A chapter full of exciting developments, maybe?

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“Wake up.” David’s eyes opened. Llyr stood next to him, outlined against the morning sky. They had stayed up late, planning how they would capture Lynnfes, thinking of things they could do. Surprisingly, even though David didn’t need to sleep at all, Llyr had managed to wake up before him.

“Come on, David. We need to get to Orillis, and you need to start trying to come up with some search and restraining spells.”

David groaned – it wasn’t any easier waking up in Royal Road than it was in real life – but he got up anyway – it really was urgent.

The night before, Llyr had told him that, for the moment, Luhan was still in control, but as time went on, he would gradually lose control and begin harming those near him, forced to watch as he did so, unable to stop himself. If they arrived too late, the wizard might have already taken control, and Luhan’s soul might be lost.

As if that wasn’t enough pressure, unless Luhan was right out in the open, they would have to search for him without magic (which was perfect for this sort of less offense-based spell), because the wizard, through Lynnfes could sense magic, and would probably be able to flee if it was used in his vicinity. Moreover, the wizard, once cornered, could apparently interfere with at least the sealing spell if not all magic in general, so David would need to make sure it couldn’t do that.

“Alright… I’m getting up.”

They ate a hot breakfast in silence – Llyr had cooked some eggs in the coals of last night’s fire – then they set off. David and Llyr had agreed that David would start coming up with search and restraining spells on horseback.

-Hmm… search spells… well, is pretty much out, although, I could try to make some sort of heat-detection spell, like infrared goggles. is less useful – I can’t think of any search spells to do with water. I think could work – don’t small animals use vibrations in the earth to detect nearby predators? could do the same – smell or hearing or such. would probably be the best suited to this – I could do something like detect the light coming off of him. Actually, no, spirit magic is probably best – there are probably some spells already around to detect the presence of a spirit. The problem with and spirit magics is that I’ve never seen either. I suppose I could just wing it, but I don’t know how well that would turn out. And what’s with that backlash thing? Have I just been lucky so far that I didn’t exceed my limits? Well, nothing to do but begin.

David converted some of his mana into mana, in his hands. Then he closed his eyes in concentration and pushed his desire to detect heat sources into it. He felt the mana dissipate, though. Something wasn’t right.

Spell Creation has failed due to improper balancing of manas.

-Improper balancing? Does that mean that there needs to be more than one kind of mana in this spell? Wait, that sort of makes sense – most of the spells I know are sort of like , but a search spell would be more like . So, the question is, which other mana type would be suitable? Probably not an elemental – those are more type spells too. The only non-elemental types of mana that I know are and . I don’t think is appropriate for this purpose – it’s all about joining disparate mana types together, so maybe ? The only type spell I know is Mental Wall, which is a buff; can mana do anything else? No way to find out but to try it.

Despite the gravity of the situation, David was enjoying the process of discovering more about how magic worked – it was like an experiment, but with an immediate, interesting, impressive and relevant result.

He again brought out and converted some of his mana into mana, but he also converted some to mana. The two mixed together seamlessly to create a magenta color – a slightly purplish red. Into this, David pushed his intent – feel heat sources.

More mana suddenly rushed out, into his hands. Simultaneously he could feel, with a sixth sense, four presences– one beneath him, two next to him (one on top of the other), one far above them. He heard a keening cry from above, and opened his eyes, to see a world much different from when he had last had them open. Nearly everything around him was painted a different shade. The golden yellow of the grass had become a pale blue, whereas the horse beneath him was a shifting mass of yellows and oranges and reds. He noticed that his mana was still draining from him, and stopped. Between one heartbeat and the next, the world shifted back to its normal colors.

*Ding*

Spell Creation has increased by 1

Spell Creation is now level 3

Created spells are more effective, -40% damage & + 25% casting time

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

-Hmm, a cool name…

“Heat Sensor.”

The spell’s name is Heat Sensor?

“Yes.” Looking at his mana bar, David realized that with just the few seconds that it was on, the heat sensor had taken a lot out of him, almost a tenth of his mana was gone.

-Well, I probably still have enough to create a few more spells. Now, what do I want to be able to do – hear or smell better? Those could be useful, but the ideal would be a spell that can track something that Luhan might have with him – that sword for example. But tracking something like that would require and some maybe? And, probably, a bit of the thing I’m tracking – at least, that’s how it works in fantasy novels. For now, let’s do the hearing thing – thought there are a few ways to do that, let’s go with the simplest one first.

David once again converted his mana, this time into mana. Then he pushed his intent into the ball – push sound waves in my direction.

The ball of mana dispersed, but unlike with the first try, this had an effect. David’s ears were assaulted by garbled and muddied sound – he could still see, just fine, nothing had changed but for the soundscape. Instead of the wind rushing past his ears, the horses’ breathing, the distant cries of hawks, David heard wave after wave of unintelligible noise. It was all so loud that David couldn’t think and he covered his ears. In doing so, the noise stopped.

*Ding*

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

David was so astonished by the noise and the message that he cursed silently.

-F@#k

Then he just had to laugh at himself.

-Look at me, thinking I had this magic stuff all figured out, and then the system springs something like that on me. God, I think I had that coming.

David was good at laughing at himself, due to a long history of amusing mistakes made in front of large groups of people: from the time when he was 14 and he tripped on a step while carrying pumpkin pie out to the table, landing face first in the pie on Thanksgiving, to the time in the fifth grade – in the earliest, most awkward stages of puberty – when he accidentally said sex instead of six in math class (although this was more traumatic at the time).

-What’s an appropriate name for that, I wonder? Hmm, how about…

“Sound Distortion”

The spell’s name is Sound Distortion?

“Yes.”

-Okay, so what went wrong? Was it the fact that I’m moving? Because I told it to push all noise towards me, rather than a specific sound or just the fainter sounds? Or maybe it’s because is not the same as sound. Maybe there’s a element?

David pulled out some of his mana and as it passed through his skin, pushing his impression of noises into it. The result, which slowly formed a steady but pulsating ball of an uninteresting light brown color above his hands.

-Let’s see if it worked.

He tried pushing a different intent than he had before – extend fainter sound waves towards me. This time, the spell worked. All of a sudden, he could hear everything – the panting of the horses, the swooshing of the wind as it passed through the grass, the keening of a distant hawk, even a slight skittering that seemed to come from underground.

He stopped the spell, noticing that his mana was, again, draining quickly.

-It seems spells with more complex commands than burn this or lift that require more mana.

*Ding*

Mana Mastery has increased by 1

Mana Mastery is now level 6

Mana use is now more efficient, - 10% mana consumption for all spells

Mana Understanding has increased by 1

Mana Understanding is now level 6

You can learn spells up to tier 9 on sight

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

-Cool name, cool name, cool name…

“Sound Amplification”

The spell’s name is Sound Amplification?

“Yes.”

-Hmm. Neither of these spells will help all that much in tracking Luhan – he would need to be hiding nearby for either of them to work. I wonder, could there be a mana element? Nah, that seems more like an action than a thing itself. On the other hand, the mana element is also more of an action than a thing, too. Let’s see if it works.

David started to draw out his mana, trying to force in ideas of the following of traces and the search. It started out like it had for the and the elements. At first the mana was and then it began to turn a little different color. Then, the process radically diverged from the norm. David had been feeding the ball in his hands a steady supply, growing it larger, but suddenly, he couldn’t control his mana – it flooded out of him in a tidal wave, into his hands. As it came out, it gave the impression of water pouring into a bottomless pit – it seemed to come out of his hands like a solid beam of light, and then vanish at a point just above his palms.

When he was spent, all of the mana sucked from his body, David could barely hang onto Sal – the complete draining of his mana had left him feeling weaker than a newborn babe. A bell sounded.

*Ding*

Due to an act indicating a more complete understanding and mastery of mana than your current level, your Mana Understanding and Mana Mastery have increased by 2.

Mana Mastery is now level 8.

Mana use is now more efficient, -14% mana consumption for all spells.

Mana Understanding is now level 8.

You can learn spells up to tier 10 on sight.

You are unable to see or use the mana that you have created, because it is a higher rank than your Mana Sight.

Mana Sight has increased by 1

Mana Sight is now level 9

You can see more fine distinctions in mana.

Sal, feeling David’s suddenly weakened grip, whickered at Llyr and Urra. Urra and Sal stopped and Llyr hopped off to check on David.

“David. David, are you alright.”

“Yup yup yup. Just a little tired. I think I tried something I wasn’t ready for, and it sucked out all of my mana.”

“Great Cernunnos’s Horns, that was stupid of you. Didn’t I warn you about backlash?” While he said this, he was checking David’s temperature and his eyes. “Anyway, it looks like you’ll be fine. You’re just suffering from magic fatigue – you’ll be fine after your mana regenerates, no long-term effects.”

“Okay.”

“Can you hold onto Sal? We really do need to keep moving.”

“Yup, yup. I can do it.”

Llyr lifted David onto Sal’s back, and then they set off again. David started breathing deeply, increasing his mana regeneration rate. At first, he was just barely staying on, but as his mana refilled, he regained strength. It was midday before he felt fully recovered, able to clearly work through what had happened.

-Okay, backtrack. What did I do to set off that backlash? I was trying to create a mana, and I’m pretty sure it worked, but then, all of a sudden, it just needed more mana. All of my mana got sucked out. That, combined with the message saying that I was unable to see the mana that I produced, means that I did make the element, but the to conversion is something like 1:4000. That pretty much makes tracking spells unavailable to me.

-Let’s see… restraining spells – can work, so could , too, probably, maybe even Sound Distortion could be useful as a distraction. No way to go forward but to begin.

David brought out and converted some of his mana into . Then he pushed his intent into it, to restrain his enemy with shackles made of compressed air. He directed this spell at himself, having no other obvious target to practice on.

David’s wrists and ankles snapped together, his hands in front of him, his ankles around Sal’s stomach. He could scarcely move them. He cut off the flow of mana to the spell.

*Ding*

You have created a spell, what would you like to name it?

“Wind Shackles.”

The spell’s name is Wind Shackles?

“Yes.”

-Okay, now I should probably do a few restraining spells. One with stone shackles, one stone enclosure… Wait, could I do a petrification spell? What would I try that on, though? Putting that aside, could I do two spell creations at once?

David expelled enough mana for two balls of . He held two images in his head at the same time and into one mana ball, he pushed the stone shackles vision; simultaneously, he pushed the idea of stone rising up and immobilizing his enemy.

-Actually, where should I cast these spells?

David cast them on the ground ahead and to the side of the horses. He watched as four stone manacles, attached to chains that linked them to the ground, sprang out of the grass and, finding nothing to trap, fell back to the earth. At the same time, two slabs of stone arose from the ground, and clashed together like a crocodile’s maw snapping shut.

*Ding*

Spell Creation has increased by 1

Spell Creation is now level 4

Created spells are more effective, -35% damage & + 22.5% casting time

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

Alongside the usual message came a small video clip of the stone manacles bursting from the ground.

“Stone Shackles.” Echoing the spells.

The spell’s name is Stone Shackles?

“Yes”

Another message appeared.

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

Alongside this message came a clip showing the crocodile-like slabs of stone slamming together.

“Stone Maw.”

The spell’s name is Stone Maw?

“Yes.”

-Alright, that’s three different restraining spells down. Is that going to be enough to stop him, I wonder?

David pictured the incredibly complex magic that the wizard had brushed aside.

-Nope. Better keep going. Quantity over quality.

David brought out and converted mana to . Then he pushed the intent – ice completely surrounding an enemy’s body, freezing him in a giant icecube. Again, he pushed it out ahead of the horses, and to the side.

A message popped up.

Spell Creation has failed because the spell you intended to create requires an enemy to cast.

-And the earth restraining spells didn’t? That’s so weird. I’ll need to cast it on a living body, but I can’t cast it on myself and I can’t cast it on Llyr, so I guess I’ll just have to create it when the time comes. Are there any other spells that could be useful? No, not really.

-Actually, what about spells? Could I do the same thing that I do with other elements that I do with ? How about a simple Metal Ball spell?

David brought out some of his mana and attempted to convert it to . It flowed through his palms, changing from white to silver as it did so. He amassed a decent sized ball of mana, and pushed ‘become a ball’ at it.

He waited. Nothing happened. Even after a minute of struggling with the mana, it didn’t turn into a spell.

-Why won’t this just work already!?

David pushed his vision of the spell creating a metal ball even harder at the mana. Nothing happened.

-I give up. Maybe there is no such thing as magic, after all. Maybe mana is a byproduct of the forging process, with no actual purpose.

David just gave up, and focused on the ride. He just leaned into the wind and watched as the plains, with the light of the afternoon sun lighting up the golden grass, passed by. Occasionally, they would see groups of buffalo, but they were soon out of sight behind them.

When night had completely fallen, they had only a day and a half more to reach the city.

Around the campfire, Llyr told David some stories of his adventuring days – when he traveled around with a party, clearing dungeons, searching for treasure, and beating back hordes of monsters. That was how he had met Donovan – he had journeyed together with Llyr’s party while on a quest to locate the prized staff of a long-dead Archmage of an ancient civilization.

David fell asleep with the fire slowly dying.

Suddenly, a howl awoke them. David scrambled to his feet and pulled his Grimoire out of his bag.

The moon had set, but the sun had not yet risen, so it was completely dark on the plains, except for the dim light of the stars. The fire was long since cold. David couldn’t see anything but small motes of mana, almost like the stars were all around him.

-Wolves!? Need light.

“Fire Orbs.” He called, and 12 small globes of a yellow-orange appeared, illuminating the space around them.

Just outside the flickering border of light and shadow, several pairs of eyes sparked and a low growl started up. Inside, nearby, Llyr was on his feet.

“David,” he called softly. “Don’t move. I can calm the wolves as long as you aren’t being aggressive.”

“Okay.” He called back.

Llyr brought out a ball of deep green mana, and then used a spell he hadn’t shown to David before.

“Beast Calm.” The mana in his hand dispersed over the area, and the growling stopped. The wolf pack walked into the ring of light. There were only five of them, but that was more than enough for David.

-These things are waaay too close for me to react if this turns bad.

“Don’t be afraid.” Llyr said. “Beast Calm can pacify all but the most hungry or enraged animals. These wolves aren’t going to be attacking us. You should be able to use that spell too. Actually, while these guys are here, I can show you some animal magics.”

David relaxed a little, and Llyr showed him a few spells: Animal Heal (Tier 4: a spell which heals animals), Beast Sense (Tier 2: a spell which gives the caster a sixth sense for animals), and Befriend (Tier 1: a spell which ties the caster and an animal target together as friends – it will generally prevent the animal from attacking, and in some cases the animal will help out for a little while).

“Most of the other spells are about summoning aid in times of need or binding an animal companion more closely to you than as a friend. I won’t show you either of those because they should most definitely not be taken lightly, but you should be able to figure those out on your own.”

“Okay. Thanks for the demonstration.”

“It’s no trouble. Anyway, these guys shouldn’t be a problem now, so we should get back to sleep.”

They slept until morning, when they set off with the sun rising on their right.

Soon, they came to a little dirt path, where before there had been only grasslands. The path stretched in both directions at the point where they entered, but it was rarely used – there was grass growing everywhere along it, but for two bare lines in the road a few feet apart, along which wagons traveled.

They turned northwards, and continued traveling. The surrounding land seemed to pass faster, now that there were more reference points. Soon, the path was joined by other paths, like tributaries joining together to form a river. The path became a road, completely bare of grass. The grass on either side began to become interspersed with bushes and bracken. They continued traveling into the early afternoon, when they came upon a broken down wagon. It was a simple affair, with a wooden platform and two wheels and a seat. However, it was clearly not the age of the cart that had broken it. There were arrowheads lodged in the wagon and there were deep scratches along the sides, as if it had been attacked by bandits. The wagon was clearly intended to block the road, which probably meant that there were unfriendly people nearby.

David reacted quickly.

“Llyr, I’ll take them. I need targets for some of the spells I want to create.”

“Okay. But if they get too close, I will act.”

“Heat Sensor.” David called. The world shifted into blues and greens. David could feel many heat sources hidden in the grass on the left side of the road – scanning them, he counted 15. He shut off the power to the spell, which had been draining his mana rather quickly.

He summoned 15 balls of mana and spoke, “Stone Shackles."

There was a ding and a system message appeared, even as, unseen, 15 sets of stone manacles popped out of the ground and bound the hands and feet of the robbers. Several arrows flew, wildly missing their targets. At the same time there was shouting from all of the bandits.

New Skill: You have learned skill Multicast

Multicast allows you to use one incantation for more than one casting of a spell, as long as you have the mana to support it. Currently, the low level of Multicast means that each cast after the first costs more than it would if you spoke the incantation for each use.

Current multiplier: 2.5 times the mana cost

-They must have been planning to try to kill us from the safety of the bushes, before robbing us.

With all of them restrained, David walked into the chest high grass. Spread along the road were prone figures, but how many there were was difficult to see, because they were all low in the grass.

-I need to clear the grass. Wind Blades?

David summoned four balls of mana, and spoke, “Wind Blades.”

He directed the spells so that they traveled, parallel to the road, cutting the grass just above the men.

“Good. Now I can see you. Well, I didn’t really want to experiment on other people, but, seeing as you were going to kill my companion and I over very little, I suppose that you deserve it.”

“W-what are you going to do to us?” Stumbled one of the men.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Well, I’ve been just itching to try out some of my spells, you know, but I really did need a target to practice them on. Thanks to all of you for volunteering.”

-If you’re going to do evil, you might as well do it the right way, with panache. Let’s see here. With so many targets, I really ought to come up with some spells other than that one. I should try one restraining spell per target, really. I can see that Stone Shackles already works. Maybe I should try a spell using just mana. That might have interesting effects. Other games have so-called Magic Missiles. Let’s try that.

David expelled some mana, and then pushed his vision of a glowing white ball, the size of a golf ball, to fly out and hit his enemy.

The ball of white mana compressed and shot out at one of the men who were unable to move or to see, held facedown in the dirt by the shackles. When it hit him, he grunted in pain, but didn’t die.

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

“Magic Missile.”

The spell’s name is Magic Missile?

“Yes.”

-At least using mana is okay. What other uses could it be put to, I wonder, maybe I can perform similar spells as those in or , but without an elemental affinity. Let’s try a spear spell.

David released mana and then poured his vision of a spear into it. The ball lengthened and became thinner, until it had reached the length of a man. A spear head formed at one end, and then it shot out at the same man who had taken the hit from the Magic Missile, earlier. The spear pierced through his back and went through his stomach into the dirt. The man’s back arched and he coughed up blood. The spear that had impaled him faded away.

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

“Javelin.”

The spell’s name is Javelin?

“Yes.”

-How about a binding spell, similar to what’s holding him now?

David released more mana and envisioned it becoming shackles and chains, binding them together. The mana quickly turned into the shackles and chains he had thought of, and then bound together the man who was still coughing up blood. The vision that David imparted to the mana had the shackles binding the man’s hands together, linked and pulled together to the shackles binding the man’s feet together. The white chains attached to the man, and then tried to pull themselves together, but the man was still tied to the earth by the stone shackles from earlier, which resulted in a tug of war. The man who had been suffering in silence began to screech as the competing forces tried to tear him apart. Eventually, his hands were pulled through the stone manacles, losing his thumbs in the process, and the chains fulfilled David’s vision.

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

“Chains.”

The spell’s name is Chains?

“Yes.”

-Hmm. I did not intend for that to happen. So, when two spells are at cross-purposes, the one who is in the middle suffers the most, huh? I suppose I could use that to my advantage. The sight was…gruesome, to say the least. But oh well, he isn’t real, anyway.

The man who had his stomach torn open and his thumbs ripped off slowly stopped screaming. When he had been moved so violently, his wound had opened even further, and he slowly bled to death.

“I guess test subject #01 couldn’t handle it. Oh, well. On to #02.”

-What else should I test out? How about a large number of very weak attacks?

David released some mana and held the thought of hundreds of small darts flying and piercing the enemy. The ball of mana split up into hundreds of tiny balls, which reshaped themselves into darts. He aimed the spell at the second man, and the darts shot out at him, piercing his body. None of the darts did significant damage, but in total, the man was bleeding from almost every part of his back and his sides.

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

“Darts.”

The spell’s name is Darts?

“Yes.”

-Okay, what’s next? Actually, shouldn’t I level the Grimoire skill, some? Okay, that’s decided, I’ll kill the rest with Grimoire spells. Oh, except for one, who I’ll try that spell on.

David pushed out some mana, and then pushed his idea of an enemy being frozen in a block of ice.

Water coalesced around the man who was bleeding all over his body, before it froze, leaving him just barely visible in a block of ice.

*Ding*

Spell Creation has increased by 1

Spell Creation is now level 5

Created spells are more effective, -30% damage & + 20% casting time

You have created a spell. What would you like to name it?

“Ice Cube.”

The spell’s name is Ice Cube?

“Yes”

Then, David took out his Grimoire.

-I haven’t registered any more spells, have I? I’ve got twenty more slots, don’t I? I should store all the spells above Tier 5.

“Store Fire Burst, Blaze, Inferno, Storm, Purple Laser, Wind Blades, Wind Tunnel, Crevice, Stalactite, Dancing Earth, Intense Cold, Illusionary Flowerbush, Underbrush, Enlarge, Bell Flower, Novice Instrument Flower, Calming Scent, Flower Garden, Sleeping Tree, and Binding Tree.”

David formed 14 balls of mana and cast, “Purple Laser.”

The resulting lasers shot out and pierced all of the men, including the one in the block of ice, killing all of them instantly. It completely drained him of his mana, however.

-Whoops. Completely forgot how much Purple Laser cost. It was lucky I had enough to cast that.

*Ding*

Multicast has increased by 1

Multicast is now level 2

Multicast multiplier: 2.0

Mana Mastery has increased by 1

Mana Mastery is now level 9.

Mana use is now more efficient, -16% mana consumption for all spells.

Mana Understanding has increased by 1

Mana Understanding is now level 9

David gathered the items they had dropped. Not much, just 10 rusting iron swords and 4 simple bows, with one coin purse holding around two gold.

-Not very rich thieves, were they?

David turned back to Llyr. He had already moved the cart off the road. His face was impassive, as if David hadn’t just tortured and killed helpless people.

-I suppose this world is a little more okay with morally questionable acts, just because it’s set in a world where the players run wild and do terrible things all the time.

Seeing that he was done, Llyr called out to him, “David, we don’t have forever, we have to catch up to Lynnfes. Come on, let’s go.”

David hopped up onto Sal, and they continued on their ride. The road eventually became wider, until it could fit a few wagons abreast, as smaller roads joined it. As the day passed into late afternoon, they entered a forest, through which the road ran. Up ahead in the distance, they could see the mountains outlined against the sky by the setting sun. When night fell, they camped a little away from the road, amid the trees.

The next morning, they set off again. They knew they would reach Orillis that day, so they pushed hard. At midmorning, they exited the forest, coming upon cultivated fields. All around them, they saw farmers examining their crops, which seemed to be almost ripe. Once in a while, they would pass a farmer’s wagon at great speed, catching a glimpse of hay or pigs or whatever the wagon was carrying. Soon, the road became paved, and the horses’ hooves began to clatter loudly against the stones, so that it was all that David could hear. In the distance, they saw the tall stone walls of a city.

In the early afternoon, they reached the tall wooden gates of the city, and joined the small queue of people waiting to pass inspection by the guards. The queue moved quickly and soon, they were through the doors of the city. Once inside the gates, the city looked much like any other. Immediately before them was a large, square plaza with a life-sized statue of a man in armor on a horse, holding a cavalry sabre in his right hand, directing a charge.

“Llyr, what do we do now? I don’t have any way of tracking the spirit.”

“We’ll have to wait and see. The spirit will do something to reveal his presence. The key is to make sure that the smith doesn’t attain his goal. If he does, he’ll likely lose what control he has of the body.”

“So we should make sure that Astrid isn’t coming into contact with the public.”

“Yes. We should split up and gather information. We need to know when she is in the castle and when she isn’t, whom she has contact with and where. It might be a good idea to ask about the Duke. If Astrid is at all known by the people, they’ll mention her if you ask about her father.”

“Okay. Shall we meet here again in a few hours?”

“Yes, that sounds good.”

They split up. David led Sal down the left street leading off from the square. When he came to a low stone building with a sign depicting a flagon of a foaming golden liquid, he left Sal by the door, and entered. Inside was a dimly-lit room with wooden crossbeams supporting the roof just a few feet over head. There were tables arranged in no particular order, with a few people sitting at them. There was a fireplace with a low fire on the far wall. To the left was a bar with a young woman in a low-cut blouse cleaning glasses behind it.

He walked over to the bar. The woman looked up.

“What can I get for you?”

“What do you have?”

“Ale for 20 coppers. And that’s pretty much it. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll have one.”

David looked sadly at his purse. A few months into the game, and he only had 7 gold to his name. It was, quite frankly, pathetic. If his sisters knew, they would mock him mercilessly.

The woman put his ale in front of him. He drank some, and then started to make inquiries.

“I’ve just arrived in Orillis. What’s it like here?”

The woman went back to cleaning glasses, but said, “The city is pretty much the same as any other – we’ve got good folks and bad folks – though our ruler, Duke Langenberg, is famed as being a fair and just ruler. Taxes here are pretty low, compared to what they are other places. He does a good job of running the city, too, he’s got the guard patrolling the city, nights, keeping crime down. Plus, most of the guard isn’t corrupt, which is more than you can say for most of Jotunnheim.”

“Tell me more about Duke Langenberg.”

“There’s not much more to say about him than that he’s fair and just. Although, he apparently has some old-fashioned views. The Duke only has one daughter, but he hasn’t declared her his heir yet. Apparently, he’s waiting until she chooses a husband.”

She glanced around, as if checking to see whether or not there was anyone else nearby. She whispered,

“This is just a rumor, but people say that the Duke’s daughter fell in love with someone already, but he was a commoner, so the Duke exiled him. She used to come down to visit the people all the time, but now she only leaves the castle once a month to go to the Temple to pray, on the ides of the month. My brother’s friend’s sister swears that she overheard her praying out loud for some guy’s safety and his return.”

She stood up, and said quietly, “Don’t tell anyone I told you that.”

David finished his ale and asked for another, to keep her attention.

-The ides are only a few days away. I suppose Luhan will aim for that, assuming that he’s also heard what she does with her time.

“Where is the Temple?”

“Oh, you can’t miss it. It’s along the main road, just go back to Klerrin’s Square and follow the road leading up the hill. It’s the only building on the hill.”

“Thanks so much.”

“Not a problem. It’s boring in here with just these drunkards.”

“Oy.” Came a voice from the room, “We’re not drunkards, we’re appreciators. F’r example, right now, I’m appreciating this mug of ale. And I would also appreciate another, in a few seconds.”

“Halder, you’ve been ‘appreciating’ your ale since early morning. I’m not going to be the one in trouble when your wife comes here wanting to know where you’ve been skipping out on your work,” the waitress called back.

There was genial laughter from the back of the room. David finished his mug of ale, and left.

David went from bar to bar, asking the same question of every barkeep. The response was similar each time – the Duke’s daughter leaves the castle only once a month. She isn’t seen at any other time.

He returned to the square a few hours later, and sat down. Llyr was nowhere in sight.

-I guess I should level some of my other skills. Maybe I should try to enchant something?

He took out one of the iron swords he had taken from the corpses of the test subjects bandits.

“Identify.”

Iron Sword

Durability: 15/30

Damage: 5-7

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago.

-Hmm. It’s a terrible weapon, but enchanting might do something good.

“Imbue.” David’s mana began to pour through his hands into the sword. He could see the mana, still in the blade, slowly becoming more and more white with mana. After thirty seconds, it had consumed a quarter of his mana and the blade was entirely whited out, in his vision. He cut off the flow.

-That should have done something good. I mean, it consumed so much mana.

“Identify.”

Unstable Iron Sword

Durability: 1/1

Damage: 300

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago. A novice enchanter poured too much mana into the blade, making it incredibly unstable. The slightest impact will set off a tremendous magical explosion that will hurt all those surrounding it.

-That didn’t work. I clearly need to use less mana. I also need to set this thing off outside of town, in a place with no one around.

David very carefully put the sword back in his inventory, which didn’t actually get jostled when he moved. He took out another sword.

“Identify”

Iron Sword

Durability: 18/30

Damage: 5-7

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago.

“Imbue.”

This time, he cut the mana off after just a few seconds, before the blade had filled with mana.

“Identify.”

Enchanted Iron Sword

Durability: 15/30

Physical Damage: 5-7

Magical Damage: 3-4

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago. A novice enchanter has imbued this with mana, giving it the ability to deal magical damage.

-Hmm. It still isn’t very effective. I think I should try putting in other types of mana, just to see what would happen.

David put the enchanted sword away, and pulled out another.

“Identify”

Iron Sword

Durability: 14/30

Damage: 5-7

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago.

“Imbue.”

This time, David poured mana into the blade. He tried letting it grow in the sword a little longer than the time before, but less than the first time. He stopped before the sword had become obscured by red-tinged mana.

“Identify.”

Hot Iron Sword

Durability: 14/30

Physical Damage: 5-7

Fire Damage: 10-12

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago. A novice emplaced a fire enchantment, giving the sword the ability to deal fire damage and burn things.

-That’s what I’m talking about.

David put away the fire sword, and took out another iron sword.

“Identify.”

Iron Sword

Durability: 16/30

Damage: 5-7

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago.

“Imbue.” This time, David used mana, and stopped pouring mana in just before the sword became fully blue-tinged.

Iron Sword

Durability: 15/30

Damage: 5-7

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago.

“Identify.”

Frozen Iron Sword

Durability: 15/30

Damage: 5-7

Ice Damage: 4-5

An iron sword that has not been treated well, the blade is rusting, and the hilt is worn. It was originally a basic type weapon, but that was a long time ago. A novice has emplaced an ice enchantment, giving the sword the ability to freeze enemies temporarily and deal Ice damage.

Enchanting has increased by 1.

Enchanting is now level 2.

Enchantments are more powerful. More enchantments can be learned.

“David.” Someone called. David looked up, and saw Llyr approaching from the other side of the square.

“What did you discover?” David said when Llyr had gotten close enough.

“Astrid leaves the castle only once a month, to visit the Temple.”

“That’s pretty much the same as what I got. Should we approach her, and guard from the inside or stay away and try to catch him before he gets to her?”

“Let’s stay away for now, unless you have some way of talking your way past the Duke’s guards, and then proving to Astrid that the smith has been possessed and is coming for her.”

“I don’t, not really.”

“So let’s wait till she leaves the castle. That should be when the smith should make his move. If he is here, there should be talk of people feeling sick all of a sudden, as if a plague was descending on the city.”

“Alright, then. We still have a few days till he should show up. What should we do until then?”

“Well. For one thing, we should scout out the Temple and the route from the castle to the Temple, just in case the smith comes to her during the procession. Other than that, all we can do is practice. The local mage’s guild should have a training hall that you can use to refine your spells. I think I’m close to attaining the 19th Tier, so I’ll be working on that.”

“How do you advance up the Tiers, exactly? How do you know that you’re able to reach the next Tier?”

“Well, for most people, there isn’t really a definite time. In order to cast a spell, all you need is the requisite mana. Right now, I have enough mana to cast a Tier 26 spell, and I know the incantations of several of them. The issue is the ability to control the spell: if I cast a Tier 26 spell right now, I would be torn apart by the strain of directing it. So most people increase their force of will by meditation and self-restraint. Then, when they’re almost certain they can control it, they test it out, by taking themselves far from other people, and using a spell from the next higher Tier.”

“Hmm. So you’re almost certain, then?”

“Yes. It has been a few years since I reached the 18th Tier, and I’ve spent all of the intervening time in fasting and meditation.”

“Okay. Should we find an inn to stay at, in the meanwhile?”

“No. With your status, you should be able to get us rooms in the guild itself.”

They led Sal and Urra to the Mage's Guild, which was immediately visible along the main street, which led from the gate to the Castle and the Temple. When they entered, David was immediately treated like a king. Outside, he was just a face in the crowd, but within the community of magic practitioners, Sages were the equivalent of celebrities. They put him and Llyr up in their finest rooms, and gave him his own practice room to train in.

The practice room was a room with pure white walls and a stone sculpture of a man at the far end. He walked over to it, and identified it.

"Identify."

Regenerating Stone Target

Durability: 1000/1000

A practice target, made of stone, that has been enchanted to quickly regenerate durability, making it virtually indestructible.

-That's a very nice enchantment, wish I could learn that one. Oh well, I think I should practice the spells from the Grimoire.

David began, casting the spells in his Grimoire until he ran out of mana, and then sitting down and using the Deep Breaths breathing pattern to regenerate his mana.

Whenever he reached a new level with his Grimoire, he would store more spells in it. After a day of doing this, David finally had stored all of his spells, and still had a lot of space left over.

-I guess I should start creating other spells now. Maybe barrier spells? Actually, is there such a thing as mana? Let's try it and see.

David released some of his mana. As he did so, he tried to envision barriers - guarding, walling out, protecting.

His mana began to drain quickly, like it had when he tried to make mana. He heard a bell ring, however, and his mana stopped draining after it had already decreased by about half.

*Ding*

Your Mana Mastery has increased by 1 and has converted from Beginner 10 to Intermediate 1

Mana use is now more efficient, -18% mana consumption for all spells.

Converting and controlling Rank 2 manas is now possible.

Mana Understanding has increased by 1 and has converted from Beginner 10 to Intermediate 1

You can learn spells up to Tier 11 using Rank 1 manas on sight.

You can learn spells up to Tier 11 using Rank 2 manas on sight.

Mana Sight has increased by 1 and has converted from Beginner 10 to Intermediate 1

Rank 2 manas are now visible.

You have learnt a Rank 2 mana, check your Mana and Spells Window to view learnt manas