“Open RCLS”
[Open]
“Summon item Light Chainmail {Tag Flexible} {Tag Unbreakable} {Tag Permanent} {Tag Weightless} {Tag Soulbound}”
A set of chainmail appears in the air and just floats around until I grab it. I equip it through the system and move around.
“Close RCLS”
[Closed]
“Open TDM”
The blackness surrounds me as I hit the search bar and start typing away. I find a decent wizard’s robe. I change the color to black then find this cool clear thread that I sew into the fabric in angled lines. I look at the description and find out the thread reduces mana cost when you channel the mana through the robe by 30%, so it’s probably expensive. I add some personal touches, like a hood. I think for a second about what else I could add. I could add some armor to the robe, wait. I summon my new shiny armor, cut open the robe and shove it in. I then start sewing every single bit to the fabric. When I’m done, it’s classified by the system as robe/hidden armor.
“Exit TDM”
I spin around as the robe flutters behind me.
“Hey Aeon, where’s the arena? I’m new in town.” [Cipher]
“What? Oh yes, yes. I’ll take you there and after the fight I’ll take you to the house.” [King Aeon]
“Great, let’s set off then.” [Cipher]
We walk out the doors and into the afternoon sun. The commoners start bowing to the king but hesitate before bowing to me as well. I wave them off.
“I’m just a commoner like you, no need to bow.”
I continue walking on as they try to register what I just said. We make it to the arena in twenty minutes and walk right through the gate. I see Lyra wearing some light leather and holding a sword. I draw mine and hold it by my side. She notices me and yells.
“He’s here! Start the match!” [Princess Lyra]
She rushes toward me and I dodge, but when she misses she throws a fireball at my exposed back. The robe takes the blow and not a thread is out of place.
“Playtime’s over, kids!” [Cipher]
I run with all my speed so to the bystanders, I’m teleporting. I dash behind Lyra, land an uppercut and then kick her into the wall. She crumples to the ground as healers rush to her side. I wait a few minutes as she gets up and stands straight.
“Magic only!” [Lyra]
I smile. This is where my real strength is.
“Open RCLS”
[Open]
“Cast Preset {Aura of Runes}”
Runes start swirling around me as the area gets colder.
“Cast Preset {Runic Domain}”
The arena gets even colder until Lyra casts a fireball to stay warm. She sends many more after me but the closer they get, the more they dissipate. I run toward her as I summon ice spikes out of the air and surround her. I stop them after they pierce the armor and a bit of skin. The ones around her arms and legs go in a bit farther and impale them.
“Cast Preset {Null Domain}”
The runes stop floating around and the temperature returns to normal.
The ice spikes shatter as the healers, looking exhausted from before, come running back over. I stand around as the healers mutter spells under their breath. A few minutes pass and then the healers stand back up.
“She’s alright!” [Healer]
“Yes! I thank the gods for this!” [King Aeon]
“So, when can she start being my apprentice? There’s also the house you promised. It’s getting a bit late, Aeon.” [Cipher]
“Yes, yes. Give me a second. You almost killed my daughter.” [King Aeon]
“No I didn’t. I only made the spikes go in a few inches, and that was only the arms and legs!” [Cipher]
Lyra gets to her feet and then immediately bows.
“This apprentice greets her master!” [Lyra]
“That eager? No need to be so formal. Cipher is just fine. By the way, what’s your exact level?” [Cipher]
“This one is level 139, mas- Cipher!” [Lyra]
“Half decent. Some basic rules. Don’t speak in the third person. Don’t call yourself ‘This one’ or anything like that. If you think I made a wrong call, correct me. I won’t punish you for speaking up. Finally, put that dagger away, Lyra, it won’t do you any good. Let’s go see that house, Aeon.” [Cipher]
“Sure, follow me.” [King Aeon]
We walk down a cobbled street for a while until the buildings start to get simpler and functional. We stop at a corner house that’s made completely out of stone.
“Welcome home!” [King Aeon]
He opens the wooden door and waves me in. We walk into a simple room, with some windows, a table, a few chairs, and two doors. Exactly what I wanted. We walk through the door on the right to a lawn with a pond and a well.
“Well, this is all I could get away with.” [King Aeon]
We go back inside and to the other door. It opens to a hallway with steps at the end. We walk up and see a blank room with windows. I love it.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“How much will it be?” [Cipher]
“Nothing. It was the least I could do, after all, you did pay for the doors, accepted my daughter as your apprentice and amazed me with your skill in magic.” [King Aeon]
“How much, Aeon?” [Cipher]
“Guess you’re dead set on it. 50 gold.” [King Aeon]
“Here, might be a bit more than that.” [Cipher]
I hand him a bag with 100 gold in it, feeling a bit guilty hurting his daughter in front of him. He frowns for a second and walks out the door looking confused.
“Now then, Lyra, if you would please sit down?” [Cipher]
She sits down, looking a bit nervous. I lean in and caress her face and as I draw away take the badly hidden dagger from her hand.
“Let’s not play any games here. You know what, here. Take this dagger back and stab me. Anywhere.” [Cipher]
She smiles and stabs me in the neck. Just like before with the soldier, the dagger bounces off leaving only a tiny cut in my skin.
She falls back, just like the soldier. Amazing how alike the two times are almost the same.
“Wha.. What are you?!?!?!?!” [Lyra]
“Your master” [Cipher]
“P-p-please d-don’t h-hurt me….” [Lyra]
“Nah, I wouldn’t do that. This is way too much fun!” [Cipher]
At this point I’m grinning. She tried to attack me twice now, failed, and now is scared half to death.
“Let’s go see the extent of your magic abilities, shall we?” [Cipher]
We head outside, with Lyra trailing behind with her head down.
“I’m nothing compared to you, why take me on? There are so many other people better than me in magic!” [Lyra]
“You’re special. You have something I can’t quite put my finger on. Anyway, let’s see that magic.” [Cipher]
She breathes deeply then casts a fireball. She keeps on casting them until she is surrounded by a cage of fire. She pulls it together into a shield and a sword. She takes a stance, points the sword at me and charges. I mind-grab some water from the pond and surround her shield as I take out my sword and cross blades. The water around the shield starts evaporating but I just grap those tiny particles of water and bring them back in. It isn’t called Perfect Water Manipulation for nothing.
The shield finally is extinguished and I can concentrate on the sword fight. We go back and forth for a minute or two until I get bored and put more force behind my blow and shatter Lyra’s blade. The steel shards go flying into the side of my house and embed themselves in the stone. I create two short swords and throw her one. This pattern of us fighting then me easily beating her continues until the sun starts to go down.
At this point, Lyra is so exhausted she can’t even stand. I pick her up and drop her on one of the chairs inside. I close the door and sit down in the other chair.
“So, what level is your weapons mastery skill at?” [Cipher]
“Advanced Level 13 with 54% progress to the next level!” [Lyra]
“That’s it? Mine’s already at Master Level 39 with 24% progress to the next level. Meh, guess you’re close to the maximum level if you only use a sword.” [Cipher]
“I tried using other weapons but couldn’t get it to work. What weapons do you use?” [Lyra]
“I can use the spear, quarterstaff, short swords, broadsword, longsword, daggers and the bow.” [Cipher]
“All that? Wow, as expected from my new master.” [Lyra]
“Well, let’s sleep tonight. May be the last time this year you sleep for more than five hours, so sleep well, Lyra!” [Cipher]
Two months later…
[Lyra’s POV]
Oh god! Has it been a rough two months! He wasn’t lying about not sleeping well! I usually get four hours of sleep, then practice with the sword for two hours, then the staff, then with a crossbow and then with my fire magic. I can’t say anything against the results though. My level has gone up by 50 and my skills have all gone up 75 to 100 levels! That’s more than I got in a year in a dungeon!
One thing that Cipher has found out is he can view my status as my master, so there’s no hiding skills or stats. Everything that’s below his standards, we spend a day working on. My stats are now all at or over 1,000 thanks to his stupidly hard training and elixirs, that can regenerate all of my health, mana and stamina in seconds! He’s the best master ever!
[Cipher’s POV]
It’s been two months since Lyra became my apprentice in that arena battle. She’s still continuing to be my apprentice after all this time. I’m starting to like her. She’s about my age now, seeing that I’m immortal. My age is permanent (For those who don’t get this, I updated the chapter one & two status screens to display his age and lifespan. Lifespan only gives an estimate to die from old age) so the age difference is not a problem. She’s cute, and won’t have any problems with aging since I can just summon up a immortality potion.
Why does she have to be that cute? Breathe, Cipher. What are you going to do for the next month or two? We could go somewhere that has monsters and stuff like that, but where I was for the first seven months, the Hallowed Forest, is too low of a difficulty for her now. Guess it's time to go the third continent, Gordan. Yeah, that sounds right.
I walk outside where Lyra is practicing her newest skill, {Flaming Obliteration}. It surrounds her weapon with an aura of flame. At Novice, the flames got hotter and a golden tinge. At Intermediate, the flames were pure gold and got the added effect of being able to cleanse the souls of the things it killed. Really only useful for demonic things, which we haven’t encountered yet. At Advanced, where Lyra is currently at, the flames went white, and have the heat of a volcano. Her getting the skill is probably because both her fire manipulation and fire magic mastery skill both hitting Master level.
"Hey there, Cipher!" [Lyra]
"Hi Lyra! I was thinking about heading over to Gordan for a few months so... do you want to come with me?" [Cipher]
"Great! I will always be by your side, because you make even watching grass grow fun!" [Lyra]
Yes! She agreed!
"So, do you want to go now or when?" [Cipher]
"Now, because it's only the morning and leaving now would mean more time in Gordan today." [Lyra]
"{Flight} {Air Barrier}" [Cipher]
I lift off the ground with an almost invisible shell of air around me. I pick up Lyra and spin her on my back. I go up to about a kilometer up and then speed off towards Gordan at Mach 7. The air barrier protects Lyra from the wind and me, because I don't like being cold. Also the wind would most likely rip Lyra to shreds. Not a good thing.
We fly for a few minutes and slow down to the speed of sound as we close in on the shore of Gordan. We slow down again as the distance shortens to about 100 miles. We land softly on the sand and I dismiss the magic. We walk up the beach and through the trees for a while. We come out near a small village and the guards notice us.
“Who are you?” [Guard]
“Mere travellers from Faeon, might we know the village name?” [Cipher]
“Faeon? The port’s a hundred miles that way! Did you walk the entire way here and not know the village name?” [Guard]
“Oh, we flew over. That’s Lyra, my apprentice. I’m Cipher. Pleasure to meet you, sorry I didn’t get your name.” [Cipher]
“Flew? Boy, you must be mentally challenged, there’s no wa….” [Guard]
I start hovering as he drops off, not believing his eyes. This is fun. I might go on a big rampage in a few thousand years. But, that would force me into hiding so no one would notice me as the same person. Otherwise, they would all run in fear and that’s no fun. Decisions, decisions, decisions!
“Well, we’ll be on our way then.” [Cipher]
I pick up Lyra as I slowly fly above the trees and go more inland. During the training back on Faeon, I summoned a skill that allows me to touch a map then instantly memorize the whole thing. If I find a better map, the parts that are worse that the new ones are forgotten. I hug Lyra a bit harder than I need to as we slow down and land in a city. This, this is life. No one can tell you what to do, and you can do anything. So much has happened since I reincarnated on this world. Finding Arcturus, meeting Farlon, meeting the king and princess of Faeon, getting Lyra as an apprentice, and now flying over a ocean for a little three month training camp. I don’t miss my old life, in fact, I prefer this one.
“We should set up camp here for the night, Lyra.” [Cipher]
It takes a few hours, but we end up with a tent and… that’s it. We should really work on our focus. Lyra just played with her fire manipulation, while I tried to set up a tent, by trial and error. She’s nice, but also lazy. Basically me, but female.
The next day…
We woke up at sunrise, which is pretty late, for us at least.
“Let’s get to training, shall we?” [Cipher]
“Already? I thought this was a fun trip where we didn’t train!” [Lyra]
“You were wrong! Three hours trying to make a sculpture with fire manipulation, then five hours of sparring, then four hours of increasing your new skill, {Flaming Obliteration}” [Cipher]
“Fine, but tomorrow we take a break. It is the weekend, after all.” [Lyra]
“Sounds reasonable.” [Cipher]
We spend the rest of the day training, and as the sun goes down, we start a fire and just sit down, watching the sunset.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Cipher.” [Lyra]
“And why is that, Lyra?” [Cipher]
“I don’t know why, but I, I, I love you!” [Lyra]
She blushes as she tries to hide her face.
“Then the feeling is mutual” [Cipher]
She blushes even more as I scoot next to her. She looks at me, blushes again and hides her face. We just sit there, as she slowly starts to lean against me. I wrap my arm around her as I close my eyes and lay down. It’s been a long day.