Chapter 2:
How the journey began
After the incident of the book-shelve I logged out and was searching multiple forums at once to find a clue about the black magic class i just picked but only found a few posts.
- Oh my god , don't ever pick this!
- Can't believe anyone right in their mind would choose this!
- This is a scam be careful.
...
' What have i done? ' I thought for myself.
Other posts told me you actually had to go through the task of studying the whole language just to start the basic of black magic. After that i checked the population off the Pangean continent and found out 0.000000001 % choose to be black magicians. Simply said at the moment about 5 people choose this profession.
I brought myself closer to the bed and lifted myself out of the chair and plopped myself back onto the bed. With goggles on i dove back into the virtual reality.
..........................
" Ahh my dear disciple how have you fared for the last 2 weeks? " My master asked me.
The smell of old books and dusty shelves has become something natural to me over the course of the 2 weeks that have passed since i choose this class.
" Very good master this is the last book i need to memorize until i went through all the books. " I told him my honest thoughts.
Even though it has been a though 14 days since i started this game i made progress along the way. Multiple times as i memorized the various books message windows popped open.
- INT has increased by 1
Also windows with:
- WIS has increased by 1
Or :
- VIT has increased by 1
- STR has increased by 1
Every time a new window appeared in my field of vision i swished them aside and plunged even deeper into the book i was reading at that moment. I could not care less about my stats i just wanted this task to be over but i also had fun learning the new language.
As i was deeply immersed in Fantasy even before this game i found it fun to compare Melkorin to other Fantasy languages created by Novel authors. The closest thing to Melkorin would be Sindarin from the timeless classic ' Lord of the Rings' the language the elves of the Dark Forest spoke in the novel.
But as i found similarities between the two languages i also noticed the differences in pronunciation which complicated the matter.
" That was quite fast , disciple , let me see how much you have achieved. " He told me.
I opened my Character window and positioned so he could also read it.
- Dan
Lvl 1 Class: Black magus apprentice
Hp: 170 Mana: 610
Stats:
Strength: 8 Vitality: 17
Agility: 5 Charisma: 5
Wisdom: 40 Intellect: 61
Fame: -60
Feats: Language: Melkorin 99.99%
Skills: Apprentice Black magic Rank 6: 73%
" You have made considerable effort to achieve your skills in the shortest amount of time. " My master told me with pride in his voice.
I noticed this the few times i saw him in the library he showed his emotion on his entire body like he did now as he was rocking his whole body back and forth.
But as he didn't say anything more i began to read the last 20 pages of the book infront of me.
- The understanding of Melkorin has reached its peak and it flows as natural as your birth language to you.
Only the right side of my lips turned upwards as i gave a smirk to celebrate my victory over this task. My master also noticed this and patted my shoulders in delight.
" Now disciple these books are for the spells. " He said while putting down 8 books in front of me.
As i touched the first one a cold shiver ran down my spine that originated from the black leather binding of the book. Overcoming this i flipped through it and saw the runes that i have been growing attached to over the last 2 weeks.
" Disciple if you want to test the new spells you have learned in the basement there are a few bats that need to be taken care of. "
- A new Quest has appeared.
Exterminate the infestation of bats in the cellar.
Reward : ?
Difficulty : Z
" Very well master but i will memorize the spells first. " I told him.
After this he turned around and left me to my own supervision.
..........................................
The next morning i had memorized all the spells and created my own spell book. I just used one of the old and empty books that lay around in the library. I summarized the 8 books and every page contained one spell , the bare minimum for spell incantation and pronunciation.
This 1 page was all i needed to remember the spells by. Surely other people might have used a few more pages per spell but since the time i started in high school my memory became sharp to an extent that even without studying my grades would not drop beneath a B.
- You are the first to discover this Dungeon
+10 Fame
Double xp and item drops for 1 week
A window appeared and i was celebrating the small achievement i made while entering the zone for combat.
The room was dark and the air reeked of mold. From time to time i heard high pitched noises all around me but i was not scared in the slightest.
" Light brighten this dark place , Calar! " I shouted and a light started to glow at the top of my staff.
After i had learned the Melkorin language my master gave me a fresh and neat black robe and a staff with a black onyx on top. The starting equipment for black mages.
Being disturbed by the bright light that shone from the staff movement could be seen all over. Hundreds of bats started to swarm around me but i was still relaxed.
" Cursing my enemys until they can only crawl ,Dagnir ninn !" I said next and a cloud of dark red smoke layed itself over the hundreds off bats.
As a bat touched this smoke i produced seconds ago they slowed down and some even fell to the floor unable to move.
Dagnir ninn was a jinx to lower strength and dmg by a considerable amount and was one of many curses a Black magician used in combat.
Since most of them were hovering over their fallen comrades or were stuck in the same place i decided to go for the finish right now.
" Fill your lungs with poison as i dance on your corpses , Saew-faun! "
As i finished my sentence and used the correct pronunciation the onyx emitted green smoke that filled the room quickly. The bats that got caught in the small scale cloud of poison dropped by the hundreds and none remained as the smoke disappeared.
I repeated this cycle in all rooms along the way until there was only one left. Carefully i etched closer and stretched my staff into the room. More and more bats hung from the ceiling but i knew i should not kill all of them so i decided to leave this place for now.
.............................
As soon as i opened the door that lead from the cellar back into the Arch mages tower a window popped open.
-Due to the smart use off spells and the perfect management of mana you have been awarded 8 INT and 3 WIS and 2 VIT
- Level up
Level up
Level up
Level up
Level up
Level up.
- Dan
Lvl 7 Class: Black magus apprentice
Hp: 170 Mana: 910
Stats:
Strength: 8 Vitality: 17
Agility: 5 Charisma: 5
Wisdom: 40 Intellect: 91
Fame: -60
Feats: Language: Melkorin 100%
Skills: Apprentice Black magic Rank 8: 47%
All in all i decided to go with a havoc build for my character. This was a term used in other MMORPGS such as neverwinter among others. It described those characters that used a 80% main stat distribution and a 20% secondary stat distribution every time they leveled up. But for the fist 15 levels i decided to go with a 100% INT built.
I knew as a mage especially as a mage that curses my opponents i needed to kill single mobs as fast as possible while CCing ( Crowd controlling) the others with my jinxes. INT increased the Spell power i had greatly as well as the time my hexes afflicted my opponents.
But even this havoc distribution has its flaws since if i do one wrong move i will die from a high leveled monster. Though groups or raids prefer those styles of distributions they literally suck after you hit a certain level.
Big castle sieges or raids even boss monsters always had area of effect magic casted during fights from the opponents side. So even if you dealt 200% more dmg with a just Int built you would die as soon as a debris flew around on the battlefields. If you wouldn't survive small hits what good would a hyper dmg class do in the end?
" Master i cleaned out the cellar. " I told my master honestly after i arrived in the library once more.
As i said this i received a few cooper coins and a traveling kit for scriptors as well as a spell book that was bound in white leather.
" Good good , my disciple. This spell book is one of my old ones and it contains a spell you would have great interest in! " He told me with a proud smile on his face.
Immediately i opened the spell book to find more and more runes adorning each page. Roughly 560 pages were filled with the writings of some renown black magic master who's name i did not recognize.
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" Master this spell is amazing! Who is the master of our arts who wrote this? " I asked with curiosity.
The white and thin hands of my master appeared out of the sleeves of his torn robe for the first time as he began to explain using his hands to emphasize certain parts.
" Once a long time ago , churches requested the help of the practitioners of the dark arts to aid them in their campaign. One of the 8 Deity's had gone astray and all of his troops besieged kingdom after kingdom leaving only a burning landscape behind them. "
This was about a event i read about on the forums. Nowadays 7 gods formed the common believe but there was once a 8th god superior to them all. The god in question was a being to pure and too good and tried to destroy every fleck of the ' bad' parts in this world.
Some would think eradicating the dark forces or citys would be a good idea so his ranks filled themselves with more and more believers. But everything that stood in the way of his army was burned with his holy fire , from orks to trolls and even dragons that were evil.
But as he passed through human citys the aura of holiness he emitted dried out the land and the seas and even those citys that could not supply him with the needs to feed his army were ' righteously' slaughtered.
" Since the dark arts and the holy religion have a ifinity like fire and water the masters of the dark arts destroyed the god and his legions. But at a great cost. Only a handful of masters survived but even those survivors were declared heretics by the remaining gods because they slew their brother. " I saw a tear running down my masters cheek and a great sorrow in his voice.
" ' Wicked sorcerers , banish them from our world! Leave non alive ! Hunt them down! ' were a common occurrence where ever me and my brothers and sisters went. So more and more perished until only 5 were left. With our concentrated efforts we raised 5 towers that were impregnable and studied for ourselves until we meet our demise... "
A long silence occurred after his vivid speech that made me feel sympathetic not only since i was part of this order but also on a humanly basis. But something struck me as odd.
" Master when did this happen? " I asked him.
The tense shoulders he had while telling me the tale relaxed and a smirk was visible underneath the hood.
" 500 years ago? Nono i think it was 600 years. No wait 800 years , yes 800 years ? " He stated rather confused.
I was always admiring my master how he could make simple answers like this into something which he confused himself with.
" But master you told me that so extraordinarily , that i almost felt i was there at that time! "
Now a slight chuckle emerged from under the hood and my master drew in his breath as he continued with a almost in audible voice even lower then a whisper.
" Yes , because i was there. 800 years have passed but my grudge still holds strong. This book the white bound tome of narcha-gruith , the tome of destruction and anger is the last memento i have off the past glory. " He told me with pride in his voice.
" Master this is your memento! I can't accept this! "
He lifted his hands and drew his hood back very slowly and with this i lay sight on his face for the first time.
He had longer ears then a human but not as long as a elf. Those ears had numerous scars on them. His skin was deathly white almost translucent and his face and his neck were covered in some sort of magical circle directly engraved on his skin. This magical circle was broken only by numerous scars that adorned his forehead and cheeks.
" You have to accept this. A > barad-murgul < never goes back on his words once he has spoken them! " He used a commanding tone to subdue my endeavors to decline this gift.
" My time is coming to an end my disciple but I am able to preserve my life with the engravings on my skin. I have 3 more years until the enhanced magical power will subside and the engravings will disappear leaving only a broken old man behind. Train , strenghten and master the dark arts in this time! This tome once you memorized the spell inside will become your spell book where you can gather all of the spells you will find over your travels. "
- Your master has shared his legacy with you!
The white dragon leather tome of narcha-gruith!
INT increases by 50 points
WIS increases by 50 points
VIT increases by 15 points
Negative energy spell power feat has been acquired due to the influence of the book ( unique feat obtained )
All spells written inside can be learned with effort and the understanding of Melkorin.
- You have become a black arts journeyman
INT increases by 10%
WIS increases by 10%
Spell power feat has been acquired!
- Due to the vivid memory's your master shared with you , your affinity with the dark arts has increased , allowing you to achieve greater hights!
Level up
Level up
Level up
....
With a shocked expression i shouted for my stat window and distributed all of my points to INT directly.
- Dan
Lvl 22 Class: Black magus apprentice
Hp: 320 Mana: 2300
Stats:
Strength: 8 Vitality: 32
Agility: 5 Charisma: 5
Wisdom: 90 ( +9) Intellect: 216 ( +14 )
Fame: -60
Feats: Language: Melkorin 100%
Magicians spell power: Increases spell damage by 25% of INT
Negative energy spell power : Increases dark spells damage by 25% of INT
Skills: Journeyman Black magic Rank 1: 0%
Items : Dark robe +0 defense ( common 10/10 durability) , leather shoes +1 defense ( common 10/10 dura ) , beginners Staff 1-5 atk ( common 15/15 dura ) , Narcha-gruith tome ( dragon-relic 1k/1k dura ) rank 3 > 0%< .
As soon as i read the rarity of the tome i had just acquired a global news message appeared on top of my stat window displaying a urgent message that all users saw at the same time.
- The first ever dragon-relic item has been acquired by Dan.
Uncommon items acquired : 749213
Rare items acquired : 27356
Epic items acquired : 5328
Legendary items acquired : 17
Dragon-relic items acquired : 1
I gulped down almost systematically for about one minute before my master coughed to grab my attention.
" Disciple , the book can become stronger the more spells you learn. But even if this sounds easy our arts have become long forgotten and only ruins of our old greatness remains. This tome can also acquire the spells in other books but that book will be destroyed in the process. If you feed the tome a book filled with spells of the dark arts it will literally EAT the other book and strenghten itself. " He told me in a serious tone.
My master went on for a while longer but he told me every unique dark arts spell the book acquired would lead to a new rank of the book itself. Since the book had 3 ranks already there were the same amount of unique spells i had to acquire out of it.
After my master was finished he told me to lay the tome on a desk and place my worn out spell book i used currently besides it. As soon as i placed it there the white tome began to move and opened by itself.
Then it leapt from the desk and flew over to the spell book and covered it completely. Pieces of paper were flying through the air as the white tome tore up the innocent spell book. After it was done a burping sound could be heard and it lay motionless once again.
" Did it just really burp? " I asked my master.
But he only replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
" Disciple i wish to see you grow up into a master of the dark arts then i will tell you more about your heritage. "
- A new Quest has appeared.
Become a Master of the dark arts then more secrets will be shared with you about the forgotten barad-murgul race as well as the dark arts.
Reward : Your master will teach you the forbidden secrets of the dark arts
Difficulty : H
Time limit: 3 years game time ( 1 year real time )
Even though my memory was extraordinarily sharp i grabbed another empty book nearby and wrote down the contents of this quest , since a quest log was missing in this game , and wrote down what i had to do.
" Now disciple i have one last gift for you. Take this crystal with this we can communicate over long distances. I will study in these halls until the day we meet again in person , to find the long forgotten positions of the dark arts mage towers to help you in your search. "
- Far-speech crystal ( Epic , no durability ) received
It is a matching set enabling the communication with the other pair over long distances
" Go heighten your skills , strengthen yourself , acquire new knowledge and show people the strength of the DARK ARTS! " He commanded me.
After leaving the tower i had called ' home' , even more then i called the actual place i lived at in the real world , i glanced back one more time and burned the image of it into my memory.
" Ah disciple can you tell me where all the bats in the cellar went? " I heard a voice coming from my backpack where i placed the crystal.
While starting of for my adventure i wondered if my master will really be alright for the next 3 years.
Thx to helpmemama for encouraging me :)