Chapter 3

Tricking ones enemy

It has been 4 weeks since i left the arch mages tower in Longinium and currently I made camp in a town a little to the south west. From Salinea , the name of the town , it was half a days march to reach the border to another kingdom.

Hylar , while Longinium was set to be celtic or tribesmen like Hylar Kingdom was set to be something like the scandinavians of old. Tall blond Npcs made the majority of population. Huskarls with their big round shields and their heavy axes formed raiding partys on other kingdoms even Longinium.

And this was the current situation. Salinea had a wooden palisade as a wall protecting the outskirts of the town but currently a few hundred Huskarls were about to besiege it and how else should it be im in the middle of it.

" Sir , i can help defend the city. " I told the government official for protecting the town.

He eyed me sceptically with a smirk on his face clearly telling me what he thought of my kind.

" A'right , but if ya get killed out there , since yar a chosen , don't come back crying. " Salvius said to me.

I turned around on the spot and headed towards the battlements of the wall. A company of 75 villagers had gathered that were armed with bows. But one closer look revealed that these people had close to no experience in handling a bow , but i understood their intention of picking up any weapon available to defend your home town.

As they saw me approaching i also noticed the 35 regular soldiers that guarded this town and they also spotted me and a few shot me disgusted looks. Naturally all Npcs believed in one of the 7 gods some even multiple ones , but they knew the black magic arts had fallen from grace and was shunned by the churches.

" Bug off , scum. We don't need the likes of ya to help us defend our own home! Even if ya helped us , black magicans are weak. Their spells are worse then a mages and neither are ya good with a sword. " A captain of the guards told me as i was in hearing range.

All what he said was true as i found out during a search online shortly after i left the masters tower. The spells i could summon had weak damage compared to other mages. Also the versatility black mages could demonstrate was no where near the adaptivity the other sorceres displayed.

Simply put the general mage had 2 elements to his disposal. A combination of Fire , ice , earth , lightning or wind. Summoning firestorms and enhancing them with wind magic was a feat red mages produced. Lightning storms and tornado's were a grey mages forte using lightning and wind. Volcano's and lava a brown mages field of operation since they combined fire and earth spells. But this was only at high levels.

There were 10 official orders of mages and a few unofficial ones like the black magic order. Since they were recognized most people thought that naturally the rest were weak images of the glorious ones which in essence was the truth. But the tome and the unique feat i acquired through it upturned all the rules.

" Captain sir , you maybe true that a frail and skinny weak like myself can't defend this city better then you , but i bet all my gold on it that i can kill more then your average soldiers out there. " I told him.

At first he was angry but soon he realized what i was offering him.

" I heard wandering mages are poor souls that can barely afford their daily necessity's. How much worth could you have stored in your purse? " He asked me.

I knew that he was trying to extract information of my current finances but i knew i already had him hooked as i had planned it from the start.

" That is indeed true , but i saved up every cooper i found on my travels and earned the incredible sum off 35 gold pieces! " I told him.

He was surprised at the amount , especially since i knew that he had the same amount in his purse at this moment. You may wonder how i knew this , lets keep it simple the girls in a whore house like to talk about the ' great ' men they had in bed with the exchange of just a few cooper coins.

" Okay i bet with 35 gold against it. "

After he made that statement he held his hand outstretched towards me and i shook his hand to seal the pact. This was the first time anyone of this town saw my skin ,since the time i left the masters tower i always pulled my hood deep into my face and folded my hands infront of my chest in the long sleeves i wore, and they shuddered at the paleness it displayed.

" Haha poor little mage , you should have phrased your words better. " With a laughter he made the last preparations before the actual battle began.

I knew he meant the >but i bet all my gold on it that i can kill more then your average soldiers out there< since i implied that i could kill more then his SOLDIERS. Not one but plural. But this was also a clever trap i set out for him.

" Little mage from here you can see just HOW many more my guards can kill. HAHA. " With another spurt of laughter i joined him on the battlements that were attached to the palisade.

With a loud sigh I made him understand how i fell into his trap as i looked over the well equipped towns militia with their shields and swords. After this my gaze swept over the battlements and revealed nearly 200 huskarls nearing the village.

About 40 of them were pushing a battering ram towards the gates and some more were carrying makeshift ladders to storm the walls.

They drew closer and closer and i dropped my act as i pulled out the white dragon leather tome that was dangling loosely from my belt. After i had retrieved it i simply opened it and scanned for the spell i wanted to use.

" Captain , what level are these huskarls? " I asked him in a commanding tone.

He was shocked at my sudden change and answered me promptly with only a slight fear in his eyes , which made me smirk involuntarily.

" Around level 40 , their captains 70 i think. Their Champions should be around 90." He answered me truthfully.

My shoulders sagged as i got depressed at the prospect of thee troops charging.

" Is this even a challenge? " I shouted out with anger.

" Strangle their heart , burn their lungs from inside out and rupture their livers seek forth and destroy my prey! Hachal-acharnceal-certh! " I recited the spell out of the book.

The troops that stood with me on the wall could see the black aura surrounding me as i recited and they felt a icy cold shiver running down their spines. But as soon as they wanted to see the effects on the enemy troops not much of a change occured.

Surely they suspected fire raining down from the heavens that devoured their enemy's but nothing like that happened. The only change was that on the enemy's foreheads a mysterious rune appeared. To be precise on ALL their forehead.

But soon after they found out what this rune does.

" Look at that that one fell over and got trampled to death by his own comrades HAHA." One guard shouted.

The next comment that ridiculed their enemy's came shortly after.

" Look at that another one fell over. Guess they forced marched their own troops to hard to reach our town."

More and more of these surprised comments came but soon they realized that this wasn't from any forced marching or a natural surprise.

" Look at that one! He is clawing out his own flesh on his throat! Wow there another one. And another."

The captain turned around to look at me and fear was written clearly in his eyes. What made him shriek back in horror though was the slight shimmer of light that reached the area around my mouth that used to lay deep in the shadow of my hood. A genuine smile and eyes filled with happiness at my achieval was displayed in my face.

One after another they fell without even so much as touching the walls and windows after windows appeared in my field of vision.

- Level up

Level up

Level up

Level up

......

The *DING* sound i heard every time gave me deep satisfaction. After all of them had fallen and only a battering ram and a few ladders were left i received another message window that unsettled me slightly.

- Notoriety has increased due the inhuman slaughter

Fame - 200

It unsettled me a little but it wasn't anything i valued in the first place. But the more pressing matter at hand i wanted to receive my reward.

" Captain ,i think i killed MORE then your guards squad. I want my money. " I told him with a sweet tone.

The horror in his eyes now afflicted his whole voice as he snarled at me.

" BEGONE foul creature i never want to see you in this village again! " He cried out and threw his coin purse towards me.

It was time to venture to new hunting grounds anyways. Picking up the purse i ordered some guards to open the gate to set foot outside. I left but not without collecting the valuable things they huskarls left behind and distributing the new acquired stat points.

- Dan

Lvl 72, Class: Black magus

Hp: 770 Mana: 3500

Stats:

Strength: 31 Vitality: 77

Agility: 26 Charisma: 45

Wisdom: 145 Intellect: 340

Fame: -450

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 4: 76%

Affinity to magic apprentice Rank 7: 41%

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%< .

..............................................

1 week later.

After accessing the forums for a while i found a loophole in their system which i was happily abusing at this moment much to my own dismay.

" Iz i know that you are lvl 126 and you are fighting all of those goblins but do you have to tell me every 4 hours? " I spoke out loud.

The loophole was that you could connect your tool , for accessing the Virtual reality , to your computer and use teamspeak , cursevoice or skype while playing. Naturally four leaves corp already was on the problem to close this function.

Which was understandable since not even a whisper mode or a friends list or a chat function were implemented in this system.

" Yeah isn't that great? I think it is funny that their heads literally explode if i give them a headshot with a arrow but the others think its too realistic! " As she told me this her voice almost became ecstatic just by remembering the poor goblins.

From her usual behavior something along these lines literally could make people rethink their evaluation about people. This girl , Isabell , which i was talking with at the moment was a 1.70 m tall beauty with a touch for girly things. But as she talked about a bloody and gory battle one could feel the gap.

" So what is your level now and when are you going to join us? " She asked with feigned innocence at the abrupt change in conversational flow.

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Naturally this was a topic that came up suddenly every time we talked and i was happy if four leaves company finally closed this functional error down.

" I am 82 now and i will JOIN you when i think it is right. Also NO i don't know when this will be next. " I told her with irritation in my voice.

The person on the other line clicked her tongue and closed our chat after she finished the sound she made. Women ... they are never satisfied until they get what they want.

I also knew that it was hard for me to level solo , as i had to invest some points into STR , AGI and CHA for various tasks. STR improved the capacity i could carry in my bags and on my body. AGI increased my speed slightly , movement as well as casting speed. CHA helped handling Npcs and also increased spell damage and casting speed slightly since it improved the ' power ' of the words i used.

This CHA improvement was something i found out after my master told me about it. It was not dramatic but at this moment it helped me out quite a bit. CHA overall changed how Npcs , towns people as well as monsters , perceived me and the words i spoke. Naturally it was a good choice to invest some points into it now since it also helped gaining experience of my feats.

So for the last 10 levels 40 points went directly into CHA and 10 into VIT to further increase my survivability. Warrior classes definitely had a edge on the caster classes. Not only did they only have to invest points in STR and VIT but their skills unlocked automatically while fighting.

Normal mages could study in huge librarys and discover old or new spells and had a set amount of spells they could memorize each day> arcane mastery < , a feat for mage classes which i lacked as a black mage , further increased the number they could memorize . So even they had it easier. But after a certain level they either had to invent new spells themselves or find old mage books to study from.

Cleric and Priest based classes had to offer a certain amount of gold to their church to gain new spells . But after they reached a certain limit only the head of their church could give hints how to acquire new blessings or holy magic. They invested their stat points heavily in WIS , CHA and secondary INT.

Rangers or rogue based classes had to be lucky like warriors but most achieved new skills with a do-or-die method. Meaning after a long and close fight for life and death they noticed a new skill had been acquired mid fight. Increasing their DEX and VIT was their main objective while 1 off 5 points went into STR.

Paladins were a little bit trickier since they had STR and VIT as their main distribution sector but they could not disregard DEX and CHA. They acquired their blessing and holy enhancements through prayers like priests.

Naturally there were 100 of classes but these were the core classes that had fighting ability's.

While talking with Iz i neared the ruins i heard about in Salinea shortly before i left. Naturally i had to pay a incredible sum to an Npc to acquire this but i hoped for this dungeon to be the jackpot.

..........................................

- You the first to discover the ruins > Grelocks magus Tower<

Double XP and item drops for a week.

And another window overlapped this one.

- Due to ifinity to magic 4 times faster MANA reg.

25% increase to spell dmg

Now this was a surprise. Even on the forums i never heard off a increased mana regeneration in a dungeon. But i was happy. It took me forever to actually clear a whole dungeon. This was partly to blame on the class i choose.

Defeating 20 or even 30 monsters simultaneously happened in about 1-2 minutes. But my mana was almost depleted after something like this. So i had to sit down and meditate. Once i even tried in a low level dungeon to bring a chair along with me and meditate to regenerate mana as i procured a poisonous cloud at the same time.

A failure. I almost got killed in the process as i exploded partially due to the interrupted flow of mana in my body. After this failure i tried to think of other ways to regenerate mana but none came to mind.

The only option i had left would be a different fighting style. I read about this on the forums of a specific site i visited constantly. There was a shaman , a cleric based character , who needed mainly INT and WIS like myself. But he distributed his points in STR and VIT and secondary in INT and WIS. He wore chainmail held a mace and a shield and charged into battle.

Jinxing and cursing his enemys while striking them down with his mace. He reduced the enemy's STR , VIT or DEX by a large margin and fought firsthand. Even skills appeared for him that normally only a Warrior base type should have. Like power-strike or cleave to hit multiple opponents at once.

I watched a video how he fought and it was truly a sight to behold , even though his curses and jinxes were not as strong as my own. But his combat capabilitys were respectable. The only flaw was that if i tried this out i could not cast magic anymore. Metal had the slight disadvantage to be a magic absorbing material in this virtual reality.

Cleric , priest or paladin types used holy magic and weren't affected by it , but a mage would be on the other hand. Not only black mages but all of them. Now i could buy a padded leather vest with cooper , since cooper actually was a enhancer for magical spells , studding. But then i still had the problem off metal in a weapon.

A wooden sword had not use in a real battle and to use a staff to knock the heads of opponents wasn't really a good idea either. So i either had to poison every room by itself , to kill the mobs inside , hide myself in the process and meditate to regain mana afterwards.

I also had a few direct combat spells that inflicted high damage to single targets and used less mana then the area of effect spells but what do those help if 20 monsters charge me. Killing 19 off only to die to the last one with 2 hits while i frantically try to recite a spell and he breaks my concentration every time , resulting in me self destruction.

" Well its time to explore the ruins. " I said out loud to no one in particular.

.......................................

I had already cleared the first 4 floors of the old ruins before i ran into trouble.

" Ugh hurt in my chest * Cough cough*. " I heard a voice nearby talking some gibberish with a strong accent.

Gnolls were in the next room and after filling the room a second time with poisonous gas i confirmed it. They were immune to poison... .

' Great now what .... ' I thought.

After i meditated for 10 minutes my mana was completely full thanks to the four times buff i received from the ruins and i started to rack my brains over the spells i had available.

' Well i could try this ... ' i thought up a possible conclusion.

" Become my puppet and hunt your own until my thirst for blood is satisfied! Fend-mulfaras-iaew! " I whispered and took control off a gnoll that was just taking a piss in a corner.

A few commands inside his head had the wished for effect.

" Heard about black magician you have? " He grunted towards his comrades.

It also could have been a female but i neither had the knowledge of anatomy of gnolls neither did i want to have it to decide their gender on the spot.

" Kobold and imp slayer you mean of lower floors? " Another grunted back at him.

" He all the way came here to gnolls just meet! " More and more gibberish talk of the mind controlled one.

" Black magician great one he is. All humans he hates just like us! "

A surprised grunt escaped the other gnolls mouths and i decided to make my grand appearance now.

" Hello you great and mighty gnolls! I heared you hate the humans just as much as i do. Can you bring me to your leader i want to plan out a attack against the town of Salinea. " I told them a obvious lie.

I wasn't a great liar , never been , and the game didn't change that fact but they believed it nonetheless.

- Familarity with Gnolls increased to a neutral level

A window appeared.

" Heard a lot about you we have. Leader our delighted would be! " The mind controlled one told me and motioned me to come along.

We passed numerous rooms that all were filled with gnolls and precious items that i was dying to collect. Also the gnolls ... how much XP they would give me brought tears to my eyes.

As we passed another room a gnoll noticed this and pointed it out to the one that was leading me.

" I am crying over the unfair treatment you grandious gnolls are getting... The humans stuff their belly's with the finest of foods and drink the best of wine and you great gnolls drink your own piss if your thirsty and eat rats .... " I told them.

A approving grunt was the reaction i got as well as a new window.

- Familiarity with Gnolls increased to a friendly level

' This is easier then i thought ! Almost like stealing candy from a baby while the mother is preoccupied with the flattery about her looks you just gave her! ' I thought to myself. Not that i knew that something like that was possible. REALLY i didn't.

After 15 minutes of walking we reached the last room. This was filled with toppled over bookshelves and piles of books , atleast the scarps of paper or leather bindings that survived the time told me that they used to be books. The acidic smell of piss and mold was the same as every other room. A smell i closely bound together with gnolls at this moment.

" Wait you here! Boss our out is , fetch him i will. " Another gnoll told me and the mind controlled gnoll i used as a companion.

I scanned the area further and found 1 book had survived the time since this magus tower had been abandoned. Etching closer to it the gnolls looked at me but found no interest in the movements i made , thanks to the familiarity i gained with them.

As my hand was about to pick it up i felt a pleasant hotness emanating my body and directly knew this was a book about the black magic arts! I checked my surroundings and let the book disappear into one of the many hidden compartments of my robe.

Next i found a chest that was opened slightly and looked at the 3 gnolls that were guarding this room. I knew the chances were very slim but i went for it anyways.

" Put my enemy's to eternal slumber! Dagnir-shirak! " I whispered and concentrated my mind on the guarding gnolls.

After i confirmed that they were asleep while standing i hurriedly went over to the chest and picked up the 5 head sized crystals inside and stowed them inside my bag. With this done i heard a sound that unsettled me slightly.

" Thief he is, no friend of gnoll! Him kill! " A gnoll shouted.

As i turned around i saw a gnoll that was twice the size of the common ones that just pulled out the rusty sword that dangled loosely from his belt and running towards me. Certainly the boss gnoll.

Bracing myself for the inevitable i closed my eyes.