《The Forest of the Gods》 Intro/Chapter 1 Intro Arcaia is a world of magic or at least it has been for many millenniums. With the first world tree being planted by a being who even today is only known as the only inhabitant of what is now called the forest of the gods. Magic came into the world. This mysterious force swept into the land granting every creature a 7th sense commonly called the magical sense. This sense allowed humans to intricate with world in a whole new way bending the laws of natures to their will. Unfourntly for most even the most rudimentary of spells were possible. Such simple things as lighting a candle could be exhausting for a normal person. But there were exceptions to this and those with the talent were taught in many different ways. But all had the same graduation requirement. Live through two years as a caretaker in the forest of the gods. One year with a mentor and one year without. And when you emerged from this training you would power on such a level that even kings would kneel to you. Yet with power comes a price for the forest is also know by many as the mages graveyard for every thousand that enter this two year training only one survives. Chapter 1 The First Day I gasped in astonishment as the forest came into view. I had heard rumors of it in the academy and always laughed at them. Rumors stating things such as trees whose size and majesty are great enough to look down on all creation and leaves whose patters could rival the best painters of the kingdom. Yet now I stared at the approaching edge of the forest only to realize what I had at first mistook for a massive mountain range was merely the roots of a single tree. As I was staring up trying to see the top of the tree I noticed the sky grow dark for a second as a leaf the size of our carriage floated down almost seeming to crush are carriage before it was blown to the side and landed next to the path with a small thump. Noticing my mentor¡¯s upraised staff I realize what had saved us from while not quite disaster at least in convince. Glancing at the leaf I noticed a series of patterns on it which seemed to be etched in such a manor as to grab you and suck you into another world. Seeing my reaction my mentor let a small smirk creep onto his face obviously not in the least surprised by the look of astonishment that had grown onto my face after merely seeing the first of the trees within the forest of the gods. As we proceeded closer and closer to the edge of the forest an eerie darkness lap against the carriage shadowing us in tune with the swaying of the branches and the rustling of the wind. This effect unnerved me only to grow worse as we officially passed the boundary of the forest and entered in its confines whereupon my sense of connection to the magical world was muffled almost as if I was being smother by the might of an ancient titan. I wasn¡¯t the only one affected by this sensation with the steady clap clap of our two horse being interrupted as they were influenced by this mighty presence only to continue after a moment albeit slower and quieter. The most worrying sign was seeing my mentor who¡¯s largest reaction to anything happing around him being a slight smirk or a shake of the head, grip his staff so hard I swear I could hear the crack as his staff groaned under his not to feeble might. As for myself I fell to the floor of the carriage before picking myself up and starting to mutter a start to a barrier incantation. My mentors hand fell unto my shoulder almost knocking me back onto the floor before he seemed to yell but in reality barely whispered. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.¡°Lad, stop your spell and look ahead before ya get the both of us killed.¡± Shooked and somewhat disoriented due to the interruption of my spell I looked towards where he indicated. And there stood a creature I could barely comprehend. It towered above us practically nailing us into the with the sheer force of its presence. Causing the muffling to the sense of my magic to increase tenfold till the connection was stretched so thin it felt as though an instant it might snap leaving devoid of hard fought for powers. My consciousness was shaken barely holding onto to last drips of sanity. Allowing my to observe the mysterious being in more detail before I collapsed. Noticing the crown representing its divine heritage my reaming willpower fled leaving me to coalpse on the ground darkness merging with the shadows of the forest and plunging my into it. I awoke to my mentor grinning. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect to meet the inhabitant of the forest on the first day did ya lad.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°That is what the forest got its name from lad.¡± Thinking of the implication I stared mute into the distance wondering just what had I got myself into by taking a job as a caretaker of this forest. Chapter 2 First Battle Chapter 2: First Battle ¡°So lad now that you¡¯ve seen what kinda things ya can meet in the forest do ya still want to do this if you say yes now there¡¯s no backing out.¡± Whether the questions was in jest or not I did ponder it for a while. Was this test worth it? Even without passing through this trial I could still go back and join some small time faction be a small time mage for the rest of my life. Yet I knew the answer in my heart I didn¡¯t sacrifice all links with my family and struggle through the mage academy to end up giving up now. My ambitions where way to high for that. Marcus the youngest person to ever graduate form academy gives up after getting scared in the forest. I¡¯d be a laughing stock. SO with my mind set once again though a tad less argonence then the first day I came here I looked back at my mentor and replied with formal acceptance. ¡°Yes I will be in your service Mentor.¡± A smirk entered his old face as he looked me up and down as if he was just now assessing me. ¡°No need to be so formal here boy. Anyway now that you passed the first day in these woods I can give you my first name it¡¯s Bernth. If you survive till the end of this year I may even let ya hear what ma last name is. Now on to important things. I¡¯m sure after the first day you¡¯re sure ya are nervous and have some questions for me. So to try and clear them up before ya get the courage to ask them I¡¯ll go over some basics for ya. He paused after saying this seemingly waiting for my aknodlgment. I looked up and nodded which upon noticing he began his long speech outlying some of the basics of my job and the forest and general. ¡°Now the first question I get most often is why we as mentors not inform ya newbies about the peculiarities of the forest on the first day. This one¡¯s simple enough to answer it¡¯s because we as a group have found it¡¯s much easier for ya to experience then to try to explain in mere words. Also if ya were scared into running away after entering the outskirts of the forest you worth time explaining anyway. The second question I¡¯m you might not know you have but one you need to know anyway is about the hindrance on your magical sense. Normally this hindrance would start off small and slowly build up as you got closer and closer to the center of the forest where more power beings reside. Luckily or unluckily for you on the first day you happened to meet the maker of the forest so the pressure you felt was 10 times higher than it should have been. This pressure is also the reasons all mages are sent here to train. You may not of noticed it yet but because of this pressure you should have already approved many times faster than you would at a normal rate. It also brings many other benefits to your training that ill you figure out on your own. Well with that explanation over with why don¡¯t we head back into the forest and see if we can¡¯t find some little beasties for ya to kill so I can see just what their teaching in magic academy¡¯s these days.¡± Hearing what seemed like a book load of information thrown out me in the short bark like manner of speaking that my instructor had I struggled to comprehend the implications of everything he had said. Ye just as I was pondering his words he uttered that last line which made me instantly perk up. Monster hunting this was one of the things all mages should do to prove their skills. Even more so after coming from the academy where all I got to do was expand my manna pool and practice on magically reinforced targets. As I was daydreaming of fighting giant dragons I heard the clomping as my mentor started walking back towards the forest. Startled I rushed to catch up and as we neared the outskirts of the grand forest I started to get nervous and tried to think up battle strategies for my first fight. The best way I supposed would to be using my unique element even if it might be overkill. Without that part of me I never could have becoming the academy¡¯s earliest grad all my other elements were still at a very normal level for a mage and I wanted to shock my mentor after passing out on the first day. So I prepared to cast my spell at the slightest provocation muttering an incantation a bolt of what seemed to be liginting wrapped in fire appeared above my shoulder slowly heating up our surroundings. My mentor turned back and looked at me with a raised eyebrow then turned around and kept walking. I threw my shoulders back with a hint of pride this was my unique element a element who was as destructive as fire yet as fast and had the parzliing effect of lighting. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. After three hours of walking and with sweat poring down me in gallons I started to realize that maybe promptly casting a spell that dramatically heated the air around me without knowing how long it would take to find a monster wasn¡¯t the best idea I have ever had. So with my fear of dying of heat stroke firmly in my brain I deactivated spell with caused the air around me to instantly cool down making me sigh in relief. This comfort lasted for about one minute before the strange muffling of my magic started again though to a much smaller extent just enough to feel as if I had a thin film lightly covering my magic sense. After some time we finally passed the trunk of the first tree and slowly coming into my view was the largest dog I had ever seen. Its shoulder must have reached 10 feet tall and its panting was like a rumbling thunder cloud. Dropping to the ground praying that the doge would see me I hurriedly chanted the incantation for my most powerful spell I gather all the mana I could forming it into a large lance of fire and lightning ten feet long. I then compressed this to 6 feet and started spinning this lance was the strongest spell I had devolved in the academy and I just had to hope it would be enough. Finally finishing the incantation I sent the lance zooming at the dog. As it rushed towards the large monster the air around it caught fire forming a cone of flames around the lance. About halfway there the dog noticed the flaming projectile. Raising its head the dog attempted to avoid the projectile heading towards it. But before it could move one step the lance pierced its side then exploded into a column of flame and lighting 40 feet that blazed into the sky. After the column died down I tenderly stood up amazed at the sheer destruction of my spell. Observing the glass crater my spell had left after it died down I was amazed that I couldn¡¯t even find a scrap of the dog left. I was wondering what in the hell had happened before this whenever I had cast the same spell it barely produced a column 3 feet wide and never produced enough heat to turn the ground to glass. As I was staring at the newly formed crater extremely confused I heard my mentor laughing in the background. Turning around as soon as looked at my mentor he stop his laughing and changed immediately back to his stony faced persona. ¡°Boy, did I not tell you that your magic would have improved after the pressure you were under yesterday.¡± Now that I thought about he did but this amount of improvement in a single day if this happened every day wouldn¡¯t I be a world shaking monster after two years in here. Seeing that I was still somewhat stunned by this set of circumstance my mentor sight and started to explain to me. ¡°Boy don¡¯t get amazed at this level of power a true expert can cause a natural disaster without even using a incantation. Why do you think even King¡¯s of millions of people are only equal in status to some who survives two years in this forest. Also if you think what you killed was a monster your stupider then thought you were. That thing was just an oversized dog. Hell if you let it try and eat you for half an hour it wouldn¡¯t even be able to pierce your passive magic barriers.¡± Hearing these words I started to realize how stupid I was being. Truly if I wanted to be this world shaking power this level of power wasn¡¯t anything for me to marvel at. Also I remembered in the academy how a beast could only be considered a monster if it exuded mana not just if it was some kind of big animal. But still who the hell wouldn¡¯t be afraid of a ten foot tall dog. It seems adjusting to the mages world is going to take some time.