Novels2Search

028 - Arcanum (I)

Part 1

“We are finally here….” Winter muttered to himself. Behind him Samuel was slumped to the ground. He looked more than slightly used up. The path to Arcanum from the borderland was supposed to get easier the closer you were to the central. But as if a curse was trailing Winter, Samuel, or whoever was in their small party that had gained an extra member, they kept on encountering problem one after another.

There was Samuel that thought he was the next God of Gambler at the next town only to discover he was tricked and then conned later after they reeled him in with initial small winnings then setting him up to lose badly. To top it off, there was Rinne that also got suckered in too. And she has the worst luck in gambling too apparently since despite all the effort from the small town gangster to let her win to also reel her in, she simply lost no matter what.

Winter that was more canny but arrived later to discover the two were tricked had to game the wannabe gangster back in a game of dice that he cheated them back by swapping their loaded dice with regular ones (Reflex might or might not be in play). Combined with a shrewd wager from an old, experienced mind, he won back all of Rinne and Samuel’s debt (which despite all the cheating was considered legal) and then some.

Winter might have went a little overboard, totally cleaning them out. That led to them being pursued when they left the town for a whole week. From there on, the trip took a downturn as Winter killed one of their pursuers, gaining himself a Murderer’s Mark. It might had been a small problem until he thought ‘what the hell, I killed one, might as well kill them all’ and set to work the pursuers over twice before they realise that they might had bitten more than they can chew. Being more excellent in cheating and intimidation than combat technique, they were no match for Winter, Samuel and Rinne. Rinne and Samuel might had participated in glee to repay the anguish they were given which led to the three shouldering the same mark due their more than willing participation to Winter’s indiscriminate killing.

After that, they were forced to divert for a bit to a few dungeons (extremely dangerous ones) on the way in order to clean up the mark. They would not had made it if not for their rather mysterious party member. Winter only spotted her three days after they parted from Summer. A quiet archer with sharp yellow-orange pupils and aquamarine colored short hair. She was distinctive as her pupils were shaped like a cat’s. Her height might be quite diminutive, probably not even 160cm, but the she carried a bow as tall as her very powerful to boot not to mention the range. With me protecting her and the rest doing support, we cleared the dungeons easily. It was not an exaggeration if I say that she has the firepower of an artillery battery.

An alert window popped in front of Winter. Clicking it open, Winter received a mail from Reki.

‘I am off to sleep.’

That was all that was written.

“Goodnight, Reki. See you next time.” “Goodnight too, Reki. Thank you for your help.” Rinne added. She nodded in reply. Winter was expecting she was going to log off immediately. But Reki closed the distance between Winter and her in a couple of swift steps. Her There was barely one step distance between both of them. She looked up to Winter, all silent, waiting for something. Winter wondered if he upset her or something. Their height difference of almost a full head made Reki crane her neck to look at Winter’s eyes. The brown metal circlet with a large green multifaceted gem inset on her brow made her looked like she has a third eye. Winter always thought she was a perfect example of refined soon-to-be woman. Her hair color or eye color was definitely fake. Her face? Maybe. But her action that was mostly cold mannered but held a lot of meaning, that could not be faked. Wrapped in blue hunter garb of darker hues than her hair, her looked like someone that lacked exercise with slender limbs. It mattered not how you looked in Royal Road anyway as only the stats count.

The two stared at each other. With each passing second, Winter was becoming more and more uncomfortable. He almost asked ‘what do you want?’ when Reki’s body grew transparent and faded away, a sign that she already logged out for the night.

“What was that, Old man?” Samuel that was done with his personal rejoicing asked.

“Winter, did you do something to upset her?” Rinne narrowed her eyes while asking Winter.

“Hey! Why am I the bad guy here? I know nothing! Honest!” Winter answered indignantly.

“If you say so…” Rinne looked unconvinced while Samuel’s was accusing.

“And it will be completely true!” Winter yelled. The truthful statement bounced off their glares.

The two had grown quite close to the cool and silent archer within a couple days of her joining in their party. Winter was not even sure why she joined in the first place or even want to join. Incredible was an understatement when you looked at how she handle combat. Winter’s guess, she was at least level 200. Summer did confirm she was at least that level. He would know her as she was in his group that saved Winter’s ass yet even he knew little about her aside from her ability that he described as ‘phenomenal’.

“I know I am good. But she is so much better than me that it is making me feel embarrassed I am have the same profession as her.”

Summer was not sure where she got her items too. He claimed that he was drooling over her bow though he still has no idea what the stats or name of the weapon. So far none of his guild or alliance members has any idea. She never answered any of their questions too, not for the lack of trying.

“I am telling you, she was not even in my guild. I am not sure whether I picked her up or she picked us up. After my rather shameful loss in Annual Archery Competition, she just walked up to me and said ‘Join’. What was I supposed to say but ‘OK’?” Summer told Winter through their whispering the day Reki joined Winter’s party.

“She just left on her own without saying goodbye, yet I cannot dislike her for doing that. She feels like a stray cat, really.” Winter was in agreement with Summer’s statement. She did act like a stray cat.

“Anyway, just enjoy whatever time she spends with you. You will appreciate her, like I do.” Was Summer’s words before he cut off the conversation. Winter did appreciate her presence.

She helped them immensely in their quests to clear their mark. She usually send messages to them while saying very few words on her person. Bidding the two goodnight, Winter logged off quickly, brushing off their stares. He hoped whatever was wrong with Reki, when she got back, he would be spared from the boring gazes. He might not be very close to Rinne or Samuel yet, but he really values them as travelling companion and hate to part with them due to small misunderstanding.

Tossing and turning in his bed, Winter still could not figure out what he did wrong. In the end he fell asleep, dreaming of Rinne standing in front of him with himself kneeling, about to commit a harakiri with Samuel holding a large axe behind him to finish the job.

xXx

‘I am off to do my own quest. Contact me if you are doing something interesting.’

Winter logged back in with that message already inside his mailbox. Rinne and Samuel have not logged in yet. They made no plans at all to be together while they were in the city. Winter was not even sure they will continue to travel together after this town. Reki seemed to be the one whom actually might be interested to continue sticking around with Winter if her mail was any indication.

This was something that he has not talked with Samuel and Rinne yet. When they would be parting. Their journey from the bordertown of the Mountain of Sorrow to here has been wonderful. But it might be time to part ways soon if their quests carry them in different direction. Letting out a sigh, Winter put the thought out of his head. He would deal with it when it happens. For now, he wanted to spend some time exploring. He logged out immediately when he entered the city limit.

Arcanum. Winter was finally there after a long journey. It felt as if he reached a milestone marker for his time in Royal Road. There was also some sort of premonition that he would achieve something within himself when he finished the quest. Odd that a game could at times feel like it was reality itself.

Now that he has the time to look carefully, the city was less alluring than he imagined it to be. From miles away, the city shone like a beacon in the night. Tall slender spires jutting out to the sky from mage towers. There were five very distinctive ones; Red, Blue, Green, Brown. The four towers surrounded an even taller surrounding an even taller spire that was unmistakably very much arcane. When the sun fell, Winter could see the central tower lighting up with bluish glow that he, Rinne and Samuel appreciated. Reki did not glance at the sight at all. I wondered if she was uninterested or had seen it before.

Looking closer, the spire was thicker than he expected. Its height was not impressive compared to skyscrappers that existed nowadays. But sticking to middle-age technology, 50m height was nothing to sneeze about.

*Bump*

“Sorry. Excuse me.” A mage class character from his clothings brushed against Winter that stood in the middle of the street. Muttering apologies, Winter scooted to the side and enjoyed the view of the city a little more. The street was completely paved with slightly bluish rocks. The city walls too that though was not thick, barely measuring six meters in width, was beautifully crafted, smooth and patterned in different hues. The outside wall was completely plain. The inside appeared to be a large mural spanning the whole length of the city wall. Robed mages were patrolling with armored NPCs on the ten meter high wall. All of them wore blue cape with a symbol on the center. Winter could not see the design clearly from where he was standing.

‘Yo. Old man. Where are you?’

The whisper from Samuel startled Winter. Grumbling a little from the disturbance of his tranquil thoughts, Winter replied ‘Ten meters from the last spot I was standing.’

‘Okay. Lets meet and check out the place together?’

‘...*crackle* what..*crackle* I..Can-not… hear *crackle* you! You.. Are… Breaki-g Up.’

‘Oi! What sort of joke is this! This is not an old style phone!’ Samuel yelled.

‘I cannot help it. I prefer spending my time with a girl in hand than a guy.’ Winter replied without any remorse, his voice back to normal.

‘That… damn…. Why I never thought of that! You are sly, Old man.’

‘Thank you. Now, contact me again when Rinne logs in. I don’t want to see your face before then.’

‘Wait. Wha?’

Winter cut off the whisper talk. Samuel called back immediately but Winter rejected the whisper request. After another two more rejected calls, Samuel seemed to get that Winter was serious about what he said. He received a message instead.

‘You are mean.’

Winter chuckled when he read Samuel’s thought about him. Over their time together, the party dynamic has been established. And Samuel was the bullied kid. His steps feeling light after bullying Samuel a little for the day, Winter began to roam around the city.

xXx

Drinking a glass of grape juice, Winter took a break from his roaming. Rinne has not logged in at all today while Samuel logged off earlier after failing to pester Winter to accompany him in his gawking. With sullen tone, Samuel logged off citing unfairness of being old or something like that. Winter did not really listen to the content of his last minute ranting because he was too busy watching two wizards dueling each other. Never mind the reason. It was flashy, powerful and also rather boring. They were casting and dodging like a western gunslinger. None of them appeared to be long casting spells. Both were focused on wearing each other’s HP down with small quick hits. Winter wondered if that was how Wizards duel. He gave it a little thought and suddenly felt it was logical.

Long casting spells were powerful but easily dodged. While it was very useful for mobs, it was quite impractical to use it in a duel. It appeared that dueling mages or wizards were common sights in Arcanum as he spotted two more before he stepped into the NPC operated juice bar. From the three duels, Winter gathered that 1) Use fast cooldown spells 2) Keep dodging 3) Hit until the other side goes down

Surprisingly from the three duels, only one ended with clear victor. The other two duels were concluded with a draw on both count as both pairs, mages and wizards, ran out of mana before they managed to do conclusive damage to end the duel.

Winter thought that timed duel would be appropriate in this case but that train of thought has problem as he was not sure what constitute a victory when both sides were alive when the timer hit zero. If it was old battle game, how much health percentage left would be it. Nodding to his own wise thoughts, Winter slowly sipped his drink, watching the crowd goes by.

This was Winter’s first visit to a major city. The density of players and NPC running around was incomparable to Cosare.

Damn. Its expensive!

Winter was checking out prices for magic items in vendor stores randomly.

Elven Magic Staff with bonus 10% mana recovery and extra 5% magic damage for 1000G. Fire Lizard Robe that increases your fire damage and resistance by 7% for 800G. Circlet of Sound Mind for 500G! This is ridiculous!

The last item provide extra 500 mana when equipped and add 12% faster mana recovery. Winter thought they were exceedingly expensive for decent items and consoled himself that he already has a full set of items and his fighting style was not really suited for mage style combat that bombard enemies with spells. His spell expertise has reached average mage for his level, but it was pointless for him to be a long-range damage dealer. For one, he was more useful at the frontline for now with none of the members aside for him capable of melee combat. Well, not true. Reki was quite capable with close range combat, but it was such a waste for her to be used that way.

Winter never really checked the market for items meant for a magic related professions. The prices listed above was considered acceptable everywhere, even slightly cheaper since Arcanum has good influx of magical items for mages. He was never really concerned about building up gears for his adventuring, instead focusing on getting by with anything on hand. His focus on playing was never about being the best, strongest, famous nor he has any interest in becoming the Emperor, clearing Royal Road or raiding dungeons. He was a retired man that was taking things leisurely one day at a time.

Unknown to him it was because of this attitude and combination of his weird personality, in the future he would meet and befriend a lot of great players. He did not even realise that he already began amassing some of them.

Currently the said player was wallowing in his poverty. The hunting he has done to get rid of the murderer’s mark over the past month brought his current total wealth to 500G or so. He wondered if he was too carefree with his spending and only now began to regret he has no plan at all to improve his current condition.

Maybe I can sell some of my items?

It was a good idea, provided he has anything to sell. He has a lot of materials but already sold all of his Japtems. He always did so whenever he was in town. Not like all the Japtems could affect his waller much.

His mind went back to a couple of unusual items he has in his inventory. The sword he gained from his duel with Campbell.. was gone! He tried to recall what he did with it and the lightbulb went on. He gave it to Reki to be crafted as her arrows. He did not gave it much thought at that time, but he wondered what the sword would be worth. Winter dropped the matter quickly as he did not even remember the sword’s name or status. Beside, he would not get too upset if it was expensive. It was impossible for him somehow to get mad at Reki for reasons he could not discern yet, not like she ever provided any such reason. (Author’s Note: Damascus Steel Sword - average selling price 3600G - 4500G)

Going down the list of his inventory, Winter stumbled upon something else he forgot. The locked box he got from the duel too. I wonder how much money is inside. With those thoughts, Winter went and asked around if anyone could open it. Thieves profession was not something commonly found in Arcanum. He gave up the effort after an hour searching for one. In actuality, he found twenty or so from parties that stopped by the city before moving on to their next adventure, but none of their level was high enough to open the box.

“You need to be at least Intermediate Level in Lockpicking to open a Strongbox.” was what he was told. Some of the players even offered him 1000G to let go of the box. He politely declined. He did not notice them drooling over the box. The content of such box would likely be much more than the offered price. Winter held onto it for sentimental reasons. It was a reminder of sorts to him for his first Victory in a duel and a warning to himself to be careful with the game itself. Royal Road might be a game, but the person behind the avatar was a real human being and still capable of whatever cruelty and meanness their real body could invoke.

’Nothing to it then. I will just hold onto it.

The day soon turned into another day spent on frivolity for Winter. He forgot completely of the reason why he was even coming to Arcanum, instead he went around the city to get price appraisals for his unused items. While he was doing that, he was curious on the price of Sun’Areth.

“I am sorry, good Sir, I cannot appraise this for you.” An NPC merchant with prominent midsection shook his head when Winter asked for an appraisal.

“What? Why? Is it worthless because it is damaged?” Puzzled, Winter blurted the first thought that came into his mind. The item, despite having good stats, was rather damaged.

“You misunderstand me, good Sir, I cannot put a value to this artifact. It is priceless. I would love to give you an understated appraisal, but even then it will be beyond the wealth of this whole city.”

Huh! It is THAT much?

Winter wondered if an item could be worth the whole city, yet the NPC did not seem to be lying. Watching Winter’s countenance, the fat merchant chuckled. The act vibrated his large jowl.

“I see that you are in a state of disbelief. Very well. Allow me to explain.” Winter nodded dumbly, the half charred staff still in his hands. The merchant was silent for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.

“I assume you do not know anything about item grades, yes?” Winter’s blank look was enough of an answer. He knew item has level requirements and extra status, but different grades? “It goes like this. Common that has very little stats. Uncommon types that has magical properties but at most improves two of your strengths. It is fairly weak item and not very hard to get hold of. From there onward, the quality and strength of items gets better and better. Rare, Epic, Legendary, Artifact.”

“Wait a second. If that is the case, won’t this item supposed to have great properties? I had seen better items than this staff you revere so much.” Winter countered.

“Ah. That is because this great Artifact is damaged. But have you ever tried looking at it with your magical sight? I assume not. I have some magic in my veins though it is fairly weak, but it is enough to see the true value of this items.”

“...Er… how do you activate this Sight?” Winter felt like a dumb idiot, but he has to ask. He felt his intellect questioned when the NPC that knew he was a Magician gave him a wry smile. He still answered his question in as polite manner as possible.

“What do you see here?” The merchant asked Winter. His palm was upturned but he saw nothing, at least at the beginning. Puzzled, Winter looked to the merchant, but despite his polite, if amused smile, his eyes were not laughing. He nodded at him. Winter took a second look at the upturned palm. He still saw nothing but kept staring at it. He saw a slight flicker, he thought. He looked closer and it was as if something clicked in his head. His vision was tinged in mild blue color like when he was in-between casting and targeting period. This was the first time his <> ever activated outside combat.

TTTRIING!!!

Mage Sight (Passive) skill is upgraded

Mage Sight (Active)

Allows a player to see the flow of mana. This skill is gained when a player can create their first Mana Bolt as a proof of their journey into the world of Magic.

Mana Consumption: 1 mana/minute

Range: Normal vision

New skill created! Magic Sensing (Passive)!

Magic Sensing (Passive)

Upon having greater understanding of Mana, you now have keener sense of Magic. This skill can be improved with frequent training.

Range: 5 meter

Prerequisite: Mage Sight (Active)

Winter understood the first skill. It allowed him to forcefully activate <>. He has an inkling about the use of <> but it was pure speculation at the moment. An icon in the form of stylised eye inside a square, all blue, showed up above his status bars, a sign that it was a buff. He now saw that the merchant was holding a very tiny fireball that was so weak that it was transparent.

’Was that even possible? He was as weak as he confessed to be!

Winter did not let on what was in his inner thought as the merchant has been very helpful. He was not rude to strangers when they treated him well. He was still considering what he should say when the merchant took the choice from him. The hand closed and the fire disappeared.

“Phew! That was tiring! It has been a while since I use magic at all.” The merchant was sweating and look about two shades paler. He flopped down on his seat that creaked slightly despite appeared to be made quite solid.

“Anyway, this artifact is so strong that you are blind if you cannot see it now. Have a closer look.”

Winter was still holding the staff but he was not looking there since the Merchant was giving him guidance. The very first thing he notice, the staff emitted prismatic colors! It was like your own mini light show. The top half has less concentration of the hues while the the bottom ones were thicker. The center of the round head of the staff that was shaped like an orb has very little of it wisps dancing inside. It was an amazing experience. In the blue tinged world though he could still see the outline, Sun’Areth was not made of wood, but made from a dancing galaxy of light that traveled its length.

“You see it now. Beautiful isn’t it? I only see such thing a few times in my life, and this is the first one I have seen an average Magician holding it instead of an Archmage where such Artifact usually belonged. But such is fate. I believe this magnificent Artifact will guide you. Never sell it for anything, good Sir, for you are ruining yourself if you do. That is the only advice I shall give though it will hurt my profit. Ga ha ha ha!” The merchant’s laugh was a booming bass, loud but not unpleasant.

“I thank you for the advice. I will keep it in mind, always.” Winter stored Sun’Areth in his inventory, exchanged a few pleasantries before buying a random item on the merchant’s counter (35G) and making his exit.

“Wait!” Winter froze in his steps. He was about to exit the small stall’s awning. “Yes?” “If you have time, do visit the Mage Academy. I am not sure what it will lead to, but I believe it will benefit you greatly.”

TTRRINNG!!

New Quest obtained!

Merchant’s Advice

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The Fat Magic Appraiser advised you to visit the Mage Academy. It is unknown what will happen when you visit there, but it cannot be anything bad, right?

Restriction: Sun’Areth in your inventory

Reward: None

“Thank you again. Farewell and good day.” Winter was again, about to leave when he remembered something. “Oh. I have a question. Do you know anything about Asric?”

The merchant was already pretty pale from his overuse of very minor magic, but asking about Asric turned the pallor of his face that was originally quite ruddy to corpse white.

“I don’t know anything about Asric! Please! I urge you! Do not mention that name in this city! Anywhere too if you value your life! I beg you! I am sorry, but I have to be elsewhere now. Thank you for your patronage!” The words were said in rapid fire manner, not giving Winter any chance at all to ask what was so unusual about the name. Before Winter recovered, he found himself shoved out of the stall and the thick tarp released from the top of the stall to roll all the way to the ground. The large print on the slightly overused tarp read in large stencil ‘CLOSED’.

What was that about?

Shrugging, Winter decided to take the merchant’s advice, but maybe the day after. The sky was still light, but compared to when he visited, the marketplace was quite sparse. Beside, the tallest tower, where he assumed the academy to be looked very far from where he was standing. He gauged that it would sundown when he reached there and he doubted that whoever inside would appreciate being disturbed late afterhours. He would not. It was only four hours of wait in real life at most. In real world, it was not even close to lunchtime. His decision made, Winter looked for any decent place to have a meal in the city. His cooking has almost reached Beginner Level 8. He would have loved to reach intermediate level quickly, but he only cooked for necessities and a party of four was not consuming as much food as over six hundred people he served during the siege. He was also being quite thrifty with the good ingredients he has in his possession. The Rainbow Fish was only to be used for difficult encounters, not daily hunting.

The main reason he was finding a restaurant to eat though was mainly due to himself feeling quite sick cooking his own meal. Once in a while he wanted to eat something that was not made by him. It was not difficult to find a decent place to eat. He only needed to follow his nose after all.

xXx

Winter chose to have extended lunch instead of being out of town and hunting at night. The closest decent dungeon for his level around Arcanum was at least a day journey away. The sun was already halfway to noon when he got back. Since he had time to spare, he swung a proper wooden sword he bought from a sporting goods store for an hour or so, working up a sweat, then showered before logging in.

He was spot on. The tallest tower was the Magic Academy. The prominent sign written in stylised manner said so. the gate was majestic, not intimidating. The two giant statue on both side of the gate showed spellcasters of each gender. The male holding a staff, the female, a book. Both were cowled though it was not hard to tell which was which as the carving was well done to the point that masculinity and femininity was unmistakable. The long beard on the left status was a dead giveaway anyway.

Winter could hear soft sounds of cheering from inside. Curious, he walked through the gate to the source of the noise. It led him to a corner on the east side of the premise. There were two mages duelling each other on a stage. The spectators all appeared to be mostly mages too judging from the robes they were wearing. There were hundreds of them!

“Eat this! Winter’s chill! Ice Blast!” A mage attired in blue shot a cone of ice shards from his palm. The green robed mage countered with Gust spell Winter was familiar with to blow the sharp ices off course and in the progress, staggered the blue robed mage.

‘There.’ Winter thought. He would have used such opportunity for a counter. The green robed mage did not disappoint, if he countered a second slower than when Winter would had done it. Winter did not hear the words uttered, but he had seen enough duels between caster so far to know that the two seconds required for recovery was enough to cast decently powerful spell. The world was already tinged blue since he entered the maximum proximity range of <>. A large blade of wind that was very visible to him due to the mana used to form it slammed onto the blue robed mage’s body. It ejected him from the stage to crash down on the grassy earth outside the raise stage. The spectators that already predicted the trajectory of the flesh projectile scrambled to get away from the impact point. Winter was expecting hard landing, but it was surprisingly soft ‘THUD!’, so anticlimatic. He knew it would be the case, but duels like this? One should be flashy!

“Winner! Elben the Air Master!” The crowd roared anew. Elben that looked like a shy youth in his early twenties exited the stage without much preamble. This led to even louder cheering.

“Excuse me, what is happening here?” Winter asked someone randomly. A mage wearing deeper hue of green than Elben turned his head aside to reply. “Where do you come from, old man? Never heard of the famous Rank Battle?” Recently Winter had been mastering the blank faced look. He used to never admit to be clueless, but his time spent with Reki that talked technical terms of the game like a pro made him realise that he could not get by anymore pretending. He also learned that the blank look he sport was a gateway to wealth of information.

“Oh. We have someone from outside the region eh. Welcome, to the Mage Academy, traveller. My name is Telraman, a humble mage from the School of Earth. The man that was blown off the stage there, he came from School of Water while our winner there, a member of School of Wind.” Winter nodded to the man half his age that was not acting not so humble when he called him ‘Old man’. Yet his current manner held nothing but respect. It was puzzling behavior.

“What we have here, was but a friendly competition between different schools. Of course there must be purpose to it, else it will be but an occasionally deadly form of entertainment.” Pausing to point at a wizened old man wearing gray vestment, his young chatty guide continued. “That man is the Gatekeeper. The reason why we battle daily is because only one person per day is allowed to enter the Training Hall within this academy. And to determine that, we battle daily.”

“Anymore challenger for the day? Else I will declare Elben the champion of the day.” Quiet murmurs could be heard. “Ah! We have a challenger! Please step forward to the stage!” The Gatekeeper suddenly spoke out.

The crowd parted around Winter to allow him access to the stage. No. He did not raise his hand. The young man did it by pushing propping his elbow up. His reaction was slowed because he was still absorbing the information he was given. Upon noticing what he was doing, Winter pulled his hand back but the damage was done.

“What are you doing! I am not interested to battle on the stage or be the champion of whatever!” Winter whispered urgently to the precocious man who set him up.

“I am but giving you the chance you eventually crave, brother. I can sense it within you.” The man bowed slightly to Winter in respectful manner. Winter was about to retort with scathing words when he heard a sound he did not expect.

TTRRRINGG!

Merchant’s Advice is completed!

Winter saw his experience bar increased by 2% or so. What a paltry reward. It seemed like his stepping up to the stage was part of the quest, though there was no update yet.

“Do you wish to change your mind, brother Mage?” The wizened old man has a clear voice despite his snow white hair, beard and aged look.

“A mage? Are you serious? That is a leather armor, right?”

“He is has a staff.”

“What with this different treatment? They treated us like scum and called him ‘Brother’.”

“Is his fame so high? He must be some great player!”

“That is some wacky staff. Looks pretty rundown. I give him 30 seconds!”

“Black leather armor? Are you kidding me? Elben is level 180! He will be slaughtered.”

Words from avatars clearly players washed over him. Winter heard the last comment. If it was true, he likely would lose with 20 level difference at the least. Not to mention that he has not upgraded his armors since forever. Elben might be wearing cloth type armor, but his equipment appeared to match his level. But he was truly curious how he would fare against a real mage that knew what he was doing.

Winter shouted “No! I accept!” and walked forth to the straight line made for him. He just remembered an additional bonus of equipping Sun’Areth. Equipping the staff grant him the effect of Recognition, preferred treatment from Mages and discriminating treatment from Priests. It was not intentional, but he after his trip from the fat merchant, he thought he should keep the staff on him. He thought it was appropriate to walk into a mage academy bearing a staff instead of a sword even though he used the sword more often. It was probably also why the fat merchant was very helpful to him. He was, as the NPC himself admitted, a mage after a fashion. Since the quest led him this way, Winter decided to play along even though it was not his goal or wish.

Elben was already on the stage, patiently waiting for Winter. The soft clacking of his end of the staff was not loud but it rang in different note than what he expected. It sounded like a ringing note, unlike the wood supposedly the material came from. Before he could ponder further, Winter already stood on the stage. The old man that was called Gatekeeper began explaining the rules to him.

“I had never seen you before here, brother, and I remember everyone that battled on this stage under my presence. I will therefore take a little bit of your time to explain the rules.”

The explanation was not overly long. The duel will be concluded upon the first solid hit the other side could land upon him or ejection from the stage for any other reason. There was no limitation on what sort of spells and tactics that you are allowed to use. In fact, any way to win the duel short of treachery was welcome, for Mages value preparation and cunning in equal measure with knowledge.

“What School will you align yourself with, brother? It is necessary to pick one if only for introduction.” The Gatekeeper asked Winter. Elben’s mouth was moving silently, ignoring both of them. He was a veteran and need not hear the explanations. Winter thought on which schools of magic he would choose for this purpose. He deducted he could choose one of four. He wanted to pick Water or Fire that was closer to his true nature, but a memory of his first encounter with Magic flashed in his mind. Of an earthen hand and a young girl with black hair and green eyes like a forest leaf. “Earth. Winter, School of Earth.” His mouth moved before his mind realised it.

“We have here, Winter from School of Earth against Elben, three times champion from School of Wind! The Air Master is his title. The battle begins the moment I step off the stage. Prepare yourself, both of you! May Mana watch over you.” The Gatekeeper intoned. There was a blue shimmer enveloping both Winter and Elben. When he tried to touch his body, a centimeter from his skin, his body was surrounded by a type of barrier. ‘This is how it works, I see.’ Winter thought. There was no duel system, instead they were granted temporary protection. There was a blue bubble icon on top of his status bars with small 1. Winter got it.

“Mage Sight. Activate.” Winter murmured in low voice. Elben’s self-muttering was probably the battle preparations. Winter added <> that increased the rate of his mana recovery too before making some distance. The staff held in his hand felt a little unfamiliar as he was used to deal damage in swords most of the time.

There was no audible signal to begin. Both of them watched the Gatekeeper’s foot stepping down the stage and began casting spells. Winter did know what sort of tactic Elben would pull, but he was as prepared as he could. Since Wind class spells has the shortest <> Winter chose his opening move with his fastest spell. The deeper blue line in the blue tinged world began forming to show the direction of where the Mana Bolt would hit, dead center on Elben’s chest. The world was slowed down when a spell was cast by mages. The 0.1 second extended to 0.5 in their mind was used for targeting. But an opponent still could dodge the spell when the spell already flew. When the opponent was a mage, and pretty darn good one like Elben, the half second extension was more than enough to mentally call up a barrier and counter.

His deep green staff made from some sort of opaque stone that if it was real life Winter would claim it was Jade stone began to shine from its center when Elben chanted and whipping wind surrounded him when he was done.

<> was minor protection magic that deflect projectiles. It could not deflect even basic Fireball, but for basic Mana Bolt, it was a perfect counter. The return fire was almost ground level wind spell that would hit him on the knee if he did not call up Earthspike to block it. The clashing spell was not flashy, but it was quick. This was the first time Winter ever dueled a magician before. It was more difficult than he thought. Much more, when you opponent could see the move you could make.

He was forced to dodge the other two wind blades that was nearly invisible to naked eye but perfectly clear in the active state of mage sight. Earth spells has the characteristic of being sturdy but ranked third after Wind and Water in casting time. The time he took to raise the one spike to break the wind blade, the other two already came at him from different angles.

The active mage sight was slightly disorienting. The whole world was tinged blue continuously but slowed down like stops and dashes when the spells were cast, which was almost constantly. Winter felt like he was on a swaying ship, but he was not going to give up any advantage he has. This allowed Winter to dodge seven more blades in succession without suffering a scratch, occasionally summoning more spikes of earth to break those low enough on the ground to allow countermoves, at least that was the plan. Except Elben seem to caught on that he has rate of fire superiority and kept on peppering Winter with small scale spells that while not going to kill him or anything, might break the bubble that counted the most in the duel. Winter cursed the nosy young man that put him up for this. He was right. Eventually Winter would choose to go up on the stage. He found it hard nowadays to pass up on a fight, especially duels when it was done properly. But he would had liked more time to study. What a difference if would make if he could learn what sort of magic everyone here has. The wind blades alone, he never dealt with before as he was a tyro when it came to mage dueling.

Winter eventually created enough spikes on the ground of the battle arena to repel any low elevation attacks, but in his progress, he made a critical mistake that almost cost him the duel.

‘Crap! I sealed in my own movement!’

Winter was forced to dodge chest high attacks by using angled spikes that has not disappeared and sometimes summoning new ones. He could have ducked, but it felt undignified to him, which was the second mistake he made. There was no way for him to keep track on when the spikes would wear off and disappear. It was not written anywhere on the spell detail, but through experimentation, Winter successfully concluded that Earthspike disappear in 30 seconds without and the most he could summon before the first one disappear was 27 of them.

It was unknown whether Elben knew about it or not, but he was seeking for a mistake. It came eventually when Winter stepped on an old spike to to a sideway leap and it disappeared when his foot touched it. The unexpected non-resistance staggered Winter and his bad landing posture made him fall which he then tucked himself into a roll.

‘Crap! Here it comes!’ Thought Winter inside his mind. Taking a blind gamble, Winter raised his favorite Earth Coffin. As expected, a much larger Wind Blade (Winter found out later that it was a Tier 04 Wind element spell called Kamaitachi) slammed to the coffin that he raised diagonally very low to the ground to cover his still kneeling body. It was a lucky thing that the coffin itself was 2m in length though slightly shortened from its improper use, else Winter would have his bubble popped. But the defense was not perfect as a third of the shattered spell struck Winter. It did not hit his body directly, but hit Sun’Areth that coincidentally left interposing in front of him in his effort to brace himself. Winter groaned inside when the message window informing him that his unique unrepairable weapon lost a point of durability. There was barely 20 points left including the one he just lost. Only 18 in fact.

Winter raised three more coffins in succession to cover his position, a reverse of what he did to Umber. He was careful to not let Sun’Areth getting hit. Instead of pinning him, it was covering him. More large Kamaitachi blades slammed futilely against his improvised shields. Winter that left enough space for vision began casting Earthspikes to hit Elben. It was the first time since the duel he has the opportunity to strike aside from the quick mana bolt that was rendered ineffective due to the Wind Barrier. Elben moved far enough from his field of vision to disallow Winter to cast more spikes. While dodging his spells, Elben was was idle, trying to hit winter near the eyeslits he made using Mana Bolts. It did not come close to accuracy as Elben was used to Wind blades that was a thin long shapes and weightlessness but enough for Winter to not let up on his harrassment. Mana bolt was nearly weightless too, but compared to Wind spells, it was comparing an ounce to a pound. This was mainly due to mental image needed to create the direction of the attack. Being unfamiliar place greater burden on the mind.

Targeting system for beginner looked simple. You use line of sight and hand eye coordination. But that was a rough system. Royal Road targeting system was more complex than that when it came to magic spells that has no real weight. It was an extension of Biscuit system. Precursor to it, actually. The finished system allowed a brainwave scan to cast spells wordlessly. Before Royal Road developer team even came to that part, they had to prove that it was possible for a human to control their body inside the game with their mind to a pinpoint precision.

Mage profession looked easy at first glance. It allowed players to attack at a distance from safety. But that was in low stress scenario and battle was, if anything, mildly stressful despite knowing you would revive when you die. A duel in Royal Road was where your mental endurance was put to the test. Mage duels was one of the ultimate form of this test.

Winter could imagine Elben beginning to cast his strongest spell to break through his defense.

‘Not so easy!’

Spells could be cast without a line of vision on your target. But it was a moot exercise. But AOE attack require no subtlety. The beginning circle of <> that Winter cast above his own position was forming. In two seconds, it was fully formed and began raining fires. The stage was at least twice as big as the range of his AOE spell. But since he was on the other half of the stage and standing quite a distance from the center, Winter’s Wild Ass Guess that Elben that was directly behind his turtle defense would be hit if he was not casting good barriers. So far he displayed only wind elemental spells, but Winter assumed he has some defensive spells that could defend against the rain of fire, else he would not be three time champion.

He ignored the system message that mentioned he gained expertise on several spells he had been using.

Winter’s assumption was spot on. Upon realising that the unusually dressed mage he was facing that was the most original thinking players he ever faced was trying to hide behind the makeshift Earth Coffin, a spell he never thought would be so well utilised - and rain AOE Vermillion on both of them, Elben quickly ceased his large attack spell.

“Cancel!” He intoned to get past the rebound effect of his unfinished cast.

“Defend against all attack! Wind Tunnel!” A column of wind with Elben at its center formed within a second. It was a great timing as the next second, fires of destruction was raining forth. Elben was having so much fun right now. He had never fought anyone so hard up till now. Immobilised while maintaining the spell, his mind was already thinking furiously.

Vermillion was a strong AOE spell. It has great damage for AOE type spell and decently quick cast with quite wide area. Among mage class spells, it was unmatched in destruction. Against NPC mobs that is. The spell itself has a critical weakness that not many knew and Elben was about to reveal. Some might have already noticed it.

Royal Road has plenty of unwritten rules and restrictions. As a proper duelist, Elben was more knowledgeable than most average mages and a lot of players that descended to the level of wizards. Elben was not sure why it was so, but the rules and restrictions players self discovered was very satisfying for him. Spell properties was the most common form of that discovery. An element was opposable to another element. But average RPG players knew that much.

An even better player would know that there was noticeable speed difference in elements when respective element’s spells were cast with Wind type ranking at the top in both casting and effect. It was ranked second last in damage and last in its durability. This refer to which element has priority when it clashed. Earth was greatest in defense by a large margin, which Winter, his opponent made full use so far.

The column of wind that protected Elben was a rank 6 spell. It was pure defensive spell that negate all spell and physical damage below a certain threshold. But that was not why he cast it. As a rule of thumb, magic with sigils was disruptable when the sigil was altered in any manner. But Vermillion’s large sigil drawn on the sky was drawn as if with water. Cutting with with his wind blades, Kamaitachi, mana bolts or normal fireballs would be useless. It would recover within moments. Wind Tunnel’s spell effect was that it extended fifteen meters above the caster’s position, approximately. That was higher than Vermillion’s ten meter height. The spinning wind would disrupt the sigil constantly and create enough disturbance on the sigil to cancel the spell. It was lucky that the first few fireballs landed not even close to his position else he would be the one defeated.

‘Now. What will you do, Winter?’ Smiling, Elben awaited Winter’s response. While Elben never bothered to learn Earth Coffin, something he saw the value now and would correct after the battle. But what mattered now, that Vermillion was cancelled, he has time to cast his most powerful spell.

‘How the hell did he cancel my spell!’

Inside his own defensive construction, Winter stared agape for full second at the notice before him. The cooldown marker for Vermillion was visible above his status bar.

Sigil Disturbed! Vermillion cancelled!

Winter did not know that Wind Tunnel was an emergency skill that defend the caster against damages for fifteen seconds in exchange for mobility. It has five minutes cooldown however. Winter did not know that though. And he has no time to worry about it now.

He has been feeling weird tingling sensation in his head since the battle that he has no clue what it was. It was not disturbing or annoying, but it was a mystery. And Winter hated mystery with a passion. A while ago he felt a buzz at a corner of his mind and now a throbbing feel.

‘Crap!’ Winter quickly made a last ditch effort, believing in his honed battle intuition. He could not afford to daze around as the second he lost might be critical!