《Paragon of Light》 Prologue The two gods huddled on their ornate couch, a large bowl of popcorn sitting between them. Their eyes were glued to a massive screen, taking up most of the wall it was mounted on. This round¡¯s final showdown was about to begin. ¡°I do hope my Paragon delivers a good monologue. I haven¡¯t had a good monologue in forever.¡± The Shadowlord took a handful of popcorn. The Lady of Light sighed. ¡°Please. The Paragons haven¡¯t been interesting in generations. It¡¯s really been quite disappointing.¡± The Paragon of Light entered the Sanctum of Shadows, finding the Paragon of Shadows sitting upon his throne. The room was dark, illuminated only by torches sitting in dark metal sconces on pillars placed along the sides of the room. Other than the decidedly uncomfortable looking throne, the room was unadorned. A perfect place for battle. The Paragons¡¯ eyes locked. The Paragon of Shadows stood from his throne, and pointed at the Paragon of light. Suddenly, wordlessly, the two charged at each other. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong.¡± The Shadowlord gestured angrily at the screen. ¡°They didn¡¯t even talk, they¡¯re just going at it.¡± Shink. ¡°Are they? I could hardly tell.¡± The Lady of Light leaned forward and squinted. ¡°What...are they doing?¡± Shink. Shink. ¡°They¡¯re just standing there stabbing each other.¡± The Shadowlord¡¯s volume rose as his gestures became more animated. ¡°Where are the flips? Where¡¯s the magic?!¡± The two Paragons stood square against each other, each swinging wildly at the other. There was no attempt at defense¡ªno flinching, or any other reaction, from the incoming blow. There was only the mechanical lifting of arms, taking a swing, and moving in for another. Even the two combatants look almost bored of this. The Lady of Light reclined back, visibly dismissing the battle. ¡°In your Paragon¡¯s defense, opening the Gates of Hell takes a solid 60 seconds of complete concentration and chanting, and leaves him completely vulnerable to just being knocked the hell out.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Shink. The Shadowlord threw his arms out in a desperate attempt to assert his will over the situation. ¡°Then where are his minions to cover him?¡± Shink. ¡°Did you see my Paragon? He¡¯s like an incredibly angry sentient blender.¡± The Lady of Light giggled. ¡°They¡¯re quite dead.¡± Shink. The Shadowlord sagged, defeated. ¡°Sentient might be a stretch. Has he ever talked to anyone without attempting to rob them, murder them, or both?¡± Shink. Shink. Shink. ¡°I¡¯m not sure he¡¯s attempted to talk to anyone, period.¡± The Lady of Light grimaced. The Paragon of Light landed one final blow. Suddenly, the Paragon of Shadow¡¯s attacks ceased, and an unseen force rocketed him into the roof of his throne room. ¡°Oh, us damn it all.¡± The Shadowlord threw his hands up in one last motion of frustration and surrender. ¡°Can we just turn physics off? They keep breaking.¡± The Lady of Light took his hand and shook it, but looked distracted. ¡°I had a thought. Pause for a second?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The Shadowlord pulled out the remote and paused the world. ¡°So,¡± the Lady of Light said, ¡°I think the issue here isn¡¯t with the mortals, but with the system.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± The Shadowlord asked. ¡°As it is now, it seems to fundamentally favor the basic tactics.¡± The Lady of Light said. ¡°Anything more advanced than swinging a sword or a sidestep is just¡­ impractical, at best, and likely to end in having the wrong end of a sword stuck in your chest.¡± ¡°Right. Like with the Gates of Hell.¡± The Shadowlord nodded, then leaned in. ¡°At the rate the mortals are going with it now, this is more likely to culminate in a backslide rather than a significant improvement over our efforts. ¡°So we¡¯re gonna want to emphasize magic, I think.¡± The Lady of Light continued. ¡°We need a system that¡¯s going to let the mortals actually practice and develop large-scale magical assaults and defenses if they¡¯re going to have any chance.¡± ¡°And the more martial disciplines?¡± The Lady of Light frowned. ¡°Those will almost certainly take a hit, but they¡¯ve proven to be relatively ineffective in the grand scheme of things in cycles past. We¡¯ll see if we can get them up to snuff, but I¡¯m not sure mortals will be able to pull off the feats we need.¡± ¡°These are all solid ideas.¡± The Shadowlord rested his head on one of his hands, looking at his counterpart. ¡°But how do we actually accomplish them? All of them have been stated goals of ours for a very long time, and we¡¯re no closer to solving the issue now than we were when we started.¡± ¡°Well, here¡¯s what we do¡­¡± Chapter 1 Emett: The weather today was absolutely lovely as I walked the familiar dirt path through the woods to Grandmother¡¯s house. A slight breeze blew through, just enough to rustle the leaves of the trees around me, and the sunlight filtered gently through the trees, gently lighting the path. Birds sang cheerily from their perches, filling the air with their symphony. It had all the makings of a perfectly peaceful walk through nature, except for the issue of my little sister¡¯s daring choice of attire. Lyn, beautifully stubborn Lyn, has gotten it into her head that she looks her best when wearing the red cloak Grandmother made for her. She¡¯s not entirely wrong - the cloak is stunning. It is, however, just asking for trouble to be wearing it while she is carrying a basket full of goodies to Grandmother¡¯s house. We¡¯re going to be mauled by wolves. Or Grandmother is going to be mauled by wolves. Or the wolves will gather into an army and wage war against the Kingdom of Light, I don¡¯t know, that¡¯s just how these things work. ¡°You¡¯re still thinking of the wolves, aren¡¯t you?¡± Lyn asked. ¡°Of course I am! You¡¯re basically inviting them to eat us!¡± I countered. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. This isn¡¯t a magical wolf summoning cloak, and if it is, they¡¯re more likely to be friendly than hungry.¡± Lyn flashed me a patronizing look. ¡°It¡¯s not mag- ugh. You¡¯ll see the power of Cliches soon enough, I guess.¡± The argument died out as a familiar box appeared in the air before me. A Divine Notice. They¡¯d been fairly frequent lately.
The Paragon of Light has bested the Paragon of Shadows in combat! Round complete! View combat log?
I sighed, and waved the notice away. ¡°Oh, look, another round end. What did this one last, two weeks?¡± ¡°Somewhere around there.¡± Lyn scoffed. ¡°This has also got to be the most boring log I¡¯ve ever seen, though. Did you know they didn¡¯t cast a single spell? Not even a special attack. They just...stood there and stabbed each other until one died, I guess?¡± Another Divine Notice.
PATCH NOTES - PARAGON SYSTEM 2.0 -We have completely revamped the combat system. -Physics have been disabled. We hope you enjoy it!
¡°What does that mean? What the hell is a patch note?¡± I tried to open any sort of attached log or explanation for the notice. As far as I could tell, none existed. The birds fell quiet, but I paid it no mind while pondering what was going on with the Divine Notices. ¡°Well, I hope we never have to find out.¡± Lyn said disinterestedly, waving the notice aside.
You have been selected to be The Summoner for this new cycle! Congratulations!
God damn it, I could swear she was intentionally inviting the Gods to torment us with what she¡¯s saying and doing today. ¡°Too late for that, I think. Apparently I¡¯m The Summoner.¡± I groaned. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be punched in the face, and that¡¯s all The Summoner is good for.¡± Lyn¡¯s voice broke my train of thought. ¡°And I¡¯ve been informed I¡¯m The Armsmaster. Looks like we¡¯ll be stuck with each other for a while.¡± The Armsmaster? But she¡¯s a child. She¡¯s 15 years old and has barely broken 5 feet tall. She¡¯s rail-thin. And the system expects her to be an expert at doing battle? With weapons? The weapons are mostly bigger and heavier than she is! She isn¡¯t fierce. She¡¯s adorable! ¡°Are you okay, Emett? It was a joke. We¡¯re already together basically all the time anyway.¡± Lyn sounded concerned. Her audible worry snapped me back to reality. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s a lot, and very quickly, but we grew up in an Origin Village. We always knew this was a possibility.¡± I knew better than to bring my concerns with her being The Armsmaster up with her. That¡¯s a conversation that would likely end in bruises, both on my body and my ego. ¡°So what¡¯s our next move? I¡¯m going to work on the assumption that if we don¡¯t get moving on this, events will conspire to force us to get moving on this.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Lyn nodded. ¡°I agree. I¡¯d rather not play into the Gods¡¯ sense of dramatic escalation.¡± ¡°So that rules out continuing our current path, as well as going home.¡± A twinge of guilt shot through me as I realized that we would, as far as our family knew, just vanish into the woods. I¡¯d have to send a message back for them once we found civilization. I stroked my beard, thinking of other possibilities. ¡°Maybe we should just head directly to the capital from here? The woods are pretty mild if we cut directly to a main road.¡± ¡°That should be fairly safe for everyone involved. Conveniently, we have some delicious baked goods at the ready to feed us on the trip.¡± She brushed her blond hair out of her face, and took a look into the basket of baked goods she was carrying. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I frowned. Sure, now she can be smart about things. I checked the Map Notice the Gods provided. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll hit the main road if we head that direction.¡± I pointed ¡°And from there it¡¯ll be a straight shot into a capital. About a day¡¯s walk.¡± ¡°Hm...sure.¡± Lyn seemed distracted looking through the basket, and I assumed she was looking for lunch. That sounded fine to me. While Lyn examined the basket, I took some time to familiarize myself with the system. Since I was a registered Protagonist, there were supposed to be some Notices I could open myself to get a better grasp of how powerful I was, how powerful I needed to be, and what I had, along with some other perks regarding relatively easy combat growth. After a few moments of fiddling, I managed to pull up an information screen about myself.
Status
Name: Emett Class: Villager Level: 1 Experience: 0 HP: 37 / 37 Evasion: 3 Accuracy: 98 Power: 33 Resilience: 13 Speed: 20 Agility: 13
Traits
The Summoner: Summoning abilities are more powerful. Access to Caller, Occultist, and Shaman without meeting requirements.
Abilities
Desperate Plea: Summon a random nature spirit at the selected area. May fail.
Desperate Evocation: Evokes a random elemental spirit. The elemental spirit is moodier than normal.
Desperate Invocation: Invokes a random elemental spirit. The invocation isn¡¯t as powerful as normal.
Desperate Conjuration: Summon a random undead or demon unit. The summoned unit is aggressive toward all combatants, friend or foe.
Some of it was obvious to me. Yes, my name was Emett. The Summoner, checks. Stats, I needed to work out exactly what these mean, but they seem fairly straightforward. Power, presumably a measure of how hard I hit. I don¡¯t have much of a frame of reference here, but it looks like the stories really weren¡¯t kidding about the Summoner being vulnerable to being stabbed. Who knows how far my HP will go when I do get around to getting hit. What¡¯s the difference between Speed and Agility, anyway? I didn¡¯t remember any of these stats being mentioned before, but I guess it¡¯s not the most exciting stuff to be writing epic sagas about. I noticed a small button next to where it declared me to be The Summoner, and pressed it. The current information being displayed faded, replaced by a small list of...violent vocations, really, it looks like. All the different ways you can firmly ask someone to cease their incessant breathing. A few entries were highlighted in gold, standing out, but the majority of the list was gray question marks. The rest were white. I pressed on one of the highlighted entries, the Caller.
The Caller is a class revolving around the manipulation of elemental spirits. They channel the elemental power through themselves, as well as being able to conjure them into being for brief periods. Would you like to change your class to Caller?
Well, that definitely sounded like a fit for being the Summoner. I held off on accepting the option, though, opting instead to take a look at the other highlighted entries.
The Occultist uses dark magic to call long-lasting evil servants to his aid, at the cost of his own personal capabilities. Though he can¡¯t accomplish much on his own, he inherently brings strength in numbers to his team.
The Shaman is in touch with the spirit of nature. They are able to ask them for aid, creating zones on the battlefield to aid their allies and hinder their enemies.
All three options sounded interesting, though being an Occultist or a Shaman sounded like it would require a level of finesse I didn¡¯t have. An exploration for another time, perhaps. I pressed on Caller again, and accepted it as my class.
Your class is now Caller!
Howl erupted again from the woods around us. The source must have been barely obscured by the trees.
You have been registered as a combatant!
¡°I told you about that cloak, Lyn! I warned you! Lunch is going to have to wait now!¡± I looked around on the ground, found a suitably-sized beating-stick to act as a weapon for whatever was coming our way, and picked it up, swinging it once or twice. ¡°Lunch¡­?¡± Lyn looked confused, but stood up, keeping the basket at the ready. Was she...planning on using the basket as a weapon? The howls gave way to growls and barks, and the world shifted.
Begin Battle Preparations
Chapter 2 Emett: As it turns out, combat was mildly disorienting. As soon as combat was registered, whatever that meant, I gained an additional awareness of the area around me. While I could still hear and see as normal, I also had a birds-eye view of where everything was. I could ¡°see¡± Lyn behind me, walking in place with her basket. I could also clearly ¡°see¡± all of the wolves, and¡­ Wait, what. Why was Lyn walking in place? Why were the wolves just...tapping their feet? I¡¯d seen dogs do this. Dogs do this when they are extremely excited for something. Were the wolves that excited to have us for lunch? Absolutely horrifying. There seemed to be a blue glowing square underneath Lyn and I. That was interesting. Also, weird. As I took stock of the full field of battle, it appeared that, somehow, the entire thing fell neatly within a perfect grid of squares. Also interesting. Also weird. ¡°I wonder why the wolves are just standing there dancing,¡± Lyn wondered aloud. I glanced back at her. ¡°I wonder why you¡¯re just walking in place right now.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you, I just know I gotta. Why aren¡¯t you?¡± Lyn bounced around her square happily. Did she not realize we were about to try to fight off wolves with a stick and some pastries? ¡°Because that¡¯s ridiculous. Look, if the wolves are just gonna tap at us, I¡¯m just gonna see if I can walk by.¡± I start taking a step forward. ¡°I¡­ wouldn¡¯t try that if I were you.¡± Lyn sounded mildly concerned, and mildly amused. I didn¡¯t dignify her with a response, and walked confidently forward, about two feet, before my nose squished into what seemed to be an invisible wall at the edge of the blue square that has sprouted beneath me. That wasn¡¯t how I had pictured this going, at all. ¡°What the hell.¡± ¡°I told you so,¡± Lyn giggled. ¡°Look, just get your feet moving and we can start this fight.¡± I took a step back, and shot Lyn a dirty look. ¡°How do you know how this works while I don¡¯t?¡± Lyn smirked back at me. ¡°A girl¡¯s gotta have her secrets, Emett.¡± ¡°Lyn.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Lyn sighed. ¡°It¡¯s part of The Armsmaster package. I guess I got an intuitive grasp on how all this works, including an intuitive grasp of how my intuitive grasps work. I¡¯m trying not to think about it too hard in case it gets too recursive.¡± Why didn¡¯t I get that? That would be really handy. ¡°Wow, Lady of Light, thanks for those particularly enlightening patch notes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sass the Gods, Emett, they might destroy our village out of spite anyway.¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll do the thing.¡± I awkwardly raised one foot, put it down, then the other. This was truly silly. I was a clown, and Lyn was having a go at me.
ENGAGE
Well I¡¯ll be damned, she was right.I wasn¡¯t the clown. It was the Gods who were the clowns. My blue square ballooned into a fairly wide range of blue squares. Presumably, as long as I stayed on blue I wouldn¡¯t risk breaking my nose. I rushed forward toward the wolves, expecting them to meet my charge and hoping for the best with my stick.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The wolves did nothing. They simply remained in their place, tipping and tapping. I hadn¡¯t planned on this. They were nowhere close to the edges of my blue area. I couldn¡¯t hit them with my stick. This plan was already in shambles. I thought back to my status Notice. So hitting them was out of the question. I did have a couple other abilities. Desperate Plea sounded risky, and there was no way I was going to attempt to summon a hostile demon with Desperate Summoning. That would be the height of folly. No, that narrowed it down between Desperate Evocation and Desperate Invocation, and of the two, the lesser downside sounded like¡­
Desperate Evocation
I knew immediately what I had to do to complete the spell. ¡°Elemental spirits, hear my call! Deliver us from this plight!¡± I shouted. This was a little extra, but if the wolves were just gonna stand there, I may as well ham it up. Plus, it was kind of fun. ¡°Desperate Evocation!!¡± I threw my hand into the air, and the magic answered. Fire streamed from my elbow, down my arm, and into the sky, spreading impossibly as it did so, but left my skin unscorched. Hell, it barely even felt warm. It just existed. The fire flew into the sky, the stream coiling there, until eventually it settled, forming a long lizard of flames. Its eyes opened, a harsh black against the roiling flames that formed it. A deep voice rang out from it without a mouth opening. ¡°I am Salamander, and I have answered your call, Summoner.¡± The eyes looked down at the battlefield. ¡°...where is The Summoner?¡± I looked up into the sky, awed. ¡°That...would be me.¡± My voice was shakier than I would have liked it to be, but it¡¯s hard to maintain your confidence in the face of a giant flying fire lizard. ¡°You?¡± Salamander¡¯s voice sounded equal parts amused and irate. ¡°The one attempting to do battle with wolves with a branch?¡± ¡°Er...yes?¡± Perhaps I¡¯d made a mistake. It was too late now. I was just going to have to deal with the irritated fire spirit. A gout of flame erupted from where the spirit¡¯s nostrils would have been. ¡°Very well, I will assist you, under two conditions. First, you shall not make a pact with that damnable Undine before me.¡± I nodded. That sounded like a problem for Future Emett to deal with, and I wouldn¡¯t be making any pacts if the wolves killed me here. ¡°Very well. The second you have no real choice in, but is more of a warning. I shall help as I see fit. You do not control me. On that note¡­¡± He waved one of his arms of fire over the battlefield.
Salamander¡¯s Domain has gripped the battlefield! All combatants gain +5 Power!
Wait, all combatants? Oh, no.
Flamelick
A plume of fire erupted in the forest, where the largest group of wolves were. All of them burned to cinders, leaving only four scattered wolves left for Lyn and I to deal with. That actually was good news. I only had to beat four wolves with a stick, now. Unfortunately, the four wolves tippy tapped unfortunately close to me. And it seemed with Salamander being resolved, there was nothing holding them back from charging me. They swiftly surrounded me, nipping and biting. I tried to back up only to find the infernal invisible wall back again, locking me in place. One got a solid bite, 9 damage. Then another, 10 damage. A third bite struck home for 9 damage, with the fourth only narrowly missing after I pulled my leg away at the last second. Emett¡¯s HP: 9/37 I fell to one knee, in a crouch. Okay, so my HP doesn¡¯t go far at all. Good to know. Far enough for now, though. ¡°Lyn, I hope you can do something, because wolf teeth hurt.¡± I called out, staring at the wolves, once again tapping menacingly. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve got something kicking around in here somewhere,¡± she returned, rummaging through her basket. What was she planning to do, throw a piece of bread at the wolves? I was fairly sure we were past that. She apparently finds what she was looking for. ¡°Hey, Emett, Catch!¡±
Hey, Catch!
Lyn threw something at me, but I couldn¡¯t see what it was. Despite my condition, I was able to catch it easily, as if it were guided into my hands by magic. Given the Notice, there was a good chance it might have been. I looked at it, and found it to be a black metal ball about the size of a cantaloupe. That was...weird. What was this, and how would it help? I found the fuse at the same time I heard the hissing. What. What. Had my little sister just thrown a- The world was noise and chaos and fire as I blacked out. Chapter 3 Edith: ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll win, Edith, but do remember this bout is as much for training yourself as it is for glory.¡± My grandmother lectured me, still full of life despite her advancing age. ¡°You¡¯ll need to be ready when you¡¯re Chosen, and I¡¯d like to see you practicing some of the less flashy magic you¡¯re so fond of and more of the fundamentals. You¡¯ll find basic self-enchantment more practical in the long run than more dramatic invocations, even as quickly as you¡¯re able to pull them out.¡± I nodded, heeding her words. She had been the Paragon of Light many years ago, and her grasp of the art of combat was still formidable. She continued. ¡°You know it¡¯s about time for you to be Chosen, and this Round has been going on for a fair while. It could be any day now, and I would like for you to come back in one piece and continue our lineage.¡± ¡°Yes, grandmother.¡± I said. ¡°I should, however, be on my way. The bout is starting soon, and it would hardly be proper for me to be late for an event thrown in my honor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s convenient that it would cut me short, isn¡¯t it?¡± She sighed. ¡°Very well, off with you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be grand.¡± I nodded once more, and left for the familiar duelling arena. I briefly wondered who had been found for this bout, but dismissed the thought. Assuming to know more of the opponent and their talents would be a quick way to be brought low. I had barely left the room when I saw my mother walking up the corridor. I wondered briefly if I would be able to duck her, avoid the conversation until after the duel, when her eyes met mine. That plan was suddenly out the window. ¡°Edith, what are you still doing out here?¡± She had a veneer of worry to her voice, but in my experience with her this was likely more act than genuine. ¡°You need to get to the duelling grounds and get ready.¡± ¡°I am on my way there presently.¡± I replied, attempting to walk past her. She started following me. Wonderful. ¡°While you¡¯re out there, don¡¯t neglect your swordplay.¡± Her lecture began. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely wonderful at it, one of the best, and I don¡¯t want you as wrapped up in your convoluted gambits when you can end it with just a quick cut.¡± Yes, because combat was always as easy as just walking up to the opponent and cutting them until they yielded. I held my tongue, growing irritated with the unending deluge of the same repetitive advice as ever, even if it did come from a pair of successful Paragons of Light. ¡°Just remember, a purely magical approach just isn¡¯t practical, and these duels are nothing like how actual combat works. It¡¯ll be relevant to you in the very near future. Keep it simple, and you¡¯ll stay alive long enough to give me the grandchildren I hope for.¡± As we walked, her familiar lecture droned on as I became lost in thought, progressing through the path I¡¯d taken a thousand times, completed the repetitive pre-match ceremonies, stood in my familiar place. It wasn¡¯t until almost the last possible second that my attention snapped back, and I took in the scene around me. ¡°Combat begins when this cloth touches the ground.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The judge dropped the cloth he was holding and retreated to the edge of the arena. The cloth floated down more slowly than it had any right to, taking a leisurely float down to the earth. It was wholly unconcerned with my impatience, and only barely responsive to the pull of gravity. Eventually, a corner touched the ground, and I was free. The cloth had scarcely settled before I had crossed the twenty meters separating me from my opponent, the Geomancy pulsing over my feet to push me further than my legs would be capable. My sword lashed out at my opponent¡¯s stomach, a last second ward absorbing the worst of the blow. Still, though, the force of my impact combined with the magic of his ward was sufficient to push him back, a dust cloud billowing up and he moved, with the man barely managing to keep his feet. I started to press my advantage, closing the distance again, but was greeted this time by a sudden flash of fire. I reflexively raised a brief wave of earth between us, blocking the fire but also losing my momentum. Another more concentrated gout of flame surged toward me, swiftly followed the first. I jumped over it, ceasing my attempts to close the distance between us, spinning with a flourish as I called for the ground to become spears, stabbing at my opponent. My opponent rose, riding a tornado of fire into the air, landing and balancing on the top of one of the spires of earth. I landed doing the same. The moment we had landed, the onslaught resumed, fire flashing forward and meeting fleeting rocks over and over, my opponent dodging the enraged earth as I attempted to slow him down long enough to lessen the distance he was maintaining. We stood there a moment, savoring a dramatic pause in the duel. The audience would adore it. As I was gearing up to strike once more, a Notice interrupted me.
The Paragon of Light has bested the Paragon of Shadows in combat! Round complete! View combat log?
I launched off the stone spire on which I stood with a flourish, spinning through the air. I would have to finish this round quick, as I found my attention drifting despite my best efforts to the contrary. As I flew, I gathered a shell of rocks around me, a defensive measure against the counterattack I was sure would be coming. This would be the blow that ended it. This was it. Today was the day. After all the years of preparation and training, today was the day I would finally follow in the steps of my mother, her mother, and her father before her. It was the day of my twenty first birthday, the traditional age we have claimed our titles. Today would be the day that I, Edith Maxwell, claim my birthright as-
PATCH NOTES - PARAGON SYSTEM 2.0 -We have completely revamped the combat system. -Physics have been disabled. We hope you enjoy it!
My earthen shell shattered around me as it met an impossibly strong barrier mid-flight. I tumbled gracelessly from the sky, unable to keep any sort of forward momentum against this sudden shield. My mind raced, unsure of what had happened. My opponent was a Pyromancer, not an Aeromancer. This should have been outside the scope of his abilities, unless he had been holding a trump card the whole time. But if he had been holding back an entire school of magic as a trump card, why would he wait until now? It would have invalidated my entire strategy with the earthen spears if he had just flown. The meaning of the Notice started to sink in as I came to my feet. My opponent hadn¡¯t done anything. He likely was as surprised as what happened as I had been. Anger and relief filled me in equal measure. The duel had been collateral damage in whatever the Gods were doing. If the Notices were this active, though, I doubted it would be long before I, master of sword and sorcery, took my proper place as the-
You have been selected to be The Bulwark for this new cycle! Congratulations!
Excuse me, what. Chapter 4 Aston: I couldn¡¯t believe my luck. There was just no way there was a ruin so close to an Origin Village that hadn¡¯t been¡­ cataloged yet. The stone entryway loomed ominously before me, still sealed after untold ages. I began an incantation to unlock the door, the only bit of magic I knew. The only real requirement to be a Relic Hunter, if I were being honest. The Key Incantation, which did nothing but unsealing most of these ancient ruins. The incantation rolled off my tongue, power flowing through me, light gathering on the seal of the door. The incantation finished with a snap, and¡­ Nothing happened. It opens most of these ruins. I guess that explained why this particular ruin remained unraided. Still, I had one more trick up my sleeve. I had picked up a nice bit of technology from a previous ruin I had investigated, and it was handy enough that I hadn¡¯t sold it off. I rummaged through my backpack until I found it. A long piece of solid metal, a bit less than a meter, curved and tapered at the end. I wasn¡¯t sure what the original purpose was, but I referred to it as my Skeleton Key. I forced it into the small gap between the stone seal and the door, and used the length to apply leverage. Before long, the seal cracked and fell off the door, and the entrance swung open. Another win for the Skeleton Key. As I stepped into the old building, the torches on the walls flared to life. There seemed to be a single path leading forward, which was unusual. There were no side rooms to explore, no treasures of note. That usually meant either one central room with a very large amount of treasure, or one central room with a very angry and very deadly beast. Still, it would probably be worth the gamble. The path continued onward for a fair distance before ending at one more sealed door. Another attempt at the Key Invocation offered no entry, unsurprisingly, but the Skeleton Key served as honorably as it ever did. The entrance swung open, and I was immediately greeted with a pair of glowing reptilian eyes larger than my head. Nope. I immediately screamed a warcry, did a strategic evaluation, and executed a tactical retreat right out of the ruins. The creature bellowed behind me, loud enough to shake the foundation of the building, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. This hastened my pace to a mildly concerned retreat. As I exited the building, I could hear the steps of whatever had been sealed away in these ruins following behind me. After a quick assessment of the surroundings, I took a covered position in a bush near the door, out of immediate line of sight of whatever was about to exit.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. To my relief, when the creature stepped out into the sunlight, it didn¡¯t seem particularly interested in finding me. It was impossibly massive - clearly larger than the corridor we had both emerged from. I didn¡¯t understand how that could work, but that seemed like a question for a smarter man than I. The creature was all muscles and obsidian scales, with four legs and a pair of wings. It almost appeared to be a dragon, but it was much larger than dragons generally were. The beast stretched its wings, then flapped them down once, with incredible force. It lifted off into the air more ably and with more grace than something of its size had any right to, and flew off into the distance. That probably should have concerned me more than it did, but I was much more relieved that my plan had worked, and I had not become a snack. I waited a few more minutes, waiting for something else to go wrong. Silence reigned throughout the woods, with no additional sounds of oncoming catastrophe coming from the ruins. I briefly considered gambling that there was only one giant sealed beast in the ruin, and trying to investigate further. This train of thought came to an abrupt end when I found the entrance collapsed in the wake of the enormous horror. I took a look at my map, which had marked where the ruins are, as well as nearby villages. I was fairly close to an Origin Village, Boyersford, but it was already fairly late. I didn¡¯t particularly want to risk traversing the woods at night, and there was no real rush for me to get back to civilization, either. I¡¯d just work on getting some distance between the ruins and myself, set up camp, and work out a new plan tomorrow evening, from the tavern. About an hour later, I had set up a small camp, and was cooking some dinner over my campfire, thinking over the day¡¯s events. This expedition was an unmitigated disaster. Not only had I not gained anything of worth, but if whatever that dragon-thing was caused trouble, and its appearance linked to me opening these ruins, I could be held liable for dealing with it. The thought chilled me to the core. I wasn¡¯t sure how I could deal with a problem of that scale. Regardless, that seemed to be a problem for Future Aston. For now, I¡¯d eat my dinner, get some sleep, and work out the rest as it came. ----------- I woke later than I had planned on, the late morning sun finally rousing me from slumber. Packing up the camp did not take long. I wanted to be on my way and back into civilization as soon as humanly possible. As I was on my way, a Notice popped up. I dismissed it without really reading it. These things were never anything that impacted my life. A few moments later, another Notice came. I dismissed that one, as well. The third Notice caught my attention.
You have been selected to be The Archmage for this new cycle! Congratulations!
Oh no. Chapter 5 Aston: My mind raced from the possibilities, here. I was The Archmage. A master of magic, who only knows a single, very specific spell that only sometimes works. This was wonderful. This was exactly what I needed after yesterday. That did, however, somewhat clarify my next steps from here. I would need to start learning how to be a wizard. The Capital would probably have resources that would help me, but I didn¡¯t think taking a straight shot through the woods would be my best bet, here. I¡¯d continue on to a village and take a road into The Capital, like a normal human being. As I¡¯m working this out, I hear an explosion in the distance, followed by a second one. Shit. I ran toward the sounds, fighting all my instincts telling me this was the last thing I wanted to be involved in. If this was whatever I released yesterday, it was something I was going to have to deal with, and I hoped bravado and a fancy title would be sufficient. I did not, however, find a giant terrorbeast at the source of the explosions. No, what I found was a girl in a red cloak attempting to put the body of a much larger man in a picnic basket that was much too small to contain much of it. The body must have lost part of its leg, because the basket was up to the knee. I took a step back, startled and horrified. A branch snapped as I stepped on it. The girl¡¯s head snapped up, eyes full of fight and fury. An awkward moment of silence stretched between us. This little girl was, by far, the most terrifying creature I had ever come into contact with. ¡°Well,¡± she growled, ¡°are you just going to stand there? I need a hand.¡± Lyn: Perhaps the bombs were more powerful than I ¡®d given them credit for. I¡¯d have to test them more thoroughly at some point. I walked over to examine Emett¡¯s condition. He shouldn¡¯t be dead, at least. In fact, if my intuition is correct, it¡¯s nearly impossible for us to actually die. Wounds, sure, and unconsciousness is just going to happen to us from time to time. Actual death, however, took a lot of dramatic buildup that wolves are more or less incapable of. I looked over his body. All of the limbs were present, as were toes and fingers. He continued to breathe, and he had a pulse. He honestly looked mostly unharmed for having been holding a bomb as it exploded. A wave of relief washed over me as I checked Emett over, followed by a sense of dread. Here we were, stuck in the middle of the forest, Emett unconscious, and me effectively unarmed. Sure, the basket suddenly contains a seemingly endless supply of bombs, but those are also extremely inaccurate without an ally to sacrifice, and I¡¯d just sacrificed my only ally to the bombs. If another pack of wolves decided to attack, Emett and I were in huge trouble.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I would have loved to get Emett out of the forest and into a bed, but¡­ Emett is a massive man. He was quite tall, and had a fair deal of muscle from a few years of farming the family land on top of that. I was not a large woman. I was, in fact, quite a tiny woman. There was no way I was lifting him, or even dragging him, to safety. Unless¡­ I looked at my basket, then looked at Emett. The basket did seem to have unlimited space since I became The Armsmaster, and it clearly didn¡¯t weigh more as items were put in it. The ridiculous number of bombs inside attested to that. The opening was a little small, but¡­ As I had the basket around one of Emett¡¯s knees, I heard a branch break near us. I whipped my head up, terrified that I would find another batch of hungry wolves, I was relieved to find only a terrified looking man. A moment passed, then another. It occurred to me that if I wanted help, I should probably ask for it. ¡°Well,¡± I started, politely, ¡°are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help?¡± That did not come out how I intended. Oh, well, I tried. ¡°Please don¡¯t murder me,¡± the man squeaked out. ¡°What?¡± I asked, taken aback. ¡°Why would I do that?¡± The man wordlessly gestured at Emett, then at me, then at the scorch marks on the ground where the fire spirit had graciously taken care of the bulk of the wolves. It occurred to me that for him to have appeared so quickly, he must have heard the combat and come running to help. I couldn¡¯t contain a giggle. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯m The Armsmaster, and this heavy lump of useless flesh is The Summoner.¡± The man did not appear to be mollified. If anything, he appeared further shaken. ¡°Then what were all of the explosions about?! Why are only the two of you here?!¡± ¡°Oh, we were attacked by a bunch of hungry dancing wolves.¡± I believed that about summed up the situation. ¡°Dancing...wolves?¡± The man wondered aloud. ¡°Where are their bodies?¡± I giggled again. ¡°We dispatched them quite thoroughly.¡± The man groaned, and pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°The Armsmaster and The Summoner. Are you serious?¡± His tone of voice killed the giggles. ¡°Very much so. My name is Lyn, by the way, and The Summoner is my brother Emett. May I ask who you are?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Aston,¡± the man sighed, sounding resigned to his fate. ¡°I¡¯m The Archmage.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s quite fortuitous.¡± I mused on the sheer luck of running into The Archmage out in these woods. This must be divine providence at work. ¡°Can you help me get Emett to the nearest town? I don¡¯t want to be attacked by more wolves.¡± ¡°Yeah, that seems to be the best bet.¡± He looked Emett over. ¡°Though, I must say I¡¯m concerned about The Summoner missing a leg so soon.¡± ¡°What? He has both of his legs, one¡¯s just in the basket.¡± He really wasn¡¯t the most clever man in the world. Aston paused for a moment, considering how to proceed. ¡°And you really think we can get him into the basket?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± My intuition told me that I could, at least. ¡°I think I just need help lifting him, because him fitting into the basket and actually lifting this slab of meat are two different stories.¡± Aston laughed, shaking his head, his tension visibly leaving his face. ¡°I think I can help you with that.¡± Chapter 6 Emett: I came to in a sea of bombs. I seemed to be weightless, floating in an endless expanse of nothing, with no light. Still, though, I could see clearly. The vast majority of what I saw were bombs drifting aimlessly to and fro, with no clear destination in mind. A bundle of bread drifted by me, and I grabbed it. I recognized the bundle immediately. This was the bread Lyn and I had intended to take to grandmother. ¡°Gods damn it, Lyn, did you stuff me in the basket?!¡± I hear her voice from somewhere...outside. Clearly not in the void, but in no particular direction. ¡°Oh, I guess he¡¯s awake.¡± Lyn didn¡¯t sound particularly concerned. ¡°Help me get him out?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I didn¡¯t recognize the second voice. A white square opened in space, and a man¡¯s arm reached through. I grabbed the arm, and he began pulling. Progress was quick at first, which was wonderful, as there was nothing for me to actually push off of to get any traction. My escape did, however, slow significantly as my arm left the basket. ¡°Holy shit you are a heavy guy,¡± the man said. ¡°Years on a farm will do that,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t push myself out, so just keep pulling.¡± A few more moments of effort, and my head and shoulders were out of the void, with the rest of my body dangling inside. At this point, the man could make no more progress. ¡°You¡¯re on your own from here,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s the extent of my ability to lift dead weight.¡± I looked around, considering my options. I probably could get out from here, but it¡¯d be very awkward to lift myself directly out. Unless¡­ ¡°Hey, can you tip the basket over?¡± I asked. The man lifted his eyebrows. ¡°That seems like that last thing you¡¯d want.¡± ¡°If I can crawl out along the ground, I don¡¯t need to fight gravity on my way out,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a solid idea,¡± he said, carefully pushing the basket over. It was a strange sensation, where my head and arms were aware they were falling over, but the rest of my body was completely unaware of the shift in orientation. Finding new leverage along the ground, I was able to crawl out of the basket, albeit completely gracelessly. It would still be better than spending the rest of my days in a pocket dimension composed almost entirely of bombs, I supposed. I climbed to my feet, and offered my hand out to the man. ¡°I¡¯m Emmet, nice to meet you.¡± He took my hand and shook it. ¡°Lyn mentioned as such. I¡¯m Aston, The Archmage.¡± I looked around for Lyn, but didn¡¯t see her. We appeared to be on a road, just outside of a small town. ¡°Speaking of, have you seen my gremlin of a sister? I heard her while I was in the basket, and I would just love the opportunity to thank her for her care.¡± Aston chuckled. ¡°I think she was expecting as much. She ran off into town and left me with the heavy lifting.¡± I sighed. ¡°Of course she did. Let¡¯s go find a room, get some dinner, and discuss¡­¡± I waved my arm around, not finding a word big enough for everything that had been happening today. ¡°Well, let¡¯s find Lyn, then do all those things.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Aston nodded, and led the way into town. He walked with an air of confidence, no hint of doubt in any movement. I was sure he¡¯d be a boon to us, though I was concerned that my inexperience would hold him back. Walking to the town square, we immediately found a crowded marketplace. Lyn probably thought she was being sneaky, inconspicuously milling about the crowds. It may have worked, on another day. Unfortunately for her, she happened to be wearing an eye-catchingly bright scarlet cloak. ¡°Lyn!¡± I called out at her. She flinched, but tried to pretend she hadn¡¯t heard me. I started walking over. ¡°I know you heard me, you¡¯re wearing the most obvious cloak you possibly could be.¡± The crowd parted for me as I approached, and Lyn took the hem of her cloak into her hand, glancing at it briefly with a look of betrayal. ¡°Emmet!¡± she called, as I approached, mirth in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯re alright!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t give me that,¡± I said. ¡°You threw a bomb at me.¡± ¡°It was only a little bomb,¡± she replied. I scoffed. ¡°Little?! It knocked me out and, considering you¡¯re still here, probably half a pack of wolves as well!¡± ¡°Details.¡± Lyn dismissed my concerns. ¡°And what was the whole ¡®Hey, Emmet, catch!¡¯ thing about?¡± I continued, growing more frustrated. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have warned me?¡± ¡°The wolves might have heard and stopped being so grouped together.¡± Lyn responded. ¡°Just¡­¡± I sighed, resigning myself to Lyn¡¯s unrepentant chaotic nature. ¡°Let¡¯s get to an inn and we¡¯ll discuss this further.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Aston chimed in, ¡°while you were making a spectacle of yourself, I have located a nice inn right over there.¡± He pointed toward a building, helpfully labelled Traveler¡¯s Rest. Before Aston had spoken, it hadn¡¯t occurred to me just how many people had been watching that. I became acutely aware that every eye in the marketplace was on us, seemingly entertained by the show. Wonderful. ¡°Let¡¯s head over there, then.¡± I said, sheepishly. As we walked over to the inn, another, more interesting building caught my eye. ¡°You know what I think?¡± I asked the group, but I didn¡¯t wait for a response. ¡°I think we¡¯ve already put up with enough bullshit, and I think that pub next door to the inn probably has some sort of booze to wash it all away with.¡± Aston chuckled, and started to say something, but was immediately talked over by Lyn. ¡°No, pubs are terrible. People expect chaos in pubs, it¡¯s just not nearly as fun.¡± ¡°How about this,¡± I said, attempting to mollify Lyn. ¡°We¡¯ll go to the pub, you can get us a couple rooms at the inn and then do as you please, as long as you don¡¯t get yourself arrested.¡± ¡°Deal,¡± Lyn declared, and was absorbed again into the crowd before I could think about what we had just agreed on. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a great idea?¡± Aston asked, worry in his voice. ¡°She seems rather...mischievous to me.¡± ¡°Oh, she is, but she¡¯s reliable where it counts,¡± I reassured him. ¡°I will never stop giving her shit for how she did it, but at the end of the day, she saved me from being torn apart by wolves within 5 minutes of being chosen. She¡¯ll keep her antics just barely on the side of legal.¡± We arrived at the door of the pub. Aston didn¡¯t look particularly reassured. ¡°That wasn¡¯t exactly the glowing recommendation I was hoping to hear.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t, but it¡¯s the one you¡¯re gonna get.¡± I said, and walked into the pub.¡± I immediately found myself at the counter, with no memory of crossing the intervening space. A Notice appeared.
Quest
Rumors
Leave
I did not want any of these options. I wanted beer. I pressed the ¡®Leave¡¯ option, only to find myself back outside the pub. What. I re-entered the pub. The same Notice met me again. I attempted to move around the Notice, and found I could not. No. The ¡®Leave¡¯ option just put me back outside the pub again. This was utter bullshit.
Aston and I settled into a table in an inn room, having managed to acquire a bottle of wine from the marketplace, after some hassle. ¡°I know being chosen as a Disciple is a great honor,¡± I said, ¡°but, really, it has been nothing but terrible to me.¡± ¡°At least Lyn seems to be having fun with it,¡± Aston said. As he spoke, there was an explosion outside the inn. I took a deep breath to calm myself, walked over to the window, and braced myself for whatever chaos Lyn was causing. Chapter 7 Lyn: I found myself with some time in town to play with my new abilities, no supervision, and a newfound love of explosives. By Emett¡¯s own admission, he couldn¡¯t get particularly upset so long as I kept myself from being arrested. So what was I to do with this? I roamed around town until I found a nice, secluded alley to hunker down in, all the better to explore the gifts I had been given. I pulled a bomb out of my basket, examining it in the orange glow of the setting sun. An instinctual knowledge of engineering that had not existed yesterday flooded my mind. Hard to throw, inaccurate as hell, and about the weakest form of explosive I could think of, short of just throwing gunpowder followed by a match at something. It would need some upgrades, but I would have to talk to the Engineer¡¯s Guild at the Capital before making any big adjustments. They seemed to be powerful enough to get us there, anyway. Still, I wondered if there were any other uses I could get out of it. If Emett was upset about Hey, Catch!, I can¡¯t imagine he¡¯d be incredibly pleased with some of the other abilities I got.
Deconstruct
My hand glowed for a moment, then the bomb followed suit. The bomb began dissolving, with three separate flows of particles arranging themselves into discrete places on the ground. After a moment, it was finished. The bomb was gone, and I was left with a chunk of iron, a fuse, and a small pile of gunpowder. Interesting. I repeated the process on a few more bombs, growing my hoard. As I did so, an idea crossed my mind. A mostly nondestructive use for these materials, if I was able to get a couple more things.In the meantime, I did have what I needed for one component of this. I grabbed a few of the chunks of iron, holding them in my hands. It seemed like it would be enough, though if I needed more, I had an essentially unlimited supply. Holding them, I activated my last ability.
Reconfigure
A Notice appeared before me, startling me a little bit. Everything I had done up to this point had been very intuitive, so being met with this now was somewhat concerning, to say the least. A lot of these options I wouldn¡¯t be able to get my hands on the materials for, but it was nice to know once we hit the Capital and got some money I¡¯d be able to get my hands on some decent firepower. A lot of these options would also be terrible at the goal of not being arrested. But...there was one I would be able to pull off. All I¡¯d need is some paper and some dye, which sounded right to me. I dismissed the Notice to begin my hunt for materials. A stroll through the market led me to the stall of a merchant who had not yet started taking down his wares for the night. ¡°Gecher dyes here! Tired of everything being brown and boring?¡± The man shouted for attention, an unending litany of dye colors. ¡°I got dyes! Celestial Blue! Midnight Blue! Many more!¡± I approached the man. ¡°I have a mutually beneficial proposal for you.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The man jumped, clearly startled by my presence. ¡°Where did you come from, you little shadow runt?¡± ¡°You see,¡± I began, ¡°when a mommy shadowbeast and a daddy shadowbeast love each other very much-¡± ¡°What? No, not that literally. Just...what do you want, little girl?¡± He looked me over, his eyes catching on my cloak. ¡°Tired of being attacked by wolves?¡± ¡°No, I want access to some of your dyes for an experiment, and I think I can make your presentation much more striking in the process.¡± Everyone¡¯s superstition about my cloak was grating on my nerves. I¡¯d only been attacked by wolves once. The man let out a strong, full-bellied laugh. ¡°How are you planning to do that?¡± ¡°How would you like to paint the sky?¡± I smirked as I asked him. ¡°That would be interesting,¡± he said, ¡°if you could do it.¡± ¡°Give me one bit of dye and some paper, and I¡¯ll show you how it¡¯s done.¡± I was fairly sure I had him. It was going to be a good night. ¡°You like it, we continue. You don¡¯t, I head on my way.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± He said, and passed me a small vial and a piece of paper. Excellent.
Reconfigure
The first step would be to form some of this iron into a hollow tube with a nice base, to create whatever this ¡®Mortar¡¯ item is. The paper and dye were mixed with some gunpowder and a fuse to create a ¡®Firework¡¯, the firework went into the mortar, and¡­ Fwoomp. There was an explosion of light and color in the sky, met with some screams from the still-bustling market, and some awe. This went even better than I expected. ¡°As I said, I could add some spectacle to your pitch.¡± I could not keep the smugness out of my voice and off my face. ¡°You sure were right. I¡¯ll help you make some more of those.¡± The man sounded impressed, if a bit worried. ¡°Was the maniacal giggling absolutely necessary, though?¡± I hadn¡¯t realized I had been giggling. I¡¯d lean into it anyway. ¡°It was absolutely essential to get it all to work.¡± He handed me some more materials, and stopped his ceaseless shouting, content to make conversation with me between customers. It probably wasn¡¯t the best he could leverage this, but I didn¡¯t mind, either. I was getting the explosions I craved. ¡°So I assume you¡¯re either in the Engineering Guild or working towards it?¡± ¡°Yes, as of very recently.¡± I answered him, around my work. ¡°My brother and I are actually on our way to the Capital for that, among other reasons.¡± ¡°May I ask what other reasons, if it¡¯s not too sensitive?¡± he asked. ¡°You seem a bit young to be pushing for entry into a Guild just yet.¡± ¡°I was chosen to be The Armsmaster.¡± I said. The man looked shocked for a moment, but composed himself quickly. ¡°I guess that makes sense. I¡¯ve never seen anyone able to make engineered doodads like that so quickly, especially without training with the Engineers.¡± ¡°Do you mean normal people can¡¯t just sort of magic things apart and back together?¡± I asked, feigning surprise. ¡°I never would have guessed.¡± The man smirked. ¡°So I¡¯m thinking I can use this situation to our mutual advantage. I had been planning on packing up and moving into the Capital in the next few days, but there¡¯s been some Apostate activity on the road lately. I¡¯m willing to leave early if you¡¯ll come with us, to protect us in case of a raid.¡± I thought about this. ¡°It could be more dangerous. We¡¯re likely to make you a larger target to them than if you were on the road alone.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± the man conceded, ¡°but I¡¯m willing to bet you¡¯re more than a match for them alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to talk to my brother about it,¡± I said. ¡°So you get protection, but you said there would be mutual benefits. What¡¯s in it for us?¡± ¡°Two things, really,¡± the man said. ¡°I already have a few mercenary guards hired - I¡¯d be willing to pass them into your service when we arrive, to help you in whatever endeavours follow. I¡¯ve paid them quite a sum, they¡¯ll more than likely agree.¡± ¡°That could come in handy,¡± I said. ¡°The second thing?¡± ¡°You¡¯d ride in a carriage instead of walking,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll inform my brother we¡¯ll be travelling with you tomorrow,¡± I held out my hand to shake. ¡°I¡¯m Lyn, by the way.¡± The man grabbed my hand firmly. ¡°Gustav. It¡¯s a pleasure doing business with you, Armsmaster Lyn.¡± Chapter 8 Edith: The duel was long over before I was able to find a moment to myself in the study. Today was an unmitigated disaster. I had been groomed my entire life for one purpose, my birthright. I was to be the Paragon of Light. Not a Gods damned Disciple. I had trained for that one thing for years, my heritage pristine. And still, I was passed over. My hand flashed out before me, interrupting my frantic pacing by striking the wall. The impact barely registered for me, though the stone of the wall crumbled some at my blow. How powerful would the Paragon of Light have to be to have been selected over me? I slumped down into a nearby chair. This fretting was getting me nowhere, but I had no idea where to go from here. All the plans I had hatched, the life I had imagined, were gone. Taken from me in a moment. I had been meant to be the Paragon of Light, not anything lesser. I pulled a throw pillow from behind my back, buried my face into it, and screamed. My grandmother¡¯s voice cut through my torrent of thoughts. ¡°None of that, now. You don¡¯t have time for a crisis.¡± I removed my face from the pillow. ¡°I apparently have time for more than I thought,¡± I countered. ¡°Someone else will be the hero this Round.¡± ¡°Nonsense,¡± she chided me. ¡°Being The Bulwark isn¡¯t a small role. I know I wouldn¡¯t have won my Round without your grandfather.¡± I sighed. ¡°You¡¯re right. I just can¡¯t bear the thought of not living up to the family name.¡± ¡°You will,¡± my grandmother said. ¡°There are plenty of Disciples who¡¯ve made a name for themselves above and beyond. Can you name the Paragon of the 213th Round off the top of your head?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°What about the 358th Round?¡± she continued. ¡°I can¡¯t name him, either.¡± I answered, seeing where she was going with this. My stomach sank. ¡°But we do know of Elizabeth, The Armsmaster of the 213th and Roland, The Bulwark of the 358th.¡± She took a seat across from me. ¡°The Disciples are sometimes far more important than the Paragons they ostensibly supported.¡± ¡°There¡¯s just one problem with that,¡± I said. ¡°And what is that?¡± my grandmother asked. ¡°They both died doing the great things we remember them for. Elizabeth in the Siege of the Capital, and Roland in the Raid on the King of Shadows.¡± I said.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Well, then, you¡¯ll just have to be better, then, won¡¯t you?¡± My grandmother stood up. ¡°The feast to celebrate you being Chosen will be soon. Do get dressed for it.¡± She walked away, leaving no room for further discussion. Of course it was that simple to her. Just be better than the legends that single-handedly held off entire armies for days at a time, and died in the process because that¡¯s what happens when you single-handedly hold off an army. Just be better. What could I possibly do to top that, really? Unless I just...succeeded where they failed? A thought occurred to me, and it was almost time for a feast in my honor. This would do excellently. I would not fade quietly into obscurity, success or failure be damned.
I strode into the dining hall, taking my place at the head of the table. Not at the Paragon¡¯s chair, naturally, but the slightly less ornate Disciple¡¯s chair next to it, originally intended for whoever would be my husband. I braced myself for what would likely be a lifetime of these small indignities. The conversation was politely lifeless through the meal, the dance of pleasantries and the avoidance of difficult topics almost overwhelming in its drudgery. This collection of nobles and wealthy merchants seemed to be here primarily for appearances, or in an attempt to garner political capital that no attendee wanted to give up. This was probably my least favorite part of being born into the Maxwell line - while we were trained for combat, raised to be heroes, those around us spent more time attending to politics than actually doing anything. The conversation wheeled around to me, a polite inquiry into my thoughts regarding the recently passed Round, and my status in the new one. I had a moment, here, and I would seize it. I stood, and the room grew quiet, anticipating my address. ¡°As you all know, and likely expected, I have been Chosen this round. Unfortunately, I have been chosen as The Bulwark, not the Paragon of Light as my ancestors have.¡± The audience collectively gasped. ¡°I will not be taking this duty lightly, however. History books have taught us the stories of Elizabeth, Hero of the Siege, and of Roland, the Light King¡¯s Champion. They shone brightly, more brightly than the Paragons they served. Still, they lost their lives to gain their glory, and I have no intention of following their lead there. To that end, I have a plan.¡± ¡°I will destroy the King of Shadows, and end the Divine Game once and for all.¡±
Gramma: I looked up from my book, realizing night had fallen. A fire quietly crackled away in the fireplace, warming and lighting the small cabin I lived in. I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that either I was forgetting something, or I had been forgotten by something. I wasn¡¯t sure which would be preferable. My cat screamed incessantly at me, demanding his dinner. I gave him a scratch behind the ears as I got up, his soft, black hair almost impossibly soft against my skin. A willful one, this one. He reminded me a little of my grandchildren. As I laid out a plate of food for him, and began preparing one for myself, it became apparent what I had forgotten. Emett and Lyn were supposed to have come by earlier with some bread. Where were they, anyway? I hope they hadn¡¯t gotten into any trouble with the wolves, with Lyn¡¯s damnable cloak. I set about heating a bowl of rabbit stew, preparing a bowl. This would be wonderful with some buttered¡­ Gods damn it, where was my bread? Chapter 9 Aston: The sunlight hit my eyes, waking me up. The ground seemed oddly comfortable today, and the sleeping bag was extra cozy. I¡¯d need to make a note of where I feel asleep, so I could keep an eye out for it again. Actually opening my eyes revealed that where I had fallen asleep was a bedroom, and the nice, comfortable ground was, in fact, a bed. I would have to examine my life choices, later, to determine whether I made enough money for it to be acceptable to be surprised by waking up in a bed. A sharp knocking interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Aston, hurry up!¡± Emett called from outside the door. My brain struggled to remember why it knew this name for a moment, before it actually decided to start working. ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± I asked, snuggling deeper into the bedsheets. ¡°We¡¯re not on a time crunch, let me sleep in.¡± ¡°Lyn got us a caravan into the Capital, but it¡¯s leaving shortly.¡± Emett responded. ¡°You can be on it, or you can walk.¡± ¡°Urgh, fine,¡± I responded, not yet ready to leave what may be the last bed I sleep in for a while. ¡°Give me ten minutes and I¡¯ll be down.¡± ¡°You better be,¡± Emett responded. ¡°We leave in fifteen.¡± I began the process of extricating myself from my bed, getting dressed, and packing up with all the speed I could muster, arriving outside the inn just as Emett and Lyn were about to give up waiting for me. ¡°Excellent,¡± I said, ¡°I seem to be right on time.¡± ¡°We¡¯re late.¡± Lyn said, and started walking toward the town gates. ¡°We¡¯re three of the Disciples,¡± I countered, following her. ¡°They¡¯ll wait.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Lyn said, ¡°I only told Gustav that I was The Armsmaster. I wanted to keep the two of you also being Disciples under my hat, if I could.¡± ¡°Do you not trust him?¡± Emett asked. ¡°I trust him as much as I can trust a merchant I met yesterday,¡± Lyn replied, ¡°but he said there was Apostate activity on the route, so I figure it¡¯s better if there¡¯s only one publicly known Disciple. If they do come for me, it¡¯ll be in smaller numbers, and they¡¯re likely to be outmatched. We may even be able to nip them in the bud early.¡± Nip them in the bud? ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, the Apostates are generally a nuisance at the beginning of each new Round, before the Disciples and Paragon actually amass power, right? Lyn started explaining. ¡°If we can lure them into an absolute trouncing, we might convince them we¡¯re more powerful than we actually are, and get them out of our hair early.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Emett grunted. ¡°That sounds like a bit of a gamble. Is this a worthy gambit, or are you telling me to catch another bomb?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see a way around it, really,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re considering the notion, though, Emett.¡± ¡°Lyn has good ideas from time to time,¡± Emett sighed. ¡°The Apostates are an inevitability we¡¯ll have to deal with, and with her plan we¡¯re at least attempting to get ahead of them, instead of just reacting.¡± ¡°So, what is the plan?¡± I asked. ¡°Lyn baits them into attacking her, and she murders them as terrifyingly as possible?¡± ¡°No,¡± Lyn said. ¡°First, no killing. We need them to tell a story.¡± Emett cleared his throat. ¡°We are also not killing them because murder is wrong.¡± ¡°Right, sure.¡± Lyn did not sound convinced with Emett¡¯s reasoning. ¡°Second, we all team up and beat them up.¡± ¡°Extreme show of force?¡± I asked. Lyn nodded. ¡°As excessive as possible.¡± ¡°We are going to get along grand.¡± I said. We arrived at the gates of the town, and quickly spotted a caravan hooking up its dragons to the wagons. Perfect timing, it appeared. A large, jolly-looking man approached Lyn. ¡°So I¡¯m assuming the blond one is your brother,¡± he said, pointing at Emett. ¡°Who¡¯s the other?¡± Lyn looked at me. ¡°That¡¯s Aston. He helped us out on the way here, and is also heading to the capital, so I figured we¡¯d take him with us, assuming you have the room.¡± The man laughed a hearty belly-laugh. I can see why Lyn trusted him, everything about him was just¡­ friend-shaped. ¡°The more, the merrier! Of course we have room for a friend of The Armsmaster.¡± He waved Lyn over to the other side of the caravan. ¡°Come over here, Lyn, and I¡¯ll introduce you to the mercs.¡± Lyn followed the man, and I took the opportunity to get my pack into the caravan, glad to be travelling without its weight on my back. I walked around to the front of the caravan, greeting the dragons. This wagon would be pulled by two of them, one green, the other yellow. The top of my head went up to about their shoulders; large animals, to be sure, but not nearly as large as whatever had come out of the ruins. I reached up and gave one a scratch between the horns on the top of its head. The dragon purred contentedly, stretching its vestigial wings. I wondered if I should ask if it had any big brothers or sisters, but decided I would be unlikely to get a meaningful answer from a creature that can¡¯t speak. Before long, I had settled into a rather uncomfortable wagon seat across from mercenaries, Greg and Sarah or something like that. Uncomfortable, but better than walking.
We had only been on the road for an hour or so before the explosion. Why was it always explosions with these people? The mercenaries quickly filed out of the wagon, with Lyn and Emmet close behind. The dragons attached to the first wagon were stopped in front of the smoldering remains of what had been the road. Up the path, a single woman stood, fire dancing in her hands. ¡°Travel to the Capital is prohibited until the Disciples are found,¡± she says. ¡°What?¡± Gustav asked. ¡°Under whose authority?¡± ¡°Under the authority of the Apostates,¡± she said. The flame in her hands flared as she spoke. ¡°Are you going to try to make an issue of it?¡± ¡°Me? Never,¡± Gustav said. ¡°I¡¯m just a humble merchant.¡± ¡°I think I will, though,¡± Lyn said. ¡°Oh,¡± the Apostate said. ¡°What are you going to do, little girl?¡± ¡°Little girl?¡± Lyn asked, clearly irritated. ¡°I am The Armsmaster, and I do believe it¡¯s my duty to end you.¡± Chapter 10 Emett:
Begin Battle Preparations
Okay, I guess we¡¯re doing this. Just as we planned. Doing battle with actual human beings. Just have to be sure not to kill them. This is wonderful. Lyn started bouncing in place, as did the mercenaries and the Apostate. I sighed, and began my own walk. ¡°What,¡± Aston said. ¡°What is everyone doing?¡± ¡°Remember those patch notes?¡± I said. ¡°Combat won¡¯t start until we do, and keep on the blue squares.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous,¡± Aston said. ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°it is.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing that,¡± he said. I sighed again. ¡°You have to, and I already took all the indignation out on it. Let¡¯s...just get going.¡± Aston begrudgingly began to shuffle his feet.
Engage
It looks like the first turn was mine again. The blue squares expanded across the field, leaving me with some options. I still didn¡¯t really have a weapon, though with what skills I had already, that didn¡¯t seem like too much of a hindrance. Still, it would probably be best to hide behind the mercenaries and let them take the hits, and bombs, this time. The lack of control involved in the Evocation with the wolves had been¡­ less than ideal, so I decided to try a different angle this time. ¡°Elemental spirits, hear my call!¡± I shouted. I could absolutely get used to these theatrics, they were absolutely amazing. ¡°Grant me the strength to crush my enemies!¡±
Desperate Invocation
Rocks flew from the earth to my hands, shifting, breaking and fusing, until they came into the form of an earthen sword and shield. That was much better than a stick. A gravelly voice entered my thoughts. I heard you wanted to crush your enemies? ¡°That¡¯s right, but I¡¯m not exactly trained.¡± I responded to the voice. ¡°Any advice?¡± Hit them with the pointy end. We can go into more advanced techniques when you actually form a pact with me. Well, then. Elemental spirits are rather surly as a rule, apparently. I moved as far toward the fire mage as the blue squares would allow, stopping about halfway there. Unless she runs away, I would get to her when I got another turn. Almost immediately after I had finished my move, the bush next to me rustled ominously. That¡¯s just wonderful, I was probably about to get-
Ambush
A man erupted from the bush, jabbing a knife into my side. Yup, I just got stabbed. It...honestly, it hurt less than the wolves did. The spirit¡¯s influence, perhaps? My suspicions were confirmed when I only lost 3 HP. Emett HP: 34/37 I found my arm raising without even thinking about it as an arrow came flying from the branches of a tree near the fire mage. The arrow bounced off the shield harmlessly. Had that been the work of the spirit, or more of the Gods¡¯ work? That¡¯d be something to think about, maybe Lyn would have an idea. A third man came out of the bushes, swinging a sword at me, as the flaming hands of the mage started flaring again. Fantastic. I started to wonder if I had any allies in this fight, or if I was doing battle with this entire squad of bush people entirely on my own, when I heard footsteps approach from behind. My shield raised to block a small gout of flame as the enemy swordsman slashed at my stomach, dealing 2 damage. Out of the corner of my eye, a pair of swords rained down on the dagger-wielding Apostate who had jumped out to my left. Emett HP: 32/37 Okay, this was nice. This was a lot better than summoning an angry fire lizard in the sky. A chill ran down my spine as I realized who had not yet done anything. I was also surrounded by enemies again. Oh, no, Lyn, please do not. Do not do the thing.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Mystic Shot
Oh, right, Aston¡¯s here too! Wonderful! A blast of purple energy to my left sent the man with a dagger flying into the air, skipping along the ground a couple of times before coming to a halt on the empty area between where I was doing battle with the swordsman and the mage and archer. ¡°Hey!¡± I shouted. ¡°No killing!¡± ¡°He¡¯s fine,¡± Aston said. A groan confirmed it. So that would just leave Lyn, and I hoped she didn¡¯t throw a bomb at me.
Set Up
Okay, that was concerning. I think I¡¯d have preferred the bomb. The blue squares blossomed out again, informing me it was my turn. The two guys with range didn¡¯t seem to be having a particularly great time with this shield, so I¡¯d just deal with the one remaining guy with a sword. I swung my sword out, remembering the spirit¡¯s helpful advice that the pointy end was for him, not for me. The man staggered backward, my sword apparently doing much more damage to him than his did to me. It is good to be a Disciple. ¡°Damn it,¡± he shouted back at the mage. ¡°This guy¡¯s clearly The Bulwark.¡± I didn¡¯t feel a strong need to correct him. ¡°We weren¡¯t ready for multiple Disciples!¡± ¡°I know,¡± she responded, ¡°But we¡¯re here now. Just do your best and we¡¯ll deal with it!¡± Another arrow from the tree, and the shield moved again. This was way too consistent, almost certainly the spirit aiding me. The swordsman slashed at me again, for another 2 damage, and fire gathered around the mage. She was chanting something I couldn¡¯t quite make out, the blaze around her growing with each word. I raised my shield in anticipation. Slowly, her arm lifted, finger pointing directly at me.
Bunker Buster
A thin beam of flame shot out from her finger, for a moment appearing to dissipate harmlessly on the shield. Then the eruption of fire came, originating from just behind my shield. There were screams from the mercenaries behind me as they fell to the flame, though I managed to keep my feet. Barely. Emett HP: 10/37 ¡°Emett!¡± Lyn called out. ¡°Are you okay?¡± I groaned. ¡°Yeah, though I don¡¯t think I can take another of those.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you some room to think.¡± Aston said, his voice echoing slightly in the air. That was weird.
Mystic Shot
Another blast of purple, and the swordsman in front of me bounced across the dirt to lay next to his dagger-wielding friend. Aston¡¯s blast was immediately followed by giggling. Oh no.
Firework
Fwoomp. A trail of smoke suddenly appeared from behind me, into the tree that was spitting arrows. There was a small fire, sounds of panic, and the tree exploded into vibrant blue sparks. A body went flying from the tree, flopping gracelessly onto the ground. The tree caught fire, clearly upset at having explosives fired at it. ¡°I told you there was offensive capability with those!¡± Lyn shouted. ¡°Aye, girl,¡± Gustav said, ¡°you certainly proved me wrong.¡± That left just the fire mage who could probably take me out before I could deal with her. Unless¡­ ¡°Hey, Lyn,¡± I said, ¡°any idea what happens to summoned guys when the fight ends?¡± ¡°Hrm¡­¡± she responded, ¡°they should just vanish harmlessly.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± I said. ¡°Denizens of darkness, hear my plea!¡± I shouted. This was risky, but...I had the feeling I could sneak in one stipulation in this summoning. That would be enough. ¡°Wreak your havoc, but no killing.¡±
Desperate Conjuration
I turned and ran as far as the blue squares would allow, as the earth opened next to the fire mage. If we were lucky, the demon would have a clear target, defeat it, then whoops, the combat would be over, time for it to go home. Still, better safe than sorry. ¡°Everybody, run!¡± I shouted. ¡°I can¡¯t control whatever comes out of that!¡± Aston looked at me, then the hole in the ground, then back at me, with a look fighting between shock and disapproval. Disapproval won out as the ground shuddered from behind me. When I reached the edge of my movement I turned to look, finding a massive, fur-covered claw sprouting from the ground, the rest of the body evidently too large to fit out of the hole. That was concerning, as the hole was large enough to swallow one of our wagons. This was...rather more than I was bargaining for, honestly. I was hoping for a really buff imp. The fire mage tried to run, but the claw reached down and knocked her off her feet before she could get away. She fired another of her fire lasers, but the claw seemed entirely unbothered by the explosion. It came down on her, and she stopped struggling.
Victory! You have reached level 2!
The claw retreated, but the hole did not immediately vanish. Instead, the tip of a very large nose poked out, sniffing. ¡°I can smell you out there, Meredith.¡± A deep, gravelly voice came from the hole. ¡°Have you grown tired of running?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I started, shaken. Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be gone? ¡°There¡¯s no Meredith here.¡± ¡°Hrmph,¡± the demon snorted. ¡°I¡¯m sure. Hiding behind as frail a man as you, then, is she? Ah, well, her wards are failing, anyway. I¡¯ll just have to get her the old fashioned way.¡± The nose retreated, and the hole in the ground closed after it. ¡°That was...ominous,¡± I said to no one in particular as I slumped to the ground. I really, really needed to get a hang of more controlled summoning abilities, because this was just getting ridiculous. Chapter 11 Lyn: Aston and I were still bickering as we arrived, the gates of the Capital towering over us. The massive wall surrounding the city seemed to be made of a single, enormous slab of marble, formed solely for the purpose of sheltering a city precisely the size of the capital. The way the legends go, that was exactly what happened, in fact. Definitely not the work of Evokers and Geomancers working in concert for the single greatest feat of magical engineering before the Engineers were a thing. ¡°And Lyn¡¯s not even listening to me anymore,¡± Aston said. ¡°Make a new point and maybe I will,¡± I replied. ¡°The long and short of it is that our plan doesn¡¯t work if there¡¯s no Apostates to carry a warning to the rest.¡± ¡°If we leave it at that, what¡¯s going to stop them from harassing other travellers?¡± he asked. ¡°The fear of the Lady of Light, if they¡¯re smart,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re clearly not,¡± he said. ¡°They thought Emett was The Bulwark.¡± ¡°In their defense,¡± Emett said, ¡°I had a sword and shield and basically ignored mundane weapons. It took a hell of a fire blast to put a dent in me. That earth spirit¡¯s a pretty cool guy.¡± ¡°Gnome! The earth spirit is Gnome!¡± Aston said, raising his voice. ¡°How do you not know this? You¡¯re The Summoner!¡± Emett shrugged. ¡°I never really bothered over The Summoner, growing up. They¡¯ve always been categorically the most useless Disciple, so I figured if I was selected as one I¡¯d just hide in a corner somewhere. Never expected to actually get this much practical power.¡± Aston took a breath in to respond, but let it out in a sigh. ¡°I can¡¯t even really argue with that, that¡¯s a very fair analysis of the previous Summoners.¡± As we rode into the city, Emett waved down the mercenaries, and I approached Gustav. ¡°What are your plans from here?¡± I asked him. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, ¡°I was planning on setting up a shop in the marketplace here. I¡¯ve made some contacts to get supplies into the Capital without having to go personally, and, well, I¡¯ve been meaning to settle down. It¡¯ll be a nice change of pace. How about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± I said, sighing. ¡°Getting to the Capital was basically the end of the plan.¡± Gustav pondered this for a moment. ¡°I¡¯d try stopping by the King of Light to declare yourselves, first. Hopefully by the time you finish with that, you¡¯ll have a next step.¡± Emett approached us. ¡°That sounds like a plan to me. We¡¯ll probably be in the Capital for a few days, so I sent the mercenaries back toward home with a message to our parents letting them know what happened and why we vanished. They said they could be back by the end of the day tomorrow.¡± ¡°I guess this is us going our separate ways, then,¡± I said. Gustav nodded. ¡°If you need anything, I¡¯ll be around, but I can¡¯t imagine a dye trader will be a huge asset to you as you move on to bigger and better things. It¡¯s been nice to meet three of the four Disciples, though,¡± he said. ¡°Same to you,¡± I said, waving Aston over. ¡°Come on, guys, let¡¯s go see the King of Light.¡± ¡°And where would he be?¡± Emett asked. I pointed toward the giant castle in the center of town, and he slapped his head into his palm. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s really obvious, in hindsight.¡±
It didn¡¯t take long to get to the castle. All of the roads led directly to it, with the city apparently having been built around it. It was awfully convenient, honestly. The castle was surrounded by another marble wall, much like the one outside the city, albeit smaller. The gate, this time, seemed less prepared for a siege. It was made of golden bars overlaid with ornate leaves and vines of various precious metals, guarded by two figures made entirely of marble. Other than a mostly humanoid shape, and a single hole in the middle of the head radiating yellow light, they were completely featureless. As we approached, the heads whipped toward us.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°State your business, mortals,¡± said an unnaturally monotonous voice emanating from the two glowing holes, in unison. ¡°Uh,¡± Aston started, hesitating. ¡°I am The Archmage, along with The Armsmaster and The Summoner,¡± he gestured to each of us in turn. ¡°We¡¯re here to present ourselves to the King of Light.¡± ¡°Validating, please wait,¡± the voices said. After a moment, the gate swung open. ¡°Welcome, Disciples. Please proceed to the audience interface.¡± We stepped through the gate and into the courtyard of the castle. The garden was immaculately kept, with flowers of all sorts growing in neat arrangements to look as natural as possible while staying cleanly out of the way of the path to the castle proper. More of the marble golems stood motionless around the courtyard. Despite the beauty of it all, I found the stillness of the place unsettling. Nothing was moving, here. There were no birds or insects around the gardens, just the plants and the golems. We hurried through the courtyard into the doors of the castle, and found ourselves in a large room, lined with chairs, with no obvious other exits. On the side opposite us, set into the wall, was an orb radiating the same kind of light that came out of the golems¡¯ heads. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how the King lives here,¡± I said, shuddering. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Aston asked. ¡°This place is so soulless,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s driving me insane, and I¡¯ve only been here for a minute or two.¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t disagree,¡± Aston said, ¡°but it¡¯s not like the King is very particular.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get it at all,¡± I said. Aston chuckled, and started walking toward the orb. ¡°You will soon.¡± As we approached, the orb whirred to life, floating slightly out of the wall. The monotone voice started droning again, this time from the wall. ¡°Audience interface activated. Disciples verified. Please select Boon to continue.¡± A Notice appeared before me, another selection box, like if I pull up my Status notice. It was filled with options, and I was to select one to be, essentially, my competitive edge as a Disciple over the common rabble. The list of choices was extensive. My intuition was already pointing out which would be best for me. I selected it, without thinking too much. ¡°Armsmaster Lyn recognized as a Prodigy,¡± the voice I¡¯ve come to consider the King of Light¡¯s said, ¡°please accept this letter of introduction with the Engineer¡¯s Guild. Further benefits will become apparent as your level increases.¡± A small drawer in the wall underneath the orb opened. That was interesting, there hadn¡¯t been a seam in the wall before the drawer appeared. I approached to find a sealed letter. I removed it, and placed it in my basket. As I did, the voice spoke again. ¡°Archmage Aston recognized as a Dragonlord. Please accept this letter of introduction with the Mage¡¯s Guild, as well as this dragon for your own personal use. Further benefits will become apparent as your level increases.¡± Another drawer popped out of the wall beneath the orb, and a large section of the wall to my left raised. A somewhat dazed looking yellow dragon wandered out. Was that back there this whole time? ¡°Summoner Emett recognized as the Wielder of Ars Goetia. Please accept this letter of introduction with the Summoner¡¯s Guild, as well as Ars Goetia itself. Further benefits will become apparent as your level advances.¡± A third drawer, containing a letter and a book. Emett grabbed both, and started flipping through the book. ¡°Hey,¡± he said, ¡°this is blank.¡± The King droned on, undeterred. ¡°Disciples acknowledged. Please proceed to your respective Guilds for introductory training.¡± I sighed. ¡°We¡¯re not getting anything more from the King,¡± I said. ¡°Why not?¡± Emett asked. ¡°It can¡¯t answer more,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not really sentient, and it¡¯s done what it can for us.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re getting it,¡± Aston said. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here and to our Guilds. We can work out the rest from there.¡± As we left the audience interface behind us, I started running ahead. This place was getting to me, and I intended to be out of it as soon as possible. I turned around after running a little bit and waved. ¡°Bye, guys, I¡¯ll see you later!¡± I turned again and ran, not giving Emett a chance to protest. I was scarcely outside of the golden gate before running into a solid mass of flesh. A woman¡¯s voice came from it, obviously not used to being concerned. ¡°Are you alright, little girl?¡± Chapter 12 Edith: I approached the gate of the castle, and the golems guarding it. Before they could speak, I spoke to them. "Edith Maxwell, the Bulwark. Let me pass." "Validating, please wait." A long moment passed as they did...whatever it was the security golems do. I wasn''t entirely sure what they were, outside of extensions of the Lady of Light''s power. "Welcome, Disciple. Please proceed to the audience interface." As the gate swung open and I stepped through, a streak of brilliant red came darting out of the courtyard and directly into me. That was curious, I hadn''t seen anyone approaching from the outside. A closer examination of the offending red found it to me a young girl, barely taller than my elbow. "Are you alright, little girl?" I asked, concerned with what must have transpired for her to be in the castle. "I''m fine," she said, "I''m fine. I''m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going." She started trying to walk around me, and I turned to follow her. "Where are you going?" I asked, but I didn''t honestly wait for an answer. My mouth was moving faster than my brain was. "Are you lost? Did you come to the castle alone? How did you even get into the castle?" "I''m headed to the Engineer''s Guild on business," she said, "and I was in the castle legitimately, if that''s what you''re angling toward. I don''t think I could have gotten past those marble men." She looked like she was about to turn around and walk off, but stopped. "I don''t suppose you know where the Engineer''s Guild is, do you?" "I do," I said. "I can lead you to it once I''m done in the Castle. If the golems will let you in again, you''re free to join me at the audience interface." She nodded, and followed me into the courtyard, where two more men stood. One stood taller even than I was, with a muscular build. The number of us, and where we were, started making things fall into place. He would be The Armsmaster, I was sure. He bore a striking resemblance to the little girl, if you ignored the size disparity. Siblings, perhaps? It would track with the Gods'' general approach to Providence that siblings would be selected as fellow Disciples. The other man was slightly shorter, but not much. He and the girl would be The Summoner and The Archmage, most likely. Interesting. I waved and approached them. The thought briefly crossed my mind that I could try to claim my birthright here, assert myself as the Paragon of Light... but, no, that wouldn''t be something that worked out for me. Not with these damnable golems screaming my proper title at every turn, and not when the real Paragon of Light showed up. "I''m Edith Maxwell," I introduced myself, "The Bulwark. I assume the three of your are the other Disciples?" The larger man nodded. "I''m Emett, The Summoner," he said. I hadn''t seen that one coming, honestly. Maybe I could give him a sword and he would be useful regardless. "I see you''ve met my sister, Lyn, as well." "I have," I said. "Full of energy, isn''t she?" "That''s an apt description," said the man whose name I didn''t know. "I''ve come to prefer to think of her as an agent of chaos, myself. I''m Aston, The Archmage."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "Wait, if you''re The Archmage," I said, pointing at Aston, "and Emett''s The Summoner, then..." I looked at Lyn. That would make her The Armsmaster. Or worse, she might be the Paragon of Light. Was my rightful place usurped by a child? "I''m The Armsmaster," the little girl, who was apparently Lyn, said. I found myself slightly relieved by the reassurance. "I assume you''re here to collect your Boon from the King of Light?" "That I am," I said. "Have you guys met with the Paragon of Light, yet?" "We haven''t," said Emett. "We were kind of hoping to find him, because we don''t have a lot of direction without him." "We''ll make do," Lyn said. "At least we''ve got these letters of introduction so we can actually learn a thing or two about fighting instead of flailing at things and barely surviving." "Hey," Emett said, "I thought that demon hand was a pretty slick move." Demon hand? That sounded quite...dangerous. "You couldn''t control it," said Lyn, "and it was clearly willing to destroy us as well as those Apostates, if the portal weren''t too small for it to get more than just a hand out." I broke into their conversation. "Well, if the Paragon of Light is a no-show so far, we''ve got some time to kill. Based on past Rounds, I assume the King of Light got you guys some letters of introduction to various relevant Guilds?" "It did," Aston nodded. "We were heading out to them just now, actually." "You guys go ahead, then," I said. I probably would be done before the rest of them, as it seemed I had more combat training under my belt than any of the rest. Not that a lot of it was applicable anymore, but at least I knew how magic worked. "I''ll collect my Boon, and we can meet at the Radiant Damsel at the end of the day and work out where we''ll need to go from here?" "That sounds like a solid plan to me," Emett said, starting to walk away. "Will we have any problems finding the Guilds?" he asked as he started walking, calling over his shoulder. "You shouldn''t," I called back. "Providence will provide, even if you do manage to get lost." He snorted but continued walking. I didn''t blame him for not trusting the Gods, especially not right now, with the way this Round was shaping up. Emett, The Summoner? While his tiny sister was supposed to be a master of weaponry? This was just all wrong.
When I arrived at the audience interface, the orb floated out of the wall, shedding the same golden radiance as the rest of the Lady''s servants do. "Audience interface activated. Disciple verified. Please select a Boon to continue." A Notice popped up, a large list of possible Boons, but it didn''t take me long to choose. I had hashed this out with my mother and grandmother before I left home, which would work best for me. I quickly tapped my selection, and the Notice vanished. "Bulwark Edith recognized as an Exalted. Please accept this letter of introduction to the House Maxwell..." the voice continued, but I barely heard it. Was this thing kidding me? A letter of introduction to my own home? This must be a sick joke by the Lady of Light, but... I snatched the letter out of the drawer, crumpling it with a scream of rage. Again, the Gods have denied me an opportunity. There would be no more training for me that I did not have under my belt. I was not the Paragon of Light, as I should be. The Disciples I was to travel with seemed unreliable, at best. Whoever was actually the Paragon of Light wasn''t even here. After all of this, would striking down the King of Shadows even be enough? Chapter 13 Emett: It took me longer than I had expected to find the Summoners'' Guild in the chaos that was city life. Luckily, a reasonably friendly local pointed out some of the layout of the Capital to me, and from there it was fairly simple. It turns out most of the Guilds were located in the aptly named Guild District, all right next to each other. From there, it had just been a matter of finding a building with a sign declaring itself to be the Guild I was looking for. I entered, finding myself in a fairly spacious lobby, sparsely but practically decorated in an almost aggressively neutral way. I found a desk in the middle of the room, manned by an animated skeleton, dressed in a simple black robe... I approached the desk, and its head snapped toward me. "Welcome to the Summoners'' Guild!" it said, its haunting voice somehow cheerful, despite the unsettling unearthly echoes. "My name is Cheryl. How may I direct you today?" "I have this letter," I said, digging the letter of introduction out of my backpack. "The King of Light implied that this Guild would help me get up to speed on summoning." "The King of Light?" Cheryl asked. "Does that mean what I think it does?" I handed the letter over to her, and she took it and started reading. Despite the utter lack of anything other than the most basic facial features, I had the distinct impression her eyes widened. "You''d be The Summoner, then! Welcome!" she said. "Give me just a moment while I call the...wait, are you under a Binding? Salamander''s, it looks like?" "Yeah," I said, somewhat sheepishly. "I had some...run-ins on the way into the Capital and had to do some emergency summoning, and Salamander wasn''t willing to help without some conditions." "Oh, that''s a doozy of a Binding, too," Cheryl said, her eye sockets boring through me. "Looks simple enough to resolve, but I do not recommend trying to just ignore the thing. Give me just a moment." She picked up a crystal orb, which started glowing as she did so. I was relieved as she took a moment to stare into the orb rather than my soul, before she looked back at me. "Perfect, the Head Invoker and Head Evoker are together right now! We can catch them both at once." She stepped away from the desk, and started toward a door. I followed her, assuming that was her intent. "Where are we going?" I asked. "To the Elemental Temple," she replied. I was struggling to keep up with her pace. You''d think being long dead would slow a woman down, but apparently not Cheryl. "You must have been terrifyingly spry in life," I said. "What do you..." Cheryl started, then let out...what I assumed was a chuckle, but the echoing quality of her voice rendered it to be more of a diabolical cackle. "Oh, you''re new here, of course you wouldn''t know. You assumed I was a reanimated dead woman, didn''t you?" "Well...yes?" I said. "Isn''t that what a skeleton is?" "Sometimes," she said, drawing to a halt before a large wooden door. "Not usually the case in Guild-sanctioned necromancers, though. I''m actually a psychopomp made manifest into the physical realm." She knocked on the door, a surprisingly firm and powerful sound for how frail her skeletal hands looked. "Proper necromancy is...frowned upon."Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I frowned. That made sense, honestly. I just hadn''t thought too much about it. "Issues to do with desecrating the dead, I take it? Also, what is a psychopomp, exactly?" I asked. "To answer the first," Cheryl said, "not as such. It just made inheritance disputes particularly nasty, sometimes, as laws don''t generally cover what happens to your stuff after you die if you''re still around to use it. Easier to just not run into the situation. For the second, we''re something like...the guides for the dead. We help the spirits of those who have died move on to whatever comes next." "That seems like a particularly important job," I said. "Shouldn''t you be doing that instead of, you know, manning the front desk of the Summoners'' Guild?" "Oh," Cheryl said, chuckle-cackling again, "there''s a lot more of us these days than are actually needed, since the Divine Game started up. A lot less death overall, honestly. Sometimes we get bored, so we''ll answer summonings." "You got bored," I said, somewhat incredulous, "so you do paperwork." "Yes, exactly," she said. "That doesn''t seem particularly fun or exciting," I said. Cheryl rapped on the door again, even more loudly this time. "It''s better than aimlessly drifting through the world. Plus, I get to meet all sorts of interesting people this way, which was my favorite part of the job, anyway." "Oh?" I asked. "Interesting people like who?" "Like The Summoner who walked up to my desk having fallen into an extremely novice mistake, and who didn''t already know all this," she said. "That''s fair," I responded as the door finally opened. The massive door finally swung open, a short, squat man on the other side. His robe was a deep blue, and seemed to billow on invisible currents of water. "What do you want, Cheryl, with your incessant knocking?" "The Summoner for you," she responded, "as I told you just minutes ago. Emett, this is Evan, the Head Invoker. Evan, this is Emett, The Summoner." "Oh!" he exclaimed, reaching out a hand for me. "Forgive me, Summoner, I had already forgotten you were coming." I moved to shake his hand, and he recoiled. "Ouch! You''re a feisty one, aren''t you?" "What?" I asked. "I didn''t do anything, though." "Not you, that." He pointed at something above my head. I reached up to brush off whatever he was pointing at, but there was nothing there. "I''m lost," I admitted. "What are you pointing at?" "Your Binding Spirit...?" Evan gave me a flat look. "You do know that it''s there, right?" "I...guess?" I said. "I was aware I was under a Binding, but I haven''t seen a spirit, if you don''t count the giant angry fire snake in the sky." "Wait," he said, "can you see the spirits at all? What do I look like to you?" I looked at him. "A man in a blue robe that''s floating impossibly through the air. Is there something else I should be seeing?" "Yes," he said. "How in the world did you manage to do a full evocation of Salamander without even being able to see the spirits?" "I just sort of called out?" I answered. "Is there supposed to be more to it than that?" "I... look, just come inside, will you?" he said. "We''ll get all this sorted out and get you summoning properly, and maybe we can avoid this kind of mishap in the future. I stepped in with him into the room. Chapter 14 Emett: I followed Evan through the door, and stepped into a large room, the wall and floor made of well-polished stone. There was a large golden circle inlaid into the center of the room, surrounded by a statue in each of the four corners, all looking at that center point. Opposite the door I entered was a statue of a large snake made of fire, Salamander, I assumed, and another being that seemed like one of the golems in the castle but...rougher. Rather than being polished, this golem seemed to be made directly from unpolished boulders, with irregular crags jutting out of the main body, especially on the back. That would probably be the spirit I invoked earlier that day, the snarky little shit. I looked behind me as I walked into the room to see the other two statues. One was of a woman with the tail of a fish instead of legs, holding a trident. That must be Undine, who Salamander isn''t a fan of. She stood in the corner opposite the statue of Salamander. Opposite the golem was a statue without as clear of a figure as the rest. It seemed to be an orb wrapped in a nest of wings, presumably the elemental spirit of air. Aside from Evan and myself, there was another woman in the room. She wore a brilliant red robe, one that gave the impression of being on fire without actually ignoring physics the way Evan''s did. Maybe Evan''s robes were a function of the Notice yesterday about physics being disabled? I''d have to ask about that later. I approached the woman. "I''m Emett, The Summoner. I assume you''d be the Head Evoker?" "Yes," she said, "I am. But you can call me Emmy. Are you aware-" "Yes, I am aware of the Binding," I said, agitated. "That''s going to-" she started. "Yes, it''s going to be a problem," I said. "The only stipulation was to make a Pact with Salamander before Undine. Can you guys help me so I can get rolling with all this?" "We can try," Emmy said, "but it''ll probably take some time. If Pacts were easy, everyone would be able to summon the elemental spirits. Still, may as well get started now and hopefully we''ll have you fixed up by the end of the week." "The end of the week?" I asked. "I''m a Disciple! I''ve got things to do!" "We know you''re The Summoner," Evan said, "which is why we''re betting it''ll be as quick as a week. Did you think summoning quasi-divine powers was going to be something that was quick and easy?" "It has been so far!'' I said. "Please," Emmy scoffed. "You''ve been asking blindly and have been lucky they''ve been listening. You need a more substantive agreement with them, and that''s going to take some negotiation. You''re gonna need to slow your roll if you want to actually be good at this. Take a seat in the middle of the circle when you''re ready, if you''re done complaining." "Before all of...whatever you''re planning," I said, holding my hands up, "I was rather hoping to get some sort of explanation on what, exactly, is happening."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "What do you mean?" Emmy asked. "We need to get you a Pact so you can do your job as The Summoner without accruing a Binding every time." "Okay, the Binding I''ve picked up on, but..." I said, trailing off. "Please, I am very new to this. Back up and explain it all like I know nothing? Because I know nothing." Emmy took a deep breath. "You''re right, you''re right. We all need to slow down a moment. So what do you know about summoning? You''ve obviously been able to call Salamander at least once." "Not much at all," I admitted. "Once I was picked as The Summoner it occurred to me, probably from some sort of divine inspiration, to basically beg to various incredibly powerful beings, and they''ll answer. They''re grumpy about it, though." "That''s it?" Evan asked. "That''s all you know?" "That''s about it," I confirmed. "It''s kind of amazing you stumbled into a binding, then," Evan said. "So, the short of it is that summoned entities in general, and the elemental spirits in general, don''t grant power or service for free. There''s always a price. In your case, Salamander''s binding." "But I Invoked the big earthy guy as well," I said, "and he didn''t ask for anything." "Any grand magic, or just a weapon?" Evan asked. "Just a weapon," I said. "That''d explain it," Evan replied. "Invocations are a little less dramatic in general, so you may not have noticed the price. If you don''t have a pact, generally they''ll act as a weapon for you, and reinforce some aspect of combat for you while draining another. In Gnome''s case, he''ll fortify you against attack while leaving you a bit slower than normal. It''ll resolve itself once the Invocation ends, though." I nodded. That tracked with what I had experienced in the altercation with the Apostates. "And Evocations - bigger effects at a higher price?" "More a different price," Emmy said. "They tend to be more esoteric, restricting your future actions for a time." "There''s no time limit on my Binding," I said. "At least, not that Salamander mentioned." "That''s a bit unusual," Emmy said, "but not unheard of. Especially given that you''re The Summoner, getting it resolved is an inevitability. He likely didn''t feel the need for additional urgency." "Okay," I said, "so what''s the deal with the Pacts, then?" "They''re sort of a way to pay the price up front," Emmy said. "You commune with the spirits, offer up some of your potential for them, and in return they''ll grant you either a Pact of Evocation or Invocation without further cost in the future. It''s about the only way to reliably get things done if you''re going to summon them regularly, which, as The Summoner, you will." "Evocation or Invocation?" I asked. "Can I get both?" "You can," Evan said, "Convocation Pacts. It''s generally considerably more restrictive to do so, though." "What are the costs of the Pacts, usually?" I asked. "It varies from deal to deal," Evan said. "In my case, I gave up any ability to learn Pyromancy in return for an Invocation Pact with Undine." I nodded again. "Okay, I think I''ve got a handle on this. The middle of the circle to get started, then?" Emmy nodded back to me, and I walked into the middle of the golden circle, taking a seat. On closer inspection, the circle was covered in geometric designs, and writing in a language I was wholly unfamiliar with. "Did you get anything from the King of Light with the letter?" Evan asked. "If you did, get it out. It doesn''t always help, but if it''s a conduit to summoning it''ll probably work on its own here. When you''ve done that, close your eyes, and reach out to the spirits in your head. If it works, they''ll guide you through the rest." I pulled the book I received from the King into my lap. I took a moment to examine it, since I hadn''t had a chance to before now. The cover of the book was covered in a gold embossment, with designs on it that looked similar to those etched into the circle I was currently sitting on. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. "Wait," I heard Emmy saying, "is that the Ars-" I didn''t hear the rest of her sentence as the world faded away, an experience that was becoming distressingly familiar. Chapter 15 Emett: I found myself floating in a featureless black void for the second time in as many days. I guess this was just part of my life, now. Before me, Salamander raged in all his flaming, serpentine glory. Somehow, the earthen golem, who I knew now to be Gnome, was also in front of me. So was Undine, and so was the ball of wings and wind, Sylph. It was like I was looking in four different directions at once. "So," Salamander hissed, "the prodigal Summoner deigns to make a pact." "I do," I said, strangely calm. This must be the work of the circle, or the book, because I definitely should not be okay with being so tiny in front of so much power. "Not with me, I see" Undine purred, staring daggers at Salamander. "He had the choice," Salamander insisted. "Hardly an informed choice, though," Undine replied. "It isn''t our responsibility to make sure the summoner makes a wise choice," Salamander said, "only that they don''t receive something for nothing." "Salamander, Undine, please," Sylph said, her voice sounding as if it were carried in on a breeze. "Not in front of The Summoner." "Don''t mind me," I said, "I''m just sort of floating here." Gnome grunted. "Do you know what that book you''re carrying is, Summoner?" "Other than ostensibly an artifact of some sort?" I asked. "No. It''s just a blank book as far as I can tell, albeit one with a very nice cover." "The Ars Goetia," Gnome provided. "A book on the summoning of spirits in general, but with an emphasis on demons. Not something particularly useful, however..." Sylph made a small bobbing motion, visibly catching on to Gnome''s train of thought. If she had a face, I''m certain she''d have picked up a grin. "Oh, I see where you''re going with this. Do we want to try for the Elementium?" "He has the potential," Salamander said. "It''d be a hefty price on his end, though." "A lot of power in return, though," Undine mused. "Ultimately, it is his decision." "What''s my decision?" I asked. "The short version," Salamander said, "is that, with your permission, we could hijack the Ars Goetia, and transform it into the Ars Elementium, breaking some of the normal rules that bind Pacts." "That''s potentially interesting," I said. "What rules?" "The biggest," Undine said, "would be allowing you to hold a pact with Salamander and I, as well as Gnome and Sylph, at the same time."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "It would also act as a manual of sorts on our power, helping you keep track of it all," Gnome said. "Which comes in handy when you end up with multiple pacts." "So," I said, "I have the option for a Pact with multiple of you?" "Yes," Sylph said, "in any combination. Granted, it would not be an easy Pact, and you''d be giving a lot up in the process." "What would each of you ask in return for a Convocation Pact?" I asked. "I would take your potential for the Occult summoning methods, Necromancy and Demonology," Salamander said. "Not that you would need anything that inferior with my assistance. "I would ask for your potential for any conventional magic," Gnome said. "All the magic you would do would come from entities you''ve summoned." "I''m not a fan of the Nature spirits," Sylph said. "Terribly boring and inflexible. I would take your potential to summon those." "You intrigue me," Undine said, "and I am quite irritated with what Salamander attempted. I would ask only for the conversion of the Ars Goetia to secure my assistance." "Very well," I said. I couldn''t help but notice none of these Pacts were mutually exclusive. The price was steep - if I accepted all of them, it would essentially be shutting me out of being able to handle anything except the Elemental Spirits. In return, though, I would be gaining a phenomenal amount of power. The answer was actually pretty clear to me. "I would accept all of these terms. I would like to form a Convocation Pact with all of you." "That is amenable," Salamander said. All four reached their power out to me, and my senses were overwhelmed. A small tongue of flame brought with it all the fury and passion on a flame unbound, fiery destruction and endless hunger coursing through my veins. At the same time, it brought promises of rebirth, of corruption purged, and of darkness banished. A pebble bounced off my forehead, and I understood the strength of the earth. It brought slow yet relentless change, imperceptible day-to-day, yet slowly making itself known as time wore on. A breeze across my skin spoke of the wind, from gentle breezes to raging hurricanes. It did as it pleased, and it would skirt around any obstacles it had to in the process. A faint trickle of water promised of the inevitability of the seas, ebbing and flowing, yet always present, slowly wearing down any resistance. It sang of the currents, chaotic from within, but ordered when seen from a distance. Most overwhelming, though, was the sensation of loss. Latent connections to magic I never knew I had were severed, leaving me reaching for senses I had never used before and finding nothing there. It was almost enough to make me weep, but before this could set in, the world lurched, and I found myself sitting once more in a golden circle in a familiar room. The four statues in the corners were glowing brilliantly, as was the book in my lap. Evan and Emmy stood staring at me, their mouths hanging open. "Already?" Emmy asked. "You''ve already made a Pact?" "Yes?" I asked. "That was what I set out to do, right?" "That couldn''t have been more than fifteen seconds!" Evan said. "It felt a lot longer to me," I said, taking a closer look at the book. The circle had changed, now featuring four gems prominently on the cover. It also no longer appeared to consist primarily of blank pages. I''d have to read it later. "And a Pact with all four of the spirits?" Emmy said. "That shouldn''t be possible!" "It wouldn''t have been," I said, "if not for the book. Or so they said." "Then..." Evan said, trailing off, "I''m guessing the book is a focus of at least two of the Pacts, but more likely all of them." "What does that mean?" I asked. "Well," Emmy said, "before we get into it, we should work out how long we''ll have you." "I''ll have to meet with the rest of the Disciples to decide for sure," I said, "but you said you initially wanted a week? I''ll see if they can keep themselves busy for that long before we set out to whatever''s next." Chapter 16 Lyn: My fourth day with the Engineer''s Guild was going less than swimmingly. Over the past few days we had worked out how to make my Fireworks more accurate and less explosive, but working out how to reload the things in a timely manner was being all sorts of difficult. The engineers had taken to calling the new weapon a ''rifle'', and while it was undoubtedly effective, it was also a pain to use more than once. While their knowledge of physics and mechanics was a huge help, it turns out that what I''m making isn''t actually something that should work. The primarily force holding it all together and allowing these things to go off is actually my power as The Armsmaster. For a while I had almost thought I had found my calling, but it turned out I had been cheating the whole time. I laid my head down on the workbench and screamed. Colin jerked at the sudden noise. He''d been working with me most closely, and had been probably the biggest support I''d had, overall. It had been his idea to shrink the whole thing down enough that I wouldn''t have to spend as long setting up every shot. "None of that," he said, "time spent screaming in frustration here is probably better spent working on something else." "All we''ve managed to do is move to time it took to set it up to the back-end, after it''s fired!" I complained. "That''s not actually speeding things up at all!" "That''s not entirely true," he said. "We also made it less likely to kill your brother. Unless you miss. Don''t miss." "I''m so jealous," I continued. "Everyone else got awesome magic powers and I got an enchanted picnic basket that never runs out of bombs but also destroy everything in the area." Colin sighed, and put down the gadget he was working on. "Well that seems like an awesome magical power in and of itself," he said. "What are the space constraints?" "None that I''ve seen," I said. "I fit my brother in there and from what he said it was an endless void with bombs floating everywhere, as far as he could see." "You fit your brother in there?" he asked. "I''ve seen him, he''s huge. How strong are you?" "Not very," I said. "It seems to... ignore... weight...?" I trailed off, lost in thought. Colin picked up his gadget and started tinkering with it again as my thoughts carried me away. I have a seemingly endless extradimensional space I carry around with me, and weight doesn''t matter. The only issue is if I can pull something out of the opening, and this rifle was small enough to fit. An idea struck me like a runaway carriage.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "I''ve got the answer," I said, starting to gather up materials. "What''s the answer?" Colin asked. "I don''t need to figure it out," I said. Colin looked up at me, looking a bit lost. "That doesn''t seem like a solution?" "I have the basket," I explained. "I don''t need to work out how to reload the rifles in a timely manner. I just need more rifles." "Oh, I see!" Colin said, understanding entering his voice. "With more rifles you can just grab a fresh one with every shot!" "Exactly!" I said. "It''s so easy, I can''t believe it didn''t occur to me sooner!"
A couple days later, I found myself in a cleared dirt training ground at the Acrobat''s Guild. I was glad for The Armsmaster''s Intuition, because this was definitely not something I would have naturally thought followed the construction of the rifles. Still, I was fairly sure if I learned some of their tricks, it would open up whole new realms of possibility in the abilities I''m able to learn outside of just inventing new things. The first wooden ball came rocketing out at me from directly in front, easy enough to stop with a shot of my rifle. The ball was quickly followed with another, this time to my right. It very nearly reached me, but I was able to bat it away with the barrel of the rifle, with a satisfying clunk. I struck down a third ball, but the rifle wasn''t able to keep up with the pressure, and the barrel broke free of the handle. Shit. Another ball came flying out to hit me, undeterred by my mechanical issues. I jumped up, kicking it back with a backflip as I reached into my basket to retrieve another rifle. I shot yet another orb out of the air as I descending, spinning with a flourish. This was a mistake. In my spin, the rifle drug across the ground, catching my attention at just the wrong moment. One of the balls hit me in the back, followed by another in the side. Three more hit me before the onslaught stopped. "What was that?!" the acrobatics instructor I''d been working with shouted out one the dust cleared. "Why would you spin like that with something that big extended out?!" "Style points?" I asked more than said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." "It doesn''t seem like such a good idea now, does it?" she yelled. "Be glad those were wooden balls and not claws or fireballs!" "Why couldn''t we use, like, pillows or something?" I asked. These things really hurt. "Then you wouldn''t learn!" she yelled back. "Let''s try it again, from the top!" "Hold on," I said. "As glad as I am for your help, I need to head back to the workshop and adjust some things on the rifles to make them better able to keep up, here." I looked at the broken rifle, where I had dropped it. Also, I should work on the bindings because they are apparently awfully fragile as far as bludgeoning implements go. "If you say so," the instructor said. "I''ll see you tomorrow for your last day of training, and see what kind of crazy engineer gadgets you bring then."