Varys had been taken for questioning. The only one who was taken in fact. Given his injuries and irritable personality, many expected him to be sent off to the hospital instead. But no, the young teenager was instead brought to the main barracks.
Michael, Febrona, and Tearis went back to the guild hall to check-in. Their gear was in shambles and their clothes were torn. With the previous day's party over. The guildhall had been empty save for a red hat mage, in red robes, their face seemingly unreadable.
“I’m glad you all made it back. I heard about the drama already and have to tell the two new members something. Febrona, you're free to go.”
Febrona suddenly shot back to life. “Great, don’t look for me.” She took out a small ball, tossed it on the ground,Azure smoke filled the room briefly, and when it cleared, Febrona was gone.
Kon turned to their two new members. “You two have seen a lot today, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions. All I can say is that this isn’t over and I'm sorry for sending you all out at a troublesome time. I also must ask you to stay near the guild hall or in the city until it's time to head to the academy. If you go out of the guild hall then try to at least say in pairs, preferably with a senior member. Members of D.H. and the Reavers may come after you. The guard didn’t leak your information but that doesn’t mean that those after you can’t get it by other means.”
“Yeah… I don’t even get why they’d come after me, aside from money. Bad guy kinda spilled his guts before he, well, spilled his guts. The question is who told them about me and what they were after. ” Tearis sighed.
“It’s not surprising that they’d know you were dungeon diving. But the exact dungeon is just one of a few low level options nearby. Well one of two options really.”
“I see.” Tearis crossed his arms.
“The other dungeon didn’t have any weirdness today, but it is a lot less dangerous and has only one floor, no traps, and weak monsters. It’s only good for training combat skills as the experience is negligible. Supposedly only three other parties, aside from whoever went after you entered that dungeon, the first leaving before you arrived, the second arriving before but seemingly traveling into the second stratum, and the third who arrived but hasn’t been found.
“So your saying we didn’t have to risk our lives stopping those cultists, had we decided to sit down somewhere and camp out?”
“No. The deeper in a dungeon one goes, the longer they plan on spending in there. You could have been waiting two or three days and by then whatever was let loose in there could have gathered power and either gone down, ignoring you, or it could have turned around and killed you.” Kon seemingly pulled a staff and knocked it upside Tearis’ head.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Don’t dwell on what if’s. The solution you found was quite fortuitous. If you dwell on hindsight you’ll end up drowning in what could have been instead of living with the decisions you’ve already made.” Kon explained.
Michale stayed silent as he thought for a long moment. “I told the knight I served back when I was just a squire. He’s still my superior so doing so is to be expected. But…”
“I also could have been tailed. Don’t think too hard, had we not had a monster on our side, that trip could have easily been lethal.” Tearis added.
“Right.” Michale muttered as he handed Tearis back his sword.
“Why are you giving me this?” Tearis said.
“It’s yours. And you're already giving me your share of the reward. That's too much.”
“Right. Febrona just needs to turn in our loot and give us our shares.”
“Doesn’t seem likely.” Tearis said with a deadpan expression.
“You’ll get your coin. Eventually. Febrona just needs to cool down. Dungeon dives that go this bad, tend to require some meditation after. She won’t spend it herself…this time. Oh look at the time. I’m quite late, see you later bye.” Kon skipped through the doorway and seemingly disappeared.
“I had a question.” Michale raised his hand partly.
“Michael, this guild has plenty of people with…personality. You need to be a bit more assertive in conversation or else they’ll try to slip away when they feel a conversation is getting awkward.”
“Personality ehh?”
“Michale, you're the straight man in this bin of loons. Unless you have some secret vices you haven’t told me about.”
“Nothing too unordinary I think.” Michale thought to himself while looking wistfully at a wall.
“I see. Well I’ll go do some bookkeeping before going to bed.” Tearis waved his ally goodbye as he headed up the stairs.
“Yeah. I’ll get going then.” Michale headed on out.
Tearis examined his new skills.
Ultimate skill, Soul Prison:(Rank 1) You disconnect your target's soul from the rest of their body.
Resisted, by soul.
While in this state their class, and job, levels are set to zero, they lose all attributes pertaining to this and are stunned for the duration as their mind is sealed within their soul. The duration of this stun is your magical attack stat, minus their soul defense stat, in seconds. You may gain N skills at random if the target survives. If the target dies while this skill is active, you gain up to 2+N skills belonging to the victim. Skills taken through this method do not stay with the owner. This skill uses all your mana, and can only be activated once every two days.
Warning, while this skill is active, you are unable to move. Should your target survives this skill, they know what you did to them, and will try to hunt you down to reclaim what you’ve stolen.
Dark Magic: (Rank 1), Dark attribute skills and spells now cost 50% less to cast and are 5N% more effective. You can learn and develop dark attribute spells 10N% faster.
Ritual Magic: (Rank 1), Ritual spells now cost 10N% less to cast, in both materials and mana. Rituals you lead are 5N% More effective, and you can memorize them that much faster.
Imbue Skill:(Rank 1) You may place a skill in an item to transfer it to others. Skills transferred share a rank with this skill if they are higher and have a maximum of this skill’s rank if lower. Requires 1 mana gem, 1 catalyst, and the item you wish to enchant. Any skills or items that benefit enchanting also benefit this skill. Passive skills of the same name do not stack.
Magus Training: You learn spells and martial skills 5N % faster, the armor you use is 10N% more effective. When you cast a spell, or use a magic-based skill while within melee range you may channel it through your hands and into your target if physical contact is made.
“Skill relearn, Mana bullet, Mind thief.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
You have lost four vp. Skills remembered, Mind Thief, Mana bullet
“Well… That's both broken and disappointing, I’ll need to visit a library and bag me a bookworm. I wonder if I’m still banned from entering the one nearby.” Tearis stated as he drifted into a restful dreamless nap.
Tearis woke up two hours later, cleaned the gunk off himself had a light lunch, before heading into the city. From there he began to move through the various groups hanging around in the afternoon with the ease of someone who had traveled that way for a long time. Arriving inside the library within thirty minutes.
The place smelled of paper, books, and well-maintained wooden furniture, not a speck of dust in sight nor a book out of place.
An elderly gray-haired woman with large spectacles sat behind a counter. In her wrinkled liver-spotted hands was a hefty tome.
Tearis bowed to the librarian as was customary, before approaching the desk and asking for help.
“Miss Bluetart, May I inquire where any books related to magic would be?”
“You can inquire all you want but it doesn't mean I’ll tell you.”
Tearis scowled. “Isn’t it your job to help me find books?”
“So long as their in the library, and you meet the requirements to check them out. The latter I know you don’t have, the former is how I know.”
Tearis closed his eyes. “So you don’t have books related to magic.”
“I have none that I can recommend or lead you to outside of fairy tails and the like.”
“I see.” Tearis leaned over the counter. “So… do you have any young bookish types looking for a job?”
“We have plenty, but if you plan on practicing magic or anything unbecoming of a dungeoneer then I’ll have to deny your request.”
Tearis blinked slowly. “That… Was not where I was going.”
“Could have fooled me.” The elderly woman rolled her gray eyes.
“I just need someone really good with numbers and won’t try to skim coin off the top.”
“Wait… Did I get this situation backwards?”
Tearis catching on after a moment. “Wrong yes, backwards no.”
“So you’re looking for an accountant.”
“More or less. I’m going to be gone soon and need someone to keep me updated on my assets.”
“What kind of assets?”
Tearis pulled out a binder containing notes on what he managed to organize. Rent from Fourteen businesses, six warehouses, and sixteen housing lots that he needed to check up on. All in all, he was currently making 50 gold a week. Which was great for passive income, enough to live two hundred or so years in peace. Tearis handed her the binder.
The librarian looked through the notes and sighed. “I have someone who would be able to look after your finances. So long as your fine with them as they will be going to your school.”
“But I need someone to manage things here.”
“She’ll be able to contact those she needs. How much do you plan on paying?”
“6 gold a month to start is a rather decent wage.”
“Make it eight gold a month, for six months, and I’ll have her meet you in a few minutes.”
“Eight is doable but I don’t know If I can do that for a stranger.”
“I get that. Three months and if you don’t like her service, I won’t bat an eye if you fire her.” The librarian quickly scribbled out a contract that hadn’t triggered, “Read between the lines”, which was concerning in more than one way.
“There is no deception here yet this feels fishy.”
“They can do the job well enough, it suits them.”
“I see. And we’re just putting her in charge of what I’ve listed. No other properties.” Tearis squinted.
“Correct.”
Tearis looked up at the ceiling thinking to himself, is there a proportionate relationship between lunacy and competence? He then signed the c
----------------------------------------
“You don’t hate me, do you?” Tearis looked at the unconscious girl and then back up at the librarian.
“Not really. I do prefer things quiet however.”
“Ah…”
The young woman wiped at her eyes as she sat up and stretched.
Tearis unconsciously took a step back as a wave of something rotten hit him.
“Morning.” The young woman yawned while she stretched.
“Its the late afternoon.” Tearis said with a deadpan expression.
“Huh...Wait who are you? Why are you in my room?”
“Laura, you work for him now, 8 gold a month for 3 months, just some basic book keeping and business management.”
“Oh.” Laura turned to Tearis.
Tearis took a step back. “I don’t know if this will work out.”
“You came at a rather bad time. She’s been training some new skills for the past three days.” The head librarian stated.
Laura looked down and then around. “This isn’t my room.”
“Took you long enough. You have two hours to look through this binder. I want a plan for a 25% increase in revenue.”
Laura looked through it and scowled. “These prices are ten years behind the standard rate.”
“I wouldn’t know. They were recently transferred.”
Laura mumbled something incoherent with the words silver spoon, tossed in.
“The feelings mutual.”
“Great. Laura, your new employer seems to be a mage. Explain why we can’t and won’t lend books pertaining to magical applications.” The head librarian stated before heading back to her desk.
Laura led Tearis to a desk after procuring a tome from a bookshelf. “Do you know the difference between skills and spells?”
“Skills use stamina, while spells use mana. At least that’s how I learned it.” Tearis answered.
“And that is right, until it isn’t. A mages mana bullet skill for example, isn’t considered a spell as it is just the raw application of your mana.”
“So it isn’t magic?”
“It is. Just not enough to be a spell. Class skills are not spells. They have more power early on but don’t do much for magic users on their own.”
“Would it be safe to assume that spells are treated separately on my status screens?”
“They would be yes.” Laura nodded.
“I really don’t have any spells then.”
“That’s normal. Unless you come from a family of mages that passes their knowledge down through a Grimoire. Chances are that your knowledge of how to cast spells will be limited if at all present. “Do you have a magic skill yet? Some mage classes don’t get them from the start due to how powerful their class skills are.”
“I have not obtained a magic skill from leveling yet. Not quite sure I will.” Tearis muttered. He was not going to reveal that he had stolen a dark magic skill. As far as he knew that could get him killed.
“You should get one soon, assuming you really are a mage. How much mana do you have?”
“About ten.”
“That isn’t much at all. What kind of mage are you?”
“Can we move on?”
“Fine. Be like that. It isn’t really a big deal.”
Tearis sighed. “Maybe not but I don’t want to really want to talk about it here. Or in public in general.”
“Ah… So your a necromancer.”
“Keep it down.” Tearis muttered as he looked about a few heads turning towards them.
“Oh right we’re in a library. Can’t believe I got it on my first try.”
“What would your second guess have been?”
“A dark mage.”
“And if that was wrong.”
“Then I’d have assumed you were a crimson mage. Those don’t get magic until level ten.”
“I see.” Tearis nodded. “Well then lets continue the lesson.”
Laura went on for about an hour before she noticed that Tearis was waning. He essentially learned that his class ranked low on the fear factor as they can’t do anything alone at the start. However the older a violet mage gets, the scarier they become. Violet mages also tend to have a screw or two loose due to the nature of their talents. One must first be on the blue path while getting both red and blue at the start. Then while on the blue path, they need to attempt to kill or poison the blue proctor. Then while on the gray path, they need to lie, kill, and manipulate their way to the end. Sane people rarely become Violet Mages.
Tearis gave Laura her assignment before heading home. Spending the next few days training his stats and mana pool.