18
On his way down the stairs, Vander tore open the imps and fiends and crushed their cores, breathing in the rush of mana that escaped. His full mana storage quaked as he siphoned all the impure mana into himself, purified it, and then shoved it inside, forcing it to expand.
The ache caused didn’t even register as his tumultuous heart raged at the Witch, the gods, and his own inability to do a damn thing. She had been right there! He had touched her! Felt her against his skin, heard her words. An endless pit of vitriol bubbled in his gut, one that wouldn’t be so easily calmed.
His leather boots stepped on the first floor, and the black key to the locked door clicked in place. The key and door both disintegrated into red particles of light that faded into nothingness.
Descending to the basement took several minutes, time he didn’t even perceive. When the walls widened and gave to a proper dungeon, dank and dark with a monster hissing at him from the center, he almost felt relieved.
Keeper of the Core
Level 25 Terror Fiend (Boss)
The name, level, and boss classification all seemed like soundless static, an annoying buzz in his ears he had to swat into a bloody paste to silence. A fiend with intelligent pools of red and black hissed back at him. Flames flapped from its wings and propelled it towards Vander.
He didn’t back down and stomped the ground, exploding forward. The fiend slashed towards him, sending waves of black flames gushing towards him.
“Just.” A lightning clad punch blasted through the flames. He kicked off the ground again and covered the distance between them at a dizzying speed. “Fucking.” He punched forward before the fiend could react and growled, “Die.”
His other hand gripped the fiend by the neck and lifted it off the ground as its body spasmed, an endless torrent of raging lightning coursing through its limbs. Nothing left but a corpse, Vander threw the fiend aside and drew his sword.
“Who are you?” he asked the man held in place by black and red chains coming from the Core the Keeper had guarded. “And why shouldn’t I kill you?”
“Well, firstly, I enjoy life. I may have lived a long one, but I’d not like to die so shamefully. Secondly, if it weren’t for me, you’d be dead,” an ancient voice replied, the same as the one that guided him when the elixir raged through him. “Third, I can help you.”
Vander lowered his sword and frowned. What the man said was true. Were it not for his guidance, he’d not have grown as strong as he had in such a short time. “Who are you?”
The ancient looking man grinned. “Does that matter? You don’t seem like the type who’d kill an unarmed man.”
“Depends. What did you have to do with what happened upstairs?” Vander watched the man carefully.
“What do you mean?”
Vander pressed his sword against the man’s neck. “Don’t play games with me if you want to keep your life. I won’t ask you twice.”
The man tried to stretch his neck away from the sword, but the chains kept him in place. “I’m not trying to fool you, sonny. I’m not certain I know what you’re talking about.”
“If you don’t know what happened in the tower, then how’d you know I’d die to the mana torrent?” Vander questioned, skeptical. The system kicked back with the same question marks as Madison, telling him absolutely nothing of the person before him.
“Until then, I’ve been completely isolated inside of this dungeon, acting as a battery for that pitiful low grade fiend. If your mana hadn’t been so unstable, I never would’ve known you were here, honest.” The old man stared defiantly into Vander’s eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He raised a hand and placed it over his heart. “On my name as Archmage Findelson, I swear on my connection to the arcane plane that all I’ve said is true.”
“How does an Archmage get captured by such weak devils?”
Findelson sighed. “I had something to lose, and they got their hands on it.”
“Tell me,” Vander ordered.
“My daughter,” the archmage said, hanging his head. “They took my daughter and held her hostage. Even now, I don’t know if they’ve killed her or not.”
Madison’s image superimposed itself over the captured archmage. Vander turned and wrenched the marble sized Core free from where it floated in mid air and lowered his sword. The chains shattered like glass against the floor and freed the man. “With this, consider us even.”
“I knew you’d make the right choice, sonny,” the archmage said with a sad smile. He waved a hand, and the blank scroll Vander received from the floor above floated from his pocket and into the archmage’s hands. He held up a hand, and an overwhelming mana slammed into Vander’s raised sword. “Contain yourself, young man. Show some respect to your elders, won’t you?”
“You dare?” Vander hissed as he struggled against the force holding him in place.
A floating quill and ink pot scrawled something across the paper. After several seconds, the scritching of the quill came to a halt and disappeared with the ink pot. The archmage flicked his fingers, and the scroll turned towards Vander, revealing a magic circle.
“What is it?” Vander asked, his curiosity overtaking his indignation at having the scroll vandalized against his control.
“A magical scroll that will bring you back here.” Findelson rose from the ground, and a majestic robe settled over his shoulders. A wooden staff with an orb ten times the size of the Core in Vander’s hand nestled at the top. Two rings appeared on both hands, as did a necklace. “Much better.”
Vander ignored him, sheathed his sword, and took the scroll in his hands. “Why did you do this? What good is this to me?”
“Hey now, just because a Devil General shackled me here doesn’t mean I’ve got nothing to provide. I’m pretty old, you see, and one does not simply become an archmage.” Seeing the clear disdain in Vander’s eyes, Archmage Findelson clicked his tongue in annoyance and waved his hand. “Maybe this will appease your frustration.”
Archmage Emir Findelson (S+ Rank)
Class: Arcanist (Tier 7)
He’s a whole rank above my dad. Vander nodded. “It helps.”
“I pay back my debts. You have given me back my life that I’d thought long since doomed, and that is priceless. Without my help, I’m sure you would have found a solution to the effects of the elixir, so I can’t be so shameless as to call us even.” He looked towards the Core in Vander’s hand and sighed.
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“So?”
The archmage scowled, his eyes flashing blue-violet. “Oh, I see. You’re quite a complex individual.” He waved his hand, and one of the rings on his hand floated over to Vander. “Given the circumstances, I understand that you may not believe me to be a capable person.” The archmage shrugged. “Take this as a gift for now. It’s not much, but it will help you on your journey. Maybe when we meet again, we’ll do so on more amicable terms. For now, your class assessment calls, sonny.”
(Magic) Arcana’s Favor
A growth type ring gifted to Archmage Findelson after completing his Tier 5 class advancement.
Grade: Epic
Requirements: Approval of Archmage Findelson
Effects: +200 Arcana
+1000 Magic Capacity
Stored Mana: 3,125/100,000
Will evolve once the max storable mana is reached.
“Keep giving me things like this, and we won’t have any problems,” Vander said. He slid the ring on his left hand and felt the rush of mana as a connection formed between the ring and his magic heart. He turned and waved the ringed hand over his shoulder, “I’ll be going now.”
“Don’t let anybody know you have that Core, sonny. And do be safe. I’d like to get my ring back at some point,” the archmage said, shooting a troubled look at Vander’s back.
Then Vander accepted the prompt that had been hovering in front of his face and moved to the second part of the class assessment.
***
Skill Tracking for Event: Class Assessment, Part 1
True Lightning Proficiency
Initial level recorded: 17
Final level recorded: 30
Nice breakthrough!
Braxton Breathing Technique
Initial level recorded: 36
Final level recorded: 45
Just keep breathing, breathing, breathing.
Magic Body
Initial level recorded: 25
Final level recorded: 30
Growing like a tree!
Swordsmanship
Initial level recorded: 57
Final level recorded: 59
Slice, stab, stabby-stab-slice…
Spearmanship
Initial level recorded: 15
Final level recorded: 37
And a jab, stab, stabby-stab-stab!
Throw
Initial level recorded: 21
Final level recorded: 27
Yeet!
Vander Braxton (D Rank)
Class: Basic (Tier 0)
Title(s): Unlucky Reincarnator, One With Potential, Successor of the Pinnacle Hunter, Successor of the Braxton House
Strength: 279 (+75)
Agility: 284 (+75)
Endurance: 313 (+75)
Willpower: 243 (+75)
Perception: 314 (+75)
Arcana: 503 (+275)
Skill Points: 0
Skills:
True Lightning Proficiency (Level 30), Quiet Steps (Level 28), Running (Level 24), Climbing (Level 9), Tracking (Level 27), Spearmanship (Level 37), Throw (Level 27), Meditation (Level 68), Herbology (Level 12), Trap Making (Level 17), Archery (Level 9), Braxton Breathing Technique (Level 45), Braxton Sword Arts (Level 1), Magic Body (Level 30), Swordsmanship (Level 59)
Vander gained a few skill levels here and there from his combat against the fiends and imps, but the most noticeable increase came from the growth to Magic Body, which grew by an impressive five levels, the Braxton Breathing Technique, almost ten, and an astonishing thirteen on True Lightning Proficiency.
He attributed the growth of his magic purely to the elixir and cores he’d absorbed from the imps and fiends, even if the latter gave him an insignificant amount in comparison. At some threshold, he’d felt the ability to materialize his lightning magic and had experimented with it against the Keeper of the Core.
Needless to say, he hummed with power yet felt utterly powerless at the same time. Madison’s cramped face haunted his mind as he looked down at a village from atop a tree.
Class Assessment: Part 2 of 3
Each part of the class assessment will reward points based on performance. The points will only be usable in the Class Shop. The shop will open at the end of the assessment after all results have been calculated.
Completion Goal: Save the villagers (0/25)
Secondary Goal: Kill the bandits
The forest between him and the village couldn’t be called small, but after living his whole life in The Snarl, it hardly registered as a threat. While he watched the village below, still peaceful and bandit free, he stared at the Core in his hand.
Dungeon Core
An intelligent orb of mana. Has many uses, including but not limited to simply creating a dungeon or acting as a mana stone in magical items.
Stored Mana: 753,383/1,000,000
This Core does not like you. You took it from its warm home where it got easy mana.
This Core is afraid of you and what you’ll do with it.
This Core is curious and wants to know why you haven’t destroyed it yet.
This Core is concerned for its future.
This Core thinks you smell like a savage.
This Core thinks you look like a savage.
This Core is afraid its new master is an idiot.
This Core wants…
This Core needs…
…
Shut up, Vander commanded, silencing the countless prompts blocking his vision. Ever since he’d entered the second stage, the damned thing had gotten quite chatty. He was in no mood for its petty wants, needs, desires, thoughts, or any other mental projection.
This Core is concerned. You seem to be in distress.
This Core wants to know if there’s any way it can help you.
This Core thinks it can save itself if it becomes useful to its master.
This Core…
What. Did I. Just say? The urge to throw the marble sized mana crystal grew the more prompts he received. Already, he’d lost count of how many times he’d thought to crush the damned thing and be done with it. Be quiet for now if you want to help. You and I will discuss more about the future when I’m finished here.
The silence that followed seemed like a sign of acquiescence, and he sighed in relief. The last thing he needed on his plate was an intelligent Core blasting prompts in the corner of his vision as he was fighting. Would be a damned shame to die in such a way, distracted by something that couldn’t even manifest itself as something tangible.
But what a story that’d make in whatever hells this place has waiting for me. Pushing aside the negativity, he focused his senses. He needed to blow off some steam, and the perfect hunt had just walked into his territory.
He dropped down from the top of the tree and landed on a branch below, grinning at the unsuspecting prey. He’d hunted several before to grind easy skills, but this one caught his interest more than others.
For good reason too.
Zara, the Swift
Level 33 Ghost Tiger (Elite)