Chapter 141
The Knight
“Howdy!” I exclaim excitedly as I happily wave to the spirit guards who are on duty. Now I must admit that this is my first time being in an alternate realm since I’ve been back and I might be a little punch drunk on the nostalgic energy covering the place.
I also have made it a point to go around without my face covering on, just in case people need to see me in order to realize I am a Spiritlight. I know that will be my number one way of avoiding getting attacked here, recognition that I am not a threat to spirits.
Which if my gesture and the guards’ confused stares are anything to go from, then yes, it is working. I am being noticed as easily as if there was a twenty-foot glowing neon sign behind me flashing Free Chicken Nuggets, Just Cluck or Pay a Buck.
Yes, I did have to wear that sign while in college to make ends meet, and while it was not twenty feet tall, it was neon, so, that story was only slightly embellished. Of course, at the time I was wearing an over sized chicken costume and holding out trays of chicken nuggets as if I was roleplaying some kind of reverse cannibal.
Wait, where was I? Oh, right in the middle of a giant alternate spirit realm that looked sort of like the world we were slowly uncovering under tons of dirt and sand. Then I remembered my whole reason for being here, the two missing patrols. Thinking of them, I scanned the area and surprisingly found them rather quickly.
I won’t get into the auras of the living versus those of the dead, but living souls are rather easy to distinguish. Mainly because they have huge green wisps of life energy flowing off of them and slowly getting devoured by the spirit realm. Seeing their auras, I realize they are slowly dying, as most living things do when they enter the spirit realm. Well, most creatures do this, regardless of what alternate realm they enter as most of the time they are not meant to enter such deadly conditions.
As for me, the reason why I am able to survive here is because of my Death Shroud, one of my first-class merits for when my class was just a Void Walker. I still have that merit, even though my class has evolved twice since then, though the function of Death Shroud has oddly never increased. With the shroud, I can protect up to three others from the effects of going to or from the spirit realm. Most of the time I have a shroud permanently locked on Zero, and for a while I had a second slot locked on Mallory while we were both actively climbing the Arcanarus Tower together, but now I don’t really need to cover anyone. Namely because Zero is secure in the spirit tower, and Mallory is secure out in the mortal realm. Meaning that I can get to the four guards and save three of them with my shroud.
At that, I do wonder if they are going to do a mortal dilemma like that on me. Pose the question of whom to save. Of course, I’m going to save everyone because that’s what medics do, but we won’t tell the world that yet.
“Hey?” The guards reply, their words a bit confused.
Apparently, they aren’t used to someone saying howdy, I don’t blame them. It does take a certain level of enthusiasm to pull it off, otherwise you need to settle for a standard hello.
They seem confused, more than tense, which is good. I was going to ask them where my guild members are, but I can clearly see that they are about three miles away, near what appears to be a sacred site. I am guessing that is the tomb that I was supposed to look for, especially as it has the elvish runes for Tomb of The Immortal King.
I am about to ask about them, when I feel a much fainter source of Life Magic that is surrounded by a cacophony of Spirit Magic. Even from here I can feel powerful but discordant notes of magic being struck and plucked from the air.
“Can I ask for some advice?” I ask the guards.
The guards who look flustered at the fact that I would dare talk to them pause for a second, then answer.
“How may we help you, my lady?” A guard wearing a royal knights armor steps forward. If I had to guess, this would have been the final boss of the entry team battle.
Shiver.
Just seeing the knight stride forward confidently, I can’t help but be attracted to their grace, poise, and dare I say their faint control over magic. Not much, but it is clearly there, that faint trace of magic that elven nobles are almost sworn to have.
I pause, wondering what it is about this elf that causes me to be so enraptured. The knight walks right up to me, before stopping, then he did the most dramatic thing I had ever expected. Especially from a hostile force, in a hostile realm, far away from any form of help or assistance.
He kneeled.
As he kneeled, the guards who had also been around him awaiting for him to take action also kneeled. Then bowing his head and resting his arm against his chest, the knight spoke.
“My Lady, I apologize if my men did not treat you satisfactorily, as they would not be able to determine those with an awakened bloodline above Royal Lineage, as such your magnificence would be lost on them.” The Knight spoke.
Then as he spoke things began to make sense in my mind. Well slowly, this was an odd concept, but I finally understood why I was attracted to him in much the same way that I was attracted to being around Mallory, and Gwen. Though Gwen was muted, I thought my connection to her was due to that whole family ties, but now I think I had a deeper understanding of the world at large here.
“I take it that you have your own bloodline awakened?” I ask, wondering if this is in fact the case.
“Yes, your grace. I am a mere descendant of the royal De’Arcaneri bloodline. Honestly, I am surprised and honored that someone of your stature would even be able to recognize someone of my lowly status.” The Knight said.
As he spoke, a number of things suddenly made sense. Here we were seeing how the world intended people of awakened bloodlines to act and react to each other. This was so much fun, as I could feel my mind awakening with new thoughts on how the past civilizations must have worked in these worlds. I also could feel the effects of an awakened bloodline more clearly now.
That shiver that I felt earlier, that was the resonance of their bloodline reaching out and interacting with mine. Odd, as I didn’t see any true magic at play, meaning it must be some form of deeper energy that I am not yet ready to notice. Much like how Qi was so hard to pick up at first. Then just as I have these thoughts and ideas come to my mind, I get a series of system prompts letting me know I am on the right path.
New Skill Gained: Bloodline Sensing has reached level 1. Bloodline Sensing is a Personality, Sociability, Attractiveness, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
New Skill Gained: Ancient Elven Lore has reached level 1. Ancient Elven Lore is a Personality, Sociability, Attractiveness, Perception, and Intelligence based skill.
Then just like that, I knew my Guild quest was already paying off as I got two new skills to grind out and explore in my first few minutes. It is odd how I never got the bloodline sensing skill before, but I never had a way to think that it could be detected until now.
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Focusing on the knight, I felt like I could begin to see the telltale differences between a person with Royal blood and those with Legendary blood like myself. The obvious difference was the auras that were exerted by both of us. While I had dueling auras of Spirit and Life energies based solely on my bloodlines. This person had auras as well, his was Wind and Holy, but his were due to his levels being so high, over anything else.
Focusing, I had a hard time exactly understanding what it was that his bloodline did for him. Mine made me a magical spotlight, but his was odd. Honestly, I couldn’t quite understand his bloodline, at least not right now. Which I hoped I could get better at reading, the more I stuck around him, and thus the more I improved my new skill.
Then something about his words caught my attention. “Did you say, De’Arcaneri?”
The knight nodded, then answered while never raising his head from the ground. “I did indeed.”
“Oh, please stand up, this is going to be hard carrying on a conversation like this.” I said gesturing for him and for the other guards to stand up.
Honestly it was a lot of kowtowing, and I could care less for that sort of show.
“Stand at attention men.” The Knight said, realizing that no one else would notice my gestures for the others to rise.
“There we go.” I said, once everyone was once again standing. “Now I have to ask, are you in anyways related to Octavia De’Arcaneri?”
Hearing the word, the Knight looked shocked, even going so far as to stumble backwards slightly before catching himself. Then after a moment’s pause, he held his hand to his chest and answered, “yes, though that is a name I have not heard in a long time. That is the name of my sister, who we sent off to safety before the Blight claimed our lands and our lives.”
Hearing that I nodded, having expected something along those lines.
“Well, I have come with good news. Your sister dedicated her life to finding a cure for the Blight, and even in death she could not be stopped. She came up with the initial spell formula for Cleansing Rain, which we are using now to fight back the Blighted lands and bring life back to the world.” I said.
“You, you know of her?” The Knight asked, his words caught between astonishment and disbelief.
“Yes, I guess you could say I was a classmate of hers for a time. She showed me what was required to get a doctorate from Arcanarus University.” I said, and meant it too, for I knew that if I hadn’t seen her get one, I likely would not have pushed myself so hard to climb so high in the Arcanarus Tower. Of course, following on Mallory’s coat tails did make the process rather easy.
“You went to the Arcanarus University?” He asked, a note of incredulity to his voice.
I almost wanted to snipe something back, but then realized he likely meant something about me being just fourteen years old. I wanted to say my age looked younger due to my cultivation, but figured that would be a different argument entirely. While I couldn’t quite prove that I had a cultivation core that made me appear younger and more youthful, I did have my degrees, which I proudly displayed.
Arcanarus University Doctoral Degree: +100% Skill Efficacy to Spell Theory and Magical Theory.
Arcanarus University Surgical Doctoral Degree: +100% Skill Efficacy and growth rate to Ethereal Energy Circulation theory and Ethereal Energy Resonance theory.
Now I am not one much for bragging, but sometimes it does feel pretty good to boast about yourself. I figured in this case, this was one of those low key humble brags.
Gasps.
The knight and his entire retinue of guards all gasp at the sight of not one but two different doctorates.
“You, you graduated with honors?” The knight stammers out, reaching forward and holding his hand out as if asking for permission to read my degrees. Seeing as they are soul bound and that they will regenerate, even if he destroys them or tries to steal them, I shrug and hand them to him.
“Honors? How can you tell?” I ask.
“The golden paper with black stylist writing, that is the true indication of a graduate with honors.” The Knight said, turning back to seemingly confirm his thoughts with one of the older looking guards who just nods.
“Oh.” Is all I can say, as I never noticed a color in the papers, stupid being blind, thanks to my Angel’s Sight. No wait, I don’t regret that exchange at all. I gave up seeing my golden paper to be able to witness magic at the cellular level, I will take that any time over being able to distinguish basic colors. I thought about it, and then realized that of course I would graduate at the top of my class, as I was literally a class of one. Regardless of how you slice that, I am going to be the top graduate for that year.
“Is it true that to get a Doctorate from Arcanarus University you need to create and be able to cast a Tier VII magical spell?” One of the guards asks.
I pause and realize that is exactly what Octavia did to get hers. Then pausing I realized that I too had done the same to get mine.
“Yeah, sounds about right.” I state, nodding.
“What spell did you create?” The Knight asked, picking up the thread of conversation.
“Just a few. Like Blight Purification, Resurrection, Blight Immobilizing Cleansing Rain.” I began, but I could tell that the people looking at me were a bit skeptical at this, so rather than just stating what I had done, I decided to bring forth the list of spells I had created. I dismissed the spells that were chosen as part of my class evolutions, and got rid of the spells created when I was either Sabrina or Tobias and instead just focused on the ones that would match the degree. At that, I had the question of whether I could get degrees as both Tobias and Sabrina, but then decided to quit that as I gave time for my different spells that I created to sink in.
Spirit Blight Purification (C): [Tier VII]. A spell designed by Cassiopeia Spiritlight to purge Spirit Blight within entities.
Resurrection (C): [Tier IX]. A spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight, used to bring a spirit back from the dead.
New Spell Created: Spirit-Magic Channel Bypass (C): This is a spell made by Cassiopeia Spiritlight to be a means to bypass standard spell inhibitors. Reserve: 10%.
New Spell Created: Spirit-Attribute Channel Bypass (C): This is a spell made by Cassiopeia Spiritlight to be a means to bypass standard Attribute inhibitors. Reserve: 10%.
New Spell Created: Spirit-Skill Channel Bypass (C): This is a spell made by Cassiopeia Spiritlight to be a means to bypass standard Skill inhibitors. Reserve: 10%.
New Spell: Curse Removal [Tier IX] (C): This spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight can remove any curse that is Tier VIII or lower. For tier IX curses, a contested battle of wills will need to be conducted to determine a victor.
New Spell Created: Spiritual Awakening [Tier IX] (C): This spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight can temporarily awaken the senses of the targeted individual, leading to an increased growth in Skills, Spells, and other means of Learning. Current rate 10% increase for 24 hours.
*Spell Restriction: This spell must be cast on two people simultaneously, who are both willing participants.
**Warning: May cause unusual emotional side effects.
New Spell: Perfect Resurrection [Tier X] (C): This spell was created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight and allows the caster to create a perfected body for a newly deceased soul to reside in. Effect: Spirit is resurrected into a body deemed to be the peak physical form for their race and will experience a period of enhanced youth and vitality because of this. Negates any detriments caused by old age, such as painful joints, decreased muscle and bone density, or other effects associated with aging.
New Spell Created: Spirit Drift [Tier VI] (C): This spell was created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight, and allows the caster the ability to defy gravity by having their spiritual weight substitute for their actual weight. Reserve: 25% of Maximum Mana.
New Spell Created: Polymorph: Divine Double Wings (Pearl) [Tier X] (C): This spell was created by Sabrina Spiritlight and allows the caster the ability to permanently grow two sets of elegant wings. Mana: 10,000 (total) to cast, Reserve: 5%.
New Spell: Conjured Magical Spirit Orb [Tier IX] (C): A spell designed by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that creates a highly compact magical construct that is infused with Spirit, Life, and Nature magic.
New Spell Created: Glitter Burst [Tier VII] (a): A spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that allows the caster to create a distracting burst of light, that will then coat anyone caught in the blast radius with mana particles. Good for entertainment, tracking, and light scale vandalism.
Blight Immobilizing and Purifying Cleansing Rain (C) [Tier XIII]: A master work spell involving dual spell work latices, created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight. This rain will both immobilize people suffering from the Blight, while simultaneously curing them of the affliction.
Only after seeing everything did I question my want to point out the fact that I had found a way to bypass standard magic, skill, and attribute inhibitor cuffs. But then realized they might focus on other spells, like the aforementioned Blight Immobilizing and Purifying Cleansing Rain, that spell is as hard to say as it is as hard to cast. I can safely say, my want to cast a Tier XIII and beyond spell is officially over, as those spells require a lot of focus and time to cast correctly.
Then before people can have time to find out about my more devious spells, I dismiss the pane of spells created.
When I look back at the crowd, there is an inherent silence, until finally the number two in control here asked.
“Did I see that correct?” He asked.
At this, I wondered if he saw the fact that I could easily bypass standard security cuffs. Well at this point I was fairly certain I could bypass all cuffs, standard or otherwise, but I decided not to go down that hole and get him to make me confess.
“Depends, what did you see?” I ask, almost waiting for the statement to come.
“You created a Tier VII spell,” he began, and I could almost feel the accusation rising. “Called Glitter Bomb?”
“Glitter Burst, but yes. It was to help win a race and I told the slow grandparent that I was racing against to eat my sparkles, then she did.” I state.
Silence.
There was a moment of complete silence that befell everyone present, before everyone started bursting out laughing.
I even cast the spell to show what I was talking about.
Glitter Burst.
POOF.
Everyone was covered in so much glitter their partners would swear they went to the clubs.
They all stared at the glitter in awe and then panic.
“Don’t worry, it is just mana, it will evaporate in time.” I state, saying the best part about the spell, the fact that it is biodegradable.
“Just mana? But it glows so brightly?” One of the guard states.
“Idiot, of course it does, that is the mana of a Legendary bloodline owner. Of course, it is going to be more intense than normal.”
I wanted to correct them stating that I had made it that way, but then decided to dismiss that as I see the magic of my spell getting pulled off to the distance towards the other faint source of Life Magic I saw earlier that was not related to my guild members.
“Can I ask, what is that over there?” I state, pointing off into the direction that the energy from my spell is clearly being pulled off to.
“Oh that, it is probably best you stay away from there.” The Knight said.
Poof.
Of course, I was too fascinated by what was happening to really listen to such remarks. Which was why I Teleported towards the source of odd magic, and towards what would appear to be a Lich.