his eyes wide and shouted, ¡°miss Elise?!¡±


    On reflex, she hid behind Kynos, who immediately located the mage and walked over to him. The mage stood up imperiously and pointed an accusatory finger at Kynos.


    ¡°My name is Frain,¡± he said, trying to shake off the alcohol and pulling out his identity card, ¡°a rank B magician of the mage''s guild. Name yourself and give me one good reason why I should overlook you kidnapping a council member''s daughter!¡±


    The adventurers tensed up. They would have to support their mage if it came to a fight, given that they absolutely needed a fire mage to deal with the hydra''s ridiculous regeneration.


    Kynos flashed his own ID at the mage.


    ¡°Kynos, rank A, pupil of Eliza, on request from the guild.¡±


    Frain plopped back down on his chair in a daze. Having been one of the younger mages to qualify for a B ranking, he never imagined that he would be outranked by a child, who was also a protege of a council member. He barely stammered out an apology before Erwin sauntered up to the man with another mug full of wine to diffuse the situation.


    The adventurers laughed off the situation and resumed their drinking, and the laughter and boasting could be heard from the tavern until deep into the night.

 Idyllic Day

    Around midday, Erwin''s group of four saw off the adventurers. Kynos, who had read about hydras, wondered if they would all return.


    They restocked their packs with supplies out of the wagon at the quartermaster, then Erwin declared that everyone had the afternoon off. He immediately shut himself in his room at the inn, madly copying his memory of the past few experiments onto parchment. He spent an inordinate amount of time drawing pictures of enlarged goblins with sharp rocks as well.


    Otto went to the local smithy to hammer out the dent in his shield, and would be found relaxing in a field nearby as the smithy worked, softly whistling an original melody to himself.


    Kynos and Elise browsed the few shops in town, but they were all no-nonsense vendors that dealt mainly with adventurers and had nothing that would interest the two children. Eventually, Elise decided to practice with her demilune while Kynos attempted to figure out how to properly master his Variable.


    They sparred for a while, but Kynos tired while Elise seemed to grow stronger as the hours passed. In truth, she was starting to use her weapon more like the versatile tool that it was, instead of a glorified sharp stick. She had almost managed to scratch Kynos by transforming her weapon mid-swing at one point.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Elise twirled away with her weapon as Kynos sat down to stared at the orb in his hand. With a quick thought, it became a thin but sharp rapier, and another turned it into a silver string. The string form was as sharp and took less mana, but was harder to control than his own shadow wires. Kynos whipped into the stump of a logged tree, leaving deep hairline gashes. He then sliced off a piece of wood by transforming his weapon into a small razor.


    He was beginning to understand the limits of the Variable as it was. Though he could will it to any shape and repair it instantly when the shape was damaged, it was limited to the amount of metal that was in the original orb, and that much metal just wasn''t enough for a sturdy halberd or a large and thick shield. It was also lacking weight, meaning that anything which couldn''t be pierced would be problematic to smash.


    Kynos had tried to merge it with other metal before, but aside from mutilating what was once perfectly good tools, there was no success so far. Frustrated, Kynos poured more magic into the tool than it needed, causing the metal to writhe on his hand. One particularly violent movement startled him, as it had looked like some dark mass was trying to break through the Variable.


    Hoping the tool wasn''t broken, Kynos stemmed his mana flow. He breathed a sigh of relief as it returned to a silver orb.


    They met in a tavern for dinner again, and all agreed to an early night so they would be fresh when setting forth the next day. Erwin was eager to get back to the goblin nest to record more observations, and he wanted to see the aftermath of the treant grove as well.


    If they were lucky, he would even be able to catch up with the hydra extermination group.