Chapter 42; An Auspicious Visit._Exodar Chronicles

While Ander and Karsish escaped the library, they did not get far. It was not a minute later that a hatchling in a green cloak came running up to them, panting.

“Are you Ander Nightshade?” The boy asked as he tried to catch his breath. Ander nodded and he continued. “I was sent by Sir Argvald. He has ordered that you must stay in the city tonight. He will have need of you in the morning.” Ander glared, and the boy cringed. Ander reeled in his fear aura. He was going to have to learn better control of that. It tended to unravel any time he got annoyed.

“He said that? Did he give a time that I should meet him?” Ander asked.

“Yes. You should meet him when the sun touches the bottom of the pit.”

“Thanks.” Ander said, and he walked off to find some place to stay. Surprisingly, he was able to find an inn run by the Dusk’s Rangers. As he crossed nearby, a couple men recognized him and called him in for a drink. He wasn’t really interested, but they were insistent, and they toasted his cultist killing escapades. It was several hours later that he remembered meeting the pair previously in the town. They were as rambunctious and asinine as ever, but Ander found himself laughing at their antics. Eventually he secured a room for himself and one for Karsish.

Even though it was pretty dark out, with the only light being reflected into the pit, it was still around three in the afternoon. And so Ander manifested the books Karsish needed for his research, as well as the shelf he had stolen from the library. He was determined to find a way to train his mental defence before he left the pit. And leaving the pit seemed like it would come rather soon, which meant he had to be ready.

He spent hours pouring over the books, and found that while mind attacking monsters were not common, they certainly did exist. They were common enough that most prey monsters had a rather significant level of innate mental resistance which was exactly what Ander wanted. He made note of several varieties of monsters which made use of mental attacks. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there were very few spider monsters that would be appropriate for his purposes. Spider monsters generally had the most powerful mind attacks, and used them to force prey into deadly traps. Their attacks were quick, strong, and brutally efficient. And that went for every species that used them.

There were a variety of other monsters in the dwarven ruins that were more worthwhile. From a snail with a stupefying shell to a wolf creature that used mental attacks to stun their prey. The whole ecosystem of the other ruins were far more diverse, and that went for their mind attacks too. However, it seemed that the mental attacks were used mostly to stupefy an enemy for an attack.

There were a few monsters that used an enthral type attack. They were categorically horrifying, ghosts of wronged women, jellyfish that floated in the air and made use of terrible attacks, and other far darker creatures. Each one made Ander’s skin crawl, but their power to enthral their victims into walking into death sounded closest to what nobles like High Lord Torden were doing naturally. He would work up to those.

For now he had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening researching, even having dinner brought up to him. It was time for bed. The next morning, Ander accosted Karsish about magic. He wanted to find some good spells to use in his fight with Cormal, but was quickly disappointed. Karsish was learning the basics through his Ancestral Sage ability. Apparently, even with the time dilation one could experience reliving another’s memories, it was still a long slog. Magic was a very learning focused field of study, and it would be a while before Karsish knew enough to distil it down so that Ander could use the simple spells he wanted.

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Of course Karsish attempted to cajole Ander into studying in the same way, using Minds of the Void to relive the old man’s memories. But Ander was already tired of studying from his efforts the previous day. He could spend weeks learning magic, or he could train his skills. The skills would be more useful in the short term. He would learn magic properly. It was too useful. But higher skill levels were easier to get.

And so, Ander left the Dusk’s Rangers’ inn and started to make his way to the sparring ground. Except he saw something peculiar. His perception stat was barely enough to make it out against the dark backdrop of the shadowed pit. It was a platform being lowered down. Ander was confused. Hatchlings came every three months or so, and it had only been a bit over a week since Ander and his clutch had come to the pit. Who else would come here? Was it new instructors? Preparations for the championship? It was easy enough to check.

Ander made his way to the west side of the town. The light was descending that side of the pit as the sun rose in the east, but the elevator had already passed where the sun marked the side of the pit. Ander watched from atop a building as the elevator landed and disgorged it’s passengers. His heart started to sink as he saw two large figures, big enough to make the rest look like children. His fears were confirmed when their faces came into sight.

High Lord Torden and Sir Mattheos walked surrounded by a group of 11 women, and a larger group of commoner attendants. High Lord Torden was over a hundred yards away, but even now Ander could feel the edges of his aura pushing at his mind to love and accept him as liege, lord, and father. Ander did his best to push it away and keep watching as a jubilant celebration started in the streets. He had to know what they were doing. But the compulsion got stronger with every step High Lord Torden took.