Skendus walked through the city, in order to get to the Floating Pupil sect of illusion. The sect was very easy to find, considering that the guards helped him locate it, so it took him less than twenty minutes to get there. Once he got there, he was beyond amazed!
Much like the name of the sect would encourage, the building of the sect was in fact, a whole floating pupil! Well, it was a floating eyeball, to be exact, a very detailed depiction of a large eyeball.
Skendus stared the forty-meter wide eyeball down, and couldn't help wondering how much gold and mana it might have taken to build this place. It was a phenomenal building, truly unique!
“We've been told that there are sculpting mages in the city, but this looks unreal, it's almost as if I'm in a fantasy land.” He thought, and he also couldn't help calculating. “It must have taken millions of mana points to build this, because I'm yet to see a stone that can so vividly mimic the color of the blood vessels that our eyes have. For goodness sake, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hundred mages were commissioned to build this thing!”
There was no easy way to comprehend what he was witnessing, he was baffled, but he didn’t come here to admire the architectural values of the sect's building, so he had to move on. He tried to get into the sect, but of course, this eyeball didn't have a simple door that he could walk up to, it was simply a big, floating eyeball.
For that matter, he had to try and call an illusionist out here. “Hello, is anyone there? Guard Master Zedim sent me here.”
Just as he said that, Skendus suddenly found himself in another place. It took him a moment to realize that he was now in the eyeball itself, and this simple display of power managed to impress him quite a bit!
“Coming here may be the smartest decision that I’ve ever made. Well, it wasn’t my decision, but I'm still glad.” He muttered.
“It's about time you came here,” A Fal Goblin greeted him, “Hello, I'm Notird the Third. We've sensed your presence ever since you've stepped foot in Valporovus.”
“That can't be right,” He awkwardly shook the other's hand, and then pointed out. “Why would you track me to begin with? I'm a nobody, and I never lived in an eyeball house like you folks.”
“Decent humor is a rare trait,” Notird complimented, “But illusionists are even more rare, so we're aware of everyone that practices our beloved Arcana Branch throughout Valporovus. Your presence has been acknowledged, and you're very much welcome in the Floating Pupil sect, should you wish to become a member.”
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“I'm already part of a sect…” He pointed out.
“Yes, we’ve already searched through your brain a few weeks ago. You're Skendus, and you're part of the Radiant One-eye sect. We respect that you're loyal, but you must understand that most of our library is limited to sect members.” Notird followed along.
Those terms were difficult to accept, and Skendus didn't plan on accepting them, because his loyalty lied on his roots, so he didn’t want to join a new sect. He was just a rat who got lucky enough to explore another universe, and he was very respectful of where he came from. With that said, he just bargained to study what the Guard Master had sent him here for, and Notird agreed.
The sect library was a short walk away, so he was led there, and was given a small book to read. The small book featured the three main offensive abilities that every illusionist should know, and although the pretext made these abilities seem difficult to learn, that was not the case. They were very basic, but they were labeled as important, because abilities like these could help an illusionist survive for extensive periods of time, which in a sense hinted that this sect had life figured out already. They knew how to survive, and therefore they dedicated the rest of their time in mana quality ascension.
Skendus sat down on a chair, started reading the book, and kept his head down. He didn't plan on causing any trouble, not only because he appreciated the hospitality here, but also because he would easily get killed if he chose to upset the sect members. He couldn’t read through Notird's mind, as a start, which was a telltale sign that the latter had crossed the God's Punishment Realm of mana a long time ago!
“They can sense every illusionist in Valporovus,” He thought, and was quite nervous. “They might as well have crossed whatever realm comes after the God's Punishment realm.”
Anyway, as he browsed through the contents of the book, he started figuring out what the three main offensive attacks were. There were exactly twenty pages dedicated to each ability, and the content within the book was very comprehensive.
A page of the book, cited the following introduction. “The Blunderous Bolt ability is the first, and the most basic ability that a practicing illusionist can learn. With this ability in the caster's possession, one can summon bolts that look like they're made out of iron, and the bolts can be shot immediately against the caster’s target afterwards. If it takes a caster more than one second to shoot a bolt, then they're yet to master this exceptionally basic ability. Although the bolts don't cause direct, physical damage, they can still create the illusion of immense pain, equal to being shot with an actual crossbow bolt, and this illusion of pain often tends to paralyze the opponent. The average goblin can withstand 20 Blunderous Bolts before they die from shock, and this effect varies on other creatures, largely based on what abilities they possess.”
Skendus was amazed by this very basic ability, but he had never heard of it before! He could kill opponents through a heart attack as well, in his own ways, but the methods he used were far more elaborate in comparison, they required more time. The latter was why he was amazed that there was a more simple ability which could achieve a very similar result!
“If I could shoot twenty bolts per second, it necessarily means that I could kill a goblin every second, if I wanted to.” He plotted, and continued to read through the first chapter of the book.