Part 1 of 2

Winter was airborne for god knows how long before the land welcomed him roughly. He bounced and rolled a few times, eventually sliding to a stop. Groaning in pain, he was not keen to get up anytime soon though in real life none of his bones were broken. It sure felt like someone put a hammer to every single part of his body.

‘Frick! This felt worse than me getting stabbed by a knife!’ Winter should know because he has the scar to prove it too.

Getting his wind back, or in this case, his will to get back up took a while. He did not get it back yet when Zorya was standing above him, peering down at his prone form. Winter gave her a weak smile

“Are you alright, Master?” She asked cheekily. The corner of her mouth was curved out in a barely perceptible smile. Winter promised to stop giving her nice food for a while.

Winter did not reply. He weakly flicked his half raised left hand, shooing her away. The ground felt comfortable right this moment. The buff ticked at 580% before a 5 second timer showed and his superhuman stat evaporated. That was it for him. The invincible feeling was gone, replaced with bone deep exhaustion. No surprise there.

He concentrated his mind to a single purpose for over two days in-game. While in real life it translate to barely over twelve hours, it was still unusually long period of full concentration. Though in-game the time is sped four times, it only reduces physical exhaustion. Mental exhaustion was dependent on willpower which Winter appeared to have more of than average person.

Finally summoning enough will to get up, Winter saw that he got tossed away quite far. Over 300m distance from a blow. That fact made him shudder unconsciously, for without the never-ending buffs he accumulated over two days, he would without a doubt be resting in his real-life bed, twiddling his thumbs.

Overall, it was a satisfying exchange. His satiety had completely gone to red, Winter slowly walked to their camp. The crate he carelessly threw was there… and nearly depleted! He moaned in misery. He could not believe over 100 Smoked Rainbow Fish was gone through over half! Giving the two glutton stinkeye that pretended not to notice while they were devouring his stock, Winter grabbed his own serving and began filling his satiety bar. No point crying over spilt milk.

Moving Fortress (Active) - Tier 12

Mana: 2000 first minute, 500 mana subsequent minutes

A special magic created by Stellar Mage Cain. Although this magic has not been improved for hundreds of years, it still remained his best defensive magic. The magic works in principle of binding alternate space to this physical body, thus isolating the wielder from any damage, be it physical and magical. Major weakness of the magic that Cain is still unable to fix even now was its inability to be moved while it was cast. It is his masterwork, near indestructible. Only application of grand magics can even put a dent to it!

-99% Damage Negation regardless of element or nature.

“Protection against forces of Heaven and Earth. Moving Fortress!”

Reduction in initial casting and maintenance cost with proficiency.

Winter choked when he opened the system message. It was a crazy piece of magic!

Zorya was back to her weaving while Cain was turning in, this time, not bothering to cast any defensive magic at all, completely showing his back. It was his sign of trust that he was willing to forgo his usual paranoid nature.

Unknown to Winter, Cain was still a little paranoid. He was still paying attention to his surrounding. Cain knew the nature of Battlemage profession. He helped create the profession after all on the order of his belated Master.

“Protection against forces of Heaven and Earth. Moving Fortress.” Winter recited. Winter has a good idea on what this skill was.

As expected the blue aura flared out for a couple foot then condensed back to a few inches thickness. It could not be compared to Cain’s that extended to over one foot thickness. Winter felt like a kid receiving his Christmas gift. His feet were rooted on the spot though, unable to move. He quickly canceled the spell as there was no way for him to test it out. But the specifics were clear enough. It was the penultimate damage reduction magic!

In truth there were a few other spells that resulted in complete invulnerability for a short period. Example would be Samuel’s <>. There was another spell that could be learned by Painter, <> that negated 99% damage. It has the advantage of possible to be learned since the beginning. The process of creation however was troublesome and it only negated a single hit. Thus, <> was the most reliable out of all available defensive magic.

Winter has no complaint on the spell itself. The drain on mana could not be helped as he was obviously learning a piece of magic beyond his current capacity. If there was anything he was supposed to say, it was the lame line for the incantation and its length. Winter dared not use non-cadence casting for now though. He was not sure what sort of damage miscast could do to his avatar. Winter suspected it would be rather explosive!

Cain shifted a little to make his sleeping arrangement more comfortable. His lips were turned up in a smile. He was glad there was another Battlemage in Versailles. Cain fell asleep with Zorya’s light humming in the background.

xXx

Winter journeyed with Cain for over a month. Most of the time they did not encounter anyone. The few times they did, it was mostly adventuring parties that was around the area they were passing by. They gave polite greetings to both Winter and Cain but were most curious about Zorya.

It puzzled Winter when one day he logged in, and he could not see Cain’s name and title that usually floated above his head. But with Cain, asking questions can be tantamount to instant death. Winter was not too bothered by the small change anyway since Cain was still Cain, with his taciturn attitude and wordless frown.

One thing that Cain was good at was killing mobs. Most often he would disappear somewhere early in the morning and come back in a few hours time with some meat mostly though rare fruits and vegetables were randomly included too . Winter was more than happy to cook for the two gluttons, raising his cooking proficiency each time. He was also not shy of stealing a chunk of the rare food for his own use. It was the fee of his services!

Winter took to testing his new magics on random mobs he encountered while traveling. It was a simple proposition to cast weak spells like <> to aggro monsters. He barely felt a thing once he deployed <> despite being hit from every direction. He found it was possible to cast magic though not any swordplay because his feet were rooted on the spot. Awesome spell overall though it drained his mana in two minutes flat. Winter resolved to use the spell only for emergencies.

‘It sure feels good to have a secret skill’

Winter mused while serving their dinner to both Zorya that accepted it with thanks and Cain that did not even deign to say a word. He secretly thought that he should find some food the NPC hated and serve them to him just to say ‘effing you’ of some sort.

He thought better of it when he saw both of them eating with gusto. For some impossibly strong NPC he has taste bud of a child. The same with Zorya, like they never ate anything delicious before.

Winter was not wrong. Zorya that stayed in the dark mainly ate her nutrients raw while Cain’s consisted of char-broiling. It was his main reason to help out adventurers in the past, since they provided him a break from his tedium of bad food while they were with him. If anyone ever found out that the way to please NPC was through their stomach, there will be an explosion of Chefs everywhere.

Zorya worked on whatever she was working on everytime after dinner. Cain was never much of a conversationalist, but he helped Winter in his awkward manner by performing magic shows using his numerous spells that he shot off everywhere like fireworks. Watching Cain cast his spells was akin to watching the galaxy revolve at times. No one performance was the same though the spells he used, Winter recognised most of them now though he has no name to put with the spell yet.

At least that was what Winter thought until one night about two weeks into their journey his system message dinged.

Prismatic Missile (Active) - Tier 7

Mana: 70

Magic Damage: 100 per missile

A common Wizard spell, Prismatic Missile fires seven colored magic missiles at once to a target. Irrespective of their colors, the missiles carries null element and deals absolute damage reduced by magic defense. This spell also makes wonderful party trick!

“Seven colored magic! Prismatic Missiles!”

Improvement in damage and possible shooting patterns with improvements in level

Reduction in mana usage and length of Cadence with improvements in level

Click here for further details

It was a spell that Cain used a lot in his nightly ‘show’.

‘I can learn magic from just observation. That’s right.’

Winter never really gave possible ways for this profession to grow much thought as he did things by ‘what’s fun’ as general rule. He read the instruction, yes, but he usually tossed them and went his own way. This action netted some terrible results quite a lot in his past gaming experience, but even those terrible experience were funny and on occasion, his random choice shone like a star.

???? 1167/2000

???? 43/8000

???? 151/1000

???? 23/400

???? 3/20000

???? 561/900

???? 2590/3000

???? 1112/3000

…..

….

…

.

Winter was surprised when he checked the sub-options of <> to discover rows and rows of options with numerical numbers he believed what he learned against how much to go before he mastered it enough for the skill to be included in his repertoire. He whistled when he noticed there were over 300 of them!

Winter unfortunately not sure which spell was which and what affected his learning capacity. He knew too little of his profession to draw conclusions. Shrugging his shoulder, choosing to just go with the flow, Winter closed the menu. He began thinking on what cooking method he should use the next day.

“Fried. Done. Grilled. Done. Steamed…. maybe. How about raw like sushi?” He mumbled to himself. Cain was facing away, appeared to be asleep though his mouth was turned up in a smile upon hearing Winter mumbling his plan the next day, Zorya slumping on her folded spider body in between both humans.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

xXx

Up till before Cain’s departure, Winter managed to learn a couple more spells.

Air Hammer (Active) - Tier 6

Mana: 150

A simple but very effective piece of Wind element magic. Unlike typical Wind magic that focus on speed and rather low on damage, Air Hammer is a brute force magic. Its near transparent shape is rather deceptive as it is actually quite solid from the compression effect. Though not as solid as a real object, it is a valuable spell due to its rapid casting speed and cooldown.

’Smash apart! Air Hammer!’

Increase in hammer size and damage with proficiency

Reduce mana consumption, cooldown period and casting speed with proficiency

Liquid Fire (active) - Tier 7

Mana: 100

Duration: 15 seconds

A Fire element spell with unusual properties, Liquid Fire forms a semi-solid ball that ruptures upon light impact, dousing its target with its viscous fiery content. The spell causes considerable damage over time! Timer resets with every new application on the target and increases its damage by 20%. Maximum of three application. Application after three times only resets timer.

’Everlasting burn! Liquid Fire!’

Increase duration and damage with proficiency

Reduce mana consumption and cooldown period with proficiency

Ray (Active) - Tier 7

Mana: 50

Range: 70m

Though causes fire damage, this magic is classified under Light element. An inefficient magic though high in damage faster in its attack than wind due to its long casting, this magic converts mana and fires a concentrated beam of light at your target. It has incredible range and capable of precision, probably the only positive point though the damage falls considerably at half its range and deal only 10% at maximum range.

-50% damage in foggy area

Increase range and damage with proficiency

’Gather, fountain of light! Ray!’

None of the spells were high powered, but they increased Winter’s capability in his attack variation. He was determined to be able to cast <> without any <> as among all the spells he has, it was the fastest in attack speed and longest in range. It was a magic made for Battlemage as the profession ignore cooldown period.

Despite the low damage potential and rather burdensome mana usage, Winter liked the versatility. Beside, it was super cool! You fire a beam of light. What can get cooler than that? Light saber? Winter was sure they have copyright against that in Royal Road.

The backlash for the <> was rather severe, but he got it down pat after a couple hundred repetitions. Beams of light were zinging around in the dark like stagelights. Zorya that had seen plenty of better shows that Cain did ignored Winter, choosing to continue her weavings that never seemed to finish at all. Winter was not bothered. He spied Cain occasionally looking at Winter, gnawing on a meaty rib he cooked. It was probably the most normal dish he had cooked for Zorya and Cain so far. Seemed like Cain struck out today.

His mana completely depleted, Winter sat back down with a quiet sigh and took his share from a large platter full of meat he prepared. The three had settled into quiet companionship. At least on the surface. Winter was never of many words around stranger. He also subconsciously recognise that the two were but AIs, not real people. Thus, he did not speak much beyond the necessary at them. Cain barely spoke ten words in a day on average. Zorya chattered away a lot during mealtimes and travel on inconsequential things but always went back to her project after the meal times.

Throwing the third rib he ate behind him nonchalantly, Winter left the rest of the food for Zorya and Cain that always managed to pack it in. Winter was puzzled when Cain put his hands down on his lap instead of continuing to consume the still heaping meat. He even turned in early. Winter did not think much about it since he could not say he fully understood Cain. He logged out since he had been awake in-game for two whole days. When he logged back in, Cain was gone.

“Zorya, where is Cain?” Winter asked. He knew that Cain would not be coming back. He left his parting gift and moved on. That much was obvious. But Winter thought to ask anyway. As expected though, Zorya’s answer was conclusive.

“Grandmaster Cain set off early yesterday morning. He said he will not be back.”

Winter felt a slight sense of loss. They journeyed together for a while. And despite Cain’s demeanor, Winter already sort of regarded him as a comrade. When you shared meals with someone for prolonged period of time, a sense of camaraderie would naturally develop.

“Oh. Grandmaster Cain also said the food was not bad. Zorya thought Grandmaster Cain was just a little too shy to admit that Master’s food is delicious.” She added as an afterthought while her six legs and hands with fingers covered in black carapace ending with sharp points never stopped weaving threads.

The cloth Zorya weaved now reached a decent length. Winter could not figure out how she added colors during weavings as the thin threads she used were all white. The edges looked to be embroidered even in attractive colors of black and purple while the center appeared wholly raised, almost embossed. If Winter did not see the process, he would have thought they were gold threads. Winter put the things he could not figure out as the game’s peculiarities and stopped trying to make sense of things since he saw Sella’s restaurant expanded from a single building to nearly the whole block overnight complete with the accompanying worker NPCs.

What Winter was most interested at this moment was what Cain left. A completely white sword was stabbed around where Cain last sat and ate. A slightly worn looking rectangular shape was beside it. It did not appear to be made of metal or stone. Winter figured wood though he had never seen this sort of wood in Royal Road. But what he knew about Royal Road probably could fill a teacup compared to the whole ocean. The book though…..

“Identify.”

Identification Failed!

Identification Failed!

“Identify.”

Identification Successful!

Enchanted Rune Blade (200/200)

A blade shaped by magical means, made from rare wood. It was magically strengthened way beyond its hardness of the original material, making it extremely sturdy. The rune carved into the body of the sword allowed the sword to keep a sharp edge despite its dull shape.

Despite its simple design, the embedded spell within the blade will release a burst of electricity after it accumulates enough mana.

Damage: 40-55

+15 STR

+15 AGI

Requirement: level 155

Additional Bonus:

100-150 Lightning damage every 12th hit.

3% chance to stun enemy for 0.5 second

Winter had been agonizing over his broken sword, unsure if his leftover cash of 78 gold and spare enough to procure a decent weapon. He was prepared to equip himself with a staff until he found a suitable replacement. The sword that Cain gifted him was twice better than his previous one in damage and even has additional options! He wondered what the second gift will bring! He has a good idea that it would be a skill book. There was no other alternative. But identifying it floored him.

Winter finally succeeded after three tries identifying the book. Winter knew that it would be a skill book. But a GOLD skill book was beyond his expectation!

Seven Celestial Steps

Mana: 100/Min or exhausting charges

A unique seven step movement with inspiration drawn from the Great Pole Star. The seven steps allow free range of movement that appears to defy laws of inertia. Created by Geihar von Arpen in his youth as a wandering Swordsman.

”Seven Celestial Steps!”

At first Winter could not figure out how to use the skill. It took a little experimentation to discover that the skill might be really powerful. It allowed almost instantaneous movement for short distances from impossible positions.

The skill was limited up to seven charges before needing to be recast, but Winter could apparently move his body even under unusual circumstances, like completely unbalanced.

He figured that out by accident when he tripped after frustratingly unable to figure out the trick to using up the charge. The short video that explained it was rather bare, saying that Winter needed to create an concrete image of his desirable position.

Thus, windmilling his arms with one leg off the air and nearly tipping over, Winter felt a push on his back and he managed to land his other leg solidly. He checked himself left and right to see if Zorya was pranking him, not believing that he did not fall on his ass.

A few more tries convinced him that the skill was seriously screwed up. He could leap backward while moving forward. He could also move sideways and end up on the other side where he moved at a blink of an eye. Not to mention he could pretend jumping up, with one leg barely attached to the ground and suddenly charged forward instead. It was as good as advertised, enabling him to bypass the law of inertia. Winter practiced it until his mana was completely depleted. As evasion skill, <> might be even better than <>. Combined together, it might be easier to list what he could not do with them.

In the end Winter waited for a couple more days in-game in hope that Cain might have come back. It was a forlorn hope, but Winter did it anyway. He chatted with Samuel, Rinne and Reki. The three were back in Arcanum and heard the rumor on Cain wasting his challengers wholesale. The three were astonished when Winter told them he was travelling with the said beast of an NPC. They were even more astonished when Winter explained that he got to do that by bribing the NPC with food. The Rinne and Samuel were mulling over the possibilities on charming NPCs with Winter’s method when he logged out. Reki extracted a promise from Winter for him to retell the whole story without leaving out any detail. He did so, but in person.