Tec Mage Chapter Thirty Six: The Journey To Baran Village

Atlas continued riding in the wagon to his destination, everything seemed to be going well except the new addition, Atlas had picked up a baby rainbow spider and kept it in a box but every time he opened the box to feed the spider it would jump out and dance all over Atlas raising his fangs in a threatening manner, the little creature was so fast that if Atlas didn't have clay hand spell to box the spider in then there was no way he could catch it

The whole situation got so bad that when ever Atlas brought out the box that held the spider the rest of the travailing merchants and players that protected group would scatter to the great amusement of Forge

"Get that little git" giggled Forge

At times the baby spider was brave and stood it's ground with it's fangs raised but other times it would run away darting and dashing

On one occasion Atlas let out a long breath while chasing the baby spider which formed in to a whistle

When the spider heard this it froze and turned to Atlas, gently the spider walked towards Atlas

Was this the way to communicate with the rainbow spider, Atlas reached out with his hand to pick it up, Atlas gentle blew a whistle

The rainbow spider stopped with it front legs on Atlas hand and... bit Atlas hand

You have been poisoned

"You little rascal" mused Forge as he chuckled

"That little rascal just bit me" said Atlas as he pressed down on his anti venom tube he had on his gauntlets

"It's just a baby, it doesn't know better, besides it's your fault for whistling, it probably thought you were a bird and food" explained Forge

"How do you know this" asked Atlas, Forge had been talking like this ever since he found the spider

"Instinct" was the answer Forge gave

Atlas didn't like these answers, it gave no understanding or answers to him, it was like saying because i said so

Atlas might of taken no notice of that kind of answer if it wasn't for the advise Forge gave him

"Feed that little one a eye from his mother" advised Forge

Again when Atlas open the box the spider was kept in it jumped out running all over the wagon, only when Atlas brought out the red eye of the late queen rainbow spider did the baby spider calm down, slowly it crawled over the eye, testing the soft eye with it's legs the baby spider bit into it, the size difference was huge, the baby spider was the size of a fist but the queen's eye was six times bigger

The baby spider drained the eye until it was satisfied, after that the baby left and return back to it's box calmly and without spazing out

Atlas again asked how Forge had known and again he was given the same answer, instinct

Atlas decide just to listen to Forge when the matters of taking care of the baby rainbow spider

Each day was the same as the last, travelling during the day while reading and at night the players would hunt and sell the unwanted things to Atlas while eating his food as payment, in the morning Atlas would have his little chasing game with the baby spider and try to feed it, it did enter Atlas mind that the little spider was eating a huge amount, one fly should last for weeks to a normal spider, when Atlas checked this on the web (hehe) he found that spiders could eat everyday if they hunted and not waited for their prey, on the forth night Atlas left the game giving the box to Forge to look after

Out side the game Ben had a bite to eat and went to sleep, Ben slept for 8 hours, in the morning Ben washed and watch some TV, there was a small piece of news on the shop that he had made but nothing big, there was also a piece were a player had opened up a trade route and was making a tidy sum with trade, after watching TV for 2 hours Ben went back in to the game

As Atlas logged back in, he found him self in an unmoving wagon, not only that their were very few players in the wagon, only a couple of NPC and Forge was there, the rest was gone, spotting Atlas Forge rushed to him and handed over the box that held the spider

Before Atlas could ask, Forge explained

It turned out while Atlas was away for two game days a bunch of highwaymen had set up a trap, stole the horses and burned the wheels off the wagons, they did it so fast that the players didn't have time to react, when the players got there act together they went out to search for the horses, at this time the highwaymen doubled back on them selfs and stole what was in the other wagons, everything in Atlas wagon was safe because when the highwaymen entered the wagon Forge was waiting and they weren't going to chance their luck against a magical beast like Forge, spiting fire Forge chased them away, it seemed that the highwaymen had a good plan, executed it well but lacked individually strength

After hearing the story from Forge Atlas left the wagon, outside all the wagons wheels had been broken, the highwaymen had been efficient, the NPC who ran the wagon trail ran up to Atlas grabbing on to Atlas cuffs

"Please help me, they've taken everything" the NPC was crying, his fortune was gone and in his eyes it was the end

"Why should he help, didn't he pay for transport, you should protect him" said Forge

The NPC just looked at Forge then back at Atlas with his mouth open

"I will see what i can do" answered Atlas

"Why are you helping, the other freemen are looking already"

Atlas didn't answer, what could he do, he sat down on a grassy hill, the cool wind brushed his face, Atlas didn't know what to do, if he went to search and found the highwaymen a fight would happen and with Atlas unwilling to kill he would be at a disadvantage, while thinking Atlas rested the spider box on his lap, the box was shaking, the baby spider was super hyped and Atlas knew it would jump and spaz out again, Atlas placed the now shrivelled red eye next to the box, opening the box the baby spider gently climbed on the eye, the eye was being drained, the colour of the eye had faded and had been transferred to the baby's eye, 7 black eyes and one bright red eye looked at Atlas

The NPC who ran the wagon trail was worried sick, his whole lively hood was at risk, he could only rely on the hired freemen, pacing and ringing his hands he had no way out, every now and again he would look at the forest the bandits fled into and back on to Atlas who in his eyes was doing nothing, he wanted to tell Atlas off but what right did he have, Atlas had paid for a safe ride and now he was asking Atlas to take action, with his hands running though his hair he wanted to scream, just then the ground started to rumble, looking up the NPC witnessed earth walls in the shape of hands raised from the ground and surrounded Atlas cutting the view from Atlas

"Finally" said the NPC, in the eyes of the NPC he expected Atlas to do some thing straight away but Atlas only acted when it started to get dark and even then the NPC couldn't see Atlas was doing anything, if he was looking carefully he would of noticed the tall grass move as 1000 of mana mouse leaving Atlas bag and enter the forest

A hour went by and some of the players returned from searching for the bandits empty handed

"I'm sorry but they are well hidden, there isn't a sign of the highwaymen" said one of the players

The NPC was about to beg for the players not to give up when a large shape left the forest and headed to were Atlas had walled him self off, The player and NPC jaws dropped to the floor when they realized what it was

Hundreds of mana mouses were carrying a sleeping man on a makeshift mattress, the sleeping man entered the walled off area and disappeared behind a fresh wall blocking any sight

"Was that the leader of the highwaymen" asked the NPC, he had seen the leader take part in the raid that lost them their horses

The players and NPC rushed to the earth house that the leader had just entered, pressing their ears to the wall to hear what was going on

In the earth house lying in a corner was the leader, he was having a good dream, with the success of the raid with no lives lost he slept well, or he would of if it wasn't for a bright light bringing him out the world of nod

Waving his hand in the air the leader covered his eyes "Turn down the light" 

"Sorry"

The light dimmed 

"That's better" the leader rolled over but even though he was sleepy his mind told him something was wrong, his mind told him that he didn't reorganize the voice, slowly the leader became aware and turned around quickly

"Who are you, where am i" the leader searched for his weapons but only grasped the grass he laid on

All around him were beady little eyes of thousands of mouses, the light wasn't to good but even in this light he could tell that they were ghosts, the leader backed off and pressed him self in to a corner

"Good, you are awake"

The leader only spared a tiny look at were the voice came from before his eyes went back on the tiny mouses that was all around him, with the brief look he saw a tall powerful mage sitting at a table made of earth, on his shoulders was a red snake with it's head swaying from side to side, on the table was a book and a box that rattled every now and again

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"We need to talk" said the mage

Outside the players and NPC were listening carefully at the walls, the walls were too think and they could only hear mumbling, suddenly after 10 minutes of listening a door way opened up and out rushed the leader of the bandits

"What? get him, don't let him escape" yelled the NPC

"Wait" it was Atlas, he was leaving the earth room "I've promised safe passage"

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT" screamed the NPC "GET HIM" the NPC pointed at the fleeing bandit leader

No one moved from their spot, this wasn't by choice but earth hands had grabbed their ankles holding them in place

The players were stunned, looking up they understood that Atlas was the cause of this 

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE" shouted a player

With those word directed at Atlas thousands of mana mouses poured out of the earth room, hundreds of hundreds of mana mouses rolling over each other cutting a clean path around Atlas, acting like a wave the mana mouses headed for the player that had threatened Atlas

The player wanted to take a step back but he was pined by the earth grabbing on to him, just as the wave was about to hit him he heard Atlas 

"Leave him 10% of his health" ordered Atlas

"Wamm" the wave hit the player straight on, if he wasn't pinned to the floor he would of left the ground

Wave after wave hit the player, each wave containing Hundreds of mana mouses biting and scathing, each mana mouses only did the smallest amount of damage but with so many completely over whelming the player his health dropped down to 10% in 2 seconds

The mana mouses retreated leaving a tired and shocked player full of scratches, soaked in his own blood and tattered armour, the rest of the players were speechless, they had spent the last couple of days watching Atlas cook and chase the little spider baby around the camp, they had laughed at how funny it was, their view of Atlas wasn't high, they thought him as a support player, never before did they see him fight but this was even more shocking than a powerful player

"Ah master Atlas could you explain this please" after seeing this wave totally decimate a player in only 2 second the NPC had calmed down from his anger but fear was firmly in its place

Talking while repairing the armour of the player that was swarmed by the wave Atlas explained he was giving the bandits a chance

"They are not all bad, just normal people who have hit rough times, you can see that they don't want to kill by there being no causalities" explain Atlas "So I've given them a choice, a) they can carry on with the life of a bandit and wonder if one day they will be killed or b) Bring the horses back with the stolen goods and i will see to their future"

"WHAT......., I mean, that was a big gamble, they have everything and we have nothing to offer them" replied the NPC

"Except hope, hope that they can live their lives in peace, everyone wants that" answered Atlas

"I think you are giving them too much credit" said a player

The suns rays were touching the faces of the returning players, morning had raised but they hadn't found the bandits hiding place, as the wagons came in to view they spotted horses standing beside the wagons and the stolen goods piled up being moved in to the empty wagons

All this was surprising but what was most shocking was Atlas the cook was shaking hands with the bandit leader

"What's going on" asked a returning player

The NPC explained it to them, while the NPC explain what had happen Atlas was talking with the leader

"I'm happy you made the right choice" said Atlas

"I'm just sorry i couldn't persuade all of the group, still i did give back 70% of the stolen goods" explained the bandit leader

"It will have to do, the merchant will have a small lose but he can still carry on with trading" said Atlas

"Now on to our agreement, like we discussed if you go to Ledern Kingdom their will be a shop called The four jacks and they will help you start a trade route" Atlas handed over a note and a mana mouse, a note could be counterfeited but not Atlas mana mouses

"Your family's can stay in the flats while you trade" Atlas looked to the sky, then he made his decision, pulling off one of his bags Atlas handed it to the bandit leader "if you get in trouble use the mana mouses to protect your self" Atlas had just given his army of mana mouses over to the bandit leader 

"But...if you do something bad like returning to thieving and try to use the mouses wave.. lets just say it wont turn out well for you" warned Atlas

The bandit leader lead his people towards the city of Ledern, women and children followed, Atlas gave them a little spending money to help with the journey but it was up to them 

The whole situation left the players and NPC with a bad taste in their mouths but with Atlas high leadership stat and negation stat they grudgingly gave up

The NPC fixed the wheels on the wagons and left, they could carry on searching for the other bandits and their lost loot but if they couldn't find them they couldn't do anything to them, the NPC had to move on, time was money and the market price of their goods would drop

Riding in the back of a wagon Atlas was alone with Forge and the box that held the baby rainbow spider, the NPC refused to travel with him any more

"What's wrong with them, don't they know that this is the safest wagon with us here, idiots" said Forge

The spider's box rattled as if to answer Forge, Atlas just rubbed his eyes, he was planning to read but travelling on a bumpy wagon while reading was too hard, instead Atlas started to make Mana familiar

Conjure Familiar Beginner Level 9

A strict mage skill, only those with great skill in manipulation of mana and great amount of mana can use this skill, by bending and manipulating mana a creature of pure mana can be created, because of the creature being made of the users mana anything they sense will be felt by the user on contact or destruction of creature

Mouse 500 mana, no limit of creations 

Sparrow 1000 mana, no limit of creations

??????

Limits: must have the skill Magical Mastery and Mana manipulation

"When did that happen" thought Atlas, when Atlas first gained the skill Conjure Familiar he was only able to make mouses with his mana but the information now said he was able to make sparrows

Atlas held out his hand palm up, in the palm the skill activated, many steams of pure clear mana twisted and melded together to form a little bird

A sparrow was now jumping up and down while flapping his wings on the palm of Atlas hand, it tilted its head to one side trying to get a better look at Atlas

Without a word spoken to it the sparrow flew out of Atlas hand and soared in the sky, normal living sparrows were fast, their food source was insects so the little birds had to be amazing flyers but a mana sparrow was even faster, conjured familiars that were made of mana weighed nothing and this was to their advantage, with less weight they could move faster

Atlas spent his travel time making an even amount of mana mouses and mana sparrows, the mana mouses stayed with Atlas in a new fresh enchanted bag but the mana sparrows flew out of the wagon circled then perched them self on the caravan of wagons, soon there was a small cloud of mana sparrows following Atlas, unlike real sparrows the mana sparrows were deathly quite

The NPC and even the players didn't like a death cloud made from sparrows follow them, the mouse wave was bad enough but at least it was kept in Atlas bag, the players no longer left the wagons and also didn't communicate with Atlas, they weren't sure if a bad word directed at him was going to mean their own deaths and so they stayed away from Atlas

The journey might of been lonely but Forge was there and Atlas was kept busy with reading, looking after the rainbow spider and making mana creatures

On the 8th day of travelling Atlas reached Baran village 

Atlas spoke with the leader of the caravan

"Will you be heading back to Ledern kingdom any time soon" asked Atlas

The leader of the caravan had mixed feelings for Atlas, he was sure that without Atlas he would of lost everything but then again he was sure Atlas could of lead the other players to hunt down the badits who stole his merchandize

"No... I'm moving on to the next kingdom to sell my goods" answered the NPC coldly

This meant that Atlas would have to find a different way back to the kingdom if he wanted to get back to Ledern kingdom

Atlas said his goodbyes to the NPC merchant and left, Atlas was aware of the merchants feelings, he could see the merchants soul changing colour and pulsating when ever he talked to Atlas

"What an ungratful dog breath, i could feel the spite in that one" said Forge

Atlas just patted Forge on the head as he walked in to the towns grounds

End Of Chapter Thirty Six