The man who entered looked wrong. He was short, probably around five and a half feet tall. His hair was curly but unkempt as if he hadn’t brushed it. He was wearing black with dark brown stains splashed across. He held twin serrated blades. I didn’t have to use revelation to know that they were forbidden blades. Zakia got to her feet, both of her blades raised for battle.
“You must be the man I have been hearing about. The man with dragons, the colors of the dawn and the night.” He let out a manic laugh that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “And you are an Ifrit. There aren’t many of you in the city. I was under the impression that your kind didn’t like to come to the city. I am curious as to why, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. You will make a wonderful addition to my collection. It will reward me for this.”
Sacad tossed both daggers into the air, where they stopped as if held aloft by invisible hands. He locked eyes with me. The madness and cruelty staring back at me kicked me out of my stupor. “In the air now!” I shouted as both daggers shot at me like bullets. Zakia moved like a blur, her blades connecting with the daggers as soon as they crossed the distance. Once I was sure that I wouldn’t be stabbed, I began casting. The few seconds of casting felt like an eternity. I heard the blades clash two more times before it finished. As soon as the manic laughter of the magmite filled the room, I began to relax. The Pyro elemental came into the world and threw itself at Sacad.
The crazy enchanter had been forced back and had drawn two more blades. His flying blades chased Sanaa and Tenebris through the air. Once the magmite joined the battle, Sacad let out a cry of fury. He pushed himself away from Zakia and then withdrew a strange glove from in his robes. “Hehe, this is fine, too. There are always more.” Sacad spoke as his hands flowed through the air. My eyes went wide as a terrible feeling swelled inside me. I turned as the first podium flickered off. The figure standing on it began to move. I immediately began to cast. “Zakia!” I called just as a corpse moved toward her. She whipped around, slashing her blades forward. The corpse sacrificed one arm while slamming a fist into her face.
The rest of the corpses joined the battle seconds later. I began casting as fast as I could, but there was nothing we could do. There were too many. “Retreat into the hallway,” I called out while pushing forward. I found Tenebris had him blast Sacad with darkness. The momentary confusion allowed us to fight into the hall. We were able to funnel the corpses into attacking two by two.
“Got any more plans!” Zakia called out as she tried to remove one sword from the stomach of a corpse while the second sword cut the hand off of another.
I gritted my teeth as I considered our options. We were outnumbered which meant that we needed to find a way to even out the odds. “Sanaa, can you wrap around Sacad’s throat? Blind him first.” I sent my command through our connection before turning for Tenebris. “Tenebris, destroy the glove if you can. Avoid getting stabbed by those blades.”
Both dragons sent back confirmations, and I pushed them out of my mind. I reached for my magmite but found him spewing molten rock at one of the corpses. I decided to leave it to him. I brought both hands together and unleashed a radiant bolt of light. The light seared the right side of the corpse’s face. The body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Before I could relish the victory, silver flashed and pain radiated from my chest. A small purple skull and crossbones appeared in the upper right of my vision.
“Poison!” I looked up and caught sight of two of the remaining corpses. Armed with daggers dripping a purple liquid. I gritted my teeth as the room began to spin. I brought both hands together, this time aiming for the spot in front of Zakia. Once the casting finished, a mini-cyclone ripped its way into the hall. A pair of daggers were thrown, of course, and into the wall. The cyclone ripped molten rock and fire into a storm, slinging it around the room. I looked around the chaos for my familiars but couldn’t see them.
“Get outside!” I yelled at both of them through the connection.
“He is not dead!” Tenebris snapped.
“The battle is not over.” Sanaa hissed. Their voices were filled with enough malice that it shook me. I had to fight the instinct to throw myself back into the fight. To rip the enemy apart with teeth and claws. Something slammed me into the wall. I looked up and found Zakia blocking my body from the flames. I took a deep breath before getting back to my feet.
“We have to go!” We turned and sprinted for the door. We reached only to find it locked. Zakia slammed her shoulder. The wood splintered. Another slam and she was through. I turned and unleashed a gout of flame, aiming for everything in the hallway. I held my hand behind me like a flame thrower as we ran. I held the stream for as long as I could. When the magic deprivation made me feel like I would throw up, I was forced to stop. One corpse chased after us, unleashing a pair of daggers. I pushed us to the ground, narrowly avoiding a dagger in the spine.
“Damn it” Black smoke filled the room, making it hard to breathe, let alone see what was around us. “Find a window!” Just as I finished the order, I felt my connection to my summon snap. A blade appeared from the smoke stabbing into my right hand. My health bar began plummeting and fear shot through me. I rolled around away from my attacker and summoned my healing potion. I tossed back the potion as fast as I could. Once my health had risen, I looked around for Zakia. I couldn’t find her anywhere. The smoke made it impossible for me to tell where I was in the room. “Shit.” I pulled up my sleeve using the fabric to help me breathe while casting Sphere of Light. The palm-sized sphere illuminated the room just enough for me to find a broken window. I cursed myself for the stupid before running forward. I cast Lesser Light Ray, blowing apart what remained of the wooden shutters. When I reached the window, I launched myself through it. Clipping my shoulder hard enough to break a bone as I did. The ground rose to catch me a moment later.
“Sanaa!” I wasn’t sure if I called her through our connection, out loud, or both. When I received no answer, I called for Tenebris. I was considering forcing my way back into the house when I found Zakia jogging over. “Have you seen them?!” I called while clutching my shoulder. She points up and I get a sight of both dragons arcing through the air toward me.
It wasn’t until they were at the perches that I calmed down. The poison was eating away at my health and I had less than half my magic points remaining. I pulled up my notifications, looking for proof. When I came to the end and didn’t see his name, I swore. “He lived.” I turned toward Zakia and finally got a good look at her. She was bleeding from multiple stab wounds. I handed over my water skin. “It's filled with a healing potion.”
She nodded and took a long drink. “Where did you get this?” She looked at the skin as if it would reveal the answer to her.
I chuckled. “I found a spring when I first arrived. I can get you some more later.”
“We should go. If he comes back and has more of those corpse things with him, we probably won’t survive”
I nodded. “The guards should arrive soon, and we might not be protected once they get here.” We stood up and made our way over the wall. Disappearing into the crowds wasn’t much of an option, so instead, we headed back to the lodge.
We didn’t relax until we were sitting inside my home. Our injuries had healed, but we both took turns bathing and washing our clothes. Zakia had to spend an extra bit of time cleaning her armor. This only further supported my belief that armor probably wasn’t for me. The idea of sweating in the scorching sun while also wearing metal or leather was the stuff of nightmares. My familiars curled up on my shoulders and went to sleep, leaving me to review the notifications from the battle.
You have been awarded 200 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 2.
You have been awarded 800 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 8.
You have been awarded 1000 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 10.
You have been awarded 900 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 9.
You have been awarded 500 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 5.
You have been awarded 800 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 8.
You have been awarded 300 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 3.
You have been awarded 600 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 6.
You have been awarded 300 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 3.
You have been awarded 700 experience from defeating Forbidden Servant level 7.
Looking at the full list of carnage we caused was a bit sobering. Ultimately, burning the entire place down saved all our lives. Granted, it was eleven vs four and our four could think for ourselves, so the battle wasn’t quite as lopsided as it could have been. On a different note, both of my familiars leveled up.
Your Radiant Dragonette has leveled up. Sanaa has reached level 7.
Your Umbra Dragonling has leveled up. Tenebris has reached level 7.
I kept with my plan and saved their ability points. I needed to get another thousand points before I would level up. I continued reviewing the rest of the notifications.
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Congratulations! Your skill Pyro Magic has leveled up. Pyro Magic has reached level 8. You are able to learn additional spells.
You have been inflicted with unknown poison. Your HP will decrease by 10/s for an unknown amount of time.
The boost to my Pyro magic only reminded me that I needed to use my other spells. Lumos was ahead by four levels and Spira hadn’t been gaining much at all. The news about the poison was a bit more sobering. The fact that it wouldn’t even tell me which poison I had been hit with was a problem. “I guess that means I would need to not only find a doctor but find a doctor that could treat a specific poison. I needed to get life magic as quickly as possible. Either that or collect an antidote for every possible poison.” I chuckled dryly at that and pulled up my last notification.
You have completed the Quest: Secrets of Afrium II
Reward: 3,500 Experience, +500 Renown, Higher Chance of people following you to your city.
Personal Reward: Speak with Meron
The experience points were great, but the Renown and increased chance of people joining me were the real rewards. I wasn’t sure how it was done, but whatever bonuses I could get were more than welcome. I pulled up the level-up notification and began assigning my points.
You have leveled up! You have reached level 11! Hard work, dedication, and luck have guided your steps. Blood, sweat, and tears have forged your path. Grow and strive forward to the horizon. Through the completion of your trials and labors, you have taken another step into the future. Your hard work has earned you the following rewards.
Category
Per level Unspent Points Attribute Points Because of your Aetheric nature, your per-level rewards have been modified. You have been awarded 7 Attribute Points to distribute however you like. 7 Skill Progression +25% Progress to any skill of your choice. 25%
Six points went into Wisdom keeping with the plan. The last point was a bit harder to decide. My gut said put into Charisma but that was already twice as high as some of my other Attributes. The smarter play would be to start making some bonuses to other areas. This meant I needed either Agility, Strength, or Perception. I didn’t consider it for long. I placed the point into Perception and moved on to the skill progression. Dual Casting was the obvious choice, sitting at 75%. Once I spent all the points I had, I reviewed my new status screen. I was getting pretty strong.
Name:Darterrius Solomon Maximilian
Level:11,22% Age:26 Species:Human(Altazian) Alignment: Neutral(0/0) Languages: All Renown: Curiosity(1500) Characteristics Health:230 Magic:330
Regen/min 15
Stamina:220
Regen/min 12
Attributes Agility:10 Charisma:20 Endurance: 20 Intelligence:30 Luck:20 Perception: 11 Strength:15 Vitality:20 Wisdom:30 Skills
(Level, Experience, Affinity) Crafting Skills Cooking: 2,35%,92% Mining: 10,30%, 85%
Magic Skills Dual Casting: 11,75%,100% Lumos:13,60%,100% Pyro: 8,50%,100% Spira Magic: 1,45%,100%
Martial Skills
Riding: 6,20%,70 Tracking: 1,20%,70 Utility Skills Statecraft: 1,10%,100%
Abilities Arcanum Infinitum: You always have 100% affinity with every magic. You are immune to the adverse effects of casting magic. You can teach any magic that you know.
Eidetic Memory: You have an enhanced memory. The effectiveness of this ability increases with the user's Intelligence attribute.
Erudite Mind: Your skills Progress 30% faster.
Soul Bond: Represents the connection between you and your soul familiars
True Speak: The user can speak and understand any language. Emblems Mark of the Suzerain Resistances 5% Emotional 5% Mental 15% Radiant 15% Umbra
Just as I waved my screen away, Zakia entered the room. “My armor should be dry in an hour or so. How do you want to do things?”
“Well, I should probably go and speak with Meron. After that, we can get ready for the auction and then head back. Honestly, I am a bit tired of being in the city now.”
She laughed. “And here I was thinking that I was going to have to take you out of here kicking and screaming.”
“Nope, as much fun as Afrium is, everyone is too busy. I don’t want to get wrapped up in fighting some other murderer because they are rich and no one else can do anything about it. I also want to focus on my leveling more. My skill progression has decreased a lot.”
“What level are you?” She asked as she got the blank look of someone reviewing their status screen.
“Just hit level 11,” I said with a bit of pride.
“Not bad. Your levels are increasing rapidly. Most people don’t progress beyond level 10. Unless you're an adventurer, of course.”
I nodded. “I can imagine. So do you want to come with me to Meron? Technically, you weren’t there last time.”
She shook her head. “I will leave the conversations to you. I need to pick up a gift.”
I raised an eyebrow in silent question, but she didn’t elaborate. After a couple of awkward seconds, I decided to leave it alone. “Alright then, feel free to stay here as long as you need. If you aren’t here when I get back, then let’s meet up at the auction.”
“Sounds good to me. See you then.”
I sent a call through our connection, and a moment later, Tenebris and Sanaa flew down to join me. They both bore a few fresh scars across their scales, but nothing dangerous. They had full health, so there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“You two ready to head out?”
“Yes, Master,” both familiars added in unison. Thankfully, they were in a good mood the predator's anger from before was a bit concerning. I stood up, and we made our way out of the house.