《Traversing Reality》 Prologue Some canned goods for the microwave, pizzas, a few apples for appearances and enough cookies and chocolate to last me another week went into the shopping cart. The staff at the counter was professional as usual and did not even give a second glance to the healthy compilation that allows for a healthy single lifestyle. I really appreciate the anonymity a large city provides. It does become lonely, but most social contact was hardly worth the effort. It¡äs not that I am bad with people, I can actually do really well with most of my acquaintances, but the usual small talk can get so incredibly dull. After trying the more regular human lifestyle of meeting with friends and being in some kind of relationship or other I settled into a more recluse way of single life. Every now and then I would meet those few friends I actually enjoyed talking with, and the rest of the time was spent by myself. My name is Christopher Reyes. I am rather tall with 1.90 m and just turned 33 this year. I did not celebrate my birthday, nor did I miss it. My job would be considered a scientist. As a kid it had always been my dream to explore the very frontier of knowledge, and had decided to study chemistry. So why was all I did create some knew numbers on some sheets of paper no one cared for? Science never should be just cataloging reality, but the whole field of research seemed to consist of nothing but that. All this left me with enough money to afford anything I could want for and enough free time to bore a groundhog to death. Luckily the gaming industry steadily advanced and had created many time consuming games. I had chosen to play ''Ascension'' the last five odd years. Back then it had been a fantasy MMO with a huge world that allowed you to pursue your favorite roles. The character I had created then was my elven sorceress Shalyne. I had chosen her race and sex because elves had better affinity with magic and also because a female elf tends to be easier on the eyes than some dwarf. Three years ago Ascension had been upgraded to also incorporate virtual reality. It could still be played without the capsules, but after a short time of transition most players had gotten their hands on at least one of the cheaper capsule versions. Of course I had bought the best available one right away. There were a few changes to the game afterwards. Newly created characters would be based on a full body scan and only be slightly adapted to fit the chosen race or at least some anonymity. The greatest change would be the height change to a dwarf, but nobody chose those anyway. Legacy characters were given the option to change to a form that resembled you more closely. Many chose to adjust their characters, because being the wrong sex can be a bit disturbing. That may also have been the main reason why new characters were not given the option. For a while the company considered enforcing the change, but the backlash was really heavy and they adjusted the policy to only make the change an option. By now it was only a minor part of the population, who still were using the original models. I had considered changing Shalyne, but after a long enough time your character grows on you. I tried it out and had to admit that the change was not that great. The sensory input you received from your body was rather minor. The biggest difference VR offered was the direct control of the character and perception of sight through virtual eyes. A good headset had already given a close approximation of direction even before. Over time there were some improvements to the sense of touch, but because I was experiencing the changes step by step no single change was too stark. Even now the greatest difference was the difference in height. Shalyne still stood tall at 1.80 m but 10 cm make a huge difference. I was very wary of low doors. Spending a lot of time switching between two different sets of length caused me to adapt to it really quick after a while. I do not even want to know how much brain capacity was just trained and wasted just on this. Once I had arrived at home I put my purchases into some corner and grabbed my training gear to head off to my martial arts training. Aside from work, this was the one place I was glad I could still control my body really well after a few minutes out of the capsule. The practice we did could not really be considered a certain style. Our Sensei had learned a few different arts himself and just taught us whatever he felt like at the time. What he considered most important was practicality and a healthy understanding of ones own body. Today he just took joy in running us up and down the dojo doing the very basic techniques, followed by a bit of sparring. After the training I headed home, cooked myself a pizza and surfed through some of the new discoveries in the game. After the switch to VR, Ascension had become even more of a sandbox game. The direct access of the brain to the computer allowed you to directly control mana, a resource that did not even exist in real life. Although it was possible to cast a spell by simply invoking it, the real fun was in manipulating mana. Using direct control it was possible to specify every aspect of a spell from strength, velocity to composition or form. Admittedly it required quite a bit of concentration and even skill to control the changes and not let the mind drift and unwillingly effect some changes. These requirements seem too much for most people to handle, who can¡ät even keep the most basic control over their own thoughts. So only those who are willing to practice and put in enough effort are able to use this system. The others are happy with invoking the spells with a few key words and just turn off the direct control system. It goes without saying, that I play Shalyne with the free mana manipulation system turned on. Aside from more flexible uses of combat magic it allows me to create new abilities. The more ingenious uses may create new spells, that when combined with a name can be taught to others to invoke. The game is evolving quickly, so even more options have become available over time. Reading up on new possible uses I passed the time until I had eaten. Finally I could start into the weekend. I laid down in the capsule and dropped into the game. I spawned at my house in the city of Lapan. I never took much time for decorating it, so it looks rather sparse. I opened my guild roster and selected one of the members. Using a bit of mana I sent a telepathic message to Falariel: ¡°Hi Fal, I am available now, are you at your shop at the moment?¡± ¡°Hey Shalyne, was about time. I am waiting.¡± So much for gratitude. We had agreed to meet this evening to finish crafting a few weapons that we could sell at abhorrent prices. Sighing I left my house and stepped onto the central square of the city. Turning around I picked a small alley and went on my way. I considered the bigger streets much too crowded. Business was always going very well on a Friday evening. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. After taking a few cuts through the city I arrived at our guild¡äs workshop. It didn''t stand out, because we used it purely for crafting, and didn''t advertise who it belonged to. I entered and made my way to the forge at the back. A beautiful blonde elf stood at a workbench with her back to the entrance. Something made me suspicious about the way she was fiddling about and I silently circled around until I stood almost to her side about five meters away. As I had thought she held onto one of her guns and only acted like she was working. Using my mana I concentrated on giving her a solid touch on the shoulder. She spun around abruptly and shot a stream of water out of her gun at the empty space behind her. I focused once more, this time to create a bit of water, which I splashed right at her. I couldn''t hold back from laughing after that. ¡°You were a bit too obvious this time. Aside from the fact that you ALWAYS try to ambush me in one way or the other.¡± She answered with an angry look: ¡°I was sure I would sense you this time! Your aura suppression is really unfair. I couldn''t even detect a flicker.¡± ¡°I keep telling you to look out for sound or sight instead of my aura, but you never listen.¡± ¡°Where is the fun in that? Anyway, will you finally tell me, why you always keep up that spell? There has to be some sensible reason.¡± I always had suppress aura active. ¡°Perhaps it is, so that you can never detect me?¡± ¡°What about I give you two thirds of the profits this time?¡± ¡°Nope¡± I could see she considered raising her offer some more, but in the end let it be. Instead she got to business: ¡°I have finished the parts, you can start enchanting when you like and I will assemble them when you are done. They are already in your room.¡± ¡°I will get to it, don''t interrupt me.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know you have to concentrate. See you in a bit.¡± I left the forge and went into the room with a picture of a crystal on the door. It was a room used by enchanters, but I had kind of taken possession of it and no one else dared to work in here. Our guild''s workshop was large enough and had more than one room per craft, so that had not become an issue. Once inside I locked the door and touched a crystal, that was put in a holder on the wall. ¡°Invoke: Block Sound.¡± A light surge pushed out of the crystal until it enveloped the whole room. It was a spell that blocked outside noise and allowed me to concentrate fully on my work. Enchanting was the craft most susceptible to disruption, because it was fully dependent on the concentration of the practitioner. In the center of the room stood a large table, on top of which the parts of several pistols where laid out. On the walls were several shelves with crystals and diverse items. I went to one of the shelves and took out several crystals that were lightly glowing. I took them to the table in the center and went to work. Enchanting is the art of infusing mana into items. For that one has to be able to freely manipulate mana, and give it an intent. On a simple level an enchanter pulls out the energy of an item and either puts it into a crystal for storage or pushes it into another item. That way the type of the enchantment remains the same. Advanced enchants require the player to use mana and form an intent before enhancing the item. Armor hardening, resistances, or increased damage output on weapons are simple forms. The pistols we created use a three part system. After drawing on the mana in the crystals I first enchanted a few triggers with the intent to draw mana from the user and put it into the ¡°barrel¡±. It is not really a barrel because it is not hollow, it is only a metal shaft that points into the direction of the target. We just named it barrel for convenience. The barrels were enchanted to rapidly push the mana in a condensed form to the front and eject it. Right at the front of the barrel is the converter which gives the mana its final form, in this case a fireball. People love shooting fireballs. And the pistols didn''t require an invocation. It still amazes me that a complex use of mana is possible. The enchantment on the converter for example is able use mana it comes into contact with, and assign it a form and an element. In Ascension there are seven ¡°elements¡±. The five classic elements earth, water, fire, air and spirit and in addition light and dark. It was possible to use any of the five classic elements, but one had to choose between light and dark. Once I was finished I tested to parts by running mana through them and observing the effect. I had to disenchant two pieces by pulling the energy and intent out and again enchanting it. The mana I had pulled out had to be cleansed of inherent characteristics to reform into pure mana. Cleansing mana is often more difficult than assigning it. I took the parts, placed them into my inventory and cleaned up the crystals. Then I once again touched the crystal on the wall and said: ¡°Clear¡±. The sound barrier retracted. I took a look at the crystal. It still seemed to hold enough mana reserves for another use so I left it in place and exited my working room. Once again in the forge I just called out to Falariel: ¡°I''m done now, do you want to test them right away?¡± ¡°One second, I am almost done here.¡± I took out the items and placed them on a work bench. Then I leaned back and watched Falariel finish up a sword. She can get quite absorbed into her work. The second stretched into a quarter of an hour when she finally put down the completed weapon. ¡°Oh, I''m sorry, I completely forgot you were here.¡± ¡°I noticed.¡± ¡°Well, let me check out the pistols. The fantasy lovers are going to RESENT us.¡± I myself usually enjoyed the medieval setting of the game, but was tolerant enough for any peculiar creations players brought into the game. There were however some die hard fantasy fans who refused anything that did not fit into the setting. We even got some orders from people who used the pistols just to make a point of annoying those. Falariel assembled the pistols and we went to a reinforced room to try them out. Falariel and I split the pistols and took a few shot with each one until we were satisfied. ¡°This is best part in crafting!¡± ¡°Making sure everything works perfectly and taking pride in a job well done?¡±, I teased her. ¡°Destroying something and watching it burn!¡± Sometimes I wondered where she got the patience for creation. We finished going through the entire set. They all seemed to work fine, so we would have another great harvest soon. We both left the selling to the guilds merchants, because we considered taking care of business exhausting. ¡°Shalyne, are you going to the festival tomorrow?¡± ¡°I already have other plans. The festival will continue for a while, so maybe I will go out once this next week. I would prefer a raid though.¡± ¡°But tomorrow is the best part. Didn''t you miss it last year, too?¡± ¡°Maybe next year. I am off now, see you around.¡± ¡°Night¡± When I left I went through my plans for the next day. I considered my profession that of a magic researcher. So I always tried to find new ways to manipulate mana for useful spells. One thing a few like minded players had found out was that there was yet another way to expand possibilities. If a few rare conditions were fulfilled, it was possible to change the basic properties of your characters. Mostly all this amounted to was an additional stat increase. This was already really amazing however, as the scaling with level was really weak in Ascension. A skilled mid level player could stand up to a less experienced high level player if the difference in gear was not too great. This made it possible for many low level characters to gang up on fewer high level ones. That in turn made traveling in groups for protection more advantageous. Then there were the game breaking effects. One time a player had landed the finishing blow on a dragon by hiding, while a raid was fighting the dragon. At the very last moment he channeled all of his mana into a single devastating blow to steal the killing blow. The game seemed to have some strange kind of humor and along with usually impossible properties often came drawbacks. This player had received the always present title ''Opportunist''. He publicized the description under some pressure of the guild, which had hunted the dragon. ''Deals increased damage with powerful blows, but considers small attacks below his dignity.'' From that point on his character was actually unable to use weak attacks and could only use his big cannons. Most of these titles or changes are never made public. There is something special to having a unique ability. Reproducing the situation was sometimes possible, but some conditions were so rare, that some of these titles or abilities were only possessed by a single player. Those that had become common knowledge were often researched thoroughly and soon most of the hardcore players would collect the more useful titles. I had one such title. Tomorrow I hoped to gain a second one. Chapter 1 On the next day a large crowd had gathered at the center of Telon. Tonight a great festival would be held to celebrate the founding of the Cult of Truth. Nowadays it would be more fitting to call it a religion, since it had grown really large. In ''Ascension a role playing group had stuck strictly to the rule, to never fall out of their character''s roles to improve immersion in the game. They had found a backward village, where there were few enough players, that they were able to enforce the rule. Those who did not adhere to the rule were kicked out of the village. It can be a heavy turnoff to hear people talk about real life sports events while you want to enjoy the world. After the game changed to virtual reality, the popularity of this play style become very popular. So many of the people who just passed by before actually joined the community and settled down. In just a short time the village grew to a town and soon the whole surrounding area belonged to the newly formed Cult of Truth. The cult had started collecting taxes to pay for enforcers, who chased non role players out of the ever expanding territories. At the borders guards were posted, who informed travelers of the rule and everyone who wanted to enter had to promise to stick to their role. While a few players were annoyed at the restrictions, many found it a preferable style of living in the game. Since the enforcement was strict, the atmosphere of the place was far better than anywhere else outside. Players of course still continued their normal conversations in private, but in public retained their proper image. The cults area stopped expanding, when the territory had reached around a quarter of the continents area. Then a kind of balance was formed between those who accepted the strict rule and those who wanted to at least be able to talk about real life issues every now and then. Of course there were also many who stayed for a while for a vacation or a few adventures, but never settled down. Over time, the cult also began to grow in political power. Players are usually freedom loving people, so other laws than the role playing rule could not be enforced. In the end, the cult developed into a religion, mainly focused on the role playing. Once a year, a great festival would be held on the founding day. It took place in the original village, which by now had grown into the capital of the country, Telon. Huge masses of people came to celebrate. The festivities began with the speech of the high priestess of the cult, when the night on the anniversary arrived. After that, the crowd would chant a hymn and then the week of celebrations began. My guild''s headquarters was in the cultist lands, because we preferred the immersion the rule offered. The technology of the VR capsules had come a long way, but still could not reach the sensation of the real world. The role playing helped to bridge that gap. When compared to the lands outside, everything seemed more real. One thing I observed was, when the festival was held, that gap seemed to become yet a tiny bit less. It may have been my imagination, but the game worked a bit different at that time. And so I started experimenting. Tried things during that time, that could normally not be done. Until the day two years ago, when I earned the ''Insane'' title. Of the ''irregular'' elements light and dark, only one could be used by a player. First you had to attune yourself to either light or dark. A player could attune themselves in different ways, but all took time and effort. Most chose to attune to light. For one, normal adventurers tended to fulfill ''just'' quests, and with a certain amount of good deeds usually came the option to start walking the light path. Light is not necessarily good, nor is dark evil. There are tendencies though, and there are also many who consider light good in a clich¨¦ way. There are actually some fanatics, who condemn dark in the game, but they are a minority. To attune to dark is more difficult. Being a bit cynical I would describe it as requiring a personality. The game never offers those, who straightforwardly fulfill ordinary ''good'' quests, the dark option. Only those, who walk their own strange path in the game receive the option of the dark path. That basically just means anything not related to leveling or questing. Of course certain classes like thief thrive in the dark and can attune early on. The paths offer certain abilities and those are as always the real reason people attune to one side vs the other. Light offers protection and healing among more nuanced advantages. Dark offers increases to hiding or increased damage output by exploiting weaknesses. The attunement I chose was light. My character is an elven sorceress and would definitely profit from dark. The increased protection and some self healing, although weak in comparison to a priest or paladin, offered enough defense for me to carefully engage in melee, too. Normally even light attunement is only a minor buff and not sufficient for a caster type player. But since I practice martial arts in real life I am more capable in close combat than most and am able to pull off this sort of hybrid build. Another reason I decided to use light is, that my guild did a lot of great achievement quests, that tend to improve your light attunement and that made it more worthwhile to go light. Once we cleared most content I did have a lot of free time to just explore the world or do side quests. I started to get more interested in the possibilities of the dark, but switching would have meant to start again from scratch, and that was not worth the effort. Then, two years ago I held a ritual beneath the main festival ground on the Cults anniversary. I had set up two great artifacts, a holy sword and a dark attribute ring on two opposing sides of the chamber. At the time the crowds started chanting I drew on the light power of the sword. When my aura was soaked full by the light, I drew on the dark of the ring. Normally one of those two would push the other out, but this time the light stayed in my body, while I drew the dark in. The two clashed against each other, and I used my suppress aura ability, that is usually used for hiding, to dampen the conflict. I continued to draw on the dark until it equaled the light. Then, suddenly the two forces stopped trying to expel each other. They still fought each other inside me, but none of them was pushed out. I had to continue casting suppress aura since then, or I would lose health. Normally it would have been impossible to attune to both light and dark, but I must have fulfilled some rare circumstances and gained the ''Insane'' title. From then on I was attuned to both. Sadly, it proofed more than useless. To keep my health up, I constantly had to activate suppress aura, which cost some of the mana I regenerated. Whenever I used any light or dark ability the other side would flare up and I had to suppress it with even more mana. That meant, that most light or dark spells effectively cost me more mana than others, while I also had to take more consideration of my mana because of the reduced regeneration. Of course, I never would have given up what made my character special, and instead of trying to get rid of one aspect, I tried out ways to work around it. The amount of mana it cost me was less than 10% of my regeneration, but the increased consumption when using light or dark spells was much more severe. In the end I adopted a style more focused on melee and spells of the other elements. My high end level and equipment allowed me to continue performing adequately, if I used a few spells in between. Performance in a group or raid is mostly dependent on the teamwork and proper division of roles, since the scaling of a character''s strength is not that great in comparison to most games. That worked to my advantage, because my personal ability was more important than the maximum output of my character''s skills. The downside however was, that as a fixed mana cost I was unable to outgrow the constant drain. A bit less than a year ago from now, a new update was brought out, that increased the realism of the game. In addition a new capsule was available, that increased the sensory perception in the game. While it was still a far bit from reality, instead of just moving your body in the game, you became more aware of the body itself. Which was really weird. Until now, the difference between my own male body and the body of my female character was mainly in size. From then on it gave me the impression of being someone else. I shortly considered changing my character''s sex, but the sensations were still pretty bland and I chose to live with the changes. Along with those updates came new perceptions. Before light and dark were mainly about their bonuses, but from then on they started to influence what one could see. The difference was minimal for those with weak attunement, but for those specialized in one, new information was available. A temple of the light started to have a golden aura, a NPC lying would have a flicker in their aura or deep shadows in a cemetery might speak to someone, depending on attunement. For me things just became plain weird. Light and dark never existed in the same place, but they often bordered each other. It did not feel like they fought each other, sometimes it almost seemed like children playing with each other when one dashed forward and the other back, staying close to each other but always separate. Really bizarre was when a priest spoke with a confident, genuine voice and at the same time it seemed as if he was spouting out blasphemy. Once I got a quest, where the remnant of a soul wished to go into the light. I had heard of the quest before, but those who could see and talk to the shadow did not see the bright light nearby, while those who knew of the light could not direct the invisible shadow. I was able to direct the soul remnant and saw it disappearing. To my detriment I got a dual improvement on both my aspects and with that increased mana consumption.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The world seemed distorted. I often wondered if the combined scenery of light and dark was different from simply combining the two. I wanted to hide the fact that I was attuned to both and avoided talking about the effects. My guild mates were curious why I constantly used Suppress Aura but I never bothered explaining and made it a game to invent ever new ridiculous reasons. There were quite a few attempts to guess at the reason but the closest they came was, that it had something to do with my rarely using holy magic. Luckily, many players who had taken to role playing had developed interesting peculiarities, and mine was by far not the most out there. The most disconcerting thing was the voice. Well, it seemed like a voice, but it was just incoherent babbling. There were certain sounds attuned players were able to hear, but some must have overlapped in a strange way. Sometimes I got a little bit frightened, I would actually go mad if this became any more intense. It is not actually that bad, but if you spend a considerable amount of time in VR and see different things from anyone else, that you can''t share it does something to you. I would still consider myself (mostly) sane. When the sun dropped beneath the horizon the central square of the city had become filled to the brink. In the center a huge stage had been set up. At the back of the stage stood the cathedral of truth. It was an impressive building, that racked high into the sky and stood out among anything else this town had to offer. A group of templars in uniform exited out of one of the big side entrances of the cathedral. Each one held a torch and headed to different locations to light up the lamps that had been placed there. Normally only a few, big lamps would lighten up the central square at night, but at the time of the festivities the number was increased by a lot. The templars took a while to make their way through the crowd and I used the time to head to the back of the square, to my own house. I had purchased it a few years ago when the prices in the center were still reasonable because it was positioned so close to the center. I lingered for a while at the entrance. The atmosphere was really enjoyable, which was why I had strolled around at all. Sadly I could not take part in it because of my other plans. The templars finally finished their work and headed back to the stage. There they built a circle around a huge bonfire and together they put fire to it. Slowly the crowd stopped talking and the noise dropped drastically. Then, as the fire started to work its way up the wood, the main door of the cathedral was opened. The high priestess of the cult came out of the cathedral, dressed in a heavy ceremonial garb and stepped onto a central podium in front of the bonfire. I took that as a signal and opened the door to my house. A few bystanders looked at me in an irritated way, because who would leave right as the main event was to begin. No one bothered me though and I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. As I made my way to the cellar I could hear the amplified voice of the high priestess speak out to the crowd. In one of the rooms in the cellar I opened up a cabinet and pushed away the bottom shelf. Then I stepped in, closed the door behind me and climbed down a ladder. I stepped into the tunnel I had a golem dig out and followed it along. I had taken great care to avoid detection, so I had built it deep below the ground. Even in the game most would not be pleased by having a ritual room right beneath the center of their beloved cults main square. Once I reached to room I opened a lid on the wall and could hear the dampened speech up above. Then I waited for the time, when the chanting would begin. In the center of the room a circle was drawn on the ground. Going with the symbols of this world I had decided on a heptagon form. Inside of that and had connected the dots with each other. At the end of each corner I had positioned a pedestal with an artifact on top, each according to one of the elements. I took out a torch, and casted fire on it. Then I walked around the circle to light seven torches at each of the corners. My need to conserve mana had forced me to become practical, so even when I didn''t need to restrain myself, I had grown accustomed to use more efficient methods like this instead of lightning each with my magic. In the center stood a small desk. At its back hang one more torch on the side. I walked into the circle and lit it up, then placed the torch I had used till now into the holder on the other side. While the ritual itself didn''t require it, the atmosphere seemed more fitting. On the desk lay three more artifacts. One was a low level item without any requirements. The second one would grow together with the level ups of the player. It was weak when compared to high end gear, but very useful for someone who still had to reach maximum level, because it did not have to be exchanged every other level. The last one was the hardest to come by out of all the others. It had a level requirement that exceeded the maximum level players could reach at this time. I had Falariel craft it by using only materials from the highest raid tier. Normally the level requirement would never be above maximum player level. It was however possible to increase the quality of an item, which would also increase its level requirement. Falariel was only happy enough to create something so out of the norm. If the level cap would ever be raised, having such an item around might be useful. It had not happened so far, but high level players often have too much money on their hand... My goal for this ritual was to remove the limits the game had placed onto my character. The low level item stood for freedom. Anyone could use it. The second for scaling. One of the greatest issues in Ascension was the poor scaling of characters with level. The third was intended to plain out break the maximum level and allow myself to go beyond. Of course I had no idea what or even if the ritual would accomplish something in the end. If everything went wrong I might as well be dropped to the lowest level without the ability to level up anymore. Still, I considered it a kind of duty of a magic user to experiment with the unknown, even if it entailed risks. My last "successful" attempt had brought me nothing but headaches, but did¡ät deter me from continuing on. The sudden silence felt strange when the high priestess had spoken her last few words. It only held for a short bit however, as soon the crowd up above began to chant. The sound seemed to vibrate through the concrete of the ceiling and not arrive through the small shaft that had let me hear the speech till now. For the short time of the chanting everything seemed to vibrate more intensely. All sensations seemed more true somehow. In addition to that, light and dark in the room, which had been behaving normally until now began to dance. The flickering of the flames seemed to follow the rhythm of the words. The shadows began to circle around the heptagon in the middle. This was the first time I had performed this ritual since the last great patch and the resonance shocked me deeply. But I also grew excited in hope of a possible success. Using my abilities as an enchanter I drew on the power of the artifacts around me. As an enchanter you could pull out the magic in items to put it in yourself to get a buff effect. The effect was short lived, and usually much too expensive to use. In addition to that the effect was weaker than on the items, so it seemed wasteful. But today I went all out. First I pulled in the basic four elements: earth, water, fire and air. The chanting outside vibrated with the power increase the elemental enchants had on me. Then came spirit. My senses seemed to stretch out, to perceive every corner of the room. And the light and dark around me jumped up in anticipation. Then I added light and dark simultaneously. They were placed on nearly opposing sites of the circle to my two sides. My right arm drew in the dark, my left pulled on the light. I completely released my hold on suppress aura. The two flared up in my body, and violently jumped at each other while I drew in even more of their power from the artifacts. My health started to drop and I began to feel a dampened version of pain course through me. Finally, while completely charged I looked down to the three items in front of me. I drew in the power of the low level item, then the level up item and finally the above max level one. And while the pain slowly increased I fell into the rhythm of the chants as I held my hands to the air, but instead of the words of the cult I chanted: "Break away my limits!" Always with the same timing: "Break away my limits!" My health started to deteriorate. I did not actually need my mana, because I did not use any regular spell, but I continued to leave the elements free reign in my body. "Break away my limits!" Something began to draw on my mana, and rapidly. I was shocked and also exhilarated. The stress overcame the pain and let it fade out. I continued to chant and chant. "Break away my limits!" The shadows around the circle sped up their dance. They spun around quicker and quicker that I began having trouble to see the walls of the room. The lights in the center grew brighter and brighter as if to press out the shadows. Then, when I could not even see the walls at all anymore the shadows began to fall towards the center. The flames grew to an enormous size but still could not disperse the dark. "Break away my limits!" Then suddenly both stopped their fight and descended on me like a whirlwind. The pain inside of me began to burn me. And then everything felt REAL. The pain, my surroundings, which I could hardly perceive anymore, because all around me was almost nothing but light and dark, all drawing into me at a rapid pace. I was scared out of my wits. "Break away my limits!" Why did I continue chanting? I was lost in the moment, dropping to my knees, my stomach cramping. But still I chanted, even as my throat burned with every word. My arms were still painstakingly stretched out above my head as I grew the worst headache I ever had. "........." No more voice would flee my mouth. All around me was... a singularity, me inside and nothing beyond. I was shaking on the ground, finally drawing in my arms around my legs. Everything hurt like hell. Having one sensible thought I reached out to the last bits of mana I had left and clamped it down on myself. I could not even move, but still focused on nothing but this. The singularity seemed to split up. I hardly even saw anything but it felt like I was returning somewhere. Ever pressing down on the two antagonists, space around me reformed and the war within me slowed down. But even though they were no longer ravaging my body I still felt like I was mangled. Finally everything had calmed down. I had closed my eyes, only focusing on the suppression. Everything felt wrong, but was still dulled out by the ever present pain. A cold wind blew over me, making me shiver. Chapter 2 The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Turn right.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡°Not long now.¡± ¡° ¡°Just a bit.¡± ¡°You MUST keep walking now, or you will forever regret it.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Release me and I will tell you the way out.¡± ¡° ¡°Stay up and listen!¡± ¡° ¡°Are you listening now?¡± ¡° ¡°You are one step away from lying down here forever, but if you listen to me, I can help you escape this hell.¡± ¡° ¡°I fear there is no death for you here. But you can go somewhere better.¡± ¡° ¡°Excellent. Then listen carefully now. I will offer you a deal. You will kill me and I tell you the way out.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡°You are correct. The problem is that only one of us can destroy another of us. And that leaves one behind.¡± ¡° ¡°You will remain. I have been here for far, far longer than you. There is nothing that will convince me to take you out.¡± ¡° ¡°When I arrived here, it was because I came here on purpose. I have lived for so long, that even outside of this place I became so weary, that just a chance at death was enough to head here. I have waited for nothing but this.¡± ¡° ¡°You do have the choice to stay here, half dead, but never there and live out an eternity in waiting. Or you can leave and find some life outside that can keep you entertained.¡± ¡° ¡°Very well, but do not forget to fulfill your part of the bargain.¡± ¡° ¡°Then I will resent you with all my might. I may not have any strength left, but I will be able to pull you back here, and then you will never leave again.¡± ¡° ¡° ¡°This place is an impossibility, a place right in between two polar opposites that can''t be combined. Except they were, and for everything in existence, there must be a corresponding place. Right now we sit at the very center between light and dark. There are two exits, one to the light and one to the dark. If you create an imbalance in yourself, the place will shift, too.¡± ¡° ¡°Yes. As far as I know once you reach the pure dark or light, you will have to find a glimmer of the other there.¡± ¡° ¡°No, I only came here once and I never intended to leave. But this is the way to travel planes. I imagine finding a glimmer of light in the dark is easier than finding a bit of dark in utter brightness, so you should head to the dark. Now for your part of the deal. Reach within me with your sense and pull apart light and dark. Of course they will reform on their own, or there would hardly be any need to seek out another cursed one. Somewhere in the depths of my being is my core, which only you will be able to find. It is the one bit that contains both light and dark in somewhat of a harmony. Plug it out, and you destroy my life.¡° Chapter 3 All around me was nothing but blackness. Not in the way of a starless night. It was a dark, as black as the deepest recesses of a cave that drills into the very depth of a mountain. When I held my hand in front of me I could not even see anything. So I tried to hear. Even after some time I was unable to hear even the slightest sound, except for my own breath and heartbeat. Even in the gray lands the sound of the wind would give the place a less empty feel. Next I tried out my sense for mana, but that also didn''t turn up anything close enough for me to find. I was completely alone again. Yet the night seemed warmer without the wind I had experienced before. My mana was slowly regenerating, even while I was still isolating the light and I finally felt at peace. Looking around again I didn''t even find the slightest trace of any light, and didn''t feel any pressure to continue traveling right away. I stayed right where I had appeared and almost immediately fell asleep. I can''t even remember having a more refreshing sleep before in my whole life. When I finally woke up, I just relaxed for a while longer, enjoying the change of scenery. After some more idling I decided to test out this place. The ground was strangely indeterminate. It was similar to soil in texture, but when I tried to take it out it lost its substance. The hole I had created slowly closed in until the ground was even again. I carefully walked around and the whole place seemed to be plane. Since my mana seemed to regenerate on its own for now I tried using some to create a bit of fire for light. It took me a while to form the right image in my mind, of a warm and bright flickering flame. Then I took some mana and overlaid it with that image. I think I finally held a small flame in my hand, because I could feel the heat, but it wasn''t actually capable of emitting light. After extinguishing the flame I tried healing myself. Although the pressure of mana consumption had left me, I was still in the same bad state as before. I tried healing myself, but I could not access the power of light in me. No matter how I drew on its power the entire plane easily ignored any attempts and kept the light as tiny as a spark. At least the exhaustion was gone. I began traveling. It was impossible to see anything, but the strange nature of the ground made walking easy. So far not even a single step hit in an unexpected way, so I began to walk more carelessly. Even after some more time I failed no step, so I stopped worrying. After a while I heard something strange ahead of me. While I was wary, I still moved towards the sound. Even as I got closer its source did not seem to react at all. A constant whimpering was ringing out. ¡°Hello? Who is there?¡± Whoever was there didn''t even react and just continued on letting out the monotonous sounds. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Hearing no reaction I considered if I should move on or try to interact with whatever it was. In the gray lands I had not met anyone until I finally found that angel rock. If I were to leave now I might not meet anything for a very long time, so I decided to take the risk. I tried to get as much information as I could. Considering that the ground was plane, the whimpering came from just above the ground. It didn''t emit much mana, so it was probably not too strong. Or a trap. I still took the risk and stepped closer. I went close enough and touched whatever it was. It didn''t even react and continued its suffering. The body was muddy, almost a bit like the soil around here, but also like soft meat. Will I dissolve into the ground if I stay too long? Whatever it was probably no longer had a proper mind left and I saw no advantage in interacting any more. I looked for anything on it that might be of use to me. I was not to eager to check out the entirety of the body, so I only did a rough check of the surface, but sadly there seemed to be nothing. ¡°Stingy thingy.¡± Mumbling I continued on without any gains. I soon realized, that this place was by far less devoid of life than my previous home. That is, if you can call it life. The whimpering thing was not the only unintelligible one out there. ¡°Whimper, whisper, pant and gurgle!¡± ¡°The hiss I did not want to meet, the chuckle far too evil.¡± ¡°Everyone around here is far too crazy I am telling you.¡± Shalyne''s voice is really beautiful, now that I think of it. Well it would be if it wasn''t completely hoarse. It had been one of the strangest situations, when I had sung at a party my guild was holding. Talking in a different voice in game is one thing, but when you sing it resonates within you. I had had to get my bearings after the party and refused to sing since. After my collapse I had mostly ignored my body. Good thing too, because is always continued hurting everywhere. But even aside from that I tried to think as little of it as possible. I wanted to avoid another trauma and put it in the back of my mind. But it still continued to nipple on the back of my head like a dark tooth. No, it really continued to nipple like a dark tooth. I felt something strange on my head. I jumped forwards in surprise and grabbed whatever it was. Suddenly I held a tentacle in my hands. Its mouth was softly working on my head. I teared it off as strongly as I could and began to run away in the opposite direction. Whatever had just attacked me, I had no interest in finding out. While I tried to escape I touched the back of my head for any injury. It still seemed alright, but I brushed it off several times and tried to find if anything was still there. I ran and ran until I finally fell to the ground. The tentacle thing must have gone after me before it had started on my head, because the chance that I had randomly walked into its range was pretty low. So far nothing I had met was able to move around, so I was really worried. I carefully listened and activated my other senses. I had been too carefree, this was a dark place and there might be a lot of dangers I had ignored so far. Once I could get up again I changed my direction a bit and kept up a harsh step. When I made my next break I finally felt a little bit safer. Thinking back to the event I realized that the tentacle was probably not all that dangerous. It must have been here for a long time and been weakened a lot, or it would not have been as easy to pluck it away from me. The fact that the touch of its mouth had been so soft was also an indication. Or did it not want to eat my meat, but my mind? I really have to be more careful. I vowed to myself to be more aware and keep to myself from now on. ¡°Light oh light where art thou? Come tell me where to gooo.¡± The dark was nice when I came here, but it is starting to get on my nerves. It doesn''t really offer much diversity. Sometimes it is a bit shy and tries to hide from you. At others its right in front of you that you can hardly see anything at all. That is the most annoying. Every now and then I meet something that seems not completely lost to this place. Actual voices, beside mine. They have always been talking in strange tongues, and I was unable to communicate with any of them. I wonder why I could talk to the rock. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Before me, right there in the dark someone cleared his throat. Was I too loud? ¡°Sorry, I sometimes forget that others are around, too. I surely won''t disturb you any longer.¡± ¡°Is no problem.¡± ¡°Oh, then I don''t mind me.¡± Something seemed off. Did I just say that? I did say most of it, but all? Perhaps I misheard myself. Better ask anyway: ¡°Was that someone else talking? Or me again? I am not sure really?¡± ¡°No, is me here.¡± ¡°There it was again, you are someone else? Why can you talk?¡± ¡°Give me moment, I good with language.¡± ¡°I will just wait then.¡± I actually started thinking a bit. Perhaps I have to be cautious of the strange person in front of me. But it has been really long since I had any kind of communication, so it might be nice for a change of pace, even if it is dangerous. ¡°Okay now. Sorry for the delay, I had to take a moment to get attuned to your language.¡± ¡°It was actually really fast. I didn''t know anyone could do that.¡± ¡°Call it a unique skill. I was wondering if it was worth trying to talk, but you seem to have at least some semblance of sanity left. I only get to talk to few people here.¡± Pulling myself together I tried to focus my mind. It has been a while, since I tried thinking coherent thoughts. It is a kind of strain in a place like this. Something tells me this conversation might be too important to blow up. ¡°I... will try concentrate. What do you know of this place? I want to get out of here, but do not know how.¡± He laughs to himself. ¡°Who doesn''t want to get out of here. I mean, of those who are not already half part of the place itself. Yes, I do know the way. When I came here I thought I could easily escape with my knowledge, but the reality was a bit different. I have fruitlessly wandered around since then. You better accept that you will stay here until you become part of the dark.¡± ¡°Can you at least tell me? Even if I am unable to escape I would at least like to know the way.¡± ¡°If you wish, but it will do you no good. You have to find a light and follow it out of here.¡± ¡°I knew that much, but I have traveled everywhere and have not even seen a tiny spark of light everywhere.¡± ¡°I wasn''t talking about some source of brightness. You have to find some last bit of light inside yourself and follow it out. Not very probable for someone who entered here to have something like that left.¡± I looked into myself. The flicker of light was ever present, even when so heavily suppressed. I could have used this all the time I had been here? ¡°There is a small dot of light inside me. I didn''t know I could use it to escape.¡± He cackled. ¡°Very sweet. What you see is only a fragment of an illusion of a memory of light. In this place there CANNOT be light. If I had realized that before...¡± ¡°I don''t care if you believe me. Will you tell me the rest?¡± ¡°Of course, of course. If you had light, just concentrate on it and wander around. As long as you hold your thoughts on light, you will begin to drift out of here.¡± The method of travel reminded me of the strange way I had arrived here. Night had fallen over the gray lands and I had suddenly ended up here. Would I return to the same place? If I did, I might still have a chance to travel into the pure light, but I doubted it would be any easier to get out from there, than escaping this dark was. And no matter where, I wanted to get out of these ever monotonous hell like planes. ¡°If I get back to the place I came from I might just as well stay here. Can I choose a destination?¡± Again he laughed. Every time he did, it sounded more desperate. ¡°Oh, you can not only choose a destination. You can go ANYWHERE. Well in theory of course. Once you drift out here, you must imagine the place you want to go. It''s not that easy though. You will automatically drift towards places you resonate with. The more you belong somewhere, the stronger the pull. That basically means you will end up in a place you have already been at. Or, if your soul has some strong connection to some place you will go there. You should be able to feel, which places are real options to you. If your connection is to weak you will only fall back here.¡± After that I took a long time to think. He seemed lost in thought as well, so we kept our peace. The thing I feared most was the pull the gray lands had on me. So I would have to think of earth strong enough to go back there. I didn''t want to consider the consequences my body brought with it, but getting out of here was more important than the kind of life I had afterwards. ¡°Thank you for your advise. I will try leaving now.¡± ¡°If you leave now, we will probably never meet here again. Why don''t you stay a while longer? It is nice to have some company, if only for a while.¡± ¡°I will only forget about home, if I stay here too long, and then leaving would be pointless. It''s better I get done with it.¡± I got up and and concentrated on the spark of light in me. Then I walked away. ¡°Wait!¡± The stranger shouted after me. ¡°If you really hold light, then I want to at least try leaving.¡± ¡°I thought you could only go places you know? I don''t believe we have anything in common to go to the same place.¡± Considering how fast he had learned the language there was no way he was anything remotely human. How could two people go to the same place if they hold nothing in common? ¡°We will not go to the same places. I will only be exiting here and be on my own way once we''re out. If you can actually leave, you owe me at least this much for my knowledge.¡± That was something I agreed with. His descriptions had been very detailed and seemed strangely sensible. I also didn''t mind helping him out. ¡°So what do I do?¡± I could hear him come close to me and then something touched my shoulder. I stretched out my right arm toward him and he grabbed it. That means, my upper arm was completely enveloped in some solid flesh. Somehow it did not feel intrusive and I was not overly worried. He spoke: ¡°Go then.¡± Again I focused on the light and let my mind go into it. Then I began to walk. It seemed different somehow. I didn''t realize where I was going, only thinking of that piece of light in me. My entire focus was on it and it seemed to grow. I was walking toward it. At first it was only a very light speck of light, but then it began to envelop me. All the while the stranger had my right arm completely enveloped and continued to keep step with me. He did not even speak once while I was concentrating on my task. After some time I thought I could see the light I was concentrating on outside of me as well. I held my focus and took step after step. Finally we must have broken out of the dark. We began walking as if upon clouds. When the dawn began to settle in I looked to my side, but before my head had turned I was stopped by the strangers voice. ¡°Don''t look. I am very different from you and you should not be distracted right now. Just continue walking forward.¡± Retracting my head I picked up my focus again. The spark of light inside had grown and the dark was slowly pushed back. And so we continued, until I could finally see the sun. ¡°You have my gratitude. I will leave on my own way now. May you find your way to a good place.¡± My arm was released and I could hear his steps walking of into the distance. I didn''t even know his name, but anything he gave me was probably nothing I could pronounce or remember anyway, so I left the thought. The area around me could not even be described as bizarre. Wherever I looked, worlds would flow into each other. Before me not a real sun, but an indescribable light brightly shone at me. If I put my gaze elsewhere the light didn''t blind me at all. Behind me a gaping pit of darkness sprawled out into the neighboring worlds. Heavens collapsed in on themselves. Here and there a black hole consumed entire galaxies and yet it seemed as if I could look through them to places beyond. Then something began to softly tug at my soul. An empty feeling, devoid of any substance. Suddenly, parts of the firmament disappeared completely, as if options were being barred from me. I instantly remembered the instructions. I did NOT want to return to the gray lands and focused entirely on my home, my few good friends, even my job. I could see the earth before my eye, felt it. And felt it reject me. The earth was a place for humans and almost devoid of magic. And that were criteria I no longer fit in my current form. I had never felt so emotionally hurt as when your very home world turns away from you and the way I was pushed away to was only clear enough. The multifariousness around me had been reduced to just a few places now. Desperately I looked around for some place, any place that would welcome me. I couldn''t return there again, it would break me even more than it already had and I doubted I could escape there a second time even if I tried. Stepping in the opposite direction of the gray monster that grasped at me. Trying to find a place that was still open to me I reached out with my hand. With my female, elven hand. Accepting some part within me I took one last step, to finally land on solid ground again. Around me nothing but gray hills stretched out. Devastated I dropped on my knees, my hands before me on the ground. And then I saw the most beautiful thing in my entire life. Before me, just in front of my knees grew a wilting bunch of grass. Suddenly a message popped up before me:
Shalyne has been recognized.
Shalyne''s attributes have been calculated.
Class: Sorceress has been assigned.
Profession: Enchanter has been assigned.
Dumbfounded I just sat there and blankly stared into the air. Just when I was coming out of it, I realized my mana had dropped radically and was just reaching zero. Unable to react I watched it empty. Then I died. Chapter 4 Dying isn''t entirely true. I was, once again torn apart, just lying on the ground and unable to move. Somehow my body still refused to die, and I had no regeneration, so I just lay there, crumbling. Again time passed by. Lost in my situation I just observed. I could have landed at a worse place. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see small isolated clouds moving across the sky. This place knew day and night, and it was strange to actually get a sense of time again. Although I was unable to do anything, time went by fast, judging by the switching between day and night. How long had I been in the monotonous planes? I was entirely unable to even make a guess. Finally one day a wanderer came by. He was a human looking man with an unshaved beard. He was dressed in proper traveling gear and had a sun hat on the head. He looked curiously at me. Sadly I was unable to move and could not even react. Then he stepped closer and prodded me. By now I had been lying here for a few weeks, collected dirt and become very stiff. Must have taken me for a rock or something. After another look he left again. A few day later, a small traveling group passed by. I wondered, if it was random chance or if the man had told someone of his find and the curious travelers had decided to take a look. They also seemed interested at first, but later moved on. At times they talked, but I was unable to understand the language. Every once in a while people came by. I was surprised that there were not only humans. I saw some beastmen, dwarfs and one time even an elven woman passed me by. After stilling her curiosity she left the same way all the other did though. One time a man came by who inspected me differently than the others. He carefully looked me over, became lost in thought and studied me some more. He even tested something by touching me a few times. Luckily he refrained from anything creepy. Then he left again. And then a middle aged woman around fifty came by. Her long, formerly dark hair was graying. She might have once been beautiful and it was still visible, but a few too many years had passed her. Strangely she didn''t look like she had struggled at all, because she was completely unaffected by her journey. Her clothes were slightly ragged and dirty though. One thing that let her stand out among all the other people I had seen so far was her gaze. It had an intensity to it that was rarely seen. With her sharp eyes she was studying me thoroughly. Finally she pulled over her mule and pulled out some potions. Walking over to me she forced me into an upright position. I was actually astonished, that I didn''t break into pieces. She forced the liquid of a potion with a blue hue into my mouth. Quite a bit spilled in the process, because I was unable to gulp it down. Still, some of it must have entered my body because after a short while I could feel my mana regeneration increase strongly. It was even greater than my consumption right now. Then the woman pulled out a potion of crimson red. This one was also forced down my throat. Finally she sat down next to me and raised her hands above me. A natural feeling energy enveloped me. I would say it was healing me, but I was so broken that I could not discern any difference. After a while I was laid out on some blankets. The woman waited a few feet next to me, but kept observing me. Then she repeated the process. Whenever the effect of the potions seemed to run out I would be fed another one. She herself rotated between meditating and using the nature type energy on me. At night she would rest, but always make sure the effects of the potions were active long enough. Whenever I had regenerated a bit of mana, I would use it on myself with the intention of healing. The mana I could use was very little and took a long time to fill up, so the effect was limited. On the third day I finally got some feelings back into my body. I was able to blink again. The moment she saw me do that she was laughing out loud and saying some things I didn''t understand. Then she held me on the shoulder and gave me a shake. She must have decided on something, because it was then, that she took of what scraps of clothes I still had on. I watched rather apathetic. Then she took a piece of cloth and some water and scrubbed my whole body. It felt a bit weird but I was mostly numb anyway. Then she dressed me in some pants and a blouse. The clothes were a bit short and loose. I guess she had chosen them to somehow fit me and not for exact size. She put what was left of my boots to the side. After looking at the remaining rags I wondered why I had kept them so long. The thought had never really crossed my mind under the circumstances. On the fifth day I was able to move enough to sit up, and roll around. I was also able to talk again. Although I was unable to communicate with the woman I spoke out, just to show her, that I was actually intelligent: ¡°Thank you for rescuing me.¡± I knew she couldn''t understand, but that was never the point. She still seemed quite happy and nodded. Deciding on something I pointed out to one of the mana regeneration potions, when she took one out again and asked: ¡°What is this called?¡± She spoke something and I repeated. I don''t know if she was calling the potion, the mana or the effect, but I had decided to make it my first learned word in this world. I had a strong feeling that I would have to depend on these potions. How should I introduce myself? I knew my old name didn''t fit me anymore. It seemed obvious, so I decided to take on my character''s name. The question was what I should tell of who I was. For now I just pointed to myself and said: ¡°Shalyne.¡± She pointed at herself and said ¡°Catherine.¡± While I was recovering over the next days I tried to learn as much as I could. It was difficult to expand my vocabulary beyond a few words, but I tried to take in whatever possible. I began to eat and drink. Hunger and thirst had always seemed secondary, and I never knew how starved I was until I took the first bite. Something in my body began to shift and I started to feel more alive. The food was preserved and dry, but it tasted full of flavor to me. I enjoyed every bite. After a while a pressure started to build up somewhere below my stomach. It was a bit irritating and I ignored it at first, but it increased over time. It didn''t feel like pain, but was still very uncomfortable, especially when it started to become stronger. Finally it hit me. I didn''t have to go to the toilet in ages, and had completely forgotten about it. With an ashamed look on my face I gestured to Catherine to my lower body and then attempted to get up. She seemed to understand me, and helped me take the steps to some place away from our camp. Then she stripped my pants down and held me up in a sitting position. It was a very shameful way to go about business. It was not difficult to release the pressure, but it felt wrong down there. Afterwards Catherine helped me clean up and brought me back to the camp. The worst thing was when she tried to explain some corresponding words to me. I never wanted to remember this situation again, but sadly had to repeat it a few more times before I was finally able to take care of it myself. When I was finally able to slowly walk again I was very glad. It gave me back some of my independence and I vowed to myself to prepare whatever necessary to ensure that. While it seemed that I could depend on Catherine for mana regeneration potions for now, that was certainly no permanent solution. I would have to find a way to increase my mana output and regeneration by a lot. Another thing I wanted to achieve, was to become strong enough, that I would not fall back into such a helpless situation on the first little gust of wind blowing me over. How strong was I anyway? It was very difficult to quantify. I was nowhere near the power Shalyne had had in the game. Even when comparing it to my old male body on earth I fell short. Of course I had always been moving around while torn down, but my maximum capacity for any given task also seemed to be below what I had been able to do. I felt weak. I was unsure of how much I would be able to lift or how quick I could be when I healthy. The only thing where I exceeded my former body was the use of magic. My sense for it had never left me after leaving the game, while on earth I didn''t even have anything resembling it. Although it might be argued, that with my own regeneration in the negative I was actually weaker in that regard, too. What could I do to improve upon myself? Physical training seemed obvious, but that might not help with mana. Perhaps there were some types of training for that as well. Then I remembered that when I had appeared here, some strange messages had popped up. Maybe there were more game like solutions as well.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The problem came down to my lack of information. I knew nothing about this world, and it clearly worked different from earth. That led to the problems in communication. Without proper language it was nigh impossible to even discuss what information I wanted to obtain. Right now I could exchange a few simple words, but they only described the most trivial and daily issues. Catherine was careful to use simple words when talking with me, so I could understand some of it. But it would still take a lot of effort to progress to where I wanted to be. While I was pondering these issues, Catherine came up to me. ¡°We something something walk. Get up.¡± She gestured me to get up and I stood up. Then she began to pack up the camp, so I guessed she wanted to leave. Considering that she had come out here and taken the time to heal me up, take care of me and teach me language, I didn''t think she wanted to leave me behind. It also seemed, that she had purposefully made her way here just to find me. After all she had been equipped with everything that had been necessary in my recovery. I wondered what her intentions were. Nobody would come out and make such an effort just to do some good. At least those were my believes in anything living. She seemed dependable for now, and did treat me well, so she had that in her favor. I had no other choice than to go along with her, and I was thankful for her assistance. Depending on what was on her mind I would have to deal with the situation. As long as I could pursue my own goals I was ready to put up with at least some inconveniences. Those I would have no matter which path I took, and Catherine also seemed to be a good assistance in at least some of my issues. I would have to wait and see. When the mule was fully packed, we began to walk. There was no more place on its back, so I had no chance to ride. That meant our speed was slow and we had to make many breaks whenever I grew exhausted. I also had to use my old boots, which were uncomfortable to walk in, but still fit better than the pair Catherine had brought along. Catherine would often continue the healing when I was resting, and it didn''t take long until I could keep up a normal pace. We still had to take breaks, but it was always me who had to initiate them. She seemed completely unaffected. There was no regular road. The way we took went through the ragged and dry landscape. It even had the familiar color of the gray hills. I must have been very, very close to ending up just there. At least there was some green here and there, but the area seemed uninhabitable and I did not even see any animals strolling around. The terrain didn''t really change, so it became a journey without any excitement. I still enjoyed it though. I began to feel better than I had since the ritual and slowly became more and more lively because of it. Catherine continued to talk to me, so the time was well spent, too. When we rested I always tried to end up at a place with at least some bunches of grass. It was always a lovely sight to watch. On the third day since we left a message popped up:
Endurance increased by 1.
I stood still and just stared at the message. I was actually really excited. This message meant that I really had an option of becoming stronger. In whichever ways this system worked, I would have to find out all about it and exploit any edge I could get. Min Maxing does come naturally after all. I didn''t feel any stronger though. Was training gradual? Since it had only been the second time of seeing such a message I must have been rather obvious about it. Catherine looked over to me. ¡°What is it?¡± I gestured a popping up screen as good as I could and she seemed to understand. Then we tried to communicate what endurance was. Finally she asked me: ¡°How much do you have?¡± That was a very good question. I certainly wasn''t very enduring, and there had been no such stat in the game that I could compare my current level to. In Ascension, players didn''t tire at all. You could go on and on for hours and still fight at full strength. The messages had never entailed any information of accessing it. I don''t know if there even were such methods available or if it would require me to learn them the hard way. Was there a way to access my personal stats? Or even analyze those of others? ¡°Say something.¡± Before I could come to any conclusion of my own, Catherine had spoken to me. I did not understand the word, but repeated after her: ¡°STATUS¡± A screen appeared before me, and I became a bit sad.
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress
Profession: Enchanter
Stats:
Strength: 5 Dexterity: 8 Vitality: 6 Endurance: 6 Intelligence:11
Health: 45/60 Mana: 110/110 Mana Regeneration: 1.10 mana/minute (5.10 mana/minute)
Why did I have to be level 1 again? The ritual had really fucked me up. I had already guessed that I was nowhere near as strong as in the game, but this put the final nail in the coffin. I had been completely reset to level 1. Aside from endurance, the other stats were the same way I had distributed them when I created Shalyne. Stats always had a base value of 5, and that had held true even for endurance in a way. ¡°You alright?¡± My depression must have shown. I really had a long way before me. Then I remembered one other thing. There had been many ways I had interpreted possible outcomes for the ritual. One was the inability to level at all. That would really doom me. I was not all that worried though, because I had been able to gain at least one stat in a way alternative to leveling. Time would tell. ¡°I am weak.¡± We both became lost in thought. I wanted to ask more about the system, but for questions such as this my language abilities were entirely inadequate. Catherine wanted to say something a few times, but never spoke out. Perhaps she finally found the right words after a long period of silence: ¡°You work for me, I help you.¡± I nodded. She also nodded, a light smile on her face. Whatever intentions she had, they would soon begin to play themselves out. Our travel continued on. The land slowly began to change. The amount of grass steadily increased and I also saw some bushes. Some small animals started to appear, but they quickly hid away before we came close. The ground had changed from an almost entirely rocky area to a mix of soil and rock. While I took in the changing scenery a huge snake had appeared before us. It could hardly hide itself with a length of at least 4 meters. I wondered if it could find enough game out here. It steadily approached us. Catherine nonchalantly threw a fireball at it, wiping it out in one strike. We approached it and then she dissected the snake, taking out a few parts, but leaving the main body behind. When the first stunted trees appeared we had traveled an entire week. Our speed was very steady by now. I felt so great I was hopping around at times. It had been a very long time since I had been pain free, that it had just become background noise. But now my mind was able to process more trivial sensations. My bra didn''t fit right. It was not a horrible fit, but still uncomfortable. I guess I was lucky that I didn''t have some ridiculous rack, elves usually had slim figures after all. But that didn''t mean I was anywhere near flat, and the constant twitching never ceased to remind me. The only thing that still hurt were my feet, but only because of the constant walking and the bad state of my boots. The difference was, that it had become such a focused point, that it was quite an annoyance. Before I had probably ignored it, but there was also my hair. Its length was below my shoulders and it had a will of its own. Some strands would always dart around right in front of my face. The idea of cutting it somehow made me sad, I had always loved women to have long hair. It was only that I had never had to put up with it myself. Perhaps I would make a ponytail out of it.
Endurance increased by 1.
Another message popped up and gave my mind some distraction. Thinking of my overall stats I realized, that if we were to travel for much longer, my endurance would soon exceed all my other stats. Once the first little streams appeared the landscape rapidly changed into a forested area. The scent of the air was fresh and full of life. I could almost imagine becoming one of those abominable tree huggers myself. A forest is such a beautiful thing. There are trees and herbs and animals. Lots of wolves of course. Lots and lots of wolves. It''s ridiculous really. Catherine constantly had to keep them at bay with some kind of darkness, which streamed out of her hands in long threads as thick as an arm. It frustrated me, that I had no way to measure the strength of the wolves, or any animal. Considering the fact that strength did not directly correlate with size of muscles and overall height it might be dangerous to even face two look-alikes of the same species. At least the fluctuations in the auras they gave off differed. ¡°How strong are wolves?¡± ¡°Some are weak, some are strong.¡± ¡°How do I know?¡± Catherine struggled to come up with an answer. ¡°I can''t show you now. You can know it. You will learn it later.¡± At least there were some ways of estimating their strength. If you are weak in this world even some mouse can seem scary. I could finally understand the issues elephants seemed to have. The morning after the second night in the forest Catherine told me while packing up: ¡°We arrive today.¡± I had been curious where we were headed the entire journey, so I had greatly anticipated this. I didn''t ask about the place, I would get a much better picture by just waiting and seeing for myself. About half the day in and a few wolves later:
Endurance increased by 1.
I just smiled to myself this time, but wasn''t surprised anymore. I had hoped for one more stat increase, because after the traveling was over my chances to push up endurance would probably decrease. The area around us was still a hilly, forested area, but there were only few rocks on the surface now. There were no real mountains around, but I guessed the ground level must have constantly risen, because we had followed the same stream upwards for a while. The difference can''t have been to great, because it comfortably flowed with a slow speed and the were no steep slopes. I could see some fish swimming about and lost track of time while watching the stream, because when we suddenly stopped we had arrived in front of a hut. It was separated from the stream by about two more meters of altitude. To both sides of the stream two small hills slowly rose up, and the hut was built close to one of them. It was solidly built of stone with a wooden roof. If Catherine was living here alone than it was quite opulent in size. She led the mule around the back to a small shed, that was built into the hut, but not connected. She took off the saddlebags and we went around to the front before entering. Chapter 5 We entered into a large room. On the longer left side were two doors, and on the shorter side up front one more. On the right a large table was placed, and on the wall behind it the evening light entered through dusty windows. The floor was made out of large, dark oak wood planks. There were a few shelves with various items and just right to the entrance stood a shoe rack. Catherine put on some slippers, while I just pulled my boots off and was left in socks. Catherine just put the bags down and began to introduce me to some more vocabulary. If you suddenly enter a house for the first time after being in the wilderness all the time, you will get exposed to a swarm of miscellaneous things you never even thought about before. I struggled to keep even a few of the words in my mind.
Intelligence has increased by 1.
Now this time I was surprised. In the best of ways of course but still. Learning the language must be considered a suitable activity for increasing ones intelligence. Which is sensible I guess, depending on the way intelligence is defined. What was not sensible was that my mana pool had increased right along with it, as my status screen showed, that I had immediately opened up.
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 1
Profession: Enchanter
Stats:
Strength: 5 Dexterity: 8 Vitality: 6 Endurance: 8 Intelligence: 12
Health: 57/60 Mana: 120/120 Mana Regeneration: 1.20 mana/minute (5.20 mana/minute)
What did mana have to do with learning? If this was earth, every bookworm would blast his enemies into oblivion. Well, that would be one of the perks I would abuse from now on however possible. ¡°My intelligence has increased!¡± I happily shared the news. Catherine just laughed and pointed at the table: ¡°What is this?¡± I knew had had just known it one moment ago. It was at the tip of my tongue and I struggled, until she just repeated the word. I certainly would not forget this time, hopefully. Seeing that my capacity for the moment was spent we just went through the first door, where a kitchen was built in. I looked in horror at all the different kinds of tools and vegetables. When I was done here I would be an arch mage. Catherine took some potatoes out of some cabinet and handed me a knife with a grin. I sighed and went to work on my dexterity. When we were done cutting vegetables we had prepared a nice amount of stew which would last for a few meals. I found myself a chair while I waited for it to finish. I must have dozed off for quite a while, because when Catherine woke me up it was much darker outside. The room was illuminated by a strange lamp that hang on the ceiling. We ate in silence while I enjoyed the stew. Of course the vegetables had not been fresh, but compared to the boring food on the trip it was much better. I ate until I was completely filled up, which surprisingly only took two servings. After we cleaned up Catherine gave me a towel, soap and some fresh clothes. I went outside to the stream and stripped out of my current clothes. I scrubbed my whole body clean. The water was cold, but becoming clean again won out. This was the most intimate I had been with my body so far. It one time when I had been cleaned by Catherine, I was mostly numb. Now I was aware of every touch I made. It wasn''t just my breasts. The whole female body is so completely different. Thin arms, my long hair, even my face felt unfamiliar. While washing my waist and hips the proportions just felt so off. I took some effort to keep myself together while quickly washing my nether regions and was still shaken while finishing with my legs and feet. The whole time I had done nothing beyond simple washing and was glad when I finally put on some clothes again. As I trudged back to the house my self awareness was heightened a lot, leaving me with a disturbing feeling. Back inside again I found Catherine in the back room. It was very crowded with several pieces of furniture pushed together on one side of the room, including two bunk beds. The other side was occupied by an isolated bed and a nightstand. The top of the more accessible bunk bed was somewhat prepared and I climbed up there. I just managed to cuddle myself into the blanket before I slept like a lazy shoe. When I woke up the next day I was alone in the room. Although I was well rested I felt a bit drained. Slowly taking my time to get up it quickly got worse. Mana! The effect of the last potion must have run out. I looked around the room, but could not find anything prepared. Then I went into the lobby/communal type room and started looking. ¡°Catherine?¡± I called out, but got no answer. The kitchen was empty, and the other remaining room tightly locked, so I went outside to call out again. Still no answer I ran a bit around the house, to the shed in the back, and then took a larger circle. I was shouting out louder, when I found a small shack one corner around the hill closest to the house. Going over there I finally got my answer. ¡°I am here, what is it?¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I need a mana regeneration potion!¡± She furrowed her brows and looked me over. ¡°You still need them?¡± ¡°Please¡± Not entirely happy we went over to the house, where she opened up the locked door. Inside where a variety of more valuable items, including books, potions and what looked like ingredients to me. Catherine took out one of the familiar blue potions and I had it gulped down before she could even blink. We went back into the lobby and sat down. ¡°You still need them?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, I need much more mana.¡± I felt a bit awkward to further depend on her. She tried to find find the right words and finally said: ¡°I told you: You work for me, I help you.¡± I still remembered. Now the cards would be put on the table. So I just nodded in anticipation. At my agreement she left to the storage room and returned. She put a few things on the table. I didn''t look them over, because once I saw the syringe I didn''t need to. A small shudder passed through me. So it came down to donating blood. I was not naive enough to think that giving blood was as trivial as on earth. It was possible that it could be used against me in some way. The situation was definitely difficult. On the one hand I was in her debt, and already depended on her. On the other she might use the blood to bind me even further, perhaps even leaving without any choice. Or might she be able to remotely hold my life in her hands? Corrupt me into something else? Aside from changing my very self those problems actually didn''t scare me all that much. If I were to actually die by some remote spell using my blood I would be released. I estimated, that in such a situation I would just collapse to the ground again, but that was something that would happen anyway if I ran out of mana. If it came to that I could only hope to have built up enough intelligence to have some left over regeneration for healing myself up again. Any further binding me into dependency was certainly problematic. But here the same basic situation applied. Almost any kind of life was preferable to lying on the ground for an indeterminate time. And as long as some semblance of free choice remained I might be able to stage some assassination. Or might be released by chance. All in all, most of the outcomes could certainly be bad, but within my wide range of acceptability. ¡°Why do you want it?¡± ¡°To create potions.¡± Next I tried explaining my fear of being bound, by using gestures of chains and me moving around like a zombie. She shook her head. ¡°Only potions.¡± The question of trust remained, but I couldn''t do anything about it. I sighed. ¡°No selling. My blood stays here!¡± She immediately agreed. Then I spoke out my last concern, one I could do something about. ¡°Only clean.¡±, I insisted while pointing at the canula. Catherine didn''t seem to have many replacements, so we finally agreed on flushing the used one with some alcohol beforehand. It was not perfect but I could live with it. Even newly produced ones might not be perfectly clean anyway, so I doubted the situation could be improved by much. Perhaps these procedures where unnecessary with the use of healing magic, but I preferred it this way. Finally I stretched out my arm. Catherine seemed proficient in taking blood, and hit my vein at once. After taking about half of a liter she stopped and healed the puncture wound with magic. I looked at my arm and didn''t find any sign it had been pierced just a moment ago. I felt a bit light headed so I leaned back into a chair while she prepared some breakfast. We both ate and although I helped cleaning up I rested a bit longer afterward. Will increased Vitality reduce the effect of blood loss? I really hoped so, because spending blood had never effected me this much, even if it wasn''t too bad. I was just getting myself together, when there was a knock on the door. ¡°Hello?¡±, a loud female voice rang out. Catherine must have been at the shack, or at least close by, or she would have told me something. So I decided to lead whoever just came here over. When I opened the door a rough looking elven woman stood before the house. She wore a heavy leather armor and had a sword strapped to her side. Her blonde hair stopped above her shoulders. Just below her left eye was a huge scar, finishing up the appearance of a warrior woman. But somehow the way her face looked just didn''t fit at all. There was no trace of harsh severity. She felt like a child playing warrior. We inspected each other, each surprised at the other. After a few moments of silence I pointed over in the direction of the shack and said: ¡°Catherine is not here right now, perhaps she is over....¡± Before I could even try to finish the woman before me already interrupted my sentence and introduced herself. The first few lines were too quickly spoken for me to understand even a word I may have possibly known, but then she finished up with a more pronounced: ¡°I am Arienne. What''s your name?¡±, followed by another two quick gusts of language. Finally she gave me a quick moment to utter: ¡°Shalyne.¡± Before I was able to take a breath she started to ramble on. I gestured her to slow down and inserted a quick ¡°I don''t understand.¡± That paused her for a moment, producing an irritated look, before she switched into another language began to speak just the same way. I shook my head, but she just ignored me. I closed the door and keeping some kind of eye contact walked over to the shack. When we were close enough I desperately cried out: ¡°Catherine?¡± A slightly annoyed: ¡°What is it?¡± rang back. After a short moment Catherine came out of of the shack, a light frown on her face. The moment she spotted Arienne the frown deepened to a substantial level. ¡°Only one day back and....¡± What she said afterward sounded like anger and curses. Arienne didn''t seem irritated at all and found some way to fluently combine whatever she had spoken to me into something to answer Catherine. The two went at each other, and after a little while I finally felt excluded enough to breath a sigh of relief. I didn''t enjoy speaking when I was unable to understand anything, so I dislodged myself from the conversation and left back for the house. After a short time a disgruntled Catherine entered. ¡°Stay out there!¡± She went to the locked door, opened it, took some potions out of the storage and locked it again. Then she went to the front door and exchanged it against some coins. Before Arienne could even say anything the door was thrown right in her face. My vocabulary was then expanded by ''bad luck'', ''avoid'' and some curses. After a while she strode to the front door and peaked out, followed by a more thorough search outside. When she came back in she took out broom, bucket and some rag and handed them over. Before she left again she just said: ¡°Bad luck.¡± I knew I would have to work my share sooner or later but the way it came about seemed a bit unreasonable. Still I took up the bucket and went outside to the stream. I found a place very close to the house where it was steep enough, so I could fill up the bucket almost entirely. I started cleaning the windows when Arienne suddenly snuck back around the corner of the house and began another tirade. ¡°Please speak slower.¡±, was all I could force out and it must have accomplished something, because the following two sentences where spoken at an almost sensible speed before Arienne forgot all about it and resumed her former pace. At least I had been able to make out about a sword and some wolves, so she was probably telling me a story that happened to her. Something must be really wrong with that woman, because she kept at me until I had finished the outside of all windows. I emptied the bucket, refilled it and went into the house, managing to delay her at the front door just long enough to sneak in and shut it before she could even try to follow. I anxiously waited for a while, but the house must have been some kind of taboo to her. I decided to delay cleaning the inside of the windows and began to work on some hidden corners at first. Uttering a deep sigh, I hoped I had not made an enemy out of Arienne. It was difficult to take her seriously, but the way she carried herself still held some weight. Perhaps I should apologize once my language skills had improved enough. For now I went to work on the house. The cleaning took the whole day until I had put most of the house into a decent state, but there were some corners I could have spent another week on. Catherine had briefly joined me for lunch and only came back in for dinner once it was almost dark. I considered my work finished at that time and cleaned out the bucket for the last time. Completely full of dirt I went to the stream to clean again, but today I was even more tired than after a whole day of travel and just went through the motions. I put on a different set of clothes. That was also something I had to change, I couldn''t continue to depend on Catherine''s wardrobe forever. It didn''t take me long to sleep that day either. Chapter 6 In the morning I was woken up when Catherine just left the room. I got up as well and we ate breakfast. A bit of bread or some eggs would be a nice way to start the day, but since Catherine had been out for a while we were left with another serving of the stew. As long as it is kept cold enough it is good for a while. Although we didn''t warm it up it still tasted good, and it went along nicely with a mana potion. ¡°We are going to the town today.¡± Those were good news. I had been afraid of another day of menial labor, not that I dared complain. If we went to do some errands that were to my benefit I might consider the blood donation and hard work an acceptable sacrifice. Taking along the saddlebags we left the house and prepared the mule. The shed was not closed, but it had still been there when we arrived at the back. It must be well trained, because it had taken care of itself the other day, but was still ready to leave at once. We must be heading north, because the rising sun was sometimes visible through the leaves to the east. There was no kind of road here, and I might even be imagining that we were following a trail. There were few good landmarks I could distinguish and if I were left alone I would never find the way back just by going south. The forest around here was very diverse. In between the different kinds of trees a wide variety of other plants was growing. I had never been one for nature before, but this place might grow on me. If I had the knowledge it might even be possible to live off nothing but the place itself. Comfort had also lost some of its meaning to me, and I didn''t insist on sleeping inside anymore. For now I would still become lost and be unable to get by though. While I tried to keep track of anything memorable, we were walking through some depression in the earth. When we came out on the other side a small pack of wolves already laid in ambush and charged right at us. It was no good habit, by I had grown a bit complacent around Catherine. She eliminated the charging wolves with one of her snakelike threads of darkness for each wolf. I had given up on learning the way for now and decided to instead play around with the bit of mana I had lying around. As long as my regeneration was positive and I could depend on Catherine for safety I had no reason to keep my pool filled up. Mimicking her spell I let some much thinner thread of darkness slip out of my right index finger. I didn''t even have to focus on it like when I wanted to create a fireball. This energy felt very natural and I let it spin around, flying loops and making knots. The difficult part was to actually stop sending any more of the thread out of my finger. Right now the whole body of the snake moved along right with me and I kept it in front of me to watch it doing tricks. I wondered if it was even substantial and let it rush against a tree I was passing. It went right through and out the other side. Of course the thread was thin enough to leave no real signs, but my senses told me that there had been hardly any interaction between the two. I let the thread dissolve itself and held up my finger once again. This time I concentrated on giving it a heavy, corporeal essence. This time I could feel a slight effort, but the thread was still very thin. I let it dash around again, all the while keeping that state up. Then I let go. The thread remained, but felt like it had reverted back to its first form. If used in the right way a small but thin thread could be very lethal, so the question was how durable it was. I dissolved my current one again and created the next. This time I poured the intent of physicality as well as firmness into it. It was quite a bit more difficult to keep two intents active at once. I was lucky that I almost didn''t have to focus on it being made of dark. Keeping it stable I tried letting it move around. The figures I could easily imagine it dancing before had become stiffer and letting it spin around in a curve took a longer distance than the instant spins I was able to let it do before. I tried to make it do an immediate back turn, but the front part of the thread lost its properties. I could catch my thoughts before the whole thread lost it, but now I had a front that spun around wildly and playfully, and a back that reacted more slowly but more severe. Suddenly I realized, that the only thing I had been keeping up now was the physicality and had lost track of the durable part. I let the whole thing dissolve again. A long durable thread could certainly be used to tie someone up, but I would have to keep it up and spin it around many times, and this sort of movement was difficult to do with two attributes active. The spells Catherine had cast might not have more than one or maybe two attributes. A physical object of sufficient size could easily hurt the target, but the wolves had never been flung away. They just collapsed on impact. So I had to try something else. My next creation was a small globe of light, to change things up. I tried to imagine it searing anything it came into contact with, similar to a very hot fire but a burning of disintegration instead of consuming. This spell was different from the others. It was intense and dangerous. I knew that this small globe could really carve its way through something. It also drained a substantial amount of mana. I could feel a strain when pulling the light out. I had to extract it out of the grasping, sticky hands of dark. Just keeping it active slowly drew on me, but now that it was created the double dipping effect of casting and suppressing for just one spell didn''t seem to hold true anymore. Perhaps I could manipulate outside sources of light and dark without disturbing my inner balance. I put those considerations to the side for now, because I wanted to test out the globe before it drained me empty. I let it flow through a leaf and it left a hole in its path. At the moment it had touched the leaf I sensed a deep vibration as the leaf was ripped apart. It was soundless but I had felt the process intimately. Luckily the leaf was thin, or the mana drain that came along with it would have been greater.
Sorceress has increased to Level 1.
The message completely shook me up. I had been completely lost in my experiments and lost track of anything else. Something still pulled on my mind and I looked back to find the globe still in place, but it was already loosing part of its searing power because I had lost track. I let it go entirely and it disappeared. No longer interested in casting spells I first took a moment to get aware of my surroundings again. Catherine was still walking ahead of me and seemed unaware of my experimentation. The spells had not been audible, so perhaps they had really escaped her attention. There seemed to be no wolves around, not that they mattered, and I couldn''t help but let my attention slip to more important things. ¡°STATUS.¡± I thought out the command.
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 1
Profession: Enchanter
Stats:
Strength: 5 Dexterity: 8 Vitality: 6 Endurance: 8 Intelligence: 15
Health: 59/60 Mana: 20/150 Mana Regeneration: 1.50 mana/minute (5.50 mana/minute)
I had gained 3 Intelligence just for playing around with mana a bit. The effect of leveling up a class was immense. The fact that I had only reached level 1 was a bit irritating, perhaps I had started the same way as someone without the class and my previous class had only been acknowledged but not leveled. What I only just now realized was how drained I felt. Of course I had spent a long time in a state without mana, so it didn''t feel that strange. One does however become used to a more comfortable state quickly, so it was a noticeable difference to the last few days. The change in my stats had a nice side effect. While I was still completely dependent on mana regeneration potions for sufficient regeneration, the regeneration I had left to spend on my own volition had increased to more than the double amount than before. The suppression of my aura usually took around 5 mana/minute. Filling up still takes a long time, but if I can increase my level just as easily as just now I could make very fast progress. Compared to the passive stat increases leveling a class seems much more important now. That makes me wonder about the possibility of multi classing in this world, the effect of professions and what other tricks I am still unaware of. The rest of the way went by quickly while I reflected on the way the spells had worked and possible ways of training. We kept on just silently walking and kept to ourselves. After maybe two hours since we left the hut, the forest opened up and before us was an open valley. The morning sun sent rays of yellow light on the beautiful scenery. The valley was stretched long and only about a kilometer broad. Right through the middle ran a small river, flowing down from the greater heights to our current right where the sun peaked through two hilltops. To our left the outskirts of a city began to stretch out. In fact, the whole valley seemed like a rural extension of the city. The whole valley was interspersed with houses and fields. Some stood in larger groups and some isolated. To the sides of the valley meadows stretched up to the borders of the surrounding forest. A small road followed the path of the valley, mimicking the river in its own way. We stepped out onto a meadow and sheep ran around around us freely. We passed a wolf like dog who was keeping a lazy eye on the sheep while resting in the grass. He was very large and seemed able to sweep away the kind of wolves we had seen in the forest without any effort. He gave us a short look over, but didn''t deem us worthy of getting up. After following along the adjacent borders of two fields, we reached the small road in the center of the valley. Then we traveled towards the city. The whole neighborhood was long since up and bustling. People went from one place to another, often carrying goods of some kind. The amount some of them were carrying at once were massive and seemed more limited by how they could hold onto it than the weight of the items. Only few people seemed to actually struggle. We drew a lot of looks and most seemed to linger on me a bit too long. Catherine sometimes exchanged greetings, but the road was busy enough that we did not have to acknowledge every person. To our left a huge area was surrounded by a fence. Inside of it were many aggressive looking boars. They were more alike to the wild wolves than the domesticated sheep. At the end of the area stood a few partitioned of pens and the sound of a fight rang out from within, but I couldn''t see what exactly was happening inside. Catherine did not seem bothered and just explained: ¡°People come here to train.¡± ¡°If you kill boars, you get stronger.¡±, she went on to explain. Intentional fighting of monsters just to increase your strength was not a new concept to me. Actually breeding animals for that purpose seemed a bit strange to me. Of course I wanted to run around the forest and start slaying wolves, but along the weak ones a real monster might hide. Catherine hadn''t been bothered by anything we had come across, but I considered her to be much stronger than anything we had met. For me the difference between two wolves might be a real concern. Deliberately training up against boars of a chosen strength was no bad idea. I put it on my list of ways to train myself. We crossed the river, when we came across a small wooden bridge. Not far off from there we began to head directly to a group of houses. Catherine went to one of them and knocked on the door. When we didn''t get an answer an older woman was just passing by. ¡°Do you know where Ms. Dain is right now?¡±, Catherine addressed the woman. She seemed startled, glancing around between us, but answered: ¡°I think she went to the city something.¡± If people speak properly, even a little understanding of the language goes a long way. When we had passed the other people on the road, there were some where even their greeting sounded unintelligible. The older woman right now however spoke clearly and I could almost follow what she said. ¡°Thank you, perhaps we will meet her on the way there.¡± Catherine spoke in a normal tone, but still seemed to try using words that I could follow. We left and crossed back over the river. When we reached the city the road became broader and changed to pavement. Around us were a strange mix of different houses. Small shabby huts, busy workshops, and even a group of country houses which stood a bit isolated and were surrounded by fenced gardens. This place must be peaceful, because it took a little while until we reached an old city wall. A large gate stood open and there were even two guards posted there, but they didn''t stop anyone and just observed the traffic. While outside there had been a strange mix, inside of the walls the houses were of similar types. They were all built of stone and most were properly maintained, but were more than a few years old. We turned right into another street and after a short while we reached a tailor. I knew I had to get some clothes of my own, but it made me very uncomfortable coming here. For one I was depending on Catherine again. And then I had no idea how to shop clothes as a woman. All I had seen so far were the simple sets of clothes I had worn, but they were no proper fit. The best would be to get some assistance and let one of the shop assistants handle the fitting. One thing I firmly set on was, that I wanted my clothes to be practical. If I continued to live out in the woods and had to walk to town regularly there was no way around this. Wearing anything too feminine looking was also something I wanted to avoid. I knew I had to come to terms with my new status, but I didn''t see how a skirt or dress would help there. The shop was large and contained a lot of different clothes. Most were simple looking and in a few different sizes. Anything special might only be on commission with the right measurements. This tailor worked to provide for the masses, not any high clientele.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Even with this selection I felt lost. I turned to Catherine in hopes that she might assist me somehow. I was a bit too ashamed to speak up, but she immediately took me to one of the assistants. We were still here on my behalf, and I did have some option on what I wanted to wear. So I took heart and spoke out myself: ¡°I need some practical clothes. Every part.¡±, while gesturing down my entire body. The assistant, a middle aged, stern woman took in my request and turned to Catherine. It must have been obvious, that I was in her care. ¡°A few complete something of clothes? Everything, including something something¡±. After I became unable to follow I just waited, while the two discussed in more detail what I needed. I waited and took another look around. The way we were the center of attention wasn''t something I enjoyed and I was glad when the older woman took me by the hand and led me into a partitioned off corner of the shop. She took out a tape and had me stand still while taking my measurements. Then she left me there and went off. There was a mirror on one of the walls in the corner I waited in. It was the first time I had seen myself like this since the game. In front of me stood a shy, beautiful woman. The clothes didn''t fit her right. She seemed like a runaway. I was of course aware that I was looking at myself, but it still felt like I was looking at someone else. She didn''t fit my self image at all. Still watching the mirror I made some small movements with my arms, fascinated by the way the reflection followed along. I moved close to the mirror and whispered to myself: ¡°This is you now.¡± There was a look of sad acceptance on her face and I had to turn around, because I couldn''t bear watching her any longer. My thoughts were empty after that and only when the assistant returned was I pulled out of this sort of stasis. She had returned with a nice stack of different clothes. The collection seemed surprisingly sensible, and though the cut of some pieces was not exactly to my liking it was not over the top. I would be able to live with it. Then I had to try everything on. One after another the assistant added new pieces to a stack I was hardly able to reduce. I did take a few short glances in the mirror to check out whatever I was trying on at the moment, but tried to just inspect the fit and nothing else. Although the clothes were simple it was an improvement compared to the image I had given off in Catherine''s clothes. I even had to try out a few bras until I found one that was so much more comfortable than the one I had worn before. ¡°This one.¡±, I returned it to the assistant. It was awkward to me, but after all the uncomfortable ones I had worn this bra was a much needed improvement. Finally a nice wardrobe had built up. When I left the cubicle I was exhausted. Catherine waited outside, a few pieces of her own under her arm. We took the whole stack with us and Catherine paid the assistant. We then packed everything unto the mule and I was sure it would have been very difficult to carry it on our own. ¡°Thank you very much for helping me!¡± She waved me off. She took a look around and no one was focused on us right now. She spoke in a slightly hushed voice: ¡°I do get enough in return. Your blood is worth a lot.¡± At least she was frank about it. I decided to stop worrying about the money. Just around a small corner was our next stop. We went inside and the moment the shoemakers eyes dropped on my boots I could feel his heart breaking. He must love his profession. Without any consideration he forced my boots off and was measuring my feet while Catherine stood to the side and chuckled. I waited helplessly until he was done. Catherine translated his heavy dialect. ¡°He has a pair here, that might fit you. In two weeks he makes a new pair.¡± ¡°Like my old boots?¡± The shoemaker sniffed at the remains of my old shoes. ¡°Better ones!¡±, he struggled to speak properly. I slipped into the surrogate pair and although it did not fit perfectly, it was more comfortable than my old shoes. ¡°I will take them.¡± When we left it was only early noon, but the day had felt like much longer already. We bought some snacks from the stalls in the old town and settled into a corner for a little lunch break. By now the temperature was comfortably warm, and I almost fell asleep. The short break really helped me to recover. We got up and followed the main street further into the center of the city. The next place we visited was a curious shop. From outside it looked large, but a bit shabby. When we went in I saw the shop any wizard must dream of. On tight shelves were crystals, different artifacts, books and scrolls and other miscellanea. Close to the entrance was a counter and behind it stood a man of around 45 years. He was not tall and his head was already showing the first signs of balding. Behind his glasses however lurked the sharp eyes of a vulture. ¡°Ms. Kasilan.¡± ¡°Good day Mr. Heart.¡± The two eyed each other in silence for a moment, while I was completely ignored. Catherine then stepped up to the counter and the two began to bicker. At some point it had turned into a war of haggling, but I wasn''t really paying attention, because the shop around me was much more interesting. All the items around me emitted mana, some more some less, and since the entire room was filled up with them it was amazing to witness. There were very few items in here, that were not in some way enchanted. While some items seemed to contain only a single simple intent, there where others I couldn''t even begin to decipher. Especially the scrolls were something of which I had never seen its like. The scrolls themselves seemed to be simple parchment with a few words written on them, there was an entire structure of mana built on top of them. It was like a complex building, interwoven, with passageways to and fro, every room had its purpose. There also seemed to be large parts that were polluted, ways that ended without reaching any point. There were rooms that seemed identical, strings that had knots, and essences that had run dry. I had no idea what any of these parts symbolized, but it felt so wrong that magnificent constructs like these were so neglected. If I pushed some mana through some of these clouded paths, mana could flow there again. Then I refilled some of the empty rooms and they brimmed again, pushing out into the connecting pathways. Some of the paths that were flowing normally began to become flooded now and the pressure may have become to much for the paths. I reinforced the paths, but the crossroads, which now had a steady stream of different energies changed their own essence. The entire thing slowly began to spin around itself, no longer steady on top of the parchment and started to fall over. I tried to keep the structure balanced, but instead it began to build up an internal tension that kept becoming stronger and stronger. My inspiration had run out by now and I could only watch as the whole thing simply collapsed, unleashing an unfocused eruption of different energies. I tried to hold them down, because I didn''t want them to destroy anything else. The structure had a lot of energy, that was released, but there was no single direction and most of it just turned on itself. I could barely hold down the bit that escaped, but it was a real strain to hold the pressure inside, until the whole structure had collapsed and lost its energy. Letting out a sigh of relief I looked up to find that both the shopkeeper and Catherine stood right next to me. Startled, I jumped back. The man named Heart was throwing me an angry look and shouted: ¡°You can''t something something. The whole shop could have something something. You will pay somet..¡± Catherine calmly interfered: ¡°I will pay for something. Nothing happened, so you can''t...¡± The two went at each other and I lost track. I realized, that I had acted carelessly. The structure before had seemed flawed, but everything I did had a consequence on another part of it and the whole stopped working in the end. Even now I had no idea what the thing could actually do as a whole, not to mention even any part of it. Suddenly I felt a strange energy lock onto this place. It had a strong light aspect and felt like a target was put on the place. The other two didn''t seem to notice but I was very nervous. The scale of it was larger than any spell I had sensed so far. It didn''t seem aggressive, but I couldn''t determine its nature beyond that. Should I try to leave here? It would have consequences to escape after breaking one of the items here and I wasn''t sure which of the two was more dangerous. Before I could decide I was drawn into the quarrel against my will. Catherine explained: ¡°He wants you to work for the damage. I can pay for the scroll¡±, she gestured to the drained scroll on the shelf, ¡°but...¡± ¡°But the shop was in danger! That ...¡± And they went on again. I just stood to the side and hoped this would play out well. After some time the two slowly came to a close when the front door opened. We took a glance over there to see who had come in. What on earth? For some reason Arienne had come here just when Catherine and I were here as well. Why did I have to suffer such a coincidence? Catherine: ¡°Gods, the child of misfortune...¡± Mr. Heart wrinkled his brow even more than before. ¡°Out with you, I am busy!¡± Arienne must be well known. And her chipper mood must be something she keeps up often. She did not let herself be chased out but instead joined in with the other two. I took back a few steps, because the ensuing argument was able to tear people apart. After a long time both Mr. Heart and Catherine looked completely worn out and the thing came to a close. Arienne finally bought some scroll and Mr. Heart sat back down in the chair behind the counter, keeping to himself in silence. Catherine came up to me and said: ¡°Your day will be long.¡± Then she turned to Arienne and drawing on her last bit of strength said: ¡°Back Tonight!¡± Then she left. I tried to follow after her but Arienne jumped in my way and grinned. She held out the scroll she had just bought. I wanted to follow after Catherine, but she just left me. Mr. Heart actually spoke up one more time in a tired manner: ¡°Don''t play around. Just use it.¡± Reluctantly I took the scroll into my hands. It was similar to the other one before, but the structure was entirely different. How do I use this? I looked down on the parchment, where the text was written. The structure seemed to have one big exiting point there and when I reached for it with my sense, it opened up the pathways and a surge of energy connected with me. The world around me seemed slower and I could almost see behind the structure of things. I looked at Arienne, who got a creepy smile and began chattering again, as if the argument before hadn''t faced her at all. I wasn''t able to understand what she said, but the entire way she built up her sentences and pronounced the words where following a pattern now. She pulled me out of the shop and while I couldn''t make out many words, the thing as a whole began to make sense. I saw a group of adventurers running through a forest, entering into a shop to buy a big battle axe. The battle axe fell into a river, stuck in the head of an ogre and Arienne ate one of the fish of the river. The language started to make sense, but the story before me did not. It jumped from one point to the other, and everything triggered yet something new.
Intelligence has increased by 1.
The torrent of words never stopped. We walked through the streets, sat down on some stairs. Then we left the city and reached the valley where I had come in this morning. We sat down on a meadow and watched the sun move along the horizon.
Intelligence has increased by 1.
When the sun began to fall over the city I realized, that the day would end soon and I had yet to get back. Staying somewhere in the city over night might not be a huge problem, but I needed my daily drug in the morning. ¡°I have to get back now. I don''t know the way, so can you please bring me to Catherine''s hut?¡± ¡°Oh, right, she wanted you there sometime later on.¡± We got up. ¡°You really have to do some training, or even a wolf could eat you. Not that you have to worry right now, you are in my company, and I am a great warrior.¡± We started walking. ¡°If you train just a bit, you can kill any wolves without a problem. Ah yes, and you should remember the way. If you don''t know where you are going you could end up anywhere. You see I once lost my way in the mountains and...¡± Remembering the way through the forest seemed much easier now. There were a few landmarks that I remembered from the morning, but the path we walked was branded into my memory.
Intelligence has increased by 1.
¡°And this is how you kill a wolf the right way...¡± At around two thirds of the way the clear mind state I had been in half this day drifted away. I took out the scroll and the the energy, that had come out of it, had become only a small stream. I could see that the inside was almost completely drained, and the structure started to crumble. ¡°Oh, is it already empty? I thought those things were supposed to last at least half a day....¡± The light had become dim, but I was sure we were close now. I concentrated on the last bits of the way, because my memory didn''t work as well anymore. ¡°Why are you living at the old witches house anyway? She is always grumpy and even when I''m buying something she acts as if I am an ogre. Not to mention the times when I don''t need to buy anything...¡± We reached the house just before nightfall. I am not sure if my comprehension of language had really increased in this time, because I still felt as if Arienne said nothing sensible at all. Still, I was thankful to her and still owed her an apology for yesterday. ¡°Thank you for teaching me how to speak today. I don''t have any money right now, but I will pay you back for the scroll when I can.¡± ¡°Teaching? Ah right, that was the reason why I gave you the scroll. It''s always a bit strange when people look at you as if they understand nothing you say. And you can forget about the scroll, it is a gift to my new best friend. I haven''t talked to anyone this long in ages. The last time was when...¡± Forget the apology. Forget compensation. I would avoid this woman however I could. New best friend? A shiver ran down my spine. That did not sound like something nice. I knocked on the door and went in. Apparently there really was an unspoken law that prohibited Arienne from entering, because she stayed outside. Catherine was sitting in the lobby. ¡°Hi, I''m back. What do I do about her?¡± ¡°Send her off.¡± I turned back to Arienne and thought of a nice way to get rid of her. ¡°It''s late and I''m tired now. Thank you for returning me. Will you be alright going back at night?¡± ¡°That''s not a problem at all. I see actually really well at night. I have been out at night so often by now...¡± ¡°Thank you. Good night.¡± I closed the door. One moment there was silence. Then I heard from outside. ¡°Good night to you, too. See you soon.¡± Her voice didn''t show any sort of disappointment or anger, as if this was the normal way to say good bye. I waited for a while and when she said nothing else I finally relaxed. With a long sigh I sat down on one of the chairs, exhausted from yet another day. Catherine smirked. ¡°Was it worth it?¡± I had gained 3 Intelligence and had made a huge progress with the language, all in exchange for keeping Arienne company. ¡°No, it wasn''t. I will never do that again.¡± Catherine had cooked something out of fresh vegetables and brought me something from the kitchen. After eating I wanted to sleep as soon as possible, but still felt I had to talk about some important matters. ¡°So, what did you discuss with Mr. Heart?¡± ¡°The scroll you destroyed is a bit expensive, but I would have paid for it. The problem is, that he insists on the danger this was for his shop. As compensation he wants you to work it off. It is rare for him to take something other than money, so he must think your work will be worth more. I am sure I could argue the point with him long enough that he will take the money and leave it at that, but it is quite a bit and... if you work for him, he might teach you about his craft.¡± ¡°Does he know how to create those scrolls?¡± ¡°Yes he is a scribe and and there are only very few. In this town he might be the only one who knows this profession. He has taken on apprentices before, but as far as I know the only one who successfully became a scribe ran off directly after. The others did nothing but grunt work for little pay. You wanted a way to increase your mana, and becoming a scribe is one possibility. But you will have to force out every bit of information out of that idiot.¡± ¡°That profession fascinates me, so I will get him to teach me. If I have to do some menial labor on the side I can live with that. There is one other thing, how does this deal between us work out?¡± ¡°As I have told you, your blood is worth a lot. It is one of the ingredients for longevity potions, and my stock has run low. The problem is, that only the blood of immortal races can be used for this. Sadly, it can also be used to bind a person, and that is why almost every elf is very reluctant, and even they are rare here in the human territories. I promise you again: I will not use it in this way and only to create potions. I always immediately use all of the blood in the creation of potions, it is a huge risk to keep it for too long. An immaculate reputation is very important to get anyone to donate blood at all, and I intend to keep mine spotless. The blood will cover any of your expenses for now, and once you don''t need any more of my potions I ask you only to return any of the expenses I had in retrieving you. Beyond that, we can either make a new deal, or leave it at that. As for your living here. You can stay as long as you want, but I expect you to help out in the house, independently of the other deal. If you want to move out you are free to.¡± Catherine was quite to my liking. She was outspoken about all the issues I had with the situation and also frank about some things that could make one uncomfortable. It was a partnership I could live with. ¡°There are two concerns I have right now. I somehow need to be able to get into town, and I don''t want to depend on people like Arienne for it. And I need some money of my own.¡± ¡°I will give you a bit of money, and as for the problem with the wolves... I have prepared something for tomorrow.¡± She had a grin on her face when she added that last part. Funny to keep me hanging until tomorrow. Not that it mattered, my brain felt like someone had stomped it to mush. I called it a night. Chapter 7 The next morning, right after breakfast we had another discussion. ¡°You are not from around here.¡± That was a statement, not a question. It included more than just one question. Where was I from? Why could I be revived from such a poor state with just healing? How did I get here? It was difficult to say which of these questions, if any, I even wanted to answer. Catherine seemed open minded, but the consequences of answering any of these questions could have dire consequences. Aliens from different worlds would always be viewed with suspicion. My kind of immortality? I might be either hunted by fanatics or sought by immortality seekers. Actually, I already was, Catherine had been happy enough with just my blood, but she must been interested enough in my strange state to expend some effort to revive me. It was an investment, that may have been futile, actually even improbable, but she still tried. That said something about her. She also wasn''t stupid, a simple lie like ''I can''t remember.'' would not satisfy her, and I didn''t have the inspiration to invent something extraordinary that would keep bloating up until I could hardly keep track of my own lies anymore. Nor would it help me. That left me with either being vague, deliberately not saying anything or telling the truth. Telling the truth had the advantage, that Catherine would be able to assist me with the questions I had directly. But I had gotten her help even without and with a bit of patience I should be able to pierce together how most of this world worked. As long as I kept it to only her this option didn''t seem too bad. If I told her nothing, I might hurt our relationship. Some things were already obvious, and not admitting to them just seemed impolite at this point. As for being vague, there were definitely details I could let out, there was no reason to tell her the whole story of my life. I liked keeping to myself and was not the most open person anyway. The obvious things I could just go into as much as I felt necessary. She had been considerate and just waited, while I took my time to sort through my options. I took some more time. One point of view I hadn''t taken on yet, was what she actually wanted to hear. She had not told me a lot about herself, nor had she inquired about me so far. Of course, until yesterday evening those were difficult topics to discuss, but she had seemed content all this time. So private information was probably not high on her priority list. I think what she must have been most interested in were my means of arrival, a bit about my origin and the method of my immortality. If I could believe what that angel had said, people with this kind of curse were extremely rare. Was the way I had gained it repeatable or a pure fluke? I strongly leaned to the later and since it was something very unique I wanted to keep it to myself until I understood it better. The traveling of planes I might have to go into a bit. If I played it right I could it be left unspoken that I might have been from this world, traveled somewhere else and just returned. I would try for it at least, and hope Catherine wasn''t to inquisitive. ¡°I have been to some strange places. Time might flow different there and I have lost a lot on the way, so I am not yet sure how much time has passed since then. You probably want to know about how I could survive near total destruction. It was a curse I got while I was there. I don''t think it can be reproduced and it''s also the worst kind of immortality, the one where you are unable to die, so it is not something you should pursue.¡± Now she took some time to consider. ¡°How can one get to these places?¡± I actually didn''t understand very much and could just try to think back to the few travels I had been doing. Now that I had admitted to it, I didn''t mind sharing that bit of information. ¡°You need something of the place you are traveling to.¡± That was actually a nice reinforcement that I had come from here. ¡°Then you somehow walk towards it. Keep it at the top of your mind and move. I am not actually sure how to get out of the place you are at. Perhaps find or create a place that is more open to the outside.¡± ¡°Can you do it again?¡± ¡°Perhaps, but the place I would end up in is something I probably couldn''t leave. I will not go there.¡± I think I already said to much there. When Catherine wanted to continue with another question I just shook my head. I hope I had appeased her without releasing the wrong information. This was however as far as I was willing to open up, and I would live with however this whole thing developed. We both took our time until Catherine took out some coins and explained their approximate market value to me. I put some into a closable pocket. It was mostly spare change for a meal or small purchases, but I was in no need for more money, that might just make me a bigger target. I was now more aware of some of the possible dangers I might face from now on. Until I was prepared to deal with them I intended to be a bit more careful and keep a low profile. ¡°I have gotten in touch with Silvia yesterday after we split up. She is a herbalist who often sells to me and helps me out with some minor chores. She should arrive here soon. Silvia will help you get to the city and train you up a bit. Don''t forget to visit that old grouch.¡± ¡°What did you tell her about me?¡± ¡°Nothing much really, just that you are very inexperienced and she might have to explain a few things that seem common sense to most people.¡± I had been thinking about how to explain myself to other people. ¡°Don''t think about it too much. There are so many idiots in this world, that you won''t stand out much. Just play it a bit mysterious and maybe people will start thinking you are some naive runaway princess.¡± It is true that I had also met some strange people before, who sometimes didn''t seem to know the most basic things. I had never wondered if they came from another planet, and only speculated that they must have had some very strange upbringing or some slight mental problem. I could care less what others thought of me. Then Catherine went and got the scroll she must have bought yesterday. ¡°You have already used a scroll yesterday. This one is a bit different. It can teach you the ability ''Analyse'', that will help you to determine the strength of some of your opponents. It can only be used on monsters, and the amount of information you receive depends on how much mana you spend. There isn''t information for every single monster, and some may not be as detailed as others, but it can certainly be used for most of the things that run around close to the cities.¡± I took the scroll which was sealed up. ¡°What is this seal here?¡± ¡°The spells you learn from scrolls depend on how well they are written. Some may even be corrupted and have negative effects on you. The seal proves that this Analyse scroll was written by the archivists themselves. It is more expensive than the ones you can get on the free market, but also more dependable.¡± I broke the seal and took a look at the parchment. I doubted the way I had activated the one yesterday was the standard method. You might have to read the scroll for it to work normally, but I didn''t know how. This only began to bother me now that I had learned spoken language. Still, it was no problem, because I focused on the place where the structure had an exit and opened it up again. Compared to the one yesterday this scroll seemed to be almost a perfection of construction, not that I could understand it. At least there were no polluted or obviously wrong parts and it was amazing to view it. When the scroll had been activated, it released its energy at me again, but this time it was no effect that it casted on me, but instead shot directly into my mind and imprinted itself there. Now there was a kind of construct in my brain that I just had to activate and it would automatically go through an amount of motions required for a spell. It was packed so tight, that I couldn''t just pluck it apart and remember a single component. It was part of my memory, and I did have complete access to it, but unraveling it might take a lot of time. It was like a memorized version of a poem in a foreign language. I began to understand why certification was so important for memorization scrolls. It might be a shortcut to learning, but also entailed risks. I decided to go through even this certified spell once I had a rough understanding of the way it worked in practice. Catherine left the house once I had learned the spell. I just relaxed for a bit, because I expected another long exhausting day. After some time there was a knock on the door. I went to answer. In front of the door the woman, who was probably Silvia, stood with some baggage. She was in her mid twenties and seemed friendly. ¡°Hi, you are Shalyne I guess. Catherine told me about you yesterday. I am Silvia by the way.¡± Silvia was a herbalist and often wandered through the woods in search of different plants. She was also a well versed hunter and could easily take out any game she came across with her bow. She had learned both from her mother, who had had the same professions. Her father had once tried to teach her a bit about being a warrior, but it had not suited her well as Silvia had taken after her mother. She was living in the small house I had seen yesterday with her boyfriend, who was one of the towns guards and the two would probably marry sooner or later. The way she openly talked about herself was very pleasant and I enjoyed her company. If anything she might be a bit too nice and could easily be taken advantage of. Catherine used her for many small tasks and had also somehow talked her into helping me out without any direct compensation. I vowed to myself to help her out, if she ever needed my help. I didn''t tell her much about myself. I had told her that Catherine had picked me up when I was starving and had allowed me to stay at her house for a while. ¡°Does she take anything in return? Now, I don''t mean that Catherine is a bad person, but she is a bit selfish. It''s rare that she does something without getting anything in return.¡± ¡°Yes, I made a deal with her. She is using some of my blood for potions and in return gives me some of the things to get started here.¡± ¡°You should really be careful. Catherine wouldn''t do that, but if you keep selling your blood somebody will perhaps force you into slavery or worse. I wouldn''t give it away at all if I were you.¡± I nodded in agreement. We were walking through the forest towards the town. I remembered most of the way by now, but still needed to fresh it up and let it settle in my mind. ¡°You wanted to be able to defend yourself, right? Do you already know which class to take?¡± ¡°I''m a bit ashamed to say, that I don''t really know much about classes. I am a sorceress, but I don''t don''t have any useful spells.¡± ¡°You have a mage class? That is actually a bit rare. It takes a lot of training to get those classes. I don''t know much about them, but I heard it takes a long time until you have enough mana to defend yourself. Many mages train a bit in another class until they feel comfortable. I can''t teach you anything about being a sorceress, but if you want I can show you a bit about being a hunter. I could also teach you the warrior class, but I can''t really tell you a lot, I am only level 5 myself and haven''t used it at all since I became a hunter.¡± ¡°Can I become both a warrior and a hunter?¡± ¡°I don''t mean to pry, but did you parents not tell you about the other classes?¡± ¡°I would rather not talk about it if you don''t mind. It''s already awkward to ask you about this.¡±Stolen story; please report. ¡°I am sorry I won''t ask then. If you want to tell me about it I am always willing to listen.¡± Silvia really was a sweet girl. It almost hurt a bit to keep my information to me, but I wanted to avoid spreading it. I also feared that if I told her, she might easily share it with someone else, even if unintentional. ¡°Becoming a warrior is actually very easy. Almost everyone has at least a few levels in the class. It makes you stronger and more resilient. All you have to do is just swing a weapon around a bit until you feel comfortable and try fighting. Of course if you want to become a real warrior you must be able to use your weapon in a real fight. It gets more difficult the higher your level is. If you want to become a hunter you have to know how to shoot with a bow or another ranged weapon. And then you have to shoot at some prey. It is a bit more difficult because you can''t practice against another human.¡± ¡°Do you know how dangerous the wolves here are? Is it too risky if I try against one of them?¡± ¡°I don''t know, I have no trouble with them, but if you let them come close they can still be dangerous. The weakest ones are alright, but if one of the stronger ones attacks you it can become really dangerous.¡± ¡°Catherine bought me the Analyse spell yesterday, I want to try it out, too.¡± ¡°I would really like to use that one, but I can''t cast any spells. Hey, you are a sorceress, can you teach me a bit? Then perhaps I can one day also learn that.¡± Catherine really should take care of this girl, I am sure she is helping out so much that teaching her a bit about magic would be no problem. Maybe she was just to shy to even ask... Although I have to admit I do not know how difficult it is to learn, because I never had to learn the regular way. In the game the sense for mana has always been just there. You were then directed through a tutorial, where a few spells were automatically cast, and you just had to remember the feeling and reproduce it. Could it work the same way here? I would actually be happy to have a more balanced relationship with Silvia if possible. ¡°I don''t really know the requirements for becoming a sorceress, but I think it has to do with your sense of mana. Can you feel your aura?¡± ¡°No, I don''t think so, what does it feel like?¡± ¡°Maybe I should try something else, tell me what you can feel.¡± We stopped our walk and I concentrated on the faint aura I could sense in Silvia. Then I gently pushed against it. I tried to let it flow in the one, then in the other direction. It didn''t take a lot of effort, her aura was very weak compared to something physical. ¡°I can feel that! What should I do now?¡± The next step should be to form it into something. ¡°I will try something again, tell me what you can feel.¡± This time I pushed a bit of mana toward her right hand and imagined it getting warmer there. I was careful to keep the temperature at a safe level, because I didn''t want to hurt her. ¡°It is getting warmer in my hand. I want to try doing that, too.¡± Following some of the lessons from the tutorial seemed to work out. I was still surprised how fast Silvia got a sense for the energy. Well, sensing a bit of mana inside of yourself and using it as a sixth sense all around you were two completely different things. I waited and watched as Silvia tried to heat up her hand. It took a while but it began to grow warmer and warmer. If you lack practice, regulating the power was a bit difficult. ¡°It''s getting hot, I can''t stop it!¡± ¡°Don''t let it get to warm inside of you or you will hurt yourself. Push it out of your hand and keep it there.¡± She struggled to push it out, but her concentration wasn''t focused enough. Now parts of it were heating up inside, others outside and the heat was exchanged in between. I stepped in and forcefully pushed the entire heat out of her, to a safe distance of about 20 cm away from her hand. She continued to produce more heat, but I let none of it accumulate inside. ¡°I am pushing the heat out of you, you don''t need to worry. Try to let go of it and I will handle it.¡± ¡°I can''t get it out of my mind.¡± ¡°Just breathe out and focus on your breath. Imagine how with every breath your thoughts of fire are blown away. Repeat that until your head is clear again.¡± That finally seemed to calm her down. Perhaps it was a bit too dangerous to start the training out this way. Now she knew how to form her mana, but had no control over it. If she wasn''t careful she might hurt herself or others unwillingly. I felt some responsibility to finish this, now that I had brought her this far. I added a bit more mana to the fireball and ignited it. Silvia jumped up in shock, but calmed down, once she saw the fireball was just floating steadily in front of her. Right now I held the control over it and could feel the slow and steady drain of my mana to keep the fireball active. ¡°I am giving the control over to you, just hold out your hands and keep it floating in between. Don''t do anything else. If anything happens I will take the ball over again.¡± Shifting the fireball over to the space in between her hands I slowly let go of it and let her aura envelop it. It began to flicker a bit, but never left its position by too much. I wasn''t sustaining it any longer, but kept an intense focus on it, prepared to wrest it away from her the moment it went out of control. It is a real effort to keep full concentration on someone else''s handling. It is easier to just do it yourself half subconsciously. We kept this up for a full five minutes until Silvia''s concentration began to fail. ¡°Let''s stop here now. Try to extinguish the fire by imagining it go out just like a candle. Don''t blow on it.¡± It took her a bit, but the fire went out after a while. Now I could finally relax again.
Sorceress has increased to level 2.
I really had to find some more free time to play with my mana. The first few levels of this class seemed to be far too easy to get. Silvia''s aura still seemed steady, and I would estimate that she had not even expended half of her mana. ¡°We should take a break until your mind is fresh again, but we can try again later. Don''t try to play around unless I pay attention, it was stupid of me to introduce you in this way. Now there is no choice but to train your control.¡± ¡°You have become so serious.... teacher.¡± I was taken aback. Before I had been happy to just let her talk and explain, but had taken charge the moment she played with the mana. That was not the kind of relationship I wanted to have with her. What if she began pestering me with endless questions? ¡°I am not your teacher! Things just got out of hand a bit. I was actually asking you the questions.¡± She just snickered. ¡°Okay, lets see if we can find some weapon.¡± We continued walking again. The forest might not have been the best place to practice creating a fireball, but I was sure I could extinguish a small fire, if it became necessary. It didn''t take long until Silvia found a solid stick of about my body height. ¡°Swing it around a bit and try to get a feel for it.¡± I had some experience with the bo, so wielding it felt natural. It was a bit rough compared to the smooth sticks wielded in training, so I could not just slide my hands along its surface. Still, it was nice to swing it around a bit and I remembered, that I had not done any morning exercises in a long time. ¡°Wow, you''re a natural. Let me grab another stick and we spar a bit. It should be enough to do it a bit playfully. I am really bad with weapons, so take it easy on me, I think you are already better than I am.¡± After we found another stick we just playfully attacked each other. I took care to do my blocks and attacks properly, if slowly. It was quite fun to simply deflect her attacks with little effort. Once we got used to each other we picked up a little bit of speed and it didn''t take long until we were finished.
Warrior Level 1 has been obtained.
¡°I''ve got it!¡± ¡°Ok, let''s stop here. I can''t really teach you anything more about being a warrior. You can either train by yourself or find a real teacher. Have you ever shot a bow before?¡± ¡°No I haven''t.¡± ¡°Then it''s better if I first teach you the basics before you try to learn the class. I only have one bow and I can''t defend myself without it.¡± We walked through the forest until we happened upon three wolves. Silvia immediately shot two of them and I activated Analyse on the remaining one before it came too close. The moment I thought up the spell a complete sequence automatically began to activate. I knew I could interrupt it at any time if I willed it, but right now I just went through the motions. I was watching the wolf and taking in the details, his aura, the way he moved, the tone of his pelt... The intensity of the observations was something I could control consciously. I didn''t really understand the significance of all this information, but once I had set a rough amount of mana, I automatically sent it off as a kind of thought package. Almost immediately I received an answer and before my mind a screen appeared:
Young Wolf
Beast Level 5
Strength: 13 Dexterity: 8 Vitality: 13 Endurance: 12 Intelligence: 9
It was stronger than myself in almost every regard. I had casted the spell almost the instant we had seen the wolves, but the time it took me to go through the spell and comprehend the information was all it took for the wolf to take a full on charge at me. Before it could get close enough Silvia had shot her third arrow and struck it down. The use of Analysis seemed limited, if the information wasn''t available before the enemy became aware of you. At least I now had a rough estimate of the strength of at least one of the wolves. Silvia killed one more pack on the way and then we reached the valley. I wanted to collect more data, but I also wanted to keep some mana reserves and the practice before and the Analysis spell had brought me down to only a third of my pool. It had already become a bit late and Silvia invited me over for lunch. The house was empty when we arrived. It was equipped with cheap furniture that didn''t fit together. Most were old but still in good condition. It was a bit cramped inside, but there was a personal touch that made it feel like a nice home. I wanted to assist her, but Silvia insisted on taking care of the cooking of her own. It didn''t take her long to prepare wolf steaks with some vegetables. ¡°I still have to visit the enchanting shop and talk to Mr. Heart. I don''t know if Catherine told you, but I broke one of his scrolls and now he wants me to work it off. He didn''t take any money and now I have to go and discuss the conditions with him.¡± ¡°Then you are really unlucky. I don''t think he ever lets a single coin slip through his fingers, so you won''t get out of this easily. I don''t like going there but if you want I can...¡± ¡°Thank you, but it''s alright, I will go there on my own. You are already helping me enough and I don''t want to take up all of your time. I feel already bad, but can you please bring me back afterwards?¡± ¡°That''s no problem at all. I can catch you tomorrow morning, too, if you want.¡± ¡°Thank you, honestly, but I will first see how things turn out with Mr. Heart. Perhaps I can find a better solution. I enjoy your company, but I will have to go into town a few more times and can''t depend on you all this time. You do have to work sometime, too?¡± ¡°Well, James earns enough if it is only for some time. I can''t let you walk through the forest alone if you can''t defend yourself...¡± ¡°I will think of something...¡± At least I got her to leave me alone until I sorted out the thing with Mr. Heart. She obviously had other chores to do, but was reluctant to let me go on my own. The reputation of that enchanter was really bad, so I became a bit worried. I still wanted to take care of it on my own, because I had caused this mess in the first place. I had only been to the city once, but the way there was easy to remember and I had memorized a part of the city when I was strolling around with Arienne. Walking on my own was different. Catherine''s as well as Arienne''s presence had deterred other people, but I became more pressured by their attention now. I was in no mood to entertain anyone and hid my nervousness beneath a cold expression. The effect was there, but I am sure that if I stopped somebody might find an excuse to approach me. The enchanter''s shop felt like a safe haven. Mr. Heart stood at the counter and didn''t show the same kind of interest like the people outside. Instead he eyed me in a cold, analytical way. ¡°I was wondering when you would show up. The scroll cost me a lot and I somehow have to get back my losses.¡± If I gave him an inch he would take a mile. ¡°Catherine has offered to pay you for the scroll, there was no reason for you to take a loss at all.¡± ¡°At least you can talk properly now. Not that I expected any different from that woman... No, the problem is the risk I took. If such a strong enchantment explodes it can cause a lot of damage, perhaps even destroy the whole shop! That is not something you can compensate with a little bit of money. Now you did seem to have a bit of a hand with enchantments at least and I am in need of some assistance right now, with the increased demand for enchanted weapons. If you work for maybe a year, I would consider your entire debt paid off and even pay you a bit of a wage. I will show you the weapons and then we will see if you can do well enough.¡± He didn''t even consider me anymore and started walking into some other part of the shop. I stood my ground and waited. ¡°Are you coming? I can still think the part with the wage over.¡± ¡°I didn''t agree to anything. You will have difficulty forcing me to pay for anything but the scroll, even if you try.¡± ¡°Compensating me for that is only fair. I just have to get in a word with the guards and you will have no choice then!¡± ¡°I doubt they would go out of their way to help you out.¡± It usually wouldn''t be the best idea to aggravate him any further if I wanted to work for him in the future, but something told me that it wouldn''t make a difference anyway, so I just used his bad reputation to my advantage. I must hit a nerve, too, because he stopped to think for a moment. ¡°It is probably not even worth it, but there are conditions that I would accept to work under. I am interested in becoming a scribe, and there are not many options to learn the craft. If you teach me, I will work for you. And don''t try to get a lot of work without any teaching. I work fifty-fifty. An hour of work for each hour you teach me.¡± ¡°That is just ridiculous, I could just work for myself then and would actually be more productive!¡± ¡°That is only if the time you use for teaching is completely unproductive. I am sure we will also finish some work in that time.¡± ¡°Even if that time is not completely lost you still have to work off that scroll! And then my teaching has a lot of value, too. People would beg me on their knees just to get a few pointers from a scribe like myself. And you want it all for free? No one has ever even dared to offer me such a horrible deal!¡± ¡°And instead you would work me to the bone for much more than that scroll was worth? You know I have a good sense for mana, but if you don''t teach me anything I can hardly do any quality work. If you teach me I can do much more complicated and valuable work.¡± I think I got him at ''valuable'', the way he paused for a second. ¡°Even if that may be true, if I take half of my time just to teach you it is still a huge waste of effort! I could let you use some of the theory books I have, then you can teach yourself instead.¡± ¡°I can''t read.¡± ¡°You can''t even read? How do I know I am not wasting my entire time on a nitwit? Now you probably even want me to teach you reading? I think I should just take that hags'' money and give up on this whole thing.¡± This was getting out of hands. It was definitely unfortunate that I didn''t know anything about the written language that was used here. At least it seemed to be some kind of alphabet and not glyphs or something like Chinese characters. Learning to read an alphabet language isn''t too difficult if you understand the language. Writing properly might be a different thing, but I didn''t need to do that right now. The question was, who would be able to teach me. Was the ability to read common here? At least I was sure Catherine should be able to, judging by the books she kept locked in the storage. ¡°I didn''t mean I couldn''t read at all, just that I don''t know this places'' writing. I should be able to learn it in a short time. Until you have instructed me properly, written theory won''t help much anyway.¡± He let out a long sigh. At some point we must have changed from discussing the terms to an implicit agreement. I just didn''t know exactly what that agreement was. It didn''t matter anyway, because I was sure I would have to remind him of his duties regularly, even if we signed a contract. ¡°Very well, come along, at least I have to see what you can do before we decide this.¡± Chapter 8 Even if we didn''t come to a final agreement and the whole affair fell apart I was still eager to try out my enchanting skills. I already had the profession and from what little experience I had collected, it shouldn''t take long for a quick level up. We went into a back room that seemed to have some similar tools as what I had in my guilds workshop, but there were also others I didn''t recognize. Mr. Heart took out a simple enchanted sword. I studied it and tried to find out its properties. From what I could sense it was enchanted with both sharpness and durability. Putting a double intent on an item wasn''t as easy as a single one, but still within my abilities. Neither sharpness nor durability were essences that I had trouble to imagine. ¡°Can you copy this?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He handed me a few mana crystals and took a bundle of swords out of a corner. He put them on the workbench in the center of the room and stepped back. A reserve of mana crystals would be a nice backup, because I would be able to use more than my maximum mana pool in a critical situation. Right now it allowed me to work without being limited by my own mana. First I concentrated on the intent. Then I drew out the mana of one of the crystals and let it form into the intent. That I pushed into the swords and let it melt into their material. The work consists only of a few steps, but each one must be performed perfectly or the whole has to be repeated. Sometimes the mana has to be put back into the crystal and be cleansed of impure thoughts. Other times the enchantment doesn''t melt into the weapon the right way and the energy is lost. Then it has to be extracted as quickly as possible to avoid loss of the mana.
Enchanter has increased to level 1.
For each weapon the intent has to be found anew, because the old one is already weakening in the mind. First I had to imagine the sharpness of a sword. Creating a fictional sword in front of my mind I tested it out against fictional targets. If the essence is not imagined in the proper way, such a sword won''t even be able to entirely cut through an imagination. Then one has to add the durability. Such a sword must be able to endure being stretched out across two cliffs, the hilt on the one, the tip of the sword on the other. Then a heavily compressed rock is thrown down right at the center and the sword mustn''t even budge. Only if the imagination is this steadfast, is the intent strong enough.
Enchanter has increased to level 2.
The combination of the two intents is yet another problem. It is possible to first infuse the one, and then the other, but then they are not combined. Of course the sword will hold them both, but there can be situations, when only one of the two becomes active. That is usually no problem, because when cutting the sharpness will automatically rush to the front, that is its nature. When withstanding a blow, the durability will keep the sword stabilized. But if such a weapon is attacked while it is piercing through something it is weakened and might break. And in the opposite way a weapon used for a block might loose some of its edge at that time. A cheap weapon will already be satisfactory to most of the wielders, but a true enchanter must pursue perfection in his craft.
Enchanter has increased to level 3.
To know if a weapon has been enchanted properly, it has to be wielded by the enchanter and swung around, while the whole focus lies on it. Even if the whole process seemed successful it is not possible to keep the mind perfectly focused. Normally it is possible to at least be aware when a mistake may have been made, but sometimes there are mistakes when everything went well. So the quality must be tested and felt out. The workshop was a bit lacking in space, so I could only swing the weapons around carefully. It was unsatisfactory, but would have to do. I was working through the stack of swords, but somehow neither the crystals nor the swords decreased. I was drawing on the mana of the crystals, but sometimes also had to use my own reserves to keep it under control or add a little bit if I lost something due to bad concentration. I mainly stopped my work, when my own mana had decreased to the point I could not do my work without taking risks anymore. I could have drawn on the mana of the crystals to replenish myself, but the gradual change of swords to axes pulled me out of my flow and I concluded I had done enough for now. I looked up and saw that I had gone through a good amount of crystals, quite a few more than I had started out with. Right now I was alone in the workshop, but while I took inventory over my work Mr. Heart returned from the shop. ¡°I suppose that will work.¡± Mr. Hearts manner had changed significantly and lost its animosity. His unfriendly way had not changed, but a person''s nature is too deeply branded into them to loose its influence completely. Lightly nodding to himself he looked over the swords and then turned to me. ¡°Perhaps I can take you in as an apprentice. Of course I am very busy and can''t spare a lot of time for you, so it is your own duty to learn the theory. The work you did is adequate, so I am willing to pay you 20 silver a month.¡± ¡°That is hardly enough to even eat. I also need to rent a room here in the city, because right now I am living outside at Ms. Kasilan''s hut and just the way here takes me two hours. Anything below 3 gold is not even worth my time.¡± ¡°I can hire five half decent workers for that much money! And you didn''t even account for all the extra advantages you have here?¡± ¡°Advantages? You want me to learn on my own, and my work is worth a lot more than what you are paying me. We haven''t even discussed today''s compensation!¡± ¡°Today was just a test, that can hardly be considered proper work. And you didn''t even start before lunch!¡± ¡°Right now I need an escort to even get here, there is no way I can start before then.¡± ¡°Are you stupid? What are you even an enchanter for? Just enchant yourself a weapon and those wolves won''t even bark at you!¡± ¡°I could take one of the swords as compensation for today at least.¡± ¡°Do you have any idea how much the raw swords cost me, that you used so nonchalantly?¡± ¡°I am sure they are worth far less without my enchantments.¡± ¡°This is a one time thing you understand! I expect you to be here far before noon!¡± ¡°And three pieces of gold...¡± ¡°I will go to hell before I pay anyone that much, I will give you one, and if you even dare to haggle one more time I will rush you out of here like you wouldn''t believe.¡± That was his limit. I knew I couldn''t get anymore money out of him than this. From what Catherine had told me and the calculations I had made on my own it was still a low wage compared to home, even for an apprentice, but things like renting a room were also a bit cheaper and I would learn one of the rarest crafts around.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I picked the best sword on the table, receiving a furious look, but no actual objection. I had to struggle not to grin. He almost exploded when I also added a fitting sheath. I should stop now. ¡°Then until tomorrow?¡± Apparently even he had some kind of humor. He took a bunch of crystals and put them right into my hand. ¡°I expect you to fill these up at home.¡± ¡°I don''t have anywhere near enough regeneration to fill these up.¡± ¡°You better be here early!¡± He turned around and returned to the counter. This was him just looking for an excuse to scold me tomorrow. I followed after him and just left the shop. No use in false courtesies. If you worked with people like him you had two options. You could either get stressed out over every hit he took at you, or you could just play with it and enjoy each time you aggravated him. Well, that is as long as you were not afraid to go at any time. I had some kind of assurance with the deal with Catherine, so I didn''t worry about it. If it didn''t work out I could always look for something else When I left the shop the sun had already traveled a long way. I had completely lost the time. I hurried on my way to Silvia''s house. I hope it wasn''t too late for her to accompany me and return before nightfall. I had the new sword, but had never seen it in action and didn''t know if it was good enough to stay safe. When I knocked on the door, Silvia almost immediately opened it. ¡°He really held you up a long time. No, tell me later, I don''t like to be out at night.¡± Inside the house I could see a young man, who had to be James. He just winked at me while busy with some housework. ¡°Hi; James.¡± ¡°Shalyne.¡± Turning back to Silvia I said: ¡°Alright, then lets go.¡± On the way I showed her my new sword. She was actually amazed by it. ¡°You got him to give you an enchanted sword? I didn''t think anyone could get this much out of him.¡± ¡°I had to argue with him the whole afternoon. This sword was the least he could give me for that! I want to see how good I can defend myself with this. If it works out, I can actually make the way on my own and don''t have to burden anyone else.¡± ¡°That''s no problem at all. I would be sad if I don''t get a chance to meet you anymore.¡± We went off in a rush, but now, that we were on the way I could spare enough attention to see her heavily weakened aura. ¡°You were bad. You didn''t wait to play with your magics?¡± She winced at that. ¡°You can tell? I didn''t mean to, but I couldn''t think of anything else and when I took a little break it went through my mind again and I...¡± ¡°At least tell me you didn''t play with fire in the house?¡± I didn''t get an answer to that. ¡°It is one thing to be a little adventurous, but this is really dangerous. You don''t have the ability to extinguish fire when it starts burning. Yes, it is my fault I didn''t instruct you in the risks, but you have to realize this much! If you can''t hold yourself back, at least find a place that is safe for experiments. Can you promise me this much?¡± My lecture had hit home. Silvia was staring at the ground and just barely got off a light nod. I wanted to cheer her up, but felt it was too important to let it sink in. So we walked in silence for a while. It took the presence of wolves to get us riled up again. ¡°I need to test out if I am capable of this on my own. Please only help me out if I get into real danger.¡± Silvia was reluctant, but didn''t immediately fire off her arrows. She kept her bow ready, but didn''t shoot. This time I faced four wolves at once. It was the first time I actually prepared to fight them on my own and suddenly I was very nervous. Whenever I had let someone else take care of it, it didn''t seem to be as real, but when I looked at them now they were no cute little puppies or harmless cartoon figures. These wolves were wild beasts, with sharp teeth and significant size. And right now I didn''t face just one, but four of them at once. As if it was the most natural thing to do they charged right at me. The first two were almost at the same distance when they got close. I took a swing at the right one while also taking a quick step to the right. I watched as the blade cut right through the wolf''s head. But while I was making sure of his demise the two wolves who were charging with some delay were already closing in on me. The one I had blocked by avoiding it now came from my behind. I struck at one of the two wolves and tried to disengage, but by now the first one had completely circled into my back and jumped at me. Before he got close enough an arrow took him down and I focused on the last remaining one. He also didn''t take more than a simple swing.
Warrior has increased to level 2.
The fight hardly took any time, but when it was finished I was panting heavily and it took me five minutes to calm down again. ¡°Are you alright? You don''t have to do this on your own, in a few days this will be much easier.¡± I tried to calm myself. ¡°No, I really have to do this. I didn''t trust in my blade enough and was too slow. The next time I will slash through them with certainty.¡± The amount of wolves in the forest really was too much. Just a short while later we met another two of them. I had come to understand just how easily my sword could cut through them and adopted my fighting style this time. When they rushed at me I just took a fast swing at each one, sidestepping a little bit, and they fell with a light and quick swing. Another pack of three wolves arrived just a little bit later. It was actually easy to slice through them on the go and let the swing continue moving on. Even two wolves at the same time would collapse in quick succession if I was daring enough to just run through them.
Warrior has increased to level 3.
When we finally arrived at Catherine''s hut, I had become certain enough that I was able to do this on my own, and Silvia reluctantly agreed to let me travel on my own from now on. I had only taken one light scratch when one of the wolves'' dead bodies flew past me, but there had never been any real danger. Silvia took a quick bite to eat but set off again and hurried home to arrive before nightfall. I reproduced today''s events to Catherine. ¡°You got more out of him than I would have thought possible, but he will still profit a lot from it. You might not get any more money, but perhaps you can push for other advantages. I hope you can get along with him well enough.¡± ¡°I don''t think I will ever be able to like him, but I will manage to get by. I''m more worried about how much he will teach me on his own. That reminds me, he is willing to let me read his books, but I don''t know how to read. Can you please teach me?¡± ¡°If I have to. I will give you an introduction, but you have to find someone else for correct spelling. That takes far too much time and you won''t need it for reading.¡± After that Catherine wrote down the alphabet. There were a few letters for sounds that were used in English, but were only recognizable in some particular spelling. There were a few combined sounds that could have been split up but occupied a letter anyway. All in all there were around 40. I wrote a list of this places alphabet and then the corresponding latin letters next to each other and approximated others. ¡°I haven''t seen those symbols before.¡± I had messed up a bit, but even on earth I hardly recognized even a small part of all the different systems of writing. ¡°It''s my home countries alphabet. There are a few differences, but I should be able to decipher most words with this. Do you have a good book I can take to practice?¡± It turned out that Catherine had almost only specialized literature. ¡°This book should be the most interesting to you for now. It''s about this kingdom''s history, so it might help you to better orient yourself.¡± The books name was ¡°The history of the Varieste Kingdom¡± by one Marsempan Alaian. I vaguely remembered Arienne mentioning this was the kingdom we were in. I was curious if there was some information about the nearby town, which I think was called Barlaine Catherine left me to myself while I started to work on the book. It took a little bit of time, but I started to remember most of the letters after a while. I wasn''t anywhere close to actually reading and by the time I had read something I couldn''t really remember what the content had been. In the end I didn''t learn anything about the kingdom, but I wanted to properly read it. It would tell me a lot about this world. It had long become night by now, when I finally put the book aside. I remembered something and took out the crystals I was intended to fill up. I cleared my mind and pushed a formless energy into the crystals. I wasn''t even able to fill up the second one, when my mana was already depleted. I had wanted to train myself with spells, but it was an enchanters duty to use leftover mana and prepare it for work. It was a waste to leave the mana pool completely filled up. I realized that although not enough to fill many crystals, my mana had been much more than before and had also filled up a lot quicker. ¡°Status.¡±
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 2, Warrior Level 3
Profession: Enchanter Level 3
Stats:
Strength: 8 Dexterity: 11 Vitality: 9 Endurance: 11 Intelligence: 27
Health: 84/90 Mana: 5/270 Mana Regeneration: 2.70 mana/minute (6.70 mana/minute)
It was no wonder I had regenerated this much quicker. I now had 1.7 mana of free to use regeneration. The overall stats seemed a bit imbalanced, though. If I didn''t train a lot in Warrior or similar classes I would completely turn into a glass cannon. Before I went to sleep I decided to get up early from now on and do some morning exercises. Chapter 9 Perhaps I was anticipating the workout or didn''t need as much time to regenerate, but I actually woke up a bit early. It was still only dawn. First I infused some more of my mana into the crystals. I could finish up the third one and had a little bit of rest over mana, that I kept to myself. Then, before eating breakfast, I took my sword and went outside, then went to an open and even ground close to the hut. I did have a bit of experience with swords, but had never concentrated on it. My goal for now was to get a better feeling for my new sword, and polish up my rusted skills. But before I started, I put the sword aside and did some warming up and stretching. After that I did some barehanded forms. I wanted to get a perfect feeling for my body, and although I could move my body however I wanted, there were still situations where I lacked a bit of precision. I also wouldn''t trust myself to take a difficult leap. If I had to dodge very quickly I might stumble, because my balance was still a slight bit off, which might show itself only when making extreme movements. So I concentrated on the flow of my movement, adjusted it until it felt more natural and repeated it again. Certain movements with my arms were slightly inhibited by my chest and the way I made my steps had a different influence on the balance of the whole body. I also had to change the way I moved my legs. All in all I had a slender and swift body and could perform very well. It would take me a lot longer to get completely used to the exact way my body moved, but that is the way repetition worked. Satisfied with this exercise, I now took the sword and made some basic swings. I needed to understand the weight of the sword, its length and balance. My attacks needed to be on point, the movement efficient and the way the blade cut as straight as possible. After performing those basic swings I switched into the one sword form I remembered, but had to stop at certain points to remember the correct way to proceed.
Warrior has increased to level 4.
I didn''t let myself become distracted and repeated the form until I could finally manage to follow it through in an acceptable way. Only then did I end my training. I looked over to where I had seen Catherine arrive. She had joined to watch a little while ago. It is important to keep your attention on your surroundings when practicing forms, and not just on the movements. I could have stopped, but there was no point in it if I wanted to continue practicing regularly. ¡°I can see that you have trained a lot before. With this much experience you should have a much higher level in one of the warrior classes and not have to struggle with wolves. So either you lost your strength when traveling around, or you were never part of the system before. I have been around, but the system is everywhere on this world.¡± There was no point in denying it at this point. I had behaved in an odd way far to many times now. ¡°Both is true, actually. I have lost my strength once, but it was from a different system somewhere else. My heritage should also differ from the elves around here. So, what consequences does that have?¡± ¡°The potions are working as they should. I am a bit interested if there are special properties to your blood, and I think I will prepare experiments for that. I don''t care about your background as long as you honor our deal, but perhaps you should avoid telling others.¡± ¡°I don''t intent to.¡± This seemed to conclude her questions, because she didn''t ask about anything else. I followed her inside for breakfast and we were both surprised at the knock on the door. It was still very early. Catherine said: ¡°This must be urgent¡±, and opened the door. Silvia was standing there. ¡°Is Shalyne still here?¡± She took a peak inside before sighing with relief. ¡°I was worried something might happen on the way to the town. You defended yourself well yesterday, but a little mistake can still be dangerous.¡± Catherine answered: ¡°I don''t think you have to worry about that¡± I added: ¡°Thank you for coming. I think I should be able to handle the wolves from now on, but I am glad I have your backup today.¡± Silvia waited until we finished eating and then accompanied me again. ¡°I have practiced a bit today, and want to see how well I can do against the wolves. Please don''t shoot, unless I get into real danger.¡± As usual it didn''t take long until we met another pack of wolves. This was the biggest pack with five members. I took a stance and waited for the usual charge. The main problem when fighting with a weapon that can cut enemies like butter is the remaining speed and direction the dead bodies still have once cut. I easily cut through the wolves, but still had to do quick sidesteps when their bodies rushed past me. I also had to take care of the way their bodies blocked my way, because I stacked up the bodies around me far quicker than I was able to move out of the building pile. The range of the sword, combined with a well timed slash is enough however to make them drop right in front of me, if I just take a single step back after hitting them. I took a satisfied look at my work when I saw something peaking through the trees. It was a gigantic armadillo like creature with a height of 1.5 meters and a length of around 4 meters. Its head just slightly peaked out of the thick armor plate. I quickly rushed over to Silvia''s side, always facing the Armadillo. ¡°It''s okay, they only eat carcasses. Leave it alone and it won''t harm you.¡± It walked over to the dead wolves as if we weren''t even here and began to eat. I kept warily watching it as I used Analyse. Again the spell took in every detail I could perceive and sent them off. This time I let it use more than the minimum amount of mana.
Korunga
Beast level 20
Strength: 32 Dexterity: 4 Vitality: 34 Endurance: 27 Intelligence: 5
Very strong and sturdy carrion eater. If left in peace, they will almost never attack on their own. If a Korunga is aggressive it can usually be outrun, because they are very slow. The information calmed me down a bit, but I still kept up my sword while the Korunga leisurely began to devour the entire wolves. I only relaxed once we had walked a bit. ¡°They look really scary the first time, but are actually very peaceful. You just shouldn''t attack them.¡± We came upon two more packs, but by now I could slay them almost without breaking a sweat.
Warrior has increased to level 5.
We arrived at the borders of the valley soon enough. Silvia went into the forest again after delivering me this far. We agreed to meet in the late afternoon after we were done with our work. At least I got her to agree, that she really didn''t have to accompany me anymore. I arrived at the shop long before lunch time. Naturally, I was greeted in the nicest way. ¡°Just about time you showed up. You have a lot of work to do today. Did you fill up the crystals?¡± ¡°I could only finish three of them. I don''t have a lot of spare mana regeneration.¡± ¡°Why am I even surprised. Your aura is really weird. The way you hide it I can almost believe you are a thief. I warn you, if you steal anything you will never live it down. Do you know how to do links?¡± ¡°No, I have never done something like that before.¡± ¡°Okay then listen carefully, so I don''t have to repeat.¡± He then explained, that it was possible to connect two items with a single enchantment. That allowed for combination effects. The way this was used most often were lamps. If a lamp was connected to a switch, it could be put on and off remotely. There were more elaborate versions, where the intensity of the light could regulated, but those were much more expensive and only used in rare circumstances. A link was created by taking an amount of mana and only partly infusing it. The infused mana must then not be cut off from the rest of the free mana and will keep a connection to it. Then the rest of the mana would be infused somewhere else. It was very difficult to produce a link, because the intents still had to be created in addition to keeping the connection up. To create a lamp I had to charge it up with glowing and not glowing. I could then at least forget about that intent, but never about the connection, while I infused a switch with control of on and off. A flip switch was the easiest way to accomplish this, but there were also options of using a certain way the switch had to be touched to activate it. It seems a popular method for activation was a light movement along the surface of the switch. I had to practice it a few times until I could create a few solid enchantments. They were still leaking a bit of mana that was not used for glowing, so I would need some more time until I perfected this method.
Enchanter has increased to level 4.
I was later sent out to fetch some lunch for both of us. Mr. Heart just ate at the counter, while I found myself a small table in a corner of the shop where I could be undisturbed. I doubted that it would be pleasant to eat together. After eating we went into the workshop again. ¡°You have created a few links by now, but there is another way to do that, although it can''t be used remotely like the enchantment you used just now. I will now teach you the scribe class, so be attentive. The difference between a normal enchantment and the constructs of a scribe is the complexity. The constructs can have a whole sequence of different commands that are used in succession. There are also more complicated uses like having various things happen at the same time, but creating such an enchantment takes a great effort, and for now you will mostly just be copying existing ones anyway. Constructs are created of parts, that you create with open ends. If you do them well, they will fit together and automatically form a link. You can mend them afterwards, but they should still be close to a certain standard. When you normally form mana into something but do not keep up your concentration, it will dissolve over time. To keep that from happening, you need to anchor it to something. That can basically be anything, but the most pragmatic way we scribes came up with are scrolls with certain symbols. For each symbol there is a corresponding building part. When you create a construct you can''t just create every part on the spot, you need to prepare them. That means they also have to be detachable from the anchor and not be completely infused into it.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Every single command needs a power source. It is possible to use one source for more than one task, but it might cause interferences and you can easily loose your overview of how much each energy part uses and in the end some power cells will run out before the entire spell is finished. So you need a lot of power cells for one construct.¡± At that he took out a scroll. The same symbol was written over the entire scroll. Most of the symbols were just writing, but to a few of them a small mana construction was attached. ¡°This scroll is used to anchor power cores. I have used most of them up and need to refill them again. Power cells are just reservoirs filled with mana. They also need to be able to give out only the specific required amounts of mana. There are different variations. Some will be slowly drained in one go, others will only give out a required amount of mana. That is usually done with a control unit that is attached to the power cells, so the design of the cores themselves doesn''t change. Before you can even begin to actually build constructs on your own, you have to become used to the symbolism and the single parts used for the constructs. This afternoon I expect you to study these power cores and properly copy them unto the scroll.¡± What amazed me, aside from the interesting topic, was how serious Mr. Heart had become. While I listened attentively he never cursed at me even once. ¡°Before you start I will quickly get you attuned.¡± With that he took another scroll out of a locked cabinet and placed it on the table. It was adorned and kept in a very good state. The writing on it must have been done by a calligraphist. It was nothing like the others I had seen in the shop so far. Mr. Heart held it almost reverently. ¡°Treat it very carefully. You just have to hold it and read it out loud. Ah right, just repeat after me.¡± ¡°I think I can manage it, if I take my time.¡± ¡°You actually prepared yourself? At least you are a bit diligent.¡± It hadn''t taken him long to fall back into his usual self. Was that a half-hearted praise just now? I ignored him and struggled through the few words. ¡°I hereby wish to take on the craft of scribe by the goddess Calis and will practice it in her name.¡± A short rush of energy connected to me from the scroll.
Scribe has been obtained.
That was very unexpected. What did a profession have to do with the gods? I had obtained warrior just by playing around a bit, so what was the difference now? After returning his scroll to him, Mr. Heart packed it away safely and just left. I had work to do, so I left my other thoughts behind for now. I had hoped to actually do some of the constructs on my own, but I had to admit that they really were much to complex to randomly start on them. The power cells that were attached to the scroll were all built up the same way. They had a mana reservoir and an exit point. There didn''t seem to be any special intent to them, so they shouldn''t be too difficult to copy. I took a few mana crystals and began to copy. The difficulty in building them was to keep the proportions the same for each one. Anchoring instead of infusing was also something I had never done before. I had to stick them to the symbol, and sometimes they disconnected until I found just the right amount of strength for the bond.
Scribe has increased to Level 1.
Mastership is something obtained only by pure repetition. Every action has to become so ingrained into the practitioners mind, that it became a part of him. And so I continued. Piece after piece I began to slowly fill up the scroll. It was an arduous process, far from magical. Every now and then I had to take a short break to clear my mind and regain my focus. A mistake and I could start on the whole cell again. Mr. Heart came over to check on my progress but didn''t interrupt me.
Scribe has increased to Level 2.
I wish I could say that I had filled the scroll up, but it contained hundreds of the isolated symbols and I had only completed around fifty. Compared to the mana contained in crystals the power cells actually didn''t contain that much mana and I had only used up a few crystals. I had been careful not to use my own mana too much, so that I had some reserves if Silvia insisted on some more practice. It was still afternoon when I decided to leave. If I left it to my honorable employer I would always just leave when the evening was getting late. I wonder how long he was always working here. It ended with a short quarrel, but I was able to leave. We really had never decided on the time I had to stay each day, the number of weekdays to take off or on holidays. The standards around here might be pretty bad, and there might be next to no free days. In any case I would just handle it the way it came up. It might be important to at least ask if there were any days when shops were always closed. A few more days of work might also help me reach my Intelligence goal quicker. After I left I headed over to Silvia''s. When she came out I first inspected her aura. She was filled up. ¡°You didn''t play around today?¡± ¡°I left it all for this evening. When can we start?¡± ¡°First I would like to clear my mind from work for a bit, I had to concentrate the whole day and need a bit of a break.¡± ¡°Hmph, well we can go and practice shooting targets a bit. I promised to teach you the hunter class after all...¡± We went a short way in the direction of the forest on her side of the river. There were a few improvised targets put up, but right now no one else was here. It looked like a place the locals sometimes used to train, but no professional would use. Silvia showed me how to hold and fire her bow and then just let me practice for a bit. I was able to roughly hit the targets at a short distance, but doubted I could hit a moving wolf, let alone effortlessly kill it in one shot like Silvia. My current company seemed to grow ever more restless, the longer I practiced. ¡°Fine, I am done shooting. You can hardly hold still anymore. Is there an empty place nearby where we can be undisturbed for a bit?¡± We immediately headed off to a place nearby. It was obscured by the terrain and the ground was mostly stone with only a few bunches of grass. I let her repeat the same exercise as yesterday and she had enough control not to hurt herself. Perhaps she had improved yesterday when trying it on her own, because she was also able to change the heat into a burning fireball. The archery had been a much needed physical exertion and my mind had already cleared up. It wasn''t difficult to keep watch. Silvia still had not obtained the class. What else could there be that was required? Was I even going about it in the right way? I decided to let it pass and just teach her, even if she wasn''t rewarded from the system. I chose a place where there was nothing but stones and ordered Silvia to throw the fireball there. She tried to push it away with her hands and released it before it took a pitifully short trajectory and landed only three meters in front of her. Before it really exploded into the ground I took it over and held on to it. ¡°You need to imagine giving it a strong pulse, not actually throw it. Try the next time without moving your hands.¡± I turned the fireball back over to her and we repeated the same process a few times until one time it suddenly shot away at a proper speed and landed where she was supposed to throw it to. I watched as the fire simply fell on the stones and was extinguished after a short moment. Next I should have to teach her about adding a certain pressure and intensity to it. But that could possible wait until she was more experienced. When I turned back to her a grin like a cheshire cat awaited me. ¡°Don''t say it.¡± The grin got wider. ¡°No really, lets just go home.¡± ¡°I am a sorceress!¡±, she shouted out before jumping at me and giving me a hug. It was strange as our breasts brushed against each other and I only lightly returned the hug. Silvia didn''t look half bad and was only now made aware of it as a tingling ran through my stomach. It was interesting, but I successfully cleared my mind before it turned into arousal or something worse. I lightly pushed her away after a few moments. While trying to keep a calm head I instructed her: ¡°Don''t shoot fire unless you are sure it can''t spread. Actually, perhaps I can still show you how to create water. Are you listening?¡± I don''t think she was. Silvia was broke. I gestured her and she followed along after me. The distance to her house was short so I had escorted her there quickly. Strangely we didn''t talk at this time, me a bit lost in thought and her on a high she didn''t want to come down from. I handed her over to James, with whom I only exchanged a brief greeting and then I left them again. As I crossed over the little bridge I considered the feelings that had sprung up before. I hadn''t really considered anyone in a romantic way, and had not felt particularly attracted to the people I had come across. Touching Silvia had been interesting, but I didn''t think of her in a romantic way. I wanted to keep her as a friend. Luckily I also hadn''t seen any man that I felt attracted to, and that thought creeped me out. Perhaps some things had changed for me, but at the moment I just wanted to find myself and not jump into anything chaotic. Two hours give a lot of time to think. It took a while, but slowly my thoughts cleared and drifted to other things. I had always been busy lately, and was finally to myself again. Sure, I had to stop for quick fights on the way, but they barely cost any effort with a bit of practice. Actually they helped to free myself of any remaining thoughts. I was in no particular hurry to get stronger. Right now I was heading for a balanced mana regeneration at a very good pace and would soon be free. I also had a lot to learn about inscription and was content the way I progressed there. But now, here I was in a real fantasy world and all I had done was put me in a position of daily repetition and work. It was interesting, but it had already lost some of its glamour. There was no adventure, no excitement and I wanted some of that, too. It wasn''t the best idea to get reckless. I had yet to finish pushing my Intelligence to the necessary level and judging by what I had seen so far I was by far on the weaker end of the power scale. I could detect a lot of what might come my way with my senses, but the options I actually had to react were limited. My mana pool was now large enough to cast a few weaker spells and I had a sharp sword ready. But with just these I would never dare to simply go out into the wilderness or stir up some other trouble. The work I did, even when completely new to me still seemed so ordinary. What I wanted to do was to create something really genius. Something exceptional, that would stir things up a bit. That is what magic is supposed to be used for. Of course, I might not want to be associated with it and hide my own involvement. So what could I do, that almost no one else could? One was my apparent talent with perception. Maybe I should first experiment a little what others could perceive and what not and then take it from there. The other option was to find some actual use for my double attunement to light and dark, but I feared that would also carry risks and I should at least put it off until my mana regeneration was stable before something went wrong. Mr. Heart had told me that my hidden aura seemed shady, I wondered if there might be something I could do about it. Instead of completely suppressing it, I sorted a bit through the light and dark and pushed the light out, and the dark in, separating them and letting a bit of the light leak out. Now it should seem to others as if I had a proper aura. Keeping it up this way might take me some concentration, because it was no automatic effort like before. I kept it up for a while when I realized something felt off. It cost me some mana to do the separating, but the overall drain seemed to be less than before. I pulled up my Status window and tried counting the time once one point of mana had regenerated.
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 2, Warrior Level 5
Profession: Enchanter Level 4, Scribe Level 2
Stats:
Strength: 10 Dexterity: 13 Vitality: 11 Endurance: 13 Intelligence: 33
Health: 107/110 Mana: 78/330 Mana Regeneration: 3.30 mana/minute (7.30 mana/minute)
Before a minute had passed I had already regenerated my third point of mana. That meant my effective regeneration had gone up from before. I should have experimented on this long ago and tried to find out ways to improve my suppression. If it worked more effectively, I would of course have to use less mana. Before the next test I took a look around to make sure nobody was by some chance around. Then I pushed all the dark to the bottom half of my body and all the light to the upper part. I now leaked two different auras, and that was something I didn''t want anyone to see. The amount of mana I regenerated increased yet a bit more. Right now I only had to keep the conflict down right on the border somewhere at my stomach. There was another pressure I had to fight against, and that was as if light as well as dark each wanted to fill out my whole body. I couldn''t determine the exact amount of mana I was using right now, but it might be close to my base regeneration without the effect of the potions. Still, I redistributed my aura again until a light golden glimmer would be detectable by those who had the ability to sense it.
Sorceress has increased to level 3.
That was strange, if welcome. I had used suppress aura all this time I had been in this world. I had gained a few quick levels by playing around with my mana, but nothing for the continuous consumption of the suppression. It hadn''t cost me any effort by that time, but it should still account for much more than it had. Was it because it was an almost passive effect? I would ask Catherine about it. I continued the rest of the way while trying to constantly keep up the new arrangement of my aura. I hoped I could adapt to it more quickly than the last time. Almost immediately after she saw me upon entering Catherine commented: ¡°I can finally sense an aura about you. I had actually expected it to turn out to be dark.¡± So that''s what people think of me? ¡°Yes, I think I won''t need the potions much longer now, but I am still a bit unsteady.¡± A outright lie, because it had nothing to do with my mana regeneration. This time I didn''t worry about it being discovered. I had made my choice which aura to present, and would stick to it. Perhaps dark might have suited me more, but I guess when you are of both you just use the one that usually gets you the better public image. We got into a discussion about the questions I had stumbled over today. ¡°How do you level classes and professions. What is the difference between them? I got the Warrior class almost casually, but became a Scribe only after reading out a scroll.¡± ¡°I don''t know exactly how it works, but I can tell you this: You can get classes whenever you do the things that belong to them. What that is exactly is different for each one, but it is always related to the class. The first few levels are usually very quick, but after a while you will get almost no more progress unless you do something new or difficult in regard to that class. Most people try to take a few level in various classes, but never get very far in any of them. There are not many different classes, but some are very similar to each other. For some reason you can only have one out of the similar ones. As far as I know they all offer the same effect, so I can''t tell if there is any difference between them. Professions are like classes, but you won''t receive it automatically. There are far more professions than classes, and I heard of some really strange ones by now. They can only be received by attuning to it. I don''t know what exactly happens, but it is widely believed that professions belong to the gods and when you attune, the fitting god acknowledges you. In any case, you have to find some kind of contact to the profession. It can be an item belonging to the craft, there are initiations by people who practice it already and I have even heard of direct attunement with a god. You can theoretically have as many professions as you want, but there are some restrictions when they are very similar to each other. The attunement won''t work then, but you might have to try out when exactly that is the case. There are some silly fights between members of some of the professions that resemble each other. The worst one should be between assassins and murderers. If you travel around you can find different gangs fighting each other in a lot of places. Similar professions do not all fight each other so violently, but you should avoid getting involved in any of these conflicts.¡± When I asked about the calendar system the weeks turned out to also be seven days long, with one day off from work. There were no regular holidays, so I might have to directly request any off time. Today was the equivalent of Thursday, so I had two more days of work ahead of me. I went to bed with the thought of what I should aim for next. Chapter 10 Hit by a sudden inspiration I wanted to stretch out my senses as far as possible. I was lying awake in bed and hoped I wouldn''t drift off to sleep. The range I could reach depended on the intensity of the energy. If it was small I might only be able to perceive it, if it was right in front of me. Huge amounts were detectable at a far greater range. I was curious, if there was anything nearby I hadn''t been aware off until now. At first I didn''t become aware of anything. I didn''t really know, if it was even possible to stretch out my senses. One thing I could do, was to sort through everything that I did sense and try to find out if there was something in the background that I had filtered out. Inside myself I was aware of the constant conflict, that I was suppressing. The aura that I produced and the part of it that I consumed. When I looked even deeper I could find something in between the swirling of light and dark. I could make it out and it was familiar, because it felt like the singularity after the ritual. I decided that I wasn''t that curious about it and tried to become aware of what was outside of me. First there was Catherine''s aura, which was the closest thing nearby. It was very strong with a taint of dark. I only observed carefully, because I had the impression as she would become aware of me if I intruded there too much. Then I began to scan the house. Many small auras emanated from the storage room. Those I also left behind and breached the boundary of the house. I stood outside when I took a look around. That seemed wrong. Suddenly I realized that I was actually standing outside, right in front of the house. I had left my body by following my sense. When I looked down my form was a bit strange. It was still the body I had gotten a bit used to by now, but less definite. It had no substance. Maybe I could change it, but it seemed pointless to me and also far less interesting than everything around me. I couldn''t see normally, shapes were strange, but everything I did see was in wonderful colors. It was still night outside, and that seemed to dim the whole scene, but where normally only dark trees would be, now many lively green auras were visible. The ground was there, but I had to take special care to become aware of it. I began to take a stroll out into the woods. At first the forest had seemed asleep, but even now there were still active animals around. I could see their auras chasing through the scene, or lying in wait. I drifted further along the way. In between the life around me dark spaces stretched out, that were scary to wade through. Nothing out here seemed to detect me, so I just kept going from the vicinity of one tree to the next, preferring the colorful spots of life over the dark around. It didn''t take long when I had come to the city. I had been intuitively following the same direction as usually, but I came out somewhere else than normally. The city was a strange sight, too. Everywhere the auras of the population were around, also many magical items. The streetlamps gave off a comforting light. Having gotten a bit used to the way I could move, I flew up into the air and took a better look around. The auras I could see were very different in strength. Most were comparatively weak, but there were a few strong beacons as well, and just as with Catherine I avoided focusing too much on them. From up in the air I took a wide look around. The city down below was nice to watch, but the forest around was actually more colorful, although it didn''t have such intense auras as some in the city. Somewhere far off, to what must have been the northeast, three large pillars stood out, and somewhere behind them was an aura that was stronger than any I had seen so far. I didn''t want to get involved in whatever was there and instead looked for somewhere else to scout out. I went back to the forest, following the way I had come from. Catherine was a good landmark to travel to. Taking another look around, I randomly headed somewhere to the southeast. The forest continued on like before. To the south a lifeless dark area stretched out, which might be the area where I had first appeared in this world. I preferred the life of the trees and wanted to avoid the strange aura that had been to the northeast of the city, so I traveled into the heart of the forest approximately east. It stretched on and on and after a while I had lost sight of the gray hill lands to the south and also the aura to the north. I decided to turn around before I became completely lost, but then I spotted something strange up ahead and couldn''t resist checking it out. Quite a bit further up ahead the forest was more alive than any other parts I had seen so far. The auras of the trees were much stronger, and everything seemed to be in harmony. Compared to the wild woods around, this was a garden. I memorized the direction I had come from, and then went inside to look around. The place was almost blindingly intense and I watched in awe at the scenery around me. Even the ground felt alive. There was animal life here, too. They were majestic specimen, not like the kind outside. But it was not any more peaceful here. Just like outside, nature reigned here. Lost in amazement I saw fruits that shone brighter than most of the humans of the city. If the animals here had food like that it was no wonder they were this special. I would like to try one of them some day. It only dawned on me that there might be some power behind this place when a massive aura locked onto me. This was leagues beyond me and I wanted nothing to do with it. I should have payed more attention to my surroundings and perhaps I could have detected it earlier. I tried to hide my presence and dashed for the exit of this place. I had lost any interest in it. Before I could get very far I was suddenly grabbed and unable to move. ¡°I caught something, mommy.¡±, a little girls voice rang out. ¡°That''s very nice.¡±, a woman''s voice rang out from a bit further off. ¡°It can fly really fast!¡± I had become part of something far beyond my scope. If the voices were anything to go by, these two were a girl and her mother. But why was this girl so powerful? I was too afraid to talk to them. If the one who had captured me really was a girl she might loose interest if I stopped moving. ¡°It doesn''t move anymore!¡± ¡°Did you break something again?¡± A disinterested glance swept over me. ¡°She''s just playing dead. If you shake her a little she will wake up again.¡± I completely lost any orientation as I was violently swung around a few times. I became really dizzy. After I seemed to come to a standstill I shook my head. Perhaps a different tactic was in order. The mother seemed to be uncaring, so I had to appeal to the girl. I couldn''t actually speak, but somehow my intent carried over, just like the voices had reached through the space. ¡°Hi, can you please release me?¡± ¡°Mommy she talked!¡± ¡°Yes, Elves can talk. Why don''t you play for a bit while I take care of the garden?¡± The scenery spun around a bit and suddenly I was sitting next to a very bright aura, which was actually less in size than I was. ¡°Lets play catch! I already caught you, so now you have to get me.¡± She chased off, and I disappeared into the opposite direction. It took a mere second before a now again much larger aura grabbed me and pulled me right back. ¡°You have to run after me, or this doesn''t work.¡± There was little choice I suppose. I tried to chase after the form, which had shrunken back to the little form. There wasn''t even a chance to reach her. I could rush at her as fast as I wanted, but she was still two steps ahead of me. She ran around wildly and I was getting tired. Somehow it took energy out of me, even though I wasn''t corporeal. ¡°I am getting tired, can you please let me go?¡± ¡°We are having so much fun right now, you can''t stop now.¡± Spoiled brat. There had to be some way to escape here. I was too scared to even consider talking to the mother. There had to be a way to make use of the fact that I wasn''t here in physical form. The same rules might not apply. While putting up a token effort at the game, I concentrated on myself. My entire form was attached to my mind, which was what actually constituted ''me''. This body did carry a type of energy, that made up my shape, but it also slowed me down. If I concentrated only on my pure mind and traveled towards... I could sense some connection to my real body. Once the moment felt ripe, I closed my senses off from my surroundings and let myself drift directly towards my physical body. It seemed like just a small step and I could arrive there, even though I had traveled far longer. My mind burned as I was forcefully wrested away again. Slowly becoming aware of my surroundings, I was still in the enchanted forest. Whatever had just happened, it had inflicted a kind of wound on my mind, the shapes around me had become blurrier compared to before. The energy body I was inhabiting again had weakened and turned into a vague, jelly-like form, somewhat resembling my normal body. ¡°That was bad! I am not allowed to leave here and play with you outside.¡± Time stretched on. Whatever sustained me grew less, and I struggled thinking clearly. If I wanted to make a break I was shaken around until I showed signs of moving again. This girl''s stamina was endless, but mine was at its limit. Finally, after a long time a weak light began to cover the entire land. Dawn was coming. By now I was on the ground from exhaustion, but my keeper would still not leave me in peace. Then finally the woman''s voice rang out: ¡°It''s getting day. Let her go, I am sure she has somewhere else to be.¡± ¡°Can''t I keep her?¡± ¡°Remember what happened to the last one? Just release her.¡± ¡°Will I see her again?¡± ¡°I don''t think so, dear.¡± I had to struggle, but the moment I was let go I took the last bit of my strength and concentrated to feel the connection to my physical body. Without hurry, because I lacked the energy to push myself there, I felt myself drawing back until I found myself lying on my bed. The light of dawn shone through the window. I felt like I hadn''t slept a second, which I hadn''t. I struggled out of bed. My mana was drained, I was dead tired and my mind in shambles. Still I saw no way around getting up. I went outside to do some exercises in the hope they would wake me up a bit. I was really lazy today and just went through the motions without actually investing myself in it. What I needed now was lots of coffee, I hope they had something like this here. Back inside I almost fell into a chair and dozed instead of helping with breakfast. ¡°Didn''t sleep well?¡± ¡°I feel like I didn''t sleep at all. It was a nightmare.¡± ¡°I wanted to ask you to buy some groceries today, but perhaps it can wait for tomorrow.¡± ¡°No, it''s okay I will manage it somehow. Is there something people like to drink when they are tired? ¡°There is, but it will only keep you up for about two hours.¡± My tired eyes sparkled. ¡°I advise you against using it all day, you will be wasted.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Do you have some of it around here?¡± Catherine sighed and returned with a herb, which she then used to prepare a cup of tea. After three minutes I took a sip. Yes, this would do, I could already feel it sinking in and stirring me awake. ¡°Can I take some of those with me?¡± ¡°It''s your doom.¡± Satisfied I took up a backpack for the shopping. I left before I had even finished drinking the cup and took it with me, taking a sip every now and then. It had a unique, bitter taste, which was fitting for a wake up brew I suppose. Luckily I was finished with it by the time I ran into the first pack of wolves. My movements were sloppy, but still deadly. I got run down by the last of the wolves and had to push its dead body off of me. I tried to sidestep better in the following fights, but I still took some light hits. The situation was actually serious, but after this night the wolves didn''t scare me anymore. I was sure to avoid any strange places in the near future. Before I went to the shop, I visited the stalls on the market place and bought what Catherine wanted me to. I took a bit longer than I had expected, but it is sometimes difficult to shop, when you forget half of the things you were supposed to get. Still, equipped with a proper list I was able to fulfill the order. When I arrived for work, I put the bag into some corner. I must have looked like a zombie. ¡°It''s only the second day, and you already show up to work in such a bad state?¡± ¡°Bad dreams.¡± I ignored him and made myself another cup. I had regenerated enough mana to create a bit of water and then heated it up on my own, too. Then I watched it for a few minutes, while the herbs dissolved. Being very tired, staring at a single object is a very enjoyable practice, especially if it is your next drink. ¡°You don''t intend to keep drinking Gislagh tea the whole day?¡± I just stared blankly at him. ¡°Don''t expect me to show you anything new today. Try to prepare a few more power cells...¡± The day went by ever so slowly. It was difficult enough not to waste any mana, but I must have repeated every step three times more often than I had to yesterday. I spend the whole day doing nothing but creating the power cells and I was hardly even rewarded when only a single
Scribe has increased to level 3.
appeared on the entire day. The longer the day went on, the worse it got. I stayed just about as tired as I was in the morning, but the Gislagh tea must have had certain side effects. I was just as jittery as was normal after spending an entire day drinking coffee. This stuff was stronger though. My senses leaked into each other and my already strong energy perception overlapped into my sight. This created a scene that was a mix of my nightly trip and the normal view. Towards the end of the workday I had to struggle to work with the scroll, which looked like a parade of symbols. Just as I wanted to leave, another great presence targeted me. Fortunately it wasn''t the same as the two yesterday night, but it still seemed familiar. After the horror I had lived through I knew one thing for certain. Entities of such might were bad news, and I wanted to avoid any interaction with them. Concentrating on my aura, which over the day had automatically slipped back into suppression mode, I eliminated any and every leak that I might have left. I grabbed the pack with the groceries and dashed out of the shop. My mind was too tired to keep up the proper focus, and I slipped every once in a while, and every time I did I was targeted again. I even took a detour into another part of the city, but in the end made too many mistakes it seems. ¡°Shalyne!¡± ¡°Arienne...¡± There is one great thing about patterns. You don''t have to understand them to respond to them. Arienne''s aura was far from the scale of the presence I had felt before, but the two were connected. If I could avoid the detection, I should be able to avoid Arienne. Perhaps on a better day ¡°Hmm, that is strange, I didn''t actually want to go here? Well anyway it''s a good thing I did, so I could meet you here.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, too. Where are we anyway? I haven''t been here before.¡± ¡°That''s a strange coincidence, we are close to the adventurer''s guild. You haven''t been here before? Then I should really introduce you. Have you registered yourself as an adventurer yet? No? Then we should do that and we can even go out hunting monsters together! Maybe nothing too dangerous, I would hate to see you die, but it shouldn''t be boring either. Maybe we can form a party. If we go out in a big party we can fight a lot more enemies.¡± I really was to tired for this. Arienne dragged me inside and then straight to the counter. There were no people in the room, other than a woman in her fifties at the counter. There were posters on the walls, probably some job offers. There was a bit of noise coming from the adjacent room. It was blocked off by a wall, but I sensed some people there, crowding together in small groups. The woman looked up from her paperwork. She looked like a exemplary bureaucrat, the look complete with glasses and very orderly attire. A nameplate showed her to be named Mrs. Windon. ¡°Good day, how can I help you?¡± ¡°My friend here wants to register as an adventurer!¡± She looked over to me and then handed me a paper. She didn''t even ask me. ¡°Please fill out these forms and return them to me. If you want you can get something to drink in the other room.¡± With that she returned to her paper work. I was dragged along. ¡°I don''t really have time for this. I already have a full time job at the enchanter.¡± ¡°Don''t worry about that now. You don''t have to do requests right away. It''s better if you get a registration early, then you can join in with me whenever you get the chance! Sometimes I take on easy requests, and if you have a free day you can just come along. Actually, I can take a look at the board later and see if there is something fitting. But first lets get some drinks. I had a long day and wanted to come here to relax anyway. Hmm, I wanted to go to the tavern at the other side of town, but then I changed my mind. But this place is good too and it''s good to keep in contact with the other adventurers. You never know when you might team up with them, so it''s better to know each other and sometimes go on easy missions, too. Then you know exactly what they can handle. Things can go wrong when you are not on the same page. There was this group not long ago that...¡± We entered the bar and sat down on an empty table. The patrons turned around to eye us. I hoped that Arienne''s presence would deter them, but almost immediately one of the men at the bar got up and walked over. His neighbor let off a quick comment: ¡°Are you sure you want to get involved with them?¡±, but was ignored. The man who walked over was in his late thirties and definitely an attractive man in a dangerous way. Luckily I didn''t feel drawn to him, but I could understand his appeal. ¡°Hello ladies, can I get you a drink?¡± I wonder what he saw in us. Adrienne must be well known here and should scare off anyone who was sane enough and had two working legs. And I was sure I had dark circles under my eyes that just screamed: ''leave me alone and let me sleep''. There was no energy left in me to send him away, and it didn''t matter anyway, because I would have been far too late to even react anyway. ¡°Sure, something strong and sweet for me, and for Shalyne here some wake-up brew. A little kick to get her running again.¡± I was only half listening, instead staring blankly at the application form in front of me, but not really caring to do something about it. While the man left for the bar Arienne was babbling on, but I didn''t make out anything and only when a glass with some drink as dark as the night appeared before me, did I look up again. ¡°It is better than it looks, trust me. Name is Richard. I am one of the better adventurers here and do mostly monster hunting commissions. I see you are applying as an adventurer. Do you have experience as a scout? You hide your aura pretty well.¡± It would take some time until my subconscious had adapted to the way I wanted to show my aura. It might be difficult to get rid of Richard right now, so I answered him. ¡°Actually I don''t even know why I am here. I don''t really have the time to work as an adventurer. It''s just that my ''friend'' here has dragged me here and now I am struggling to get out of it.¡± Richard laughed out loud. As I looked over at Arienne I realized that the form had begun filling itself out. Me: ¡°How can you fill it out for me? You barely know me.¡± Arienne: ¡°Most of these things don''t really matter. You can leave them out or change them later on. The most important thing is your reputation.¡± She seemed to ponder some point. Arienne: ¡°That might be a bit important. What is your class anyway? You have sword, but work at the enchanter. Do you have a mage class?¡± Me: ¡°Yes, I am a sorceress.¡± Arienne: ¡°You should become a warrior instead. It''s much more fun to fight up close. Yes, that''s a better idea.¡± I took forceful control over the form, and looked it over.
Name: Shalyne
Race: Elf
Sex: Female
Age: -
Class: Warrior
Experience: -
This was pitiful. Would the guild really accept those blanks? Richard, who was taking a look gave a comment: ¡°It''s not that they check up on people. Nobody cares about the F-Rank adventurers, and by the time you increase to a better rank, your reputation is more important. It''s not that you are applying for becoming a guard.¡± He had distracted me just long enough, and now Arienne had already run off to the door. Was I even required in this whole process? Richard: ¡°So, what brings an elven sorceress out here into these parts. I can''t imagine you came here to learn enchanting.¡± ¡°No, I ended up here by chance. Things developed and now Mr. Heart has agreed to teach me inscription, so I might be staying for a while. It also means that I don''t have actual time for this¡±, I said with some spite in direction of the other room. ¡°Why would you agree to work for somebody like that? I am sure there are better options for somebody like you. If you are interested, my group always has an extra spot for a sorceress.¡± ¡°I don''t have any real experience in combat or adventuring. Perhaps I will try it out once I have finished learning inscription, but that will take a long time. I will see about it then.¡± ¡°There are also some adventurers who just do it as a hobby in their free time. You can do many missions in just a day, and it can be a nice change compared to your day job. There is a priestess who works at the hospital and is still part of our group. And if you are lacking experience, it might even be better to learn a bit now and if you want to become a full time adventurer later on, you can start out at once. We can always use some more spell support, and I am sure our wizard can show you a trick or two.¡± A voice came across the room from the bar: ¡°Don''t make promises for other people!¡± ¡°Don''t spy on others! That is one of his annoying tricks, he can enhance his senses and listen to things that don''t concern him.¡± An actual repertoire of useful spells would be nice to have. I could manipulate mana freely, but it was nice to have some inspiration what it could be used for. Adventuring might not call out to me for now, but to see a professional adventuring mage in action was interesting. Me: ¡°I wouldn''t mind seeing that in action.¡± Arienne: ¡°You can''t just join another group after I registered you! Look, even our cards look almost the same!¡± When did she return? I looked the cards over and they really did look a bit alike.
Name: Shalyne Name: Arienne Lightleaf
Race: Elf Race: Elf
Sex: Female Sex: Female
Age: - Age: -
Class: Warrior Class: Warrior
Rank: E Rank: A
Apparently it was really possible to avoid certain questions. Now I was really curious about her age though. Arienne: ¡°What is your family name? Perhaps we are related, or I might at least have heard of it.¡± That was another thing I had not even considered. The runaway princess theory would probably get its first advocate now. I could of course use my old name, or invent something, but it felt wrong, so I decided against it. Me: ¡°I would rather not tell.¡± Arienne: ¡°Let me have a guess. You aren''t...¡± Richard: ¡°If she doesn''t want to tell, let her be. We were also talking about a possible mission before...¡± Although he did come to my aid it seemed too calculated and I was far too worn out to get into any more stress. I lost track of the conversation and took the first sip of the strange drink. It really did taste good, but I feared it was masking its effect. A sudden silence hang in the air and as I looked up they were looking at me. Richard: ¡°Do you have the Analysis spell?¡± Me: ¡°Yes, why?¡± Richard: ¡°Arienne and I were talking about a possible scouting mission. There has been an increasingly large amount of strong monsters around and there is a request to get some data. Our mage can also use analysis, but then he won''t be able to assist in the fights. If we want to get some real information we have to get further out into the wild and I would prefer to be at full strength.¡± Arienne: ¡°You worry too much. Shalyne and I can do this job with just the two of us!¡± I was almost choking on my next sip. When had we ever decided to actually go out, let alone on such a dangerous mission? Me: ¡°The whole thing starts to sound too dangerous to me. I don''t think my first time out should be such a dangerous mission, and then especially not with just one companion.¡± Richard: ¡°Exactly, that is why we agreed to join up. That way you don''t even have to fight. The fact that you can do the analysis will actually increase your safety, because now our mage is free to act.¡± This had escalated quickly, but I had to admit, that it sounded like a good chance to get out and watch some real professionals in action. With Arienne around I felt somewhat safe in an unfamiliar group. The only one I didn''t feel safe with was she herself. She and a whole day of talking. Me: ¡°The only day I am free right now is Sunday. If it is any other time I am afraid I will have to pass on this.¡± Richard: ¡°Then I will ask around and get word to you tomorrow.¡± After that the conversation began to continue on and I began to empty my drink. By now I had settled down into a comfortable tiredness, and was content to just sit around. A bit of sleep might be nice, though. How late was it? I looked out but the light was already getting dimmer. ¡°I have to get back!¡± I only just remembered to put away the card that still laid on the table, grab my sword and backpack and then I rushed off. I ran the whole way to the forest, and even inside I kept jogging. The light had begun to grow weak, and I really didn''t want to travel in the dark. Some annoying animals stood in my way. The pressure of time and the stress that had built up since last night were screaming for a release. ¡°Fireball!¡± ¡°Bolt of Darkness!¡± ¡°Searing Light!¡± I didn''t cast the spells in the most perfect form, but destructive intent and increased power make quite the difference. I looked over the scorched wolf and remembered to put out the fire. Perhaps I should stick to the sword, but they had gotten in my way. I started running again.
Endurance has increased by 1.
That was nice to hear, because by now I was panting heavily and it was difficult running in a straight line in any case. It took me a while to get my breath under control, but I was still unsteady. The next group of wolves arrived just at the right time when inspiration hit me. I channeled the entire remains of my mana through my sword, and let it rush out with a wide swing. A wide blade cut through the air and cleaved into most of the wolves and into the trees, too.
Sorceress has increased to level 4.
Warrior has increased to level 6.
The last remaining one still stupidly rushed at me, but ate my blade. I was a bit worn out, and my legs felt weak, so I wasn''t able to move when it crushed right into me. The impact hit me straight in the center and I was thrown back unto the ground. I had enough awareness to hold out the sword to the side, so it wouldn''t cut into myself. Then I fell right on the ground and my head plopped on the ground. I guess I was lucky that the ground consisted of soil and I had a soft landing. As I laid there for a bit, trying to get my wits, I looked up at the wolf that had found a nice place on top of me. Some of his upper teeth were softly piercing me and I took care to finally lift him to the side without hurting myself further. It was difficult, because I had expended my strength. I limped the rest of the way and was glad the last and only remaining pack consisted of only two more wolves, which I fought by taking cover behind a tree and landing cowardly stabs at them. Finally the hut came into sight. I got my hands on a healing potion and was even able to clean myself before falling into bed. Late night strolls through the forest were something to be avoided, especially when in bad condition. Chapter 11 I woke up late the next day and was still a bit tired, but at least I felt well, considering what had happened yesterday. Catherine waited in the entrance room and asked me: ¡°Are you feeling well again?¡± ¡°A bit tired, but aside from that I am fine again.¡± With that she went into the storage and returned with the syringe. I guess when you have healing potions to speed up the bodies regeneration, it is possible to take blood in much shorter intervals and even after receiving a light wound just the day before. I didn''t complain, because she had been patient with any irregularities that had occurred in the last few days. It didn''t take me long until I felt as ready as I would be this day. Most of my weariness was in my mind anyway. I had used the recuperation time to eat and then left for the town, skipping exercise because I was already late. I took no liberties and dispatched of the wolves in the most efficient way possible. The only other thing I did, was to work on keeping up my aura. Before my employer could even say anything I already said: ¡°Yes, I am late, I will just stay longer today.¡±, getting an incredulous look, but no objection. I started out on some more power cells to keep him content and only after lunch did I ask for some new instruction. He showed me some of the control cells that were put in front of the power cells to control the way they would be drained. I even combined some of them, putting the exits over each other and fusing them. After that I anchored them to another scroll.
Scribe has increased to level 4.
The shop didn''t get many customers a day, but those that did come were probably leaving behind greater sums. I was almost exclusively in the work shop, so while I could hear them entering and talking, I never met them face to face and most might not even be aware of my existence here. So I could already guess who was asking to talk to me up front. ¡°You have a visitor. Keep it short, this is not free time.¡± Richard was waiting in the shop. ¡°You know, if you had told me you lived that far outside the city before you rushed off yesterday, I could have come along to make sure you arrived safely.¡± ¡°So now you also know where I live?¡± He at least had the decency to look a bit ashamed at that. ¡°It''s not that I was particularly asking for it... After you left I couldn''t really get out of the conversation for a while. It is also difficult to avoid hearing about various things when talking to Arienne...¡± ¡°I would appreciate it, if we only meet for business and you don''t suddenly come visit me on my free time.¡± ¡°Well, I won''t just make that long way for nothing. About tomorrow, I asked around and we can all make it. We meet in front of the guild an hour after sunrise. We have to travel some distance and you probably don''t want to stay out the night, so we can''t start later than that.¡± ¡°I guess if I hurry a bit and nothing keeps me busy tonight I should be able to arrive in time. Is there something I should prepare?¡± ¡°Just some provisions. It never hurts to have a weapon along as well just in case. We have a priest along, so you don''t need to prepare any healing potions. You won''t be involved in the real fighting, so it shouldn''t concern you anyway. We should be back around evening.¡± ¡°Sigh, until tomorrow.¡± ¡°Great, see you then.¡± After he left Mr. Heart turned to me: ¡°It''s your business what you do on your free time, but don''t let them talk you into enchanting or refilling their weapons. They should come here to do that.¡± ¡°Of course I won''t. I am going to use all of my mana to refill the crystals I am using at work.¡± It is actually funny to take stabs at him. Sadly he always has some boring chore just waiting for me. The rest of the day was spent refilling simple enchantments on the weapons and armor that were turned in here for maintenance. When an enchantment had become inefficient over time I had to replace it, but that was about the most interesting thing left to do. I took a short break from work and headed out to buy myself a backpack of my own, some food for tomorrow, and a canteen for water. After this short shopping trip I had to work quite late to make up for it and for arriving late in the morning. When I left, Mr. Heart was still in his shop, filling up a scroll of his own while standing at the counter. He wasn''t using any crystals and whenever I returned for work all the crystals I had emptied were already refilled. His mana pool must be vast, and the way mine is increasing in such a short time, I would not be surprised if he can do all his work just with his own mana regeneration. That evening was not spectacular. I put my mana into crystals and intended to take them with me as reserve. Then I went to bed especially early to wake up in time. It was still night when I woke up, but the horizon showed first signs of graying. The combination of being a bit nervous and catching a sufficient amount of sleep had gotten me out of bed in time. I depleted my mana reserves again and now held three fully charged crystals ready. As long as I kept drinking potions I was now able to completely recharge in about two hours. Counting in the crystal reserve, I had a short-time capacity of one thousand mana. Satisfied I did some short morning exercise and then left. I feared that I might still be late, so I jogged every now and then, but didn''t overdo it to reserve my stamina for the rest of the day. Even while hurrying it was a close call, because I still had to run through a large part of the city and had almost forgotten where the adventurer''s guild was. In front of the building a party of five was waiting. I recognized Richard and the other guy from the bar. There might have been more of them at the bar that day, but I couldn''t recall seeing them. Arienne appeared just about at the same time as I did. I was then introduced to the group. They consisted of the two warriors Vina and Tarvek, a priestess named Brinnia and the guy from the bar was called Orlund. Richard was a hunter and warrior and their group leader at the moment. The constellations often changed in this business, but they had been working together the last few months. They seemed to have a balanced group, but I would yet have to see them in action. We left to the northeast, where lately an increasing amount of strong monsters had appeared. It might have something to do with either the pillars or the strong aura I had seen that night, but I kept it to myself. We would hardly be going out that far and I didn''t want to spread information about the way I could travel around almost undetected. When we left the town we were just walking in a random formation, but once we got a bit into the forest, the group started to position themselves. Richard was up at the front and at times left us to scout ahead. To our sides the two warriors of the group were walking and in the middle the priestess, mage and me were placed. Arienne just went wherever she liked and didn''t take this serious. Right now she was busy with Vina at our right, so I had some peace. Brinnia the priestess engaged in a light conversation: ¡°So, how did you end up joining our group? Has Richard taken an interest in you?¡± ¡°I hope not. I don''t have any in him.¡± Orlund: ¡°He charged right at her table the moment she appeared in the guild. But by now I know that Richard does have a good eye for people. Just a bit later I overheard that she is a sorceress as well as an enchanter, and I am curious to see what she can do.¡± Me: ¡°I am just an apprentice. I was actually hoping to learn a few tricks by observing you in action. Did you listen in to the entire conversation?¡± Orlund: ¡°Only most of it. And I paid a high price for every bit of information.¡± He stealthily gestured over to Arienne without alerting her. Orlund: ¡°Well, if you are interested in combat magic, there are many ways to use it. Neither I nor Brinnia join directly into the fighting if we can help it. Instead it is better to assist wherever possible. Before we even start a fight I can detect enemies earlier by enhancing my ears as you may have guessed, but also my eyes. Richard is the better scout, but sometimes I can detect things that might be too far away otherwise. In the fight I can assist with ranged firepower, but that is often more problematic than it helps. The warriors are often in the way and hitting a moving enemy can be very difficult. Instead I use my favourite trick. I can use some minor telekinesis. If I let a monster trip at the right time or distract it for just half a second that is often enough to help out one of my teammates finish the fight or get out of a difficult situation.¡± That really sounded like a very useful trick. If I used it while fighting with the sword, I might be able to create openings. Perhaps I could even push myself out of the way, but to use it in the heat of a fight appeared to be very difficult and would I would have to practice it a lot before using it in combat. Me: ¡°Perhaps I will try that out when I have the time. Today I have to use Analyse. What do you expect to find out here?¡± Brinnia: ¡°Just the basic strength of a number of beasts. There has been an increasing amount of strong ones, and the guards are too busy with clearing them out to collect much data from further away. Depending on our mission today they might even send for reinforcements from the capital.¡± Me: ¡°If this is so serious, are you sure you want to have someone as inexperienced as me along?¡± Brinnia: ¡°Our group is actually really capable and can handle anything that we come across here. I sometimes even feel a bit useless when we return and I haven''t done any healing. In a way it''s a good thing, but when everyone does their job right I am just along for the ride.¡± Orlund: ¡°But if something happens we are even more glad to have you along. Also, you are the one complaining that too few priests go out into the field and only stick around at the hospital.¡± Brinnia: ¡°They don''t have to go out on really dangerous missions, but a lot of situations would be even easier to handle if a healer is available right away.¡± Me: ¡°Are you not afraid, that if too many priests are competing, that you won''t find any more missions?¡± Brinnia: ¡°There are hardly enough priests around, and I always have my job at the hospital. In contrast to the others in our group I am doing this only part time.¡± Me: ¡°I didn''t have much to do with priests until now, are there other things you can do besides healing?¡± Brinnia: ¡°Because of my job at the hospital I have mostly specialized in healing, but there are also arts to enhance the body. It''s kind of funny that Orlund knows such enhancements, but didn''t get the priest class.¡± Orlund: ¡°I would have taken it, but my outside perception is really bad. I was lucky enough to get training in the mage class at all. Might have ended up as a woodcutter otherwise.¡± I hadn''t been aware that there was a specific healer class, but there should have been at least a profession in any case. I was afraid that to become a priest I would have to join some religion, and that was something I didn''t want. This way there might be a possibility to learn it quicker. Me: ¡°What do I have to do to get the priest class?¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Brinnia: ¡°If you want to help out at the hospital, I will show you gladly.¡± Orlund: ¡°Just now you were complaining, that there are too few trained healers in the field, but now you insist on keeping the class to yourself.¡± Brinnia: ¡°It''s not that easy to become a priest. You at least need to have a good perception of what is around you and some connection to the light. Well, it is possible to use other sources like nature energy, but those are connected to other classes. If you fulfill all that, you still need to understand what the wounds or illnesses are that you want to treat. And you need to know how a healthy person feels in comparison.¡± I had successfully used some simple healing on myself before, but the effect had been very meager. That was partly due to the little mana I had used for it, but I had also lacked correct knowledge of the body. Me: ¡°Those requirements sound much higher than what it takes to be a mage. Why don''t you use some magic in fights then?¡± Orlund: ¡°Because she is too shy.¡± Brinnia: ¡°As if. I am a mage actually. I can''t really do much in the class, because I rarely practice. It''s also to conserve my mana for any necessary healing.¡± While we were walking along a few different animals attacked us, but our flanks wiped them out without effort. I felt like I was just on a stride. The way Brinnia must often feel slowly became more understandable. The beasts became quicker over time and looked more intimidating. Vina, who was fighting with sword and shield took on the hit of a bear and the impact was very heavy, although she was able to withstand it. I fear I would have been crushed easily, even if I was holding a shield. Curious, I tried Analyse. The mana cost was a bit higher than I was used to, but not by much.
Bear
Beast Level 30
Strength 47 Dexterity 15 Vitality 49 Endurance 41 Intelligence 10
Vina made a few more attacks while blocking the bear''s strikes and it finally fell down. Orlund: ¡°I am always glad that I don''t have to fight with them toe to toe. I wouldn''t stand a chance if one of them came close to me. Perhaps we should start paying more attention from now on, we can''t depend on the warriors for everything.¡± After a short while Richard returned from one of his scouting rounds. Richard: ¡°We are not all that far out yet, but please check up on some of the beasts for reference. Don''t use too much mana, I will tell you once we start the real information gathering.¡± We continued on, but stopped talking and observed our surroundings. I watched a fight between Tarvek and an extremely quick wolf. It might even be able to dodge my sword swings, but it was unable to stand up to Tarvek''s glaive. Whenever the wolf got into range it was punished with another cut, but it was able to avoid taking any critical hit so far. Another use of Analysis revealed his stats.
Wolf
Beast Level 22 Hunter Level 15
Strength 32 Dexterity 45 Vitality 31 Endurance 55 Intelligence 13
This animal actually had a second class! It was a very good thing for me to come along and learn about such things. I would have been easily overwhelmed if I had gone out on a stroll on my own. Now I had at least some idea what was lurking a bit further away from the city, not to mention the powerful beasts in that dreadful garden. A push of energy from Orlund delayed the next step the wolf was going to take. By the time it got steady it was already too late for it. Tarvek had immediately taken the chance to take a fast and very deadly swing at it. The wolf was almost split in two and collapsed. The only one who wasn''t acting serious was Arienne. She had just returned from where Richard must have been scouting and arrived right on time to run into yet another wolf. She didn''t even draw her sword, sent it flying with a kick and joined our center group. I didn''t see the wolf return afterwards. Arienne: ¡°I hope we meet some stronger beasts soon, this is getting boring.¡± Orlund: ¡°It''s reassuring to have you along, but I prefer it if things are under control. And we are making a target out of ourselves, if we talk too loud.¡± Arienne: ¡°That''s okay, there is nothing dangerous nearby. Shalyne, come, lets take a little stroll away from here and look around.¡± Me: ¡°I feel safer here. Is there anything that I won''t see by staying in the group?¡± Arienne: ¡°You are missing the excitement! This is no real adventure, if you don''t stick out your head a bit. And it''s not really any more dangerous as long as you stick close to me.¡± Me: ¡°If I just run around, it will be difficult to scan the beasts. I''m sure there will be enough excitement later on. Watching the fights is actually enough for me.¡± We went on without a break. The only times we stopped were for the short fights, or when I wrote down the stats of the beasts I analyzed. Their strength didn''t rise in any significant way, but the stats might differ depending on the specific beast. The way moved steadily uphill. A few obscured views through the tree tops showed small mountains rising before us. At the foot of either a high hill or small mountain, it was difficult to say from where we were, Richard was waiting for us. We all met up there. Richard: ¡°From now on we need to be prepared for a serious fight. Arienne, stick with the center group in case something sneaks past Tarvek or Vina. I will seek out monsters that might be of interest and direct you to them. Follow roughly in my direction and I will be able to keep track of you. Shalyne, try to analyze as many monsters as you can, but focus on the ones I point out. We are going to be around here for a while, so manage your mana.¡± We began to climb the mountainside. I had been observant before, but now I paid really close attention. After a while I got an ominous feeling of being watched. I tried to find the source, but whatever it was kept its distance and kept itself hidden. A few times I saw some movement in the distance, but could never make it out. The forest out here wasn''t really different from before, but perhaps because of Richard''s instructions, or because of our watcher I was worried. It was too silent. Even after a while there were none of the usual animal attacks and I still hadn''t used Analyse even once. Richard returned to us and also seemed to be a bit irritated. Richard: ¡°Something is not right here, the beasts are avoiding us. My instincts tell me that we are walking into a trap. We should be safe with Arienne at our side, but still have to be very careful. This behavior is not normal. Orlund, can you track anything down right now?¡± Orlund: ¡°Be very quiet then, I will try if I hear something.¡± We all tried to keep from making any noise and even Arienne kept silent. She hadn''t been talking for a while, so she even she could be professional in such circumstances. Orlund''s aura concentrated around his ears and he kept looking around. He didn''t improve his eyesight, but with this many trees he wouldn''t have been able to watch further than normally anyway. Orlund: ¡°I believe there are two or three creatures nearby. I can''t get a look at them, they are keeping out of sight really well. At least one is ahead of us, but there is also another one somewhere in our back.¡± Richard: ¡°It would be best if we don''t get surrounded. I still want to fulfill this mission, but we will try to get a look at the one who is observing us from behind. Depending on what we find out we will then decide how to continue or if it is better to abort. Orlund and Shalyne, the moment either of you can get a lock on that watcher, get out an Analyse immediately. I will sneak there and try to get it stirred up. Perhaps I can also get some more information of what we are dealing with here. Keep on moving in the same direction as before, but stop immediately if something seems off. I will take that as the signal to return and we will then discuss again what to do.¡± Richard went up ahead, and then disappeared again. He must be trying to mislead our watchers and circle around undetected. Meanwhile our group proceeded forward, but we kept throwing looks to our back. The trees were blocking all sight, so I didn''t get to see anything. Did I even need direct sight to use Analyse on a target? I had no target for it, so I tried it out on one of my companions. Looking ahead, but targeting Arienne in my mind I cast the spell.
Invalid target for Analysis.
There was next to no mana consumption, and no information either. I had never tried to confirm that monsters where the only possible target, but at least it seemed the spell would have activated, if it were possible. So I tried to switch to an increased perception of energy. Like I had done once before I sorted through the different sensations around me. I kept myself centered in my body and didn''t stretch out too far this time. I was still here, but was reaching out further. I couldn''t quite sense it, but got a vague feel for something silently stalking us. It was far from enough to pinpoint it or use Analyse, but I was now able to determine the rough direction it was in. I took a look around and then the terrain offered an opportunity. The mountainside was a lot steeper from before and alongside it the trees were a bit further apart, allowing for a look into greater distance between them. If we walked through that area, it would be easier to take a look at our back, as long as our pursuer didn''t take a long way around it. ¡°Can we go along in that direction? I think the gap through the trees here might allow me to get a short look if I time it right.¡± Orlund: ¡°Did you find something? Tell me shortly before you think it will come out and I will try my luck, too.¡± We followed along the way I had chosen and if my estimate was right, whatever chased us should soon come into the open. ¡°I think it might come out soon.¡± Constantly glancing backwards, finally a wolf peaked out of the trees. I instantly used Analyse, before it almost immediately disappeared again to take cover.
Wolf
Beast Level 27-29 Hunter Level 24-25
??? estimated Level 10-11
Strength: 35-38 Dexterity: 69-73 Vitality: 36-38 Endurance: 62-65 Intelligence: 22-24
Orlund: ¡°Did you see the same thing just now?¡± Me: ¡°I have some estimated stats. Was that an unknown class? And those stats were really high compared to what I have seen so far.¡± Tarvek: ¡°Could you please tell us others what you just saw?¡± We recounted the data Analyse had returned to us. The values Orlund had seen were a wider range than mine, which might be because I could draw more information from my targets aura. Perhaps a longer look would improve the precision. Tarvek: ¡°We will wait for Richard now. If those values are true we have to deal with an extremely fast and dangerous wolf. If this is really a trap and there is a pack of them waiting out there...¡± Orlund: ¡°I am more worried about that unknown class. The archive has always returned definite information to me. This is the first time I have encountered an unknown.¡± Arienne: ¡°I have been in a group once where we saw a few beasts with an unknown class. They were interesting to fight. It took a lot of damage to put them down, but they were not really stronger than the other beasts there. I remember after that a woman from the archive came by and often scouted the area. She must have assigned the Defender class, because after a while the witch who was with me at that time saw a few Defenders, when she used Analyse, but no unknowns anymore. I haven''t heard of any Defenders aside from that place though.¡± We chose a place nearby that protected us from the back and made for a good defensive position. Arienne went to a nearby place to make herself visible to Richard, if he was looking for us. The rest of us prepared for a possible fight and kept watch. A short while later Richard and Arienne came running back to us. Richard: ¡°I heard of the unknown class, we will head back immediately. There are more wolves closing in on us now, and I want to avoid a fight if possible. The information we got is already more than enough.¡± Returning on the same way, we walked down the mountain again. We stuck together as one group this time, Tarvek and Vina on our side as usual, Richard up front and Arienne kept watch over our back. None of us talked, and Orlund was listening in on our surroundings. I kept my hand on the grip of my sword. It gave a calming feeling against my nervousness. I don''t think it would help me though, considering the speed of the wolf I had seen before I would not be able to keep up at all. We were getting closer to the foot of the mountain, when Orlund spoke up: ¡°They are getting close. I can''t tell how many there are, but it is a whole group.¡± Richard: ¡°It looks like we can''t shake them off. We will choose a good place to fight and make our stand.¡± Sadly the entire space was open and left no advantages. Since we couldn''t find a proper place to stay, we just kept going. We were far slower than the wolves, so it didn''t take long for them to catch up to us. The pack included about 15 wolves. The scary thing was, that they didn''t blindly charge at us like the wolves I had met so far. One especially large wolf barked, and they split up to surround us. I took him for the leader and wanted to get a bit of information before the fight. I had decided, that I would not use Analyse after this and instead try to support the group the same way Orlund did.
Wolf
Beast Level 29-32 Hunter Level 23-26
??? estimated Level 4-5 ??? estimated Level 8-10 Strength: 43
Dexterity: 68 Vitality: 41 Endurance: 42 Intelligence: 38
Me: ¡°The large one has two unknown classes! It''s similar to the scout we saw before, but has close to 40 Intelligence.¡± Richard: ¡°That explains their strange behavior. Don''t bother getting more information and look out for the fight.¡± Turned to the entire group he added: ¡°Don''t let them surround us, we strike first. Stick together. Arienne, take out as many as you can, so they can''t close the circle.¡± Arienne rushed out like the wind and headed for some of the wolves that were circling around us. Richard drew his bow and shot one who was advancing on the other side. His target was hit, but could still move. The wound must have aggravated it, because it began to charge right at us. It fell a moment later from a shot into the head. Arienne had engaged one of the wolves and already landed a heavy wound on it. Two more were running at her. Before Richard could take another shot I felt something strange coming from the leader. It was manipulating mana! Me: ¡°The leader is casting a spell!¡± Before we could react a heavy wind fell down on us, combined with a loud howl. While we still struggled against the wind the entire pack charged at us. Richard: ¡°Arienne, take out the leader!¡± This situation was serious, and it might be best if I didn''t leave everything to the group. The wolves had gotten very close, but were still not engaged in battle with us. I stepped out of our formation far enough to avoid hitting one of us and took out my sword. I pooled my entire pool into the same cleave attack I had used before and sent the swing at the advancing beasts. My consciousness blurred right after and I could only feel being pulled back into the middle of the group. It took me a moment to steady myself until I could take in the situation again. We had gotten into a wild melee. Richard was using a sword now and Tarvek and Vina tried to hold off the wolves that came at us from all sides. They weren''t just content fighting with the warriors, but also made attempts to rush into the core of our formation. Orlund threw direct telekinesis blasts at them that could at least deter them for a moment. I took out one of the crystals and drew in its mana. My aura surged up again. I took another one into my free hand and kept it ready. In the heat of the fight I wanted to avoid becoming incapacitated, so I didn''t use another all out attack again. It didn''t take long until I got a feeling for directly using my mana for attacks. I just let it form into a heavy blow and landed it on my targets. I couldn''t throw the wolves off balance as well as Orlund, but it helped out a bit. It was difficult to describe the situation, it was chaotic and we could barely hold our position. Vina stood unharmed, but couldn''t hurt the wolves either. At least that side seemed to be safe. Richard had taken a wound on his arm, but was still holding his position. Brinnia sent healing light at him. I blew at one of the two wolves that were attacking him right now to get a little weight off of him. Before I could watch how Tarvek was doing I felt another wave of energy form. I looked into the direction it came from and saw the leader wolf preparing another spell. I could sense another gust of wind forming and slashed out at the spells intent that almost hang in the air. The spell wasn''t under my control and it was difficult to get influence over it. I emptied the crystal I held in my hand and continued attacking the energy. It was possible to keep it from taking its final form and when it was finally released, a wind blew over us, but didn''t hit us directly. It also seemed much weaker than before.
Sorceress has increased to level 5.
The leader gave out a loud bark again, just when I searched for my last remaining crystal. The wolves began to keep attacking the gaps in our formation even more than before. Orlund''s aura had weakened considerably and he couldn''t keep up much longer. When I found the crystal, I immediately filled myself up again, and took over what I could in protecting the circle. I was left with no time to consider anything else and we only just kept the formation in place. Finally I heard a miserable howl, which seemed to dishearten the last few wolves that were still keeping us pinned down. They began to withdraw and ran away. Taking a more thorough look around we were all still more or less in one piece. Richard and Tarvek both had a few wounds, but none looked too dangerous. Arienne returned to us, a light limp visible, but other than that seemed to be in good health. Chapter 12 Richard: "That could have ended really bad. Are you all well enough? We should get away from here as soon as possible. We can take a rest when we are clear of this mountain." Apparently now that the immediate danger had passed, she considered it fair to talk again. Arienne approached me and spoke out without a care in the world: "That was a good fight, I didn''t have to fight for real in some time. You had some nice moves too, if you train a little we can already do some pretty interesting requests. Perhaps we shouldn''t go here, but that still leaves us a lot of options. I thought you didn''t have combat experience?" ''Ascension'' was just a game, even if it was virtual reality. The fights and the movement there had been real, but there was never any real threat. So while I had practiced in many different fights I was more than a little surprised that I hadn''t panicked just now. The fight with the wolves had been very intense and dangerous, but all the strange things I had experienced lately must have desensitized me a lot. "No real experience, no. I only had a bit of practice, but never in any fight that was an actual danger to me." Orlund: "I am beginning to believe you are holding out on us. You just used telekinesis the same way I did." Me: "It wasn''t nearly as effective. You strike at just the right moment and bring your enemies off balance." Orlund: "And what was that spell right at the beginning? You nearly killed three wolves and hurt a few more. And then you just continued casting spells almost like nothing happened. I would like to be aware of who I am traveling with." Brinnia: "Your senses are as dull as ever, Orlund. She was constantly drawing in reserve mana. With that much capacity you could have used some more flashy moves, too. That wind towards the end, did you interfere with it, Shalyne?" Me: "I was able to slow it down a bit, but didn''t really disperse it." Richard: "That is all very interesting, but can we keep it down? We have to leave this damn mountain and I am still wounded and would like to avoid any unnecessary fight, just because we are drawing unwanted attention." Arienne: "They won''t dare to come back with their leader dead. Also, there were no other types of beasts around. The wolves must have hunted most of them down. I guess they first have to regroup, if the remaining ones still have the brains for that. Well, they did run away, that shows they are not the most dumb of breeds. But then they should also understand that they are no match for us. Most intelligent animals know when they should avoid a fight. There is of course a type of lion in the prairie that is so dumb, you can cut off all of its legs and it still tries to charge you. Pretty tough though, I kind of admire them, if they just weren''t so stupid it could be...." We found a place to finally take a rest quite a bit away from the foot of the mountain. On the way a few of the slightly weaker, but still powerful beasts attacked us, but Arienne was still so hyped that she rushed at them and took them out before they got very close. The beasts here are strong, but I realized just how much more dangerous an intelligent enemy is, who leads a coordinated attack instead of blindly charging at you. Out here, they would attack the first person that came close to them. Tarvek and Vina had drawn their aggression just by being closer to where the beasts came from.
Endurance has increased by 1.
The continuous march and fight had exhausted me. While Brinnia took care of Tarvek, Richard and even Arienne, I just sat down and took out the provisions I had prepared yesterday. I was glad for some quiet, and trusting in my allies I leaned back and took my good time to slowly eat. It was really beautiful out here, if you weren''t attacked. The temperature was comfortably warm, the trees gave off an atmosphere of fresh and pure life and so I dozed off into a short nap. I awoke when a shiver passed over me. I looked around, but didn''t see anything particular and I put it aside. The others seemed to be ready to leave, so I had awoken at just the right time. While we were walking I considered my situation again. Originally I had wanted to learn a few tricks on this trip. Just observing and keeping a low profile. Now I had to realize, that while the horizons where still far out of sight in concern to power level, my abilities with magic were quite up to the level of an experienced adventuring mage. Of course taking only Orlund as an example was a bad way to get a representative view. Nonetheless, he was highly valued by his group. After my aggressive display of magics, I feared that I might get drawn into more excursions like this one. There were not many ways they could impose on my current schedule, but real free time began to look like a distant dream. If I found at least a room in the city, I might be able to squeeze out a few hours for myself or some other activities. Most of us were a bit down when we finally arrived back in town. We had not encountered anything out of the ordinary on the way, but this day had already seen enough excitement. It was already evening, but not late enough that I had to particularly hurry back. Richard said he would go to the city hall and we agreed to meet up tomorrow evening at the adventurers guild to receive our share. I didn''t care if the others still wanted to hang out and simply took my leave. I had kept my mana up for any further emergencies. I could of course have stored it in the crystals and just taken it out again, but my aura felt more comfortable, if it was restored naturally or if it had some time to adapt to me. Now that the real danger had passed I began to fill up my crystals again. I hadn''t really made any progress for work and even used up what reserves I had stored up. Was this even something necessary or just some way Mr. Heart picked on me? I didn''t mind having some crystals at my disposal, so I would keep taking them home for now. The wolves I met on the way to Catherine''s hut felt exceedingly slow. I wasn''t able to handle the high speeds of the high level wolves, but my perception of their movement was very sharp right now. My own movements were a bit sluggish from the long day, but I didn''t even get pressured. Considering that just a few days ago I had still struggled against them, I felt a bit elated. The sun was about to set when I arrived. I took out the history book and tried to read once more. It was structured quite well, and I chose to read up on the basic geography. The Varieste kingdom was protected really well with the unpopulated gray hills to the south and the forest to the east. Of course it had to fend off monsters, which to me seemed like a word synonymously used for strong beasts and any other dangerous uncivilized beings. To the north a large river made up the border to the lands that were often plagued by barbarian warlords. I would have to look it up on the history section, but there were hints that there had been struggles with the one or other upstart king. Finally to the west the Culian Empire stretched out. They had been a peaceful neighbor for most of the time, probably happy about a stable friendly border themselves, and the trade relations were important. The issue I found with this information, was that it might already be outdated for a long time. Skimming over the inner geography, I only really remembered that the capital Saiphis was somewhere to the west of Barlaine. At some point I had lost my original interest in the book and just kept it open without any further reading. Perhaps I should start borrowing books on inscription soon. The rest of the evening passed by easily while just enjoying my peace and quiet. The next morning I took my exercise very seriously. I wanted to incorporate spells into my Warrior arsenal, but felt myself still far too lacking in the basics. So I went through the same program as before, but pushed myself to the limit.
Warrior has increased to level 7.
I felt like I was adapting further, but nowhere near the level of control a black belt should have. The training with the sword felt even worse once I took a critical look at myself. I was hardly sufficient in wielding it, because I had comparatively little experience. It might be better to learn from an expert instead of just aimlessly trying to improve myself, but my days were cramped enough already. I used the way to work for my sorceries again. Before practicing anything new, I tried my hand on the few spells I had already used before. I had shown the light side of my aura, so I decided to practice my searing light technique a bit more. Sure, with enough invested mana a bad spell still did a lot of damage, but that would take away options an effective version could offer. First I started with a small spell again. I used the light aspect and disintegration. The little sphere was pulsating quickly. I could increase and reduce the frequency of it and then sent it through some leaves. If the frequency was low, it cost less mana, but it took longer to create a complete hole in the leaf. It would always disintegrate pieces, and slowly the holes would spread and connect. With a high frequency I was able to create a hole just by sending the sphere through my target once. It also emitted a lot of energy, and I wanted to get rid of that effect. For once it made the sphere easier to detect by others, and secondly it cost unnecessary mana that wasn''t used for its function.
Sorceress has increased to level 6.
When I was finally done, the spell was less obvious. It simply floated toward where I sent it, and then ate away the target. And all the while it looked and felt harmless, because its effect wasn''t projected outside of the sphere. I waited for a pack of wolves and killed all but one with my sword. I wanted to use the last one for some experimentation, but it had to be alive for that. The problem was, that while I could avoid any danger by instantly killing all the approaching wolves, fighting one with the goal of only incapacitating it was more dangerous. Fortunately the wolves around here are very easy to predict and I drew it to one of the trees, where I circled around until I could take a good swing at its front legs. It was still able to move, but I took a few steps away into a safe distance and then casted the next searing light. Compared to the leaves, there was a resistance while sending it through the wolf. It wasn''t very strong, but noticeable. I had to increase the strength of the sphere''s movement a bit and also reinforce its effect, because it was weakened inside the wolf''s aura. I took pity on it, because after I had cut off its one front leg, and seared away part of the other, the wolf was struggling hard. I didn''t want to prolong its suffering, so I finished it with my last experiment. Creating a very small sphere I sent it directly into the brain and let it spin around a bit. The effect was almost immediate and the wolf finally collapsed. This weapon was very deadly and didn''t cost too much mana, at least if I didn''t have to overpower an equally strong aura, because it only attacked small specific areas instead of causing wide spread destruction. When I got close to the valley, I took another way that led me a bit more to the northwest and should allow me to come out of the forest further west and in closer proximity to the city. I wanted to get to know the area a bit better. The way I took wasn''t overgrown, but a bit more difficult terrain. There was after all no path here. It only took a short while and I reached the old city wall. It seems the city didn''t expand directly to the south and the wall still was the outer boundary. The wall was in bad shape, it hadn''t been maintained for a long time, and the stone was brittle and overgrown. Perhaps by following it back to the east I would quickly return to the entrance of the valley, but I was a bit curious and followed the wall westward. At some point the forest began to thin out and I got a view of a hilly grassland with small groups of trees here and there. Now that I could see further ahead the wall disappeared in another outgrowth of houses. I stuck to the wall and went there. This corner of the city was a bit shabbier than any others I had seen so far, but couldn''t be considered slums yet. I still wanted to avoid any hidden alleys, so I always took the broadest streets, if they can be called that. This part of the city couldn''t be compared to the bustling atmosphere of the valley, because a few people were just hanging around in various places. I couldn''t detect any animosity, though and wasn''t fearful either. It didn''t take long though, and I had moved into an area that looked like an industrial district. The river was flowing through here and there was a lot of woodworking and even a forge. Maybe this place wasn''t too bad, it wasn''t luxurious, but might be the right place to get a cheap room. I followed the main street until I passed through the city wall again. I hadn''t been here yet, so I just walked into the direction of the center, until I oriented myself again and then headed to the enchanter''s shop. My detour had cost me a bit of time, but I had been early enough and arrived at an appropriate time.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Today I have to show you one of the hardest parts about inscription. Having a construct that completes a few simple tasks is no problem, but once they get complicated it can be very difficult to come up with a way to make it work. Especially anything that manipulates the body or mind is more of an experiment than a strict plan you follow through. So once somebody comes up with a way to make a scroll work in the intended way, even if it isn''t very effective, it may be the only known version. And many enchanters are just sloppy amateurs, barely worthy of the title! The things they have built are sometimes beyond comprehension. This will hurt a bit, but I want you to copy this part here.¡± Mr. Heart took out a scroll, and on it a strange part was visible. It had some logic intent, used to produce different reactions depending on some conditions. It was also built up of smaller parts. What shocked me was how horrible it looked. It didn''t have a clear intent for each part, but some things felt more like a ''maybe'' or ''if you push really hard I will do the task, but only then''. By now I had realized, that inscription had a lot of similarities with programming. Enchantments were simple intents that worked immediately. Complex constructs followed through strings of conditions to adapt to very specific circumstances before evoking their effect. Of course a simple intent could reduce a lot of programming into a single component. If such a flawed unit like the one before me was used, I couldn''t even imagine how it would influence the other parts of the construct. A clear decision would lead to definite consequences, but with such components reproducing the same effect with a more efficient and definite structure was next to impossible. ¡°But that''s really ugly!¡± ¡°There is no way around it. And it is only one of many similar components you will have to create. Perhaps it is possible to fix this scroll, but it might be better to just reinvent it from scratch. The problem is, that no one knows how it actually performs certain functions, so we are stuck with copying it exactly as it is. The scroll is used to attune to the bureaucrat profession, and there are always some people who want to buy it. I only need a few of each of these components, so I will show you the book of bureaucracy. It contains the complete list for all components and the numbers required. Your job is to work through it until you have every part ready. I want to create five complete scrolls in the end, so multiply the amount.¡± At that he pulled out a book and handed it over to me. It contained detailed descriptions for each part, but there were only a few parts attached that I could study in their true mana form. The others I would have to create from the descriptions in the book. Copying an existing part, and creating one according to a description are completely different tasks. At least I began to understand why some enchanters even came up with flawed components. If they never saw the true form, they had to create an approximation, and if they described it to someone else the similarity might get watered down more and more until it looked like the abomination I had seen before. I only needed a small number of most parts, and there were even a few I had to create only once per construct. So I had to first struggle through the description and then try to build up something that looked like it might fit.
Scribe has increased to level 5.
There were a few notes in the book that had apparently been added later on. Sometimes they helped me to better imagine what I had to create, but sometimes the original description seemed to be the better lead. If every single scroll was this cumbersome to copy, then the full repertoire of components used in inscription was way beyond what I had originally thought I would have to learn. In the middle of my work I felt a wide sweeping search run over the land. I might not have felt it, but it felt like it was targeting me, which made me more alert to it. I couldn''t make out anything about it, but hid my aura again. Something was always coming up to bother me, and it was often out of my control. Having a proper aura and reduced regeneration problems was nice, but it might be better to keep my head a bit low. When I went back to work, I was a bit distracted. The search had only rushed over me once, but I couldn''t get it out of my mind. Still, my job had to be done and I wanted to advance.
Scribe has increased to level 6.
The diverse work I was doing today certainly helped to push up my stats quicker than usual. I couldn''t resist a small break to look over my status:
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 6, Warrior Level 7
Profession: Enchanter Level 4, Scribe Level 6
Stats:
Strength: 12 Dexterity: 15 Vitality: 13 Endurance: 17 Intelligence: 53
Health: 129/130 Mana: 403/530 Mana Regeneration: 5.30 mana/minute (9.30 mana/minute)
(AN: That makes 0.3 mana/minute without the use of the mana regeneration potion and after subtracting the 5 mana/minute cost of suppress aura) My initial requirements for mana regeneration had finally been met! I would wait a bit to get off the mana regeneration potions, but at least I didn''t depend on them, even if I suppressed my aura. And that was something I might want to keep up after all. I remembered the meeting at the adventurers guild, and packed away the materials. I asked for a inscription book I could read in the evening and Mr. Heart gave me an introductory book. After promising to take good care of it I packed it away and left for the guild. I entered the bar room directly from the outside and took a look around. Richard and Orlund were already occupying a table, so I walked over and sat down. Richard handed me 50 silver coins. Richard: ¡°That''s your share. If I had known we were getting into such a dangerous situation, I would have negotiated for more.¡± How much was the reward for the mission? I had mostly gone along to learn about the way adventurers worked. A small payment for a bit of analyzing had seemed appropriate. We had agreed on this before I took part in a real fight. From now on I might also have to negotiate for higher amounts, even though I didn''t enjoy that at all. With business taken care of I made ready to leave. Richard: ¡°Don''t you want to stay for a bit? You might be interested in the news I have to tell.¡± Me: ¡°And I don''t suppose you will wait until everyone else is here as well?¡± Grinning he retorted: ¡°That was the plan.¡± It was a good idea to keep track of the situation in town, and right now I didn''t even know anything at all. So I stayed and ordered myself something to drink, but this time without any alcohol or whatever had given my last drink the ''kick''. Then I took the opportunity to ask for something else that had been on my mind for a while. Me: ¡°I have been thinking of moving into the city for now. Do you by any chance know about a cheap place to stay?¡± Richard: ¡°You can ask at the reception here in the guild. The rooms are not the cheapest around, but are affordable.¡± Orlund: ¡°Try asking Brinnia. The church is renting out a lot of rooms. They are mostly for the poor, but perhaps she can sneak you in.¡± Could I be considered needy at the moment? My wage was certainly not the highest, but I did have a place to stay, had just earned half my wage and Catherine was paying for any other needs I had right now. No, I don''t think it was fitting to consider myself that. Me: ¡°I don''t think that would be appropriate.¡± Richard: ¡°There are also sometimes notices at the board here. They are external rooms and you might catch a good one. Adventurers like to choose those when they stay for a longer time.¡± Me: ¡°Thank you, I will go and take a look.¡± I got up and first took a look at the board. There were two offers for 30 silver a month and I memorized them. Then I went over to the counter and asked Mrs Windon for any open rooms in the guild. The really cheap ones were all rented out, and the others cost at least 50 to 100 silver, which I considered a bit expensive for now. If the rooms in the city were to far below my standards I might consider them, but first I wanted to check them out. Then I rejoined the table in the bar. The rest of the group showed up within the next hour. We were talking about various things until Richard finally began to talk about the news he had heard. ¡°I had to wait for today to report, but there were some news at the city hall. It''s not that surprising that one of the archivists will come out here. They were also pretty sure that a submission force will be sent out to Barlaine, but that isn''t definite yet.¡± Orlund: ¡°That leaves less work for us. They will probably clear out the mountains in no time.¡± Brinnia: ¡°I don''t mind it if things are safe around here again.¡± Arienne: ¡°They might also hire some additional forces from the adventurers. The discipline is annoying, but they usually pay better money than the city. Until they get to know the territory they might at least hire a scout.¡± Richard: ¡°We are not even sure yet if they sent out any forces at all. Or it might just be a token force and the real work remains with us as usual.¡± After that there was mainly more small talk, so I excused myself and left. The way back was spent working some more on the searing light, and I think I was getting a good grip on it now. I went through the usual evening activities and then sat down with the book I had brought along. It really was very basic. It started out with enchantment and how to best solidify intents, but that all came to me intuitively by now. The next section introduced constructs and some basic components. In addition there were a few tips on how to work with some of the explanations about a component in different books. It mainly came down to getting your hands on a functional unit to copy it, trial and error when creating something from scratch and making notes when you did find a way to create a part. So far I had not spent much time on any of the sections. There were a few tidbits here and there but nothing that I hadn''t come across already while working. Finally the interesting part came up. There were some building plans for very simple constructs. So simple in fact, that I could just as well cast a similar spell directly. The advantage was of course, that I had the spell at the ready without needing to rely on my mana reserves, and that I could give it to someone else. I quickly skipped over those plans, which filled out the main part of the book. I might go into detail at some other time. There was no passage about how to build up constructs, just instructions on already composed ones. The book finished with a note on some more advanced books and how only creating small constructs enabled scribes to some day build up the big ones. It was all true in a way, but didn''t really help me improve myself. It seems there were some self taught scribes as well and this book catered to them. I might take the time to think about the way the simple constructs were laid out, which might teach me more than simply creating them without reflection. Reading the book had been easy, because it didn''t hold me up very long at any part, but time had still passed quickly and I soon went to bed. Somehow I had already developed a trod on how to go through the days. The day started with exercise, followed up by the way to work which I used for magical experimentation if I was in the mood and then work. The next day I had first thought of working on my bolt of darkness, although I had to remind myself not to use it publicly. Why work on it at all when there were so many alternatives around? I wanted to increase my proficiency in both light and dark, if I already had to put up with them. So finding a balance in the time I split between training them was necessary. I finally decided to work on a cloaking technique instead, which might actually benefit me at some point. considering how often I already relied on hiding my aura, I might as well work on physically disappearing as well. The main issue was that being cloaked in utter darkness might help hide at night, but draw a lot of attention during the light of day, or in any lightened places really. Of course I still tried it out a bit. I first scanned out for any unwanted searching intent that might be lingering in the air unnoticed. After that I put up a reversed aura with dark to the outside. I didn''t let it leak out naturally but instead still kept it well contained. Now that I thought about it, this could even work as an improved suppression while keeping the bonus of reduced mana consumption. The last step was the actual spell. I let the dark consume all light that my body would emit normally. I took a look at my arm, which was now utterly black. Certainly a nice tan, but no real use for hiding during the day. So I released it again and pondered the issue of how to do some proper invisibility. If I could let the light from all directions pass through my body, while keeping the reflecting light that my body sent out, I would basically be invisible. The problem was that this posed a difficulty I didn''t know how to work around at all. Another option would be to influence the minds of those around me and make them ignore me. I would be perfectly visible, but no one would take notice. Aside from the fact that I didn''t know how to manipulate minds, I could easily come across someone who was not only able to detect that I was meddling around with their minds, but who could also easily do something about it. Not an option either it seemed. So while I pondered the different ways to achieve invisibility, the way to work easily passed by and I had not come up with any workable solution that didn''t require abilities far beyond simple mana manipulation. I would have to accept only being able to use this at night. The day was spent creating ugly corrupted components again. At least I was quickly moving through the book and could hopefully soon get to nicer task.
Scribe has increased to level 7.
When it was time I left and went by Silvia''s house. She was one person I actually enjoyed just spending a bit of time with and I hadn''t seen her in a few days. Sure, there was also some interest to finally learn the hunter class, but that wasn''t a requirement for visiting her. I knocked on the door and was in luck, because she was home. ¡°I was afraid you didn''t want to come anymore.¡± ¡°Sorry, a lot of things came up...¡± Either she had time, or she made time, I didn''t ask. I had to recount all that happened on my little adventure and on the other days until she was satisfied. When I was finally finished we had long since gone into the forest and naturally it didn''t take long until we met our prey. Silvia took out all but one wolf and I held him down with telekinesis. While still keeping my concentration on holding him trapped, I took Silvia''s bow into my hands and slowly drew it. She had pulled out a knife and was standing by closely in case the wolf got free. It took continuous effort to pin him down, but I could keep it up while I aimed and shot an arrow from close distance.
Hunter level 1 has been obtained.
The wolf was still there and quite alive. The arrow had nearly missed it and stuck almost harmlessly somewhere in its back. It took me two more arrows to kill him, and the last of the two was at point blank range, because keeping him down cost a lot of mana and I was running low. Only when it dropped did I celebrate. To be honest I wasn''t as enthusiastic as Silvia had been when she successfully became a sorceress. I just wanted to tease her, so I made a victory dance and jumped at her for a hug. ¡°You are not really that excited?¡± ¡°No.¡±, I stated calmly, letting go of her and giving her a dry, blank look. I couldn''t keep it up though and we both burst out into laughing. ¡°Then it''s my turn now!¡± ¡°How much did you train?¡± ¡°A bit now and then. I am level 4 now!¡± That surprised me a bit. I could have invested more time, but I hadn''t been exactly idle when training spells. And she was merely two levels below me? ¡°Did you practice anything aside from fireballs?¡± ¡°No, just those. I wanted to wait for you before I tried anything new. Why?¡± My irritation must have shown and she caught up on it. ¡°Nothing, I will think of something new. You can practice the old spells whenever you are on your own.¡± We headed back out of the forest and came out close to the place where I had let her hurl fireballs at the ground. ¡°Okay, show me how much you have improved. I want to see a nice fireball.¡± Silvia must have practiced a bit, but it still took her a while until she had summoned up the fire. I could create it almost instantly and considered it an easy spell. It was of course one I had used a lot, so that didn''t mean much. She was able to properly aim it and it even contained more power when it burst. Certainly a nice improvement. ¡°I have thought about another spell. The wolf leader I told you about could create a strong gust of wind, and I want to try that one out. Give me a moment to concentrate.¡± I concentrated on the lightness of the air element. I hadn''t experimented a lot with different spells since coming to this world, and it was my first time casting a wind type spell. It came very naturally, made even easier because we were already outside and I could relate to the wind a bit better in the open. Of course I needed to do a good impression and used it in the most sensible way. I really wished for a long cloak at this moment. I let the wind blow right at myself. My clothing wasn''t affected that much, it just hung a bit more tightly to me. But my hair shot back wildly and fluttered in the wind. I was getting a bit carried away, but standing in a self conjured wind makes one really feel like a mage in a way most spells don''t. So I followed the next inspiration and gathered a lot of mana close to me up in the air. As I charged it up I held out my arm before me and then let it rush down to the ground as a lightning bolt.
Sorceress has increased to level 7.
It might have been a bit much, because the impact was really heavy, but it only hit stone, and nothing dangerous happened. Combined with holding down the wolf for a while and the continuous wind, it had drained me really low though. ¡°I WANT THAT SPELL!¡± ¡°Forget it, I was getting carried away, I will definitely not teach you that lightning. You can hurt yourself much more easily than with fire.¡± I was SO going to practice shooting lightning emperor style the moment Silvia wasn''t around. She put up a real sulky face, but I didn''t budge. I ordered my hair a bit, which had wildly come flying into the other direction when I had released the wind. Normally it would annoy me, but just now it had served the purpose of showing off my might, and it was rather nice to have for that. ¡°So, do you want to learn the wind, or go back to shooting fireballs?¡± I had to endure some more pouting until she finally relented. ¡°Okay, I guess that is cool, too.¡± My regeneration was working hard, but I still took a little mana out of a crystal to have a bit of a buffer. Then I concentrated on Silvia''s body and let a weak energy course through her that was both light and wildly blowing. ¡°I think I got it.¡± Letting her create some light breaths of wind I just observed. I didn''t consider this dangerous and just let her try it out. She told me after a while that she had gained another level as Sorceress. We returned to her house after that. ¡°Don''t let me wait this long again!¡± ¡°I will try to find some time again. No promises as to when, there always seem to be things coming up...¡± When I went home I didn''t experiment, but just savored the feeling of having had an enjoyable late afternoon with someone I considered a friend. This life wasn''t so bad. In the evening I was still in a good mood. So when I went out to wash myself I didn''t just go through the motions like before. I didn''t play around, but I paid some attention to my curves. It was a bit narcissistic, but I began to slowly like my body in an aesthetic way. It was strange to live in it, but I could appreciate the beauty. I hadn''t chosen this avatar for nothing after all. There was an appeal in it I had either ignored till now or that was only getting obvious to me, now that I had gotten over the first shock and denial. I didn''t want to ruin my mood, so I finished up before I stirred up an unwanted emotion. I slept well that night. Chapter 13 Wednesday morning went by quickly until I had almost reached the valley. The searching I had almost expected to continue went over the area again, but it was a bit stronger than before. It was enough for me to faintly recognize who was looking. If I didn''t err, it was the mother from the strange garden far out into the forest. If this continued on I might not be able to avoid it any longer. I tried not to let it get my mood down, but at work I had to create unsightly components yet again. ¡°Do you not have other scrolls that need copying? I can''t stand this one.¡± ¡°There are actually more scrolls like this one than proper ones. Better get used to it.¡± ¡°That can''t be all there is to inscription? I will go crazy if this is all I am going to do from now on.¡± ¡°Stop nagging! This is the most vital part of my business. What do you think I make my money with? The Analysis scroll Ms Kasilan bought is something I only resell. There is hardly any profit in it and I don''t want some upstart merchant to impose on my business! Once you finish the scrolls I can show you a bit about creating constructs, but this is going to be the main part of work.¡± And so it was that most of the day was spent on deciphering the book. I finished the five sets in the early afternoon and could at least get on to another task, even if it was still related to these scrolls.
Scribe has increased to level 8.
¡°When you have created a complete set of parts you can then finally start to put them together. Of course you first need to write the scrolls and then enchant them to activate the construct on reading the text. It is vital that they look sharp and beautiful. Most people can''t see the construct and will judge the scroll by the way it looks, even though it is completely irrelevant. Until you have written some nice scrolls you don''t even have to dream of putting the constructs together¡± Why did every job always have these tedious tasks that somehow took away most of the time spent working? My handwriting was certainly not the best and my spelling only didn''t become an issue, because the proper text was part of the book of bureaucracy. It was only a short passage, but I still had to struggle through writing it. Perhaps I could finally finish this up tomorrow. I asked Mr. Heart for the two addresses I had looked up at the guild and he was able to give me a rough direction to at least one of them. Perhaps it might have been better to keep a potential relocation to myself so he wouldn''t get the idea that I had more time for work, but I only thought of it when I had already left. The address I visited was somewhere close to the forge outside the city walls. It came as no surprise that a cheap room would be located here The landlady turned out to be an old widow who rented out a small apartment to stock up her money. Adventurers didn''t stay long and she had gone through a few of them by now. The only things she expected was the rent up front and to keep the rooms in proper condition, so she could rent them to the next person as well. Beyond that she didn''t seem to be interested in my person. We went around the house into a small alley from where we entered into the same house through a back door. The apartment contained two small rooms. The one we entered through had a small stove that didn''t really fit in and I might prefer to buy my meals outside. The second room had a bed and some sparse furniture that was just enough to contain a bit more than my current wardrobe. Both rooms had doors that lead into the rest of the house, but that was inaccessible, because the doors were sealed off. This place was certainly no luxurious home, but I could have the space to myself and I didn''t have high standards. I was sure that I could soon switch to a better place once I had more money on my hands, but it would do for a little while. I agreed to take the place and paid the rent up front as she had insisted. She handed me a key and that was that. Of course I didn''t intend to stay here until I had at least moved a bit of stuff over, so I planned to borrow Catherine''s mule on Sunday and bring my clothes over. I didn''t own anything else, so this would be a quick relocation. With the new key in hand I directly headed home, because I wanted to use part of the evening to do a little cleaning before I moved out to my new room. When I was somewhere half along the way, the searching intent was there yet again and this time even closer. Sooner or later it would track me down. It might be best if I revealed myself when it was still within reason to argue that I hadn''t sensed it before. The persistency also indicated that this would not stop until I was found. So finally I put up my aura and sent the directed thought ''I am here'' toward the intent. I wasn''t really sure if this was the way to communicate telepathically, but it was more about getting a connection than communication. It was successful too, because immediately the intent closed in on me, pinpointing my location and was shortly followed by the massive aura I had dreaded to meet. Right before me manifested the physical form of the mother. My senses screamed at me, because her presence was so intense. I had no idea how to address such a being. Her basic features were elven, but that didn''t describe her. The way she looked wasn''t just wild or natural. She was nature herself. It almost seemed as if she had her hair growing out of her head like sprouts, her clothes appeared like natural grown bark in some, like a pelt in other places. And yet they were just normal hair and normal clothes. Reality was strangely overlapping around her. I didn''t dare to stare at her and lowered my gaze a bit. ¡°I expect to see you again tonight. My daughter has been bugging me for days.¡± That was the issue she had come here for? To drag me back to that brat, not that I would speak out loud. I highly doubted refusal would get me anywhere, but I wanted to try at least. ¡°I need to sleep at night, I hardly lived through the one night and I have to work again at daytime.¡± ¡°Yes that''s true, isn''t it.¡± She disappeared as quickly as she had come, but just a moment later she reappeared again right in front of me. ¡°Here eat this, I am expecting you.¡± And without waiting for my reaction she was gone again. Someone of her rank didn''t need to wait for a response. I didn''t even think about about not appearing tonight. I looked into my hand where I now held a fruit that held some similarity to an apple. It must have come from the garden, because the aura it gave off was amazing. Somehow it looked like poison to me instead of an amazing fruit. Something told me that eating this would have consequences, but I didn''t think it would kill me. If it would help me get through the night it might be my best option. Then I just stood there for 10 minutes, staring at the fruit in my hands. I had made up my mind to eat it, but somehow I didn''t get started and just delayed it. My hand moved to my mouth and I took a bite. It did certainly taste extremely good, but the way the energy began to move down my throat was unnerving. Still I continued to eat and watched as the energy grew and spread out in my body. When I was done eating I only held one big seed in my fingers. I continued to stand still while the energy began to dissipate and settle in. Something had changed about me, but I couldn''t tell what it was. At some point my feet began to continue on their way, but my mind wasn''t along with them. Even after I arrived at the hut I just went through the motions. I had planned to do a little cleaning tonight and got to it. It wasn''t that I couldn''t think clearly anymore. The situation that had been thrown at me was just so overwhelming and I couldn''t come to grips with it. Catherine noticed how absentminded I was, but I could barely hear her talking to me and she didn''t interfere with me in any way. Somehow the time went on and I finally found myself lying in bed, not quite ready but inevitably moving toward what seemed unavoidable to me. This time I knew what I was doing when I stretched out my senses. I can''t tell exactly the point where I stopped reaching out and when I suddenly formed a body around my mind. The excitement was missing this time and I just lifted myself into the air and flew east. A short look towards the northeast revealed a forth pillar, quite a distance further into the wild than the other three. Now that I had come into personal contacts with some strange wolves I considered sending an anonymous message to the town if I somehow got through this night. The forest stretched out for a long way until I found the garden again. It was no wonder it had taken so long for the search to pin me down if the distance was this great. When I arrived I was already well expected. ¡°There she is Majal, I don''t want to hear any more complaints from you.¡± I didn''t hear any answer and was just grabbed and carried off to some corner of the garden. ¡°The others were all so slow and boring. Playing with them was no fun.¡± I watched in horror at what seemed to be dead bodies with some waning aura. Those were real physical bodies! There was no chance they could keep up with this child. Those were hardly substitutes for my energy form. I might have pitied them, if I wasn''t in the same situation. ¡°You go first. One... Two....¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Playing tag again? This time I didn''t even think about escaping, the mother had come a long way to find me and even if I were able to escape she wouldn''t be happy. So I dashed away as quickly as I could and tried to get some distance. The moment she stopped counting though she was basically upon me already. The mad kid didn''t tap me though, but instead enjoyed just drawing up close and forcing me to fly into another direction again and again. After some time she gave me a push that sent me flying wildly and made me lose my orientation. I guessed that now I had to chase after her again? She taunted me from a distance and all I could do was try my best at following her. She must have learned some new tricks, because once I was getting very close. She had of course let me and then just used a massive energetic push to send me away again. My energy form suffered for it, but was still holding up. Fortunately I didn''t feel pain the same way as in the physical, but it still wasn''t pleasant to be knocked around and lose little parts of what constitutes your body. My appeals for softer handling fell on deaf ears. This night also ended and I was happy when the mother pulled me away from her daughter and sent me off. I had a feeling this wouldn''t be the last time I was coming here. I found the connection to my body and slipped back in, expecting another long and horrible day, thanks to Majal, I think she had been called. When I found myself back in my body, my aura was a bit weak, but I didn''t really feel tired. A bit weary, sure, but not tired. The fruit I had eaten might have been some kind of supercharged gislagh tea. I could hopefully get through the day, but planned on an early night in case the effect wore off and I just crashed from exhaustion. I had all but ignored her yesterday and felt that I should talk to Catherine, especially since I wanted to move out on Sunday. So after I finished my exercise I approached her: ¡°Sorry that I was a bit absentminded yesterday, I had some things going through my head. I have found a room in the town where I can stay from now on and will move out this Sunday.¡± ¡°You are working fast, I had expected you to stay a few weeks longer.¡± ¡°I suppose I would have, but after Arienne dragged me to the adventurer''s guild, I was able to get some information. There was also a notice about a free room. It''s not as comfortable as here, but two hours closer.¡± ¡°No need to apologize. How long do you think you will stay here? I somehow can''t imagine you will settle down long term.¡± ¡°It''s far too early to tell right now. I still have a lot to learn about inscription and I don''t plan to leave before I have learned what I can. The way things are looking right now I might soon be able to learn on my own, but I don''t have my own source material, so I would still depend on Mr. Heart. Since he holds the information either personally or in the form of his books, I will just continue to work there. There is one thing I wanted to ask, two actually. Can I borrow your mule on Sunday?¡± ¡°That is no problem. The other thing?¡± ¡°I don''t know the market value of the potions you make, so I would like to know when we are even. I dislike unpaid debts.¡± ¡°It might not be best for me to tell you, but you shouldn''t underestimate the value of your blood, especially outside of elven lands. If I take blood another time you can consider us even. If you continue drinking the mana potions....¡± ¡°I would like to take a small stock with me if possible, but won''t need them much longer. When do you need blood again?¡± ¡°When you are ready.¡± ¡°How quickly do you use it up?¡± ¡°On the same day. I can finish every step in about two days, but I will soon need some other ingredients and have to obtain them. But I am still good for another two or three batches.¡± ¡°Well, perhaps on Sunday. I am going to the city now.¡± One thing I would certainly miss in the city was the undisturbed space where I could do my morning exercise and the empty forest where I was practicing magic. I wasn''t sure I would get over myself to do this in public. A good place might be the fireball shooting range where I had practiced with Silvia, but then I would be forced to walk some distance again. I suppose no place is perfect. My mana still wasn''t completely filled up from my nightly exertion, but it was certainly more than enough for some experiments again. I didn''t want to waste one of my last undisturbed morning strolls, so I got to work on barriers. One of the reasons I hadn''t tried them out so far was there enormous mana consumption. While they actively blocked a force they had to put up more than that power to hold it off. A barrier had to protect against collateral as well and it couldn''t just be used to shield a small portion of the airspace in front of me if I wanted real safety. If I was aware of an incoming attack, directly grabbing a projectile in midair and stopping it was far more effective. The issue was of course that I had to react in time and then be able to concentrate long enough to get a hold of the projectile and stop or at least deflect it. A barrier, once up would do these things automatically. For a high price. Just keeping it up consumed a lot of mana, because it had to be ready at any time to block a strike at the full power it was intended to absorb. The continuous drain could be reduced if there was a kind of outer layer that detected the incoming attack and an inner layer that only activated when an attack was detected. Of course that was hardly a spell to keep up on the side. It might perhaps be a good use for an enchantment or even inscription. The most practical alternative I came up with was to have a shield that didn''t always block the full power, but only slowed the force to a manageable level. At a range of three meters it would slow every incoming object as if it fell into water. The advantage was also far reduced mana cost, because it didn''t have to hold up against the entire force of the attack. The main issue now was to come up with a way to train this. In the end I grabbed a stone and threw it in the air, at times letting it slowly fall back down inside of a slowing barrier, and at times just letting it bump from the top against a telekinetic shield above me.
Sorceress has increased to level 8.
I couldn''t keep up the practice for long this time, because any type of telekinesis consumed mana in high volumes. In a fight I would probably only put up an instant barrier for a specific attack and then release the spell directly afterwards. While I walked through the valley the time until the enchanters shop was actually enough to regenerate a sufficient amount of mana to do my work. I had to finish writing one last scroll and I took that chance to use a piece of paper to write a short ''to the northeast are four pillars''. I had looked up the words and took care to write them cleanly, but without any particular style, as far as that was possible. I would hate to have someone track this message back to me and ask questions. The paper I used was not the one used for the scrolls, but one I had also seen used for the notices in the adventurers guild. There might still be information obtainable about the sender of the message, but I was reasonably sure it would be very difficult to track it back to me as long as no one remembered me turning it in. I hoped there were no easily available magical methods of detection, but I was willing to take that risk. I put the paper away for later and then got to the actual work. Mr. Heart hadn''t stopped by as often as on the first few days, so he didn''t catch me. When the last scroll was finally written out I called him and he gave me another instruction: ¡°You have already combined a few parts, and there is nothing different to putting the whole thing together. The main problem is in putting everything in the right place and not forgetting anything. You should prepare the exact number of components, so that you know when you are done or what might still missing. A well built construct can be split into manageable parts you can construct one after the other, but don''t take that as a guarantee.¡± We went over the last section of the book where a few plans were laid out how to construct everything. I had to concentrate, but the size of the construct was not too large. It was a bit difficult to create a mana construct from a plan on a paper, but my senses were good enough and the book itself also had good descriptions, even if the subject was flawed.
Scribe has increased to level 9.
When I had finished all five scrolls there was still a bit of leftover time for work and I finally received the instruction I had long been hoping for. Mr. Heart began to instruct me in the proper way of inventing a new construct from scratch. He explained the basic elements, such as power units, an activation and connections. Then he showed me a few ways to combine certain units to accomplish different functions. It was a very interesting lecture and he also became engrossed in it. I left a bit later than usual, but didn''t regret any second. I took a book with me that went into detail on a lot of the complex buildup of constructs. I stopped by the city hall close to the market place. It had been an obvious sight, so I didn''t have to ask around where it was. The main issue now was how to get the message in without entering. I could levitate the paper, but would lose sight once I sent it around a corner, and that made it difficult to control the paper. A plan come up in my mind, and I sat down on a bench close to the city hall. Then I stretched my senses out, but focused them intensely on the spot right in front of me. My consciousness was being hurled into that spot and then I stood there in my energy body. I turned around to find my body sitting behind me. The emitting aura was far weaker than of any of the surrounding people, but it wasn''t really occupied right now. Next I tried to find the paper, but didn''t see it anymore although I knew it had to be in my hands on my lap. When I concentrated really hard I was able to detect it, but only barely. I hopped back into my body and enchanted the paper with a very light intent that should dissolve itself after around half an hour. Popping out of my body again I was now able to see the paper properly. The intent was weak, but far enough to me when my only sight depended on nothing but energy. I grabbed onto the paper, but my hand went through it. So I gave my hand the same force that made telekinesis work and tried picking it up again. It was successful. I was unsure how distance to my real body or the usage of my energy body affected the mana consumption, but this might come in very useful. I might now perhaps be able to do a lot of interesting things from a distance. The mana drain was directly affecting my energy body, so once it depleted my ability to use remote powers should depend on it. I took a look around at the auras that were walking around, and there were a few people who were catching glimpses. That was a bit annoying, because I didn''t want the paper to fly out of my hand under observation. I got up, bought a small snack as alibi for my movement and dropped the paper. Then I went back, took a few bites and expelled myself again. The paper was easy enough to find again and this time no observer was looking in this direction. I picked up the notice and levitated along the ground, while I kept a watch on my surroundings. The route I took wasn''t directly into the entrance, but through an opened window where no one was looking. If anyone would have watched, they would surely be amazed how purposefully this paper was brought here by the wind. The room I entered was occupied by one person, but they were focused on something else. I carefully flew through the room and slipped the paper below the door. In contrast to the outside, a piece of paper might draw attention in here. I wanted to make sure it was read and not simply thrown away, so I headed towards where I expected to find a reception. There was a sitting person in the entrance hall of the building and I laid the paper on top of the desk while they weren''t watching. I quickly slipped back into my real body to take a look at the situation. I was a bit uncomfortable leaving it behind in an unprotected place without even being present. I stretched lightly, as if I had slumbered a bit and then headed out again to the reception. The person there hadn''t become aware of the paper yet it seemed. There was a very real risk the notice would disappear from sight without being read, just to be stored somewhere indefinitely. I wanted to make sure my message arrived, so I placed the paper in an upside fashion, but to the back of the receptionist. When they turned around the next time, they were throwing their intent around a bit, but finally settled on the notice. It didn''t take long for the person to get up, notice in hand, to walk somewhere else. My job was done. I let myself fall back into my body and walked away. I could have headed back to Catherine''s hut now, but wasn''t in the mood yet so I stopped by the adventurers guild to see if anyone I knew was there to pass a bit of time. Orlund and Tarvek were occupying some space at the bar with a woman I didn''t know. They became aware of me as I headed over. Orlund: ¡°I didn''t expect to see you here today. Did the thirst for adventure get you after all?¡± Me: ¡°I am just here to pass a bit of time.¡± Turned to the woman Orlund said : ¡°This is the sorceress Shalyne she was with us when we were fighting that dangerous wolf pack.¡± He turned to me and introduced the woman: ¡°That''s Lydia, she works at the marketplace and sometimes comes by the guild. She is the go to person for everything that''s happening in town.¡± Me: ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Lydia: ¡°So you are the new sorceress. Orlund has told me so much about you.¡± Orlund: ¡°I just mentioned you.¡± Lydia: ¡°Have you been here long? I don''t think I have heard anyone mention you before today.¡± Me: ¡°No, I just arrived.¡± I had just met her and she was already prying into my affairs. Perhaps a diversion was in order. Me: ¡°I don''t really know a lot about this place. Orlund said you are well informed. Was there anything interesting happening lately?¡± Lydia: ¡°Oh, you haven''t heard yet? You won''t believe this, but today I heard that the second prince Nelantis himself is coming here! I think he is part of the subjugation force, but perhaps he is just visiting here. I hope I can catch a glimpse, they say he is really strong.¡± Tarvek: ¡°I heard he is arrogant and a womanizer. I haven''t seen him in person, but a few guards I have worked with have. He can fight, but really likes to show off. Perhaps I will meet some old faces when they arrive.¡± Orlund: ¡°If they let a prince come out here they can''t be thinking that the situation out here is serious?¡± Tarvek: ¡°Not necessarily. The prince is sure to have a strong guarding force along with him and is no pushover either. They might be able to handle the situation better than one of the normal forces, as long as they don''t get distracted.¡± Lydia: ¡°Shalyne, are you going to watch their entry into the town, too?¡± Me: ¡°There is an actual entrance ceremony?¡± Lydia: ¡°Well, not a ceremony, but there sure are going to be a lot of people waiting. The prince is supposed to arrive sometime on Saturday.¡± That was still two days away. I wasn''t sure I was that interested in watching. Me: ¡°I might still be working then, I doubt I can make it.¡± Lydia: ¡°You should try to get a bit of time off. It''s rare that someone as famous as the prince is coming out here.¡± Me: ¡°Perhaps, we will see.¡± There was some more gossip about various people I had never heard of, and I managed to avoid getting squeezed for information myself. I left the bar after finishing one drink and went on my way. I had been up two days in a row, so I decided to get some early rest and didn''t even touch the book that I had brought along today. Chapter 14 I was lying in bed, unable to sleep. It had been two hours since I had gone to bed. It seems the fruit was still working. I rolled from one side to the other, trying to find a comfortable position that at least let my body get some rest. Catherine was lightly snoring and my mind became restless while listening to the monotonous breathing. I lifted up the pillow and laid it on top of my head, trying to press out any outside sounds. After a short time I rolled to the side, still keeping the pillow around my ears and tried to find a comfortable position that way. The seconds ticked away, but they felt like minutes. I finally got up and silently sneaked out of the room. I sat down in the dark of the main room and stared blankly into the room. Putting down my arms on the table and resting my head on them I looked to the side. The position didn''t last 30 seconds until I became restless and sat straight up again. Then I laid down across three chairs, crouched down on my knees and alternated back and forth. I doubt I was able to kill another hour until I couldn''t take it anymore. I slipped back into the sleeping room, grabbed some proper clothes and sneaked out again. After putting everything on I left the house and sat down close to the stream. I had my arms slung around my legs and just listened to the splashing of the water. It was a relaxing sound and I could finally relax a bit, but I was slowly getting cold, so I headed back inside and sat around there again. And after warming up I left again for a little walk. It might not be the best idea at night, but I couldn''t bear sitting around waiting. I somehow managed to overlay my aura sight over my normal one. Normally I just got impressions unless I directly directed my gaze at an object like a mana construct. Then I was able to see it clearly. But because the normal sight was very dominant it weakened the impressions my other sense gave me. Right now I let all of that come to the foreground and was able to see well again, with some additional support of my physical eyes. Of course this was not the first time I had experienced this vision. But now I was substantial, the experience more definite. The excitement brushed away my boredom. As I began to stroll through the forest I saw some beacon not far away from the hut. I became curious and approached it. It was difficult to make out its true form in the dark, but the aura was strong and after analyzing it I came to the conclusion that it was some psychic deterrent against animals. I had never considered why there had never been any wolves close to the hut. It made sense of course, that there was something at work. It didn''t affect me and I would certainly not remove it, so I just walked past it and further into the wood. Naturally it didn''t take long until I saw a group of wolves ahead of me, quite a bit further away than I was used to. They didn''t rush at me. Was I still outside of their detection range? I realized I had forgotten to take my sword with me, so I preferred to avoid them. I steered clear of them and then continued forward. I was somewhat lost in the experience until I realized that I had wandered far out and could come across much more dangerous creatures at any time. I might be best to head back now, but I didn''t actually know where I was. If I left my body and flew around a bit it shouldn''t take long to home in on Catherine and then simply head in that direction. My speed was far more limited while I walked normally, so I should be able to quickly scout out that distance in my energy form. I looked around until I found a fitting tree and climbed up. There was no chance I would leave my body behind on the ground where every moment a wild animal might come by to eat me. Once I found a comfortable branch I leaned against the tree in a way that I wouldn''t fall down even without using any strength. Then, after taking a look around that nothing dangerous was already close by, I slipped out and lifted off into the air. From up above it wasn''t difficult to find the way back, I had only been gone for an hour after all, and that was no great distance. I flew back down and sat down further out on the branch. I watched my body calmly resting there. The situation was a bit absurd. Could I even feel anything happening to my real body? I focused my energy and lifted up the right arm. There was a light tingle in the back of my mind, but the sensation was distant. I was really far out. I drew close enough to my body and grabbed both arms and played around a bit, lifting them up and swinging them a bit. It didn''t look very enthusiastic with the rest of the body sitting around without motion. I wanted to try some more things, but this wasn''t really the place and I might regret it if I fell down because of it. Just when I wanted to slip back in and go on my way back a bearlike creature was coming up to the tree and looked up. Without any idea how it had found me, probably by some pure dumb luck, I had to interfere when it began to climb up. I decided to use my better perspective and high movability to fight off this threat. From this perspective I could easily see where the bear was putting its weight and I took light telekinetic stabs right at those appendages. The effect was great and the bear plumped down to the ground time after time. These animals are not very bright, but at some point the bear got the message and left again. When it was out of sight I finally took possession of my body again. I climbed down the tree and returned to the hut without any further interferences. It was still dark night when I arrived, and I didn''t feel any more tired than before. I decided to try some experiments I had thought of before. Somewhere inside the protection wards, but a bit away from the house I left my body behind and took on my energy form. Then I flew into my body, overlapping with its form, but not really entering. I created some telekinetic connection and pulled the body along when I stood up. The movement was very awkward. I had to concentrate very hard, because any part of the body I didn''t control would just slump down immediately. It was like controlling a puppet. Quite fun, but far from great control. The best I could do was keep it in an upward position and move the legs along with my energy form. The arms and the head just hang down while the body staggered along.
Sorceress has increased to level 9.
In just a short time I felt more and more faint, until I had to set my body up on the ground again. I hardly had any energy left and consisted of almost nothing but my floating mind now. The puppet show had certainly been fun, but cost a lot of energy and I doubted there would be any use in doing this instead of just controlling my body directly. There might however be possible uses with different objects. Once I was in physical form again I took note of my empty mana pool. This source of entertainment had run dry. Still no sign of light, not that it had been long since I last looked. I sighed and decided on doing my morning practice a bit early, perhaps even prolonging it a bit. Even though I wasn''t tired, I was still feeling weak after being up and about for so long. Once I finished training I would find myself something to eat. I was already hungry, but it was no fun to practice with a full stomach. I stretched my sore body and got it ready for some more movement. Then I went through a whole regimen of techniques, forms and strength training. I didn''t really have the motivation and often took breaks, but whenever I was just sitting around the sun was still hiding and I didn''t get any inspiration other than just doing some more of the same.
Strength has increased by 1.
Endurance has increased by 1.
Warrior has increased to level 8.
By the time a faint light appeared on the horizon I had exhausted myself and had long since stopped doing any more exercises. I went to the stream and washed off my sweat. I was shivering even before, because whenever I stopped training I was cooling down quickly. The cold water got some life back into me, but could only hide my exhaustion for a short time. I went inside, snuck into the sleeping room for new clothes and then prepared breakfast before Catherine was even up. She joined me a bit later. ¡°You were up all night?¡± ¡°I didn''t sleep well.¡± ¡°You are crazy.¡± I didn''t ask for any healing or recovery potions. It wouldn''t surprise me if Catherine had something like that around, but I wanted to avoid complete dependency on supplements. It was some effort to drag myself back to the town in the morning. I wasn''t looking forward to the day, but after avoiding boredom for an entire night any activity seemed fine. The day was spent with some more instruction about creating constructs and then some menial tasks, mainly enchanting duty. It kept me busy, so I didn''t mind today. The day dragged on and on and then Mr. Heart entered the workshop again. ¡°I am closing now. I really appreciate it if you work this long, but there is enough time again tomorrow.¡± Getting thrown out of the shop by this man was something I never expected to witness. It was certainly late compared to when I usually left. Doing mental work while sitting had helped me recover a bit, but I was still pretty down. And wide awake. I feared going back right now and waiting through the entire night, so I went to the guild yet again, searching for a diversion. Walking home at night was no concern for me at this time, so cutting away a few more hours seemed to be a good idea. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I was actually glad when I saw Arienne sitting in the bar tonight. There was hardly a person more suitable for long time entertainment. I ordered some random beverage and took place next to her. ¡°You look a bit tired.¡± ¡°I''m not tired, that''s why I am here.¡± ¡°You sure look tired to me. But since you are here we can both have a drink. Hmm, don''t you usually go home at this time?¡± ¡°Usually. I didn''t expect to get chased away by you.¡± ¡°I didn''t mean it that way! We are going to drink until neither of us can get back! Which drinks have you tried out so far?¡± ¡°Nothing really, just that black wake up brew a week or so ago. I definitely don''t want that today.¡± ¡°Then we are going to work through the whole stock today! You will regret the day you challenged me to a drinking contest. I might not be the best one around, but I can keep my share. I had planned to do some request tomorrow, but I can just delay it. We can do it on Sunday if you want to!¡± ¡°I am moving into town on Sunday. That reminds me...¡± I checked my pocket and actually had the key with me, I could just stay here for the night, if it came down to it. ¡°You found a room? You have to show me! Have I told you already that I am staying in the old town right now? It''s a nice place, although a bit costly....¡± The time passed by and so did the drinks. Arienne had taken a short nap while I was sitting there, enjoying oblivion. If I had passed out I might actually be able to get something akin to sleep, but I hadn''t crossed over there. Yet. It had gotten very late and only one other table was still loudly celebrating. The barkeeper had already begun to clean up. Arienne had long since recovered and was babbling on about something while I just let it wash over me. We had stopped drinking alcohol, because we were both smashed at this point. Arienne: ¡°Do you ever miss home?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°When was the last time you thought about home. Do you miss it?¡± ¡°I haven''t really thought about it for a while. I do miss it, I guess? It''s just so far away that I didn''t even consider it.¡± ¡°I try not to think about it too often, but you remind me a bit.¡± ¡°Why did you leave? Are you an exile or do you have some other reason?¡± ¡°No, I can go back whenever I like. I am a misfit, I think you could say. I tried going back, but couldn''t stand it. All these norms and expectations. It isn''t really different from here, but without anyone you know around, you are somewhat free.¡± ¡°Mmh.¡± ¡°Why does it always come back? I know it isn''t any nicer there, but I still remember it differently than it is.¡± ¡°Lamenting doesn''t suit you.¡± ¡°I know, I know, sorry to bother you. I guess I better get back to my apartment now. Can you make it home?¡± I pointedly clapped on my pocket. ¡°I can stay in town now.¡± ¡°Ah yes, I forgot. See you around.¡± Arienne left and I kept sitting until the barkeeper finally chased me out. I was completely hammered, and didn''t care about what to do. I could stay in the town this night, but there didn''t really seem to be a point to it if I just sat around. I decided to pass time by taking the usual stroll through the forest. My sight allowed me to easily avoid any packs and after a long time I arrived. Still heavily drunk I laid down in bed. It was more comfortable to pass the time while intoxicated, and so I waited until the sun rose up again. One thing I really hate is waking up before having slept off the alcohol. Today I was up and still drunk, but not tired. Didn''t feel much better though, the after effects were still there. ¡°You''re worrying me a bit.¡± ¡°Don''t be, there is nothing you can do about it.¡± ¡°You can talk to me, if you want.¡± Sharing my misery went against my nature, so I declined. I would somehow get through this on my own. I dragged myself to town again, but didn''t avoid the wolves this time. I wasn''t angry, I cut them apart apathetically. This day I had skipped exercise as well as any magical experiments on the way. This was certainly no way to go on. I almost welcomed the short visit of the massive aura of the mother. ¡°You will visit tonight.¡± The alcohol was still very active in my veins and gave me a bit of courage. ¡°Is there a way I may address you?¡± ¡°You may address me simply as Parangante, that is my name and title.¡± After a short moment of silence she added: ¡°Sober up before coming.¡±, and simply disappeared again. I hoped she hadn''t taken offense in any way, but I was still as well as I could be and another whole night of playing around was punishment enough. Although in my current state it could also be a welcome diversion. Mr. Heart was unhappy with me, but I was working and produced good enchantments and components, even though I was not sober. It took a bit longer, but it is very possible to do work while drunk. At least I didn''t have to fight against sleep. Only after noon did I begin to sober up.
Scribe has increased to level 10.
I was mainly filling up component stocks in various scrolls without any final goal. Once I was in proper condition I even got some more instruction. Sometime in the afternoon while Mr. Heart was still explaining things the noise level from outside began to pierce through. ¡°What''s up now?¡± ¡°I think they want to see the prince entering the city.¡± ¡°And what good does that do? Here, I will show you something I am a bit proud of.¡± He led me to the counter where he pointed out a crystal that was attached to it. I took a closer look, and from the back of the crystal small metal wires stretched out into different directions. There were connection components attached to them. They are more durable if the entire length is stuck to an item, instead of just floating through the air. The wires connected to different corners of the shop and I followed along to inspect some of their end points. It was a whole network of noise dampeners. I had an enchantment for the same purpose back in the guilds workshop, but this construct covered more than just a small room and should also be more effective, since the effect was in the outside walls instead of a center crystal. ¡°The best part is that each part can be activated on its own. That is if you can sense the single components.¡± With that he began to activate different parts of the walls and the noise level dropped significantly until they were all blocking the sound and the shop was silent again. With constructs like these I should be able to simulate basically every function electricity offered, and more. The only constraint I had was time! I suddenly realized that time had been a problem lately, but in the way that I had too much of it. If I started working on some constructs at night I might be able to pass the time. I only feared that working day and night on nothing but constructs would burn me out very soon. Should I work from home and use the days for some other activity? Most of the time spent in the workshop was without any need for my employer anyway. I decided to keep up my current schedule until I was sure how long the fruits effect lasted. With the interfering noise gone we went back to the instructions and this day also ended later than usual. When I left the ruckus had long since died down and I could easily pass through the streets. When I walked through the forest I had to drag myself along. The day of work hadn''t felt that difficult in comparison to another two hour walk. My legs felt really weak. It might just be a good thing that tonight my body would find some time to rest.
Endurance has increased by 1.
When I arrived at the hut I almost crashed, because I could hardly move any more. It took an hour long break and dinner to get some activity back into me. It was getting late by then, but Majal would be able to wait one or two more hours. I picked out the advanced inscription book and began to study it. It covered a lot of the topics, which Mr. Heart had instructed me in lately. In person instructions had their advantages, but I should be able to learn most of this in self study. There was no reason to pass up on Mr. Hearts teachings, that was after all what he paid me so little for, so I could just increase my advancement by reading books. It was a strange feeling to lie in a bed for the last time. From tomorrow on I would have my own room again and be independent. Free to do whatever I liked. Sure, I was low on money and continuing my apprenticeship seemed like a good idea for now. I could now begin to make whatever I wanted out of my new life. Well, I was exaggerating, there were still duties that I had to do, like tonight. I was hardly free if some monster child threw me around at her whim. I gave out out a sigh and went on my way. The first part of the night went by just as expected. Majal chased me around or taunted me while keeping out of reach. At some point I got really annoyed: ¡°Do you not know any other games?¡± ¡°Other games?¡± ¡°Yes like...¡± I didn''t really have any idea what other games children might want to play, aside from computer games, but those were out of the question. Would be a nice option to have though, just putting her in front of a console and relaxing out of her way. Then I remembered at least one ''normal'' game. ¡°Hide and seek! One of us counts to ten without looking and the other has to hide in that time. Then the one who counts has to go searching.¡± ¡°That sounds boring.¡± She didn''t even consider it and just wanted to continue poking me around. I was curious how well I could hide from her. If it worked it might be a bit more relaxing, too. So I provoked her: ¡°You are just afraid to lose!¡± ¡°I am not afraid to lose! I can find you whenever I like!¡± ¡°Ok, then look away and count to ten.¡± She began counting, but I felt her intent almost boring into me. This brat didn''t have any sense of honor at all. ¡°You are cheating. You mustn''t look.¡± ¡°I can do whatever I like!¡± ¡°Because you can''t find me otherwise.¡± ¡°I can find you. Just watch.¡± She actually didn''t spy on me this time. I hid my aura as much as possible and quickly dashed away into another direction than the one I had been in from her perspective. I disappeared into the leaves of a tree at number 6 and then only concentrated on my aura. ¡°Seven, eight, nine, ten. I am coming now!¡± Her searching intent swept over the area, but it was nowhere near as sharp as her mothers. She kept at it for a while and then quickly grew restless. ¡°Where are you? You didn''t run off? Come out or I will call Mommy!¡± That escalated quickly. I released my aura and she immediately located me. As if to show me who was boss, she grabbed me and shook me a bit. ¡°Serves you right. Stupid game.¡± We were back to playing tag, but something must have stuck to her, because after a while of brutally abusing me she said: ¡°I bet you can''t find me if I hide.¡± I played fair and really kept my senses to myself while counting. At ten I flew up into the air and looked around. She was as strong a beacon to me as ever. I had a direct view of her with my aura sight and another feel for the strong emission of energy that she gave off. I simply flew over and tagged her. She was furious and after some accusations she let it all out on me again. Why did I have this glorious idea? The remaining night was funny in a strange way. She would switch between extreme annoyance and growing ambition to succeed at hide and seek. I strictly refused to give her an easy game by having my aura visible, and so we continued switching between the two games. At first light Parangante came over and did the one dutiful thing I had seen her do: Wrest me away from her daughter to let me return to my body. She was heartless and her daughter would probably follow in her footsteps, but at least she had the common sense to understand the needs of us pitiful weaker beings. Back in bed I stretched out a bit to see how much I had recovered. My strength was back again and even my aura wasn''t completely drained this time. I was ready for another day. Chapter 15 ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Gardener has been obtained.
¡°
Herbalist has been obtained.
¡°
Herbalist has increased to level 1.
Herbalist has increased to level 2.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Scribe has increased to level 11.
Scribe has increased to level 12.
Scribe has increased to level 13.
Chapter 16
Scribe has increased to level 14.
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Priestess has been obtained.
Priestess has increased to level 1.
Priestess has increased to level 2.
Priestess has increased to level 3.
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Shalyne
Class: Sorceress Level 9, Warrior Level 8, Hunter Level 1, Priestess Level 3
Profession: Enchanter Level 4, Scribe Level 14, Gardener, Herbalist Level 2
Stats:
Warrior has increased to level 9.
Sorceress has increased to level 10.
Priestess has increased to level 4.
Priestess has increased to level 5.
Chapter 17 ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Scribe has increased to level 15.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°
Enchanter has increased to level 5.
Chapter 18 I was a bit nervous, because I was carrying a lot of responsibility in this mission. Just as we had agreed upon I met up with We arrived at the meeting spot and I saw a military force of around forty solders waiting there. Another 15 people who were probably all adventurers stood nearby. They had really put a large force together here. We headed over to one of the guards, who seemed to be responsible for managing registration of the forces. He wrote down our names. ¡°Mr. Naljec and Shalyne please head over to the captain.¡± He gestured into the direction of a tall imposing man who was wearing a similar uniform to the others, but it looked more impressive at the same time. The others went into the direction of the adventurers, while Richard and I headed over to the captain. He immediately looked up and introduced himself. "I expect you are Richard Naljec and Shalyne? I am Captain Ravon and responsible for this mission. Well, the prince will give most of the commands and I will stay in the back. We will start a quick meeting once he arrives and then head out. Until then you are free." We turned around and went to the rest of our group. "You also have a special position Richard?" "I will probably have to take over organisation of the adventurers. I have been around here for a while and have a good reputation. Most adventurers don''t stick around for this long, so I am usually in one of the leading positions." ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Sorceress has increased to level 11.
¡°
Endurance has increased to 25.
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Chapter 19 The soldiers and adventurers began to build up their tents in the protected area. Although there was an attempt to do it orderly, the many different groups of people made that fail and everyone put his tent wherever they wanted. In between every other group of tents small campfires sprung up. I was being cared for and was getting more in the way of everyone else instead of actually helping them, so instead I took a step back and watched as the campsite began to grow. I may have been able to put together the standard tents on earth, but the constructions I saw here differed wildly and I was out of my element. There were many different ways people put their shelter together. Some used a few short sticks to hold up very narrow and low tents which were just enough to crawl in and sleep. Some didn''t even bother at all and just laid out their stuff. With the weather being as it was, they would be in for an uncomfortable night. The only group of people who had a halfway uniform type of tent were the subjugation soldiers. And even those contained a few better accommodations, held up by long branches with a height of over two meters. Those tents would probably be used by more than one person at once, though I wasn''t sure if the prince had such a large tent of his own. A few soldiers began digging a little trench around the camp to create a way around the camp for the water that ran down the mountainside. Various enchanted lamps were placed around the site and even up at the cliff to light up any animals that might approach. We had traveled almost the entire day and had only just arrived here before dark. Even in the twilight and while it rained everything around the camp was easy to make out with the amount of extra light the lamps provided. After a relatively short while Lieutenant Riley came over and led me to one of the large tents. It was used to accommodate some of the female soldiers, but I had a separated section for myself. I wasn''t able to stand upright, but was still able to stand if I bent over a bit. The space was more than sufficient. I put what little baggage I had carried inside and returned to the adventurers. Most of the camp was set up when Richard and I were invited to have dinner with the rest of the staff of command. He might have brought along own food, but was still happy to eat a proper meal. I basically had to take up the offer, because I didn''t bring anything with me. For all the material that had been brought along, chairs were not among them. We met in one of the large tents, big enough for ten people at once and high enough to stand, but the only thing that stood for decoration was a large stump of a tree that served as a table. It wasn''t enough to sit around it, but at least it held a large pot of stew. We hadn''t been here long, so someone in the advance team must have prepared it beforehand. Lieutenant Riley and another soldier handed out bowls of the stew and then we sat on the ground. The tent may have been up for an hour or two, but the ground was still very wet and I didn''t want to sit so low either. So I followed an idea and stood up. Then I concentrated on the ground and pulled together the earth until it was a nice block. It was still wet, and without a direct look at the water inside, I couldn''t easily control it. But the game I had played with Arienne came to my advantage now. I let some energy seep through the block and I became able to better perceive the water inside. I drew it out and let it flow into the ground. Quite proud of my creation I sat down again and joyfully started on my meal. The others hadn''t talked much even before, but a heavy silence made me look up. Prince Nelantis: ¡°That is a very good idea, I will also make myself a chair.¡± He stood up and began to form the earth. He seemed to struggle a bit, but was able to build the ground into a similar block to mine. Richard looked at me and grinned. ¡°Can you make another one?¡± Of course his chair wasn''t the last, and in the end the prince and I created a circle of surrogate chairs. Captain Ravon had tried his hand at it, but I could see on his aura that he was hardly capable of such magic. In the end the prince helped him out. It had been a while since mana had been an issue, but the work I had done with the earth just now had drained my reserves more than almost anything I had done lately. I was still happy to be able to accomplish such a feat. I also took some silent satisfaction out of the fact that the prince had to sit on a wet chair. Once we were all done eating we began to discuss more relevant matters. Prince Nelantis: ¡°We are very close to the monolith now, about half an hour of walking. There have been some light attacks on our scouts, but most beasts are keeping in the distance and keep watching silently. There will probably be a coordinated attack sooner or later. We have to post a strong watch tonight and be prepared for a large scale fight. For that we will split everyone into four large shifts of at least ten. Everyone else can go to sleep, but should be prepared to fight on short notice. The shifts will be mixed of my own soldiers, the towns guards and the adventurers. There should be at least one mage and one healer on each group, so we will have to organize them accordingly. One of my soldiers will have the command over the shifts. Tomorrow we will head to the monolith and then set up barricades. We will have to adapt to the situation there, but hopefully we can set up a secure camp without interruptions. We don''t know how long we will have to stay there, so the fortifications might have to hold up well. The scouts have detected large groups of different beasts traveling towards this direction. We might have to face a very serious battle sooner or later.¡± The task of organizing the night watch was then delegated to Richard and the two captains. Before I could leave the tent I was stopped by the prince. ¡°Those three can manage the organization of the watch on their own. Would you like to join me in my tent for a glass of wine?¡± ¡°Thank you for the invitation, but I must decline. I am very tired from the long day and have to sleep soon. I have to be at my best tomorrow and need to be well rested.¡± The prince seemed to be disappointed, but accepted my excuse. ¡°Perhaps another time then, once we are finished with this task. A good night to you Shalyne.¡± Something not to look forward to. ¡°Good night.¡± The night might have been very long while silently waiting for it to pass. I had a split opinion whether it was a good or bad thing that I had to head out again. I went into my own department of the tent and began to experiment on protection spells. I couldn''t take too much time, but if I got something to work it would be nice. I knew from the experience when I had played with my body like a puppet, that some signals were still carried over even to my energy form. I began to craft a net of ethereal strings throughout my part of the tent, that would send a shocking signal to my body if they detected movement. I didn''t put them as an enchantment on the tent itself, because they might activate even if someone brushed against one of the walls while walking by in the dark. I didn''t want to be falsely alarmed. I felt safe enough inside the large camp, but of course that was no guarantee. It would be better to be aware of an attacker before he even entered, but so I at least knew when I absolutely had to return and would even be prepared to draw some of Majal''s wrath if need be. I didn''t know how long the freely floating energy net would hold up, but I had to leave it at that for now. I wrapped myself in the blankets I had been provided, and only then became aware how wet the ground was. After my practice today it didn''t take long to get rid of the excess water. When I was done and comfortable I slipped out of my body. First I took a look around the camp. The people around here were all comparatively normal, if it can be called that way. Apparently there was no hidden powerhouse in the force, or if there was their ability to hide was truly spectacular, but I doubted that. The few magic capable soldiers and adventurers I did see were not exactly weak, but still within my ability to evaluate. Next I observed the area outside the secured perimeter. A few animal scouts observed the camp from a distance, but there were no large groups of them nearby. I then flew up until I could see the monolith. I headed over there and as I got closer the density of beasts began to increase, though they were still spread throughout the area. It wasn''t just bears or wolves either. It was difficult to describe with my current vision, but there were beasts with some similarities to mammoths, buffaloes and even a large swarm of rabbits. They looked pretty weak, but I worried what they could accomplish when they attacked in an organized fashion. The animals exceeded our own forces by far, but that didn''t have to mean anything. It didn''t look like they were preparing for a fight this night, so at least my trip today might not leave me exposed to great danger. I gave out a silent sigh while I worried about the next day and if I would last through it. But worries didn''t help me get forward, and I got on my way. I just remembered to take a careful look for the huge aura that was living in this area. It was away in the far distance around the position of the isolated and most distant monolith. At least that one didn''t seem to be either aware or interested in the events around the first monolith. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I then tried to find my way into the direction of the garden. First I headed a bit towards the south and then directly to the east. As long as the approximate eastern direction was right, I was sure I could make out the intensely glowing garden even if I passed it by in the north. I needn''t have worried, the garden was something I couldn''t easily miss. I arrived without even searching. Majal was sitting still somewhere deeper in, her arms and legs crossed. She wasn''t moving and just stared straight ahead. It wasn''t difficult to see what she had planned. In front of her just beneath the ground a large amount of magic stretched out. I could easily discern the purpose, the moment someone unsuspecting stepped in he would quickly be enveloped by the magic and be captured. What actually surprised me was something else. All around her on the sides and at her back, not as easily visible, but still very obvious to me was another trap. So she had actually expected me to find out about the trap, avoid it and then be captured by the ''hidden'' other trap. This girl was getting more dangerous by the day, if I didn''t have such excellent perception abilities I would sooner or later walk right into one of her tricks. Naturally she would rage when her plan didn''t work as intended, but I just couldn''t bring myself to walk into it. So I flew down and sat in front of her, right across the trap and took a position similar to hers. Then I stared straight ahead right at her, trying to keep a smirk of my face. It wouldn''t last long anyway once she got annoyed at me. We stared at each other for a while until a frown on her face appeared. I had to admit that she had a bit of patience today, but it didn''t keep her frown from growing over time. Finally she just stretched out her hand and pointed right at the ground above the trap. ¡°Go there.¡± I did as ordered and to no surprise the energy quickly enveloped me. It was a bit uncomfortable how it was putting pressure on my aura, but not too much. It was similar to being a few meters below the water, just energetically. The force behind the magic was certainly very strong, but if I went for it I should be able to free myself in a short amount of time. Majal''s magic just wasn''t that refined and there were weaknesses here and there where I could pierce the net and slip through. Although I could have gone out I didn''t. Whenever I was here my main goal was to spent as much time as I could in the least uncomfortable situation. This trap wasn''t so bad really. Majal must have thought differently, like it was a punishment for me to sit still and be unable to play with her. She made it a point to pull over some small animals to play right in front of the place I had been caught at, making sure I could watch her play. I wasn''t jealous though and even enjoyed her curious way of playing. It would be a lie to say I understood what the purpose was and apparently neither did the animals. She just ordered them around in a fashion that I couldn''t comprehend, sometimes joining them, sometimes watching for a short while. From time to time she looked over to me with what I took as a prideful look and then went back to her game. This actually went on for quite a while but stopped abruptly when some strange bird flew over. Its aura was along the strength of the other animals around the garden. ¡°Master Crow!¡± ¡°Greetings Majal. What have you been up to?¡± ¡°I have a new toy! I caught her when she was flying around!¡± She pointed at me. Toy seemed a fitting term. ¡°That''s a curious one. You made quite a rare catch there.¡± The crow eyed me intensely before turning back to Majal. ¡°I hope you''re not ''breaking'' her?¡± ¡°Of course not. She is very tough, I can do almost anything.¡± She unwrapped the trap and then slapped me. My consciousness was contracted in itself and I barely saw faint images swirling by. I didn''t exactly feel pain this time, Majal had only targeted my energy body. But my current body had suffered quite a bit. I felt hollowed out by the loss of a lot of my energy and the sudden backlash wore on my mind. When I found my bearings again I was still shooting through the air at great speed. I let myself fly along for a few more seconds and finally put up the effort to stop the flight. It wasn''t so much straining as an effort as the fact that I felt drained and without motivation at that moment. When I headed back to the garden I wasn''t even angry, just resigned. I did take a bit longer than I could have though. ¡°See, I told you she would come back! Mommy said she can''t be here all the time, but I can do anything I want with her.¡± ¡°Just be careful, she can still die. Then you can''t play with her any more.¡± ¡°Okay, I will be more careful.¡± ¡°So, have you kept up your practice while I was away?¡± ¡°I...¡± ¡°If you can''t control your power you have to stay here much longer. You said you wanted to see the world? Then you must be diligent.¡± ¡°I''m sorry.¡± She actually seemed regretful. For a moment, before her eyes brightened up again. ¡°But I learned something else. Look!¡± She began to contract her massive aura and hid it as much as she could. I had to admit she had improved yet a bit more since the last time I had seen her. ¡°That is very good! I wanted to teach you that skill a bit later on, but you actually learned it on your own. If you improve a bit more and manage your power better you can soon go out on a trip.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, but we should get back to your training.¡± She seemed to consider it for a moment. ¡°Can''t you tell me a story instead?¡± ¡°Only if you work hard after that.¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°Okay then, what do you want to hear?¡± ¡°Tell me where you went this time.¡± While the two talked I sat to the side and was astounded at the whole situation. Majal had changed into such an obedient girl from one moment to the next. I didn''t know what to do right now, it was still night and I was supposed to be here, but was all but ignored right now. I wasn''t sure if it was acceptable to listen in on them, but I wasn''t sent away either, so I just rested close to them while the crow began to tell of his travels. ¡°When you fly to the southwest, that is the direction over there, there is a lot of forest at first. When you fly long enough the trees slowly disappear until there are only bushes and grass. If you fly even further there is nothing but gray rocks for a very long time. There are no animals, no water and no life. That place is very vast, but I flew right over it.¡± ¡°What is on the other side?¡± ¡°Even when I was still in that gray area I could already see the mountains rising up in the distance. You can see some mountains from here, but they are like dwarfs compared to those I am talking about. It is rather strange that in those biggest of mountains the small dwarfs are living.¡± ¡°Are dwarfs that small?¡± ¡°They are not really that small, just a bit smaller than she over there. What is your name?¡± The crow had turned over to me. ¡°Yeah, what''s your name¡±, Majal had to add. It speaks for itself that she hadn''t even bothered to learn my name until now. I saw no additional harm in giving it out so I answered with an honest: ¡°Shalyne.¡± The crow nodded to himself while Majal didn''t really seem to care anymore and had already turned her attention away from me. ¡°You can address me as Master Crow.¡± The crow then resumed his story, but this short exchange still left me feeling irritated. He was polite and even introduced himself to me. Although it remained at those few words, I considered it to be some acknowledgment to my presence and I continued to listen in without feeling out of place like before. ¡°Dwarfs are very industrious. They dig deep into the mountains and build huge cities there to smelt and forge the minerals into great machines. They also blow a lot of smoke into the air. I don''t like to stay there longer than necessary and just passed through. Somewhere in the mountain range there is an isolated mountain where a friend of mine lives. He is a rock giant as tall as the trees around here, but he is as peaceful as that mountain. In contrast to the area around it that mountain is an undisturbed paradise of nature. Now imagine how surprised I was when there was a huge operation of dwarves building a digging site there. I wonder why they¡± ¡°Dwarves are digging in the holy mountain?¡± Suddenly Parangante had appeared next to us and interrupted his story. I was shocked by her sudden intrusion. It seems nothing really escapes her attention around this garden, I should be more careful in my exchanges with Majal from now on, though she didn''t seem that interested in them so far. ¡°Is it a holy mountain? I don''t know about that, just that the dwarves always left it in peace before. But I don''t know any other mountains completely without any settlements aside from that mountain.¡± ¡°Typical. Dwarves.¡± At that her presence suddenly disappeared completely, not a trace of it left. I must have taken it for granted, as it was always somewhere around here in the garden. Now I could make out her very definite absence. What was this about anyway, that she had to take go immediately. I put it in the back of my mind in case I ever came upon information about this mountain. The story had been interrupted long enough for Majal to get other ideas. She didn''t seem to care about the absence of her mother, perhaps it wasn''t a single occurrence like it felt to me right now. The night had been so peaceful aside from that one heavy slap. ¡°Go hide!¡± She turned around and looked away and I was back to the usual hiding game. Something was off, and I wondered what inspiration Majal had come up this time. At the last count I was hidden away and looked over to see what she was up to. The crow had taken a place on her shoulder and was staring right at me. Not just in the direction I had run to but directly at my position. Was my aura leaking? I checked myself and was quite content with the way I controlled my aura. When I looked up Majal stood over me and looked at me. Not directly at me, but searching for my nearby presence which she couldn''t really make out. Then she stomped on the entire area, although she did it lightly enough not to send me flying into the ground. The vibrations were enough to disrupt me and then I was grabbed. ¡°Ha!¡± ¡°You cheated.¡± Extensive shaking followed. ¡°I found you fairly!¡± I disagreed but didn''t voice any more complaints. The crow intervened. ¡°Majal, you still have to learn how to do it on your own. You didn''t even see her when she was right in front of you. Perhaps we should train your perception a bit for the next time you want to find her.¡± Naturally when the two took a place nearby I stuck to them and listened in. Who would pass up the chance to hear the teaching a young goddess received? In the end the lesson was pretty boring. It came down to some meditative practice I should have expected beforehand. Calm your mind. Watch your breath. Clear your thoughts. Then, when you are free of distractions look at what is. Rinse and repeat a lot. No wonder Majal liked skipping her training. I didn''t waste my free time and joined in on the practice. Boring doesn''t mean one shouldn''t do it. In a way I had an advantage as there were no physical distractions, but my thoughts were in greater turmoil than I had realized. It was no real surprise that I had a lot of pent up stuff to work through. I floated around in meditation and tried to clear my mind. Aside from short moments of peace I wasn''t really able to get into the space. I still felt refreshed at the end, but hadn''t even gotten to the actual perception training. Majal''s impatience was what brought the session to an end. I wouldn''t really force a small child to do such training, but perhaps it was too important for someone of her might. The crow flew off once she couldn''t be motivated any more and I spent the remainder of the night with various games. Chapter 20 I woke up in my body when the first light of day had become visible. My department seemed to be untouched. The strings I had set up still hung in the air, although they had thinned out in intensity. When I slipped out of the blankets it was cold. The air had cooled down considerably. I enchanted a dim light into the ceiling of the tent and quickly dressed myself in something warm. When I continued on to pack everything up I began to warm up, but began dreading going outside. Instead of waiting I extinguished the light and slipped out into the main room. I wasn''t the only one awake, in fact all the soldiers had also begun to pack up. They had to struggle a bit more as they were in the dark and their eyesight must have been worse than mine on top of that. One of them asked me when I came out: ¡°Can you please lent us your lamp for a moment?¡± I stepped into the middle and lit up the ceiling again, this time quite a bit brighter, as everyone was up already anyway. The woman who had asked gave a quick thanks and as I was leaving I think I heard her murmur something about me being a scribe and of course it was no lamp but a spell. I didn''t worry about putting it out. Either it ran out on its own or I would take care of it on the coming evening. When I went outside in addition to the fresh air yet more rain promised a great morning. There weren''t all that many people outside yet, but I heard the rustling in almost every tent. I considered heading back into the tent right then and there, but once I saw Tarvek I joined him instead. He had basically finished packing up his tent. ¡°I''m sorry, I don''t have the time for a chat right now. I want to get a bit of exercise before we head out.¡± ¡°Mind if I join you then?¡± ¡°If you want, but I will train on my own.¡± We stepped out of the camp, past a small heap of animal bodies. If I had to judge by it, there had been attacks, but nothing the current watchers shouldn''t have been able to handle. Although I didn''t know how strong these beasts in particular had been. I tried to use Analyse on them, but nothing came up. The place we stopped at was still very close to the camp, but out of sight. I did my usual exercises and was glad that my movements weren''t as awkward anymore with a possible spectator to my side. It didn''t take long for the last of the cold to leave me and at least for a while the rain stopped bothering me. Tarvek mostly practiced with his glaive and though I mostly concentrated on my own movements what I did see looked very refined. My expertise in weapons wasn''t anywhere close to my barehanded skills, so I couldn''t compare. But what I glimpsed was a deadliness in each single swing that I mostly lacked. My form was fine, but I found myself severely lacking in the will to use it. When I tried to perform with seriousness my movements became a bit too tense. By the time we finished I was content with my performance, but if I truly wanted to gain that extra edge I would have to practice on life targets. ¡°For a sorceress you have excellent martial skills.¡± ¡°Don''t praise me for that, if I actually had to depend on it in a real fight instead of my magic I would probably die. Compared to you I feel a bit inadequate.¡± ¡°You don''t have to. I actually have to depend on my skills, so I have to put in all the effort I can.¡± Perhaps he was right. I didn''t want to stop martial arts training, but I wondered how I had actually kept up the motivation to practice for years on end, when I didn''t have any actual use for it. Even now magic was a much safer approach to fights for me. At least I believed that some basic capabilities would assist me in one way or another. We returned to the camp and the cleanup was almost finished. A little later and everything was packed up, we had eaten breakfast and headed out. The monolith was very close now, so everyone was paying attention to their surroundings. The prince had ordered a formation that was much more compact instead of the stretched out train we formed yesterday. I was walking right in the center, but that didn''t mean I was comfortable. Until now it had been possible for me to put the upcoming task aside, but now my nervousness had increased a lot. Added to that was the fact that I expected a large fight up ahead. It might have been helpful to share my information, but I also feared that if I did I would be pressed for more and more. Information about myself, what else I had seen and then I might even be forcefully recruited as a spy. The scouts seemed to do a well enough job around us, so I didn''t think we came unprepared. But then I sensed something I didn''t dare not to share. We had just come around a corner and were finally able to spot the monolith up ahead. It was pure black and stood a proud 20 meters tall. White glyphs covered the entire surface. At the base of the quadratic architecture one side was about five meters long. Towards the top it slowly became thinner, but only at the very peak did the four corners run together into a blunt spire. I had little time to gaze at it though, because the entire ground in front of it was covered with multiple energy signatures. I quickly rushed up to the prince, forgetting about my dislike of him for a moment. ¡°Prince Nelantis, there are a lot of animals dug into the ground in front of us.¡± He immediately turned serious and shouted out: ¡°Everyone stop.¡± His voice carried a lot of strength, so he must have reinforced it somehow. It also had a strong impact, as everyone stood still at once. Then he looked ahead and seemed to concentrate hard. ¡°I think I can make them out. Can you sense how much space they are occupying?¡± I took some time to process the information. There were many weak auras. Without a visual reference point I couldn''t really put it into a greater picture. ¡°It''s difficult to tell, the whole area seems to be full of them.¡± ¡°That''s going to make things difficult.¡± Shortly afterwards the command staff had met up and began discussing the situation. Prince Nelantis: ¡°A large area in front of us is dug through by some beasts. Right now we don''t know what creatures they are nor how large the area is. We will have to take care of it one way or another or they can pull away the ground beneath our feet once we get to the monolith itself.¡± Richard: ¡°We should scout out the extent of the holes first. Perhaps we can reach the monolith from the back.¡± Captain Ravon: ¡°We must be careful. We can''t send our more sensitive mages around in small groups or they might get ambushed. One large group will take longer but we can''t take the risk.¡± Prince Nelantis: ¡°I agree. And then we will still have to come up with a plan to clear the area even if we can reach the monolith from behind. We can''t leave our back exposed to the enemy there.¡± Captain Ravon: ¡°We will also have to reinforce the ground beneath us or they can tunnel under any camp or fortifications we build.¡± A soldier came running up to us from the direction we originally came from. ¡°A large force of beasts is coming up from behind.¡± Prince Nelantis: ¡°It seems we are already with our back to the enemy. At least we didn''t fall into their trap first. We will get some distance from this place and prepare to meet them. If they directly rush towards us we won''t have much time.¡± While we rushed as fast as was possible with the packed mounts the prince began to order the basic formation. It basically came down to three groups build of his own soldiers, the towns guard and the adventurers. Each group would organize themselves, but listen to general directions from the prince. Then there were of course a few exceptions who had to stay with the horses or me, who just had to stay safe. We didn''t make it very far, because just a minute later a large group of close to a hundred wolves came rushing at us. Our position wasn''t ideal, because we had the rising mountainside next to us, but it wasn''t steep enough to offer us protection. At least there were no attacks coming from this side at the moment, but rather from the relatively flat area at the foot of the mountain. Prince Nelantis: ¡°Warriors to the front, Mages behind, get out as many spells as you can but stay covered.¡± It began to show that we were no regular army and not as organized. The different groups still hadn''t been assembled properly, but at least a somewhat solid line was building and the first spells were flung out. ¡°Great Gorundar''s Magnificent Ice Lance!¡± ¡°Aspharis¡± ¡°Great Gorundar''s Splendid Needle Shower!¡± ¡°Trees rise to my aid!¡± A storm of different spells rained down on the entire area in front of us. There were only around ten mages all in all, but everyone had their own specialty it seemed. Although the attack wasn''t organized it still covered almost the entirety of the space the wolves had to run through. They were burnt, frozen, some began to attack their own and others were grabbed by nearby trees. A few wolves just collapsed without any obvious wounds. I found it irritating that a few of the mages were shouting out their spells before the cast. I thought nobody would willingly speak such long and arduous phrases in the heat of battle, especially not ones as embarrassing as the Gorundar spells. I suspected those chants were some kind of activation sequence from spells learned by a scroll. Only a very few wolves were able to break through the barrage, and they were quickly dealt with. When the mages had stopped their assault, the attacks had stopped as well and the wolves began to regroup further in the distance around a very large wolf who seemed to be their leader. Since I was not directly involved I used the chance for a short Analyse.
Wolf
Beast Level 44-47The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Hunter Level 40-42
Leader Level 25-26 Brute Level 13 Scout Level 18-20
Strength: 68-70 Dexterity: 116-120 Vitality: 66-67 Endurance: 96-99 Intelligence: 87-91
I had to gulp at the sight of those stats. I was happy I didn''t have to face him in a direct confrontation. Instead of another direct charge the wolves began to circle around us. The prince quickly ordered us to quickly rush up the mountain until we reached a small plateau with a rock wall in the back. The position would be easy to defend. While we had climbed up, other beasts started appearing. Buffaloes, bears and even the supposedly peaceful korungas. One gigantic mammoth became visible even though it was at the back of the forming horde. The animals were much slower than the wolves had been. We had arrived at the plateau before any other skirmish. We mentally prepared ourselves for the next flood. But then nothing happened. The animals disappeared into the distance. Captain Ravon: ¡°They are waiting for a better time instead of attacking us when we have a solid position and are prepared. They might even wait until it is dark and we have to sleep before trying another assault on us.¡± Prince Nelantis: ¡°We can''t just stay here all day and do nothing. Our rations aren''t an issue right now, but we still have to get to the monolith and either prepare good defenses there, or at least secure the position long enough that Shalyne can get to work.¡± Me: ¡°I can''t just rush in there and do this in a short few minutes. This is something I have to concentrate on for extended periods of time.¡± Prince Nelantis: ¡°Then we must completely secure the monolith and prepare the camp there. I''m just afraid we won''t be able to do so undisturbed.¡± Captain Ravon: ¡°I suggest we fortify relatively close by and just dig out the ground and strengthen it. It''s a lot of work but I don''t see any other option but the hard way. Our mages will have to reserve enough of their mana for a serious fight, so we can''t rely on them too much.¡± Prince Nelantis: ¡°Then lets not waste time and get to it.¡± And so began the most amazing building project I had seen so far. Until now basic construction seemed very similar to that on earth, but now I got to see the actual process of it. There are options to work on a different scale when every worker has superhuman strength. The soldiers only had a limited amount of them, but there were some huge shovels and they began to dig out one cubic meter of soil after the other. Soon a trench that was five meters wide and three meters deep began to make its way through the area in front of the monolith. At the same time close by, but still outside the trapped area a place was fortified. A bit of the ground was also dug up and then filled in again with large rocks a few of the strongest of the group carried over. Entire trees were used to create a small wall around the camp. The space of this area was not very large, and if we had to actually camp there we would have to sleep close together. A few of the animals showed up now and then, but that was more a distraction than anything else. We were always very aware of our surroundings. Captain Ravon estimated that animals couldn''t keep up a formation for extended amounts of time like humans could. They also had to eat, but didn''t carry anything with them. It was enough of a surprise that so many different kinds of animals were working together, even when some would normally prey on others. Keeping up this state of peace couldn''t be easy on their part. No one was spared from work this time. Funnily enough, those who ranked the highest would also be the ones who could do the most difficult physical tasks. Although they would supervise the others, even the captains and the prince were laboring by carrying some large pieces of trees and rocks. When he helped with those tasks, Captain Windon had more trouble with properly holding things than with their weight. His opulence impeded him somewhat. This time I was also put to work. My job was to keep an eye on the surrounding earth outside the trench. Tons of rabbits had hidden there, and every now and then one of them came rushing out. They were very strong for such little animals, but their levels were all very low, so none of them would have strength that could become fatal as long as we paid attention. A large scale attack of rabbits might be a different thing though. So I stood somewhere below ground level and kept my senses open to all sides. There were so many auras around me to keep track of that I couldn''t keep up with all of them. Whenever a rabbit decided to try something funny and rushed out into the trench I was usually able to await it and cut it with my sword before it was able to do anything else. There were a few times they escaped my notice and then quickly rushed at the closest soldier or adventurer who was digging or removing the earth. They could deal with the nuisances themselves, but it annoyed me that I couldn''t stop them all in time. They weren''t even as organized or intelligent as the other beasts. Most had a level in scout or leader, but the best they were able to accomplish was a combined attack of maybe twenty of them. After yet another one was able to slip past me I decided to do something about them proactively. Aiming was difficult without line of sight, but I wanted to take care of them nonetheless. I began to cast searing light at any rabbit that was within one or two meters range of the earth wall. It didn''t take much to kill them, but I wasn''t always able to get actual hits on their small bodies. But searing light was very cheap in its cost, and death would almost be a guarantee on a successful hit. I began racking up my kill count. At first I still had to pay attention to the other areas but after a while the rabbits were thinning out and I could concentrate more and more on my massacre instead of observing the area close to the trench. The fact that I didn''t ever see them at any point in time created a bit of an emotional distance between the act of casting and the resulting deaths. The only time I even got to see the seared rabbits was when the soldiers were extending the trench. They were a bit surprised at first, but soon realized that the attacks had stopped almost entirely. Once I had cleared out the closer perimeter I didn''t even have to keep watch at all. Any rabbit that tried to get across this zone of death now immediately became obvious to my senses and was soon dead. With nothing much to do anymore I continued to practice my blind aiming at a greater distance. I was able to get proper hits up to a range of maybe five meters, but after that I was only successful because I could just continue to fire off spell after spell. I never used much energy for the pin point attacks, but the sheer amount of single casts still depleted my entire pool of mana. I just took out one of the crystals and drew its reserves into me. I tried to use more than one spell at once to aim at a target further in the distance. With a formation of ten searing light strikes at the same time I could cover half a meter in every direction and had a good chance of any one of them landing the hit.
Sorceress has increased to level 12.
These multi attacks were effective, but nothing I could keep up. With single casts my chance of hitting began to drop too low at a certain distance and I reverted back to protection mode instead of active hunting, as long as no rabbit closed in on my safe zone. It was afternoon when we finally arrived at the monolith. There the close surrounding area was dug up and refilled just like the first defensive station. The effort shifted completely to the monolith, the first fortification never meant as anything more than a place to fall back to if things went down south. The real fortifications were now set up, and once a certain foundation had been prepared, the materials of the earlier one were just taken out and brought over. Perhaps it might be better to consider it a deposit instead. Everything had to be transported over by use of the trench. We had lost some of our apprehension concerning the rabbits, they were easy enough to kill on their own, but the hollowed out ground was another matter. Carrying heavy weights across this area full of tunnels was a bad idea, especially considering how much a single person was able to lift. And if several soldiers were stuck in some holes, rabbits below and a surprise attack from the side, it would become difficult to defend. The continued construction process didn''t concern me anymore however, as I now had to get to my actual purpose of being here. To offer me some halfway decent space to work a provisional tent was set up. It was little more than a stretched out tarp, but offered some protection from the weather. I had full vision of the monolith in front, and even some sort of privacy. Unless someone was busy at the very base of the monolith, he wouldn''t be able to watch me. I sat down in this abode and began my study. The first look I took just brushed over the surface. I didn''t want to activate any contraption that reacted to my sense. It was magnificent. The entire monolith was used as anchor for an extremely complicated construct. Without actually studying it I took it in as a whole. Although the underlying structure was very complex, as a whole the monolith served a function that I might be able to grasp. It felt as if the monolith itself was just an extension. Whatever it did ultimately happened elsewhere. It wasn''t difficult for me to sense the energies that connected it with some other place, but I couldn''t follow them from my current fixed position. In case someone did look over I didn''t want to lie down right now, but a meditative looking sitting position shouldn''t arouse any suspicions. I crossed my legs and my knees easily touched the ground. I hadn''t realized I was this flexible. I tried putting my feet on the opposing side''s leg and actually comfortably reached a full lotus position. That was something I had never even come close to before and I was quite happy about it. In this position I could comfortably sit and remain upright without any effort. I stretched my senses out from me until I was hovering in my energy form. My physical body remained properly seated even without my conscious effort. I wouldn''t leave it behind for long, so I paid it no more mind. Observing the energy that flowed in and out of the monolith I was able to actually detect in which directions it flowed. The one easily observable main stream went towards the northeast and it came as no surprise to me when the general direction was exactly the strong aura I had made out a few times already and which I could see in the far distance when I flew up a little. Of course I would have to follow the flow to its end to be certain, but I was reasonably sure I wasn''t wrong about that connection. What actually surprised me was that another small stream, probably undetectable to anyone without extremely good senses, went into the general direction of Barlaine. Sadly I wasn''t able to make out any of the flowing content, as it seemed very cryptic to me. I slipped back into my physical body. Although it provided some more distractions I considered it best to stay present with the possibility of imminent attacks or simply people who were observing my work here. The next step I took was to let my mind softly flow over the structure, one little area at a time. Whenever something began to react I blocked off that part of the structure and dissolved it, but never anything more than that part itself. One such part didn''t react at all after I blocked its connection, but suddenly from somewhere entirely else something locked onto me. Before I could even react from various parts of the monolith sensors picked up my presence. Before I could even try to do something about it the monolith shot out a beam right at the place I was occupying. I got a very rough sense of the type of energy before it was actually shot out. I quickly poured my entire mana into a shield that could hopefully block it and then rolled to the side. An energy blast as wide as my body shot right at the space I had just been at. But the little distance I had barely made a difference. Neither did my shield. The beam still graced me and the space where the beam hit the ground sent out a blast wave which burned into me and threw me through the air. The ensuing pain drowned out anything else. I wasn''t aware of any sound around me, my eyes were blinded, if they still worked, and I was only hanging on to my consciousness by a bare thread. If I hadn''t gone through so many similar situations lately it surely would have slipped away, but this way I could observe as the pain suddenly and completely subsided. I felt just as free as in my energy body, but something was different. The energies within me began to drift apart, the light to one side, the dark to the other. Each wanted to go their own way and take what part of me was here with it. But they both clung unto the entirety of me, ripping at it, trying to free me from the grasp of their opposite. The pain that followed was by far worse than what I had felt before, this time my very self was burning up. The tearing became absolutely unbearable and just wouldn''t stop. By some force everything held itself together, finding something in my center to surround. I felt into that center that kept me together, kept me here and found a weak connection back to my physical body. I became horribly afraid of what would happen to me if I lost that connection. Would I float around forever as a vengeful spirit, unable to perish but ever without form, existing in everlasting pain? I pulled myself and all the swirling storm around me back there, still being ripped apart, but never severing into parts and landed back in the physical. Instead of relief additional pain awaited me, which combined with the other. Still without senses I struggled, I don''t know if I screamed, or slashed around myself, I think I was forcibly held down but didn''t really know. Then, from one moment to the next light and dark stopped tearing my soul apart and just settled into their old dispute over me. They were easily suppressed when they were happy to stay again. The physical pain I felt all over didn''t subside as easily. Squirming around I had to endure and endure until it finally began to lessen somewhat. First dull sounds began to get through to me and I was able to get enough of my bearings together again to activate my energy senses just a bit. All around me were auras huddled together. I wasn''t able to peak close enough for who they were, but at basically every end of my body somebody either held an arm or stood over me. Even after some basic functions had returned it felt like a long time until I only felt some comparatively dull pains in mostly non vital areas of my body. At least compared to before it was a huge improvement. My eyes had regained some blurry function and I tried to look around with them. Around me stood several people who all channeled some type of healing energy to my body. A man who seemed to be busy with parts of my head spoke up: ¡°I think she is regaining consciousness.¡± Without my additional perception of energy it might have been difficult to make out Brinnia who was now bending over me from the side and looked at me. ¡°I honestly thought you were already dead, or at least only a hair''s breadth away. I could almost see the light leave you. I am glad we got you up in time. Take a rest for now, we will get you back into shape by tomorrow.¡± It would have been so nice to slip into a peaceful sleep now, but there was none for me. I still tried to fake a light and peaceful breathing while holding my eyes closed, if only to comfort those around me who continued to poor their effort into me. Even if I had to lie around for hours on end, I was in no mood to do anything. I was just exhausted and almost enjoyed the peace of holding still to recover. When my constitution continued to improve and I finally found enough energy I began to start some healing work of my own. I had been left alone for a while already and the healers were taking a rest. From what I had gathered they were utterly exhausted from the effort they put into saving me. I began to scan my body and with a tickle at the back of my mind understanding of the different functions of inner body parts came to me when I observed them. The healers had certainly done a good job, but the work was far from over and they lacked perfection. I could see scars all over and through me that just shouldn''t be there. Places where the flow of blood slightly slowed. Inner functions of organs that I didn''t really comprehend, but where I was still able to sense what was somehow right. Just how badly had I been wounded that I had such inner wounds? Maybe I didn''t want to know, I was just sick of getting hurt all the time and didn''t want to even think about it. I got to work.
Priestess has increased to level 6.
Priestess has increased to level 7.
I had only begun to take care of my inner parts and not even started to work on the scars I had sensed all over my skin. It must have been bad, but it was dark and I wasn''t in the mood to make a light and take an actual look at myself. Instead I took a break and just ignored the itching on my skin. My sense of time was off right now and I had no idea how deep into the night it was. But with my senses restored it couldn''t escape me that in the distance a large gathering had begun. It was too far to make out specifics, but the amount was enough to make me aware. I could already tell right away that the attack we were expecting all day would soon be under way. I left the tent where I had been laid down in and looked for the current commander of the night watch. Chapter 21 When I got up I had to realize that I still hurt much more than I had thought. Each step sent a sharp pain through my entire body. I had looked myself over just now and was sure it couldn''t be anything serious that would force me to keep still, but that didn''t make it comfortable and I might want to avoid moving whenever I could. The clothes I had worn before must have been destroyed almost entirely. Right now I was barely covered, but my backpack was next to me and I decided it was worth the time to quickly get dressed in my replacement clothes. Sadly I didn''t have another pair of shoes on hand. I wondered if there were some spare pairs around, but I doubted it. Since I didn''t have any other option I just put on a pair of socks and left the tent. A gust cold fresh air awaited me outside. The rain seemed to have stopped for now, but I could still practically breath the water in the air. At least the ground wasn''t soaked, but that was because there was no soil. The others had not been idle while I was out. With the monolith in the center a strong fortification had been erected. I stood on some sort of pavement, though that would be an euphemism for the foundation of rocks I stood on right now. Without shoes it was quickly getting cold, but that was drowned out by all the other aches all over my body. I let my senses scan the area below and could actually perceive a few of the rabbits, but they were unable to pierce through the rocks. The encampment was a circle around the monolith, ten meters in every direction with tents cramped in between. They were put up very orderly and left open a wide path that circled around. The barricade consisted of lots of felled trees which formed a wall all around and in front of that a few sharpened branches pointed to the outside, but I could immediately see that this part of the construction was far from finished and they would be of no use tonight. The entire area around the fortifications was lit up again to a distance of around two hundred meters. In the light I could easily make out the watchmen who stood on various sides and kept a tight watch on the surroundings. Everyone kept their focus on the outside and there seemed to be nobody who sat back inside the barricade. When I detected Lieutenant Kite I decided to report to him, as I had seen him a few times before and he was also likely in charge. I limped over to him and when he became aware of my movement he turned around. The shock on his face when he looked at me was impossible to miss. ¡°Ah, Miss Shalyne, you are up. I''m sorry about what happened. You can take it easy for now and just rest a bit longer. I am sure the healers will patch you up properly when they have recovered.¡± ¡°I will be fine.¡± The words were very hoarse and hurt my throat. I stopped for a moment to touch my throat with my hand but that feeling wasn''t reassuring either. There was no time for that though and I composed myself. ¡°The beasts are gathering out there. I think they are preparing for an attack.¡± ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± I slowly and decidedly nodded. The lieutenant considered for a moment and then spoke out. ¡°We will definitely wake everyone up, but will do so silently. Maybe we can surprise them if we are fully prepared. How much longer do you think we have?¡± I had kept a figurative eye in the distance and took an estimate. ¡°They are beginning to spread out. Not very long. Maximum a quarter if they wait for everyone. Much shorter if some attack sooner.¡± ¡°Then we have to hurry.¡± Lieutenant Kite chose three of the watchmen who rushed through the camp while he reported to the prince. I returned to the tent I woke up in and took out the healing potion, which I put in one of my pockets, and one of the mana potions which I immediately drank down. I wanted to be prepared as much as I could, even if I didn''t have to participate in the fight. Then I also took the last few crystals I hadn''t kept on me before. I really liked having mana reserves. Once I was outside again I sat down somewhere in the back and rested a bit. Being up so soon had put a strain on my body. Soon the entire camp was up. Everyone had slept in their clothes and was prepared almost immediately. It could have been more silent, but there were limits to what a rag and tag group like this could do. Brinnia came over to me. I have to give her that, she was very good at hiding her emotions when I looked up to her. It was probably something she learned on the job. It was difficult to hide things from me though, because I could see the fluctuations in her aura very clearly. But then I had to admit that while I could make out basic intents more subtle emotions were something I couldn''t really interpret. ¡°You should rest and not run around already. You are still in danger if your wounds open up again.¡± I shook my head. ¡°My wounds are fine, I am just a bit battered. And I can''t really rest when an attack is coming up.¡± ¡°At least stay here in the back and keep out of the fight alright?¡± It''s a bit macabre, but fortunately just then the first beasts appeared in the distance and I was spared any more pity or good wishes by anyone else. I didn''t need them. To my understanding I should be able to heal myself up to a peak state again, as long as I invested the time and used the gift of understanding living substance which Parangante had left me. I might even refrain from doing so for a while if it deterred the prince, but I didn''t have time for any such considerations. Always the quickest to attack and the most populous, the wolves led another charge. How many of them were out there? This time an even greater horde had gathered and rushed in from all sides. Before I had considered our forces large, but now I began to doubt. The sheer amount of beasts was truly frightening. If I could help out in any way, I wouldn''t hold back. Perhaps I might be able to make a small but important difference. Ignoring Brinnia''s advice I stood up and looked around. I was in the back as usual and could freely send my attention anywhere. I took in the positions of the people I got to know over the last weeks. I would prioritize them over the others if push came to shove. Richard''s group and Arienne had gathered on one of the sides together with the other adventurers. I didn''t care much about the prince and his soldier, I didn''t even recognize most of them. A quick look over the last group gave me a bit of a bad conscience. I spotted Silvia''s boyfriend James in the town''s guards. Until now I had completely forgotten he was even here. He had always been around in another group and I had overlooked his presence until now. I also put him in the back of my mind. Just as the first wolves reached the barricades I sensed a large amount of mana forming in the air above us. I recognized it as the very same spell the wolf leader I had fought before had used. It had been greatly disturbing to the fight, so I directly attacked the spell before it was successful. With my greater capacity for mana I could severely cripple the spell and all that was left over was a cold breeze. I put increased focus on my aura sight and scanned the area for the caster. I half expected it to be the very wolf leader I had scanned yesterday morning. The sight of a great firework of energies greeted my vision. I was almost lost in the various flows of energy that formed the spells our mages were casting at this moment. It was very distracting and I dampened my perception a bit, refocusing on the physical. Even then all around me chaos erupted down on the charging wolves and I had to orient myself anew. Sadly I still didn''t know the position of the caster. The spells were spread out in the different directions and the first lucky wolves already succeeded in reaching the barricade. I wondered about the use of it, as the wolves just jumped over it and landed right in the middle of the camp. Maybe forcing the jump was enough of a reason, because after landing the first arrivals were slain on the spot. It made me very wary of the danger I was actually in though, because now the walls and the distance to the front line didn''t reassure me at all. Now I would be happy if the crystal I had enchanted with the barrier spell hadn''t been destroyed before. The amount of wolves that appeared in the camp began to increase, the mages were disturbed in their casting and then even more wolves were able to get through. One landed just right in front of me, but was immediately slain by one of the prince''s soldiers, who then kept close to my side.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. For now I was still outside of the actual fight and could keep a sight on the battle everywhere, but my attention started to become more narrow towards the direction I was closest to, which was somewhere in between the prince''s and the adventurer''s sides. Slower, bulkier animals started to appear outside now, rushing to our position. A giant mammoth broke through the ground with its massive weight and only the upper body was still showing. I didn''t want that one to reach our barricades and cast a searing light right into its head. The resistance to my spell was weak and I could cast almost freely, but the mammoth didn''t die there. Instead it roared and then jumped out of the hole it had just been in and took another leap which sent it on a course over the barricade. I couldn''t stop something this massive dead on, so I tried to change its course just a bit by only putting pressure on it from above. To move such a heavy mass was a huge strain on my mana and I had to use up almost all my reserves for it. Even with a little leftover I still became dizzy from the shock and only saw the blurry figure loudly crash into the wooden wall, as the forward momentum pushed it in the direction it had leaped. Even while I was dizzy I immediately found one of the crystals I now carried with me. The rush of incoming energy directly gave me another round of disorientation. The flow of so much energy can be very overwhelming. I finally got steady to see the mammoth fall dead from a cut right through the head by none other than Prince Nelantis himself. He then shouted out: ¡°Draw back to the monolith.¡± It wasn''t really a great distance, considering how small our camp actually was. But the fight had developed into a chaotic skirmish without a front line. We were holding for now, because most of the beasts that got in could be taken down in a short amount of time, but their number grew steadily. By now a few of the others types had gotten to the fight, but the slower and heavier ones also more easily fell prey to the trap the rabbits had dug out. They might be intelligent, but apparently still didn''t calculate everything. Or maybe chose to ignore it. I was already in the back, but now the others also tried to close a smaller circle just around the monolith, two very close tents and the pack horses. Everything else was basically stomped down by either the soldiers themselves or the attacking beasts. There had already been fatalities and a few fighters were becoming cut of and isolated. I cast a few strategic spells here and there to allow them a retreat to the inner ring. With a new line set up the fight went surprisingly well. The beasts weren''t able to just jump over us anymore and had to attack from the front. There they were blocked by heavy shields and equal strength. They didn''t fight in the same coordinated manner like humans and struggled to do actual damage. The problems were a few of the larger beasts with ridiculous amounts of strength which were however focused down with magic and arrows. Then another tide of animals came rushing in. An uncountable amount of rabbits slipped past the front and began to bite and claw from every side. The front line fighters tried to hold off the big beasts, but were disturbed by numerous attacks from their back. Now I became actively involved in the melee. The rabbits had just slipped by everyone and now viciously lunged themselves even at me. Before now I had just been focusing on casting, but now I realized just how sluggish my movements were. I had trouble avoiding any attack at all and soon gave up trying. Instead I unleashed another massacre on the rabbits. With them in direct line of sight and their almost nonexistent resistance I could immediately kill one with little more than a thought. I cleared out the rabbits around me and finally got another look at the overall situation. It was desperate. One after another people were going down. I couldn''t do much else right now and continued on slaughtering rabbits to take at least this pressure off the others. I think there were other mages who adopted a similar tactic, but my spell seemed to be by far the best suited for the task.
Sorceress has increased to level 13.
Around me some order was reestablished and I took great care to keep it that way. I constantly drew on my mana reserves, but since the single spells didn''t cost me much energy, I was able to continue casting non stop. A kind of circle was created again, but there were alarmingly few people left. Maybe on the other side of the monolith another group like ours had formed, but I didn''t get my hopes up. Apparently the beasts had also suffered horrible losses by now, because once our battle line was stable again, we began to clear out what remained of them. When everything was over I dropped to the ground, no strength left and no stress to keep me running. I had a few new wounds in addition to the leftover damage from before, but at least nothing but rabbits had ever gotten close to me this entire fight. Arienne dropped down right next to me, covered in several wounds, but none that looked critical. She tiredly asked me: ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Can''t say that I am, but I didn''t receive any bad wounds. I am stable. I should probably help out with the healing. Can you please take a look around? I have trouble moving right now.¡± ¡°Are you sure you are still up for it?¡± I simply nodded. Arienne got up again and rushed back a little later. ¡°Richard is still alive, but only barely hanging on. Brinnia is trying her best, but I can see that she is very exhausted.¡± I let Arienne help me up and offer me a bit of support to limp over. Brinnia was leaning over Richard''s unconscious body. Tarvek sat close by and took care of himself with some bandages. Close by I recognized the bodies of Orlund and Vina lying still on the ground. I had to stop walking as I closed my eyes for a moment and deeply breathed out. I hadn''t known them for long, but I was still shocked by their apparent death. All around me were dead bodies and now even with familiar faces. What should I do? I had never been in such a situation before. There was nothing I could do, they were dead. It was almost surreal. Shock and some sadness mixed together, but I couldn''t give myself to these feelings right now. Arienne lightly shook me. I had already gotten a hold of myself and gave her what normally would have passed for a reassuring smile. She cringed. I led one of my hands in front of my face and touched the surface. It was disturbingly uneven. I let out a strange laugh. I didn''t know how my face looked, but facial expressions apparently didn''t work well any more. I shook my head, there was no time for such thoughts now. I simply said: ¡°I''m ok.¡± Concentrating on the task at hand I looked to Brinnia again. Her aura was very weak right now. She didn''t seem to be wounded, but her mana had to be running very low. Even then she was still trying to keep up her spells while in obvious despair. Luckily I still had one filled up mana crystal left. Most mages weren''t good enough with outside mana sources to draw on them, but healers had to be able to work with outside energies at least in some way. ¡°Brinnia, can you use energy crystals?¡± At first she was startled by the question, seemingly unaware Arienne and I had walked up to her. But then she answered: ¡°I''m not good with them, but if you have any, please give them to me. I might still be able to save Richard.¡± Just before I handed it to her I got another inspiration. ¡°Brace yourself, I will try to give you the mana directly.¡± Instead of letting her draw it out of the crystal, I took out the mana myself and shoved it into Brinnia directly. It was almost like enchanting her without intent. To avoid any problems that might stem from this I turned it over to her only slowly until her aura was brightly lit up again.
Enchanter has increased to level 6.
She didn''t consider the infusion and instead got to work immediately. I also took after her and struggled over and plumped down directly next to Richard. I took the first actual look at him. Letting my perception focus on his body I drowned out my surroundings. He was very badly wounded. The most obvious one was a deep bite on his left arm. There were a multitude of other bites and scratches all over him, but the most critical issue was his dented rib cage. Several ribs were broken and there was pressure on his heart and a small hole in one of his lungs. I could sense Brinnia''s awareness and healing energy focusing on that hole. Now that she was filled up with mana again she seemed to be able to handle the necessary healing to keep him alive. I wasn''t sure what was the most critical, so I decided to assist where I could. My own energy reserves were about half full but I was constantly regenerating. I decided to use my mana as sparingly as possible and try to focus only on the most important issues until I had regenerated some more. While Brinnia took care of the lungs, I let my awareness flow into the ribs, feeling the usual tingling in my mind as the observing created an instinctive understanding. They did not fit right. I could see before me how the proper positions would be. How they looked without being dented in and in one piece. Then I just followed those understandings and began to push and rebuild. I had to stop shortly because something was wrong with the heart, and even I was aware that I had to prioritize that. It was strange working together with someone else, our awareness almost touching by being so close by. Brinnia wasn''t able to let her sense flow freely, it was always very focused on one place and only the close surroundings. She went to work with precision, but almost mechanical and in a very structured way. I immediately knew that she really understood what she was doing, while I was just following whims. But sometimes I felt that the methods weren''t always perfectly suited to Richard in particular, but were a more general approach.
Priestess has increased to level 8.
Once everything had stabilized I drew my perception out again. Brinnia had begun to put bandages over the various wounds. I took out a health potion and forced the liquid down his throat. I would have liked to observe it in action, but I couldn''t avoid becoming aware of the situation around me. Although there were many dead, quite a few were still hanging on. Of what I could see the adventurers and town guards had taken by far the worst damage. The subjugation soldiers were taking care of themselves, but aside from Brinnia I couldn''t see any other healer outside of that camp. Arienne was holding back Captain Windon, but when he saw that I was no longer focusing my attention on Richard he spoke up: ¡°Miss Shalyne, can you please come over and help me? Two of my guards are still close to death and the prince won''t spare any of his healers until his own soldiers are taken care of. You two are the only ones left I can ask.¡± I turned to Brinnia who was barely staying awake. ¡°Go and do what you can, I will try and take care of any of the other adventurers.¡± It wasn''t very reassuring, and I couldn''t help feeling that my efforts might be needed here just as much. But there was only so much that could be done and I might just as well go to the guards. Before I got up Arienne handed me a pair of boots. They didn''t fit well at all as I was almost swimming in them. I didn''t ask. Then she helped me walk the few steps. Soon I might have to take a look at myself again, but right now I could still prioritize others. I was reassured when I saw James sitting in one piece staring on the ground with a hollow look. At least he was none of the casualties. The guards as a whole were not so lucky. Only two others besides James and the Captain were still up, and two were lying close to each other. They had obviously been put here, though I wasn''t sure if carrying them around had been the healthiest decision. Chapter 22 I wasn''t able to treat two people at once, so I looked over the two to see who should take priority. One was a small scrawny man whom I had seen cast some magic before, but I didn''t know which kind of spells he had been using. He didn''t have any deep or critical wounds, but was bleeding badly out of multiple scratch and bite wounds all over his body. They were bandaged with some clothes, but hardly stopped the blood from flowing, because they were done poorly. I was sure a normal medic with some equipment and experience could save this man, but like this he was soon going to bleed out. The woman who was lying next to him was the complete opposite. She was a tall amazon with a massive pack of muscles. My own body hadn''t changed at all while gaining more of the strength stat. Did the size of muscles serve any purpose at all? Now I also wished I had taken a quick shot at analyzing the mammoth. When it had almost crashed through the wall of logs that was nothing the wolves could have accomplished. To propel this much mass far more strength would be necessary. Was the scaling of classes different depending on the size of the body, so that an animal double the size gained double the amount of strength or was the same amount of strength worth double the actual power? I had little data for a possible comparison, because wolves, which I had analyzed almost exclusively were similar to humans and not heavier by a factor of more than ten like the mammoth. But I couldn''t collect that data right now and I was also getting off track while below me two people were possibly dying. The amazon was almost unharmed except for her head which had taken a bad hit. Without treatment she would definitely not wake up, but I could somehow tell that she was in no immediate danger. Thus I turned my attention completely to the mage. Fixing scratch wounds was something I had a little experience in by now, but that didn''t mean I was much faster in the treatment. After all this was something I just followed along. It was still far easier to do than organs, where I first had to study the surrounding structure before I could actually begin.
Priestess has increased to level 9.
The entire process must have taken me two to three hours. I had closed all of the scratches, and repaired the bite wounds as far as I could in this amount of time. At least it was enough to ensure he would be able to recover on his own from here on. I was utterly exhausted. My mana regeneration had just barely kept up with the work I did, but right now I was basically empty and the strain on my concentration and the fight my body had with its own state had weakened me so far, that I had done most of the work while lying down. Captain Windon had not been happy about me lying down while treating his guards, but he realized I was hurt myself and it hadn''t stopped my efforts. Although I would have liked to move on to the woman''s head injury, I became aware of my limits. A quick check reassured me that her condition was stable. I looked around, but the Captain and Arienne were both gone. James kept a silent watch, though he wasn''t very aware of his surroundings. ¡°James?¡± A few moments later I called out again, this time louder, though my throat didn''t enjoy it: ¡°James!¡± He slowly looked up at me. ¡°This woman is stable and will survive another day like this. I have to take a break myself now, but I will come back later. Can you pass that on to Captain Windon when he returns?¡± He silently nodded. I left him to himself and was somehow able to get up. Very slowly I left. I didn''t want to ask James, who was this absent minded, for any assistance. The camp had been rebuilt a little bit in the meantime. Out of the many tents which had been run down in the fight a few had successfully been set up again, but most of them were lying around in tatters. One large tent now served as accommodation for almost everyone. A table had been set up just in front with some food openly available. Everyone was either resting or busy with something, so there was no regular meal. Considering the situation the organization of such things was still remarkable. I barely managed to gulp down something before almost dropping dead on a place to sleep. I actually fell into something almost resembling sleep. It was like a feverish nightmare, where one is never quite asleep and still very much conscious, but still loses perception of outside events. nonsensical visions swam before my eyes. This kind of half sleep was the closest I had gotten to actual sleep since eating the fruit, that is without counting being unconscious by force. When I regained some of my awareness it was day. On waking up pain is always more intense than after a long day, where it has time to slowly dull out. I immediately became aware of everything that was still wrong with me. I tried to avoid moving where I could and tried to find some more rest in a state that was neither feverish nightmare nor the pain of moving. It proved to be impossible. Unable to rest further I began to work again. First I wanted to take further care of myself. If I delayed, my state would slowly deteriorate and I already felt bad enough. The guard woman could wait a little longer. Unsurprisingly the condition I was in had worsened. Again ignoring my outer looks I did what I could for my vital functions. Although I felt better after quite a bit of effort, I still had a long way to go. It would be more appropriate to say I felt less bad. But as long as I didn''t get into another fight or had to exert myself physically, I should be fine. I lifted myself up and struggled out of the tent. A few people were still inside, after all I wasn''t the only one who had had a long night. Outside I took some of the freely available food and took a moment to look around. The chaos had been reduced. There were no longer any dead bodies lying around, neither of humans nor beasts. I trotted over to the tent where I had treated the mage in the night. He was still inside and apparently sleeping. Next to the woman was one of the prince''s healers. It seems by now they could spare to help out the other groups. The healer was not actually practicing her art, but instead just studied the head wound. When I came in, she looked up. "I can''t do anything here, try your luck if you want." She then left me alone with the two wounded town guards. I took a quick look over the mage I had treated yesterday, but there was nothing of note that had changed. Then I began to study the head wound of the giant woman in detail. It certainly was interesting how the brain was so interconnected. The first part of the healing was straight forward, fix up the skull, release a bit of pressure, structural things in nature. Then I had to consider what the actual issues were with my patient. As a whole the head looked ok now, so what where the real issues? There were flows of energy all through the brain and I could sense some areas where that flow was slow or stuck. When I then inspected the underlying physical structure as far as my kind of sense allowed, I could in fact make out inner wounds. Some lines that weren''t connected any more. I put them back together. The flows resumed somewhat, but the woman didn''t wake up anyway. Then there were parts that appeared like roads that had not been repaired in ages. I didn''t think those were the problems that actually caused her situation, but I had heard, that the brain could restructure itself by using what it had available to replace what was damaged elsewhere. So if a few underused parts were fixed up they might later help her to deal with issues in those parts of the brain that were the actual problem but which I couldn''t identify. Maybe. I didn''t really have any idea, but she wasn''t waking up and I had nothing else to get busy on with my current understanding. I was aware I might cause other issues, but repairing things couldn''t be all that bad a decision. So I renewed those pathways.
Priestess has increased to level 10.
I focused only on those parts of the brain where I could detect the most obvious energy blockages, the brain is after all really vast and I only had so much time. I didn''t really do a lot in the end, but maybe it helped her somehow. "Shalyne." ... "Shalyne!" I was distracted from my fascinating study. Arienne had called me out of my concentration. Next to her unsteadily stood Richard and behind them was a zombie. Brinnia really can''t have been resting much these days. Richard: "Do you have time for a break or are we interrupting you?" The woman was still lying unconscious. I sighed, I just didn''t know enough about the brain to tell what the issues were. There were no more pressing issues left over and I could spend days if not weeks on the fixing I had begun. I suppose a little break would not be an issue. I got up and winced when I became aware of the pain I had all but ignored just now. I then followed the others but was still a bit absent as I tried to process the things I had picked up. Outside of the tent Captain Windon stood with an anxious look. "How is she? The other healer said that nothing could be done." "I honestly don''t know. This is really complicated. I did what I could for now and there is no danger to her life. Hopefully she will wake up on her own." "I see. Thank you for your effort." His sincerity shook me a bit. He really cared about his people and losing so many must have been very hard for him. I might have held an unfair bias against him because of his weight, but would take care to look past that from now on. "I feel bad I couldn''t do more." The others led me to what had to be dinner. My stomach was growling. While I devoured what I could, I listened in on the others talking. I had not paid much attention to events around the camp, trusting others to do something about it, but it wouldn''t be bad to know about the current situation. Me: "Where is Tarvek? He looked alright yesterday." Arienne: "He is on duty right now. He is one of the few who are in a relatively good condition." Richard: "We are currently at great risk if there is any attack, but so far the area around us appears to be completely deserted. We have been discussing a lot if we should cancel the mission, but it will still take a day or two until we can move without leaving anyone behind. I''m afraid the prince will soon ask you to pick up your job at the monolith. By now all who survived are in a stable condition and the regular healers should be able to take care of everything. Once they get enough rest.", he added with an obvious look towards Brinnia. She reacted with a little delay, but ignored his last comment: "We should get out of here before anyone else gets hurt. This is too dangerous. Richard and Shalyne, you both barely survived, Orlund and Vina are dead. This is no job for us. Let the army handle it. I can''t take any more of this."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Richard: "I''m afraid that decision is out of our hands. When we signed up we agreed to follow their orders." Brinnia: "I know, but this can''t be a good decision. We won''t survive another attack like this. And we can''t do the same miracle with Shalyne like last time either." We fell into silence. I was also afraid. As if it were ignoring us the monolith loomed over us. I was constantly reminded of my failure last time and now I might have to try again. Hopefully we would cancel this mission. I didn''t care about the money. There were fates much worse than being poor, and besides, if I got the time I could continue working on the big order of Lord Quay again. Perhaps they had realized that I was no longer busy healing, because Prince Nelantis and Captain Ravon headed over to us once we had eaten. No more space for formalities, when they came over instead of inviting me to come to them. Come to think of it, I hadn''t interacted with any of them since the attack. Everyone had been busy with something since that time. Prince Nelantis gave me an obviously pitying look, while Captain Ravon remained stern. Prince Nelantis: "I am sorry about what happened to you. Sadly there hasn''t been time to talk until now. Don''t worry, there are some very good healers in the capital who can even repair the damage to your skin. It won''t be difficult for me to organize an appointment, if you would like to." Captain Ravon: "But for now..." The prince didn''t seem too happy about it, but continued in another direction: "But for now the monolith has to be dealt with. Although we have suffered some bad losses, we can currently hold this location without any resistance. This chance is too good to pass up. Tomorrow you will continue the process of dismantling the monolith. Take the night to prepare yourself. If you need any assistance we can provide, just ask. I am aware this is no easy task, especially for you after what happened." I simply nodded. I certainly wasn''t happy to try again, but there was little alternative for me right now. Taking the chance to retreat undisturbed I went into the big tent and laid down for a while. It wasn''t as comfortable without any privacy. Almost everyone now had to stay in here next to each other and that forced me to keep up appearances. It wasn''t even late, but I felt my body could use the rest. I pretended to sleep but instead switched to floating around in my energy body. One thing that began to trouble me was what reaction the distant aura would have to our continuing presence and the battle. If one of the beasts rushed over there directly it might already have arrived there. I made sure to completely suppress my aura and headed over in the direction of the aura. For now it didn''t appear like it was heading in our direction, and it was still very far in the distance. I flew in the general direction while I observed the area I crossed over. My speed couldn''t be compared to anyone who had to travel on foot, so I had passed a very long distance when I saw a wounded wolf heading straight to the northeast at about two thirds of the way. It might have been the general direction it headed, or how purposeful it didn''t stray from the path even after I had observed its track for some distance. In the end I reached the conclusion that it had been part of the beasts we had fought and I didn''t want it to report. I was the only one aware of the aura and that meant I was stuck at the monolith even when I saw it moving directly to us. Only if I revealed my abilities I would be able to warn the others. Just when I wanted to take care of the wolf, I got a faint sensation on my shoulder. It was very vague, but I feared it had something to do with my body. I felt for the connection to it and let myself drop through it. "Ah, you''re up. I was worried about you, you were lying so still, I wasn''t even sure if you were breathing." Arienne had given me a light shake to wake me up. "I was sleeping really well just now. Did you have to wake me up like that?" It was the first time I had to return like this. There was a reason why I didn''t like leaving my body behind in uncertain circumstances. But my annoyance aside, Arienne wasn''t aware of that and was just worried. "Sorry, I didn''t mean it. But I really need my rest right now." "I didn''t really want to wake you either, I was just following a hunch. Hmm does ''four'' mean something to you?" "What do you mean with ''four''?" "Really no idea, but I have learned to trust the little inspirations. It''s ok, now that I have said it. Don''t think about it, things usually only make sense in retrospect. It''s also boring if you know about the future before it even happens. You will only worry and continue thinking about it. Not I! But there was a guy I met who was always considering every little thing that might or might not happen. Little good it did him, when I warned him about something he didn''t listen. Turns out only I survived when the bandits attacked the caravan I was guarding back then, because I was looking for something on a tree. I can''t remember if I found it but at least nobody was looking up when they were attacking the camp. I was still weak back then or I would have taken care of all the bandits on my own. It was a pity I didn''t get paid though, or I could have bought a new weapon sooner..." "Arienne, I want to sleep now." "I will just tell you later then. Don''t scare me like that again." "Don''t wake me up like that again. My sleep can be very deep." Once Arienne left again I resumed my activities. It didn''t take me long to track down the wolf again. I thought about how to best eliminate it. I carried a good part of my magic ability with me when I traveled in energy form, and this capacity had steadily increased until now. The only disadvantage to casting while in this form was how my form faded when I used up mana. I decided to use another cheap cast of searing light right into the brain to conserve energy. The distance to my physical body didn''t affect my power and the wolf collapsed. In case that there were more messengers I got closer to the vicinity of the most distant monolith while keeping up my search for any other beasts. Not that much further ahead of the wounded wolf I made out a bear that had the same kind of drive to reach a certain location. In contrast to the wolf it was a healthy beast, but that didn''t help it get much further. I also killed it, although I had to use a bit more energy to overcome the resistance of its aura. I continued my search and was getting nervous when the huge aura I had even avoided looking at too intensely was getting dangerously close. If I missed a messenger I might however get into an even less fortunate situation. Just a very close distance from its final goal away, I detected one more wolf. he was hurt much worse than the one I had killed before, but had still gotten this much further. Two arrows pierced his body and his paws showed a sickly flow of energy. This wolf might have been the one I had analyzed before. The aura felt familiar to me and he had a high capacity for mana. I hoped the increased strength would not block my attempt to kill him and I cast another searing light. The strength of the aura weakened the build up time of my spell considerably and before it could manifest and deal any damage the wolf pushed my control and my spell out of itself. he stopped and wildly looked around. Although he was unable to detect even a trace of me, I was also in a dilemma if I couldn''t take care of him. I tried to feel out the resistance of the aura, but now that the wolf was aware and actively defended himself there was a constant pressure pushing out. I was unable to affect his body directly without expending a lot of force. So I went over to targeted spells. I formed a bolt of shadow and flung it at the wolf. I can cast very quickly and there was no danger I had to avoid. I could fully concentrate on weaving my mana and was even very close to my target. The wolf had no chance. He wasn''t even able to detect the formation of the spell before it struck right through the middle. The high vitality, that must have helped him to endure his wounds until now, was enough to keep it alive even now, but the wolf was dying. It dropped to the ground, unable to continue. Although the wolf should be dying, he was somehow clinging on to life, although the strength of his aura slowly faded away. Before its death I began to test out the resistance of the aura again, but there was hardly any strength left to push me back. I could now penetrate into the insides even more easily than when the wolf had become aware of me at first. I pushed my senses inside and observed more closely. There was something at the very core of the aura, and without much resistance I could take a closer look at it. Perhaps the wolf sensed this intrusion, because now he began to put up a last desperate struggle again. He was too weak though and I could break through to the core. Was it the familiarity of the action, or curiosity? I can''t say why I proceeded when the death was already ensured. I pushed with force right at the core, broke it and it came apart and dissipated. There was no massive reaction like when I had done this to the angel in the gray lands. This time there was only a weak effect when the aura began to disperse into the surroundings. The energy soon disappeared completely from even my ability to perceive it. I floated above the empty corpse in consideration of what I had just done. Had I sped up a natural process or taken apart something more special. My thoughts just came up empty. I didn''t even know how to begin to interpret this. No lightning came to strike me down, it was actually very peaceful right now. I let myself float in a strange empty emotion for a while and then decided to look for any other messengers I might have missed. A look at the strong aura close by revealed no change in behavior. Not that I was directly looking at the current behavior, it just didn''t wildly stamp into the direction of our camp. Perhaps that was the sign that I had stopped the fastest runner successfully. I began to swipe over an extended area, looking closely for any animal that headed directly to the northeast. I found none that were suspicious, but still killed a few different beasts I encountered. I refrained from repeating my former attack and stuck to searing light. After I had closely looked over even a large area behind even the slowest of the three messengers I wanted to stop the task and return to my body. But for some reason the ''four'' popped into my head and I continued to look for a forth beast. If it hadn''t been for that strange suspicion, I would never have been so thorough and even looked at places even further away from the last monolith. Somewhere not even close to half of the entire distance a lone rabbit made its way along the same path as those before it. This time I was sure I had encountered the right target. There was no resistance and even though the rabbit was among the strongest of its species it died immediately. Without further ado I finally let myself return. I had used up a lot of time on my search, but I had gone to bed very early and it was still deep night. A short look around revealed that most of the sleeping places around me were filled up and just three persons stood a silent watch outside. There was another task I wanted to accomplish this night before rising in the morning, and that was creating a plan for completing my mission without another encounter with death. Last time I was sure I had isolated the sensor, but apparently the signal that triggered the attack was not activated by the sensor, but by the stop of contact with other units. The first few units had not behaved this way, so I was dealing with a mix of both types. Perhaps leaving the type intact, that had led to my injury, would trigger an attack as well. One important question was what actually made the sensors aware of my presence. Nobody else had been shot at, so I expected no attacks as long as my sense didn''t intrude. If I could hide the origin of my sense there would be no target to shoot. The beam had been very powerful, but I doubted it could be fired indefinitely. Consequently it might be possible to draw its attention elsewhere until it was drained. How could I do tests without the death penalty? Completely hiding my aura might already work, last time I had shown the light part of it. It seems everything I did led me to keeping my aura hidden at most times. If I did my work in energy form from a different direction I might also be able to avoid any retribution. And my last idea was putting up a prepared barrier that did have the strength to resist the beam. But even preparing only one might cost too much time. As a last line of defense it might be nice to have, but it wasn''t practical for any other uses. I put a bit of my mana aside to start refilling my reserves, but even with an active regeneration potion I was rapidly using up my reservoir just as I was regenerating it. I really needed some larger storage capacity. I quickly woke myself and drowned another mana regeneration potion. Since doing the work in energy form while simultaneously hiding my aura was the best idea I came up with for now, I would follow through on it. If this didn''t work out I was pretty much doomed anyway, so I figured I might just as well start right away. I was paid for the task and not for the hours so the sooner I was done the better. If I actually finished in the night I would have to add some pretend work when the others saw me working. Once I floated next to the other side of the monolith I tested out the responses. I repeated the same deactivation as before and waited for a possible response. Once a sensor from a different location tried to lock on me, but came up empty. I disenchanted it. I couldn''t really remember the parts I had deactivated before, but I could swear they had been restored. If that was the case I was really dealing with a work of the highest quality. Even now my destruction became undone shortly after I had gone over to other corners of the construct. I wouldn''t be able to finish if this kept up, so I had to destroy the plans it used to restore itself, or attack the power supply that was used for doing so. I didn''t necessarily have to follow the order of starting with the sensors anymore, so I began to penetrate deeper into the monolith with my sense. Various sensors activated, but couldn''t react to me. I was worried for a while, but no collateral attack on the vicinity followed. The inner reserves where huge. Various large backup pools of mana were waiting for requests from other functions and there were even loading stations that enabled recharging from the outside. One drew on the surrounding energy. I would love to get my hands on that construct, but couldn''t see through the inner workings. Another could draw from a donor who touched the monolith and there also was a smaller but steady stream coming in from the distant aura. These energy cores were easy to detect for me, but the plans that had to be inside for reconstruction were a different matter. I destroyed another of the sensors, which had constantly been searching me, so that I had grown used to by now and observed the parts that activated afterwards. After I repeated the action a few times I could make out one of the most complex sections that didn''t use all that much energy. I wasn''t sure but hoped this was the object of my search. If I could somehow take this along with me it would be a great prize. If I could do so without anyone''s knowledge, even better, then I would be able to keep it. Copying it was out of the question, that would take me far too long. Cutting the part of the monolith that served as anchor out would be difficult to do and also to hide, but I could do things remotely, so it might be possible after all. Perhaps I would do so later on, though I might have to look for some self destruct mechanism, even if the plans were the only part that was affected.
Scribe has increased to level 16.
Although I didn''t build up anything on my own, I still began to increasingly comprehend parts about this complex structure. Now for the cutting out.... I could see people moving around. I looked up to see the rising sun. Sadly I would have to put my work aside for a moment and show myself for a moment before getting back on task in a more official setting. I was glad that the fear that had held a grip on me was mostly gone now. The life outside quickly pulled me back into its grip. Pretending I had been asleep and unable to comment on the results of the night. At least my body had profited by this period of rest. Nothing of consequence happened and I went through the motions. Brinnia seemed to be worried about me, and thought I dreaded the upcoming job, when the opposite was actually the case. She was worried about a lot of things and also the one who took the situation the worst. I hoped she would get through this. To Arienne I gave a quick thanks for the ''four'', but kept anything beyond that to myself. She was easily distracted from asking any details. Not that she was that attached to such knowledge anyway. I took seat next to the monolith the moment I could start on it and then let my attention draw away from the activities around me. My understanding had grown quite a bit and now I put it to use. I kept an eye on the construct''s plans the entire time. First I cut off the power storages, except the one connected to the entity in the distance. If it was still unaware I wanted to delay alerting it as long as I could. Then I cut the connection to the plans. There were fail-safes for a lot of eventualities, but the repair function finally seemed to be disabled. The monolith was still working perfectly as far as I could tell, but from now on every action I took would stick. I began to disassemble the outer layer. One after the other the sensors stopped working. There were sensors for other things than my sense as well. One constantly scanned around for what might be explosives. A barrier function was connected to it. Finally I felt it time to get busy with the mechanism itself. The other functions had been attached to the outside and I could understand their function, but the core stood on its own and was by far larger and more complicated. If I started to disconnect parts of it now I couldn''t even guess how it would affect the system in its entirety. From here on out I had to take greater risks again. As long as I took care of the last great power cell the effect should be limited. It was time to talk to the prince again. It was already late again and I hadn''t really kept up with the time. I tried to get up, but the constant sitting had taken a toll on my legs. I couldn''t really move and had to slowly wake them up again. Maybe in full health I could have been sitting like this for an extended period of time, but now it was too much. A quarter of an hour later I could finally stand again and then I hobbled over to Prince Nelantis. Chapter 23 ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° great general." "I actually expected you to say king." "I am not cut out to sit on a throne and listen to the orders of some ancient nobles. There is by far more glory on battlefields like this." He pointed around us. Realizing it wasn''t the ideal situation to praise the battles he added: "There are always casualties, but the higher my abilities, and the greater the victory, the less people on my side will have to die. I know this mission didn''t turn out that well, but this threat is something that has to be dealt with. You also suffered from the events, but I will do what it takes to help you heal completely again." He stretched out his hand towards me as if in an offering of assistance for me to take. I left it hanging in the air. He had gotten uncomfortably close and I was beginning to feel really awkward about it. I felt if I took the hand he would use the opportunity to further close in on me and I shuddered at the thought of his touch. It made me feel vulnerable. I tried to keep up a friendly face while slowly shaking my head. "I really do appreciate the offer, but it won''t be necessary. For me those scars are no permanent condition. It would go against myself if I were to fall into your debt without a real need. Please do not take this refusal the wrong way." "I see... you are a difficult woman to impress Miss Shalyne." "There are few things I desire, but right now one of those is some sleep. If you would excuse me?" "Of course I will not keep you from your well earned recovery. Rest well." Finally I could retreat and be by myself for a while. Although not pressing on in an impolite manner the prince wasn''t letting up. If this kept going on I wasn''t sure if he wouldn''t take a more direct approach. Right now I feared the touch of a man. It had gotten a different meaning and I became by far too aware that I was a woman now. Situations like these made repressing it almost impossible while irritating me in the worst way. Before tonight I had been sure with me disfigured and many people still grieving, the prince wouldn''t have an interest to further pursue this. Tomorrow we would finally leave and then I could hopefully cut any contact. Nelantis should keep himself busy with the noble woman he had arrived with. "You really dislike men." Arienne stated the obvious shortly after I had gotten down on my blankets, almost ready to pretend sleep. She was talking in a hushed voice, as not too far away others were already sleeping and this was no question for the ears of a stranger. She could have chosen a more isolated place if she absolutely had to talk about this. I concentrated my senses on the people in the tent. If anyone wanted to listen in, their focused attention would betray them and alert me. I whispered back: "Why can''t he just leave me alone. Richard immediately took the hint." "He is too young and self absorbed to notice anything. I think he is so set on you already, that you should just stop giving him hints and reject him directly." "How will he take it? I don''t think he is used to refusal." "You will have to see. You can always mention that you are a noble and he should think twice about doing anything stupid. Tell me, are you part of the court? You would fit right in. Well your manners are a bit strange, but I heard they are all pretty unique so I still wouldn''t be too surprised." "I''m not." "Come on, tell me at least a little bit about yourself. The blood hunters are usually the only elves I have some contact to, but most of them are so dull and business like. Do you know how rarely I hear something about home? Some gossip? I don''t know why you are here, but I can help you out if you tell me a little bit. I''m not asking any secrets, just that it would be fun to be involved a bit. Does that work out somehow?" She stopped talking for a moment, probably to consider if this was something that could be resolved. It had become a bit difficult to follow what she had said, but that was not all that unusual with her. Her thoughtful look changed into another kind of thoughtful look, but more serious. Suddenly she began to speak in another language. One I didn''t understand in the least. That was a real issue. Naturally there was nothing I could repeat, nor could I properly react to the words. Arienne''s eyes began to pierce into me, now standing at the ready. "That never was where I was from." Someone close to us stirred, I must have spoken out too loud. Arienne and I both eyed each other silently. Then her gaze turned back to the usual open and friendly look as if nothing had happened. She took a quick look around but nobody was observing us. Silently she began talking again. "Wow, that explains so much. Of course you would keep everything to yourself so much and land here without any language skills at all. I suppose the story in my head doesn''t really make much sense." "But you..." "You aren''t the first traveler from afar that I have met. Your kind is still very rare, but nothing completely impossible. I just never considered that there could be other elves. Or are you just a shapeshifter taking that form?" "No, that is really me." There was a small defeated undertone she didn''t seem to perceive. I added: "Am I going overboard with secrecy?" "Maybe not. No matter where I traveled, strangers are always considered in a different light. It''s pretty light between humans and elves, but different races can be very hostile, even more so the further away you are from. The beastpeople aren''t looked upon well in many parts of the world I have been to, and they are very aggressive as well. I guess if the elven empire didn''t border on their territories directly, it would be a lot worse. I guess I am a bit strange, but I have always gotten along with all different kinds of people. Yes, you should just keep to yourself. Of course you can tell me everything, I will keep it all a secret. How far away are you from?" Her unprejudiced way opened me up a bit, though that only went so far. Still, it would be nice to have another source of information aside from Catherine who I didn''t really see that often anymore. There had been far too many questions coming up lately. "I don''t fully understand the question, but it is from REALLY far away." "The question? I am not that sure myself, I have only traveled through a few countries and that has already kept me busy long enough. Sometimes there are people from neighboring countries, some from countries further away which I barely know by name. And then there is beyond that. Some scholars will know more about maps, but I don''t really want to look those up. Anyway, I can''t really explain it but not all of those places are away in a matter of distance. They are not that far away, but you still can''t get there so easily. At least that''s what I have heard. I have only been around sensible places, where you can enter from any side normally. You said really far away? You suddenly appeared around here. That means you came through one of those strange ways? Can you show me? I really want to see at least one of them." "I admit it was not exactly a physical..." we had to stop talking for a short while when three of the soldiers entered. They weren''t nearly as quiet as we had been and woke up some of the sleepers. After some grumbling the soldiers tried to be more silent. I once again became aware, that this place wasn''t exactly ideal for a secret conversation. We still took up the conversation where I had left off. "I don''t know a lot about how I ended up here, much less about the way back. I want to do some research, but for now I can''t show you anything like this." "This is typical, why is it so difficult to get to strange places? If you plan to go on a trip like that, make sure to tell me." "I will consider it." "Who knows if we are even at the same place at the time. We will just have to see. At least tell me some stories from your home, now that I know about it? Oh no... I just realized, if you aren''t from anywhere around here, you can''t have understood lots of the stories I have told you so far. I have to explain a lot to you." "Good night." There really was a lot we might be able to talk about more freely now, but there were better places than this crowded tent. If I hadn''t been able to observe the auras around me I never would have held such a talk under similar conditions, no matter how quiet the whisper might be. I took some time to consider the events of the evening. My mood had somehow brightened after talking to Arienne and at least for now I was able to put aside the conversation with the prince. After some rest I grew restless and began with a quick self healing session, which was still focused on non superficial parts of my body. Then I set my further plans into action. The monolith''s functions had been reduced a lot and the work I wanted to attempt now had difficulties in different areas. Once I actually looked at the building plan part of the monolith I had to realize that transporting it back to Barlaine would be completely impossible and even cutting it out would prove extremely difficult. When I had looked at the structure in my energy form and let my senses float over and through it, I had lost my perception for proportions. The plans probably filled out an entire cubic meter. Such a large anchor was certainly not necessary for the construct, but it was a stronger and more stable foundation. If a huge structure such as the monolith was already available, it would probably also make sense to use it in its entirety. Next I turned my attention to the power cell I had been eyeing. The same held true here as well, but if I ignored the power cell and just focused on the little instruction of how to collect energy from the surroundings, I would be able to transport it. The complexity wasn''t too great and just studying it tonight might have been enough to comprehend the necessary basics. Perhaps something similar was even in one of Mr. Heart''s books. The reason why I still decided to cut it out was in the characteristics of the used intents. Imagining a fire or water was a simple thing with a bit of practice. But getting the feeling for the various energies on the outside and forming that as a command for specific collection, purifying and storing were very different. Doing this as part of a complete automated construct even more so. I determined borders to reduce it to a closed off unit and then wanted to cut it out. Then I realized the block was somewhere in the middle of the monolith and I would have to cut a path for it as well. To test the difficulty I tried myself at a piece of the black material right on the outside. Breaking it apart telekinetically cost me ridiculous amounts of mana and this was just a little piece. And I wasn''t even finished. I went over to heavily heating up a very tiny border of it. Still very costly, but a bit more efficient I could separate it. The extreme heat caused light to emit, so I refrained from doing it on the outer side. Finally able to control this piece as a separated part I reached the conclusion, that this wasn''t going to work. Then at last I came up with a working solution. I just took the parts of the construct and, using the newly broken off piece of the monolith as anchor, reconstructed it piece by piece in the same order I had taken them away. This method of moving it allowed me to keep the intents the original creator instead of making a quick and inferior copy. I didn''t have to use much space to anchor the construct, and even cut the stone piece a bit further into a somewhat cubic form. Easily avoiding detection I flew the less than fist large piece into my backpack. Sadly using the same tactic with the entire building plans wasn''t possible in the time I had left and I had to settle with this one construct. Chapter 24 The morning didn''t let me wait for too long, and as planned part of the soldiers soon went towards Barlaine with most of the baggage and the wounded. Everything that remained was packed up soon enough and the entire vicinity evacuated. A few stone plates protected a tiny room close by that was just large enough for me to sit in and I could also look out. If I wished I could quickly close that hole. Of course these precautions were completely unnecessary for me, but no one else knew that I could do this from a distance. Once everything and everyone except myself was out of range, I went on to finish my job. There was no longer any particular method I knew to follow and I just started cutting apart every single connection that I came across. A few parts began to overload and released their energy, but the sheer size and material of the monolith were able to absorb the outbursts. After half a day almost nothing but single isolated parts remained inside. It seemed like a huge waste, but I released the energy that they contained one after the other. There was no method to it and the fact that the destruction process so far had only been followed by minor eruptions let me get bolder. Soon I just plunged through part after part without any holding back. Sometimes the released energy would activate close by parts and those lost their form as well. I went at it very quickly now, so the released energy began to reach great amounts. It quickly dissipated into the surroundings, but the monolith itself also absorbed large parts, not as anchor, but as container. Some was lost in a heating process, but most just stuck to the material. The day was getting late when I had finally taken everything apart. The monolith was only loaded with unfocused energy now. Without intent or structure I could move around larger quantities more easily than before. It pained me to give up such a huge battery, but I would be happy once I was done with it. To have some last bit of fun with it I drifted right into the center of the monolith. I reached out with my mind and pulled the freely available energy to me. Just a little amount was enough to charge me up completely. I was overflowing with mana and if my mind let up what exceeded my natural capacity would drift away from me again. I pulled on more, only slowly as to not knock myself out, but the steady increase was still almost overwhelming. My insides were filled out with far greater amounts of power than ever before. This was the feeling. I could weave spells an entire magnitude greater than before right now. I would have been able to wreak havoc on the beasts with this much power and I didn''t even hold all of the available energy here. It would be so great to be able to hold such a capacity at all times. Then how exhilarating would it have to be if you had an aura like Majal or even Parangante? Definitely something to work to if my life was going to be as long as I feared it would be. Sadly I remembered that if my aura was this focused, my actions might also be more visible and I believed that at least Prince Nelantis had the capacity to perceive it, though I couldn''t say how much he would make out. I was still cloaking myself and that would reduce the visibility of what I did, but with such large amounts of energy I couldn''t reach my usual nearly invisible aura. Still charged up I took a look outside and indeed he was inspecting the monolith. It was no real problem if he only perceived the general flow of energy , but I didn''t want him to recognize my humanoid form in the center. It is also weird to take on other forms and I wasn''t in the mood to concentrate on that. As long as the outer layers of my overflowing aura had an approximately round shape I shouldn''t be visible to him. I took one last quick look at him. His own aura was so much weaker than my current one. If only I could just rid myself of him, it would not be difficult right now. Still I didn''t want to kill someone, just because he was a bit annoying. With this kind of aura I would not have to worry about him overpowering me, at least not by himself. I shifted my gaze back to the monolith itself. It was time to finish this. I grabbed large quantities of energy and simply pushed them out. It seemed that while I was supercharged myself, I could also move around greater quantities of energy more easily.
Sorceress has increased to level 14.
Soon the surrounding energies thinned out and without the pressure of saturation, the outer layers of my aura began to escape my grasp. With concentration I could still keep it together, but without the abundant surrounding energy as cover I decided to slowly let it go as the work proceeded. When the energy density had almost become irrelevant, my aura was also back to normal. I didn''t exactly feel weak or drained, but I was disappointed and felt small. Slowly I drifted back into my body and sat around for a while, feeling a sense of loss. Afterwards I got up with the usual troubles and made my way out of the bunker. The entire group of soldiers stood ready behind Prince Nelantis and Captain Ravon. Prince Nelantis: "It is finished?" I nodded. "The energy flow was very impressive, I could watch it leave the monolith." Then he turned around and said: "Take it down." A few of the soldiers were holding axes and went over to the monolith which was now nothing more than a normal building. Then they began to cut it down like a tree. I took a closer look at one of the axes and recognized the intent of sharpness and stability on it. I didn''t actually get to see its final destruction. This last step wasn''t exactly necessary, but it might make a possible rebuilding just a bit more difficult. Soon I was awkwardly sitting on a horse and left with most of the remaining forces. There was a kind of ominous feeling in the air that was mostly caused by our fear of retribution. It was already late evening, but we still planned to make the entire way back to town in one go. It wasn''t a problem for me to stay up this long, and with active energy- and good eyesight even the night didn''t pose any real issue. It was the riding that I had trouble with. After only a short while I was sore, and I had to pay enough attention on staying seated and dodging branches that I had no time to do anything else. Fortunately Arienne and Tarvek were still part of this group and I had some company to pass the time with. Everyone else from the remaining adventurers and town guard had left with the first group. The topics weren''t about any important matters as Arienne and I never got to talk in private. Some time late into the night we caught up with the other group. They had made camp as the entire distance must have been too much for some of them. When we arrived they were already in the process of packing up. I was just enjoying a few moments on the safety of the ground, when Captain Windon approached me. Was I ever going to get a break? ¡°Excuse me Miss Shalyne, do you have a moment? Faria woke up, but she is going crazy. Can you take another look at her?¡± I followed after him to find the tall woman I had treated before lying on the ground crying. She looked up to me and asked while sobbing: ¡°Was it you who treated me? I remember things I had almost forgotten. It hurts just to think about it. Can you stop it again? I can''t bear remembering all of it.¡± I felt a tinge of guilt. My guess was that repairing some parts of her brain might have activated memories she had almost forgotten and were now as fresh as back then. I didn''t know what kind of memories they were, but there was no chance that I still remembered all the parts I had fixed, nor their location. And even then I didn''t know what might have contributed to her waking up, and what to to her current state of mind. ¡°I am sorry, I can take a short look, but you will have to deal with this on your own. My current guess is they are some of your old memories, that are more active than they have been before. I can only do damage to you if I try to do anything about it.¡± She spoke half to herself: ¡°I thought I had gotten over all this, but it is still there, just like it was back then. This is too much, please take it away.¡± Sadly I shook my head. The woman had returned to sobbing and Captain Windon stared into the ground. I decided against searching through her brain again and quietly made myself scarce. In a way I knew I had done the best I could, but it hurt to have it turn out this way. When everything was packed up and we continued on, I was glad that my mind was occupied with riding. The time I had been active now was very long, but because the exertions were of different kinds, I was able to bear it. But after all that happened I did wish for some time on my own. The sun rose up, and we still continued until we finally arrived in Barlaine in the afternoon. We stopped at the same place we had started from. Richard pulled together all the adventurers and told them that the reward would be available at the guild. Nobody seemed too joyful about it. I hadn''t exactly been part of them for this mission, so I wanted to ask someone how I would get my payment. Even after the long trip I wanted to finish this business to avoid further involvement if possible. Prince Nelantis hadn''t been anywhere in sight for a while and since Lieutenant Kite wasn''t around since he was sent off with his message, I chose to approach Captain Ravon. He simply directed me to the town hall. Hopefully there would be no delays in receiving the money. Since it was independent of the subjugation force I decided that it could wait for one more day. For now I just wanted to avoid further involvement in any dangerous missions and get back to a peaceful work schedule and some alone time. There was one final meetup with the few people I knew. Brinnia: "I won''t participate in any more missions from now on. Please don''t look for me, I don''t want to be reminded again." Richard: "Are you sure you won''t change your mind after some time? Without you I wouldn''t even have survived. You made an important difference out there." Brinnia: "I will not change my mind. Look for someone else if you want to keep risking your head." Arienne: "Death is something you have to deal with at times. Life goes on." Brinnia: "That''s easy for you to say! You always just keep blabbering on as if it doesn''t even concern you. All of you elves don''t even care. I am done here." Brinnia stormed off and didn''t even turn around when Richard called after her. When he saw that it was fruitless he turned back to the rest of us. "She took it badly, so please don''t be offended. It really is a lot to deal with. I will try talking to her in a bit, perhaps she will change her mind after all. What do you all intend to do from now on?" Tarvek: "Sooner or later I will look for other places, but as long as I am around I will continue to do missions. Just ask me then." Arienne: "You know I mostly do high level missions. You can invite me if you want to do something like that." Me: "I want to avoid any more danger. I will just go back to my job at the enchanting shop." Richard: "I would really enjoy having you as part of my parties. I failed to thank you for your part in saving me. I am truly in your debt. If you come along as backup, I would feel much better." Me: "I m sorry, I prefer the safety of the town." Richard: "I suppose this is it then, I wish all of you the best. See you around. Oh yes, Shalyne you are hurt badly as well, do you need help getting somewhere?" Arienne: "Look out for yourself, you are also just recovering. I will escort her home." We split up and Arienne lent me a shoulder to support me on the way back. Those last few meters through the city grew almost unbearably long after being active for this long. Arienne''s eyes had trouble staying up once we passed the threshold into my room. We both dropped into a chair and just sat around for a few minutes. I was physically exhausted, while Arienne seemed to have more trouble with sleepiness. Me: "It''s not very large, but if it is too far for you we can somehow squeeze together and share the bed." "Thank you, but I just needed a moment. Staying up this long isn''t that bad yet. And I also don''t swing that way." "I wasn''t...", but she just loudly laughed as she made her way out of the door. I suppose the distance to her own place wasn''t too long. First I just laid down in bed and enjoyed the idling. And this time I was really able to do so a comparatively long time. It would really be nice to doze a bit and let time pass this way. But my mind always remained wide awake. I stared at the empty ceiling in the little light the night provided. I was still in a relaxed mood and wanted to pass the time with idle thoughts and not immediately get back to the more difficult tasks that would await me sooner or later. I thought up my Status.
ShalyneStolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Class: Sorceress Level 14, Warrior Level 9, Hunter Level 1, Priestess Level 10
Profession: Enchanter Level 6, Scribe Level 16, Gardener, Herbalist Level 2
Stats:
Strength: 15 Dexterity: 19 Vitality: 27 Endurance: 25 Intelligence: 121
Health: 203/270 Mana: 1210/1210 Mana Regeneration: 12.10 mana/minute
I had grown quite a bit in my stats. Looking at it there was a complete imbalance towards mana though. I still considered myself within the range of the physical abilities of humans on earth, but was steadily growing in my capacity for spells. Right now that was fine with me. I could utilize that in very different ways and wasn''t depending on much physical work. I had begun to observe a slowing of getting additional levels though. While a wide range of mana classes that increased my intelligence stat were available to me through my senses, the rapid growth I had experienced lately would probably soon come to an end. It was somewhat unfair. I had the suspicion, that other people with similarly strong auras as me had to train a lot longer, because they only achieved that strength with increasing a single or at least fewer classes. Naturally, truly learning a craft offered different advantages as well, but the purely brutal strength of spells could only be increased with lots of levels. I really wanted to reach the point again I had been at while filling up my aura inside the monolith. For that I would either have to expend a lot of time on the classes I was already leveling, find more easy to learn mana classes or look for other methods. Right now it wasn''t urgent in my opinion, because to be able to tackle with entities like Parangante I would need excessively long amounts of time, and most problems on a smaller scale could be solved with some finesse and preparation. What I wanted to continue on doing was learning about inscription and about this world. There were more and more questions popping up about things that were so very different from earth. A few of those I could talk to Arienne about now, but depending on the topic Catherine might be the better option, as she was versed in spells and had a more serious outlook on life than the happy go lucky Arienne who probably let a lot of in depth information pass her by, no matter how old she actually was. There were a few other things I wanted to do, so my next few days wouldn''t get boring. I now felt relaxed enough to get busy again. It was time to bring my body back to peak state, I was sick of all the aches. Over the last few days I had actually done a lot of the necessary foundation, and when I spent the night on further fixing I basically repaired every remaining wound aside from my skin issues.
Priestess has increased to level 11.
I then began to consider going to the town right away. There was no food left inside my room and I had to grab something sooner or later. I decided to put off going to work right away, that could wait one more day. I also could wait a bit longer with eating. The question that bothered me was whether to fix my skin now. With some luck I wouldn''t run into the prince again, so the decision was up to personal preference and convenience. Getting gawked at for being disfigured wasn''t a huge concern to me per se. What annoyed me were looks of pity and time spent asking about my health. I looked around the room, but naturally in such a cheap place there was no mirror. Watching myself from the outside didn''t really give me the kind of information of how I looked. Could I somehow make myself something like a replacement? The window''s glass was too rough for a proper look, and that also didn''t work while it was day. I looked for metal plates, but everything was either stone or wood. I might want to move to a nicer place soon. Magic it is then. I needed a surface or area, that completely reflected light. Unmoving. The windows would do, but I still wanted to be able to look outside. So I went over to the wardrobe and focused on the feel a mirror gave off. How it simply threw light back. I casted the enchant and voila, the door became a rough mirror. The surface wasn''t really plane, so the effect wasn''t the best possible, but it would certainly do. I had deliberately cast the enchant from the side, so I wouldn''t immediately see myself on the surface. I took in a breath and stepped in front. The fact that so far I had deliberately delayed the healing, but always had the option available helped a lot to deal with the sight. It still was gruesome. I had conflicting emotions about the woman in the mirror. I had grown used to who I was a little, but was self-conscious about it all the same. Now my reflection, while I had a nice figure, looked simply awful. Should I even be concerned about it? After all I still couldn''t fully consider this myself. The body continued to feel borrowed. But I wasn''t happy how I now looked either. When I had seen myself in the clothing shop, it had also been pleasing, though I didn''t know how to deal with that. I watched as the reflection moved her hands over her face, opening the hands enough to look through with the eyes. I felt the roughness of the skin. There was no conscious decision, but after watching myself a bit longer I laid back in bed and got busy with my face. Compared to the complexity of organs the scars on the skin were only on a superficial level. I had to move it to the right place and take care of uneven and superfluous parts. I was finished soon enough and returned to my improvised mirror. From the neck down the skin remained ugly, but my face looked back with its old perfection. I was a bit happy there, it might grow on me yet. I turned away again and took care of those parts of my body that were outwardly visible, like the neck and hands. The rest had to wait, but at least I was presentable again. Now that I felt almost completely healthy, aside from some itching on the remaining areas of the skin I had not yet fixed, I felt the urge to clean myself. I conjured up some water, being grateful how much mana I had to spare by now, and cleaned myself from top to bottom. I put on new clothes, but had to make do with the pair of not all that well fitting shoes the shoemaker had originally given me. Then I went into town. It is incomparable to move around freely after a few days of serious pain. I had to hold in some light hopping here and there. My first stop was the city hall. I went up to the receptionist and asked for the money. I had to wait for someone who certainly must have been a bit more important to come over, and then sign a receipt that I had received the money. I wondered how little trouble there had been with my identification aside from that. Either this world was that chaotic, or I stood out enough for it not to matter to the receptionist. I doubted there was any place that could get by without unnecessary amounts of bureaucracy. If there was a hell, it would certainly even top that. The little bit Arienne had told me about the strangeness of the world might explain how it could be difficult for certain structures to emerge fully. I suddenly felt almost rich. I had gotten by on coppers and silvers until now, but now I owned a proud 25 pieces of gold, though fortunately some of it was split up into silver at my request. Equipped this well I treated myself to some proper food in a restaurant. Next up was the shop of the shoemaker, where I had to endure his ranting about my carelessness. At least I didn''t have to take the measurements again, as he still had them around. Then I went to buy food and brought it back to my house. One issue I suddenly had to deal with was where I should put the money. Keeping it in the house didn''t feel safe, but carrying everything around all the time wasn''t the best idea either. Perhaps I should go looking for a bank, but I still didn''t trust in my identification, and if there were ever problems I might just lose the money without any official right to claim it. Perhaps I would just dig a hole somewhere. For now I kept it on me. I decided to pay Catherine a visit to ask her about some questions I had. At first I was a bit tense, and unsure if the strength of the animal population around here had increased, but the wolf packs were laughable as usual. When I arrived, I knocked on the door of Catherine''s hut, but didn''t get an answer. I was hardly surprised, as she had been inside her alchemy shack almost all day while I had lived here. I did however remember, that she had told me she would be out for a while to get some ingredients. That had been a few days ago by now, so I hoped I would be able to meet her. I was lucky and there was some activity inside the shack. I knocked on the door and spoke out: ¡°Hello, it''s me, Shalyne.¡± ¡°I''ll be out in a moment.¡± A quarter later Catherine came out, simply stating: ¡°There was something I had to finish. We haven''t seen each other in a while, what brings you out here?¡± The way she looked irritated me a bit. Healthier or even younger. She must have realized as she added: ¡°The latest batch of potions worked wonders, I intend to keep it for myself. If you want to sell some more blood, I will take you up on the offer.¡± ¡°No thank you, there are just some questions I would like to ask. Arienne found out about some of my background and I could talk to her, but I would prefer some in depth information if possible.¡± ¡°Then lets go over into the house.¡± We went inside and Catherine prepared a tea for both of us. Before I could ask anything, she opened up instead: ¡°The current situation has me worried. Before you start asking your questions, can you tell me what you experienced on your trip to the monolith?¡± She was well enough informed for someone who was staying mostly out of town. I recounted the events, only leaving out the specifics of the decomposing and anything relating to my energy body. Catherine considered what I had said for quite some time before she finally said: ¡°I don''t know the situation in your home world, but here it is nothing unusual for dangerous situations to arise. Perhaps a necromancer starts to summon an army of dead before he is put down, or just like now the animals are going wild. Any single powerful being can create a lot of chaos just on his own. After hearing what you just said I have made up my mind. For the time being I will leave Barlaine. I have decided to go to the Culian Empire in the west. It is possible the Varieste Kingdom will handle the situation, but there are other events that led me to my decision. I don''t know if everything is related, I have never been one who is interested in the plays of the world. But if you reach a certain age you see things repeat themselves. And Barlaine, or perhaps even the entire Kingdom might soon enter a period of chaos. I advise you to leave as well, if you want you can join me.¡± I began to consider her words. Of course I didn''t have Catherine''s experience or common sense. Until now I had trusted in the elite reserves of the kingdom to be able to handle the situation. But if other events were causing trouble as well, then the illusion of safety might be a fickle one. Still, I wanted to stay at the enchanter''s shop for as long as possible. Earning large amounts of coin and learning more of the craft were too tempting to me to resist. ¡°Thank you for your offer. I am not tied down here long term, but I think I want to stay a bit longer. If the situation escalates I am sure I can still get somewhere safe.¡± ¡°Then I wish you the best. It''s possible nothing serious might happen, but I didn''t reach my age by taking unnecessary risks. If you want to, you can ask away now.¡± ¡°The first question is simple actually. What town is Elenigal?¡± ¡°It''s no town, it is the capital city of the elves. It is somewhere far to the east of here. That''s not how you get there though. The forest we border on is not inhabited and stretches on for far too long. The quickest way is to cross the gray lands to the southeast, but you need to prepare a lot of rations for that. There you will arrive in the lands of the beast people. From there you can get to the elven empire to the northeast. Elenigal itself is build next to the world tree. It''s as high as a mountain, so you will know the location of the capital from far away. Arienne could have answered that question, if there is anything she knows, it''s fighting and geography.¡± ¡°I know, I just thought of it now and wanted to check it off. What I am really interested in is where I can find good information about plane traveling.¡± ¡°You know much more about the topic than me and I haven''t given it much thought either. Let me think for a bit.¡± She began to consider and then listed a few possibilities. ¡°There won''t be any normal people with knowledge about it, the only chance you have is a pure chance meeting. I never looked for it, but I doubt there are any openly available books either. If you really want to increase your chances you will have to look for very rare collections or incredibly powerful people. That means either some nobles or even royalty. Then there are ... distinct personalities out there, but you would have to look for the right ones, because I doubt many will be knowledgeable. I''m afraid that is already all the advise I can give you.¡± That was basically all information I could have guessed myself, but I still gave her my thanks. Then I went over to the last question, the one I had more expectations to hear about from her. ¡°We haven''t talked about it before, but there is something I need as much information about as possible. What can you tell me about light, dark and attunement?¡± ¡°I must admit that is a topic I would like to talk about myself. Will you tell me your knowledge in return?¡± By now I wasn''t as reluctant to share some of my information anymore, although I still wanted to keep my dual affinity a complete secret. Whatever it was that I feared, I wanted to stay in the shadows as much as possible when it came to this. It had been abnormal in the game, and so far I got the impression the same was true for this world. The few things I had heard overlapped with the lore of Ascension far too well, and then there was the fact that I had been to a wasteland of both elements, and a land of pure dark. There was a far greater reality, that encompassed more than just one world. Until I learned about it, I would not share my situation. What else I knew though, I was willing to share, with Catherine at least. It was possible to avoid sharing if I looked for another source of information, but asking certain questions would be difficult then. ¡°Yes, I will share what I know.¡± ¡°Very well. In a way you are lucky you arrived at the current time. There was a war between light and dark on our world long ago, but I can''t tell you when it actually was. In the end the gods intervened and set a decree, that this conflict was forbidden. Nowadays any conflicts are at most at a personal level. Some small groups of either side try to stir things up, but before it gets too big the local authorities usually suppress it before any higher being has to intervene. Most of the attuned do not even care about the conflict and just walk it as a personal path. I am attuned to the dark, but have absolutely no interest in competing with the light. Otherwise we could hardly have our current relationship. You should still be careful whenever you meet someone else though, they might not share my sentiment. I will tell you some general information about attunement now. You might already know all this, but I would still like to compare with you. You can increase the affinity to your chosen attunement by performing actions that fit with the element. Before you are attuned, you have to stick with those actions, or differing ones will decrease the affinity and push you towards the other side. It is impossible to have both at once. When you pass a certain threshold, you can go to one of the temples to finalize it. From then on the element is bound to you and you can''t change it again. Any further action will only increase the attunement, never decrease it. The actions you can take for that are very far fetched and difficult to define in my opinion. There are theories that sometimes the same action, done with different intention can lead to the increase of a different element, so I don''t believe light and dark are defined very tightly. This is the only way I know to reach your attunement, but once you have it, there is a method that is far superior. You begin to use the element you have gained directly and it will grow that way. It is still a very slow process, but the spells you use grow in power. Even if you do not increase the quantity of your mana, the potency of these spells will still increase a bit. The ways you can use the powers vary, but the most common ones are healing for light and perception for dark. I suppose those are just the ways people like to make use of the attributes of the elements the most. You could also use light for charisma or dark for hiding. The options are plenty.¡± We both leaned back and drank our tea. The information had so many parallels with the game Ascension, that I had begun to consider it to be more than just a game. To be honest I had done so since the moment I had left earth, but now the lore itself began to increase in importance as well. I began to pour my thoughts into my own explanation: ¡°Where I came from, there was no conflict between light and dark. If there was, it was on a purely individual level. Supremacists who fought the other side¡± I had to stop, but didn''t come up with another reason ¡°for fun.¡± Catherine looked at me strangely. ¡°I can''t really comprehend why anyone in our world would fight for light or dark, but at least there are motivations like power and profit behind it.¡± ¡°There might have been the one or other gain to it, but there were no actual sides to take. Well I suppose those who made these choices were a strange bunch anyway. We had a more rewarding method to progress in one of the elements. There were a few defined actions that you could be sure of would increase your attunement. To increase light, you would go on straightforward quests, and be just.¡± ¡°That is no different in our world. But you can''t just spend your entire time fulfilling such tasks. Most people have to do simple work. How many attuned does your world have?¡± It was time to put everything into proportion. A game world does work a little different after all, and if I kept throwing out strange ingame realities, I might have to explain how there was yet another place behind that world I came from. It wasn''t that I wanted to keep earth a secret, I wasn''t very fond of her at this time, but there was an even greater cut off between my current self and my body on earth than to my game avatar. I would have to explain so much more if I wanted to explain earth and I didn''t consider that worth the time. Aside from that I didn''t want to talk about my sex change. The number of attuned in Ascension was very high compared to this world, but I would make it sound a bit less. ¡°I was only talking about the attuned people. Attunement was more important on my world than here and there were also a lot of temples. But the normal working population didn''t reach that point anymore than here.¡± Only that the working population back there was really small. Next to anyone would mostly do quests. At least enough to be able to attune. ¡°Attunement to dark was a lot more individual. If you strayed from the path the masses took, you could increase your affinity. Then there were also thieves or assassins, those who thrive in the dark in other ways than just by using the element.¡± ¡°That''s actually the same as here. I had hoped there was something new I could learn.¡± I actually felt a bit bad, that my information so far had been useless to her, while for me clarifying the situation on this world was of vital importance. That was the reason I decided to add a bit more specific information. ¡°The perception for the same element increases the higher your attunement gets. While everyone with aura perception could see the attunement of other people, there were certain things that only became visible with higher affinity.¡± In contrast to before, this information seemed to have sparked Catherine''s real interest. She asked: ¡°What kind of things did you see?¡± ¡°There were sparks of light at certain places, like at the temples. It was possible to receive information regarding to the element there. I am not sure about the dark, but it must have been the same.¡± I realized that what I just said might be relevant for me now too. There had been many such places inside the game, and in the gray lands motes of light and dark had been everywhere, but I hadn''t yet encountered anything like it in this place. The only times I encountered either light or dark so far had been when I saw other attuned people. Catherine had that touch of dark in her aura. Prince Nelantis only had the beginnings of a light aura and wasn''t there yet. I tried to think of other situations. I wasn''t sure if there had been people in Barlaine, but I had at most seen them passing by. Lord Quay actually had an aura of dark, even denser than Catherine''s. And then there was the strange light I sometimes saw around Arienne, but it was not part of her own aura. She never told me more about her strange ''luck'', so I had to observe any further events. Catherine spoke out: ¡°I haven''t been to the temple in a very long time. I wonder if I could perceive something different now. My attunement has gotten much stronger since then. I should make a stop there when I reach the empire.¡± ¡°So you are really leaving?¡± ¡°Even if I didn''t want to avoid what might come, I have been here long enough anyway. You can only learn so much about alchemy and plants in the same place. I have been in the empire before, but it is large and there are many different places to settle down for a few years.¡± ¡°Do you already know where exactly you are going? If the situation here really escalates I might want to catch up to you.¡± ¡°I am sorry, all this is a bit sudden and I will have to make up my mind on the way. We might see each other again someday. I try to avoid danger, and you can probably withstand at least some kinds of death. That reminds me, I should probably visit my daughter before too long...¡± Chapter 25 After I left I wondered if we would meet again some time in the future. Although it seemed I was immortal, I hardly had the experience to back it up and there were certain things a mortal usually wouldn''t have to learn how to deal with. Having your own children die on you? Children? No! There were things about attunement I had not told Catherine, or which had only come up in our discussion and which I was now starting to consider. There was one more method of increasing affinity or maybe strength of the inner dark and light that I was aware of. Directly absorbing them. I had done that quite a lot in the gray lands and it had somehow increased my strength enough to continue on. Now that I had the capacity to suppress it, I could also consider increasing those two elements. Going overboard would be a horrible idea, and the amount of aura I would need to suppress amounts like what the angel was holding inside back then were nothing I could gain by leveling up. I wondered if I had actually increased some of the light or dark inside of me without noticing. By increasing my overall mana regeneration and in addition to that the efficiency of the suppression, I was no longer tracking the actual consumption as closely as before. To know about this was very important, so I immediately set out to test it. The light and dark inside of me, which were usually completely separated into two groups were released and began their chaotic swirling. I didn''t let them cause any damage to my body by suppressing them in the same way I had done originally, by simple pressing down crudely. My mana pool was filled up and I didn''t want to spend much time casting spells to expend it. I simply concentrated on some of my aura, pushed it out and released it. If I had an empty crystal I could have filled it up. It was a real waste this way, but I had enough to spare. I pulled up my status screen and closely observed my mana rising up again. Without a precise clock with me I was unable to see much of a difference, if any, between the theoretical 12.3 mana per minute and the approximately 7.3 mpm I was currently regenerating after my suppression was counted in. Either the light and dark spell usage so far didn''t have an influence, or it was too weak in its effect. Those motes of light and dark certainly contained far more of the essence than I could gain otherwise. Perhaps that was for the best, as I didn''t want to steadily increase the conflict unintentionally. I pushed my dark back into my inner parts and let the light fill out the outer area, but still kept it from leaking out, thus keeping my aura from being visible. When I was done I was paying more attention to my surroundings instead of my insides again, when a crow flew right past me and landed a few meters in front of me on a low hanging branch. Had it been observing me all this time? I hadn''t paid much attention to what was going on around me, as I trusted myself to detect anything with a considerable aura without even trying. I had stopped walking the moment the crow hand flown past me and was now intensely staring at it. There was nothing spectacular about its aura at all. It was a simple animal with a weak and simple aura. Then why was I so nervous. Even a normal crow might be looking at me directly like this. They were intelligent birds after all and might even do something strange at times. I could have tried to really pierce inside of its aura with my sense and take a thorough look, but in case I was wrong that would be very disrespectful and could cause me serious trouble. Instead I tested out: ¡°Master Crow, is that you?¡± The crow just continued looking at me, but didn''t react any further. I slowly walked past the tree, never losing eye contact. Only when I was past the crow by about twenty meters did I turn around and continue walking forward, though my steps were a bit unsteady. Then I heard the flapping of wings and the crow landed on my right shoulder before I could completely turn around. It cawed once and then just sat there, without hurting my shoulder. I simply stood still and didn''t dare to move at all. ¡°Could you please get off my shoulder again?¡± I didn''t even get an answer. The crow remained where it was, untouched by the world. Even after I waited a bit it wouldn''t get off, so I started walking again, slowly and shuddering. This situation scared me far more than the blunt and direct way the gods used to act towards me. Because I was not sure of the situation. Had it seen my strange play with light and dark? Had it even listened in to the discussion I had had with Catherine? Or was it just a simple crow, just like its aura spoke out and had taken place on my shoulder for some ridiculous reason? I didn''t throw it off, and walked an entire hour through the woods without disturbing it. ¡°Hahaha, this is hilarious, but I guess I should stop picking on you. To get things out of the way, I was able to see your dual attunement right away when we met, so don''t try to talk around it. You can hide your aura well, and even most of the gods won''t be able to see the inner layer, especially not when you are hiding it like now. Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone or cause you trouble because of it. But this is really fascinating and I can''t pass up this chance to properly make your acquaintance.¡± The laughter could have almost scared me to death, and after listening I was really beat down. After all the effort I went through my deepest secret had been detected. Perhaps the crow was lying and had only just now found out, but that didn''t really matter in the end. I sat down on the next best tree stump I found. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°There is no need to be so depressed. This is a happy encounter for both of us. An opportunity to learn! You saw my aura, and you still couldn''t detect me. And your abilities are already remarkable but I was still able to see through you. If you accept me as your master, I can teach you those things, and so much more!¡± ¡°You mean what you showed Majal? More meditation and focus training?¡± ¡°That was child''s play. No, I will teach you real secret methods, that will actually increase your capabilities and not just some basic training.¡± He had caught me in a situation where I didn''t have much to lose in terms of secrets anymore. I was strangely unconcerned about almost anything, now that the shock was wearing off. Strangely, I was still reluctant to part with anything regarding the gray lands or the rituals I had performed to achieve my in game dual attunement and my current overall dilemma. ¡°I must admit that the offer is tempting, but you surely have your own interests? And I am not willing to share any of the secrets of my attunement.¡± ¡°That is a pity, but I won''t force you to reveal them. For now I would be happy if you take up my offer of companionship and if you are willing there is the one or other task in the future we could both profit from.¡± This was an offer I could not refuse. ¡°Alright, I accept.¡± ¡°Marvelous! Now, to seal our deal I would like to bestow something on you. It is a sort of membership to my cult of the eye. It is an ability to emit a very faint type of energy, and to be able to perceive it as well. That way you can recognize others, if you haven''t met already. Do you agree?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± It wasn''t a new experience to me when something settled in my brain, though the process was much more gentle. Immediately afterwards I was able to sense an affinity to the crow, though I couldn''t say why. ¡°You are now an probationary member of the cult of the eye. My lore will enable you to sense other outer members. Proven members will also be able to see you, though that is one sided for now. You can however turn off the characteristic energy you are now emitting any time. We are a close group and there are many advantages to be recognizable to each other. I would request that you treat the others with respect and courtesy. If you meet any of them, it is at their own discretion if they want to reveal themselves. I will not formally introduce you to them until we have established a certain amount of trust. You may not speak of this cult to anyone, not man nor god nor anything else.¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± There wasn''t really much information I could use on the group anyway. I had learned the name, which might not even be known to anyone outside the cult. I was able to see other probationary members, but the chance to meet one by chance was probably pretty low. ¡°Are you now interested in becoming my pupil? I simply nodded, not of any mind anymore what else to think. The abilities he had demonstrated were extraordinary. ¡°Then we already come to the first lesson and one little task I have for you.¡± And finally we reached the crucial point. ¡°I can already detect the lore to understand organics. Parangante''s handwriting I see. That will make the first step far easier.¡± How much was this bird able to see? Was it really looking into me like that or just constantly manipulating me with information it had found out elsewhere? Had Parangante herself told him about it. I put my utmost focus on closing myself off from the outside, building a wall that didn''t let out any aura as far as I was aware. ¡°I''m sorry, I don''t want to pry, but this is clearly visible to me without even trying and I don''t even consider it anymore. Even if you close yourself off like this, I can still look through you. And in case you suspect me of getting my information elsewhere, I will prove my abilities to you right now.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The crow looked at me for a moment and then stated: ¡°You have been unraveling the lore Parangante gave you.¡± My shoulders sacked and I let go of my aura, letting it fall into the state I was holding it in automatically. There really was no secret before this crow and anything he had said were things he could find out by himself. I gave up resisting at this point. ¡°First, I want you to scan your own nervous system, especially the brain and optimize it as far as you can. There will be a lot of pent up memories and emotions you have to deal with, but that can''t be helped. Suppressing them won''t help you by the way, you will just awaken them again the moment you repeat the process.¡± I instantly remembered the woman whose head I had worked on. She was hysterical, and now I was supposed to do this to myself. My childhood hadn''t been bad, but sometimes it''s just more comfortable to slowly forget things, even if it is just a bit embarrassing. Then there were the horrible events I had only barely gotten through without going utterly mad. No matter what power I could gain, this was a very bad idea. The crow didn''t seem to consider that however. ¡°It won''t be easy, but once you are finished the second part will become easier. Your energy pathways and soul are overlapping with your physical body. Bringing your brain to perfection will automatically have an influence on the energy paths that flow along it, and increase your perceptive ability. With that you should be able to improve on those pathways even further. They don''t have to be identical to your physical body, but for now just use your body as a base and build them up accordingly. From what I can see, everything inside you has an excellent form, and you won''t have to change any part completely for now. These are things you can experiment on if you want, but that is not the priority right now. Once you have improved everything, you will be able to see so many aspects of your aura you aren''t hiding properly right now and can manipulate them in far greater detail. With enough practice not even I will be able to look into you then.¡± I never would have thought that the lesson the crow had promised would be so scary. If it was this bad, what was the task he wanted me to do in return? ¡°There was something you wanted me to do?¡± ¡°It''s just a minor thing really. The next time you visit Majal, show her something to make her curious. Transform into something she has never seen before when the situation is right. Tell her an interesting story about it. Grow that spark of fascination for the unknown inside of her. That''s all really. It might take a few days until you are called again, I am keeping her busy right now, but I won''t stay forever.¡± That was not even any extra effort for me. I had to attend to Majal whenever I was called anyway, if this little duty was all that was required of me, I would do it. The real dread laid in the teachings I had received. ¡°Now don''t waste what I have taught you. It will take you a lot of time, for doing it, and then for dealing with what you release. But when you finally push through it will be worth it. Take care, my new pupil.¡± ¡°Stay safe - Master Crow¡± I added the last part after the crow had stared at me in an expecting manner. Apparently satisfied he took off. I really had to stop for a moment and think about options and choices. What was binding me currently and did I have to stick to it? What did I seek? From time to time it was good to consider why I was actually doing the things I did, and adapt. It felt necessary because of all the things unfolding around me that left me disoriented. What I wanted to do right now was to learn inscription, I really did, because it interested me. That was basically what held me here in Barlaine, even if the situation might escalate soon. The moment I couldn''t advance there any more I might just as well leave for greener pastures, though it would be a bit sad to sever the connections I had begun to build around here. What I needed to do was find information about light and dark, because it affected me deeply, and could have severe consequences for me. For that I needed rare sources of knowledge, and the crow seemed to be just that. He also appeared to be approachable, which was another point urging me to follow him. Even if I was able to make out an excellent library or got to know about some knowledgeable person, I might still be stuck in front of closed doors. Another goal, if a bit minor, was comfort. I wanted to earn a good amount of money to purchase things which were no immediate needs, and I should also start to make use of my abilities for means that were less combat related, now that I could defend myself against many of the dangers that were in my range of power. I should work towards this, if I got the spare time. It would be nice to learn about plane traveling and gain some understanding of how I ended up in this place, but the world to explore was large, and there were no other places I really had to go back to. I would look out for it on the side. The last thing that came to my mind right now was power. Sooner or later I wanted to be free from any outside influence I didn''t approve. It had also felt very nice to wield huge amounts of mana. This was the most distant goal right now, as simple leveling had very real limits. I still liked this world more than earth, because at least there seemed to be these possibilities. To breach past the limits of the system however, I would need to find alternative ways, and that came down to information again. I had to look out for the most special applications of magic. Learning to cast more efficient fireballs was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. So there was yet another reason to stick to the crow. Not only did he probably have knowledge, he even shared one such path with me. I sighed. In a way I had already known that for great power, I might also face more difficult challenges than most other people would. My reflection didn''t really yield the conclusion I had hoped for. Everything only reinforced the decision to continue on the path I was already walking. Of course I could still delay for a little bit, before I got really serious about it... Right now I had the upcoming night to pass. I had been around all day, so I didn''t mind spending a bit of effort on things that were not too radical. Before I got to those though, I first wanted to finish something that had taken me far too long already. For that I headed back to my room and did the finishing touches on my self healing. It felt really great when the itching finally stopped altogether. Then I pulled out the little piece of the monolith I had taken along with me. I had already analyzed it before, so it wasn''t difficult to understand the finer mechanics with a bit of effort. One part drew on the surrounding energy. It didn''t actually leech from other things, but only condensed what energy there was available in the area. I had never considered leeching energy off something before. I could pull it out of crystals easily, so what stopped me from doing the same with other things? The difficulty was mainly in getting enough energy to make it worth the while. Things or beings without considerable amounts of aura didn''t have much energy to spare, and I didn''t really sense the dispersed energy all around me that well. When I had released everything that had been contained in the monolith, there had been a difference in the concentration of unshaped energy. Normally it wasn''t something I became aware of. Perhaps it was because I had never focused on it before. I looked at the table and tried to get a grip on the energy inside of it. Then I pulled and soon held a minor amount of tably energy. There was a sort of depression in the density around the table, but that filled itself up again on its own. I released the mana I had taken. Using this method to quickly replenish my reserves was out of the question, it would only be useful as part of a construct for self recharging. I might be able to build a crystal recharger, but I could just as well fill them up myself in a second. It might be useful to recharge items with a great capacity, which I could just leave there for a few days, but I didn''t have anything like it at the moment. Then I realized, that the most valuable material I possessed, aside from a little gold, was the piece of the monolith itself. I moved the energy condenser construct over to one of the crystals and then I poured mana into the black sphere, which was now empty. And I continued to push more into it until I ran dry and it still wasn''t filled up. My eyes might have gleamed lightly. Someone had expended great amounts of wealth on this project. It was a pity I had only taken this little piece along with me. Could it be that this was the actual reason some soldiers had stayed behind to destroy the monolith, and not to stop it from being used again. I had been a fool to take nothing but this piece with me. There was no way the soldiers had been able to take more than a little bit of the material away. So either everything was still lying around, or the owner had come to reclaim it by now. I wasted no more time and dashed out into the direction of the monolith in my energy form. First I had to take a look at the situation, I could still come up with a plan on how to transport the material afterwards. My body right now was very faint, so I wouldn''t be able to do more than scout out the situation. When I was up in the air, my priorities changed immediately. I focused on blocking out any release of my aura, which was a bit easier under the current circumstances. The entity that had kept itself in the far distance had gotten far closer. It was somewhere in between the closest, now two, monoliths. It might be risky, but I had gotten close to it before and by now was sure that it was far from the most perceptive being I had come across so far. As long as I stayed out of the immediate range and didn''t focus on it directly too much, I doubted it would be able to detect me. I sped up and took in the situation. Beasts had begun to horde around again, and the number this time far exceeded what we had fought at the monolith before. There was no other conclusion to me than an imminent attack on the town. Catherine didn''t have a bad sense of premonition. If I didn''t want to leave immediately, I had to issue a warning at once. This time the threat was great enough that I wouldn''t allow myself to sit still even if it didn''t concern me personally. I felt responsible for at least warning the authorities about this. I returned to my body and wrote five notes, all of them stating: ''Many, many beasts are hording, and their master is with them.'' I chose to write more than one to make sure they wouldn''t be overlooked. I knew that my last message had been noticed, so the path of delivering it was acceptable to me this time as well. Fortunately paper weighs very little, and by now I had regenerated enough mana to hold it easily. I flew them the entire way from my place to the town hall and slipped them under the door. There I laid out two of the papers on the receptionists desk, and three on the floor right behind the entrance. Tomorrow was only Thursday, so I was sure someone would come across the papers in the morning. Now that I considered my duty done, I had to make my own plans to deal with the situation. I had no interest to get involved in the fighting, but when an attack was of such a large scale, it might still affect me, so preparation was very important. The bigger my mana reserves were, the better. I would use every bit of excess mana and store it in the black sphere. I didn''t yet know how much I could store inside, so I still had my interest in getting more of it. I headed over into the deep forest again, this time to inspect the former campsite. What I found there was surprising. First, there were only large chunks of the material. The entire monolith had really been broken up into pieces. Then there was a group of humans around who were gathering them up and loading them on horses. It couldn''t have taken them this long to destroy the monolith, so I estimated they were already back for a second haul, although they would have had to be fast to do so. They were in grave danger and any moment they stayed longer might be decisive. They had to at least be aware of the danger they were in, and I doubted they were on this task on their own volition. A look at their auras revealed a vigilant and hectic mood. I observed them from the air and tried think of a way to frighten them away and also how to get my own loads of the material. An idea came to my mind, but I would have to test out if it was workable. If it was, I might be able to use it for a variety of purposes in the future. I looked around and was soon able to find another wolf scout the soldiers hadn''t detected so far. It was by no means one of the stronger specimen and wouldn''t be difficult to kill with a simple searing light. My intention was to leave the body as intact as possible however, and so I tried to target its core instead. My mind penetrated into the wolf and my aura was even strong enough to withstand the resistance the wolf instinctively put up. I almost felt bad for acting this way, as I was used to being this helpless myself. If I wanted I would even be able to overpower the direct control of the body, but that also meant that someone else might be able to do so to me. I searched for the core and extinguished the life. My mind was set on the plan and I would need the wolfs body for it. I floated out again and then tried to mimic the body as well as I could in my energy form. I tried running a few rounds on all fours, just like I had hopped around in the ridiculous form of a rabbit before to entertain Majal. It didn''t feel natural, but in some way I adapted at least somewhat. Then I stepped into the wolf. There was a certain danger I was very aware of. If I was actually able to possess the body, I might adapt it as my real one and leave my own behind as an empty shell on the bed. I was reasonably sure that as I was this self aware in my energy form, I wouldn''t lose my mental capacity in the process. So if I felt that the connection I built was stronger than a simple possession, I would immediately cancel any further plans and go on to repossess my elven body. It might not be my first choice, but was still by far preferable to that of an animal. In the end the opposite was the case. Although I was able to somewhat possess the body, moving it proved to be very difficult. The connection between my being and the body was tenuous, and my control was lacking at best. The best I could manage was to keep up the body and slowly move around without directly falling over. I had to let go of the head and just carried it along while it hung down as lifeless as it was. The torso was mainly stabilized by the four legs into which most of my concentration flowed. What made this type of movement different from just directly controlling things with energy, was that this way I used the body''s own strength to move, which was far more difficult to control, but also had far greater capacity for physical movement. I thought how it would be if I had the power to move physical objects around by thought as much as I wished. There was a certain danger I might get to lazy to even move normally, but actually using energy instead of just thinking was a strenuous act as well, so that might balance itself out. I headed over to the rubble heap. My first goal was to scare the soldiers. I let the wolf drop on the ground and completely focused on the vocal cords. I wanted to give out a howl, but nothing happened. I needed air pressure as well. Adding the lungs, and the mouth I tried to make noises, but that was all I succeeded in. It was at most pitiful wheezing, but no use to me. A more direct approach was in order. I regretted all the energy I would have to spend on my next plan, as moving the wolf around wasn''t free of cost to me even in the way I did it and my reserves weren''t that large right now. I still put what I could into a blast of wind and then stepped out into the field of vision of the soldiers. Before I could hide my puppet again it had an arrow shot through the head. Those assholes should just run away, and not damage my wolf. I just let it drop down and waited while they frantically packed up and left just one minute later. Now I was out of energy and the wolf would decompose quicker as well. My original plan had been to eat a few pieces of the monolith and carry it back to town. It was a long way and I wouldn''t be able to do it in one go, but there was no way I was going out here on my own and risk my well being, so I either had to come up with a better idea or put in the time that was necessary to do it in this way. Probably with more than one different bodies. At least I had given the soldiers a good chance and was content with myself as I returned to Barlaine. The hordes of beasts I had seen from the distance were like a word of warning to me. I had seen a few actual battles by now and knew how serious things could get. Even while I had stood on the sidelines I had become involved and my participation might even have been a necessity both times. I couldn''t slack too much. The last few days I had a good excuse, but it was time I went back to training myself physically. I might never reach the highest peaks of battle prowess, but as the saying goes, mens sana in corpore sano, and I needed to warm up again. I got my lazy bum off the bed and left the house for the woods, where I trained hard until the sun began to rise. After that I cleaned myself with some conjured water and headed into the city to work after several days of absence.