《The legend of Aila (dropped fiction)》 Fated encounter It happened in an instant, the beast that aimed for my life jumped to break my neck while my life. In fear, I closed my eyes, hoping that my neck would be broken first so that I wouldn¡¯t suffer too much. And then I died, ¡­ ¡­ or so I thought. When I opened my eyes, I saw a vision of both heaven and hell. In the gentle evening light, a young man was standing where the beast had been moments ago and the black wolf that threatened me was now laying on the floor a few meter away, a deep wound on its stomach. I quickly noticed that, despite the fact that he had apparently defeated the beast in a single slash of his sword, not a single drop of blood could be seen on the black coat of my handsome savior. In such circumstance any person in its right mind would feel tremendous gratitude toward his savior, giving him some heartfelt thanks. But I felt no such thing, instead I felt only fear, primal fear, my entire body was screaming to get away and run with all my might from that man that somehow didn¡¯t feel human. But my leg wouldn¡¯t move and I could do nothing but stare in a daze. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. While I was struggling not to lose my mind or faint, he turned his head toward me, giving me a long cold stare with an expressionless face. And after a while, having ascertained that I was unhurt, he slowly turned around and disappeared into the night. In shock, I had to wait a dozen minute or so before regaining the control of my body. I then rushed toward the black wolf that nearly killed me moments ago, tending its deep wound in a struggle to save its life. Interlude - The structure of Tower Extract from ¡°The adventurer¡¯s guide, Chapter 1 ¨C The structure of Tower¡± ¡°To this day, very little is known about Tower, our world. But to the extent of my power as an adventurer that traveled far and wide, I will try to compile here pieces of information that may be useful for adventurers while they travel around Tower. To begin, let¡¯s start with the basics. Tower is composed of floor, each floor has the shape of a circle and walking from one side of a floor to the opposite takes around three days by foot. Each floor differs from the others in temperature, humidity, ¡­ and because of that, some floor are covered by snow while other are desert or rainforest. The variation between each floor are also said to be more significant as you rise through Tower. Every floors are linked to the upper and lower floor by two set of stairs that respectively go up and down. The only known floor that doesn¡¯t respect this rule is the 1th which has no downward stairs. It may also be useful to know that, to the extent of my knowledge, stairs seems to be always placed on the circumference of a floor. The ¡®roof¡¯ above each floor seems to be slightly curved in a dome like fashion, probably to better support the weight of the upper floors. The wall and roof of floors are made from a dark mineral called Towerite that alternate between absorbing mana and diffusing it in the form of light. We call ¡®night¡¯ the period of absorption and ¡®day¡¯ the period at which it release light. Although the phenomenon isn¡¯t fully understood, the walls also release small quantity of light during the night. To the extent of current technology, nothing seems to be able to even dent Towerite, let alone mining it. Towerite can be found about 50 to 100 meter below the ground surface of a floor. Because the amount of dirt, stone, ¡­ that make up the ground varies at each floor, we can speculate that stairs may be buried underground on some upper floor but no such floor has yet been explored by mankind. Using simple mathematics we can also estimate that each floor has a total height of around 500m. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Floor are usually named by their number. As Hinted previously, there is no floor below the 1th floor and mankind has went as high as the 42th floor during the fifty-third great crusade. Also it is important to know that the higher the floor, the higher the concentration of mana. Because high mana concentration means stronger monster, it is unlikely humankind will ever see the top of the tower. The total number of floor in the tower is unknown. Mankind dwells on the three first floor of the tower. The 1th floor host ¡®Magna¡¯ the capital of mankind, three small cities and some fields, a small lake takes place near the center of the floor and provide clean water. The 2th floor host the fields and cattle used to provide food to the cities and small villages that provide housing for the farmers. The water necessary to cultivate the fields is supplied from two small river and an ingenious system of connected wells. No dangerous monster lives on those two first floor as the population is mostly herbivorous, some may nonetheless be dangerous for beginner if angered. The third floor host the adventurer¡¯s city ¡®Dailya¡¯ named from its founder, the empress ¡®Dailya Mac-Lorren¡¯. Walls have been built to defend both the city and the stairs from the monsters that dwells on the third floor and above. Outside the protecting walls, a huge forest can be found where monsters dwells. This forest is often used as a training space for beginner adventurer. Land above the third floor is considered as wild territory. Some fortress city, build to study monsters and provide shelter to adventurers, may nonetheless be found on the 7th, 12th and 15th floor but, aside from those, no human communities are known to live beyond the 3th floor.¡± Monster Tamer It had been three day since the encounter with the young man. Right after the encounter I had given emergency treatment to the beast before moving it into a small cave. The forest was a dangerous place and I couldn¡¯t afford to protect both myself and the black wolf under normal circumstances. Dragging the half dead wolf to such a place hadn¡¯t been an easy task but the stench of blood would have less chance to be perceived from predators in a badly ventilated cave. The position would also be easier to defend but it came at the cost of having no retreat, not that i planned on retreating anyway. Having secured the place, I had proceeded with a long treatment of the numerous wound suffered by the black wolf, not forgetting to bind its movement to ensure my own safety. And there, after three painstaking days of cares and two sleepless night of guard duty, the wolf finally woke up. Excited, I quickly gathered mana in my right hand and, gently caressing the head of the growling beast, opened a communication channel. A loud voice was instantly heard inside my head, translated from thought to human speech by my magic. ¡°Do not touch me human, I may be wounded but I didn¡¯t fall low enough to tolerate the likes of you¡± said the wolf telepathically while growling menacingly. I carefully distanced myself from the beast then, holding myself at a respectable distance and bowing slightly, I introduced myself. ¡°I am Aila Aewill, only daughter of Reyard Balley and Eryn Aewill both adventurer. I was the one who tended your wounds¡± - Aila The eyes of the beast twitched for a second as he heard my answer directly in his mind, he then calmly responded. ¡°Not bad for a lowly human, how did you came across such magic ?¡± -Wolf ¡°Before giving birth to me, my mother was a recognized adventurer. She taught me that communication magic for the sake of communicating with humans and I merely adapted it to communicate with you¡± - Aila ¡°Huuum, I see. And for what sake did you do such a thing ? If I recall correctly, communicating with monster should be considered no less than a crime against your own kind.¡± ¨C Wolf ¡°It is as you said. Yet, I seek power, enough power to climb Tower and restore the shame that was put on the name of my family. You seem to possess such power and I would like to borrow it for the sake of exacting my revenge by making you my familiar¡± ¨C Aila As I responded, I unconsciously started to release bloodlust which piqued the interest of the black wolf I faced. He then answered, showing his sharp fang. ¡°And you expect me, a proud fenrir, to serve under a lowly human like you ?¡± -Wolf ¡°I except no such thing, my only wish is to make a pact of non aggression between the two of us. Whether you help me or not, is your own decision.¡± -Aila The wolf grinned while examining me from head to toe. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Do as you wish, I am not ungrateful enough to bite the hand that healed me. But remember that I shall never help your kind.¡± -Wolf I nodded at those word, thinking hard on how to convince such a proud creature. But before i could finish, the wolf quickly asked another question. ¡°Aside from that, you do realize that the path of a monster tamer is cursed by mankind, do you ? Following such a path will bring you nothing but sorrow and despair¡± ¨C Wolf I nodded once again and then calmly answered, my voice full of confidence. ¡°I already made up my mind long ago and doubt no longer dwells in that heart of mine. Rather I would like to know why a proud fenrir, supposed to dwell around the 13th floor, came to the 4th¡± ¨C Aila The monster made a wry smile, he then lowered his head slightly before answering my question ¡°For countless year I had been the leader of a pack numbering dozen of my kind, but I was defeated in a duel and banished from the pack by the new leader. Left alone and severely wounded, I had no choice but to flee to lower floors in order to protect my life. ¡± ¨C Wolf ¡°I see ¡­¡± - Aila I responded calmly and took some time to think of the right word. This right there was a golden chance and I couldn¡¯t afford to fail at taming such a powerful creature. Having carefully thought of my answered I stared into his eyes, talking slowly. ¡°If you so desire, proud fenrir, I could give you the power to regain the position you once owned¡± ¨CAila ¡°Ha ! As if a weak human possessed enough power to defeat the leader of a pack of fenrir. If your kind possessed such power you wouldn¡¯t be hiding yourselves on the two lowest floor¡± ¨C Wolf ¡°You are right indeed, I do not possess such power. Yet, as a monster tamer, I can boast in my ability to regulate the flow of mana in your body, strengthening it from the very core. I have no doubt that, given enough time, I could grant you power that surpass those of mere fenrir ¡°- Aila The eyes of the wolf twitched as he heard what seemed like an insult to its kind but, rather than getting angry over such a trivial thing, he smiled at the thought of power. As his interest had definitely been picked, he stared at the girl for a moment, thinking deeply at the advantages and inconvenient of her proposal. After a while, he raised his head and spoke again. ¡°I made up my mind human. If you can prove such abilities, I shall be your familiar¡± ¨CWolf Hearing those word, the girl in front of him let out a cry of joy as a cute and gentle smile floated on her face, miles away from the dark expression she had moments ago. The wolf snorted at such a childish manifestation of joy, and kept on talking as he had not finished what he had to say. ¡°But, before a contract is made, I would like to voice some condition¡± ¨C Wolf Interlude - Mana in daily life Extract from ¡°Study of mana, Volume 3 ¨C Mana in daily life¡± ¡°As demonstrated in the previous volumes of this anthology, mana is the purest and most fundamental form energy. Everything that exist in the world of Tower exist thanks to the flow of mana, be it rock, water or flesh but it is even more fundamental to what we commonly call living being. Mana is absorbed in the body through daily activities like eating, drinking or breathing and flow inside the body. It is then processed and stored inside the body to provide fuel for further activities. Every action made by the body, be it moving your arm or thinking about something, consume a part of your mana and running out of mana mean certain and immediate death. The flow of mana in the body isn¡¯t fully known as it varies slightly between each individuals yet a pattern can be found. Mana is stored right behind the navel in the central part of the belly and flow at all time through the body travelling through every single part to provide energy. The flow is inverted between right handed people and left handed people. For right handed, the ¡®looping¡¯ flow of mana start to the right upper part of the body from the belly while for the left handed it goes first to the upper left side of the body. Even if it haven¡¯t yet been demonstrated, most scientist are incline to believe that your dominant arm is decided by the way the mana flow in your body. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. It is possible yet extremely dangerous to tweak with the flow of mana in one¡¯s body. It is nonetheless commonly used in what we call healing magic, helping the mana flow through the body in order to improve the regenerative property of a living being. Yet the opposite is also possible, disrupting the mana flow of one¡¯s body in a malevolent way can cause from a slight unwell feeling in the body to pain worse than death itself. Other dangerous ¡®tweaking¡¯ are also thinkable such as expanding the vessel of the body so that mana may flow faster or changing the path of mana flow in one¡¯s body. But remember that such experiment have been labeled as cursed thanks to the great empress Dailya and any usage of such magic, if proven, will make you the public enemy of the great human empire. Simply put, it is a felony to permanently modify the flow of mana granted in one¡¯s body by the gods, no matter what reason you may have for doing so.¡± The contract During this one week, after having proven my abilities to Vornir, the fenrir I saved, by hastening his recovery and purifying the numerous impurities in his flow of mana. We had a long discussion on the exact term of our contract where I dozed off half way due to exhaustion. Fortunately he didn¡¯t feel too offended and treated it as a mark of my effort in healing him. I even got praised for my hard work which made me quite happy, even if he said it in an annoying way. When I woke up, we resumed our discussion and agreed on the following terms. First, Vornir and me will be bounded by the contract until we both accomplish our objective or until one of us dies. Second, Vornir will be prohibited to harm humans or fellow familiar that may serve me in the future, unless if I permit so of course. In the same way, me or my familiar will be prohibited to harm any fenrir unless permitted so by Vornir. Third, We shall both provide help to the full extent of our capacities toward the realisation of the goals we have fixed. Doing otherwise will be considered a breach of contract. The goals are exacting revenge on the human empire for me and attaining a realm of power normally inaccessible to fenrir for Vornir. Finally, even if it pains me, I am prohibited to ride on Vornir back, stroke him or pet him in any way as it would hurt his pride as a fenrir to be treated as such by lowly human. That point was probably the hardest to agree upon because I kind of really wanted to. Once the terms decided, it took me 2 days of preparation to ready a magical contract and put it in activation. If one of us doesn¡¯t respect the terms of the contract at any time, tremendous pain shall ensue till the contract is respected or till the one¡¯s receiving the aforementioned pain dies in tremendous suffering. Needless to mention that, the contract being linked to one¡¯s inner thought, even the intent to breach the contract will bring the aforementioned pain. After that I removed the string that bounded his movements and tended Vornir¡¯s wounds during four more days to ensure a quick recovery. While I tended his wound we had various interesting discussion on fenrir and human customs. We also had a long discussion on the identity of the young man that saved me and defeated Vornir. Apparently, Vornir hadn¡¯t even noticed its presence before being sent flying by a hit in the stomach. When I mentioned that he was a swordsman, Vornir also speculated that the young man in question went easy on him and used the back of his sword. If he hadn¡¯t went easy, Vornir would have probably been cut in two on the spot. Finally, we agreed upon a period of three month during which he would be free to rest in the cave and heal his wound. During that time I would go back to Dailya and get everything ready for the long journey that would ensue. And here I was readying my backpack in the early morning, waiting for the floor to be sufficiently bright before departure. To alleviate my boredom as I still had around an hour to wait, I then started a new discussion with Vornir. ¡°Vornir, may I enquire about your combat abilities ?¡± ¨CAila He raised his head and grinned, showing his yellow fang. ¡°Glad you asked human, I specialize myself in close combat. I can control mana to strengthen my fang and claw enough to cut rocks like butter. My control is also perfect enough to allow me to pour mana in my claw only when needed, allowing me to sustain long term combat. In my top form, I can even shoot pure mana from my claw to hit out of range opponent¡± ¨CVornir Vornir held his head high while Aila couldn¡¯t prevent herself from releasing an impressed ¡°Ohhhh¡±. ¡°Considering my defenses abilities, they are also beyond normal. I can concentrate mana instantly on any point of my body, making my fur sturdier than steel. That said, if i am unable to detect the opponent as with the young man that saved you, they may inflict damage as I cannot afford to permanently wear a defensive layer of mana¡± ¨CVornir You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°In term of human power, you would be no less than a rank eight berserker from you mana control alone, truly impressive¡± ¨C Aila Vornir grinned once more as he was praised but couldn¡¯t restrained himself from commenting. ¡°Please don¡¯t compare me to lowly human, you will only hurt my pride doing so¡± - Vornir Or so he said, but to me his pride didn¡¯t looked wounded at all. That wolf really held too much pride after all. I so decided to give him a piece of reality using the information I had gathered so far. A mischievous smile soon appeared on my face. ¡°Now that you said that, I can better understand why you were defeated back when you were leader of the pack¡± ¨CAila The wolf looked at me dumbfounded for a moment but I didn¡¯t stop there ¡°Even though your abilities are impressive, you have some significant weaknesses. When I tended your wounds, I had numerous chances to examine them and I deduced that they were caused by elemental magic. Given your strength, the fenrir that defeated you must have attacked you with magic from a distance, keeping himself from harm during the whole fight and wearing you down little by little.¡° -Aila ¡°¡­¡± - Vornir ¡°His attitude wasn¡¯t worthy of a proud fenrir but he still defeated you fair and square and you had no choice but to step down as a leader of the pack. He then banished you to ensure he wouldn¡¯t be defeated in the future, as he was probably no match for you in a normal fight¡± ¨CAila ¡°Silence human, one more word and I will snap your neck in a single bite¡± ¨C Vornir At that point Vornir seemed pretty pissed but, as the magical contract hadn¡¯t yet activated, I knew his word were nothing but empty threat. I decided to go directly to the point before the intent to snap my neck really came to him. ¡°As lowly creature that we human are, we have developed many counter to this type of threat by controlling the distance between us and the opponents. In fact, we even have an entire magic system called the ¡®control magic system¡¯ specialized in controlling the movement of our opponents. It would be easy for a proud fenrir like you to learn such magic and remove his own weaknesses.¡± ¨CAila Vornir looked at me with a bored expression before responding. ¡°Humpf, It may be so but if I used the magic of lowly human my honor would be forever tainted¡± ¨C Vornir I immediately started to think that I may have gone too far but, having gone so far, I couldn¡¯t stop there and let everything go to waste. ¡°I believe your honor would be more tainted by being unable to do what us, lowly human, can¡± ¨CAila At that point, Vornir started glaring at me with a complicated expression. ¡°¡­ I will give it some thought in the future, but I won¡¯t guarantee anything. Now get out of my sight, I had enough dealing with you for today¡± ¨C Vornir I smiled as I thought that, deep down, Vornir was a surprisingly good guy. Looking at the entrance of the cave I realized the floor was already bright enough for me to go. I paid my respect to Vornir and excused myself for having been rude before departing to Dailya. ¡°Truly, what an interesting human, to see through my weaknesses with so much ease ¡­¡± ¨CVornir Having said that to himself, Vornir went back to sleep with what could be interpreted as a happy expression. Promising himself that he would inquire about her abilities when given the chance to meet again.
Final chapter for today, I will probly post another tomorrow but it depends on how much i can write. Interlude - Your job as an adventurer Extract from ¡°The adventurer¡¯s guide, Chapter 2 ¨C Your job as an adventurer¡± ¡°Now that you are all familiar with the structure of our beautiful world, let¡¯s talk about your job as an adventurer. First and foremost, please keep in mind that adventurers are the life line of humanity as most of the materials necessary in daily life are no longer present on the 2 lowest floor of Tower. Let¡¯s take steel for example, steel is the most used mineral in the whole empire especially because of it¡¯s various uses in blacksmithing. It is vital to the everyday life the empire, yet it cannot be mined anymore on the two lowest floor. So what do we do ? If you thought the answer was simple as we just have to send adventurer hunt steel golem then i will give you full mark. Now, joke aside, humanity as no choice but to send adventurers out into the wild in order to gather numerous materials. Once defeated, the creatures you kill must be thoroughly disassembled for materials, be it the ivory of monster¡¯s teeth or simply their fur, everything has value and should be stocked in your sturdy magic backpack. The reward will change depending on the kinds of material you bring back, their quality and the current offer of the market. For example, killing a lesser steel golem on the 8th floor will usually result in getting around 2 tonnes of steel which amount to around 20 gold. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it For those of you that still don¡¯t realise how much 20 gold amount to, remember that such an amount of money will be enough to drown yourselves in alcohol and women for a whopping 40 months. Of course, you will have to share that amount of money equally with the other members of your party but, given the relative weakness of lesser steel golem in the world of Tower, hunting them will soon become easy and bring you tremendous amount of money. Of course adventurers are not only monster hunter or they would instead be called as such. You can also work in one the various guilds in town, honing your skills while pursuing knowledge or giving course to younger adventurer and all that while being paid a decent salary. As adventurer you can also apply for apply to various job that will contribute to the glory of our great empire, the most profitable being a wall guardian, where you just sit around on the walls of Dailya, drinking booze all day, while observing the majestuous flora and fauna of the third floor. Convinced yet by the wonders of adventuring ? Then jump to the next chapter of this book and learn about the various kind of adventurer and the way they are ranked by guild !¡± Back to the city Departing from the cave, It took me five days to reach the gates of the city as I could fortunately avoid any dangerous encounter. Being too early on the morning for the gates to open, I then waited alone for around thirty minutes before a guard finally opened the two massives door. The doors where each 5 meter high while the top of to wall towered at 8 meter. Simply opening them required a complex system of pulley and cog. After the doors finally opened, I greeted the usual sleepy guard and he answered me the usual ¡°Tchh ... still alive ¡±. As usual I then smiled at the thought of sinking my fist on his sleepy face but kept myself from doing so. I already had far enough trouble with the empire and didn¡¯t need new one¡¯s. As no store where currently opened to sell the spoil of my month of adventure outside the city, i quickly decided to go back to my apartment and sleep till early afternoon. Traversing the main street, I then switched to some dark alleys before arriving at my place. As usual, I had to kick at the rusty metal door before managing to open it and, as usual, the owner of the cheap ass building I rented shouted plenty of profanities while I did so. After putting away my clothes and giving some fresh air to the room, I quickly dozed off, snuggling in my blanket till mid afternoon. After waking up, I dressed myself with clean clothes and took time to prepare myself a real meal, the first in a month. The menu was a full fledged, three layered meat lasagna. I smiled at the tender flavor of meat and tomatoes as I fell once more in love my own home cooking. Not that I had anything against eating monster but eating undercooked, hastily prepared meal for a month would make anyone weary of adventuring. Having finished my meal, I quickly did the dishes and departed to the market. I avoided the main streets filled to the brim with crooks that will haggle till they obtain your valuable materials for half the mark price and headed for a store at the very back of the city, near the still shining floor¡¯s wall. Entering the old shop, a familiar scent of spices pleasured my senses as I greeted the muscular shop owner, bowing deeply at the familiar face. ¡°Hello, Baasan¡± - Aila ¡°Ooohh, If it isn¡¯t Aila ! Where had you disappeared for the past month, I was afraid something at happened to you again¡± - Baasan the Shop Owner Baasan was a muscular ex-adventurer in his forties that took pride in his baldness and his old scars. He had been an adventurer for a long time before opening shop and often told me stories about his adventures, there was even a period where he had worked for the kingdom as a royal guard. He never had any children and, being a dear friend of my father, he treated me as his own daughter. We had always kept a good relationship, even after the death of my parents, and to be fair he had helped me greatly at the time, providing me with both shelter and solace. In this city Baasan was probably the only one I could call a friend. Also, despite the fact that he often act as some sassy old women, the guy is definitely straight, or at least I think so. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m fine, just a little adventure on the 4th floor¡± - Aila ¡°Ooh, the fourth already. Mymy, children grow up so fast these days, I can still remember the good old times when you would run towards me shooting ¡®Baasan¡¯ every time we saw each other. You sure have grown up lately¡± - Baasan As he said that I blushed from embarrassment, hoping that no other customer had heard anything and, looking around, I noticed that unfortunately they had which made me blush even more. So much I could have been mistaken for some walking tomato. ¡°Well, that aside, I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t come to talk about the good old time.¡± - Baasan ¡°Yes, I have quite a few materials to sell you, should you be interested¡± - Aila Saying that I emptied my magic backpack on the counter, paying attention not to let anything fall on the floor. In total, the whole package amounted to about 20 set of animals pelt, fangs and claws, 30Kg of rock from a magic golem, rocks which are known for their astonishing sturdiness and finally some vines and wood from lesser Treant. ¡°Quite the bounty you have there, your party didn¡¯t slack off during the last month to get so much even after dividing the spoils.¡± -Baasan Hearing those word I made a wry smile, making sure to stay silent about the fact that I traveled alone. I quickly changed the subject before any further enquiries ¡°So, how much can you give me. I¡¯m in good mood so i will even give you a 5% discount from the usual market size¡± - Aila ¡°Make it ten and we have a deal, I will even give you some potion in memories of the good old times¡± - Baasan ¡°What kind of potion ?¡± -Aila ¡°Three lesser potion of mana, I can guarantee their quality as they come directly from my personal stock¡± - Baasan ¡°Then we have a deal¡± -Aila ¡°So after discount we have 1 silver 90 copper the set of pelt and 50 copper the Kg of rock amounting at 53 silver for the whole lot. Counting the vines and wood, I will give you 61 silver and 30 copper in total. Not forgetting the potions of course¡± I nodded happily as I thought that 61 silver and fenrir was a tremendous prize for a month of adventuring, I still had some accomplished quest to submit for reward too. I carefully stored the money in the purse I used as wallet and the potion in the lower pocket of my backpack and, as I finished, Baasan approached and murmured something. ¡°Also, just so you known, he came looking for you again¡± - Baasan Hearing him say that, I sighed deeply. ¡°Again ? I wish he would finally give up¡± -Aila Hearing that, Baasan shrugged his shoulder ¡°I don¡¯t think he ever will¡± -Baasan I then paid my respect to the smiling owner, promising him to be cautious, and headed for the exit. On the way out, I decided to report the usual unpleasant visit to the guild to the day after and planned a visit to my favorite bookstore instead. Getting some magic books before heading back home. The calm before the storm Vornir¡¯s POV It had been three days since the young girl that saved me departed to her city and around two days and a half since we were too far for telepathic communication. I think she was called Aila Aewi...Aewa...whatever. Anyway, she would soon be 20 years old and had long red hairs and green eyes, she was also quite big for a human with her height of 1.72 meter. And, even if I have no interest for such thing as a fenrir, I can guess that she would be considered rather beautiful by human standard, especially due to her attitude that seemed like childish charm. But In truth, I knew all along that it was nothing but an act. When she wasn¡¯t taking care of my wounds or resting, she would often wear a depressed smile on her face. Folding her knee in a fetal position and holding them with her arms, she would stare at nothing with empty eyes, lost in thought that seemed anything but pleasant. It was hard to tell but in truth, she was only a depressed girl constantly trying to cheer herself up. In fact I could probably tell only because I was in a similar situation. For fenrir, the shame of defeat was considered worse than death itself but in the face of death I couldn''t muster any courage and instead ran like a coward. In fact, I was not banished, I merely feared the moment I would have to return to my pack and face the reaction of those I once loved and protected. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Yet, she soon gave me hope when I was at my weakest. Should I, stronger than ever before, defeat singlehandedly all the warriors that would aim for my life at my return, I would then get a chance to defeat the new leader and wash my honor, regaining the chance of living a life among my own kind. If someday she can truly give me enough power to get rid of my twisted fate, I shall pledge to serve her till the day I die, protecting her even at the cost of my own life. And as I laughed sarcastically at myself for relying on a mere human, I finally noticed a presence that I should have noticed way before. Right outside the cave, a fully equipped group of 4 adventurer was staring at me, shivering to their very core. I immediately stood up, thinking only to get rid of any witnesses of my existence. But after only a few step, tremendous pain appeared at the back of my head as the group scattered in the surrounding forest. The pain then quickly faded as I cursed the contract I had sealed with Aila and I then rushed out of the cave. Very soon, numerous adventurers would swarm the 4th floor in order to defeat me.
Author''s note : Next chapter i will introduce the system of classes then on to the real deal ^^ Believe me or not but shit is about to go down guys, ready your pants as the real adventure finaly begins ^^ Interlude - Classes and ranking Quite a long interlude today, all to present the class system of Tower. Fell free to drop me a message if you have any question or comment, I will make sure to answer ^^ Also don''t hesitate to drop a comment if I missed any typo. (As french is my native language I tend to make quite a bit of them ^^'') Edit : Apparently this forum won''t make my chapter appear the way I want to. Sorry if it is a bit hard to read at time (>_<) Edit2 : Thanks to Wolves425 and Simon662, the post is no completly readable
Extract from ¡°The adventurer¡¯s guide, Chapter 3 ¨C Classes and ranking¡± ¡°In this chapter, we will finally get down to business as we talk about the various classes of adventurers and the way they are ranked at the guild. The classes Let¡¯s keep things in order and start with an explanation of the concept of classes for thoses of you that may not be aware of this system. The class of an adventurer is determined by their skills and their specialty in mana control. Classes were mainly created to determine position and responsibilities in a group of adventurer. For the sake of clarity, let¡¯s talk first about the main classes. The main classes are divided in five set of classes called systems. Those systems are determined as such :
[Close combat system] : This system regroup the classes that rely on melee weapon such as fist, bladed weapon of blunt weapon.
[Warrior]This class regroup all the users of bladed weapon. Specialised in sharpening their weapon with the help of mana to inflict heavily bleeding wounds, this class is probably the most balanced class between long and short term combat. As there are numerous weapon and skill englobed in this class, it is commonly divided in subclasses named after the weapon that is wielded. The two most popular being [Swordsman] and [Spear Wielder]
[Barbarian]This class regroup all the users of blunt weapon, relying on brute force to crush their opponents. They are recognised for their abilities to infuse tremendous amount of mana in their blows but this class isn¡¯t suited for long term combat as their mana consumption is way too large. They are not usually divided in subclasses and adepts tend to be a bit rough around the edges, you have been warned.
[Brawler]This class regroup all the adventurers relying on gauntlet or fist. They rely on infusing mana in their opponent with direct blows from their fist or gauntlet, disturbing heavily the mana flow of the opponent. They are really dangerous at short range but lack versatility in practical combat.
[Knight]This class regroup all the adventurers that play the role of meat shield. They are specialized in protecting themselves with sturdy layer of mana, preventing any blow to damage themselves or their equipment. Also I don¡¯t exactly know why but the adventurers of this class tend to consider shield as weapon and often consider it an insult if you don¡¯t share their point of view.
[Ranged system] : This system regroup the classes that deals with ranged combat
[Archer]The adventurers of this class uses projectile based weapon, the most used being bows and arbalete. The masters of this class are feared for their precision, infusing mana in their projectiles in order to augment their range and precision. They are most effective at long range but tend to be useless at close range.
[Gunner]Gunner use guns and rely mostly on brute mana power, blowing off their opponent with mana filled bullets. They tend to lack precision but can make up for it in various way. They are most effective at mid-long range.
[Elemental magic system] : This system regroup classes using elemental magic
[Wizard]Those called wizards make use of expensive tools, such as staff, to manifest mana outside their own body and shape it as one of the seven elements. Doing so allow them to control the elements remotely for an extended amount of time. The seven elements are fire, water, wind earth, light, shadow and ether. Talented wizard can manipulate multiple elements at will and even meld them to form new ones.
[Summoner]Summoner can infuse mana in an element to give birth to golems of the said element. Doing so require perfect concentration and an important amount of time so they are rarely seen adventuring outside the city especially due to the fact that golems are slow and cannot be produced at will. Nonetheless, they are one of the main assets during crusades that count hundreds of adventurers and posses high status in the magical guild.
[Shadow dweller]Often called thieves by the general public due to their tendency to exercise such professions on the side. They uses magic to distort the path of light and temporarily conceal themselves, slashing at enemies as they appear and disappear from the battlefield. Of course, if any felony has been proved, the responsible will be radiated from the guild, but they still have a rather bad reputation among adventurers. They can make themselves really useful in combats so whether to trust them or not is your own choice.
[Support magic system] : This system regroupe classes that can remotely affect the flow of one¡¯s mana
[Healer]Healer have perfect knowledge of human body and can remotely hasten recovery or boost companions abilities. High ranked healer can even instantly heal non-fatal wounds. Keep in mind that, even if they can use their abilities remotely, they can only display the full extent of their abilities by direct contact. In short, healers are the lifeline of any group of adventure but are weak if directly involved in combat.
[Shaman]Shaman can remotely disturb the flow of mana in an opponent. Provoking from slight unwell to immediate death, depending on their proficiency and on the defenses of the opponent. They should never be taken lightly as doing so may bring you a fate worse than death.
[Undetermined system] : This system regroup all the miscellaneous classes that aren¡¯t in any of the aforementioned systems. Unlike other systems, member of this system are few in number as their skill are not usually thought by the academy but should you be interested in learning them, the guild will happily reveal the contact information of the members of such classes that are willing to teach.
[Alchemist]Master of potions, they can produce various effect on the battlefield with their concoctions, ranging from small scale explosion to large scale mustard gas. They can also strengthen the abilities of fellow adventurers in various way with their beverages. Their weakness reside in the important time and expensive materials needed to brew potions. They are useless if catched unprepared but nearly almighty in planned situation.
[Strategist]Strategist rely on their intelligence to guide the flow of large scale battle, making use of communication channel magic to rely their order. Their proficiency is determined by the number of communication they can manage and the variety of tactics they can display. They are vital to crusades but are rarely seen in small group of adventurer.
[War Chief]War chief are basically alchemist for food. They can add various properties to the meal they prepare and, doing so, greatly boost the abilities of adventurers. Their food is also highly praised as delicious even if I never had the chance to taste it myself. They are also mostly seen during crusade and rarely seen in small groups of adventurers.
[Control master]Often called puppeteers, those adventurers are tasked to control the position of enemies in various way, at time preventing them to flee or defend and at time preventing them from attacking. The abilities of Control master aren¡¯t fully known but skilled individual are highly valued as they can transform hopeless small scale battle into flawless victory. The adepts of this class also claim to be part of the ¡®Control magic system¡¯ which, according to my information, should posses more than three classes. But, as the ¡®Control magic system¡¯ isn¡¯t recognised by the guild as a full fledged system, I will not present it here.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Melded classes As you may already know, rare are the adventurers that limit themselves with only one class. More often than not, Warrior are able to use the magic layer of the knight class, Wizard summon golems if needed and Archer do whatever archer do. In practical combat, everyone make use of the best weapon available to them and nobody gives a shit about being registered as a warrior when he has to use a knight¡¯s skill to defend himself from harm. In practice there is nothing but melded classes and only a limited few, aiming for excellency in a class, will restrict themselves to using only the skill of that one class. The melded classes recognized by the guild are numerous and, as presenting them all would be far too long, I will only present a three most common in Dailya.
[Berserker]they are adventurer that have masteries of two classes in the ¡®Close ranged system¡¯, one of them being the knight class. Berserker are recognised for their abilty to ignore damage while they roam on the battlefield.
[Archmage]They are adventurers that have fully master both the Wizard and Summoner class. They often are highly skilled individuals.
[Elemental warrior]They are adventurers that received teaching from both the Wizard and Warrior classes, allowing them to add the properties of elements to their blade. Their abilities are feared but they have the mana consumption of both classes making them useless in long term fights.
Ranking The ranking varies between classes but is often based on the adventurer¡¯s ability to control mana and the number of the class skill they have mastered. To officially advance to the superior rank, you have to prove your abilities at the guild or obtain the approval of an adventurer recognised as a master of the class. It is impossible to jump ranks, even if you have enough capacities to do so, test must be passed in order. The general ranking, which is applicable for most of the classes, goes as follow.
Rank 1Default rank, immediately attributed in all classes.
Rank 2The adventurer is able to infuse mana in his equipment, changing the physical properties such as sturdiness or sharpness.
Rank 3The adventurer has learned the elementary skill of the class and is able to display them in combat.
Rank 4The adventurer has mastered all the elementary skill of the class and the equipment used has become an extension of the body.
Rank 5The adventurer is able to adjust the quantity of mana in his equipment at will, being able to infuse mana in his weapon only when and where needed.
Rank 6The adventurer has learned the advanced skill of the class.
Rank 7The adventurer is able to infuse mana in his equipment, changing or adding physical/magical properties.
Rank 8Without using any specially designed tool, the adventurer is able to manifest mana outside of if his body or weapon and use it as an extension of his body.
Rank 9The adventurer has mastered every skill of the class. This rank will grant access to the scroll containing the secret art of the class.
Rank 10The adventurer has mastered the secret art of the class and is able to display it in combat. The adventurer is now recognised as a master of the class.
Melded ranking follows a similar logic except that the skill of both classes are considered while going up in rank. For example, to reach rank 4 in a melded class based on the skill of three main classes, you will have to master at least one third of the elementary skills of each classes composing the melded class. Due to that rule, adventurer that are low ranked in melded classes are considered inferior to equally ranked adventurers in one of main classes while high ranked adventurers in melded classes are considered far superior due to their versatility in combat.¡± Reunions at the Adventurer guild Reunions at the Adventurer guild I approached the adventurer guild, walking nonchalantly through to the main street. It was already early afternoon and around this hour the place was always filled to the brim from passersby looking at the various stall disposed on each side of the road. Before entering the building, I cordially greeted the two guard which didn¡¯t even bother to respond. I then pushed the two wooden door, entering the building. As I entered, the noisy room instantly went dead silent, not that I wasn¡¯t accustomed to it but it still remained surprising. I then walked to one of the counters as everyone made way while staring at me as if they had seen a ghost, whispering quietly as to avoid being heard. If I had paid attention at the time, I would have seen a familiar man running away through the exit but as I was trying hard not to pay attention to my surrounding in order to remain calm, I, of course, failed to notice. Reaching the counter, I calmly placed a few sheet of paper and my adventurer card on it before starting a conversation with the clerk. ¡°I would like receive the rewards for the following quests¡± - Aila The clerk looked at me for a moment, then after looking at my adventurer card she responded with a disgusted expression ¡°The guild doesn¡¯t deal with criminals, nor with their children¡± - Clerk I expired for a long, very long time, calming myself to the best of my abilities before answering. ¡°Fuuuuuuuu ¡­ I am an adventurer, recognised by the guild as such, those quest have been accomplished and the people that submitted them have properly signed the document this very morning. Now, I would like to receive the rewards that are due and then I will disappear as fast as I came.¡± -Aila ¡°...¡± - Clerk ¡°Should I maybe make a ruckus again by calling some manager, I¡¯m sure they have plenty of time to deal with such insignificant problems after all¡± - Aila The woman kept glaring at me with hateful eyes for a moment but finally took my files and disappeared at the back to check their validity. I immediately started to relax, maybe there wouldn¡¯t be any incident this time after all. And just as a thought that, small trouble material appeared. Three people, two men and a woman, approached me while separating the masses to make a path for themselves, blocking my path towards the exit. From their clothes alone, anyone could guess they were part of some kind of nobility. ¡°Oh Aila ! Long time no see, how''ve you been since graduation ?¡± - Women I didn¡¯t bother to answer, I never liked those people and they never liked me. This was nothing more than idle talk aimed at pissing me off. The women gave me a resentful look as I ignored her. ¡°Come on, says something, we have been separated for two year so I¡¯m sure you have one or two stories about your various adventures outside the city... Oh ! Pardon me, I forgot no one would group up with you due to your bad reputation. Ah ha ha¡° -Woman Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°It sure must be tough to have no choice to accomplish quest on the two lowest floor.¡± - Boy ¡ã1 I snorted, once again, as they laughed at their own joke, not bothering to answer. Saying I went to the 4th floor alone wouldn¡¯t solve anything and would be nothing less than spreading oil on fire. They would interpret the truth as idle talk aiming at boasting about abilities I don¡¯t have. Yeah, in fact, I should be the one laughing at their weakness. I always worked hard and stood in the top 100 of the academy back in the day, but those three had always relied on their status, their was no way they could defeat me even if they ganged up on me, I was already no match for halfassed beginners. The clerk came back at the counter and, with a satisfied smile on her face, handed me back the papers I gave her moments ago. Saying something about signatures being fake or other crap of the same register. It wasn¡¯t the first time it happened as I was infamous on the third floor, even clients loved to play pranks on me, thinking they could have their quest accomplished for free because of my status in town or other bullshit of the likes. I turned my feet, heading for the exit as I brushed the three troublemakers aside. I was in a hurry because I now had some customer related problems to deal with before getting the reward I deserved. We were talking here about a minimum of 70 silver after all, there was no way any beginner would laugh at such an amount of money. ¡°As expected of the girl that killed her own parents, not even an ounce of honesty¡± - Boy N¡ã2 They laughed at me, soon joined by some passersby in the guild. And I snapped on the spot, as bad memories surged up. The guy that had talked moments ago was sent flying after my mana filled fist was sunk right into his face, landing a whooping two meters away. Honestly I really believed I did my best trying to stay calm, but crossing on that subject was by far too much. If I had had a weapon in my hand, I would have probably killed him on the spot without even thinking. I then decided to say some cool bullshit while making a cool pose, making sure he would learn his lesson. ¡°Insult me or my family once again and this day shall be your last¡± -Aila I quickly noticed that it had been useless as the guy was already unconscientious, how weak could this guy be, not even able to protect himself with a mana layer as he was hit by a fellow beginner. Had it been from an hobgoblin of the 6th floor, the hit would have come with thrice the speed and four time the power and would have definitely smashed his head. As I thought that and decided once more to take care of my small customer problem, further trouble arrived, blasting through the door with a kick of his massive feet. And, as I realised that this was no small problem material but rather a, soon to be, life or death situation, I started to believe that this really wasn¡¯t my day. Executed on the public square A 2 meter tall man, wearing a silver full-body armor, entered the guild by blasting through the door with a kick of his feet as if he owned the place, well thinking about it he kind of did actually but back to the point. Followed suit by twenty imperial guard, his altess the 6th prince Nielon Mac-Lorren had arrived. Now, let me take a moment to explain the situation. Remember the guy that ran out of the guild as I arrived, the one I didn¡¯t notice before. Well, that guy was a subordinate of the human empire directly under command of his highness the prince. As he saw me, he of course warned his altesse, giving him information about my location. The guy Baasan was talking about earlier, the one that looked for me, was no other than his altesse the prince. I readied the two daggers I used as weapon, unsheeting them, and took a combat stance as I was greeted. I had no chance to hide given I was at the center of a huge clearing, right at the middle of the guild that is usually filled to the brim with adventurers. ¡°Long time no see my dear Aila¡± -Nielon His altesse had spoke with a loud voice, smiling to his ear due to the happiness of finally finding me. The kind of smile predators make when they have finally cornered their prey. I quickly scanned my surrounding, looking for a chance to escape. And, while I did that, the prince approached slowly, making loud metallic noises at each of his steps. ¡°You see, I had been searching for you for quite a long time, more than one year if my memories are correct¡± -Nielon As he said that, he lightly grabbed my jaw from below, touching my chin with the palm of his right hand, and turned my face toward him, bringing my eyes at half an arm length of his disgusting face. I offered no resistance of course, as hurting his highness the prince would get me nothing less than death sentence, there would be no trial and I would be killed on the spot. And, as I thought the guy had no concept of personal space, I enquired about his presence for the sake of formalities, I already knew why he was here. ¡°And what might his highness want from a commoner like me¡± - Aila ¡°Don¡¯t be so cold, after all I personally came to greet you myself, afraid you would run away from me again¡± -Nielon ¡°...¡± -Aila ¡°Now, reunions asides, you know perfectly well what I want, or maybe I should refresh your memories ?¡± - Nileon As he said that, he put force on his finger, crushing my jaw with enormous strength. Preventing me to answer him without injuring myself. ¡°I want you to hand over the researches of your father¡± -Nielon I glared at him with hateful eyes, hinting him at time that I was unable to speak by lowering my eyes quickly, until he understood he had put too much strength in his fingers. He then quickly withdrawn most of the strength allowing me to answer. ¡°I have no such thing in my possession I¡¯m afraid. Besides what would your highness do with research deemed as heretical by your highness¡¯s father, the emperor.¡± -Aila ¡°I will burn them of course, as a citizen of the empire, I cannot allow such heresy to remain in this world¡± -Nielon Some bystanders nodded at the blatant lie of the prince, whispering in low voices, but I knew he wanted them for himself at any cost. Even if I had them in my possession, I wouldn¡¯t have handed them over to such a guy. ¡°Now, would you please hand them over¡± -Nielon ¡°As I said, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t, I don¡¯t have anything from my parents left in my possession.¡± -Aila ¡°Ooh ?... And why should I believe the words of traitors ?¡± - Nielon ¡°I ¡­ I already proved my loyalty to the empire.¡± -Aila This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Your loyalty ? Humpf, you only proved that you had enough will to live to execute both your parents on the public square, there are no such concept as loyalty in the hearts of heretics¡± - Nielon I lowered my head as bad memories surged up. I kept silent, I didn¡¯t want to listen. Had he be anyone else, I would have sent them flying to vent off penned up emotions and distract myself for depression. ¡°I can still remember the way they pleaded for your life, I am sure they suffered greatly while they were beheaded by their own flesh and blood¡±-Nielon Around me bystanders were grinning, whispering awful rumors about my parents and the horrible way they died. Right now, I only wanted to hide, to crawl in my bed and never, ever, get out. I hated the empire that made my life into a neverending hell. I despised the bystanders who watched, enjoying every last bit of it like some entertaining show. And finally, I loathed myself for staying alive after doing such thing, slitting their throats as they smiled at me, telling me ¡°Everything is gonna be alright¡± and ¡°Remember that we love you¡±. Fortunately I didn¡¯t cry, as I had ran out of tears long ago. I only starred with empty eyes at the man in front of me, shutting myself from the awful reality of the world I lived in. He turned his head, looking at the guards. ¡°Take her into custody, I will interrogate her myself¡± -Nielon The guards nodded and answered with a ¡°Yes sir¡± as a few bystanders cheered with a happy expression. The prince faced me again, bringing my head closer to his face before whispering. ¡°I will make sure to thoroughly enjoy you, my dear Aila¡± - Nielon I didn¡¯t resist as I was slowly giving up on life. There was no point in resisting, everything I could do at this point would be futile, be it fighting a hopeless batle with the royal guards or fleeing out off the city, only to be stranded in the wild without provision. Soon, I would be tortured and violated in the royal jails by his highness himself then, I would die, perhaps executed on a public square like my parents, all for the great pleasure of the citizens of Dailya. But as his highness Nileon released me from his hand to hand me over to the guards, a man entered the guild, blasting through the door with a distorted expression. Without even bothering to look at the situation, he quickly shooted, making sure to be heard by every single adventurer in the guild over the loud background noise of whispers. ¡°Call all adventurers in town, fenrirs have been seen lurking on the 4th floor !!!¡± Hearing that, I gasped as I came back to my senses. ¡°Vornir !¡± - Aila While everyone was shocked from the news, I separated myself from the guards, storming through the place with my daggers and sparring no expenses of my mana. Cutting through anything that stood in my way, I rushed for the clerk office behind the counter, aiming for some windows that couldn¡¯t be found in the hall of the guild. Then, covering myself in mana layers, I jumped through with all my might. After landing, I quickly ran in some dark alleyway, not even noticing that I was covered in shards of broken glass. If I could lose my pursuers, I still had a chance to save Vornir, to save the last hope that kept me alive. As I escaped through the city, I faintly heard a loud voice from far away ¡°Take her alive at all cost !¡± -Nielon
I got a few project to do for university and I won''t have much time to write for a while. I''m probably gonna drop the chapter rate to once a week --'' Anyway, hope you will enjoy the chapter and that you will keep reading in the future. Despair A small chapter to end this week''s content, I will be posting the next chapter on next friday because I still have to write it and don''t have much time. Anyway please enjoy ^^
I finally arrived home, exhausted, I had ran around the city to lose any pursuer for more than an hour while infusing mana in my feet to boost my speed all along. I started to walk in circle in my apartment, thinking of a way to escape the city and on what I could gather in preparation. As I ran through the city, I had already noticed that the gates had been closed to cut all escapes, so I had to pass either undercover or by relying on brute force to make my way through, which were both impossible as the only exit was a heavily guarded massive door. Should I escape, I could gather food by killing monsters outside the city but, for the rest, I was severely lacking on what a could prepare in a short amount of time, things like expensive magical books to better myself during the journey could not be found at the usual corner shop. Furthemore, to avoid being catched after my escape and to arrive on time to save Vornir, I needed horses which were only sold before the gate at the exit of the city. In short, there was just no way I could finish three months worth of preparation in just a few hour. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I started to get angry at myself, every second counted and my thought were lost in circle, my trip was impossible without preparation but making sufficient preparation would be far too long. I snapped at my own powerlessness and punched the wall with nearly all my remaining mana in anger. I then collapsed, both mentally and physically, I had used way too much mana in a short period of time. I layed on the floor, crawling in a fetal position, as the events of the day surged up once more in my mind. I then cursed my twisted fate as I cried myself to sleep for the first time in a long while. Only to wake up on the morning of the following day, awakened by loud knocks at the door.