Rainer sat on a bed in a cozy mage's workshop and watched the fire he'd lit. Of course, there were also 5 corpses in the room, 4 goblins and a decapitated orc, and the room itself was on fire where his Greater Fireball ignited the boards that had recently blocked up the back entrance to the room. This all quite detracted from the rustic lodge aesthetic, as did the fact he was still in quite a lot of danger. He needed a plan, fast. But for now, he took just a few more seconds to watch his fire dance. Then he stood, pushed the bed out from in front of the door, opened said door and left the goblin fire mage's work room behind him, an enchanted oak staff in his left hand and a backpack full of fire magic on his back. As he did, he felt a strange kind of premature nostalgia, as if that room, the time he had spend there, the things he'd learned and done and gained, were a fulcrum on which his life tipped. That if he had taken a different tunnel, had not found this room, his life would have veered off in quite a different direction somehow. One major, if tiny, reason for that feeling flitted over and sat on his shoulder as he walked away from the room .
"That was exciting! What do we do next, Rainer?"
"Good question, Luna. I don't have a good plan. I do have a bad plan, and that is to find a goblin, threaten it in a way that scares it enough not to run, make it take us to the mine entrance, and intimidate any other goblins or orcs who get in our way. I'll need to wait a bit until my mana is fully regenerated to go too much further though."
"Rainer's clothes look silly and he has no shoes. Luna does not think orcs will be scared of one who dress in such a way."
"I suppose you're right, Luna, but unless someone magically makes me a suit of more appropriate clothes, I'll have to make due with what I've got."
The little fairly flew off his shoulder and hovered a couple of feet in front of him with an impish grin on her face and sparkling, violet eyes.
"Then Rainer is very lucky to have an amazing fairy princess familiar that can make him good clothes with her magic!"
"Wait, you can do that?" Rainer appraised the fairy's clothing as he asked the question, and was surprised to learn that they were magical constructs.
"Luna can! Now that the Arr-caa-nist's strange mana has changed Luna and made her level 6, Luna can make clothing for others, not just herself! She can not make armor though, so please do not be upset with Luna."
"Don't worry, I won't be upset. Frankly, that's an amazing magical ability. How does it work? Is there anything I need to do?"
"Yes, Rainer needs to take off his clothes. Luna is a proper maiden, but for Rainer's plan to work he must not look like a very poor beggar who does not know how to dress himself, and if his plan does not work Luna's master could be in danger."
Rainer was not unduly modest, even if it did feel a bit odd undressing in front of, and at the request of, a beautiful 7 inch tall young lady with violet wings. In a moment he stood in the tunnel in just his underpants, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings. He also re-cast 4 armed arcane bolts, bringing his total back up to his maximum of 8. Luna flew down to his feet and a strange, violet flame extend from her hands. As it touched his skin, socks began to form around his feet, followed by heavy, black, leather boots. Then a dark gray wool-like material snaked up his legs and formed a well fitted pair of pants. He was amazed to find that everything fit perfectly. Luna worked her way up and next created a black tunic, followed by a black overcoat, black leather-like gloves and a dark brown belt. It was, without any doubt, the most comfortable clothing he had ever worn.
"This is incredible, Luna. I’ve never worn something that felt so fantastic in my life.”
"Yes, good, Luna is incredible. And now the incredible Luna is tired and it is time for a nap." With this pronouncement, she flew into an interior pocket she had made for herself in his overcoat and went promptly to sleep. As the fairy napped, Rainer thought and waited for his mana to regenerate. It was currently at 10/21, and with Luna's blessing and his increased willpower, it should only take 35 minutes to get back to 17/21, with 4 reserved for his 8 armed arcane bolts.
What resources did he have? Enchanted items: He had his [Ring of Mana Shield], [Ring of Greater Fireball], and [Amulet of Mana Shield]. He had 4/5 uses of the fireball ring left, along with all 5 of the mana shield ring and then once daily use for the mana shield amulet, which would last a full 30 seconds. He had the enchanted oak staff, which would increase his intelligence by 5 for the purposes of spell power when he ran his mana through the staff as he cast the spell, though he suspected it was incompatible with Arcane Magic, given that arcane bolt had apparently fried most of the goblin fire mage's many enchanted trinkets. Magic abilities: He had 8 armed arcane bolts, each of which could apparently kill a goblin, though he didn't know if that would hold true of higher leveled goblins, or how many bolts would be needed to kill an average orc. He would have 17 available mana. That would be enough for 17 arcane bolts, or to allow him to use Arcane Blade for a time, or some combination of both. He had Candle Flame, but that didn't seem to useful. Physical abilities: He had level 5 general blade mastery, level 2 dagger mastery, level 6 dodge, level 6 footwork, level 1 sprint, and level 1 long jump. As far as physical weapons he had 2 decent iron daggers and a fairly heavy enchanted oak staff. If it came down to a knife fight, he hoped he would be more skilled than an average goblin, but was far from confident of that. Even if he was, knife fights were messy. Generally, both fighters lost. Rainer also had a fairy familiar with unknown but versatile magical abilities, but no direct combat utility, though she could heal.
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Plan A was to bluff his way out of the mine. Though, on second thought, it wasn't wholly a bluff. Instead, the situation reminded him of something he'd heard once about a standoff with a guy with a gun that had one bullet set against 6 unarmed guys who wanted to kill him. If all 6 attack, gun guy dies. But whichever of the 6 moves first dies to the lone bullet. So unless one of the 6 was willing to sacrifice themselves, it was a stalemate. Rainer had a sudden, fervent wish to know how self sacrificing goblins were. Of course, he had more than one bullet. His 8 armed arcane bolts were tactically similar to a semi-automatic handgun that was easier to aim. The [Ring of Greater Fireball] was clearly powerful, and had killed 4 goblins while badly injuring 3 others. That ring was his best - or, more accurately, his only - area of effect attack. But against a swarm of goblins there was no chance he would win. His only options were to hope not to encounter such a group, try to convincingly present himself as more trouble to kill than was worth it to the goblins (and orcs, he reminded himself), or try to come up with someway to improve his power in a very short period of time. He had a strong suspicion that skulking around and stealing hours for sleep learning naps was no longer a viable option. At this point, he had caused too much damage and killed too many goblins to hope to be ignored.
What options did he have to try to increase his power quickly? He could resume his experiments with combining fire and the arcane. Using fire magic in combat was dumb, as it didn't benefit from his 300% bonus to Arcane spells. But if he could figure out a way to make Arcane Fire spells, that could be the perfect tool for fighting a large number of weak opponents. Alternatively, he could start from the other direction, and try to add fire to his arcane bolts. That might be promising. After all, the arcane was the ultimate source of all magic. So by definition, an arcane bolt had to contain fire. Could that be drawn out, strengthened? If so, how? The truth was, it would take time to figure all of that out, and he did not have time. He wasn't even certain that Arcane Fire was a thing that existed. He'd have to make do with what he had.
Rainer walked slowly down the tunnel. His mana was close enough to maximum that he felt comfortable moving forward, but as it was not yet there he also did not want to rush. While there was no way to know for sure, instinct told him that this tunnel would lead somewhere that mattered. The goblin fire mage had clearly been a being of wealth and status. It didn't make sense that such a person would choose a room where they had to walk miles to get a meal, and there hadn't been any food in the magical work shop. Just as his mana finished regenerating, his hunch proved correct, and the tunnel opened into the heart of the mine.
The path continued from the tunnel onto a network of scaffolding that stretched above a large cavern that buzzed with the sound of hundreds of workers. There were both human and goblin miners, though the humans looked to be slaves and all of the overseers were goblins. He didn't see any orcs at first glance. To his surprise, no one seemed to notice him. That didn't strike him as a bad thing, but it was also weird. The mining operation spoke to an impressive level of organization. So why wasn't everyone, or at least someone, on alert? Why wasn't there a sentry in the tunnel from the goblin mage? Perhaps knowledge of his exploits was not yet widespread, so as to prevent a panic? Whatever. He didn't have enough information to figure out any of these answers, so it wasn't worth wasting time trying.
A staircase similar to those found in tall buildings angled back and forth down to the floor. The style made sense, as it looked to be about 6 stories down from where he stood. He moved briskly down the stairs, and as he did his eyes searched the cavern for... he wasn't sure. Anything that looked dangerous, anything he could use. He didn't see anything that jumped out as being in either of those categories. He half remembered a few things he'd heard about crowd psychology. Maybe everyone saw him, but was just hoping someone else would handle whatever situation he represented. As he got closer to the ground, it seemed that the crowd was moving a bit away from him. It was a subtle thing, as if they were drifting away from a bad odor. Then, finally, there was a definite reaction. Five orcs ran toward him. They were smaller than the massive martial artist Rainer had killed, but not by much. He appraised them as he continued down the stairs.
[Orc, Male, Barbarian lvl 7]
[Orc, Female, Brawler lvl 5]
[Orc, Male, Brawler lvl 3]
[Orc, Female, Scout lvl 4]
[Orc, Male, Brute lvl 2]
As the group closed to within about 20 meters, the Barbarian roared out a challenge. "You should not have come, weak human mage. I will eat your heart before it stops bea-"
Rainer was fairly sure the rest of that word was going to be "beating", but couldn't verify as the threat was changed to a cry of pain by a Greater Fireball, courtesy of his enchanted ring. He followed it with a second Greater Fireball seconds later. He knew that would leave him with only 2 uses of the ring for the rest of the day, but there were far too many enemies here to fight through. There was no choice but to bluff his way to safety. A series of system messages informed him that 4 orcs died in his flames. He finished the barbarian off with an Armed Arcane Bolt and cast another to replace it. Work in the mine stopped with the first fireball, and hundreds of eyes looked at him as he walked down the few remaining stairs, surrounded by brightly glowing Armed Arcane Bolts. He stood straight and did not hurry. When he reached the ground, he spoke.
"Who is in charge? I would speak with them."
For a moment, there was no response. Then an old but powerfully built goblin stood forward, turned his head and spit, and looked him in the eye. The silver haired goblin stood about 8 meters away as Rainer appraised him.
[Goblin, Male, lvl 9 Miner]
"Judging by that staff you're holding, I suppose I'm in charge now. Did you kill Gognar too?"
"Was Gognar the lvl 14 Orc Martial Artist, or the lvl 12 Goblin Fire Mage? Either way, yes, yes I did."
The miner sighed deeply. "Figures. Gognar was the Orc. What do you want, human mage? How can we make you leave?"
Rainer blinked in surprise. This conversation wasn't going quite how he had mapped it out in his head. The old goblin didn't seem afraid of him, just tired and irritated by the distraction. Not that Rainer was going to complain - all he had wanted to begin with was to get out of this mine.
"I want you to guide me to the exit to this mine and tell me where the closest human settlement is. Then I'll leave."
The old goblin blinked in surprise. Mages were powerful idiots, he thought. All of them. Destructive children playing with fire. When did they ever build anything? They just created chaos and tore down. The worst part was, the only good way to defend against them was to have your own, and this human had killed theirs. He was too sick of this situation to care why this human mage didn't know where he was or where he was going. At least it didn't seem interested in sticking around.
"Follow me, human. I'll take you out of here. Everyone else, break time is over. Get back to work. Ghark, get a clean up crew up to the Head Shaman's quarters. I doubt much is left knowing him, but salvage what you can."
The grumpy, unflappable goblin turned and walked away. Rainer, confused but pleased, followed.