“Hold it right there you! Hand over that bird! Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get it?” Yelled Duke Goldtree.
Gary ignored the screeching coming from the duke, and admired the bird that he was planning to eat. It was a colorful, beautiful bird, and he hoped it tasted as good as it looked. Gary started to hover away to look for some kindling.
Caleb was kneeling on the ground lamenting his fate. If this man didn’t hand over the peacock Caleb would never have his freedom.
“L-listen here the prince of Gilmour has demanded the capture of the Cosmic Mystery Peacock. If you don’t hand over the bird you can consider yourself the enemy of Talesser’s Mage Kingdom.” Demanded the Duke. This time shaking a bit as he now knew that he was facing a wizard. If this was some rouge wizard it would spell trouble for him.
Gary opened his mouth slightly, and then closed it. He responded with a magic missile. The missile struck a shield around the Duke's body. Startling him.
“Very well then.” The Duke placed his hand out, and a servant brought him a javelin. He hurled the javelin at Gary. The Javelin nearly impaled Gary through the neck, and unlike the duke he had no pre-prepared shields on his body. A mistake he decided to rectify one he made out of this. He dropped down from the sky onto the ground, and pulled out a sword. He intended to use his speed to kill Duke before he could throw off another javelin. A sky-scraping stage like him had no hopes against a true self wizard in a 1 v 1. However Gary was intercepted by the Knight, and the butler wielding two swords. The two of them were weaker than him, but they kept him distracted while another javelin whizzed past his head. Gary cast a fog cloud teleported out of it. He floated in the air, and looked down at Duke, and his servants. Duke had yet to notice him. He teleported behind him. He stabbed the Duke through his mana shield.
Gary quickly killed off the three servants, and ran back into the fog to kill the knight and the butler. Teleportation was a new power that he had acquired from playing around with the cube.
Gary stood over Caleb, and said. “Hey kid! You want wicked cool magic powers?” Caleb's eyes widened.
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Gary had decided rather abruptly that he wanted a disciple. He couldn’t kill the kid, well he could, but he’d feel bad about it. The kid seemed like he was a slave of some sort, so it was likely that it wouldn’t be noticed if he disappeared.
Gary’s hunger had led to him hastily cooking the Cosmic Mystery Peacock in an inappropriate manner. The peacock only gave magic powers when it was cooked a certain way. If it wasn’t cooked in a special way it would instead drastically reduce one’s lifespan.
Well at least it was delicious.
Gary only discovered this was the case during his nightly cultivation when he noticed that he only had a few short years worth of vital energy. Now Gary, and his new disciple Caleb who also ate of the bird, must make haste to find some way to prolong their lives or accept an early death. Luckily for Caleb, Gary had acquired the The dream-snatchers How-To-Guide, from a creepy space temple, that would allow a cultivator to steal the vital energy of others through their dreams. However to practice it one needed to undergo a cleansing ritual to rid themselves of their cultivation, and engrave a special rune on their body. Gary was not willing to start over. He wasn’t sure how likely it would be for him to ever make it back to the True Self realm. Caleb however, was perfect for it as he already had nothing, he had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
They waited for the full moon to arrive. It was necessary for the ritual. They spent their time living in a cave, eating the game that Gary caught. When The full moon arrived Gary strapped the young Caleb face down to a stone slab atop a hill. He then began performing a strange circular dance around the slab. A stream of color descended from the skies striking the boy’s body. From his screaming it could be inferred that Caleb was experiencing a lot of pain. Eventually the color stream ended, and Caleb could be seen breathing heavily on the stone slab. The ritual went off without a hitch, and Gary was able to accurately carve a rune on Caleb's back. This rune would allow him to astrally project. It would also give his astral form the ability to invade the dreams of others. Gary could astrally project as a wizard now, but he couldn’t invade the minds, or dreams of others. Gary could however use his astral form to attack the sea of consciousness of others. A reward from his experiences with soul combat.
Caleb led Gary to a local village. At some point Gary had decided that since he was now the enemy of this kingdom, he might as well take it over. It might prove useful to have all of those resources. He decided to start off with this village. Caleb told him that the people lived poverty stricken lives, and constantly went hungry. Gary thanked his luck and went about finding food for the village. Him alone could easily feed the village for the short term. Gary, and Caleb set up a soup kitchen with the permission of the village chief. At first he, and the villagers, were wary of the strange finely dressed man and his disciple, but a large donation to the chief, and time spent helping out the village eased away their worries. There Gary spoke to the people, and heard about their woes. At night Gary and Caleb would sleep in an empty house that the villagers had provided for them. Caleb would spend the nights astrally projecting, and stealing bits of vital energy from the villagers in their sleep. He was still incapable, and inefficient. He barely regained any lifespan, but he kept at it. Any amount of gained lifespan was a blessing. Gary would spend the nights cultivating. Over time the villagers came to trust the duo.