“Dante, you’re alive,” I yell with a smile on my face.
He walks in, staring at the room I’m standing in. I look around and notice that this room is pretty huge without the statues, creatures and the Being.
“What happened to you,” he asks as we walk toward each other, “Were you fighting those shadow beasts as well.”
He must be talking about the creatures.
“Yeah, I was. How about you,” I ask back.
We stop near each other and this awkward silence descends upon us. He puts his hand out and I shake it.
“Yeah, I was fighting it as well. The beast I was facing had remarkable stats but no other special qualities. I couldn’t beat it at the level I was at though. Lucked out and found a nest of high-level mice which I burnt down. That got me to level 28 and I got my primary artifact. The rest is history.” He explains excitedly before continuing, “Killing that shadow beast gave me a ton of experience. I’m at level 38 now.”
“41,” I say back.
I glance at Dante’s reaction and see his eyes bulge. He quiets down, sobering up from his excitement and we walk out of the castle and stand in front of it…
I look at the timer to see how long this dungeon has left.
[30 seconds remaining]
I stop Dante and ask if he has any food remaining, not risking bringing my bag out of Void’s Reserve. He asks where mine went and I tell them that I lost the bag. He shrugs and pulls some food out. I start eating and drinking, feeling worn out and deeply exhausted.
My timer hits 0 and a portal forms in front of us. I motion him to go first. Looking back at the castle, I feel a pang of pain in my heart but it passes.
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I get dropped out of the portal and see Dante and the two red-haired girls kneeling in front of the Paragon. I walk to Dante and kneel beside him. He’ll kill you if you don’t, I reassure myself. I feel the slight unconscious pressure that emanates from the Paragon and compare it to the Beings. He’s nothing compared to him.
“Delores, take the girls into a room and document their statuses,” He says, causing the white-haired giant and the small women to move and lead the girls away.
They exit the room and the slight pressure disappears. I see the paragon relax and smile.
“Follow me,” He says. We follow him out of the portal room and through the hallway to the elevator. We use it and end up in a long and winding path. We enter another secluded room not too different from the one we were in.
“You, go sit, look through the folder on the table and pick an artifact,” the Paragon orders pointing at Dante.
He leaves the room, motioning me to follow him. We enter another identical room and sit down. This place has so many of these rooms.
“I am Cedric Ironfist, child. I’m sure you know, but I’m the Paragon in charge of your little kingdom. I’m a Warrior archetype. I always think it’s best to let people know a bit about me. Now, why don’t you give me a recount of everything that happened when you entered the portal and how you ended up changing your affinity to Water?” The paragon commands as he pulls out a clipboard from under the table.
I stare at him, thinking of where and how I should start explaining. How does he know what my affinity is?
I stare at the Paragon and notice how different he looks compared to the citizens of Eldoria. He’s brown, with an army cut, and has a rugged face. His body frame is smaller than mine, but it excludes strength and stability.
I start explaining what happened, deciding not to leave anything out until I get to the portion where I enter the throne room.
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“Interesting, what happened next, after Dante disappeared?”
“I fell unconscious and woke up in a room with 2 shadow beasts. I managed to kill them and got my primary artifact,” I say.
I feel him gazing at me and look back into his eyes. “So where did your affinity change? You went from having a shadow affinity to a water one. That’s unprecedented.”
“I don’t know,” I say, pleading ignorance. If you can’t explain it, then why try?
“I’m sure you don’t. Place your hand on the orb. If you’re hiding anything, the orb will show it. I’d advise you not to resist,” the Paragon says.
I do as he says and stare at him unflinching. There’s no way it’ll be able to perceive my Void Core. Right? I feel my stomach toil but resist showing anything on my face.
A presence enters my body and I feel unbridled disgust as it searches my body and soul. It’s like Inspection but 1000 times worse. I feel nauseous as the presence goes through my entire body before disappearing.
“I genuinely don’t know how you managed it, but it seems your affinity somehow changed,” He exclaims and starts writing on his clipboard. I sit and wait for him to get done. It doesn’t seem like he found anything. Thank god.
“Alright, look through this list of artifacts and pick one that suits you, little one,” the Paragon says, getting up, “You’ll be transferred to this Kingdom’s Royal Academy for Mages. You’ll have to attend for a minimum of 2 years before you graduate. After that, you’ll be free to be a hunter and join a guild or the army.”
I nod and take the folder with the list of artifacts.
Before he leaves the room, he stops and turns to face me, “I wouldn’t say anything to anyone about how you changed your affinity and I would stay away from those two D rankers. I’ve put a lock on your file, so only I and the King can view it. Take care, little Ashborne.”
He walks out and I think about what he said. What was with that last statement? ‘Little Ashborne.’ Did he know Mom or Dad? Whatever, not like I can barge out and demand answers. I look through the list of artifacts. Most of these are bad to outright useless as I had thought. I finally find one that could barely be considered useful.
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Eternal Tide Amulet - E grade - Water Affinity
Skill:
- Endless Currents: Grants the user to enhance swimming speed and underwater maneuverability by ejecting water mana as a propeller.
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I sit and go through my real status screen, Looking at where to invest my 37 points. I wonder what’ll happen if I dump all of them into aether. I smile and do so. Take that all of you, minmaxers.
I feel a slight tremor in my real core, but it immediately turns back to normal. I open my real status.
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Status
Age: 16
Name: Elijah Ashborne
Level: 57
Affinity: Void
Strength: 10
Agility: 15
Constitution: 20
Mind: 15
Aether: 94
Bonuses added:
+100% Aether
Primary Artifact:
* Void’s Pact
Secondary Artifact/s:
* Pseudo Water Mana core
* Glacial Torrent
[Stat Points: 0]
Quests: None
Shop;
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I smile as the 37 points I put in turns to 74, bring my total up to 94. I adjust my fake status as well.
I sit once more and wait for the Paragon to come. I activate Water Mana Manipulation and feel my core and the minuscule amount of mana it contains. I feel it flow through my Mana pathways and release it outside my hand. I feel my core empty as a small orb of water appears in my hand.
I try to turn it into a small pole and it follows my will effortlessly. A small 5 cm long pole made of water floats in my hand. I make one side as thin as sharp as I can, but fail. I turn it back into a ball and spin it. The water starts to spin slowly at first, but I concentrate more and more, making it spin even faster. I aim at the wall and throw it. It flies, still spinning and splashes on the wall, without causing any damage to it.
It’s going to be difficult to hurt Monsters or people at the level I’m at right now. I wait for my Mana to regenerate and summon more mana out of my core. I activate my second skill Devastation and I see the water mana in my hand turn into ice mana. I quickly shape it into an icicle, spinning it and throwing it at the wall. It flies and stabs into the wall. It stops once it’s about halfway inside.
I hear the door click and in walks Dante with a skinny man in a suit, wearing a monocle.