Richard was waiting for me outside the room and said the others were getting us some transport. We were to meet them at the guild’s entrance. Richard had also changed and was now wearing a black robe with a grey steel cuirass. I assumed it’s steel, but you could never really tell without checking the item.
Lex, the rogue from my support team had a full set of leathers made from metallic snakeskin. It looked like just stained plate mail. Lex called it his snakeplate. Terrible name, snakemail had a better ring to it.
I was glad Richard stayed behind to guide me to the entrance. I would have been waking aimlessly for who knows how long. Making sure Richard stayed in my field of view, I looked over my spell list.
Spells:
Identify (0)
Mana Marble (1)
Summon Campfire (0)
Summon Weapon (1)
Where is my fireball spell? Why don’t I have fireball? Instead, I have a spell named Summon Campfire? What kind of sick joke is this? What about my dreams of throwing balls of burning death? Does the universe hate me?
A horrible thought came to me. That maybe I couldn’t learn any destructive spells with this class. But that couldn’t be right, Fireball came from a book, any caster could learn from a spell book. What was it Richard mentioned? Frustration built inside and I felt the need to break something. Unfortunately, there was nothing kickable nearby… apart from Richard.
As if sensing my thoughts, Richard turned towards me “Checking on your new spell?”
“You mentioned something about spells changing before. Can you tell me a little more on that?”
“Did not get the spell you were expecting? That can be quite common, especially for spells that don’t typically fall in your class expertise.”
“So, a conjuror would have trouble learning a healing spell?”
“Yup. Conjurors specialise in converting mana into items. They also do well in fire and earth magic, but not as well as a Firemage or Earthmancer. Learning healing would be almost impossible for any of these three classes.”
We walked out a door that opened into a little oasis of greenery. A stone path travelled down the middle of an impressive garden, benches, tables, and some sitting areas were scattered around the area. There were other people wearing different coloured robes walking about or sitting around tables sharing food.
“Take my class for example. I’m a Lightbringer, and like the name implies, I can create and use light in different ways. If I were to learn from a spell book of let’s say, Darkbolt. It might change into something more in line with my class. Instead of Darkbolt, it might become Banish darkness or something else entirely. It’s quite unpredictable and is a popular topic of study.”
“I see, instead of fireball, I learned something called Summon Campfire.”
“Fascinating. What does the spell description tell you?”
Curious about that myself I focused on the spell.
Summon Campfire
Rank: 0
Cost: 30 MP
Effect: 6 HP, MP, SP, per minute (base 5)
Description:
Summon a campfire that will increase regeneration and recovery of health, stamina, and mana.
Campfire will last for 10 hours or until dismissed.
Richard noted down my words on a small pad as I read out the description.
“A recovery spell from a damaging spell. I can’t wait to discuss this with the head librarian when we get back. I’m glad my guild encouraged my transfer here.”
“You’re not part of Ex-terra?”
“No. I am a member of an affiliated guild named “Blye cycle” from another tower city. They put out a request for a low-level healer to join their new team. I heard that Ex-terra has an impressive library and decided to come check it out. I did not expect to meet a newly summoned with an unrecorded class.”
Leaving the garden, we walked down a stairway lined with cherry blossom trees.
“How long have you been here now?”
“Three months next Third-day.”
“You must have progressed in the tower quite a bit in that time.”
“Surprisingly no. Master Gushiken has been very protective of his disciple and only allowed us to reach floor five until our group was complete. Now you are here the group should have some more freedom, hopefully… Ah here we are!”
The stairs had led to a large outdoor area with red paper lanterns hanging everywhere. In front of us were Japanese style shrines, large red pillars lining the path that connected to each other above our heads. Each archway supported more lanterns that glowed red and orange.
The path through the pillars led to an open courtyard. Tents, stalls, and all manner of temporary buildings were grouped together. People were selling food, masks, and an assortment of knick-knacks. The place had the feel of an open market with everyone bartering, socialising, or eating.
Just past the market was a wide smooth paved road with levitating vehicles of all sizes traveling along it. Most of the vehicles had open roofs, looked boxy and were mostly made from wood. They looked more like wagons, carts, and carriages than cars and reminded me of Earths busy streets. There were a few ground bound carts that were being pulled by a four legged animal of some kind. They seemed to be much slower than the floating type.
“Richard, Reigner, over here!” I saw Yui waving to us from a carriage at the side of the road. The carriage was painted a mix of grey and dark blue and I could see a person sitting at the front of the carriage outside of the passenger area with a series of sticks in front of him.
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Walking over I saw Miko sitting inside next to Yui.
Yui opened the door and I followed Richard inside.
The interior was a dark blue and I sank into the soft fluffy seat cushions when I sat down.
Across from me, Yui closed the door and pressed a button on the wall next to her. “We are ready.”
A male voice responded from a speaker. “Yes Ma’am, we’ll be at the tower in forty minutes.”
Yui sank back into the cushions across from me. “Sorry for leaving so suddenly. When I saw you distract Sera, we decided to leave before she came back. Good work on that by the way.” She nudged Miko next to her “Maybe Reigner should be the tank of the group.”
Miko huffed and looked me over “That was more like CC.”
CC or crowd control was an old Earth term used in multiplayer roleplaying games. I could remember trying to introduce the lingo to my support group, but it never stuck. Not that it mattered, I fought by myself for ninety five percent of the time. The only time the others would bother pulling out their weapons was during an ambush. Hearing the slang being spoken here makes me smile a little.
Richard leaned forward “Really Miko? I am surprised you could see anything from the ground, what with Reigner’s pants covering your head.”
“Oh… about that” Miko pulled some tattered blue cloth from behind her. “Here… your pants.”
Is this girl really trying to hand me the ruined pants she ripped off me?
“Uh, no thanks… You can throw them away… That reminds me, once we split whatever we earn from the tower I want to buy some new clothes. I don’t want the guild providing everything.”
Richard perked up next to me “Has the guild not given you an induction? You can sell mana to the quartermaster for guild credit, assuming you have a mana transfer spell.”
“People buy mana?”
“Just about everything in the city needs mana to run, including this levicart. Many casters choose not to climb the tower and just spend all day providing mana to the city.” He scratched his chin. “It works out to be about one copper for every ten mana but that can fluctuate depending on demand and who is buying.”
Yui waved her hand. “That’s great but can we talk about the group for a moment? This is Reigner’s first time so we should explain our formation.”
“Well, it’s pretty straight forward.” Said Miko. “I take agro and let things hit my shield, Yui attacks from melee, Rich keeps us breathing, and Reigner can attack from range.”
Yui glared at Her “That is simplifying things but should be fine for now. Floor one is cake for us anyway so we can practice before going up tomorrow.” She turned and looked at me “That reminds me. Were you able to learn the spell?”
“I learned a spell, but it was not the spell.”
“It’s incredible! He gained a recovery spell that increases regeneration. From a fireball spell!” Richard pulled out his notebook “listen to-“
“Wait!” Yui cut him off. “Reigner, you don’t have a ranged spell?” She looked to Miko for a moment before turning back to me. “Can you use a bow?”
“I can, but not very well. Besides I want to rely on magic, not weapons”
“What if it’s a magic bow?” The look in Yui’s face is one of determination. Did she forget our bet in the training room already? Surely not. Her face still bears the mark from our spar this morning. Maybe that slap shook her brain a little.
“I get it, you want some range damage for your team. Let me think on it and I’ll have an answer for you by the time we reach the tower.”
Closing my eyes, I rested my head back against the cushions. The others talked to each other while I reviewed my spells.
Mana Marble, Summon Weapon, Identify, and Summon Campfire. Of these spells only Summon Weapon could be used to deal damage. Most mage classes have some kind of range attack. Firebolt, Dark bolt, Ice spear, and lightning bolt. All impressive spells with cool sounding names. Since unlocking magic, I really didn’t want to go back to using mundane weapons.
Since summoned weapons came from my magic. You could argue that technically, using a summoned weapon might be considered the same as using magic. With that in mind, if I were to summon a sword or axe and throw it… That would be the same as summoning a fireball and launching it, right? Only this spell won’t light up the area and set things on fire. I gave a sigh. I really wanted to throw around fireballs. If I knew beforehand that I would end up with a campfire spell, I would never have accepted Hiro’s offer. He never mentioned that I might end up with a random spell and knew I wouldn’t know. Was I scammed by the hero?
Anyway, I conceded, for my own sanity, that throwing a summoned weapon could be the same as using a fireball spell, just not as cool, flashy, or destructive, and doesn’t leave behind a burning corpse… Okay, I just need to come up with a cool name for it. Spear and bolt are used a lot in spell names. So maybe something like, Wooden Spear? Bolt Shot... Magic Spear Lance?
Woodbolt? That sounds a little better but not all my summoned weapons are made from wood. What about Spear-bolt?. I can replace spear with whatever summoned. The bolt makes it sound like a ranged spell too. Sword-bolt, Axe-bolt, Shield-bolt… Not that one, I won’t be throwing shields, that is ridiculous.
“Oh Gods! What are you reading?” I opened my eyes and saw Miko staring at Richard. Her eyes were wide open, and her ears were curled down flat against her head.
Over to my left, Richard had a book open in his lap. Glancing at the cover, I could see that was the same one he tried pushing me to read last night.
“Oh this? This is one of the first cross species fiction ever created. It’s a love story so grand I find myself coming back to it every few months.”
Miko reached out slowly for the book. “It’s not fiction. Where did you get it? There should be no copies of it in the Guild.”
“I brought this from home. I was also surprised to see that there were no copies in the library. Would you like to read it? I’m mid-way through but once I’m done, I can lend it to you.”
“Oh, let me look!” Yui reached over and grabbed it off Richard’s lap, at the same time Miko shouted “No!” Miko tried to snatch the book, but Yui held it away from her and turned her back to Miko.
“Down the rabbit hole? Weird title… Who is the auth- Jace wrote this?” Yui spun around and looked at Miko. “I have got to read this. Why was it removed from the library?”
Miko grabbed hold of book and a tug war happened between them. “Miko, Let go! I want to read it.”
“No way! No way! No way!” Miko managed to pull the book from Yui and ripped it in two before throwing it out the carriage window.
“My book!” Richard leaned out the window looking behind the carriage. He stayed like that for a moment before sitting back down. Tears had formed at the corners of his eyes, and he quietly said, “That was a signed copy.” Raising his head, he looked to Miko, “Why?”.
Miko ignored him and stared out the window.
“Jace is Miko’s father.” Yui said.
“Do you mean to say, Jace Brown, the author of Down The Rabbit Hole, is her father?” Richard rubbed his face with the palms of his hands and looked back towards Miko “Wait a moment. You said it’s not fiction. Oh… That makes you-“
“Shut up!” Miko punched his leg “Not another word!”
Richard audibly gulped and sat up straight. He rubbed his leg where Miko hit him and stared out the window.
Miko turned to me and smiled “Reigner, do you need a range weapon? I have a crossbow you can use for today.”
I smiled widely. “No need. I have worked out a great ranged attack. I think you will be quite impressed” raising my hand I summoned a dagger and started tossing it from hand to hand.
Richard perked up and turned to face me “You managed to evolve one of your spells into a ranged attack, so soon?”
A chuckle escapes my lips. “yeah, you could say that. I can summon any weapon I have skill in” I flourished the knife and twirled it through the fingers of my left hand “and with that-“
He pulled out his notebook. “You are able to summon a weapon with momentum and send it flying towards a target?”
“Something like that. I’m going to summon a weapon” I paused to make sure I had everyone’s attention “and throw it.”
“Throw it…” mumbled Miko. Everyone in the carriage was lost for words at my creativity and couldn’t take their eyes off me. I saw Yui’s face open and close like she constantly wants to say something only for her to change her mind the next second.
“Yeap, I’m pretty good at throwing things” I demonstrated by flinging the dagger between my hands a few times. Only on the third time the dagger did not make it to my right hand. The carriage rocked hard to the left and the summoned dagger went spinning out the window.
Everyone continued to just stare at me. That was awkward. At least Richard put away his notebook.
“Okay, what happened just now should not be a reflection on my throwing skill.” No response came from the group “There was a bump.”
The carriage slowed down to a stop and loud shouting could be heard outside. I looked out the window to see our driver leaning out of his seat while pointing aggressively to another carriage.
“You’re lucky didn’t take your damn eye! Maybe that’ll teach you to watch where you’d be driving.”
The carriage he was pointing to was bright red with white stripes. A gnome was yelling something incomprehensible while pointing to a dagger that was imbedded at head height in his chair. I could only make out what our driver was saying.
“Bah! You’re too short. Run into my levi again and I’ll make sure it’ll be more than daggers coming to you!”
Sitting back into the soft cushions I scratched the side of my jaw. Felt like my beard could use a trim, it’s been quite a while since I last had a haircut. I run my fingers through my hair, it does feel longer than I would like.
The sound of slow clapping breaks me from my thoughts, Miko stopped and gave a wry grin. “Nice throw, maybe wait until we are inside the tower before you start tossing weapons around.”