Novels2Search
Mythical Mage
Chapter 0007

Chapter 0007

One of my favorite things in the world is waking before Kyron does, because it means I get some extra snuggle time. We're sleeping on our sides with him behind me, an arm draped over my body as he holds me gently. I'm holding his hand and just enjoying the feel of his body against mine.

The time we spent in the bath just soaking and relaxing was enough for us to recover all of our Mana. After getting out, I created a temporary house – four walls, a stone floor, and a roof. It's only fifteen feet on each side, with a short step up from the ground outside. No windows, and the door is just a stone slab.

While there wasn't an extra bed or cot for us, we did get some furs to lay on with another to lay under. They're rather thick, too, so the cold autumn night was staved off by our heat getting trapped within those.

About ten minutes after I wake, Kyron starts gently rubbing my stomach. I let him do that for a few moments before I start rubbing the back of his hand, and he kisses my neck.

"Morning, Cay," he murmurs.

"Morning, Ky!"

"Ugh. Why are you already so cheerful?"

A common complaint.

"Give me five more minutes to wake enough to handle you, okay?"

"Alright," I snuggle against him as much as I can.

"…you're counting to five minutes, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

Kyron snorts, but doesn't say anything until the five minutes are up, kissing my neck to show he knows it's time. We pull off the furs used as a blanket, and the early morning chill sends a shiver through us. Instead of hurrying to dress, I conjure an orb of fire to heat up the house before taking my time. Grateful for the heat, my husband takes a little more time than needed as well so that I can admire his body a little more.

Once we're both dressed, I dismiss the orb and we exit the shelter. Only the guards at the outside of the camp, Meredith, and another woman are awake right now, the two women close to the fire they have going in the pit at the center.

"Morning, boys," Meredith greets us as we approach. "Do you mind if I ask your plans for today?"

"First, breakfast!" I answer. "Then, we're going to head over to Azriotos to talk with Nozvinel!"

"Azriotos?" The other woman frowns. "I'm not sure I've heard of that, but the dragon lives in the Kenovelts Mountains, around thirty miles northwest from here."

"I don't think we met yesterday," I tell her. "Hi! I'm Caleb! This is my husband, Kyron!"

"You're full of energy already," Meredith comments.

"Always is," Kyron responds. "It's a miracle he's able to stay in bed as long as he does after he wakes up."

"This is Tasha," Meredith gestures to the other woman. "She's a local historian. I brought her with me when I came here in the hopes that she could identify the language."

"I'm familiar with the history dating back to around four hundred years ago," Tasha informs us. "For all of the Angloresk Region. There are many things I don't know, but I at least know all of the major events."

"Azriotos is an ancient term for Nozvinel's mountain," Kyron explains. "And the Specialty Dungeon's riddle was written in a language that existed a thousand years ago. That language was for this region, though don't ask why the riddle was in that – we don't make the Dungeons, we just run them."

"Would you care to share it with us?" Tasha asks. "The riddle and requirement, I mean."

"Entry was based on Class Tier," Kyron answers.

"Major-Tier or Master?"

"The highest," Kyron states, no doubt to see if the existence of the Mythical Tier is known or not.

At least, known to them.

"So Master-Tier," Tasha nods. "Unfortunate, and that would explain why all of the combinations we have tested failed. We were lucky the two of you arrived, then."

"Luck depends on how you view it," Kyron says. "I'm sure Erik would find it unlucky."

"Yes, well, Erik will learn to live with it," Meredith states. "I've already send a letter to my husband informing him the Dungeon is now open, and that it's a triple Shifting Specialty Dungeon. Without someone who could go as far as the two of you did, I'm sure it would have only been Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III. You've granted us more resources and a more powerful training ground. What my son wants is irrelevant."

"The only reasons we didn't push even further were because we were tired and wanted to leave and because we didn't want to hit the rapid-growth stage," I say. "Otherwise, we'd have kept going, and possibly even bumped it up another four Tiers at the maximum."

Which would make the cycle Tier II, Tier V, and Tier X. The final run would be nearly impossible for pretty much everyone who tried it. At Tier VI, they'll need to source a high-power team to handle it, but nothing too extreme. They probably already have four or five people strong enough to do it who would be willing to run it during that part of the cycle.

As Kyron mentioned last night, they would also probably be able to eventually train up dedicated teams for it.

"I'm sure," Meredith says. "By the way, there is food in that tent there, if you are hungry. That's where we're storing the food for the camp."

"You stay here," Kyron tells me. "Would you ladies like anything?"

"Not at the moment," Meredith responds.

"No, thank you," Tasha answers.

Kyron nods, then heads off to the food tent. I watch him until he's in the tent, then I look at the women.

"So what do you know about Nozvinel?"

"What's your interest in talking with him?" Meredith asks. "As with all dragons, he's rather unsocial when it comes to people. The odds of him granting you an audience are rather low. More likely, he would try to eat you – and as a thousand-year-old dragon, that would be well within his power."

"He owes me money."

Both of the women stare at me in confusion, and it's Meredith who breaks the silence.

"If you two only recently arrived in this region," she says. "I'm assuming that means he stole some of your funds while you were traveling? Those rings state they can only be used by their owners, so is it safe to assume he forced you to hand it over?"

"No, there was no force involve," I tell her. "I loaned him some money a long time ago."

"I find it difficult to believe a dragon would 'borrow' money," Tasha says. "And a long time ago? This isn't your first time in the region?"

"Nope!" I answer. "Last time I was here, there was this giant turtle wandering around. He was about fifteen feet in height, and loved snacking on trees and people."

Meredith looks baffled by that while Tasha just looks confused. The difference there is important, as one of those is more extreme than the other.

"I've not heard of such a thing," Tasha says.

"Caleb," Meredith says. "Do you always make believe like that? Lord Ovrodonos died over seven hundred years ago."

"That's a shame, I was hoping I'd get to meet him."

Meredith laughs.

"You could have just asked if the rumors of one were true or not," she tells me.

"Rumors of what?" Kyron asks as he rejoins us.

"Lord Ovrodonos."

"He still around?" Kyron asks.

"Apparently died more than seven centuries ago."

"That's a shame," Kyron says. "He was a pretty cool turtle. After finding out where we were, I was wondering if this was his lake. Here's your breakfast, Cay."

I accept the plate from him. It has two strips of jerky, a small chunk of cheese, and an apple on it. I dig in, creating water to wash it down with, as Kyron eats and talks (but not with food in his mouth).

"Caleb wasn't annoying you while I got food, was he?" Kyron asks.

"No," Meredith answers. "Just amusing us. He claims to have loaned money to Nozvinel, and that's why he wishes to speak with the dragon. We attempted to warn him against bothering the dragon, but it seems like he's intent on doing so."

The women look a little concerned by that, and probably rightfully so. If a dragon gets pissed off at an individual, they might cause a problem for everyone in their territory for months. As a dragon grows older, the more likely they are to ensure people know of their annoyance. Since Nozvinel is a thousand years old, they are really concerned he'll do something to the entire region throughout all of their winter preparations, and possibly even into the start of winter.

"Don't worry," Kyron tells her. "We've dealt with dragons more than a few times. I know when to stop Caleb before he goes too far."

"You've… dealt with dragons before?" Meredith asks. "How many times?"

"As many times as Caleb saw fit after we met," Kyron answers. "I didn't bother with continuing to keep track after the tenth encounter. By that point, it was just another 'it popped into Caleb's head' sort of situation."

"For an autumn apple, this sure is juicy."

"Just eat," Kyron snorts.

"But it is!" I tell him. "And super sweet, too! Try yours!"

Kyron just shakes his head and makes small talk with Meredith and Tasha as we eat, then he takes care of the dishes while telling me to behave.

"Since you guys are set up to try and give a Specialty Dungeon its test runs, does that mean you have plain staffs in your storage?"

"We do," Meredith answers. "Why?"

"Can I have one?" I ask. "I want to make a new staff."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Meredith leads me to their storage tent for supplies, and I examine the three dozen plain staffs stored in here. They really are prepared to make new ones as needed, though most of their magic crystals and monster cores are small or low-grade. Fortunately, they're smart about the branches they use for the staffs, so all I have to do is examine them and give them a try.

Once I find one that feels good to me, I head to one of the tables outside and start pulling things out of my ring and Kyron's (he joins me to watch). Air magic assists in the carving, allowing it to progress much faster than if I just used a knife. I smooth the staff more to my liking as I create the flame-like pattern on the head to hold the fire crystal I'm going to insert.

It's a fist-sized one of a higher quality than the one on my old staff, and it dropped from the lava golem. The quality isn't that much higher – but my spellsmith skills are. I don't set this one up for recharges or additions, but I do still add in a fire monster core, normal monster core, fire monster core tunnel in the top of the staff, connected to the fire crystal and its flame at the top.

Another change I make to this staff over the old one is that I practice my magic-shaping skills some more and create small etches into the staff, everywhere below the flame, but leading up into it. Once that's finished, I carefully pour a reddish-orange alchemical solution I created into those etches, using a thin needle to help guide the fluid into the etchings. Utilizing air magics, I wipe away any excess, creating a smooth surface for the etchings. I also add some of the fluid into the flame carving, along its edges and in the corners. This gives it a more flame-like appearance, though it's not actually meant as decoration.

Some of this fluid is also poured into the tunnel with the trio of cores, encasing them within it before I fix the crystal atop the staff once more, this time sealing it into place with the fluid.

Several of the people who came to watch gasp and murmur to themselves as I begin finishing the etchings. I ignore that, however, in favor of finishing the staff. The grip is a piece of red leather with three cords hanging from it, each with beads. Each cord has two bone beads and three made from fire magic crystals, set to alternate.

No feathers, as I don't have any suitable for this – the only birds we faced were in the air zone.

Finished with the staff, I examine its elegance, pleased with myself.

[Velabroz, the Great Flame] Grade: Master This magical staff was crafted by an expert among experts of spellsmiths. All fire magics channeled through it will cost 25% less Mana and possess 40% more Magic. Those born with a great inner flame shall know true power.

"That's… just like Belxiox!" One of the men observing us gasps.

"Belxiox?" I look over at him.

"A Mythical-Grade staff uncovered in some ruins about a century and a half ago!" He exclaims. "It was crafted using a Lost Art! The duke over this area has it, it's been passed down in his family ever since they discovered it! The earth-magic staff reduces Mana cost by fifty percent and increases Magic by eighty percent for all spells cast through it!"

"I know about Belxiox," I say. "I'm just surprised it's still around."

It's one of my more pride-worthy creations, so it would be weird if I forgot about it. I may have been dead for a thousand years, but it's still only felt like a few weeks since I made that staff.

"H-how do you know the Lost Art of spellsmiths?" The man approaches hesitantly. "Creating items worthy of being granted names, of having phrases added at their ends, of creating ones which can benefit all of an elemental magic, not just a specific type of them, of-"

"Okay, gonna stop you there," I hold up a hand. "You guys can't do that? It's extremely easy and takes, like, a minute to learn if you already know how to make a magic item that can affect the cost and power instead of cast the spell."

The bonuses are stronger if applied to specific types of spells from an element, such as area spells, ranged spells, close spells, and so on. If I wanted to, I could make this staff only reduce the cost and increase the power of ranged spells, making it so that things like [Fire Barrier] and [Flamethrower] receive no benefit from it, but [Fire Bolt] and [Fire Arrow] do.

Crafting it that way is also easier, despite it having a higher effect. The ease of crafting is the trade-off for not making it specialized. The method is also pretty close to the way one would craft it to activate spells, which is probably why that's what remained when part of the art of spellsmithing was apparently lost.

"Around six hundred years ago," he says. "There was a great tragedy across the world. A significant portion of the population died – at least, on this continent and the connected one. We've not had communication from others since then, so we don't know if it's true for them or not, but it is most likely so. Many pieces of ancient knowledge were forgotten, such as making magic items like that."

"It really only takes about a minute to learn," I tell him. "For a wooden item, soak the wood in enchanting solution. Don't just use it to paint runes onto the item – actually soak the wood in it. Get it nice and deep in, soaking for two or three days. Make sure to change out the liquid every six to eight hours, too. Then, once it's done, let it dry on its own for about a day. After that, just proceed with enchanting it like you normally would, but don't add in the specifications for the type. Or do so, if you want an even bigger bonus."

The man stares at me as if this is a massive revelation, a novel idea that would take a genius to come up. Please. My dad taught me how to do this when I was three. The "ink" used to create the enchanting network (most of the time) is invisible once it's set, but it's filled with the power of the element to be channeled. As just runes and lines, it can only handle focused, specific abilities.

Making the change from that to actually activating the spell only requires altering a slight portion of the setup, since they're otherwise the same.

By soaking the wood completely through with the enchanting solution, the entire staff is imbued with the power of the element.

"You didn't do any of that," the man says.

"Of course not, I don't have a few days," I say. "If I did, then I'd definitely do that. I can double the effects doing that, sometimes even more."

"D-double?" Another man exclaims. "That goes into the territory of some of the greatest artifacts ever discovered! Why would a child-"

"I'm nearly nineteen, thank you very much," I point Velabroz at him, and he flinches. "And this staff should act as proof of my superior crafting ability. Though it took me an hour to craft, it was nothing more than a rush job. I'm quite pleased with how it came out. Would you like a demonstration of its abilities?"

Before he can answer, I swing the staff to point at the lake, which is only a few yards away from this table. A [Fireball] forms in front of the staff, then blasts forward. It soars nearly fifty feet before erupting into a mass of flames nearly fifty feet in diameter. Despite being twenty feet from the inferno's edge, I know that most of those around us are affected by the heat of it. A strong wind blows outward as well, and that's not an air magic component – that's just how powerful and sudden the heat is.

Several people are actually pushed back a little by it, while most of them are shielding their eyes against the light of the flames. Steam fills the air, settling into an early morning mist that lingers over the surface of the lake.

"I would recommend never insinuating or saying he's lying about his abilities," Kyron casually tells them. "Or treating him like a liar, or acting like he's a child. Caleb takes that very seriously. His abilities are nothing to laugh at, especially when he gets serious. The only reason he made Velabroz is because we're going to go talk with Nozvinel."

"I don't think you're powerful enough, even with a staff, to take on Nozvinel," Meredith adds. "He's a thousand-year-old dragon, his Constitutions is likely in the hundreds."

"We're not going to fight him," I say. "I just want to collect on the debt he owes me. The staff isn't for that, it's for getting something else that's in the area his den is."

"What?" The man who first spoke after I finished the staff looks confused. "For… getting something?"

"Yeah," I say. "Nozvinel has some pretty nifty mine caves near his den, but the metal there is a pain in the ass to harvest. I'm not powerful enough yet to actually harvest it, so… oh, crap, this was supposed to be an earth magic staff."

Kyron starts laughing pretty hard, and I just sigh.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to realize that!" He tells me.

I negotiate with Meredith for another plain staff, as well as a few of the crystals and cores I saw in the magic item supplies tent. The earth magic crystals and cores I have aren't as high of a quality as the fire crystals and cores, while the camp does have a few of those. They even have a pair of quarter-inch metal monster cores, which I use in the trio set inside the top.

This staff's holder for the large crystal is shaped a little like a mountain, and looks even more so after I edge it with the solution for this one, which is brownish-grey.

"Ta-da!" I hold up the staff once finished. "There we go!"

[Vemokott, the Hidden Mountain] Grade: Master This magical staff was crafted by an expert among experts of spellsmiths. All earth magics channeled through it will cost 20% less Mana and possess 35% more Magic. Those born to the land have sturdy hearts.

"It's not as good of a quality," I comment. "Since the resources used were lesser and I had to use more of them to start making up for it, but it's decent enough and should still be fine. The ore takes about 45 Magic or Strength to harvest, and this will put my spells at just-over that."

Once the ore has been refined, however, it's much more durable – and that's before enhancing it with magic. I'll eventually replace the swords forged with it using a much more powerful metal, but the next couple of swords will suffice for us for now. We won't need anything stronger until we're in a more powerful Dungeon than the Tier VI one this Specialty Dungeon will be every third phase.

"Now that we're done," I say. "Let's head out, Ky! Meredith, we'll be back sometime later today. Either this evening or tomorrow, I'll get started on making a proper bath for you guys. Created stone would be appreciated but not required. See ya!"

I use [Flight Wind] to soar up into the sky, Kyron following close behind. We head straight northwest, for the large mountain we can soon see in the distance. Reaching it only takes about an hour and a half using [Flight Wind], and I notice something off almost as soon as we're near Nozvinel's den.

"What's wrong?" Kyron asks when I shift to floating in place.

"Nozzy's not here."

"We're still a mile from his den," Kyron says. "How can you tell that he's not in his cave? I know you aren't powerful enough yet to actually sense that stuff, even if we are significantly more powerful than we were with the goblins."

"It's always obvious when a dragon's not home," I say. "Let's just head down, I can still take some of the mithril, even if he's not there."

Kyron and I fly over to Nozvinel's den, which is on the northwestern part of the mountain. The moment we can see deep into it, I frown. There's nothing here – not even a trace of his treasure. Dragons keep the majority of their hoard in their main den, so the absence of it is odd.

"Maybe he moved to another den?" Kyron suggests. "He's a thousand years old, he probably wanted a bigger space."

At a thousand years old, the brown-scaled earth dragon would be around fifty feet in height, making him fairly large. The den is about sixty feet tall and eight feet wide, but almost three hundred feet in depth. It's twice as big as I can remember, though the walls, floors, and ceiling are all still mountain stone that has a dark blue tint to it.

The den started off as a mine's entrance, but Nozvinel took it over soon after they started mining here. He evicted the humans and expanded the den to make it big enough for him, and it looks like he's expanded it more over the last thousand years to make room for himself.

"Why would he abandon it for a bigger one when he just keeps making it bigger?" I roll my eyes. "Besides, Nozzy was definitely here at least at some point in the last few days. I'd say he left in the last day or so. Odd, since elder dragons don't usually move. It's not like anyone can just evict them, and by the time they reach this stage, they're old enough to have established that the den they're in is the one they want for the rest of their life. Let me get some ore."

"Why do you think he left in the last day or so?" Kyron asks.

"Because he did, duh!" I answer as I pull out Vemokott. "Now shush. I need to concentrate."

I walk to the back of the cave, then point Vemokott at the back wall and focus. The crystal on the tip begins to glow, and I press it against the wall, then slowly begin to pull back. Moving my arm is difficult, feeling almost as if I'm trying to pull the mountain itself. As the staff pulls back, however, a medium-blue ore pulls with it.

Slowly, I work, taking a step back as needed. The ore pulls out in a semi-conical form, drawing from all around the original point. Eventually, the amount that's pulled out has spread over fifteen feet at the base.

Once I feel I have enough, I sever the ore from the mountain and take several more steps back as the conical ore begins to reshape into a sphere. There's no blue tint anywhere on the back wall where the ore had pulled out of, and I know it's missing from a fair section behind it, but in a semi-conical shape pointing the other way.

After the ore has fully shaped into a sphere, I pull out Velabroz and point it at the floating blue sphere, and the crystal begins to glow as fire begins to wrap around the giant sphere of ore. The ore heats up, soon turning white-hot. Thanks to my use of Vemokott, none of it drips down, remaining in the sphere.

I manipulate the ore using both magics so that it "kneads" itself, in order to ensure the entire ore is heated up. Bits start to drip down, but none of them are the ore I'm actually wanting – they're the impurities that I wasn't able to get rid of as I pulled it out of the mountain. Only once the drips cease do I allow the metal to cool, working the metal's form with my magic until it's finished.

Despite how large the sphere was at the start, it's able to be shaped into a cube five feet on each side upon completion of this. At the very end, the metal is extremely resistant to being manipulated, and will be so from now on.

Pure mithril ore is silvery with a very faint bluish tint to it, and it's quite resilient to all forms of damage. To those who can work it, however, it can hold extraordinary amounts of magic. My dad specialized in working mithril, which is how I learned to do it. The spatial rings that Kyron and I wear are made from it, which only shows just how good it is at holding magic when someone knows what to do.

Very few materials can hold dimensional magics, which aren't even magics people can wield on their own.

"I don't have a single doubt in my mind," Kyron says. "That even today, a thousand years from the war, that much mithril is worth enough money to rival the total sum of all the wealth of every noble in a dozen countries."

I send the cube of mithril in my ring.

"Let's go find Nozzy, then see if he's okay with me taking more from here!"

"Do you even know where to look for him?"

"I can think of three other places within fifty miles of here that have mithril," I say. "And as an earth dragon, he would much prefer to have a den where the walls are full of mithril, even if impure due to being raw ore. Let's go!"