“Holy crap…” Hazel marveled at the beautifully made magic circle in all of its glory. “You actually found a Summoning Circle?”
“By accident, actually,” Astrid clarified. “The first thing I saw was this chest, and when I examined it, I spotted the chamber next to me. I planned to tell you after I opened this chest first, but it seemed you beat me to it.”
Astrid continued to pick the Chest’s lock, adjusting her lockpicking tools at the right angle to try and open it.
“By the way,” Hazel spoke up. “I didn’t know you could pick locks.”
“All legions of the Greyvolk Tribe are taught how to lockpick. It’s a common practice since we do a lot of infiltration jobs.”
As Astrid explained, the sound of snapping metal could be heard and the dark elf groaned, moving away from the chest.
“Damn!” She swore, smashing her fist against the wooden chest in anger. “This lock is a lot tougher than I thought.”
“Should I just blast it open with a Mana Bolt?” Hazel asked, readying her staff.
Astrid shook her head. “No, we might end up destroying whatever was inside.” She pulled herself up and brushed off her knees since she was kneeling while dealing with the chest. “I’ll deal with that in a minute. You said before that you found something?”
“Oh, right!” Hazel suddenly remembered why she was there and scrambled for the sheet.
She was so excited and amazed by the summoning circle that she completely forgot about the Grimoire page. Pulling it out, Hazel showed it off to Astrid.
“I found another Grimoire Page!”
Astrid’s eyes widened as she stared at the sheet of paper. “Are you serious? What spell did you find?”
“Apparently, Telekinesis. If I learn this spell, I’ll be able to control things with my mind.”
“Incredible…” She grinned. “With Telekinesis, you’ll be able to restrict our enemies' movements or even throw things at them to hold them off.”
Hazel nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Once she learned the spell, her capabilities would skyrocket. She could restrain any monster that attacked them, allowing Astrid to take them down with her bow or daggers, and she could even move things to either throw or block something.
With enough training, it was possible that she could even stop projectiles that came their way. Even better, hurl multiple weapons at the monsters. The possibilities were practically endless for Hazel.
“Well, don’t just stand there on my account,” Astrid urged. “Learn the spell.”
Hazel nodded while staring at the page. As she did, the same panel appeared before.
[Would you like to learn “Telekinesis” spell?]
“Yes,” She declared.
[You have obtained the Telekinesis Spell!]
Hazel smiled before closing her eyes and mentally pulling up the description of the Telekinesis spell.
Rank 1
A spell that allows the User to manipulate objects without touching them. At its lowest rank, a mage can only levitate small items that fit in the palm of their hands and slightly larger. Bigger objects like furniture, weapons, living creatures, vehicles, etc. cannot be lifted at Rank 1.
“It looks like I can only levitate small objects at the moment,” Hazel noted. “Though that in itself was still amazing.”
“Well, all skills start at Rank 1, so that should be a given,” Astrid reasoned. “Try it out, and see how it works.”
Taking the dark elf’s advice, Hazel raised her staff and targeted a small object nearby, which was a pencil on a table. She closed her eyes and focused on the item, activating her telekinesis spell.
Her body was filled with energy before transferring to the staff. A light blue light emitted from the tip of the gnarled wood before it suddenly vanished. For a moment, Hazel feared that she failed to activate the spell.
Then…
On the table, the pencil she tried to use telekinesis on began to slightly hover. Hazel and Astrid marveled at the sight, amazed at what they were seeing. The pencil continued to levitate, remaining in the air like it was stuck in place.
Cocking a brow, Hazel focused on the pencil again, imagining that it was moving closer to her. As if responding, the item flew away from the desk and rocketed toward Hazel fast. Like really fast!
“C-crap…” Hazel moved to the side, dodging the pen as it bolted past her and collided into the wall, breaking in half from the impact.
She and Astrid turned around to see the pencil split apart on the floor, looking bewildered. If Hazel hadn’t reacted in time, she would’ve been pierced by that writing tool just now.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“W-well…” Hazel stammered. “At least…we know it works, right?”
“Yeah…”
It seemed clear to both of them that Hazel required some training to properly use Telekinesis. Or at least to where she wouldn't accidentally kill herself.
Putting aside the Telekinesis spell, for now, Hazel and Astrud shifted their attention back to the Magic Circle. Although they found the Summoning circle, neither of them knew how it worked.
The pair walked away from the chest and into the chamber with the summoning circle. Standing in front of it, Hazel kneeled down and examined the circle once more.
“How do you think we can activate it?” She asked.
“You’re the one with the mage class, not me,” Astrid shrugged. “I figured you would know what to do.”
“Well, I hate to disappoint you but I’m just as clueless about this as you.”
Hazel had never done summoning magic before, so she hadn’t the fainting clue of what to do. Plus, she was afraid to do anything to the circle, since she might ruin it, thus being unable to actually use it to summon a familiar.
“Maybe there’s a book here that can explain how to work the summoning circle,” Hazel suggested.
Since this floor was filled with books, Hazel assumed that one of them contained information about the magic circle. Considering that whoever lived here made blueprints for robots and magic turrets, then there had to be something that could give them a clue on how to activate the circle.
“You could be right,” Astrid mused, tapping her chin. “See if you can find any books that have to do with the summoning circle while I deal with this Chest. If it's difficult to pick, then there has to be something good inside.”
With their new goals set, Astrid left the chamber and went back to working on the chest. Turning away from the dark elf, Hazel scanned the circle, trying to see if there was something she was missing.
She didn’t know much about magic circles, but she at least knew that certain types were used for rituals and the like and required certain conditions to activate it like blood from sacrifices or something similar.
Then a thought occurred to Hazel. What if she poured her mana into the circle like with the Magic Torch? It was a long shot, but something told Hazel to attempt this.
Placing her hand on the summoning circle, she closed her eyes and called upon her mana to transfer it into the chalk circle. Her mana built up within her before pouring out through her palm and into the circle.
A split second later, the circle began to emit a purple light while making a loud humming sound. Hazel hastily retracted her hand with a worried expression. However, a new panel appeared that washed that look right off her face.
[Would you like to perform The Summoning Ritual? Y/N]
Her lips curled into a wide smile. That answer was pretty obvious.
“Yes!”
[Warning! You do not meet the requirements to perform the summoning Ritual! Player must have at least fifteen points in Willpower Attribute.]
Hazel’s smile immediately disappeared and then shifted to a frown. Her brows creased into a glare as she irritably stared at the panel.
“Seriously? Just let me have my moment, dammit!” She scratched her head in annoyance. “How many points do I have in Willpower, anyway?”
Hazel hastily pulled up her status window, wondering how far she was from hitting twenty points for Willpower.
Status Window
Name: Hazel Thatcher
Race: Human
Level: 14
Class: Mage
Free Points: 0
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 16
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 32 (+8)
Wisdom: 30 (+3)
Willpower: 12
“Tch…only three points.”
She only needed three points to meet the requirements. Unfortunately, she had no free points to do so. Which meant she was left with only one option; hunting and leveling up.
Maybe there were monsters outside the tower that were strong enough to give Hazel enough XP to level her up. After coming this far, she wasn’t going to give up just like that. It didn’t matter how many monsters she had to kill to reach level twelve, as long as the goal was reached.
“Looks like I’m going to be doing some hunting again…”
Slowly standing up, Hazel gripped her staff before leaving the chamber. As soon as she stepped out, Astrid suddenly cheered out loud.
“Yes! I got it open!”
In front of her, the chest she had been desperately working on was finally opened, revealing its contents. Astrid wore a triumphant smile after managing to unlock the chest.
“At least one of us managed to accomplish something,” Hazel mumbled, walking over to Astrid and kneeling next to her.
“Can’t figure out how to work the circle?” Astrid asked curiously.
“No, I figured it out. I just can’t activate the circle because I don’t meet the requirements yet.”
The dark elf cocked an eyebrow. “What’s the requirement?”
“I need fifteen Willpower for the Summoning Ritual, but I’m three points short. So, I need to do some hunting to get some points.”
Astrid groaned, her head hanging low in frustration. “Just when you think everything was going well.”
“I haven’t given up yet. You get three free points with each level up, so I’m going to hunt as many monsters as I can to get to level fifteen and put my free points into Willpower.”
“Then I’ll help you. The sooner we can get this done, the better.” Astrid turned her attention back to the chest. “Now then, let’s see what’s inside this thing.”
Astrid rummaged through the chest, seeing what kind of items she was expecting. There were several sheets of paper stuffed in it along with a gold pocket watch, purple-tinted spectacles, and what appeared to be a dress.
Hazel eyed the dress curiously. There was something about it that piqued her interest.
The dark elf frowned. “Great, I wasted my time opening this damn chest for nothing.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Hazel said, reaching into the chest and pulling out the intriguing clothing.
It was a purple and black dress with an A-line or sheathed appearance. Unlike Hazel's robe, this dress seemed very restricting, making her believe that she would have a difficult time moving around in it.
Bringing it closer, Hazel tried to identify it and see what it was. And she was glad she did.
Epic Item
A magic dress that grants the user more magical capabilities, making them a force to be reckoned with. Features Include +25 Intelligence, +15 Wisdom, +10 Willpower, +30 Def.
A smile once again formed on her face as she eagerly eyed the magic item. Astrid didn’t know it yet, but she made the right call in unlocking that chest.
Because now…it was time to perform a Summoning Ritual.