Chapter 58- Living In The Wild

“Right, from here on out you will train. As I said before you will sleep here, you will shit here and you will train here.” Lucifer said.

The sun had set over the mountain and a cool breeze washed over the two of them. A light crystal was placed in the floor so they could see.

“What about magic?” Morpheus asked.

“You’re almost at a hundred and I have a class in mind for you.”

“Shouldn’t I get to choose my own class?” Morpheus asked.

“No Morpheus. I found a rather rare class and instructions on how to achieve it. More or less really.”

“You can elaborate?” Morpheus asked.

“Bring your familiar out.” Lucifer ordered.

Morpheus nodded and sent Fuzz a message. The little shadow popped out of his cloak and bounced in his hands. His cute little eye looked up at Morpheus.

The young chimera could never get over how adorable Fuzz was, even if the shadow was a killing machine.

“It’s a very rare class, I found it in a Gorgoroth dungeon a year ago.” Lucifer said.

The Scarecrow cleared his throat. “It is a class from the shadow world, I heard you had an encounter with an abyss node?”

Morpheus nodded.

“I’ve never heard of the class before so I was rather intrigued but it had ridiculously hard requirements. There were only two requirements that were on the half burnt page that I found.” Lucifer said while rubbing his chin.

“They are?” The young chimera asked.

“Patron of Shadows title, which I’m sure you already have and the Shadow Manipulation skill."

“That all?” Morpheus asked.

“Well no, I couldn’t see the rest of the requirements. Also, Shadow Manipulation is no easy feat in the slightest.” Lucifer said.

“I have good shadow affinity so I think I might be able to get the skill.” Morpheus said.

Lucifer shook his head. “Magic that is not given from a class is highly explosive and volatile. If you were even to try without training you would most certainly die. Grand mages are notorious for killing themselves, even with millennia of experience.” Lucifer said.

Lucifer then brought out a small chest from his pouch, it was lined with silver and blue.

He opened it, and picked up a completely black crystal. There was no light refracting off it at all, it seemed that the the crystal was almost absorbing the light.

“This.” He said while holding up the crystal. “Is a shadow mana crystal, it holds shadow magic.”

Fuzz’s little eye was fixated on the shadow, and so was Morpheus. He tried to get a closer look but Lucifer pulled it away.

“Morpheus, this is an extremely dense crystal. It was the only one in Plutus.” Lucifer said and then pulled out a bracelet.

“You’ll have to wear a mana reduction bracelet until I say.”

Morpheus nodded, he was excited to try his hand at magic. He slipped on the bracelet on his right hand and Lucifer handed him the crystal. The space around the crystal was really firm, and it was also extremely heavy.

Even Arcane Pulse was having a hard time making out the shape.

“Now here are a few pages that I found with instructions. Read them carefully as you go to sleep tonight. If you flow a large amount of mana into the crystal it will explode. I would prefer to not clear up your remains.” Lucifer said.

Morpheus swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Every day you will wake up at five. You will not wash yourself or take care of yourself. We will train for fourteen hours each day and then I will send you on a trial. You will sleep with no blankets nor pillows, you will sleep in the wild and fend for yourself at night. Do as I say and your fruit will be nurtured.”

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He nodded again.

“What is in your pouch?” Lucifer asked.

“Blankets, weapons and water skin with a few coins. Oh and my cigarettes.”

“Take out the water skin and bury your pouch next to a tree. Take out the weapons you will need for training and hunting. You will have to cook your own food every day, you will receive a ten minute break during the ten hour session. You must provide your own food at this time also. Failure to adhere by rules will result in a severe beating. And what are cigarettes?” Lucifer asked after his orders.

“Tobacco tubes.” Morpheus replied while he absorbed the information.

“Bury them too, an addiction is a weakness.” Lucifer said.

Morpheus thought he might be on a survival show, the training sounded like more of a burden than a gift. Perhaps his healing could help with the withdrawal symptoms, only time will tell.

“I will watch as you bury the rest of your items, I’ll hand the sheets of paper and the crystal after.”

Morpheus nodded and proceeded to bury the rest of his belongings. He took out his shirt and his water skin from the pouch.

“No shirt either.”

Morpheus glanced up to Lucifer, was the Scarecrow trying to kill him.

Reluctantly, he followed his orders.

“I will see you here every morning at five till five, don’t be late or early. Read the papers I gave you and try to attempt at getting the skill. Do not, take off the bracelet. Understood?” Lucifer asked.

He nodded again, what had he just gotten himself into.

“You will refer to me as Sir from here on out.” Lucifer said.

“Yes Sir.”

“Good, sleep well.” Lucifer said and began walking away.

All he had on him was trousers, boots, cloak, water skin and his weapons. He wasn’t that hungry so he decided he would go to bed on an empty stomach. He of course, also had the papers and crystal that Lucifer had given him.

The first thing he needed to do was find a place to sleep, a shelter of sorts.

Morpheus remembered the first night that he slept in a giant abandoned bird's nest. He doubted he would find one close to this location. He also had his axe so he could chop a tree down if he needed to.

The area was surrounded by trees, small stones were scattered around from their fight and boulders were even split down the middle.

Morpheus still had to go over his notifications from the recent fight and practise magic. He sighed, it was getting late and he had to wake up at five.

Morpheus headed over to the tree line and began to examine them, preferably one with multiple branches where he could form a platform.

Eventually he found one with three branches that overlapped where he could build a platform. It was high up and hard to spot. He went to work, cutting down small trees and building the platform up above.

After an hour of working he had made a platform of sorts, a bed on the side that was propped up and the bedding made from leaves.

“Not bad.” He said out loud to himself.

The first thing he wanted to do was read his notifications. He laid down on his uncomfortable bed and brought them up

You have levelled up Battle Axe Mastery Level (E) (6)

You have levelled up Battle Axe Mastery Level (E) (7)

You have levelled up Absolute Heal Level (E) (6)

You have levelled up Death Magic Resistance Level (2)

You have levelled up Death Magic Resistance Level (3)

…

You have levelled up Death Magic Resistance Level (7)

You have levelled up Absolute Heal Level (E) (7)

You have levelled up Arcane Tuning Level (E) (3)

You have levelled up Dance of Battle Level (E) (6)

Viking Blood-Axe 1134/10000

‘Congratulations’ you have levelled up Level (99) (1 stat point available)

He was pleased with the levels, Viking Blood Axe was slowly filling up but it would be far off until he could evolve it of sorts. Morpheus thought about going to a low level dungeon and culling it but that would be too boring. He felt that it would displease the axe somewhat.

The skill called Terrify had been disappointing. It didn’t even work on Hammer, or the shaman. The skill description did say that it depended heavily on almost everything about the target, from levels to personality. He would need to find out what sort of people it would work on.

He assigned the one stat point into endurance.

Congratula….Warning! Due to reaching Divine Madness. You have received the Mark of Madness from Lyssa.

Due to receiving the Mark of Madness you have been given the title ‘Frenzy of Lyssa’.

You have unlocked a new stat: Sanity: 7

The lower your Sanity number the closer you are to insanity, the higher your sanity the further away you are.

Morpheus sighed when he read it. He saw how his sanity went down to five before but now it said twelve. This was something he would need to ask Lucifer

Loki had told him he had Viking blood in him and he wondered if it played a part.

‘Definitely’ he thought. Vikings were absolutely wild from what he read but were not as smart as the Spartans. He dwindles on where his ancestors came from.

He shook his head from the thoughts, it was time to learn so magic.

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Plutus- Plutus is the Greek god of Wealth. In Arios, Plutus is referred to as an overground and underground market located in Southcross. Where common folk buy from the overground market while the rich and powerful buy from the underground. This is a place where more rare and deadly items are found, often used by wealthy or strong beings to find their desired weapon or item. Scarecrows use the market as a selling point for the loot they find in dungeons or on a job. Exquisite or rare materials can also be found in this location.