《The Cosplay Illuminati Abduction》 Prologue Yngmir sighed. His left wing was broken, his scales chipped, his reign was crushed, and his kin faced extinction; The World Eater wouldn''t let them go. His brutal ascent was still inconceivable. Oh, why didn''t Yngmir see the signs? If he had just spotted humanity for what it was, but alas, it was long since too late. It was all over; the last stand was imminent. On this southern pole of ice and frost, the last hope lied hidden. A hope too far fetched to soothe the bitterness of death, but alas, its unlikeliness was its only strength. Yngmir had mutilated their offspring to a point beyond recovery, some even beyond that, all for the sake of discretion. The legacy had to be protected. It had to escape.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Soon, the wicked one would seal this place, channeling all its magic to his minion worlds. The prophecy of doom would envelop everything, shattering all fates but one. - The Rune formation. The wicked one would never find it, for it was shaped within this frozen continent itself. The World Eater would never expect this final defiance, not thousands of years later, not from an enemy extinct. The slightest connection to the astral world was all there was needed. Just a strand of mana and the formation would fire. But what good was that when there was no one to disrupt the seal? Even if the formation activated, the legacy was doomed. How could it survive without a body? The future was dark. With a shared nod, Yngmir and his brethren left their hope behind them, heading for the opposite pole. It was time to die. Poke-Meditation Technique: 1 Bersko smacked his lips, jerking the bridles. The horses didn¡¯t react, but at least he did everything he could to get home sooner. The mission had been a disaster. - Screw the northeastern Citadels; Azure Tigers weren''t supposed to get this far past the border. Bersko''s force of ten had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Brian, his future uncertain, lied unmoving in the wagon. The two next to him weren¡¯t much better off, albeit able to whine about it. Bersko cursed, once more jerking the bridles. Azure Tigers were dreadful to hunt. No amount of lifember dropped was worth the damage they could cause. Why did one have to show up at the outskirt of the Becknettles area, preying on the tazpayers? Dealing with rune touched monsters was not part of Bersko''s job description! ¡°Halt! Elfling, where''s your owner!¡± a man at his side shouted. Sitting in the grass was a naked elfling. It''s body wsa distrurbingly human-like, yet its hair betrayed it. ¡°Damn, my head is exploding! Elfling, what? Does anyone have an aspirin?¡± the elfen man whined, in no way recognizing that he was surrounded by humans. ¡°Half-elf, your papers, now!¡± For a spawn of the enemy, walking without master nor chain was an insult to humanity itself. In too few cases punishable by hanging. Bersko had a friend whose aunt had been abducted, not found until too late. The necromancers of the deep woods had defiled her with their seed, sealing her smile forever. ¡°Perfect, just what we need. Another thing slowing us down, ¡± one of the men complained. "Bersko, is there any more place in the wagon o¡¯ yours? Dragging that thing by the horse would be a pain in the arse.¡± Elbard said, the bearded princess had just polished his saddle, refusing to tie a rope to it. Folly. Having an elfling next to the injured? Idiocy! The thing would be set waking, properly chained. ¡°Why am I naked dammit! Could you chill out on the cosplaying? I¡¯ve got the worst hangover ever! The fuck happened yesterday? ¡°It doesn¡¯t spill the beans, huh?. You guys honestly think it''s worth bringing? Its owner is probably too poor to set a bounty on it anyways. We could as well cut his throat. This thing being an escapee? Pfft, I say it got abandoned. Just look how weak it is!¡± ¡°What, wait, what are you doing!?¡± The elfling cried as his hands got tied to his back. . . . The elfling turned out to be exceptionally bothersome. Dragged behind Elbards horse, it whined like a girl, going as far as claiming to be human. Pfft, the weak thing couldn¡¯t even keep up at wagon¡¯s pace. Its lies were pathetic. What parent would raise such a weakling? It could barely survive its transportation; as it was dragged behind Elbard''s horse, its chest had alreadty least one layer of skin. ¡°Guys, I can¡¯t travel like this. I¡¯d say we kill him, here and now. Gosh, it''s is annoying!¡± ¡°No, please, I promise, no police will hear of this, just let me go and you''ll never see me again.¡± the half-elf begged. ¡°Shut up!¡± ¡°You know what I hate the most about this thing? It even has human ears. Disgusting. Another generation and we¡¯ll have fucking brown haired elves running around. I¡¯d say we kill him right here!¡± ¡°Stay your hand, if there¡¯s a bounty on it...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about you nor your whore expenses.¡± ¡°Well. I, don¡¯t care about your shiny saddle, princess.¡± ¡°We¡¯re taking him with us! That¡¯s what the law requires from us, and that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do.¡± Bersko silenced them. The leader had spoken. *** Sebastian cringned his teeth, feeling the new tooth gaps witht his tongue. He''d normally be careful with this teeth, three years of frequent dentist visits left him obsessive careful of his teeth, but all the pain spent adjusting his braces was now for naught; his perfect smile was ruined forever. Sebastian was treated worse than a cattle on its death row. Protesting led to nothing but a one sided assault. Seb missed his two upper front teeth, but not as much as he hated his captors. "Fucking cosplayers," he muttered quietly, careful not to be heard. The last days had been unbearable. After collapsing from fatique, he had been dragged behind a horse until his naked skin began melting away. Seb had tried to switch positions, not letting the ground grind at the same spot. The result - a body completely peeled of skin. The captors emptying the wagon of whomever was in it had been a blessing; sitting in it was incomparable to being dragged,but far from pain free. No matter how he adjusted his position, he would still have patches of healing skin rubbing against the wagon frame. "Fucking cosplayers," he whispered again. Actually, "cosplayer" wasn''t a descriptive word for the maniacs surrounding him, nor was LARPers or anything else remotely geeky sounding. They were brutal grunts with a ridiculous sense of fashion. Seb himself though wasn''t given any fancy medieval clothes. He was dressed in an itchy linen sack, barely hiding hi sprivates. His wounds kept sticking to the fabric. Next to him lied a smelly tiger pelt, dyed blue in color. Small chunks of browned flesh were sloppily left on it, surrounding it were flies, buzzing like a bucket of tinnitus. *Bump* The wagon hit a rock. Sebastian hissed. Discomfort engulfed him, his healing skin hurt whenever he was forced to move. Anything but lying still taxed his sanity. How had he ended up here? Sebs last memories were in his professor''s lab, casually meddling with the equipping. He had almost finished installing an 8-bit poke game to the main frame, but that was as much as he remembered. Had he been drinking? Just what had happened? It felt like he had missed out on a lot of things - the landscape seemed foreign; what country was this? Had he been drugged at the club? Maybe even at school? He didn¡¯t even remember going out, but there were drugs that caused amnesia even on memories prior to its injection. A documentary on the Devil¡¯s Breath drug in Colombia came to mind. The smell of conspiracy was all over the place. Seb had problems making any sense out of the crazy theories as pain constantly smashed him back into something indescribably pitiful. He hated it. He hadn''t been given a single moment for calm reflection and if thtings continued like this, the last traces of memory would soon be all gone. Roleplay Gangsters would¡¯ve sounded like a bad joke if Sebastian was asked about it yesterday, but not anymore. The itching, it was unbearable, it made thinking hard, and Seb''s thoughts grim. He had never contemplated suicide before, but the past three or so days had been nothing but sleepless agony. He tried to zone out from the itching of his skin, focusing on just breathing. Meditation, wasn''t that supposed to help people escape pain? Shaolin monks getting kicked in the nuts without flitching, what was your secret? He retreated into his mind, and then even further. He forcefully pushed his consciousness away. Away from the world, away from everything! [Prof.Oak: Are you a boy or a girl?] [Boy] [Prof. Oak: Of course... What¡¯s your name?] [Sebastian¡­ wait what!?] Sebastian lost focus, crashing back to reality and all the itching that came with it. Just for a second, he had been free from the crippling pain. He took a deep breath, decided to zone out again. [Prof. Oak: Welcome to the world of [???]] [???] [Error!] The itching returned, as did reality. Sebastian flinched, determined to complete his flight from reality. The promises of a painless dream still felt real, at least as real as 160x144 perfect pixels could be. Seb continued to space out, evading his discomforts, but each time, he never got passed Professor Oak. [Error] [Error] [Error] Three days of sleeplessness was the limit at which hallucinations would occur. The ones appearing to Sebastian were incredibly frustrating. They were like finishing a puzzle, having several pieces in wrong places, or repeatedly failing to plug in an USB stick. Sebastian spent the entire day focusing on breathing. In the end, he got some results, an escape from the loop of [Errors], leaving something entirely unexpected.
Congratulations! New Skill: Biplanar Awareness
Biplanar Awareness 1/7
Shifts one''s consciousness between the two aspects of reality.
A new world, 164x144 pixels in size laid bare below him. He saw himself from above, first person perspective and all, but yet, he felt present beyond the pixels. It was as if this place was ever more real than reality. He took a deep breath, the pixels didn''t show his chest expand, yet he felt air seep into his lungs. He exhaled, finally beginning to relax. The meditative world was beautiful to the senses; Seb''s pain was all replaced with calmness. He went for another breath. The air was fresh, smelling of moist forest, and... something. Seb couldn''t tell what was in the air, but each time he drew a breath, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. It was pleasant; each breath relieved him like a brief stretching after a long car ride. The vague pleasure was so tingling that it almost made him restless. Seb lost himself to the newfound tranquility. His mind slowly recovered, and as it did, an escape plan began taking form. If the Brutal Leather faggots truly were LARPing, he needed a loophole in the storyline, a reason for them to release him. Either that, a cell phone or an insanely good opportunity to put his legs to use. The loophole had to wait for now. The captors treated him worse than a dog. They ignored whatever he said, especially things related to "police," "cellphones," or anything that had to do with the real world. They even taunted him for being retarded whenever he went outside of their cosplay lingo. "Elfling" was spat at him like a curse word. Cell phones weren''t likely to solve anything either, he couldn''t confirm that his captors had any. The role-playing maniacs could talk for hours, but never once did anyone grab a cellphone to return a snap. The LARP strictness was real! Using nothing but legs for escape wasn''t likely to work either. The¡ä Leather faggots were all buff as fuck, since when did LARPers do CrossFit? Seb would need a huge head start with these people on the chase, and that wasn''t even considering their horses. The quadrupedals could easily phase out any regular Joe; Seb had learned that the hard way. *Bump* The wagon hit something, knocking Seb both back to reality and into the carriage frame. The pain was there again. He bit his lips, silently swearing at the coachman. Seb spent days and nights in the carriage. God knew where it was going. The captors didn''t do many LARPy things besides marching and speaking about medievalified rumors. No orc dressed bandits attacked, no rogue mage came throwing "fire balls" at them, nothing that would fit their outfit happenend. It was remarkable, especially considering all the time they must''ve spent getting all those realistic clothes and equipment. Weren''t they supposed to battle each other, throw blue balls at each other yelling "lightning bolt"?Why would anyone choose to spend their time off work kidnapping people in weird clothes, and how come no one had heard of this? Was Sebastian their first victim? Where were they anyways? Why would anyone choose to spend their time off work kidnapping people in weird clothes, and how come no one had heard of this? Was Sebastian their first victim? Where were they anyways? They had been traveling for days without sight of civilization. Was this some kind of national park? He hadn''t heard a single airplane or highway since the strange awakening; it was all horseshoes hitting the ground, varying in sound depending on the dampness of the soil. The wagon wheels cracked, and the flies inside it multiplied, sadly for more than once reason by now. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Day passed in the wagon, Seb lost track of them as he spent all his awake time meditating, save for the scarce feeding sessions. The captors didn''t leave any opportunities of escape. With his hands tied behind his back, there wasn''t much that Seb could do. He began exploring his pixelated world. Trying to escape the engulfing hopelessness. If he''d ever get free from this he would return his hardships thousandfold. He''d scrape the Internet to it''s very last corner until he found these people. He''d find them and he''d made Dexter seem like a friendly toddler. How could his life ever return to normal with this intense hate burning inside him? The pixelated meditative world was essentially limited to a small island, five times five feet wide. Totally not the expected starting region if the landscape would be reminiscent of the game it looked like. The islet was located in the middle of a pond, surrounded by a rough pixelated forest. Seb tried to glance further, but the further away he looked, the more the trees turned into unrecognizable mosaic. The islet seemed empty, or at least if you took the pixelated representation for its word. Seb didn''t though; he had too much spare time, He touched the ground with his hands, leisurely exploring the world with his hands. There was so much more to it than could be seen. "Huh," he felt a soft surface on the otherwise rough ground, likely a stone. He would''ve ignored it, wasn''t it for the unusual sensation it gave off. He began digging it out from the ground; it wasn''t like he had anything better to do. The smooth surface ended a few hands down the forest soil. Seb gripped the thing and pulled it out.
Congratulations! You''ve found a Mysterious Egg!
"Well, things just got a bit less boring," Seb smiled. An egg, bigger than any he had ever seen was in his lap. The fragile thing, even if just imaginary, radiated a sense of frail dependency on Seb. Seb was a simple man, if he saw a vulnerable thing, he''d protect it, at least if it in a game, and this imaginary world was just that. Seb tried to meddle a bit with his most recent addition to the hallucination world, imagined feeling the insides of the egg. Unexpectedly, something responded. A faint gasp for air whispered in his mind... *** ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± It might''ve been dark, but the voice was unmistakable. ¡°Are you blind Benjin? The Ivory wolves are back! Tell the tavern to fetch some beer, I¡¯ll be done with the horses in a minute,¡± Bersko grinned to his friend. Aspengale, a trading town on the uprise. It was a community where information was plentiful. If there were a bounty on the elfling, someone here would know it. Otherwise, there ought to be at least one trader willing to buy it. THe first night of many, Bersko finally had a good night of sleep. The bedding hay was fresh, dry and lice-free, its rustling when he turned in it told of its recent exchanging. *** ¡°What do you mean, won¡¯t buy him!? He has a magical aptitude, you said so yourself!¡± ¡°Well the thing might have decent potential, but the quality of its mana is shit. At its age, it ain''t gonna get any better either. I¡¯m telling you, mages wouldn¡¯t even let him recharge glyphs, would anyone be stupid enough to buy it. This piece of elven crap will never make up for its costs. It even faked to know counting when it''s clear that it lacks even the most basic of educations. I''d cull it if I were you.¡± ¡°Come on, five lifembers? I¡¯m practically giving him away!¡± ¡°Pfft, I¡¯m not bargaining, the thing is worthless. Go bother someone else.¡± Sebastian froze. The vendor''s response unsettled him. As did the enormous town he was in. Surrounding the trading plaza he was at, there were alleys upon alleys of medieval wooden houses and people in funky clothes. All of this was surrounded by an enormous stone wall, even that one made without a trace of steel bars, glas or concrete. Worst of all was that no one but the kids seemed to bat an eye when they saw him in shackles. Not even when he screamed for someone to call the police. Whatever his captors were part of, Seb had fundamentally underestimated its scale. Where on earth was this large scale LARPing event? He had never heard of it, and his instinct told him that YouTube should have kept him up to date on such a thing. The landscape seemed foreign, were they in another country? But if so, why were everyone speakingnear perfect english? The financial strength of whomever pulled the strings were inconceivable. If this truly was a place hidden from the rest of the world, then Seb was in deep deep trouble. The cosplay illuminati would have to have enough resources to outfit thousands od people as well as raising an freaking fortified Town. Just the cost of making the stone without concrete was staggering. Lastly, why were there no normal people? From his limited tied up position, it appeared as if the medieval looking town was just what it was built to be and nothing else. People went on with the most boring routines, despite the elaborate environment. The trader glanced angrily at Sebastian, as Seb''s captor dragged him away. In this town where people took their acting seriously, Seb had tried to fit in, to become an "elfling" of value; he knew how an "useless elfling" was treated, and that was an experience he''d rather die than relive. Acting submissive in front of these people made him sick, but he saw no reason to enlarge his tooth gap. Stupidly, three years of engineering studies weren''t worth shit amongst these people. Apparently, anything besides the roleplayer number system was considered uneducated rubbish. Sebastian didn¡¯t know how to please these people. They were all jacked like olympic athletes, and considered Seb too "useless" even to do manual labor. Claiming to be human never ended up any well either The night before, Seb had lost his third tooth, a lower jaw one. A fourth was chipped as well, that one hurt the most. How insane wasn''t that? For the sake of a very unoriginal world setting, having naturally blonde hair made you an "elfling, " and somehow that was a bad thing. Fucking reverse racists cosplay maffia illuminati! Somehow a group of equally brown hair had gotten together to make this ridiculously large society of outsiders a thing. He had tried pretending to be the apprentice...slave of some eminent mage, but Seb''s prospect "buyer" didn''t yield an inch. They had brought forth some "magic" stone, imbued with LED lamps and heat sensors. Seb would''ve been impressed by the craftsmanship, wasn''t it for him being little focused on admiring details and much focused on disappearing into thin air. Anyhow, the stone hadn''t "glowed the right way" when Sebastian touched it, and because of that, his cosplay captors pretended as if he was more trash than ever. Plan after plan had failed, and with his limbs shackled all the time, he felt more dejected by the day. They had brought him here to fail, and he''d rather not know how failing was punished. They couldn¡¯t be serious with killing him, cold they? That wouldn''t make sense, then why would they even bother to kidnap him to begin with? Sebastian tried to calm himself, but his reasoning didn''t do much to quench the oncoming panic in his heart. ¡°Healing potions and general antidotes! Come try! Only five each! Buy ten, and get a sinew restoration salve for free!¡± a woman shouted from across the plaza. ¡°Hah, I¡¯d rather go all the way to Springbreeze buying one than falling prey to those prices!¡± a distant voice answered. Two insanely strong hands grabbed his shoulders. ¡°Well, we¡¯d better get this one dealt with then.¡± Sebastian¡¯s face whitened. ¡°I ain¡¯t doing it, Renald should go, he never cleans his blade anyways!¡± ¡°Elbard, screw your oh so fancy saber, too shiny to be put to use!...¡± The group of buff cosplayers argued for some time. Dealing with Sebastian was an all inclusive a trip "to the pits," a trip without volunteers. After some perverted version of ini-mini-miny, the man with the shiny saber got the task. Dragging Sebastian by his rope, he hurried towards the gate. If there was anyone Sebastian hated in particular, then it was this man. Elbard - the man who had dragged him behind a horse. Wounds tore open as Sebastian''s bare feet were forced into action. ¡°Okay, between you and me, could you just let me go now? You''re done with me anyways, aren''t you? I''ll run off and you won''t need to dirty your weapon¡± ¡°Hey, just let go of the rope, I won¡¯t tell anyone. Just release me, and you won¡¯t need to bother with me anymore. I''ll be as good as gone to the others.¡± ¡°Orders are orders. Just shut up and try to die on the first hit. Don¡¯t wanna have any blood splashing all over me clothes.¡± ¡°They fuck! This isn¡¯t fun! I¡¯ll pay you! How much do you want? My parents have a veterinary clinic! They own a big villa too! I¡¯m sure we could cut you a great deal somehow. We''ll pay you in bitcoins, just tell me how much you want!¡± ¡°Stop puking horsedung, elfling. Half-demons are half-demons, stop ranting, or I''ll cut your tongue out." These people were insane. If there were a rich retard with a GoPro around, this would be the perfect time to jump forth saying something like: ¡®Surprise prank! It¡¯s just a prank bro, just a prank.¡¯. Not such thing happened though. No camera guy came. No one came. They left the gate, heading for some oozing pits. They smelled like shit, unsurprisingly, they were filled with it too. ¡°On your knees.¡± the man muttered, resting his hand on his saber hilt. Sebastian was turned facing the latrine hole. He hyperventilated. Everything but his "common sense" told him that the decapitation ritual wasn''t a prank. He''d frog jump straight into the pile of human excrement, wasn''t it for his leash. He screamed, loudly enough to make his throat hurt. His breaths were irregular, ignored in the panic. He screamed his lungs out, all until nothing but coarse breaths left his lips. Even more tired than his throat was his ears, still deafened by piercing screams. Seb turned his head around, giving his executioner a last glance. "What," Seb tried to breathe out. Behind him stood a man, never seen before, sword in hand. Seb''s leash in the other, preventing him from jumping into the latrine. Bellow his feet was the designated executioner, crying in pain. He lied flat on his chest harness, bleeding from both knees. "Hmm, this one, that one... hmm, let''s do this one too!" The stranger mumbled, cutting away at the executioner''s limbs and joints. ¡°Well, that should cut it I guess, haha, CUT IT!¡± he said, wiping his sword tip at the maimed man''s clothes, finishing off with spitting at the victim, mumbling something. This was insane. Sebastian had just watched one lunatic cripple another one. Cutting people with swords? For people having nightmares of getting snuck up on and stabbed by knives, this was the next level of it. How comes swords weren''t used in horror movies? Somehow though, cutting down Elbard was hands down the best thing anyone could''ve done if they wanted to befriend Sebastian. "Well, hi there, my name''s... err, let''s do the introductions elsewhere...You an elfling?" "No!" Sebastian almost shouted in response. He was not going for another round of "elfling treatment." "Good. Hide your hair, and even I might believe you. Your ears aren''t even pointy; holy shit that''s good...How''s your magic?" "They say I''ve got great potential," Seb tweaked the shopkeeper''s words from earlier. "That''s feaking awesome! Stay with me and and I''ll cut you a deal better than anything your master ever did. Loot the fucker of whatever items you want, we''re getting away from here," the man said grinning, cutting Seb free. "Shame, it''s a good rope. Fuck it; we don''t have the time, pick your stuff, and we''re off," the stranger waved hurriedly at Sebastian. Seb looked at the man on the ground. He didn''t feel any empathy for him, yet the sight disgusted him. Feeling surreal about his actions, he stripped the man of his weapons belt, and placed the man''s well-polished saber in its scabbard. He then grabbed the man''s helmet, letting it mask his blonde hair. He gave the now crying man the last look, the clothes and everything else on him was pretty useless, Seb didn''t want to touch it; It was all covered in blood. He was done, preparing to finally leave, he sent the nastiest gob of spit ever to the maimed mans face. He considered finishing him off, but it felt too inhuman. The man has already passed from bloodloss and cries of pain. "Come on man; we gotta get out of here, NOW!" Seb left with the stranger. His feet bled, hurting like never before, but Seb didn''t care. Pain was now a common thing. Biting down his teeth, he smiled with each step. This new lunatic was way better that the previous ones. Poke-Meditation Technique: 2 "Alright, we should be safe here, " Sebastian''s savior said, effortlessly. They had reached a forest. In contrast to his savior, Seb gasped for air - like a fat kid taking the stairs for once. He wasn''t in a that bad shape, but the cosplaying mr. Olympia next to him disagreed. Seb had just finished the craziest run of his life; a sprint of pure fear; fear of pursuers and fear of the man leading him. He didn''t know anything about medicine, but his bleeding executioner from earlier didn''t look like he''d last for long. His feet exploded in pain, as did his neck. Only God knew how many times he had twisted it in weird angles while running. Well, running and "running," his savior had been kind enough to slow down the phase a couple of times. How was it even possible to be this buff? How did these people run around like Aragorn at day to then CrossFit all night? Insane! Roids 10/10. Anyhow, Seb''s neck hurt, but it was worth it; one does not simply flee on foot without looking backward once every five seconds. Spoiler: Spoiler Sorry, bad meme, but: Spoiler: Spoiler Sebastian''s savior sat down on a half decayed trunk. Seb copied him without contemplation; he was exhausted the past hours had all been spent walking in the other''s footsteps. The air of the forest was damp, chilly, and filled with evening fog. The cold was overbearing. Running in it was one thing, his body heat would counteract it, but stopping to rest in it was an entirely different matter. Seb''s could feel his fingers grow stiff, soon followed by his arms. Sitting still on a damp trunk didn''t help any, and Seb''s linen "tunic" was too thin to provide any insulation. 10/10 Grandma would not have approved. "Man, you''re shivering! Use your heatstone already!" The man laughed, walking over to Seb. Seb stank in his dirty "clothes," he knew it, but the stranger was kind enough to pretend not noticing. He opened one of the leather pouches on Seb''s leather belt. "Wrong one..." the stranger closed it, opening the other one. "Hmm, the cheap fucker was all about looks huh? Shiny saber, fancy clothes, but when it comes to glyphs the brat only had one" he muttered. "Here," he handed over a Stone. Its surface was smooth and adorned with runic carvings. It looked like one something Seb''s grandma could obsess about at a flea market; that lady couldn''t get enough weird stones for her garden. "Erm, thank you... Mr? Seb asked-thanked hesitantly, careful not to aggravate his savior. "I''m sorry, I suppose you''re used to fancier glyphs, but you''ll have to do with that one. Don''t wanna catch a cold, do you? Damn, it''s getting pretty cold here, I wonder how long she''ll take... Oh, sorry! Raziel''s the name. Could''ve told you on the run, but you didn''t look too interested in talking back then. Damn, I''ve never seen anyone so close to passing out from just jogging." Raziel opened a satchel, grabbing an orb-like stone, similar to the one in Sebastian''s hand. The orb lit up, shining like a glow stick between his fingers, and not just that; a warmth spread around it. It even eased Seb''s shivers. What was that? Seb leaned closer to the glowing orb. The closer he got, the hotter his cheeks felt. In seconds, his freezing lessened to a light chill. Strange. For something to heat up the air like that, Raziel''s hand should''ve gotten third-degree''s burns, yet the man didn''t flinch. His eyes were casually glancing into the distance. Seb''s eyes didn''t follow though; they were transfixed at the handheld sauna heater. The "heatstone" sprung an interest in Sebastian, hidden dormant since the age of seven, the time when the daycare lady informed on the inexistence of magic. The glowing stone didn''t disprove her, but it sure made fantasizing easy. "Wow." These cosplayers sure went all in on the replicas. Seb was an engineering student, but even he couldn''t figure out how the stone worked. Raziel''s orb defied any thermodynamic law known to Seb. Two explanations came to mind: The first, and easiest was that a heating device was hidden somewhere, generating heat, making it seem like the brightly shining orb was causing the warming sensation. But why would anyone set up an illusion in the middle of the forest? Raziel had chosen the place, so it was a possibility; but the combination: cut open one guy, save the other to then show him a fancy trick in the forest didn''t make sense! The past days had left Seb scared, short on teeth and slightly paranoid, but the heat surrounding him being caused by a massive illusion didn''t make sense, not even to him. If not a stationary illusion, then Seb''s money would be on the heatstone dispensing some neuroactive drug through the air. Capsicum? - No, the jalapeno chemical couldn''t affect the skin like this, could it? Any other explanation was outrageous. If the heatstone was what it seemed, then someone somewhere had made the biggest revolution in applied physics since the 1950s. If that were the case, the next Nobel price would, no doubt, go to a cosplay loving geek. Seb grinned in disgust. Screw cosplayers! Everyone besides Raziel could die in some cosplay smallpox as far as Sebastian was concerned. He inspected the heatstone in his own hand. Its fanciness and mysteriousness captivated him. The thing was probably filled to the brim with drugs of questionable legality. Oh, well Seb was all in for fancy drugs... as long as they didn''t make him wake up naked in the middle of nowhere. He rotated it in his hand, looking for a switch, yet he didn''t find one. Was there a heat sensor hidden somewhere? It wouldn''t surprise Seb. If there were millions spent building realistic medieval towns, the replicas could as well benext level quality too. Damn, Seb wanted to smash the heatstone open to see the insides. His fingers scanned the runic carvings, looking for abnormalities. The pattern on the stone was made from tens of individual runes, all connecting to each other in a symmetrical fashion. "Huh?" When his hand passed over a particular part, it felt... special; like a void waiting to be filled. The feeling was similar to the one he had had when breathing in his meditative state, - but reversed. It was the same category of sensation, but if meditation was abundance, the carved rune was famine. Funny, could Seb mentally activate the same brain cells that were influenced by this drugs stone... or was it... A childish playfulness consumed Sebastian for a second, awakening his seven-year-old self. It was a self obsessed with Age of Empires, his handheld poke-station, and playing "magic". Well, the old games were off topic, but magic darn well wasn''t... According to the ancient memes, most people make the Jedi test at least once a year; trying to fly, move things without touching, or maybe just glance through the spam folder for that Hogwarts letter that never came. Some opportunities were just too marvelous to miss out on, even if they didn''t exist. Momentarily losing his adult seriousness, Seb felt ready to make some playful experiments. It wasn''t like the man next to him would judge him if he acted like a "mage". Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Seb sat down in a cross-legged lotus position, focusing on the thirsty sensation radiating from the heatstone. He slipped out of consciousness, making a seat for himself at his digitalized soul pond. He breathed and exhaled, letting nothing else enter his mind. Proper Jedi tests required focus. As he let his breath enter and exit his body, he felt the surge of energy once again enter his body, filling it to the point of his entire body shaking. After deeply engraving the feeling to his mind, he returned to reality. He took a deep breath. This time, the ecstatic feeling was there, not remotely to its levels in the digital world, but it was there, tingling like the tenth of a dawning sneeze. It easily disappeared; Sebastian couldn''t afford to lose a single strand of focus. An awfully familiar 8-bit sound rang in Sebastians head.
Contratulations! Biplanar Awareness leveled up!
Biplanar Awareness: 2/7
Connects the astral plane with the Earthly realm. Unlocks: Mana Channeling.
Congratulations! Sebastian learned: Mana Channeling!
Mana Channeling: 1/7
Channels forth mana from the astral plane.
"What the!?" A blue transparent box appeared in front of Sebastian, its text digital looking. He waved his hand through it, looking for a light source, or reasonable explanation. "What''s happening man?" Raziel asked, seeing Sebastian''s surprise. "No, nothing, sorry," Sebastian replied, confusedly. What had just happened? Was it an illusion? A hallucination delayed from the lucid meditation? Had he made it up from his daydreaming on magic? It was to much like him to see the world from a video game perspective. His grandma would''ve put even stricter rules on the gaming time, would she know that this would happen. Anyhow, back to business! The Jedi test wasn''t all done yet. He took a deep breath, letting the tingling feeling come back. He focused on it and put his finger back to the "hungry" spot of the orb-like stone, but doing so stole too much focus; the tingly feeling went away. Seb wanted to see if the tingly feeling could have any effect on the stone, but each time he tried putting his finger on the right spot, he lost focus and the tingly feeling. He looked over to his benefactor, sitting a few feet away at the same trunk. Raziel''s eyes gazed to the forest border, looking for pursuers and a person he had barely mentioned. Well, Seb wouldn''t break any social stigma if he zoned out a bit, focusing on the tingly feeling. . .
Congratulations! Mana Channeling leveled up!
Mana Channeling: 2/7
A skill mastered to do the point of easy excecution. Channels mana from the astral plane.
There it was, the window again. Fuck, Seb would lose focus now....eh? The tingly feeling was still there. Despite Seb lessening the focus on it. He found it alot easier to both initiate and keep the tingly feeling. The blue boxes had quite accurately described what Sebastian had managed. Now wasn''t that some convenient hallucinations? It even put fancy names to the things he was attempting to do. It was time to give the heatstone another try! As soon as Seb put his finger to the thing, the "hungry" rune called for him. At first, nothing happened, but with a burst of genius, he tried to feed the tingly energy within to the stone. Almost instantly, the "hungry" rune began shining, the runes around it, and the ones next to them. In the blink of an eye the entire heatstone glew. A feeling of warmth spread through Seb''s body, pulsing with each heartbeat.
Congratulations! Sebastial learned: Mana Streaming!
Mana Streaming 1/7
Releases mana to flow at will
Warning! Mana Channeling over 50% - Cognition affected!
Mana Channeling: 0.6/1
Seb stared at the glowing orb, fascinated. The thing in his hand, how marvelous it was. It felt like drinking a full thermos of wonderfully warm chocolate while sitting next to open fire. He could switch it on and on at will too, all he needed to do was to release energy. He double checked, just to see that there wasn''t some hidden button or something else activating it. "Why are you turning it on and off all the time man?" Raziel complained. "Sorry, I was just testing it," Seb stuttered. ''Oh, shit, don''t wanna make that person angry!'' "Well, that makes sense. You mages can''t keep your hands off meddling with those glyphs. Tell me, what do you think about it? Just leave out that technical stuff, I''m never gonna get those things properly nailed to my brain. " "Err... It''s pretty good I''d say. It has an innovative heating solution... You''re interested in glyphs?" Sebastian said, 10/10 fake "i-know-this-shit face; he didn''t even know if there was a difference between a heating stone or a glyph. He hoped that Raziel would swallow his bait and switch topic. "Well, not anymore, I mean, I did, but that was long ago. It was, you know, the regular "make a firebolt" that all kids do. My younger cousin lost a hand to the damned thing. It was all my fault... Can we leave it there?" "Sure," Sebastian responded, igniting his heatstone. This time he left it on.
Warning! Mana Channeling over 50% - Cognition affected!
Mana Channeling: 0.6/1
Seb stared at the blue box, wondering if this one was somewhat representative of his experience, weirdly so, it was. How could his hallucinations have known that before he did so himself? The subconsious is known to draw conclusions of things way before they actually hit awareness. But Seb han never heard of it generating accurate status reports in text format. This was some crazy black magic right there. The world became slightly more violent when he used the heatstone. Obviously a side effect of the drug, or magic; Seb hoped for the latter, but couldn''t tell for sure. As he looked around he felt a bit sluggish, as if sleep deprived. The world moved faster, leaving Sebastian behind. He had to focus hard to catch what Raziel was saying. Having a conversation was harder than ever, especially when he had to struggle with keeping his breath tingly; or rather, to keep his [Mana Channeling] going, as the blue box suggested. Anyhow, the slight mental retardation was much better than freezing; he''d keep the glyph ON. Raziel wasn''t very talkative. His eyes were all fixed on the distant horizon. Waiting for a mysterious third person to show up. Seb didn''t try conversation; he was afraid of saying something wrong, exposing himself somehow. He tried to craft a proper backstory, making it as LARPy and non informative as possible. Luckily, Raziel was too focused staring into the distance to talk. He almost seemed a bit nervous. Seated with legs crossed, he impatiently bounced his knees up and down. As time passed, the staring got even intenser. Eventually, the sunlight was all gone. The only light was the two heatrunes and a crescent moon, intermittently escaping the clouds. Raziel regurgitated, preparing to speak for the first time in hours. "We''ll sleep here," he said in a harsh tone, sounding more like seventy than the twenty or so that he looked. Then he lied down, and that was that. Seb wasn''t sure wether or not running away was a good idea, but i f there had ever been a time to make a run for it, then this was it. Poke Meditation Technique: 3 Complete darkness covered the forest. Seb lied down, pretending to sleep. Pfft, as if relaxing would even be possible. He had watched too many horror movies to feel comfortable sleeping with dark silhouettes all around him. His eyes gazed at the snoring Raziel. He lied unmoving, but despite sleeping, he managed to keep his heatstone active. Seb couldn''t do that, not yet. Over the evening he had drawn a few conclusions on the heatstone glyphs. They worked no matter where they were activated. They also heated up everything around them, not just Seb''s perception of coldness. Thus, he had debunked both the drug theory and the illusion theory. The glyph in his hand was at least a revolutionary piece of technology. Secretly, he hoped that it was more than that. An activation system, so intricate that Seb had no idea of what it was. He thought of some clips from the weird side of the internet. The ones on QiGong masters who "made" electricity from their qi. Was the glyph trigger related to those kinds of things? Seb couldn''t come up with any good explanation, and quite frankly, it would be much cooler if the answer to it was as simple and incredible as "magic." Magic or just a piece of revolutionary technology, the Stone resting in his hand was probably worth millions would it reach society. If each and every leather dressed wackhead had one of these, the financial An organization with this budget and secrecy was no doubt Illuminati-level dangerous - 10/10! Less of the theories, back to reality. Seb rose up, preparing to take a piss. Maybe he''d decide to go a bit longer than that; maybe he wouldn''t stop until dawn. *** Raziel woke on high alert. His detection glyph sent pulses through his left hand, enough to make it jitter. He disliked sleeping unsheltered, but the situation demanded it. Before buying the detection glyph, he usually slept in treetops when outside, damn how uncomfortable that was. Anyhow, the detection glyph tingled whenever something bigger than a rabbit movements within a 20-metre radius. It didn''t leave much time for action, but it was enough; Raziel always slept with his sword to his side. He immediately recognized the elfling sneaking away from the site, probably taking a piss. Raziel followed him with his eyes. Sebastian hadn''t heard enough to compromise things, was he to return to his masters. But the thought of Sebastian leaving still left a bad taste in Raziel''s mouth. He couldn''t let go of a chance to get a new village mage; not when his village so desperately needed one. Even since the death of Runar, the village struggled to its knees. They barely made it through the last winter. With no buffers left in the granaries, a single bad harvest would equal the death of hundreds. Damn Becknettles! They cut Runar''s throat without warning. Even pigs died with more dignity. They claimed to uphold order by killing the"rogue elfling," but petty words couldn''t mask their real face. Using Runar as an excuse, they had raided the entire village, leaving the granaries empty, women raped and opposers crippled. Raziel hated them, and he hoped that his feelings were shared with Sebastian. The elfling wasn''t hard to track; his steps were slow and clumsy, his heat stone never off. "City Boy" was written all over him. Memorizing the forest floor, Raziel followed Sebastian into the darkness. The elfling went for a piss. As expected; he had emptied Raziel''s waterskin more than once earlier. He was clearly not used to rehydrating either. Raziel felt sorry for him. His former master hadn''t even given him any lifembers, leaving his with a weakling body all up in the adult years. Just what did he expect the elfling to do? Raising an elfling improperly to then do what? Cull it? Sebastian''s former master couldn''t be anything but a maniac; the Becknettles sure knew how to waste their own and others'' resources. The elfling urinated without stopping. How much water had he drunk earlier, really? The second before high alert, Raziel was borderline impressed with the other''s bladder. Then it happened. His detection glyph flared up, causing ominous spasms through his left hand. Raziel regretted not having brought a spear. A sword in the woods was as useful as a fork was to eating of soup. He had to defend the mage. If Sebastian just had a spell or two, this would''ve been so much easier. *** This was probably the most impressive water throwing Seb had ever done. He smiled a bit, but it was hard to quench the seriousness of his thoughts. Should he leave? Raziel seemed like a nice guy, but he wasn''t entirely normal either. If running was the case, then doing so in the forest was out of the question. The place gave him the creeps. And that was just a few tens of meters from the forest rim. Running would mean food issues though. Seb hadn''t eaten during his week in the wagon. He was pretty sure that following Raziel meant a full stomach... "STAY READY!" Raziel shouted, freezing Seb''s breath. Piss stained his "clothes" as he turned around, but that wasn''t important. Raziel''s voice was that of someone trying to prevent a car crash. A blinding light ignited, even illuminating the closest trees. Raziel held the flaring light in his right hand, in his left-hand was a sword. Startled, Seb deactivated his heatstone. He wanted his full attention ready. Sword guy screaming in the middle of the night didn''t bode well. Then he saw them, shadows prowling in the shadows. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," the half naked Sebastian stammered as he backed away towards Raziel. "Hold this; I can''t fight using it," Raziel commanded him, sluggishly. He handed over the brightly shining stone. Without questioning, Seb grabbed it. The contrast in light blinded him as the glyph deactivated. Grasping for the "hungry" rune on it, Seb quickly had the glyph brightly shining again.
Warning! Mana Channeling over 90% - Cognition severely affected!
Mana Channeling: 0.9/1
As soon as things lit up again, the world got all sluggish to Sebastian. A blue window appeared in front of him, but he ignored it; he didn''t have time to be concerned about hallucinations right now and besides, the text felt very hard to read. He could barely make sense out of the world around him, it all felt as if moving too fast. It was like watching an ancient 240p movie, shot by a shaking hand on an old Nokia cell phone, and then making it fast forward. Panic hit Seb. He couldn''t tell what was happening. Shapes moved, sometimes in the shadows, sometimes in complete darkness. For a brief second, Seb saw Raziel, or at least his legs. His torso and arms were all blurry. Surrounding him were shadows, too fast to make sense out of. Seb tried to make sense out of what was happening, but he didn''t dare to compromise the glyph in his hand; everything around felt like a goo of overwhelming impressions. "Pat" Something nudged him. The glowing glyph escaped his hand and was somehow replaced by a heatstone. The heatstone''s light was nothing like the one it replaced.
Warning! Mana Channeling over 50% - Cognition affected!
Mana Channeling: 0.6/1
"You''re safe" Raziel wheezed, sweat dancing on his face. He stashed the light glyph, replacing it with the mysterious one he had slept with. The sword remained in his left hand though, glimmering of black blood. He took a staggering step before sitting down. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Put some light on my leg, will you?" Raziel hissed, teeth visible. As Seb moved his heatstone closer, an ugly wound revealed itself on Raziel''s calf. It was a bite mark, big and deep. "Hold it for a second," Raziel handed over his sword to Seb. He put a stick in this mouth. "Damn I''m lucky to have you as Wife..." was the last thing he miss-mumbled before biting down on the piece of wood. A small pouch of leather appeared in his hand. He pressed out its viscous contents, rubbing them into his wound. Then he screamed. Seb looked at the agonized man, crawling in pains. The sword was his hand, as was both his and the other''s life. The responsibility was burdensome; he doubted that he''d be able to put the steel to any use, would the shadows be back. Heck, they could probably get within a jump''s distance before He''d even notice them. The heatstone wasn''t that bright. No matter the scale of the doubts, he stood firm, preparing to strike at anything approaching. The screaming went on, sending chills through Seb''s spine. Eventually, they subsided. Raziel panted exhaustedly. "How''s...my leg?" He asked worriedly as if half an hour of screaming would''ve made it any better. Oh, fuck, Seb hadn''t put on anything to stop the man from bleeding out. He hurriedly lit up the leg for a status check, wondering whose clothes he''d use for a band-aid. He couldn''t believe his eyes, as he stared at the bloody calf. "Tell me, is it healed already! Or do I need to give it another rub of salve? Damn, I don''t know if I can take it." "It''s, eeh, its healed," Seb responded, not believing his own words. The surface was smooth; there wasn''t even a scratch on it. Only lumps of almost coagulated blood. "Thank the Gods! Fuck. I hate healing! Phew! Fuck!" "What... how did you heal it?" "With a bloody healing salve of course. What did you think!?... Sorry for being harsh. I... I really hate healing." Well, no shit Sherlock. Seb asked about the attackers. Shadowwolves was the answer. Seb was fairly sure that he''d never seen one of those in a zoo. But hey, in a place where cosplay scientists had created groundbreaking research in both physics and medicine, genetically modified animals weren''t far fetched at all. It was like visiting a different world. The night went on. Somehow, Raziel fell asleep. To Sebastian, though, the night was the longest of his life. *** Bloody Hell, Shadow Wolves weren''t supposed to exist in these areas. They were meant to hide in the deepest depths of the forest. Hunted by the local overseer. If there was one thing the Becknettles were supposed to do, besides collecting taxes, then it was keeping the forests safe! Raziel regretted not ambushing another one of them before leaving with the elfling. Poor lad, he hadn''t had a single strand of sleep this night. Raziel was pissed and worried, pissed at the Becknettles, as always, but foremost he was worrying for his love. She didn''t show up yesterday. Raziel would never forgive himself if something happened to her, not when he was the one responsible. The morning hours of waiting were unbearable. Seb told him some about his life story, but Raziel couldn''t focus. He looked towards the rim of the forest. The summit was unmistakable, Stina couldn''t possibly have missed the great oak and the numerous boulders surrounding it. . . Finally, she came. Raziel had had a hundred false alarms when looking into the distance, but this time there was not questioning it. He rose up, running like a madman to meet up with her. "My love, how did you do? Did anything happen, I as worrying here." His wife grinned, revealing a pouch filled to the brim with lifember. "This.. this is..." "About fifty lifember I''ll tell ya!" his wife interrupted his counting. Raziel didn''t know if to laugh or to cry. After convincing Raziel to join the heist, she had agreed to set a low-key price. Fifty lifember wasn''t remotely close to the word low-key. It was a dubious amount of money. "They threw weird looks at me; I had to stay the night not to raise any suspicion." "Stina, this is insane, what if one of the guards there was part of the raid to or village. They might''ve even recognized you." "Chill out honey; I put up a great act. They would''ve paid even more if I wanted them to. You''d be surprised to see how much people area willing to pay for healthcare. Especially for others. The Becknettles would crumb apart if their fancy overseer didn''t keep his men safe." The heist was all her, Stina''s, ideal. In their shared hatred of the Becknettles, they had put one and one together. Stina was a mediocre herbalist. Her grandfather had taught her some tricks of the trade, but nothing more. Alchemy had ruined his finances, putting him deep into debt; selling potions required certificates, connections, and other proofs of skill. No one would buy a potion from a stranger, not unless they were in dire straits... Dire straits were Raziel''s specialty. He loved to cut down Becknettles from behind. Regular remedies, like healing salves and general antidotes, were staple products. They had a short expiration date, and efficient use of them required a bulk deal with the closest alchemy guild. All greater towns and powers had a healthy supply of such ailments; they were essential to keep up public opinion after all. More niche products, on the other hand, were usually made to order. Say that a certain someone happened to have a significant number of tendons severed, then time was of the essence. Mid-sized towns lacking a master alchemist would have to make an order for a sinew restoration salve, but such an order would take weeks, enough for a wound to close, never to fully restore. Stina just so happened to know how to make one of these sinew restoration potions. It was niche and impossible to store in an economical way. Only the Prefectural Citadels could afford to have such resources at the ready, but they didn''t need to; each Citadel had at least one Alchemy guild. Anyhow, the heist was straight forward. Stina posed as a wandering alchemist while Raziel cut open a few customers for her. This was their second heist. Raziel had a love-hate relationship with his new occupation. They struck many places, trying not to create any patterns. Raziel had even attacked Becknettles without Stina nearby. All for the sake of safety. Each time he tried to cut people differently, even though he doubted someone was tailing his robberies. "Who''s the elfling?" Stina asked, glancing to the tired looking blonde. "He''s Sebastian; I saved him from our last customer. And guess what? "What, you tell me? I was hoping for this celebration to be a bit more private ... and intimate." "I''ve gotten our village a new mage." "No way!" "Yeah way! We''ve now got a solid 80 lifember under the bed, the harvest is going fine, and we have a village mage. We''re finally on the right track!" "Holy shit, Raziel! This is huge!" *Kiss* "But what about his ears and hair. Will the others dare to accept an elfling again?" "They''ll have to. What else can we do? Just look at Ingvar. He can''t even run his forge properly anymore. If this continues, we''ll not only be without glyphs, but also iron on our shovels. They''ll have to accept him." "I love you so much right now." "You think he''s sleeping? Maybe we could...?" *** Seb woke up. The sun was setting. Damn, how much he had needed that sleep. It was all night and day, double entendre. The waiting and tiredness had finally beaten the fear of falling asleep. Raziel''s assurance of safety had been the hair that fell the camel. "Hi, I''m Stina." Raziel''s girlfriend introduced herself. Soon after they began walking. The two cosplayers still hadn''t told him what they were up to or what was going on, but when asked, they assured him that things were all fine and that they were heading back to their village, Softstone. Another medieval town, Sebastian wasn''t even surprised anymore. Beyond their friendliness and eagerness to get him with them, he had a feeling that there were strings attached though. They were a bit too enthusiastic each time they said the word "mage." Magic. Over that past day, Sebastian had fallen in love with it. Technology or supernatural, did it really have to matter? Poke-Meditation Technique: 4 Stina could finally see the familiar fields. Although yet out of sight, their surroundings were unmistakable. There were small twined fences to keep deer and other herbivores away ¨C and spiked clusters of poles to make time for escape, would disaster arrive. It was all nothing compared to the living quarters. The whole village rested atop a hill, surrounding it was an airtight palisade, deeply rooted to the ground. No animal had jumped it, nor dug past it, not in a hundred years. She didn¡¯t care for how high, or stony other walls might be; this was the only place where she¡¯d sleep well at night. They had shaved the mage¡¯s hair before arriving. Most villagers wouldn¡¯t have any problems with an elfling or two, but one could never be too safe. It was a small community, and minor changes were considered big here. ¡°It¡¯s easier to get forgiveness than permission,¡± was her Dad¡¯s motto. Stina had learned of it as a kid asking for mead. It''s meaning was so profound that she still made new discoveries on. It was not yet evening. The sun shone from its almost settled place, one that it¡¯d keep until way past midnight. The summer was past its peak, but fall was still far off. Goran had the gate duty, he often did. With only one hand and about as much of a brain, he didn¡¯t fit well for other chores. Stina still couldn¡¯t believe that Raz took responsibility for the idiot¡¯s dismemberment. ¡°Mom, Dad we¡¯re back,¡± Raziel chirped. It was time to show off the trips payoff. - Both of them. Stina''s business model had flipped both her and Raz'' prospects immensely, just in two weeks to boot. She hoped for many more weeks of Becknettle cutting. Sure, the lifember was precious, but mixing her salves with weak poisons was priceless! Wow, kid you really hit it big this time!¡± Uffe, Raz dad, burst out, his face frozen in disbelief. They¡¯d pass her father later, but he couldn¡¯t handle money, not since mom died. "Fucking Becknettles!". She cringed. ¡°Must not think about that.¡± Important was to not let her father buy another barrel. His addiction was bad as it was. No, she¡¯d save his share, keep it for the winter when he¡¯d drink up all his food anyways. ¡°Kids, Sven and his hunters fell an Ironbristle yesterday; they just got it back. What do you say about us buying half a leg, doing some celebration?¡± ¡°Sounds great! Make it a full one! I¡¯ve only had oats for days, and so has our guest.¡± ¡°Guest? Son, who¡¯s coming over?¡± Raziel made a rhetorical pause, mischievously meeting his dad''s gaze. . . ¡°The new village mage.¡± His dad froze again, his eyes wandering from left to right. ¡°You¡¯re serious, aren¡¯t you, you little rascal?¡± Raziel nodded. ¡°Forget legs; we¡¯re buying the boar. WE¡¯RE BUYING THE WHOLE DAMN THING!" Uffe shouted, standing on his toes. ¡°Now where¡¯s this mage you¡¯re talking about?¡± ¡°Sebastian, come in!¡± *** Raziel''s voice rang. Time to enter and meet the LARPers LARPing as parents. LARPing¡­ the word fell short in strength. It wasn¡¯t enough to describe what these people were doing. It was so much next level that it was entirely inseparable being genuine. The last days had been as if in another world. Maybe this was what this all was about; getting the kick of completely escaping into fantasy. Somehow though, that didn¡¯t feel right either. There was just too much sincerity in the others actions. They couldn¡¯t be acting. Were they born into this world? Somehow, that wasn¡¯t even weird anymore. It somehow fitted. Whatever organization that could afford large towns, high-tech items, mutated beasts, revolutionary medicine, all just to play around with, could as well afford a large scale abduction of people. Was that why Sebastian had been brought here in the first place? There was clearly a high turnover of human lives. If Coplay Illuminati killed people for fun, they¡¯d need to replenish the population pool somehow. Anyhow, it was time to enter the house. Seb wanted to make a good impression. He dreaded the opposite. He was not going back to the forest again. He¡¯d need a well-executed plan to get back to his dorm, friends, and life, and such a plan wasn¡¯t anywhere near conception. He needed a safe place to stay at, and he wouldn''t gamble for a better one. Besides, he wanted to get more ¡°magic¡± glyphs for inspection. If there was anything good that had happened after the abduction, then it was the discovery of glyphs. Holy cow, those were next level. If Seb would ever find one of them in his grandma''s garden, he¡¯d borrow it permanently, 10/10. He opened the wooden door. Its craftsmanship was coarse but artistic. Someone had spent a lot of time hand carving it. The inside smelled of tar. Despite the impressive glyph technology, the home was lit with fire. It was sensical; light from glyphs would flicker with people''s movement, not to mention how a fire was less taxing to keep going. ¡°Welcome to our humble home, magus! ¡° a man in his fifties greeted, even bowing slightly. He didn¡¯t sit down until Seb did. Not bad, not bad. Getting the role as Official Village Mage? didn¡¯t seem bad at all, not as long as you were a skinhead and not blonde. Seb had never had a haircut this short before, but getting used to it wasn¡¯t any big deal. Getting someone to shave his head would be a bother though. The others were obsessing about the newly established "business." Apparently, the murderous couple had pulled off quite the heist. Insane! So there was even medicine crazier than the one he¡¯d seen Raziel use yesterday night. How wasn¡¯t he even surprised anymore? He wouldn¡¯t even be surprised if a giant octopus attacked the village to be slain by a guy with a sword aflame. ¡°So, Sebastian, what would your thoughts be on staying here for a while, working as village mage.¡± The offer was too good to be rejected. Or rather, there weren''t any alternatives. Seb tried to low-key ask for other jobs, easy ones where he could fit. He didn''t want to reveal himself as a foreigner, or worse - an ¡°elfling.¡± Village Mage was the only vacant title though. Well, a bad economy can strike when least expected, even at medieval villages. Seb agreed to the job, but not before asking what it was about. ¡°The regular; no fancy big town magic needed. Runar spoiled us, I''m sorry, our last mage spoiled us. Blessed be his soul, but that was long ago now. We haven¡¯t had a mage for soon two years, and I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to make it for much longer. As far as compensation goes, I''ll call a village meeting on it, but you can expect at least five lifembers a month.¡± Seb couldn¡¯t get deeper on details without raising suspicion, so he agreed to the proposal. Five lifembers was that much or little? Stina and Raziel had made fifty of them in just three days, but judging from Uffe''s face, 50 lifember was far from little. Oh well, Seb would get to work with "magic" and "magic" was awesome. Seb couldn¡¯t wait to get to it. ¡°Kids, I have to go get that boar before Sven butchers it to pieces. I want that thing clean whole when I turn it on the pole... Raziel, you go get some of your friends, we¡¯ll need a good six men to carry that thing. Stina, go tell the village that we¡¯re feasting tonight. Beer¡¯s on us, don''t fight it, you are rich, you have the money. Prepare the bonfire too; I want a good smokeless one when we¡¯ve prepared the boar. No time to spare! Getting that thing done will take until late evening the least. Oh, Mage Sebastian, don¡¯t bother your hands. You''ll get some mead to seep on while waiting. Have a look at our village if you want. Honey get over here!¡± *** Sebastian had the worst hangover ever, or maybe not; it was the second worst, at least if counting the day of the abduction. Luckily, he wasn¡¯t a heavy drinker; he felt like a pile of shit, but the day was still remembered. He lied in a barn. The smell of animals made him sick, or maybe that was just the lingering alcohol. At least his own scent wasn¡¯t sickening anymore. The bath from yesterday was great, as was his new clothes. No more linen sack bullshit. His new job sure included perks. His clothes were from coarse wool, but their stitching was finer than anything sold at cheaper stores. Employment perks, he turned to his side, puking on the hay at his side. He had really done it this time. ¡°Village Mage,¡± how could he be so stupid to agree to a job offer without reading the Terms of Service? Well, it wasn¡¯t like he had formally accepted anything, but that wouldn''t matter; after Uffe had announced Seb''s arrival to the entire village, Seb had been at the center of attention. The expectations on him were inhuman. Village Mages ¨C those who supply the entire village with glyphs. Hearing it made him even sicker. After the news dawning on him, he''d spent all his time trying to grasp for information. How was he, an engineering student not even graduated, supposed to make glyphs? And so many of them? How many had cheered on him yesterday, awaiting miracles? Two hundred? How a single boar could feed them had been a mystery for him, at least before it arrived. The mystery afterward was how so few could eat it clean in just one sitting. Grilling it had taken until midnight, and by then even the flute players were drunk. The beer wasn¡¯t bad - Cellars did a good job cooling things. Everyone enjoyed it, so did Seb, but cautiously. He gathered intel between his careful sips. How the heck had the last mage managed to do his job? It wasn¡¯t too hard to get information flowing; there was never a lack of people interested in him, and drunk people loved to tell their tale. Many asked Seb about his previous life, but with drunkenness as the excuse, he got away cheaply. According to those asked, glyphs weren¡¯t mysterious stones with runes as decoration; they were mysterious runes on decorative stones. The better the stone, and the better the maker, the more potent a glyph would be. Stolen novel; please report. Seb''s headache was unbearable, he focused on his breathing, escaping to his meditative state. He instantly felt better. The digital pond engulfed him in its tranquility. Analyzing yesterday was way better made without a crippling hangover. ¡°Ah, much better!¡± The "rune first, material second" model had huge implications. Everyone he had met yesterday stood firm in their beliefs; you could make a rune on any medium; in tales, even snow would do. Runes on mediums other than stones just wouldn''t be as good. If this were true, Sebastian would need to rethink everything. What everyone hinted on was beyond defying physics ¨C it was magic! How comes Seb wasn¡¯t even surprised? After his abduction, it was as if the rules of reality didn¡¯t apply anymore. It was easier to see The Cosplay Illuminati World as a new world, entirely separate from anything he had ever known. Maybe it even was another world, Seb wasn¡¯t certain of anything anymore; the paradoxes were too many to make sense of. The sheer scale of the new world was just too big not to be noticed by any satellites. If weaponized autism could find terrorists in the middle of nowhere, then how could the Google Earth dwellers miss medieval COUNTRIES? Seb needed to look deeper into this, and a conclusive result on the ¡°magic¡± glyphs felt significant. Anyhow, his new job wasn¡¯t entirely undoable without magic. A mage¡¯s duty was very similar to that of an engineer¡¯s; they both made stuff to improve the overall efficiency of things. Glyphs were the most common solution for most of the demanding tasks, but that wasn¡¯t without downsides. Despite the abundance of futuristic solutions, glyphs left many areas ignored. The non-magic technology was medieval at best, often at pre-pyramids level. At least there was wheels and horses, but not in this village; after a few drinks, the conversations shifted topic- away from Sebastian and entirely engulfed around "the raid." The hatred for Becknettles thickened the air. Seb felt safer than ever amidst the outward faced hostility. Seb didn''t want to see a Becknettle ever again. A raid from two years ago still left the community struggling to recover. A few burnt down houses remained, their owners refusing to hide the ashen symbols of injustice. The local farm-based economy desperately needed an upswing. Most important was filling the granaries. ¨C Without a food buffer, a single failed harvest would wipe the entire community. Second most important were hoarding wealth; accumulating enough lifember to hit long-term safety. If years of famine struck, no granary would be big nor full enough; the village needed the option to buy food. Farming was what farmers did best, not money making. Before the raid, Softstone had been a prospering community; rich and with plenty of accumulated items. But the riches and treasures were long gone. Lifember was a peculiar currency; its uses were plentiful. A month¡¯s worth of cheap food was worth about two lifembers. They were roughly equivalent in difficulty to harvest, although Seb didn''t understand how lifember could be gathered from animals. In a world where food was obviously a problem, how comes lifember was valued so highly, what guaranteed others willingness to buy it? The answer was intrinsic value. Lifember had usages, ridiculously sounding ones, but Seb no longer doubted in miracles. Lifembers could strengthen peoples'' bodies; each and everyone Seb had met acclaimed their fitness to lifembers, not CrossFit. All but the poorest parents would hoard large amounts of lifembers before having kids, eagerly giving them away. And that was despite the second usage of lifembers ¨C life extension. There was no telling on how life extension worked. There were rumors of farmers living to a hundred and fifty years. Extending one¡¯s life even further was a non-issue though; In the history of Softstone, there wasn''t a single case of death by old age; the world kept finding other ways to reap lives. Lifembers, Raziel had pointed out four of them in one of Seb¡¯s looted pouches. Seb hadn¡¯t given them much thought before yesterday evening, but he''d been busy back then, busy pretending to drink more than he did. ¡°Lifembers, this will be interesting!¡± Seb¡¯s consciousness returned to the real world. He had forgotten how badly his headache had been, but reality was kind enough to remind him. ¡°Hmm, let''s give you a real'' close look?¡± he said, opening a leather pouch. The last time Seb had inspected a lifember, Raziel had snapped, telling Seb not to pull it out if wasn''t going to "use it." In Seb''s hand was finally a lifember. If he wasn¡¯t told otherwise, he¡¯d think that lifembers were mere blobs of fluorescent gel, formed into a ball-shape and stuffed with a masked LED. That''s how any tech geek would''ve described it. A faint cloud surrounded it, slowly releasing thin sinking smoke. Touching the smoke made Sebastian all jittery. It was surprisingly pleasant, calming evenly. Just by holding it, his hangover felt negligible, but that was not all. A hungry feeling spread throughout his body, unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was like his limbs had kept their breath for ages and finally got close to the water surface.There was something more to the lifember, Sebastian was sure of it! He tried infusing it with ¡°mana,¡± and just like with glyphs, things began to happen. The shiny smoke streaming from the lifember increased in both density and speed. The raincloud turned to a waterfall. The gelatinous blob began shrinking. The fog''s increased intensity, even to the point where the gelatinous core began shrinking, but despite this, Seb didn''t feel a difference; his body felt just as starving as before. All that extra smoke dispersed for no reason at all. Half a month¡¯s worth of food was dissipating in front of Seb¡¯s very eyes. - After a week''s captivity, wasted food triggered Sebastian, he couldn''t stand the though. ¡°No, don¡¯t disperse!¡± He aborted the mana infusion, but it was too late, the smoky waterfall kept going, draining at the gelatinous core. He¡¯d never seen wastefulness as painfully embodied. Seeing a treasure literally vaporize in his hands induced a surreal feeling, a feeling of immense loss. His body suffocated, but he was powerless to help. Desperately, he moved the thing toward his mouth, trying to absorb more of it. He even tried to swallow it, but the heavy flow repelled him; He could barely grasp it with both his hands. He tried to breathe in the vapors, anything to minimize the waste. As he desperately breathed the fumes, he unconsciously did what he¡¯d so often done lately; he activated [Mana Channeling], then tried [Mana Streaming], not outwards, not directed at anything, nothing like he ever had before. He made it greedy, directed toward him, independent on his [Mana Channeling]. Instantly the scene changed. The dense fumes began flowing toward Sebastian. Not just into his mouth, but his skin, clothes, everything. There was still a painful amount vanishing, but Seb no longer minded it. A surge of energy entered him. Forget breathing in the ¡°soul realm;¡± this was amazing! Each cell in his body cried in euphoria. He struggled to contain himself; nothing could go to waste!
Congratulations! New Skill: Energy Absorption!
Energy Absorption 1/7
Absorbs unbound neutral energy from the surroundings
Seb ignored the message; he was too focused on the massive stream of energy. He let no thoughts disturb him, not as long as there were lifember fumes in the air. ¡°Woah, that was intense!¡± Seb exhaled. Sweat ran down his face, burning his eyes.He raised his hand to wipe it away. ¡°Huh? That¡¯s?¡± He examined his hand. It was full of sebum. It was as if the lifember had drained every blackhead from his face, leaving it littered with their excavated remains. Sebastian stood up. He felt great, full of energy! The lifember had worked wonders on his hangover. Holy shit, he wondered how much one of these could fetch on Amazon. Back in the normal world, this was indubitably worth more than a few weeks¡¯ food. He felt refreshed, strong, and invigorated! An urge to pee hit him. He left the barn to do his needs. ¡°Holy shit it¡¯s back!¡± Emptying the bladder would never be the same again. Seb held his breath in disgust. It felt like ages until the thick black liquid turned relievingly watery. ¡°That..was.. disgusting!¡± Was the black goo caused by absorbing the lifember, or had it been inside Sebastian all the time? Disturbingly enough, the latter felt more right. ¡°Screw kelp shakes and acai berries; this is some real ass cleansing 10/10! Seb wanted another lifember. His body needed it so badly he could feel it. He ran back into the barn for discretion. His strides were firmer than ever. ¡°Three left. I should absolutely pop another one!¡± Eager, but not rushing, he stopped for a moment¡¯s reflection. Magic! He couldn¡¯t find another explanation for what had just happened. Magic had to exist! Euphoria hit him as the past days of doubt finally swept away. Magic existed! The world wasn¡¯t discovered at all; it was full of mysteries, and he wanted to uncover them all! Magic, breathing¡­Meditation! How were they connected? The blue boxes, were they magical too? The bad feeling of waste still lingered in the back of his head. He wanted to do everything he could to consume the next lifember losslessly. He sat down, meditating over the past hour.Soon enough, he opened his eyes. He was ready for round two!