Grizzly Birch tavern. It was one of the more popular places to participate in revelry since it was located in the center of the Makers’ District. Everyone here had money to spend or gamble away, which meant it was as good as a palace for Logan and his gang.
Logan had decided long ago that being an underworld boss would be the next best thing for him if he couldn’t be a king. It gave him power, reputation, and all the vices that the world could offer him. He was good at it too. Played things by ear and stayed out of the way of more powerful groups that could topple his “empire”.
His main source of business was of course smuggling and “taxing” local businesses that had no backing. Through this, Logan made sure he had a steady flow of income and made sure nobody could rise up from the town’s rabble and topple everything he’d built.
So when Logan saw the old librarian perusing through his streets, he’d decided to take his payment early.
After all, didn’t he just lie to them then?
Why else would have Gareth wandered in the Makers’ District if it wasn’t to spend the money he hid away from them.
With a whistle and a motion of his hand, the goons that followed Logan went out to apprehend the unknowing Gareth.
------
Torches on the wall dimly lit up the stone room. The smell of mildew permeated the air.
In front of Logan was Gareth’s bloody form, keeled over and coughing. His appearance was already ragged from the various techniques used by Logan’s lackeys to get him to cough up how much money he had left and why he lied to them.
Logan lackadaisically walked up to the middle-aged man and pulled up on the loose strands of hair that covered Gareth’s face. Just enough to make eye contact.
A pair of determined yet tired eyes looked back, blood and sweat intertwining as it dripped down his head to his chin.
Logan couldn’t help but give him a wicked grin.
“So tell me Gareth, do we need t’get your son in here to get you to stop lyin’ to us?”
Gareth immediately faltered, his eyes losing a bit of the determined luster they had before.
“N- No. Please, don’t involve him in this. I’ll give you all the money, just don’t bring him into this.” He begged.
Logan sneered and threw Gareth’s head down, walking away towards his lackeys.
“Ugh…” Gareth groaned from the forceful motion.
“Listen Gareth, old pal, I hate liars the most. Especially liars who don’t do anything for the wider community. And your library ain’t cutting’ it.” Logan explained as he walked over to his lackeys.
They had been standing near the entrance of the room. One of them held the end of a metal rod in the flames of a nearby torch. The other eagerly watched the proceedings with arms crossed.
“You know what we do to liars Gareth in our line of work?”
Logan grabbed the rod from his lackey and brought the hot end near his face before blowing on it.
The end glowed red, making some sinister shadows dance across Logan’s face. He then pointed it towards Gareth as he walked over again.
A grim realization dawned on Gareth’s face, panic surged throughout his body.
“No please!” Gareth scrambles backward.
“Usually, we show them the way out after some helpful reminders, and a few days we find that they kicked the bucket in some back alleyway. Funny eh? Hahahahaha!” Logan cackled and his lackeys joined in.
To them, Gareth was just another business. Disposable income. After all, the Makers’ District didn’t lack common folk without powerful backgrounds.
“But ya see since you’re a good man. We’ll let you off lightly. This brand, we’ll put it on you as punishment for lying and evading the tax! Sounds good right?”
Gareth had crawled into a corner now. Logan stood in front of him with the branding rod in hand. The lackeys in the background cheered on their boss to hurry up and get Gareth to scream.
“Please… please don’t do this Logan. I’ll give you all the money, don’t brand me…” Gareth stuttered weakly in defeat.
Being branded meant that one’s identity and family would become no different from a slave. It was an unsavory practice that was banned by most kingdoms and frowned upon by the churches, but most nobility and the underworld didn’t really care.
They never got caught and if they did, some hush money and blades were enough to quiet any unsettled parties involved.
This was an utter humiliation for Gareth and his family lineage. If he got branded, it would only be some time before they got ahold of Eliott and brand him too. As a father, Gareth didn’t want that for his child, so the best option was to acquiesce and try to stop the proceedings.
A man’s pride was nothing compared to the future of his child.
“Th- the money… It's locked away behind a bookshelf in the library. You can take everything! There’s enough to feed a small family for a year.” Gareth said and took a bowing position and kneeled with his head on the floor.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Sweat, blood, and tears mixed and fell on the grimy stone floor. The silent agony of a powerless father in front of injustice.
“Just please… don’t brand me or bring my son into this!” Gareth slammed his head into the stone floor, again and again, making a slick sound as flesh collided onto the uneven stone.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Logan stopped right in front of Gareth’s subservient form.
A burst of raucous laughter erupted and echoed throughout the stone room. Torchlight flickered along, making the shadows dance along with the laughter.
Before Gareth could reply, Logan stomped down on his shoulders and kicked the shaking body.
“Listen! Get over here and hold ‘im down!” The two lackeys moved from their positions towards Gareth and Logan.
“We’re going to get artistic with this one aren’t we?” Logan peered down at the middle-aged man with a malicious grin. He didn’t look like a librarian anymore, just a ragged slave waiting to be punished.
Nobody tries to cheat him and gets away with it.
------
On a rather busy street filled with stands and merchandise, a young man bought a cheap-looking cloak with what money he had. He thanked the owner and continued his way with a hood covering his upper torso and head.
After a few seconds, the scholarly feeling that was exuded had been lost.
Lukas had learned to cast another spell with his new magic, a first-order spell, Subtle Haze.
[Subtle Haze. 1st order magic. Once cast, the caster is surrounded by a weak illusion that suppresses their presence. Cannot directly hide the caster and beings that have a trained or instinctual perception are not affected by the spell. Lasts for half an hour or dispelled by social/physical interaction.]
Lukas had perused through the menus of the system whilst walking over to the Grizzly Birch.
He found that his name was also visible in the [Champion] tab and that it showed off some basic information about him. Of which, some things surprised him.
Name: Eliott Hearthrom
Title: ---
Tier: Source Opening- Master
Spells:
(First Order- Prestidigitation, Source Bolt, Subtle Haze)
Evaluation: Incredibly weak, physically, and will 99% go down in one punch. Room for major improvement. TRY HARDER!
Lukas was peeved at the evaluation but could do nothing about it.
It had only been less than a day since he’d arrived and taken over the body of Eliott. His physical body was nothing he could change in short term but required careful planning.
Maybe the evaluation would change after the stunt he was going to pull.
He was mainly surprised that his casual messing about with Source had generated some spells which were considered legitimate by the system and were listed.
They were easy to make too. Simple functions and ideas, nothing too draining on his energy reserves.
The issue of him being titleless was also a cause for his concern that could be addressed at a later time. After all, his father had been missing for a few hours now and it would be a disservice to Eliott if Gareth passed away while he was messing with the system.
Lukas walked onwards and adjusted the new cloak. The effect of Subtle Haze seemed a bit more amplified after he had put it on.
As he walked, people seemed to completely ignore him. To the point, he almost ran into some people before they realized his existence and quickly moved out of the way.
He continued to walk about and used this time to find the limits of his new spell.
It took a good while, but he eventually found the road that the Grizzly Birch was on after asking for a few directions.
It seemed like a lively place, a large variety of people were inside and hanging around near the entrance drinking and laughing away. The building seemed to share the western style of design of the middle ages in his past life, albeit more aged.
It didn’t seem like the type of place where a ruffian like Logan would hang out.
The atmosphere was too jovial, Lukas had thought as he wandered in.
Subtle Haze had worn off at this point.
A few hardy men gave him a once over when he came in, but they didn’t seem to be interested in whatever Lukas came here for.
He eventually found an empty seat at the bar and ordered a drink, before he silently inspected the place.
Lukas didn’t spot anyone that looked remotely like Logan or his father, which worried him. This meant that they must’ve already found Gareth and taken him somewhere.
A sudden sense of crisis had grown in his heart.
With the unknown location of his father and Logan, he started to silently manipulate the Source within the folds of his cloak to help probe the vicinity more efficiently.
Taking some inspiration from the fantastical spells in games he used to play in the past, he attempted to make Source energy recognize forms of life and make them glow when it passed over them.
Simple function and idea.
Ding!
[Detect Life. 1st order magic. When cast, the spell sends out pulses of energy that react to the presence of life, making them glow in the eyes of the user. The effects can be magnified or adjusted to suit the caster’s needs; the more specifics are attached to the spell the lower the range. The glow effect lasts for 5 minutes before fading.]
It worked! Lukas smiled and immediately used the newly created spell.
It took longer to cast than Subtle Haze since he had to apply some verbal elements to get more specific results.
Almost immediately a significant amount of energy left his inner Source pool and a thin, transparent layer of energy pulsed outwards with Lukas as the origin.
Every time the energy passed through an individual, particles only visible to Lukas started glowing. People seemed perturbed whenever the energy passed through them but continued to merrily drink as if nothing happened.
The energy eventually went through the walls, ceiling, and floor.
After a second or two it highlighted the vague shapes of various beings and animals beyond the confines of the room he could physically see.
Lukas eventually noticed some humanoid figures in the ground below the bar. It seemed quite deep due to the distance and thus assumed this was the cellar of the tavern.
A bit of a cliché tactic for small-town gangs, but Lukas didn’t dwell on it too much as he noticed a more pressing issue.
One of the figures was on the ground with two other figures holding them down.
He immediately paid for his drink and cast Subtle Haze on himself again. He wanted to get down there as quick as possible and the best way he could think of was to do it unnoticed.
Lukas had found the cellar’s entrance from his earlier inspection and started to make his way towards it.
He pushed some patrons aside in haste.
Because of the fading effects of Subtle Haze still being applied, the victims failed to notice his figure and started to get rowdy. They blamed the person they were next to and what ensued after was a tavern-wise brawl.
Food and drink flew everywhere, tables and chairs were smashed, revelry going patrons shouted and laughed, and Lukas used this chaos to open the cellar’s entrance which was hidden behind the bar.
Before he lifted the cellar door, he made eye contact with an individual that stared at him amidst the brawl that happened around them.
Lukas didn’t have the mind to care since the figures he had kept an eye on with Detect Life had started to fade.
The last thing he saw was the figure who stood over a kneeling form, holding their head in one hand and seemingly waving the other hand about.
Lukas’s eyes had eventually found the door in the dimly lit cellar.
It was guarded by a gangly-looking fellow that accompanied Logan to the library earlier in the day.
A muffled, blood-curdling scream rang through the door along with some cruel laughter.
Lukas felt a cold chill run down his spine before red completely overtook his vision.
The Source that surrounded him started to heat up in response to his agitation.
Before he realized what happened, the room ignited.