She had been on Royal Road for about a month. Though it was four months in-game. She still had trouble getting used to the time difference. With so much time spent inside Royal Road, it possible to get to level one hundred.
In fact, that's what most people that started the same time as her did. They raised their skills, gained new equipment, and finished several quests. That's why it would be unthinkable for someone to still be at level eight. The only possible excuse would be if they barely play at all.
Amber McIntyre played as much as she could, as often as she could. The reason why she was at such a low level was because she had yet to leave her starting city of Margrove, in the kingdom of Jotundall. It was a city known for its great magical knowledge. Many of the players that start in this city end up as mages.
It was with this intention that Amber chose this city. The only difference between all those mages and Amber, or Circe as she was called in-game, was that she didn't take the typical path of simply learning skills from skill-books.
When she first came to the city, she wandered around aimlessly. When she came to a secluded area, she saw a wizened old man draw a glowing magic circle in the air. From it she saw a billowing wave of fire, pouring out endlessly like a giant flamethrower.
“Wow, that's incredible. What was that?”
The old man spun around and gaped at the sight of a muscular woman with strong, masculine features and close-cropped hair. “What do you want?” he asked suspiciously. He was afraid that the woman would try to mug him.
What was ironic was that in real life, Circe was nothing like the brawny character she had in-game. Like her name-sake she was young and beautiful, with delicate, almost fragile features. Unlike the muscular build in-game, she was actually fine-boned, with piercing green eyes, a small nose, and full lips, framed by long inky-black hair. Where her avatar was dark with toughened skin, in real life her soft, clear skin was a light golden-brown.
“I was just curious about what you were doing, do you think I can learn?”
“You?” the old man scoffed. “You foreigners don't have the patience for it. Only a hundred or so of you manage to learn it.”
She scowled at him and said, “don't worry, I'm stubborn so I won't leave until I learn.”
“Fine, follow me,” he snapped at her and walked away. They walked to the central library and went into the Head Librarian's office.
“No way, you're Rayling the Head Librarian?” She was shocked, as this was one of the biggest magical libraries on the continent, with hundreds of thousands of rare mystical tomes. Rayling was known by people all over the continent as not only being responsible for them, but also as one of the oldest and best mages around.
“Yes, yes, I look after a pile of old books. Congratulations on finding that out,” he said sarcastically.
Though she was irritated with his attitude, she had to admit that he was capable. For the sake of learning how to use magic, the only reason she played the game, she would have to suck it up and endure.
That's how it came to be that about four months later, after practising and studying endlessly, she did her best and put her all into it.
That's how Rayling, once unsure if she would master the skill told her, “in all my years, and trust me, I've lived a long time, you have absolutely no talent for this!” While saying this, he was pounding his fist on the table, his face red, and his voice shrill and loud.
“Now, I think you're being a little harsh. With just a little more practise-”
“Practise?! We've been practising for months now, and you've learned nothing! You haven't even grasped the fact that you're unteachable! I give you a simple fire spell, and you nearly set yourself on fire. I give you a lightning spell and you nearly electrocute yourself. Now I have no choice but to forbid you from practising magic again.”
“Forbid me?” she scoffed at him, “and how will you do that?”
“Like this.” He then lifted his hands and cast a spell on her.
Mana Mastery skill deleted, cannot be relearned
“What the hell did you do to me you old man?! You had no right to take that away from me!” She bellowed at him, her face suffused with rage.
“Oh, calm down. I said you had no talent for this, not that you'll never use magic again.”
After hearing these words, she was able to regain a bit of her composure, though she was still angry with him. “If I don't have my Mana Mastery skill, how do I cast magic?”
“Here.” He gave her a scroll he took out of his robes.
“What is it?”
“Read it and you'll find out.”
Though she still grumbled under her breath, she did as he said.
You have learned Aura Mastery skill
This was a strange skill, one that she had never heard of before. “Information: Aura Mastery”
Aura Mastery Lvl. 1 0%
Unlike Mana Mastery, Aura Mastery does not allow any spells to be learned. Instead it gives the wielder absolute control over raw elemental energy. Can be shaped by the hands or a staff, and can be used and channelled as desired.
Cost: Sustained-15 mana per second.
“I always knew that you were more of a hands-on mage. I may not be able to teach you how to use it, but here take this book. It'll teach you what you need to know. In case you need an actual teacher, take this teleportation charm. It'll send you to someone that can use magic like you can.”
A Wise Sage
A hermit that mastered the lost art of Aura Mastery can provide guidance and knowledge regarding his craft. Find him and learn how to master the skill.
Difficulty level: E
Quest requirements
Be absolutely atrocious at creating magic circles and use up the last of the Head Librarian's patience.
Cannot previously have made any stat or skill gains before meeting the Head Librarian.
Quest rewards
???
“Hell yes, I'll do it.”
You have accepted the quest
“Good. I don't know the extent of his skill, but from what I saw, he seemed capable. I helped him out once so he owes me a favour. Take this ring and this letter and give it to him.”
“Alright, thank you.” Now she could see that beneath the crusty and prickly exterior, there was a soft and gooey old man.
“Hmph, this would be so much easier if you just had the talent.”
Smiling at seeing how he maintained the image of a cranky old man till the end, she used the teleportation charm. In an instant, she was covered with a bright light, Blinding her and forcing her to close her eyes. When she next opened them, she saw herself near a forest.
In front of her was a log cabin with a tough-looking old man. More of a warrior than a great sage, but then she saw the long white hair he had. This must be him, old men with long white hair are always wise and powerful. He seemed lost in thought, sitting besides an enormous pile of wood. It must have taken weeks to cut all that wood, and at his age, he must have used some kind of magic.
She walked towards him, eager to start learning. “Excuse me, I have a letter for you.”
Surprised that someone else would come here, he stood up hurriedly. Anxiously, he took the letter and the ring from her. After reading the letter, he fidgeted, seemingly worried about what he was going to do.
“Um, I know that your teacher thinks that I'm some sort of great master, but that's not really the case, you should find someone else.”
“Oh, no need to be modest, I've come here because my teacher had great faith in you. Surely you can teach me some of your ways.”
“Well, you see it's not a matter of modesty it's-”
“Ah, I understand, you need to be compensated for your time. How about two gold?” She took out the gold she painstakingly raised up by doing menial quests whenever she wasn't studying.
His eyes glinted at this. He seemed deep in thought, struggling to make a decision. “First tell me what you already know about your form of magic.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Well, apparently it's Aura Mastery. I have a book that describes it in detail.”
“Let me see it, I must see if it covers all the necessary information.” Circe agreed and gave him the book that Rayling gave her. After he flipped through the pages, he said, “good, this has all you need to know. I've made a decision. I, Ayrsted the Great Sage, shall take you as my pupil.”
Circe grinned, happy that she was finally on her way to becoming a decent mage.
“Now for your first task, take all these chopped pieces of wood and make it into a square room. The catch is that you must use magic to do so.”
“How can I do that, I don't even know how the magic works.”
“You have the book, it should be no trouble learning how to do it.”
Circe then started reading the book. It wasn't too thick, so she finished it in two hours. Instead of the simple commonplace magic which just requires the spell to be said properly, or the complicated magic circles of the Head Librarian, Aura Mastery relied on feeling the flow and movement of mana.
This was perhaps the most difficult way to use magic, while at the same time being the most basic. A true master would be able to control their mana, and convert it into an element. This allowed only one attack per element, but it can be shaped and manipulated according to the wielder's desires.
As such it was a very versatile method of fighting. This method is not suited for the analytical type, but rather the sort that are more instinctual and creative.
Having grasped the basics of Aura Mastery, she put it into effect. She tried to imagine a hand picking up the beam of wood in front of her. No matter how hard she tried, the most she raised it up was by a few inches.
After several attempts she tried to come up with another method. This isn't working, I need to try something else. She put her hands in front of her, and used them to direct her aura. This time it worked much better, with her aura having a more defined form. By then end of the day she managed to get ten beams in place.
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As the days passed, she managed to get all the beams in place, and got herself a boost in intelligence and wisdom as well. It took her two weeks in total, and through experimentation she discovered a way to convert her mana into fire and lightning. Exhausted, she walked into Ayrsted's cabin. “I'm finished.”
“That's interesting...I didn't think you would stay with it for two weeks.” He didn't even think that she could manage to finish.
“Well most people would give up for something easier, but I'm more stubborn than most. So now that I'm done that, I think it's time for you to teach me something.”
“Oh no, you're not nearly ready enough to learn directly from me. Maybe after a month or so.”
“A month? If that's the case, you should at least show me what you can do.”
“Eh?” He sounded surprised that she would ask that of her. He recovered quickly and said, “well, if I was to show you what I can do, the entire forest might get blown away.”
“What kind of master doesn't even know his own strength?” she asked with a scowl on her face.
“Well, after a certain point, your power becomes too strong to control. Well, you have to be a master to reach that level though.”
Though he delivered that line smoothly, Circe could tell that it was a load of crap. She was obviously suspicious over this old man, and said, “I think you're lying.” She stuck out her hands and said, “if you don't tell me the truth, I'm going to set you on fire.”
“You can't do that,” he sputtered out in fear.
As he watched, fire started to form around her hands. “No, see I can do it, and I'm very good at it too. SO tell me, are you a fraud?”
Ayrsted didn't say anything for a second, but as he saw the flames grow closer to him, he blurted out, “yes, I'm a fraud. But you know it's partly your fault. I told you to find someone else, but then you offered to pay me. I had no other choice you see.” He tried to explain to her why he did what he did.
“Yes, I see just fine.” Ayrsted looked up hopefully. Then he was set on fire.
He screamed in pain. “But I told you the truth, why did you still set me on fire?” he asked her once he had patted out the flames.
“Because you pissed me off.” Circe said this as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do. “So now I have a problem. I need to learn to use my magic, but you can't teach me anything. So tell me, how are you going to help me?”
“Help you? How can I do that?”
“I don't know. You really should come up with something. Your life may depend on it.” It terrified him that she could say such a thing with a smile on her face. “To trick Rayling you probably used an artifact or something, since it doesn't seem like you know magic, right?”
“Yes, but that's broken now.”
“You must have some other artifacts, right?”
He was torn about giving up what he had collected, but he would rather have his life than his possessions. He opened a trapdoor that was under a rug, and went down.
The basement had several different weapons and items, as well as a fair amount of money. She picked up an item and scowled at it. She asked him, “how can I tell what these are just by looking?”
“Here, I'll teach you the identification skill.”
You have learned the Identification skill
She went around and identified all the items. Most of the items weren't too bad, but they were for warriors. She did find a few rings and a bracelet to increase intelligence and the rate of mana regeneration.
Though these were great items for her level, they weren't exceptional. She was disappointed at not getting anything, until she came to a necklace. It was a simple clear transparent crystal on some twine, but it drew her eyes. “Identify.”
Aura Initiate’s pendant
Durability: 15/15
An ancient artifact given to practitioners of Aura Mastery, so that they can fully grasp its power. If it is equipped when standing in a natural mana well, it will show the path to Aura Mastery.
Requirements:
Have Aura Mastery skill
INT +30
WIS +30
Fortunately she met the requirements, as she had been studying for all this time. Even though she hadn't allocated any of her stat points yet, she still easily met the requirements. She looked at Ayrsted and asked him, “hey, you know where a mana well is?”
“I heard that there was one in a cave nearby.” He then gave her directions on how to get there.
“Alright, let me just finish up here and I'll leave.” Ayrsted was confused at this statement, but then saw her put the items in her bag.
“What, what are you doing?” He asked her.
“What does it look like? I'm taking all of this.”
“But that's stealing.”
“Says the scam artist. And it's not stealing, I just think that you owe me a little something for causing me emotional distress.”
“A little something? You're taking everything I have!” He couldn't stop his voice from rising at this.
“Yes I am. Your life savings are enough to cover my emotional distress.”
Ayrsted could do nothing except watch wordlessly as his basement was picked bare, and Circe left with a pack full of goods to be sold, and a purse that was eighty pieces of gold heavier.
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Ayrsted watched her walk away, remembering the young man that was there just two and a half weeks ago. Both times he was filled with fear and let them walk all over him. Now he was angry and he swore revenge on them.
I swear, I'll make both of you pay for humiliating me. He then left his cabin and started walking, returning to the real world after years of seclusion in the forest.
The Greatest Conman was back in business, and he knew exactly how he was going to get back at them. Time to call in my other favours.
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