She waited until everyone was outside before activating her teleport and bringing them all down to the same riverbank where she had first found water in Anoura.
“I will never get used to that.” Gregory said as they appeared down by the river via teleportation.
“So, just so you all have an idea of what this oath entails for you, I’m going to show you a few things to demonstrate how important it is that no one finds out about this until I’m strong enough to protect myself.” she said.
“Thadius, are you comfortable with demonstrating your second class’s magic to our friends here?” Kelsey asked.
“Sure, I trust them completely,” he said before turning to the rest of the group. “My second class is an architecture focused Earth mage, but I still have the main two skills, Create Earth, and Greater Earth Manipulation.”
Thadius then walked a few dozen meters away and demonstrated his earth magic by creating two giant boulders. Each was the size of a small house. He then used his manipulation skill to send both of the boulders into the side of the mountain with enough force to create a 50-meter wide crater. He waited a few seconds and then began using his manipulation to fix the mountainside and return it to how it was before the impact.
Stepping back, Thadius turned to the group. "I have quite a bit of power, but very little finesse. My control isn't great, so making large rocks and launching them at things is basically the best I've got."
“Great, thank you Thadius. My best guess is that it cost you roughly 15,000 mana in total over the two seconds it took to create the earth and have it reach the target. Am I right?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah, I’d say that’s about right. I can go slightly bigger, but not by much. I’m not on a Combat Path after all.” he said.
Kelsey simply nodded before beginning her demonstration. She first entered Meditation, sending her mana regeneration to 13,500 mana per second. Then she began creating earth, she spent three seconds worth of mana regeneration in order to create roughly 300 earth lances about the width of her torso at their base. Then, on the fourth second that she had allotted for herself, she used another 13,500 mana to launch them for a total of 54,000 mana. It was something that was completely unreasonable to do in a fight, but when she had time, like here, it was her most powerful kind of attack.
The lances tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier moments after leaving her control. Fractions of a second later, the lances collided with the mountain in a rapid burst that caused the ground the group was standing on to shake and vibrate as if they were experiencing an earthquake. Several tons of dirt and debris were kicked up into the air as the lances and a chunk of the mountain disintegrated from the impacts.
As things calmed down, Kelsey grabbed control of the dirt and debris in the air and forced them to settle. She then imitated Thadius and repaired the damage done to the mountain before willing the additional material she had created to dissipate into mana.
She turned to the group standing next to her. They all looked like they had seen a ghost. “I need to become an Immortal as fast as possible. As it stands, my magic is incredibly strong, but I’m not strong enough to defend myself from people with a raw attribute advantage.” she said as she looked at Thadius.
She continued after no one had spoken for a few seconds. “After I take you all back to Whitebranch, I will be returning to The Trial. The floors there are enchanted to block domains, which means I’ll be able to scout each floor to ensure no one is there before going all out. I think I can punch well above my level now, so I should be able to push to Immortality in just a month or two.” she said matter of factly.
The group looked at her and nodded in unison. They were all wearing serious expressions now that Kelsey’s tone had changed so drastically.
Lisa was the first to speak up. "You know if you rush to level 250, your next advancement will likely be less of a step up." she said seriously.
Kelsey nodded. "I know. It's just... This class of mine is already very strong... But no matter how strong it is, I know it can't compensate for serious differences in raw power."
Stepping back and rubbing her temples, Kelsey sighed. "Let's take Leon Garley, for example. As far as I could tell, he's a decent guy. Anoura is a big ass place with hundreds of thousands of Immortals wandering around, right?"
The group nodded their heads. "So, there is someone out there, likely as strong, or much stronger than Leon, who has some less than stellar morals backing them up. If that person were to find out what I can do, and decide they don't like it, they could end my life in the blink of an eye." Kelsey said seriously.
Owen was the one to speak this time. "Kelsey, we understand. We just don't want you doing anything you'll regret. But I'll be the first to say, I agree with your assessment. People typically level slowly for one of two reasons. The first is injuries, naturally. The second is that they want a stronger class for their advancement, and they want to learn skills and such that will show in their class requirements."
Kelsey nodded, showing that she understood.
"You don't have either of those issues. I say you go for it. Push to level 250 as fast as possible, then worry about all of the other stuff." Owen finished casually.
"Aye lassie. If I were you, I wouldn't have bothered coming to update us. I would have gone straight back to The Trial and pushed to Immortality in secret." Gregory said in agreement.
Lisa sighed. "Yeah. I mean, you did spend nearly a year studying and practicing with your skills. That has to count for something. I say go for it."
Kelsey nodded and smiled at her party. "Thanks guys."
Taking another step back, Kelsey clapped her hands together and spoke. “Owen, Lisa, I know you said you wanted to go with me originally, do you still want to? I would be happy to take you to and from The Trial. It only takes a few minutes.” she said expectantly. “Gregory, if you want to take some leave and level up some, you’re welcome to come as well.”
Owen and Lisa glanced at each other briefly before nodding, and saying, “Yes” in unison.
Gregory looked around the group. “Aye. It's well past time for me to get back out there and make my push for Immortality too.” he said a bit begrudgingly. “Plus, it ain't every day ye get some pretty young lass offerin to teleport you across the nation now is it?”
Kelsey smiled at that, as noted how much she loved that Gregory changed his entire way of speaking based on how serious he was being. The man hid it well when he was acting as a guild official, but she knew that he was someone who did better on the battlefield than he did sitting behind a desk.
“You know Gregory, I’ve been wondering. Why did you take the Guild Master job anyways?”
“Money. Best payin job you can get in a city like Whitebranch.” he said with a cheeky grin on his face.
“Fair enough. Thadius, you wanna come see The Trial? I can bring you back any time.”
Thadius considered it for a few seconds before nodding his head and answering, “Actually, yeah. I could use a vacation, plus, I’d love to see my little sis in her element. Can we leave in a day or two?” he asked.
“Yeah of course. I’m sure Gregory has some stuff he’ll need to do as well, so let's say, two days from now we’ll meet at Thadius’ house and leave from there.” she said after considering his request. “Plus, it would be nice to spend some time with Claire and the kids.”
Before she forgot, Kelsey looked at Gregory and threw him her Guild card. “Mind getting this updated for me while you’re at the Guild? I probably won't need it, but who knows what might come up.”
Everyone quickly agreed to the plan and Kelsey teleported them back into Thadius’ house where they separated in order to take care of their various responsibilities.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Kelsey spent her two days roughly the way she had intended. She spent most of her time with Thadius, Claire, and the kids, who were all understandably upset that Thadius would be spending a month or two away. The kids were significantly less upset when she pulled out the toys she had bought them in Niem. They exploded with joy as they saw the simple little toys and immediately went to go play with them in the other room.
Kids really do love toys.
Another thing she needed to do was to finally buy one of those Spatial storage rings she saw people using in Neim. Not that she had any intention of actually using it, she just wanted to have one to hide her vault skill. The ring cost an eye watering 25,000 gold coins. How any adventurer afforded that, she had no idea. Thankfully, money didn’t mean anything to her, so she bought one without thinking twice. She also bought some more camping supplies which included a massive tent that was large enough to fit 10 people comfortably. She bought three other tents as well, just in case people didn’t want to sleep in the large, shared tent. Really it was mostly just for Owen and Lisa who she thought may want some alone time away from prying eyes.
While she was working on the money for the ring, she borrowed a platinum coin from Thadius so she could learn to recreate the metal. A platinum coin was worth 100 gold coins which meant that in Earth terms it was worth roughly 10,000 dollars. According to Thadius, there was another currency above platinum that nations used to trade. It was a mana infused steel called Mythril. It was so incredibly rare that one coin’s worth was the equivalent of 100 platinum coins. She had of course heard the term Mythril from Earth. It was supposedly a material that was lighter and more flexible than steel while also being stronger.
I need to get my hands on some of that. I could make all my weapons and armor from Mythril. Kelsey was practically vibrating with excitement at the thought. She did consider trying to create some herself, but she figured that would take a few weeks of trial and error to figure out, which was time she simply didn't have.
The final thing she did during the two-day waiting period was buy some more food. She had tried making food with her Creation skill, but it never tasted quite right. She wasn’t sure why, but also didn’t really care too much. She simply went down to the market and bought out a few dozen stalls of their food and stored them in her vault. She had done some very brief testing during her time spent studying and found that her new Vault of the Magus skill practically froze time. That meant that she could cook some food in one month and pull it out, still hot, the next. It was a handy little feature that meant she could eat fresh meals all the time.
Street vendor food wasn't great, but it was certainly better than monster meat cooked over a campfire.
The two days were finally over, and Kelsey was waiting patiently with Thadius on his couch. With her domain, Kelsey could see Gregory, Owen, and Lisa making their way to Thadius’ house, but they were still a few minutes out.
“How long are you planning on staying with us?” she asked Thadius.
“At least a month, potentially longer. I’d definitely like to come back and see my family after the month, but who knows, I may decide to go back out afterwards. May even bring them along if it’s safe.” he said, lost in thought. “Weirdly, I feel like your attitude towards fighting is rubbing off on me. I may even try my hand at some dungeon diving.”
“Really? I thought you loved your peaceful life as an architect.”
“I do, and Whitebranch is a lovely place, but I was only really here to wait for you. Claire will be an Immortal soon, and now that you’re here, Whitebranch just doesn’t offer us much. That's why there's only one Immortal besides myself living here.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask. Why is Theo living here and not in an Immortal city? There's no way he can level up here, right?”
“Something about a promise to his grandfather and the Great White Tree.” Thadius answered.
“About that tree, what is it?” she asked curiously.
“No one really knows. The history behind the city is that a group of adventurers were traveling in this area about 150 years ago and stumbled across the tree. They decided to start a little camp at the base of it as a place to fall back to while they explored the area. A few years passed while they adventured, and more and more people began moving in. Eventually, it became its own little village. The rest is history as they say.” he answered wistfully.
“Well, that actually brings up something I wanted to talk about. Did you notice the steps I built down from my cabin? I made them because I actually want to create a settlement out there. A place to call my own. I was actually hoping that you and your family would be interested in moving out there some day, help me get things up and running.” she said nervously.
“That’s amazing, Kel. I will talk to them when I get back. I can pretty much guarantee you Claire would be thrilled. She hates living in a city and living in a giant forest like that would be a dream come true for an alchemist.” he said eagerly.
Kelsey pulled out a small bag that she had prepared for just this occasion. “Here is some money. Leave it with a note for Claire. I want her to get the absolute best ingredients money can buy and become an Immortal as fast as possible. It's the least I can do for my brother’s wife. She’s family too and I can’t imagine Alchemy is cheap to level up.” Kelsey said as she threw the pouch at Thadius. “There are 500 platinum coins in the pouch. Do you think that’ll be enough?”
“Wow, thank you Kelsey, she’s going to be thrilled. Also, yes I think it should be more than enough to push her over the edge into Immortality. She may even be able to get her second class there too.” Thadius said excitedly. "Not that we need the money, exactly..."
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, what is her second class?”
“It’s a fire mage class. It's primarily a combat class, but she uses it to regulate temperature when she’s doing alchemy. When she becomes an Immortal, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with I tell you. Her Alchemy is combat based as well.” he said proudly.
“Wait, are you saying she’s a Classer?” Kelsey asked, bewildered.
“Yeah. She’s only been doing the whole storefront thing so she could spend time with me and the family while we waited for you to show up. Her real passion is adventuring. We had actually planned on going adventuring together once she became an Immortal and the kids were a little older. I’m not sure if the fighting part of adventuring is really my thing, but traveling and seeing the world is right up my alley. It’s why I’m coming with you. I really want to see what The Trial is like, and I want to try fighting monsters again, see if I feel differently now that I’m older and stronger.”
“I had no idea. I’m glad I asked you to come then, I had almost expected you to say no.” Kelsey said as she laughed softly. “By the way, our friends are here.”
As she said that, there was a knock at the door.
Thadius gave her an exasperated look as he moved to go open the door. “Show off.”
As Thadius opened the door and let in the group, everyone began greeting each other and chatting about what they had done over the past two days. During that time, Gregory walked up to Kelsey and handed her a brand-new Gold ranked Guild card. “There ya go. Now ye better not be askin me for another one anytime soon, ye hear?”
“Aye aye captain!” she said as she threw Gregory a playful salute.
“Alright, everyone ready?” she asked the room.
“One sec, Kel, I need to write that note to Claire, I’ll be right back.” Thadius said as he excused himself.
A few minutes later Thadius came back and nodded towards Kelsey.
Then, once everyone was ready. Kelsey wrapped them all up in mana and activated her teleport.
As she was waiting the several minutes it was going to take to transfer all five of the group to The Trial, Kelsey took one last look at her Status and Skills screen. This is where my journey to Immortality really begins.
Name: Kelsey Kain
Primary Class: Magus - lvl 100
Health: 12700/12700 [Regen: %10 of mana per second]
Stamina: 12700/12700 [Regen: %1 per second]
Mana: 27100/27100 [Regen: %10 per second]
Constitution: 1270
Endurance: 1270
Strength: 1090
Dexterity: 1090
Intelligence: 2710
Willpower: 2710
Free Points: 53
Primary Class Skills - 8/10
Creation of the Magus - lvl 5
Manipulation of the Magus - lvl 5
Greater Enhancement - lvl 3
Greater Teleport - lvl 2
Vault of the Magus - lvl 3
Armory - lvl 3
Domain of the Magus - lvl 5
Flight - lvl 4
General Skills - 6
Anouran language - lvl 10 (Maxed)
Meditation - lvl 22
Pain Tolerance - lvl 20 (Maxed)
Poison Resistance - lvl 11
Acid Resistance - lvl 5
Mental Resistance - lvl 4