Chapter 10

Last days of Yarsan

One and a half months after entering the restricted section, the now Rune master Crane knocked on the latch of the door above him. It opened revealing a somewhat surprised looking librarian who said, “Welcome back, finished already?”

Crane had seen her a few times when she went into the restricted section to get a book, but she had ignored his presence there, which was only right because he was not supposed to be there in the first place. “I found what I was looking for and then some, the time for reading is over.” Crane walked around to the front of the desk and said, “This will be the last time I come here. I’ll be leaving Kallamore kingdom for good. “ “Is that so? Well, good luck. The world out there is not as safe as a library.” Crane nodded and said, “I’ll be ready.”

Crane went to the Dark Djinn’s base and found it fairly busy with activity. The hostess walked up to Crane and said, “What can I do for you today?”

“I’m going to do something quite illegal and I’ll need a partner. I was hoping you could recommend someone here for me.”

“That is something I can do, however I can not as of yet do it for you. How much you can take from the guild can be no more than what you give, and you are a bit thin on that side.”

Crane took out a large number of folders and handed them to the hostess. “These are records of dark secrets people sleep better thinking are kept out of the wrong hands. I’ll be up in my room if you decide there is enough there to warrant some assistance from the guild on finding a partner who can help me out until my task is complete.”

Crane had read every book in the restricted section at a pace he himself hardly believed. The information included political secrets, espionage records, rare artifact and dungeon locations, methods to obtain lost or hidden powers, techniques, skills, or enchantments, and all sorts of information that could turn Versailles on its head if it had gotten out, and Crane recorded it all. Of course the information he had just passed on was only the tip of the iceberg but it contained the dark secrets and hidden deeds of powerful families that could be used to blackmail them and greatly increase the guild’s power. About twenty minutes after Crane entered his room he heard a knock on the door. “Come in.”

The hostess gave Crane the same look one would give someone who punched King Kallamore in the jaw and got away clean. After a moment she started, “Although not all of this is news, the information we already had matched the information you gave us which seems to prove the legitimacy of the rest of it.” She then entered the room and closed the door behind her. “Your request for a partner has been granted, but there is no one in the base currently who could compliment your skills. However a suitable match has been contacted and is on his way. He will be here by tonight, however you do not have to wait to meet him, from what I am aware, he is already on your friend list.”

The Hostess opened the door and walked out. Crane was impressed the hostess had not asked him where he obtained his information, but then again, it was professional courtesy not to ask such question. Crane used the voice command, “Show friend list.”

Friend list-Tensford

-Eris

-Salem

-Tonya

Crane clicked on Tensford’s name causing some options to open up, he clicked and held on ‘Whisper’, said, “Hey Tensford, heard you were gonna drop by Yarsan,” and released the icon.

A moment later he heard Tensford, who sounded like he was in the same room,

-What on Versailles did you do?

It seemed Tensford did not have the same professional courtesy to not ask such questions. After receiving a whisper from Tensford an icon appeared in Crane’s field of vision with the word Reply. Crane touched it and said, “You’re going to have to be more specific, I've been busy since we last spoke.”

-I am referring to your guild points. What did you do to get such a massive amount?

-Guild points?

-Use voice command, Show Guild Menu.

“Show guild Menu.”

Guild: Dark DjinnsStatus-MemberReputation points-910Alignment-GoodRank- 68th

Crane’s character alignment was neutral, but he had expressed his desire to stay off wanted posters so within the guild he was considered good, for now anyways. As for the rest of it, he wasn't sure what to make of it.

-So I have 910 points and I am rank 68th, what does that mean.

-Points are what the guild gives for services rendered for the guild, they are what you can redeem to the guild for favors. Rank is determined by the total amount of points you have gotten during your membership.

-Ok, so where am I at?

-To put it into perspective, getting that 50,000 gold the last time we met got me 200 reputation points. I have been in the guild for six months being an active member, and I am only ranked 72th

-So I’m above you now?

-THAT'S NOT THE POINT! Until now you have been on the bottom of the list with all the other people who’ve contributed nothing and in a single moment you skyrocketed with the single largest earning anyone has ever contributed at once.

-Ah, I see. Did I use up points to get you to come here?

-Yea, you used about 50 points, 40 of which go to me for helping you with whatever you need.

-So that's, how it is, well you won’t be disappointed at the very least. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know when you get here, and I can promise you that your trip here will be profitable.

-Is that right? Hmm, I’ll look forward to it. I can’t enter the city with my kind of notoriety, so we’ll need to meet outside the walls. I’ll contact you when I get close.

Crane thought about all the secrets he had just handed over. He did not pick them at random nor did he have any illusions about what the Dark Djinns were going to do with it. Although the points would be useful down the road, Crane had given those pieces of information expecting their uses to be carried out. In fact Crane needed the guild to act on it because it would open up doors he needed opened. Crane was going to start wars, topple governments, and end kingdoms to get what he wanted. But before that, there were a few things he needed to do in Yarsan.

Crane still had leftover supplies obtained before he went into the library but there was something else he wanted to get before meeting Tensford. Crane walked for what would be the last time down the shopping district. He saw Tanner telling a pair of tourists how the sword in his shop could cut down the most powerful of beasts but it only worked on the Senbain mountains. Crane went to Oralast’s shop and said, “I need a dozen of your cheapest knives and a whet stone.” After talking his coin, Oralast told Crane, “Sharpening a blade without the skill to do so will damage it, and may permanently decrease durability.” “Thanks for the tip, but that is why I got twelve of them. Crane went into the Sorcerer's shop, the man had not recognized Crane from there first encounter. He gave the man a piece of paper, an order form that had a list of ingredients Crane told him he needed to buy. The merchant brought the exact quantities and Crane paid for them. The merchant gave Crane a peculiar look as Crane exited the store. He then went to a craft supply store and spent the last of money on a as much wood as he could buy.

Crane left the city walls to find where Tensford had said to meet.

At the location ,a skinny halfling in thief equipment said,

“Well look at that outfit, pfft, You sure do look sharp! Ah hahahaha ha ha.”

Crane had gotten use to this by now so he let him get it out of his system before saying, “You’re gonna help me break into the Palace of Yarsan, steal some information, and kill a nobleman.”

As use to it as he was, Crane was still proud of his ability to make people stop laughing.

“You are nuts. If I try to enter the city every guard close by will try to kill me. The only way to the palace is through the military base, and even if you still had access, I don’t!”

Crane waited for him to stop when he said, “Actually there are three ways into the palace. The first is as you said. The second is through the underground city. And the third is through the secret passage used by the royal family. “

“Underground city?

“Yes, a massive network of tunnels built in the war 400 years prior by the loyalist. They were used to ambush the Kallamore troops every time they let their guard down, the drop in morale was how they prolonged a stalemate to twenty years. Those tunnels are how we are going to exit that palace.”

“Exit? So that mean’s we’re going to enter through this royal secret passage?”

“Yup, I’ll show the way.”

“Why can’t we enter and exit through the passage?”

“There are things I need to do in the undercity.”

Crane lead Tensford to the plateau’s east side and began feeling the rock for the entrance. When he came across a protrusion of rock, he looked around once and said, “In the name of my Ancestor Boafu, Open the way.”

The rock next to the protrusion seemed to be getting sucked in, like rocky road ice cream being sucked from the bottom of the cone. It revealed a thin passage which Crane then Tensford entered. After coming into a dimly lit hall, the passage closed behind him. Tensford looked at Crane and said, “Boafu?”

“Yea, he made this area and only his descendants or the descendants of his students could enter here. “

“Users don’t qualify as either, why can you access it?”

“I’m awesome like that.”

Tensford seemed to be deciding whether or not to hit him when Crane stopped at a door and said, “Wanna join my party?”

He sighed in defeat and said, “Ok.”

You have created a partyTensford has joined your party

Crane opened the door and another message popped out.

Dungeon: You are the first players to discover Boafu’s workshop

Reward 110 Fame

Double experience, 2x item drop rate.

The first monster killed will drop a good quality item.

From his side Tensford said, “No way. 110 Fame huh, you can usually judge a place’s level by the fame you get for discovering it. This place should have monster between level 100 and 140. Unless it is a specialty dungeon.”

Crane said, “You explore a lot of dungeons?”

“Yup, guild rents me out to anyone who needs a trap buster or lock picker. I’ve seen my fair share but this place takes the cake.”

The dungeon’s interior was built of a yellowish stone that reflected the dim light making it easy to see. It looked like on of those mazes where you could walk into one passage and walk out another to find your standing sideways on a wall or looking up to see the ground. There were passageways that lead to stairs and stone hallways and basements on every floor and surface.

“Follow me and don’t get lost.” Crane lead Tensford to a side area that had a table with a single book on it. Crane opened the book to find the pages scribbled over and a note inside.

-To whoever finds this chamber.

My name is Nolan. I am the last of a line of disciples that started from the great sorcerer Boafu.

This workshop was created for the research and study of the origins of magic. Our primary goal was to trace all magic back to the runes scripts they originated from to better understand both. However, there was a complication when elemental spirits were captured and brought in for study. Rune scripts were added to them to give them a form that could be studied and they were slowly broken down. But the fragmented spirits escaped and used their forms to wreak havoc in the labs. They emanated strange mana waves that distorted the space of the workshop. As a last effort to stop them, the flow of mana within the workshop was cut off, rendering them inert. By entering this place you have reconnected the mana flow from the outside and the fragments will awaken. Although their physical forms render them vulnerable to attack, they cannot be destroyed permanently. If the body is destroyed they will reform later, making extermination impossible. However, if you can find a way to stop the fragments, the space within the workshop will return to normal, and access to the treasury will return.

After Crane finished reading a quest screen appeared

Restore order

You have been tasked with defeating the unbeatable mass of elemental spirit fragments that now infest the the workshop

Difficulty C

Reward

Access to Treasury

This quest can be accepted by writing your name on the note

Crane had come here in search of a specific spell, and from the looks of it, he would likely find in it the treasury. Crane passed the note to Tensford and waited for him to finish reading it.

After a few moments Tensford replied, "You're kidding me.. Elemental spirit fragments? destroyable but unkillable?.."

Tensford was catching on quick, he continued, "I guess you didn't plan on heading straight for the palace. This is the perfect place to train."

Crane answered, "Yes, however I think this place will provide another source of training as well, how much is your magic resistance?"

"I got 10% resistance to water from a quest once and my armor grants 10% resistance to earth. Why ask?

"I read that a large amount of repeated attacks from pure element magic can permanently raise your resistance to that magic. The best source of pure element magic attacks is from elemental spirits. But spirits rarely attack people without a shaman directing them, so this is a one of a kind opportunity."

Tensford looked at him like Crane was talking while standing on his head. "Are you actually implying you are going to take powerful magic attacks to strengthen magic resistance?!"

Physical pain experienced in Royal Road was related to damage taken and lessened with high defense. However few characters had a large amount of magic resistance because it required unbelievably expensive equipment, tasks that were hard to come by, or came with magic based classes with higher resistance in the specialty. This meant that the pain from magic attacks far exceeded that of a physical attacks for non magic specialists, and Crane had just told Tensford he would repeatedly take powerful attacks. Although the benefits were great in the long run, no sane person would willingly allow themselves to experience such large amounts pain.

Crane was not entirely sure about whether or not he could be considered sane, but the two months of training his mind and body strengthened his resolve to take on any challenge if it was necessary. And unfortunately for Crane, this was necessary. Now that Crane was a all purpose class that neither specialized in fighting or magic, he did not receive the fast growth rate of sword mastery that sword users had nor did he receive the all around magic resistance spell casters had. If he left these two weaknesses alone he would be weak and fragile compared to other users at higher levels.

Crane had six weeks until his deadline to kill the fire cat leader Saber, he would need a about a week to finish his business in the palace and undercity, which gave him five weeks to train.

Crane nodded to Tensford and said, "I'm not asking you to do it, this is something I need to do."

Tensford starred Crane down and said, "Like hell! I'm not gonna just watch some little kid get stronger while twiddling my thumbs! I can take anything you can take, when a powerful magic attack is thrown we'll rotate who gets it back and forth, agreed?"

Crane nodded and wrote his name on the note and handed it to Tensford who did likewise.

You have accepted the Quest

The pair chose a door at random and went down the hall. They came across a large room with a large pile of gravel and dirt near the corner. The pile started moving like something buried underneath was coming out, but as the surface dirt started flowing down, the pile grew taller and taller until it was four feet high. Crane walked up to it sword drawn and said, "Dibbs on the earth elemental."

When Crane approached it as small mound started to form on the fragment's side. Crane performed Regal Guard imagining that his sword was a unbreakable shield locked into its position by the very space around it. 93! An instant later a pillar of dirt shot out the fragment's side towards Crane like a high speed battering ram. It met Crane's guard and pushed Crane back three feet before Crane's guard was shattered and Crane's shoulder took the brunt of the force. Had Crane not used all his strength to alter the trajectory the earth pillar would have hit him above the heart. The pillar receded back as Crane got up and the fragment moved closer to him. Another mound formed on the dirt pile's side and Crane performed Noble step with the imaging of moving faster than lightning. 94! The pillar extended again but Crane had moved away and to the elemental's side only to see another mound there ready to extend. Crane ducked and rolled beneath the extended pillar closer to the fragment and saw yet another mound being form on it, this time only a foot off the ground making it impossible to go under. Crane jumped up as it extended and was struck in the chest by a pillar that just extended from a mound that had formed near the top. Crane was knocked back ten feet from the blow to his chest and now only had a little over half his remaining life left. Crane imagined striking the fragment down with lightning and stuck his hand in front of him, "Thurisaz!" A bolt of lightning shot out at the elemental only to disappear within it. Tensford yelled, "What kind of amateur attacks earth with lightning? Don't you know your basics?" Now Crane felt stupid. He just wasted 300 mana for nothing. Crane's only battle experience against a magic wielding opponent ended poorly, and his own tactics when using magic were ever less than that of an amateur.

Crane pulled a weak health potion out of his bag and drank it. After finishing he felt a chill up his spine similar to when fought the blood shaman. He quickly turned to face the fragment but it had not moved since Crane took the potion out of his inventory. Crane felt a small vibration beneath his feet just before dirt erupted from the tiles beneath him and surrounded his body. It locked his movement and like a python slowly constricted him. Crane did not have the necessary strength to escape, he could not move to perform a routine that could strengthen him, and the earth spirit fragment was immune to lightning.

Although Crane's body was covered, his head was not, he turned to see Tensford, calmly watching Crane being squeezed to death, waiting for Crane to call for help like a child. After seeing the look on Tensford's face, Crane decided he would rather die, than ask for his help. But Crane wasn't going to give up yet, he had about fifteen seconds before his health reached zero, and he had until then to think of a way to escape. His only usable skills at this point were shout and Rune Call. Shout wouldn't work unless the dirt stopped constricting him for a moment and his only available rune was Thurisaz. But runes had multiple meanings and as a Rune Master he could squeeze a higher number of abilities out of the same rune. Ten seconds left, Crane remembered a line form the instruction script on Thurisaz's use. 'A force against hostile powers. Directs power and force.' Crane wasn't sure what that meant but the crushing soil could definitely be considered a hostile power. Crane imagined the force of Mjöllnir defending him and pushing against the the hostile power and yelled, "Thurisaz!"

Thurisaz buff used

Defense +20 Damage reflection +15%

10 seconds

Crane was covered in a yellow shimmering light and the soil stopped constricting and started vibrating. Crane realized it must be damaging itself slightly trying to constrict him. Crane used the moment to shout at the top of his lungs granting a momentary boost of strength. He threw his arms out, breaking free of the soil and jumped out of it before it could re-engulf him. He had only 43 health points remaining.

Resistance against earth magic permanently rises by 1%.

Crane was satisfied. He had grasped the spirit fragment's attack pattern and capabilities. Crane stood still and took out another potion. He pretended he was about to drink it before dashing forward as the soil erupted from where he had been standing. The fragment attacked with its body and it had a finite amount of soil. Before when Crane had been attacked by thrusting soil pillars he noticed that it could only send two at a time and had to retract one of them to produce another. The soil required to engulf him was greater than that of two pillars so if Crane could reach the fragment before its soil returned, it would be defenseless. Crane drew his sword and gave the pile a dash powered slash. DINK* The sword bounced off as Crane passed by and another pillar shot out at him. Crane dodged while increasing the distance and looked back to see where he hit the fragment. He saw the surface he hit was no longer a ever falling waterfall of soil, but a small wall of rocks with soil falling around it. A moment later the soil fell over the rocky surface as it retreated back into the fragment. Crane heard Tensford again, "Earth attribute monsters tend to have the highest defense, not surprising an earth spirit fragment would as well."

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It was obvious to both of them that this being would be easier to take down as a pair, than it was to take down alone. It could not attack everywhere at once and the rocks that emerge to protect it were likely only a enough to cover one area at a time. But this was the first impression Crane was going to give Tensford of his fighting skill and he wasn't going to ask for help.

While moving quickly at a distance from it Crane drank another health potion, returning his health to a little under 40%. Crane would need to stop in place to perform any routines which could be lethal, but it was his only option. Crane stopped in place for two seconds and dashed forward a bit to dodge the soil eruption. Before the soil returned into the ground, Crane performed Noble Step, and dashed to the fragment. Before reaching it he shouted while quickly waving his left arm in front of him, throwing one of the knives hidden in his overcoat sleeve. The shout powered knife bounced off the stones that emerged from the dirt as Crane passed the side of the fragment using his movement speed boost and attacked the back in four slashes before a mound appeared on the back. Crane dodged to the side and distanced himself out of the pillar attack's reach.

Crane performed the same pattern seven more times, draw the dirt, dash from it, noble step, throw knife at front, attack back, and retreat. After another strike the dirt pile collapsed to the ground. Tensford said, "Not bad. Just from being in your party I got 5% towards my level. How you do?"

Crane had been at level 96 with 13% since he left the library. "Up 85% on level 96."

Tensford looked at Crane and said, "Hmm, only 96 huh. That guy was probably between level 115 and 120, and you beat him using magic and sword skills."

Crane knew what he was implying. If a level 100 user was a Spellsword, the strength of his sword would be the same as a level 50 swordsman and the power of his spells would be equal to a level 50 mage. Similar to how shamans who used both holy and dark magic were usually weaker than a priest or black mage of the same level, Spellswords were generally far weaker than either a swordsman or magician of the same level. If Crane had been a higher level than the earth spirit, it would make some sense, but a mixed class being strong enough to defeat a monster higher than his own level did not make sense. Crane's time in the library increased his WIS and INT which increased his spell strength and mana. His time in the training hall increased his his fighting abilities above his level which then lowered to around his level after the attack power cut from switching from warrior to rune master.

"I work out at the gym a lot."

Tensford rolled his eyes at Crane's sarcasm and said, "Last time we met you were in an army that doesn't allow users and now that you've been kicked out, you can cast magic and your sword is still sharper than most I've seen. You said before you'd tell me whatever I wanted to know. I want to know what happened to you."

Crane thought about it for a second and said, "Compromise, I'll tell you my story, and you tell me yours, I'll go first." Crane told Tensford everything from when he first entered the library to when he entered the restricted section.

"Hmmm, so is this Dessen the nobleman you wanna kill?"

"Not so fast, your turn."

"Let's see, I became a halfling because I heard they made the best thieves, I became a thief, i pickpocketed, stole, and broke into rich NPC's houses. I got caught pickpocketing once and was sent to jail for a day. The cell had a note with my name on it and a map to a warehouse. I went after they released me and got recruited by the guild there. They showed me the ropes and taught me to fight. After I got good I became the go to guy for trap filled dungeons and raised my level pretty quickly. After I rose through the ranks I put together a crew and got missions from the guild's clients. Later I met you. My crew is doing their own thing for a while so I got some time."

Satisfied, Crane told Tensford the plan and its five week deadline. Tensford took a deep breath and said, "You're completely nuts. The first part might work, I actually like the idea. But we should leave it at that. Even if what you say is true, those guys in the undercity have nothing to do with us. Doing that we'll only get us killed."

Crane said, "That's why I intend to stay here still I'm strong enough to accomplish it."

Tensford let out a longer sigh, "That would takes months and you only have one. Let's just train here till double experience expires, do your business in the palace, and return to this dungeon to train. To do such a thing in the undercity is suicide and has nothing to do with you. If you hadn't read about it you wouldn't have known or cared in the first place."

"But I do know now. Besides, an impossible mission with a worthy cause is great motivation to train with."

"But if you actually succeeded, the entire city would be turned on it's head. You said you wanted to be the good guy, you do realize how many will be killed don't you?"

"Yea, looking forward to that part really."

Tensford smiled and the pair walked into te next room.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Crane and Tensford fought against the spirit fragments of Boafu's Workshop. Each spirit type had specific characteristics, strengths and weakness discovered and exploited by the pair. The water spirit fragments were massive water blobs that were almost impervious to attack, but when a part of it was spread over a large surface area it could not retake its shape. When encountered, the pair had to smack the water out of the main body onto a distant wall where it splashed over a large area, while avoiding its pressurized water jet like punches or its engulfing technique which would drown you after your breathe meter ran out. The ice spirit fragments looked had a humanoid form made of icicles. It had an ice spike technique similar to the soil pillars that came from the earth spirit, but the body moved much faster, enabling it to dodge attacks which compensated for its lower defense. It could produce a freezing wind that practically flash froze everything in front of it, but doing so left its backside exposed to attack. The lightning spirit fragments looked like three glowing apple sized floating spheres, connected by lightning. How the spheres moved around determined how they would attack. If they lined up in a row, a lightning bolt would shoot out, if the formed a triangle and spun around, they would produce an electric field that would damage anything close, and if they actually touched you, you would be paralyzed for a couple of seconds. To beat them you had to separate the balls, the lightning connecting them sustained them but if only one was disconnected, the other two would reconnect with it, so you had to separate all three simultaneously. However if you cut the lightning stream between them with a sword, you would get electrocuted. Crane and Tensford resorted to throwing knives into the spaces between all the spheres at once. The fire spirit fragments had a humanoid outline, but their bodies seemed to be made of a mass of glowing red embers. When attacked its body burned hotter and the more it was damaged, the hotter it burned. It directed its heat into it's limbs to make flaming punches and surrounded itself in fire when the pair got close. If attacked too much too fast they could shoot flames from their limbs. The only way to defeat them without getting burned was to slowly chip away at it so as not to build up the fire within it. The wind fragments were composed of half a dozen almost transparent ribbons that moved around like a bundle of snakes in the air. They were made of highly compressed air currents that attacks by decompressing a segment that blew a gale strong enough to send either Crane or Tensford to the opposite wall. If the ribbons separated and moved in a circle a small tornado would form, and if you were unlucky enough to get caught in the center of it, you would be be damaged as you suffocated in the resulting vacuum. Slicing the ribbons would also released the compressed air, damaging the attacker, and unless the ribbons were sliced to pieces, they would slowly regenerate. The trick to fighting them was to use the released air current from one slice to propel the blade into the next one. After much trial and error, the duo could follow the movement of the air currents and slice through them with ease. The trickiest by far of the spirit fragments were the dark magic spirits. They were a hideous mass of black ropy appendages that didn't move from where they were latched onto, often a wall or floor like growing black mold. If approached the mass would extend out, latch onto and grow while pulling. Until the black mass was detached it would rapidly grow rapidly and drain it's victim's health, and as it grew it would slowly restricted movement and get heavier. If left on too long it would leave a black mark that acted like a debuff curse. The appendages had to be cut off without being touched like trimming a plant with poisonous thorns that lashed out. The light spirit fragments were the most useful to encounter. They were pairs of hard light masses that took the shape of the last thing to attack them, they had 100% magic reflection, and both healed when they came into contact with each other. When Crane attacked one it would take the form of the rapier Crane was holding and would slash at Crane. To beat they required a high degree of swordplay and as long as the two did not both attack the same person, it was manageable. If approached without the intent to fight they would do nothing, and if both were grasped at the same time, they would slowly heal the one who grasped them. Because they attacked in the same manner as the attacker, they were ideal opponents to increase skills masteries. Crane would fight against a floating Rapier, Tensford would fight against a floating knife, when the spirits were close to death the pair would allow them to heal, and when the users were injured they would grab both and heal themselves. The only issue was that you were fighting weapon on weapon, trying to break one, when one of the pair's weapons was close to being destroyed, Tensford would have to take on both at the same while Crane repaired the weapon.

After the first week, the pair had gotten use to each spirit and Crane had gained twenty levels. After the second week the pair could take any spirit but the light spirit in a under a minute, they took their time on the useful light spirit. After the fourth week, Crane had hit level 130 and either of the pair could solo any spirit other than the highest level spirits in under a minute.

Tensford said, "Well, I didn't believe it at first but the number of fragments really hasn't gone down. You figure out how to kill the unkillable?"

Crane nodded, "You remember what happened when I fired lightning at the earth spirit fragment?"

"Yea, it got sucked in.. Wait, you don't think that could work do you?"

"Only one way to fine out."

Crane and Tensford had found areas with multiple spirits before, but Crane noticed that certain spirits never appeared together, in the past month they had never seen a earth spirit and a lightning spirit next to each other. The pair looked for the closest ones and drew them into the same room. Both had strait line attacks and it wasn't difficult to make them attack each other. After that they drew closer to each other and began attacking. Lightning shot out and was absorbed into the dirt mound and soil pillars extended out and were easily dodged by the small floating orbs. The orbs started spinning in a triangle formation sending an electric field which then seemed to be drawn into the earth spirit. The orbs eventually came into contact with the mount and were sucked inside it. After that the earth mound seemed to start dissolving and retreating back into the spirit. The mound got smaller and smaller till it stopped moving.

The pair got experience for killing them and Tensford said, "Well, what happened? I get the lightning spirit dying but why did the earth spirit die too?"

Crane answered, "What if the iron in the spirit's soil got magnetized? Then it came together and couldn't separate."

"But what about the rest of it, can't it move without iron?"

"I guess not, It could be that the soil didn't move the iron, but the iron moved the soil."

"If that's how it works than the same should work for the other elements right? Dark and light are obvious, but does fire and water, or fire and ice take each other out? And where does wind fit?"

"I guess we'll find out."

The pair lead a fire spirit and a water spirit into the same room and got the water blob to water jet punch the fire spirit in the face. However the punch cooled down the fire spirit, slowing it down. The wet fire spirit did not retaliate and the water spirit continued to attack the pair. Crane and Tensford beat the both to pieces and regrouped.

"Ok, fire and water don't work, I guess that leaves fire and ice. But that would mean Wind and water cancel out, how does that work?"

"Don't know, but I wanna see it."

Again the pair lead another water blob and a bundle of mostly invisible floating ribbons into the same room and got them to attack each other. After being hit by a gale of wind, the water spirit got enraged and engulfed the mass of ribbons. The compressed ribbons fought against the incompressible water until they gave a full force explosion that looked like a depth charge going off. Crane and Tensford were both knocked down by the impact. Tensford asked, "What was that?"

"A pressurized flowing wind fought against and incompressible flowing water. Like a grenade, an outward exploding force inside a solid metal container."

Tensford looked around to see that the water was actually evaporating, meaning it would not reform and was definitely dead. "Ok, that worked. We still got a week to get them all, what do you say we take them all out now and leave a pair of light and dark to deal with last?"

"Sounds good."

The next three days followed with them leading pairs into annihilation until only two pairs remained. Crane lead the fire spirit to the room Tensford had lead the ice spirit and provoked it to send a icy gale towards the fire spirit. The embers blazed hotter in response to the attack and it slowly moved through the ice storm towards the ice fragment. The more it was attacked the hotter it got but the closer it approached to fragment, the colder the storm blew. The fire got close enough to engage in close combat and punched the Ice fragment in the face, interrupting the ice storm. The fire fragment immediately used the pause to engulfed itself in giant flames and proceeded to wrap its arms around the ice spirit. The flames got smaller and smaller and the pair collapsed into the ground. The ice melted away and the the embers died and soaked up the melted water."

"I still don’t get it, why did the ice beat the fire but not the water?"

Crane answered, "Cold I guess, without the cold aspect the water would heat up, evaporate off the embers, and recondense later back into water. For this pair the embers heat up the water trying to get hot and the water cool down the embers trying to freeze."

The pair checked out the whole of the workshop after that to make sure there was only one pair left. Crane and Tensford brought the last light spirit fragment to the room next to where the last dark spirit hung on a wall. They made sure to save the strongest light spirit for last, this one was about level 145 and they fought it for four days, increasing their weapon masteries. When the time came they brought it close to the dark spirit which extended a black ropy appendages that attached itself to both of the light spirit masses and drew them in. The light responded by changing into a white vine like form that grew and wrapped around the dark spirit and followed the appendages back to the source. The light piece twisted around each other healing themselves as the dark spirit drained its health. But the glowing light of the light spirit caused the dark pieces to shrivel like dried roots, as other parts grew from absorbing health as the light spirit itself regenerated. For about twenty minutes the pair squeezed and strangled each other, slowly decreasing in size until they both disappeared.

Quest Complete: Restore Order

You have leveled up

You have leveled up

You have leveled up

The workshop started to shift, like a mirage or illusion disappearing. The two found themselves back in the first room which now looked relatively normal. They split up and searched for what the note said would be the treasury.

"Crane! Over here!" Crane ran to the source and found Tensford in front of a large door. They opened it together revealing a long room with long tables at both walls. The tables had items extending along the length of the wall. Tensford stepped forward only to be stopped by Crane. "No need to rush, You and me are fairly opposite, stuff you need won’t do me as much good and likewise. First we both see what everything does, and then we divide up fairly according to need." This was the second time since they met that Tensford seemed to want to kill Crane, the first time was at the village of Surrol. Tensford had seen Crane fight, was still probably a higher level than he was, and may actually have been capable of killing him. However he stepped back and said, "Fine, but we look at the items together."

Crane raised his eyebrows, "Shouldn't I be the one to say that?"

The pair walked over to the first table that had a small knife on it, Tensford said, "This one'll be mine for sure, Crane picked it up and said, "Identify."

Ancient Carving Knife

Durability 79/130

Damage 35-45

This millennia old knife blade has been enchanted to prevent degradation of the edge. Its durability decreases slower than average. It is specifically made for delicate workmanship.

Equip: Increases your chances of scoring a critical hit.

None

Crane smiled and handed the knife to Tensford who looked at the stats. "What?! A carving knife?! No thanks."

Carving knives were specially made as a sculpting tool, and though they increased proficiency when carving faster than a regular knife, Tensford's own blades were much stronger than this was. They went through each of the forty some items and divided them into three piles, stuff for Tensford, stuff for Crane, and stuff to sell. Tensford's pile included a pair of critical and agility boosting knives meant to be wielded together, a cape that provided an invisibility spell with a forty-eight hour cooldown, gloves that increased luck, and leather enchanted wrist guards that increased hand based skills by two levels. Tensford's affected hand based skills included lockpicking, pickpocketing, and more he would not tell Crane. Crane's had a one handed level 150 staff that enhanced spell power, blue steel gauntlets that had decent defense and a 15% chance to reflect oncoming spells, and a pile of rings and tools. Rings are an item that can be used by anyone and under normal circumstances they would be divided between the two, but even though they each enhanced a skill by two levels, Tensford didn't want them. The reason was because they each enhanced a craft skill by two levels, sculpture, handicraft, and blacksmith. There was also a ring that enhanced Sword mastery by two levels which could be sold for a fortune, and even though it was useless to the knife wielding Tensford, it was hard to convince him to give it to Crane and not sell it. Although Tensford didn't mind Crane taking the rest, Crane had no intention of telling him that what he was taking was likely the training tools of the Yarsan Royal family. The rings, the sculpting knife, and the blacksmith hammer he found all increased skill proficiency, meaning you could make higher quality items which in turn increase proficiency faster. But Tensford had gotten the wrist guards which were also likely training tools so it was still equal between them. Crane was also certain the staff belonged to a member as well, though no one too powerful as it's requirement was only level 150. The rest of the items were either things neither needed, or neither could use. Crane told Tensford what he valued each's price at and let Tensford choose what he wanted until he had half the total value.

There was however one item Crane mislead Tensford on. A pendant with a cracked glass looking piece in the center. Crane told Tensford the truth, that it could be used to store monsters and was likely the way the all the spirits were transported to the workshop and kept until it broke and was now useless. Tensford left it for Crane who knew that although the cracked glass piece would never hold anything again, the pendant itself still held the 4 Circle magic used to create it, and if a replacement centerpiece could be found, he could use it again. A piece like he had found at Tanner's Shop long before. After his Identification skill reached level 7, he could find the properties of the glass piece and discovered it was an empty vessel. The 4-Circle magic required to make the glass vessel a useable object needed a magician around level four hundred to cast, so he had to find another way to use it. Crane had read about vessel pieces stored in Boafu's workshop, and had actually come all the way there just for that pendent. He would still need to take it to a jeweler to set the piece so the 4-Circle magic would accept the new piece though, but if it did, it would be worth more than the everything else in the treasury combined.

Chapter 10 part 2 viewtopic.php?f=91&t=633&p=2584#p2584

Chapter 9 part 2 viewtopic.php?f=91&t=581