Chapter 10 pt2

Last days of Yarsan

Crane and Tensford left the treasury and went to the back of the workshop that lead to a large spiral stone staircase leading hundreds of feet up. They took their time so as not to get exhausted. When they reached a door, Crane and Tensford agreed Crane should wait while Tensford scouted ahead. The thief used his cape's invisibility buff and went through the door. Ten minutes later, Tensford whispered to Crane to come through and follow his directions. Crane went through a thin hallway that lead to a wooden wall. At Tensford's direction, he pushed it out, and went through the opening. The wall was the backside of an old bookshelf that Tensford told Crane to push back into place. He then directed Crane out of the room and down a hall, telling him when to stop and move. Crane figured Tensford was invisible and in the hall as well, making sure no one saw Crane by scouting the hallways ahead of him. Several hallways a two floors later, he was directed to a door he saw move open a bit, where he entered just before it closed behind him.

Tensford reappeared and said, "That went pretty darn well."

Crane asked, "Whose room is this?"

"No one's, they keep empty rooms locked and this was the only empty room I've found so far."

They searched the drawers and found some noble looking clothing to equip. Tensford asked, "You said before we kill the guy we need information, where is it?"

"From here it should be in the next tower over on the top floor."

"Tower? Come to think of it, You can't really see the palace from the ground, you know this place well enough?"

"Yea, memorized the blueprints."

"Then lead the way."

"Not just yet, looking at four hundred year old blueprints won’t tell me the security. Here, take these and make note of everything you can think of in these four areas."

Crane took out maps he made of the palace with four areas circled and gave them to Tensford. Tensford looked at the detail of the maps and said, "This'll work, how long I got?"

"Three days to find as much information about the security measures around those places as you can."

"No problem, but what're you gonna do here?"

Crane took out the carving knife and a piece of wood from his inventory. Tensford rolled his eyes and left. Crane sat on a bed and began to carve. In the real world, Crane had a hobby of whittling, the backyard of his house had mounds of wood chips that blew into the fence where it collected and his wheelchair often smelled of wood. Crane knew of sculpting in royal road after he found the guild but he had no reason to try it out here. Crane started carving a small chess piece, something simple he had done many times before. He pressed the back of the knife with his thumb along the grain of the wood with just enough force to give a controlled motion to the cut. Due to his strength stat and the sharpness of the blade both being higher than he was use to, Crane was able to quickly make a small rook with much higher detail and precision than he was capable back home. He even added parallel lines that showed the outlines of bricks on the walls. After making sure it was symmetrical he set it down and began carving a knight. The hardest part of the knight was the jawline and cheekbones of the horse. After getting the outlying shape, Crane slowly slide the tip of the knife under the jaw to the neck, then from the side to the neck, giving it a well defined face. He took extra care to make the eyes and ears before making the circular base as symmetrical as he could. Crane went on the complete an entire chessboard of highly detailed chess pieces.

Skill Level Up: Sculpture mastery [2]

Skill Level Up: Handicraft [2]

Crane smiled a bit and continued carving, wood was fairly cheap and he had enough to last days. Crane carved familiar objects he had carved before, planes, jets, birds, and animals. Crane was not looking for skill mastery but just something to do while waiting, so he took his time, creating as much detail as he could into a piece. Each piece took from half an hour to two hours and was inspired by something Crane had seen before. After a whole day of carving, he received another message indicating his Handicraft skill had increased and a few hours later he got another level in sculpture mastery. Even though he was sculpting, according to what he read handicraft actually benefited more from sculpting than sculpture mastery did. After it hit level three Crane wanted to try something, he picked up a piece of wood and carved a small knife, the same shape as his throwing knives. After giving it a smooth handle and making it's wooden edge as sharp and wood could reasonably get, Crane carved a line with a triangle in the center pointing to the right and imagined the knife would be protected from damage. He touched the carved symbol and said, "Thurisaz." The rune started to glow lightly, and Crane's mana was decreased by 150 points, 50 of which were taken from his maximun mana so only 100 were return over time.

Wooden Knife added to Used Rune List

Crane said, "Show Skill window Rune Smith."

Skill Window: Rune SmithRune Smith [1] 3%

Can carve Runes into weapons and armor that grant additional options without decreasing max durability

Effect of Rune Determined by intention when used

For every rune carved, Maximum mana decreases by 50

Mana returns upons item’s destruction

Effect Strength determined by Sculpture mastery

Requirements:

Sculpture Mastery

Unless used by a Rune Blacksmith, Intermediate level Blacksmithing required to prevent loss of Max Durability

After saying the command he noticed the message that appeared just before and said, "Show Used Rune List."

Used Rune List-Wooden Knife

Crane double clicked the word Wooden Knife on the list and yet another screen pop up

StatsDestroy

Crane clicked Stats

Rune Engraved Wooden Knife

Durability 20/20

Damage 4~6

A wooden knife usually would never be able to harm someone due to its edge lacking hardness, but this knife has had a rune applied that lowers outside damage allowing it to retain hardness for a short time

After looking over the stats of his carving he clicked Destroy to see what would happen. The rune on the knife glowed brighter and a crack appeared through the Rune and along the knife. It stopped glowing and Crane's mana bar's maximum had increased by 50, returning to normal and slowly refilling.

Crane thought about what it all meant, the skill said it would permanently reduce max durability of weapons and equipment if used without the right skill, but a wooden carving counted as neither so there was no max durability to lose, and from what he could tell, carving runes increased both rune smith proficiency and sculpture mastery. The destruction of the item also increased rune smith by just a little as well. Crane started carving runes into his sculptures, imagining they were amulets that counted as armor, and destroying them with the remote destruction to retrieve his mana.

The crack left in the wood after destroying the amulets went deep into the wood, leading Crane to start carving the rune at spots closer to the edges so the cracked part could be removed and the sculpture could be recycled into another sculpture that was smaller. Crane spent the next two days experimenting with different carving techniques that took advantage of his new strength and knife. On the last day, his handicraft skill had hit level six, his sculpture skill hit level four, and his Rune Smith skill hit level three. As Crane's sculpture mastery rose, the effects of Rune Smith increased, which in turn increased the rate the proficiency rose with use. Crane took out one of the dozen knives he had bought checked its stats

Iron Knife

Durability 25/30

Damage 5~8

A Cheap Knife produced quickly but by a skilled smith

Crane then took out the whet stone and began sharpening the knife. He slide the edge across the stone a few times and got a message.

Iron knife's durability has decreased

Crane stopped before he permanently lowered the durability and said, "Repair."

He checked the stats to see the knife's stats received a +2 to attack. Crane then took out his carving knife with with great effort and precision he carved the rune lightly into the blade of the knife.

Iron knife's max durability has decreased

Crane put his finger on the rune and imagined it was as strong and Mjöllnir and would protect itself from damage.

Iron Knife added to Used Rune List

Crane used Identify on the knife once more

Engraved Iron Knife

Durability 15/15

Damage 9~12

A Cheap Knife that a rune has been carved into by someone with little skill, permanently decreasing durability. The power of the Rune damages hostile powers directed at it and reflects damage taken, decreasing the rate the weapon loses durability.

Knife sharpened by an unskilled Craftsman

+2 Damage

Crane had originally gotten the whet stone so he could sharpen one knife and use it to carve a rune into another, but now that he had the sculpting knife he wanted to try something different. Sharpening bonus usually lasts a single battle and Crane wanted to see if the Knife would retain the bonus longer after receiving the rune.

Crane was surprised the results were as good as they were, but that was most likely due to the effect of the handicraft skill, which slightly raised the effects of all other Craft skills each time its level increased.

-Hey Crane, it's time.

Crane returned the carving knife to his inventory and swept the wood chips under the bed.

-Okay, am I clear to leave the room?

-Yes, if you're wearing those noble clothes the guards wont suspect you even if they see you leave the room. It is safe to walk to the rotunda, meet me there.

Crane left the room and went to the stairs. He knew where everything was so he took the shortest path to the auditorium sized room that connected to the main building and the throne room. The palace had five noticeable parts, four exceptionally thick towers and the main building they surrounded. Both east towers were housing for staff who worked at the palace, Nobleman who ran the city and made laws, and guests who visited the palace such as foreign diplomats. The north West tower, opposite his position, was where most documents would be kept. Floors of rooms filled with papers and documents. The last tower, the south west one, had the offices of the nobleman politicians. The main building had the King's quarters, the king's offices, the king's room, the Throne room, the Rotunda, and the large dinner hall with a table hundreds of feet long. Crane's first stop was the north west tower, he needed access to the documentation there. He passes two guards who looked at him as Crane passed but did nothing. Crane made his way to the rotunda where many stair cases met to go to each tower and had many nobleman mingling with one another. Crane saw Tensford next to the stairs leading to north west tower. They walked up the stairs together and Tensford took the lead. For the past few days he had monitored the exact position of the guard's movements and in a low security area like the records hall, he could direct Crane to the room he needed to get to without encountering a single guard. Tensford picked the lock and they closed the door behind them. Crane asked, "How often does this room get used?"

Tensford answered, "The documents get collected from everyone at the end of the week and brought here, they came yesterday."

"Perfect. Now I know this wasn't apart of the original deal, but I need a favor. Do it and I'll own you one."

"I'm listening."

Crane took out the book Thurisaz he got from the library and handed it to Tensford. "What I am doing here will take all day, while I'm doing it, I need you to check the palace for books like these. I'll circle on the map all the most likely locations they could be. If you don't want to, then you will have to occupy yourself somehow while I'm working. I can lend you my carving knife if you want."

Tensford snatched the book from Crane's hand and looked at the map. "The King's study? You don't ask much do you?"

"There and a room on the top floor of this tower, that room has the records from the time before the fall of the high magician royal family."

Tensford left the room and Crane started opening drawers. The document rooms were sorted by time and the room he was in had the most current events. However this would not tell anyone what a person was going to do, only what people already did, they were basically public records only in a little more detail and stored together. Crane was looking for the nobleman who gave orders to he former commander Dessen. The same person who was likely responsible for putting in motion what happened to his subordinates. Crane was going to kill this man.

Crane found the military records and order forms. After putting together bits and basically reading between the lines, Crane found the man who Dessen was loyal to. He found evidence of this being the man who assigned Dessen's crew of noblemen who were sent to the village of Surrol. After a bit more digging Crane even found a record that stated one of the people under this man claimed to be ill and went to an apothecary. The illness he had could be cured by a tonic that included an ingredient that reacted poorly with powerful spider poison, and that man ordered an unusually large amount of the tonic.

With a clinical detachment, Crane collected documents of every single recorded action the man had done over the past year and read them in great detail. Crane had gotten out several sheets of paper and begun writing on them, practicing. After getting the hang of it, and with his decent handicraft skill, Crane was able to copy the man's handwriting perfectly. Crane got out an expensive looking journal and opened the first page, he signed it with the nobleman's name and started the journal. Crane wrote detailed entries for each meeting and scheduled event that occurred from a year before hand to the present date. After almost an entire day of looking through records, Crane's journal entries under the man's name caught up to the present day. Crane had added his own touches to the book, he included nothing illegal what so ever, going so far as to make the man seem to be a model Noblemen whose primary interests were in helping his fellow Kallamorians. Anyone who read it and knew the man would likely know it to be fake but Crane knew they would not come forward. People would not dare to speak ill of the dead for some time, long after his plan had come to fruition. Throughout the book Crane added fake entries about the nobleman discovering hidden secrets. First it starts off with him discovering discrepancies between reports and thinking nothing of it. Later the fake entries built on the nobleman investigating the reports. Closer to the present the nobleman finds evidence pointing to one man behind the discrepancies. The fake entries build on the discoveries to indicated the man behind the discrepancies had falsified reports and was behind numerous crimes as well. The final entries include current plans and an fake entry that claimed he was going to turn all the evidence of the man's crime over to the Head of the military. Captain Dessen was going to know the pain Crane had suffered. When Crane closed the book a message popped up.

You have learned new Skill: Forgery

Unexpected, but welcomed, Crane put every single piece of paper exactly where he found it to leave the place just like it was when he arrived.

-Tensford, it's time time to go

-Alright, found two books with them runes on 'em. Only two though, there isn't a single other one in the whole palace, I guarantee that.

Crane was ecstatic, he had not actually expected there to be anything in the palace after seeing the ash pile in the library, but it looks like there was something overlooked.

-That's incredible, where did you find them?

-Easier than I thought, I was probably the first theif to ever enter the King's study and I noticed a the bookshelf had a secret compartment. Found one in there, there were another one in that records room. Though after hearing how you got all them guild points I decided to look through some good stuff in there and wrote it down.

-That's fine, just make sure you don't leave a trace, I need to get into southwest tower now

-Alright, I'm on my way

Tensford opened the door and lead Crane back out the way they came in, making sure not to be seen by a single guard. Before returning to the rotunda Crane told Tensford to use his invisibility of he had it. Surprisingly enough he did, he had spent the last day sneaking through the most well guarded place of Yarsan without using the skill. They made it back to the rotunda and went up the stairs to the southwest tower. The entrance was blocked by a guard. Crane walked up to him and said, "Where was the man who was here before?" Although Crane had never been there he was implying he had passed through this door before. The guard said, "Sayves left duty a while ago." Crane nodded and said, "I see, then I must introduce myself again, I am the messenger of my lord, Atticus Denjak. I am assigned the task of representing him in the negotiations of the the merchant investment group The Silver Seven. I have relayed the entire meeting to my lord and have to return to the meeting room on the third floor to deliver my lord's proposal. I know my way in." The guard's eye's widened at several names Crane had thrown out and with good reason. Reading the documents in that room gave Crane an intimate understanding of the most powerful groups in Yarsan. And with the exception of Crane being the messenger, everything he said was true. According to the record books there was a meeting between the merchant guild's invest group the Silver Seven and the finance council members, and the representative, Atticus Denjak, was in fact at the palace now to discuss an investment. However that meeting was not for another hour. The man opened the door and let Crane in. From this point Crane could not bee seen, a guard was one thing but if anyone inside the tower who knew what was going on asked Crane what he was doing, Crane would have to kill him. Tensford lead Crane to the the study of Gnat Agsny, the man who hired the Dark Djinns to hold Turrol for ransom and the man responsible for killing Crane's men. Tensford picked the lock and they entered the empty room. Gnat would be in the room in half an hour according to his scheduled. He would be meeting another politician who was apparently trying to get his son out of the mandatory term of service in the Yarsan Army. Such things were popular and easy if you went to the right man. Crane found a cup in the room and began his work. He had obtained herbs and ingredients at the sorcerer's shop and began mixing the potion. Tensford said, "When you said you would kill him, I thought you meant with your sword."

Crane smiled. "He will die by a sword alright, but if it was mine I would receive a murderer's mark."

"So you poison him, and someone else kills him.. How does that work?"

"Berserker potion. When used in battle it increases all attributes but makes the user more aggressive. I added a couple extra bits that will make the user totally lose control. They will become stronger and go on a rampage for about six minutes."

Crane took the cup he found and poured the potion into it and swirled it around for a few seconds before pouring it out. Crane twirled the cup around for a few more seconds and handed it to Tensford. The thief looked at the inside and saw a almost invisible film of the potion that dried inside the cup that would mix with whatever was next put in it. Tensford asked, "If someone else kills him, how are you framing Dessen for it?"

"When I bought the ingredients I handed the merchant a note that said, 'By order of Captain Dessen, obtain these ingredients,' with a list of the ingredient. To any other merchant that would be meaningless, but I bought the ingredients at a place where the guys mixes his own potions. He'd know what could be made with those ingredients and I left the paper there. I also have this." Crane held up the phony journal. "This very subtly points out that Dessen would be this man's enemy."

"I see, well then, should we watch the show?"

"I'd like you to watch and make sure it goes through after escorting me out, I need to get started in the undercity, meet me there afterwards, the entrance marked on your maps."

"Alright, but before you forget, here."

Tensford handed Crane three books, Thurisaz, one similar to the Thurisaz book that had a single vertical line on it, and a much thicker book that had a circle of all 24 runes around it. Before leaving Crane held up the larger tome and said, "Where was this one?"

"That was the one I found in the king's study."

Crane wasn't sure what to make of it but he did not have time to read the instructions for the use of the rune. He put both books in his inventory and Tensford lead them back to the rotunda. From there he went to the south east tower and down to the lower basement. According to what Tensford had told him, guards were not allowed in here because the people who came and went wanted to remain anonymous and not be seen coming and going from their rooms in the tower to the undercity. The basement had a powerful illusion spell cast on it that prevented people from seeing the entrance without knowing it was there. Crane walked to a segment of the stone wall between two vats of aging wine and touched the surface. His hand fell through, revealing the passage. Crane walked through the wall into a brightly lit hallway that lead down a flight of stairs to a room with three wooden elevators, each with a man in a red suit standing on its platform. Crane stepped onto an elevator and the man pulled a lever. The wooden platform started to descend, faster that he though it would. After about two minutes he had reached the undercity beneath the ground level of Yarsan.

Crane Walked down the ancient stone hall passing a group of nobles on their way back to the elevator. Loud sounds of people cheering and music being played echoed down the hall, getting louder then further he went. The end of the hall opened to a room larger than a football field filled with people sitting around tables filled with cards and chips. Beneath Yarsan was Kallamore Kingdom's largest Casino, where the wealthy came to drink, gamble, and socialize. Crane walked by a set of roulette tables and and dining tables where people ate, laughed, and chatted. There were dozens of tables, most with cards on them but although most appeared to be either poker or Black Jack, several seemed to be card games Crane did not recognize. The cards were upside down and arranged in a triangle. People would take one card out without showing it and place a card they had in their hand in its place, also upside down. After everyone replaced a card the dealer would flip the three corner cards and another round of replacing would occur. Then the dealer would flip the rest of the cards and the players would place there hands down. Crane had no idea how the winner was determined. Crane continued walking past the tables of gamblers and to a section blocked by a metal gate and a man at a counter. The man saw the young Crane in the nobleman's outfit and said, "Young sir, would you like to place a bet?"

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Crane said, "Is this where the Nightmare games are held?"

The man wave his head and said, "No no sir, this is where the tournaments are held, the nightmare games are down that hall and past the red doors."

Crane had no money so obviously he could not place a bet on a contestant, but he had time to kill until Tensford reported on the outcome of Crane's plan.

"Are there any open slots for the tournament? As if so is there a fee to participate?"

The guy now seemed to be sizing Crane up, he asked, "You do your service in the Army?"

Crane said, "Yes, my officer's uniform in storage at the moment, but I have equipment to fight in."

"Oh, an officer huh? Alright kid, you can enter, I'll even wave the fee. But there are no guarantees of your safety."

"That is fine. When does the tournament start?"

"In fifteen minutes, head through the gate and tell the guy there you'll be number eight."

Crane walked through the gates and found a thick barbarian wearing armor. "Hi, I'm number eight."

The man looked down slowly and raised his hand to point to his right and said, "Wait in that room." Crane went to his own left to the fairly large room and sat down. Crane opened his inventory screen and equipped his gear. He had fifteen minutes till it started and another five minutes after that till his target Gnat was set to go crazy. After finishing equiping he saw his newest rune book took it out. He opened it up and started reading.

Isa, 11, i

The ice that flows forth from Niflheimr, the afterlife of those who did not die a heroic or notable death. The energy that slows down fire. The force of attraction, gravity, inertia, and entropy. Halts unwanted dynamic forces. Power of control and constraint over nature spirits. Develops concentration and will.

The book was, just like the first, filled with cryptic meanings that had to be interpreted. Crane got that ice magic could be used but if he understood the meaning correctly then it could also be used to inflict Slow on target, or possibly even Stop. After reading the second to last line Crane had a small regret he did the spirit fragment dungeon before he got and could test out the power of control and constraint over nature spirits. But he let it go because it may not have affected the fragments anyways. Crane put his hand over the book and said, "Learn."

You have learned the Rune magic Isa

Now he needed to check the mana cost. “Show Skill window rune magic."

Rune Magic [1] 78%

Can use learned runes to perform rune based spells and skills

Original Power Determined by wisdom

Thurisaz, th, 3

Mana cost 100

Isa, i, 11

Mana cost 150

The elemental spirits took more damage from physical attacks than his lightning spell so he did not use it in the dungeon. Most of the experience he got was likely from practicing rune carving. Crane raised his hand towards the back wall of the room he was in and imagined his hand was the heart of the ice world, releasing its frigid air to this world, "Isa!"

A black wave passed out of Crane's hand and moved forward to the wall. It passed through a chair and finally dispersed against the wall. The chair was covered in frost as was the wall, like someone opened the door of a mountain cabin during a snow storm. When first emitted the wave was small, the size of Crane's palm, but it increased as it went further and was larger than Crane was when it hit the wall about eight feet away. The only problem was the speed of the wave. It moved faster than walking person but not a running person. Crane wanted to skip just using his sword so he brought it out and tried the stacked combo. He used rune sword to write a single vertical line and imagine a harsh and fast wind of the ice world coming from his sword. "Isa!"

Another black wave shot out but it was much faster and shot continuously for over a second. Because it was faster it did not expand as much before hitting the wall but the second of continuous use caused the effected area of the wall to build up about two inches over an area two feet in diameter. Crane wanted to experiment more but he had to let his mana return before the tournament. To pass the time he whispered to Tensford.

-How's it going?

-Boring so far, I'm watching some nobleman plead to the Gnat guy about how worried he is over his little punk's safety.

-He drink anything yet?

-Don't worry, he is boiling a pot of tea now. He actually bragged that it was some rare expensive imported kind, he won't be sharing it.

That was one worry done, Crane's biggest problem was that someone else would use the cup, if that happened then due to the nature of what kind of man Gnat was, the effected person would most likely instantly desire to kill Gnat himself, but there was a possibility of him being stopped and killed by the guards before he did so.

-Alright, tell me when he pours the tea

-Why didn't you just put that potion on a blade and throw it at him like you did my lacky?

-Evidence. No way to do that and not leave a trace. When he drinks that tea, the evidence will erase itself. People won't be able to know when someone gave him that potion or how, which prevents Dessen from having an alibi. Whenever he last came to the palace, they will assume that is when he did it, and nothing will be able to prove otherwise.

-So that's why you wanted us to leave no trace behind. So what are you doing now?

-Been fighting non humans too long. I found a tournament and entered it, It'll make a good warm up before the real show starts.

-That so? Well don't get killed. If you die down there I'll just head home.

-Meh, I'll be fine.

The door to Crane's room opened and the barbarian came through. He looked at crane and said, "Show time kid."

Crane was brought to a large room with four large square platforms separated by an iron gate. Set above the ten foot stone wall around the area was another iron gate with rows of seats behind it. Crane felt a little like a gladiator as he was lead to a platform where another contestant stood. On the other side of the gates were three more pairs each standing in their own platform. Crane's opponent held two short swords and wore light armor. He was a younger man and when he looked at Crane, he smirked, likely thinking that fighting someone so much younger than himself would literally be, child's play. An booming voice came from a man in near the entrance, "We have a great show for you today, eight contestants, one victor. You know the rules, you lose if you give up, step outside the ring. Of course you also lose if you Die! Ladies and Gentlemen of the audience, this is your last chance to place a bet."

Crane thought that anyone who bet on the dude in front of him would be sorely disappointed. Now Crane had to decided whether to kill him or throw him out of the ring. Two sides of the ring had hard iron gates on the but the other side of it was open. He thought it might be better to decide after he got to know his opponent a little. Crane took out his sword and raised a foot slightly, performing Noble Step, with the intention of moving faster than a lightning bolt and smoother than the wind. 95!

A minute later the announcer said, "Final bets are in, Let the Matches Begin!"

Crane's opponent dashed at Crane with his swords at his sides. Crane wanted to give his opponent the impression that he was faster than Crane, but Crane's movement speed was heightened by Noble step enough to make the dual wielder look like he was standing still. Crane had more than enough time watching him dash to think of how he was going to finish him. Crane decided to win through 'Luck.' Crane stepped forward pretending he was going to slash his sword but 'tripped' over his own feet falling over into a roll that went under the dual wielder's blades while 'accidentally' slicing the mans's leg with Crane's sword as Crane tumbled past him. With a slowed down time perspective Crane was easily able to roll forward while moving his blade into potion to slash all while making the whole thing look like it was not on purpose. The swordsman fell from the strike to his leg and with Crane already on the ground, the crowd started laughing around him.

Crane got up and pretended to look embarrassed while the other man did the same, though not pretending. He looked extremely annoyed and slowly walked forward with his swords drawn, one to the left at Crane and the other closer to the man pointing up making the two blades look like a cross. Crane stepped forward to meet the man as he slashed at Crane with one sword, stepped forward, and slashed at him with the other sword, alternating his stance with each step. Crane parried each strike by performing a strike at the diagonal. Usually he would start using twelve forms at this point but his own swordsmanship has increased greatly while training so that it was not necessary to take on this opponent. Crane stepped back in a purposefully clumsy fashion as the man stepped forward with each slash. The man's motions were too large and he would tire himself quickly if Crane dragged out the match, but he wanted to end it with 'luck,' so he let the man lead Crane to the edge of the ring. At the edge Crane stopped moving back which stopped the man from moving forward forcing him to keep a consistent stance and attack pattern. The pattern seemed to be the twelve forms but it was adjusted to be used with two swords and was not actually a skill. The swordsmanship however had a major weak point, it only had one range. The only skill that man had used was dash to close in to his range and when Crane rolled under him before the man could do nothing. His attack pattern required his opponent to be at middle range, not to close, not to far. If this man had faced a magician, a monk, or a reasonably skilled swordsman he would lose ten times out of ten. That last thought made Crane want to learn some hand to hand combat skills later but for now he had to defeat this man with 'luck.' Crane had the pattern of attack down and started using less energy while parrying, making it look like he was running out of energy. The man was also running low, so to finish the match his raised his output to end it quickly. Crane then allowed one of his parry motions to fail, getting sliced in the chest and losing a small amount of health. He used the opportunity to pretend to fall back and grab the hand that held the sword that just slashed him. Crane pulled it hard pulling himself forward while pulling the man back. Crane pulled the arm to his side and behind him, getting him back on the platform while forcing the swordsman to take a step off and get disqualified.

The crowd started laughing again and the announcer said, "Ring four's match is the first to finish, what an unsatisfying end for the young duelist!"

The man looked back at Crane with unreadable eyes, he had realized Crane's true skill and knew Crane could've killed him at his leisure. Crane heard the announcer say, "And area three has given us our first kill!"

Crane looked to the platform next to him to see a bald, middle aged man in half-plate armor wielding a great sword, retract it from the torso of a female mage. The contestant disappeared and the crowd went wild. Most of the citizens of Yarsan preferred Might over Magic, even at the expense of a young girl. At that point Crane decided he ought to practice his rune magic, on the very brute who just shishkebabbed the poor mage. Before the fight in the other two areas were finished, the iron gate between Crane and the great sword wielder was pulled back. It seemed there would be no down time between matches. Crane held out his sword and waited for the man he now recognized as Defender class to step forward. The Defenders specialize in defensive forms and power attacks making them a class you don't want to get close to. The armor he wore required a minimum of level 100 but Crane suspected the man was at least level 120 if not 130. Crane would be more than a match for him with his own strength forged in the training hall, but he wanted to beat him with magic. When the Defender stepped over the boundary line between Crane's area and his own Crane used Rune Sword and wrote the rune, Thurisaz, with the image of the lightning of Thor's hammer smiting Crane's foe. 95! Crane thrust through the rune which was sucked into his sword and directed to the point which shot out a powerful lightning bolt. Crane's class granted +20 to all stats and finesse and he wielded Owen's Rapier which granted +10 to finesse so the effect of the spell had at least 130% strength of just calling it at a third of the cost. The Defender was surprised that someone with a sword would cast a spell and took the bolt unguarded. Crane could see static passing through the man's steel armor, a sign he had been paralyzed. Crane used rune sword again but this time he wrote a vertical line in the air, then another next to it, and a third. Crane then imagined the icy breathe of death itself being blown form his sword whispering in the ear of the Defender to go to sleep eternal and shouted, "Isa!" 105! All three runes were sucked into the sword, and after the stacking effect of multiple runes and amplifying effect of Crane's rune call, the tip of the sword shot out a fierce black wind for about 10 seconds. Writing multiple runes with Rune sword added to the power while stacking with Rune call doubled it, although that attack costed Crane about 1000 mana, the Defender was now completely encased in ice over three feet thick.

Skill Level Up: Rune Magic [2]

Skill Level Up: Rune Sword [2]

The defender was not dead yet but his health was slowly declining. He could not speak to say he gave up, so until he died the match would continue which gave Crane some time to recover his mana before the final match. Crane heard the announcer say, "What is this?! The reigning champion who has not lost since his debut two months ago is completely covered in ice!"

One attribute that Isa had was that it slows most processes. The defender's declining health would actually be declining slower than it would if encased in regular ice. It also had an effect of maintaining a state, meaning it actually increased the defender's already high defense by a lot. While he very slowly froze to death, he was practically invulnerable. Crane walked over to the gate to see another match had been completed. A knight looking swordsman had finished off an Archer after skillfully dodging rapid fired arrows for a few minutes. "Ohhh, and in ring two, the archer falls to the knight's sword!" The crowd goes wild again, basking in the superiority of the melee class most popular in Kallamore kingdom, the Kallamore Knight.

The last match had what looked to be a paladin fighting a Black Mage. The paladin's weak holy magic kept the mage's curses at bay, while the mage's powerful black magic attacks kept the Paladin at a distance. Before their match was over, the gate between the knight of the other area and their own area opened. The knight ran over to the balck mage, appearing to want to take him out first. The mage saw this and cast a magic which made his staff glow. The two swordsman were blinded for a moment as were the audience members. When everyone regained their sight the area had two large monsters in it, a terror bird and a mountain troll. The monsters spotted each other and started to fight. The nine foot tall terror bird bit large chunks out of the troll's arms and neck while the eight foot tall, four armed troll smashed and punched the bird who skillfully dodged a majority of the hits. After five minutes the two were fighting more sluggishly and before the troll could delivered the final blow, it was struck by a black lightning and fell, followed by the terror bird. The attack seemed to come from no where, but after they both fell, the black mage appeared from nothing and the two monsters were revealed to be the paladin and the knight. The black mage attacked them once more and finished them off. The announcer yelled, "This is a first ladies and gentle man, the final contestants are two magic users and the champion, and the champ is still frozen solid!"

The defender would be gone in another minute but before that the gates between the two areas were removed and more gates were brought in and placed around the entire four platform arena. It seemed the last match could only be to the death. The mage rose his staff again and another bright light blinded the audience. The announcer yelled, "This is unbelievable! There are over a dozen copies of the black mage in the Area!"

The illusion magic the mage had worked so hard to discover and learn made it's targets see whatever the caster wanted them to see. He had stalled for time before until the the battle next to him was over so he could make the two fighters weaken each other before he killed them off himself and now he would curse and kill Crane without him being able to counter attack. Crane performed noble step as the dozen black mages approached him and waited for the right time to strike. Each black mage raised his staff and a black energy began to from around it. The moment the staff fell and a black lightning shot out the tip, Crane disappeared. A noble step enhanced Dash made Crane move so fast people could lose track of him with their eyes, Crane had moved behind the real black mage and taken his Majestic Stance. Before the mage even realized that Crane was no where in front of him, Crane started twelve forms and rapidly hacked away at the mage's back.

CRITICAL HIT!

CRITICAL HIT!

FATAL HIT!

A problem with illusion magic learned by a non specialist is that the caster is not immune to his own illusions. The mage saw all his copies and made the mistake of putting most of them in front of him. Crane moved at the exact movement the wall of black magic obstructed the mage's vision and moved to his back. The mage could not confirm what happened to Crane because there were too many copies in front of him. The mage's guard was completely down, not only due to his over confidence but he had also made himself invisible, so he thought he could not be hit by Crane anyways. However unlike the black mage, Crane had obtained a respectable level of Light Magic Resistance, due to the fact that he fought the light spirit fragments longer than any other. Crane could still see the illusions but he could also see the truth behind them.

With a lowered guard and sub-par defense even for a mage, Crane had killed him before he even understood what had happened. The illusions had disappeared and Crane noticed that the Defender had died within the ice block. Again the announcer yelled, "What Happened?! I didn't see it! One moment the mage had sent a wall of black lightning at the young spellsword and the next he is killed by the spellsword from behind! This is unbelievable!!"

Crane walked around the arena and collected some items the other dead men had dropped. He went to the edge of the cage where it opened, allowing Crane to pass. Near the exit was the man Crane had humiliated. Next to him was a pair of knights who wore equipment that required a minimum of level 200. The man said, "I bear no grudge against you, but my brother would like to talk. Follow me."

Crane was lead out of the area back to the casino and to a back room. The duelist said, "Please wait here, my brother will be with you shortly."

-Hey Crane, good news, Gnat is dead.

With the tournament Crane had almost forgotten but the news was as good as it could be.

-Tell me everything.

-Alright, after the pleading nobleman begged Gnat to help get his son out of his mandatory service in the army. Gnat began negotiating the terms. Basically squeezing everything he could out of the dude. After awhile the poor guy had agreed to hand over a large amount of property and money, as well as basically swear his loyalty to Gnat. Gnat made sure the guy understood that Gnat could blackmail him over this at anytime. Gnat basically made him write away ownership of his dignity. After the man signed everything, Gnat poured a cup of tea and drank it, commenting on how sweet it tasted. He probably meant that victory made it taste sweeter. I was surprised that you actually made it taste good.

-Yea, I couldn't remove taste completely but I was able to make it taste something like powdered sugar.

-Nice, anyways, after a few seconds Gnat began yelling at the man, insulting him violently, calling him pathetic and getting angrier and angrier. His voice echoed down the halls. Gnat grabbed a plaque on his desk and started beating the guy with it. It actually broke in his hand, you weren't kidding about increased strength. Gnat started to beat the crap out of the guy who had screamed for help like a little girl, which actually seemed to make Gnat madder. Three guards came in tried to restrain Gnat. They had been on their way since Gnat started yelling. Gnat actually overpowered one of the guards and took his sword, he was about to slice the whimpering nobleman in two, before a guard ran him through with his sword. Whatever health boost that potion gave him is probably what kept him alive after that, but I could tell the potion was starting to wear off. You should've seen the look on Gnat's face. Pure terror and confusion, that everyone in the room could see. He died and vanished and the guards asked the nobleman in the corner what had happened. After telling the whole story, I know I heard one of the guards say the word 'Berserker'. After hearing that I slowly crawled away through the roof. I'm in the basement you circled in the map, where is the entrance to the undercity?"

- It is along the wall where the wine vats are located, between the two big ones. I am apparently about to meet someone who wants to meet me.

-Ahh, by the way, how'd the tourney go?

-Not even a challenge, but it good enough for a warm up. Find something to occupy yourself when get down until I need you.

-Hmm, you said Casino right? Im sure a guy who can pickpocket can find some way to occupy himself in a casino filled with rich nobleman who can't even remember how much they've won or lost.

Crane smiled and heard footsteps approach the door. The duelist emerged with a the man who gave Crane his second quest since starting Royal Road. The man who called himself Torres walked up to Crane and said, "We meet again little book worm."

Chapter 10 part 3 viewtopic.php?f=91&t=650&p=2669#p2669

Chapter 10 part 1 viewtopic.php?f=91&t=623