Vorn held his open hand up towards the training grounds while his face bunched up in fierce concentration. In front of him, a complicated spell matrix appeared. Runes that must have been made up on the spot slowly started appearing in different positions in the blue neon circle. Over the next thirty seconds, more and more runes started to appear. All the while, sweat was pouring down their backs.
Finally, he closed his open palm, and the spell matrix dispersed into the surrounding air as if turning to mist.
After a few seconds, Rowan asked, “Was something supposed to-”
A subtle rumble in the air seemed to answer him. The earthen field that they were training in just hours ago began to shift and churn. Pits and valleys appeared randomly, slowly at first, but with a pace that accelerated quickly. Pits became large holes and then became sinkholes. The rumbling from before seemed quaint in comparison to the full-on roar of the earth that now assaulted their ears. And then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped.
The training area had become a ruined valley, pockmarked with holes that varied in size between ‘minor tripping hazard’ to ‘School bus’. All this in an area that did not exceed one hundred feet in diameter.
“I hope that was supposed to happen.” Rowan remarked dryly.
“I can’t believe that worked! I mean, I was going for a diameter of seventy, not one hundred, and the deepest it should have gone was five feet not… however deep that is… But if you ignore all that, this was a remarkable success!” Vorn cheered, completely unrepentant, in their soulscape.
“Well, I must say, that was incredible! I didn’t think you would be able to imbue your understanding into new Runes so quickly! You're a true prodigy, son!”
Vorn seemed to wilt a little at the praise, “I’m afraid it’s not all that. I just have an ability that helps is all.”
“Bah. If you earned that ability then it’s part of your potential isn’t it? Does the fact that it was bestowed by the System change the fact that you earned the ability yourself?” Instead of deriding him for ‘relying on the System’, as most mages hypocritically do anyway, he encouraged him.
“I… I’m pretty sure I only got it for being a Unique Being. Thanks for the kind words, but I don’t know if I really deserve them-”
“So you're telling me that anyone could have gotten that ability? One that lets you understand and remake Runes in seconds? No my boy, I’ve only known you for an afternoon and I can say for certain that I have never met someone as passionate and curious about magic as you are. Just because you haven’t slain a dragon or written a dissertation at age nine doesn't mean you don’t deserve your abilities. I can’t speak for the System, but I’ve never seen it bestow a power that wasn’t deserved. Tell me, these abilities, are they something you could never have done without the System, or are they just enhancing an intelligence and memory that was already there?”
This time, Vorn was truly stunned by the kindness of this stranger that he had only known for an afternoon. This man seemed to embody sunshine itself in his bright and pure attitude.
“I- uh. W- hm. Y-”
Before Vorn could stop his embarrassed stutter, Rowan quickly took over and said, “Thank you. Your words mean a lot to him. I’ve been trying to impress on him his intelligence and talent, but he somehow still thinks that ‘just anyone’ could do what he does. How ridiculous is that?” Rowan actually scoffed in disbelief.
Vorn was about four seconds away from turning into ash from the sheer white-hot embarrassment he was feeling.
“Incredibly. Hah, if just anyone was as smart as he was, we would have figured out dimensional travel by now!” Blythe laughed boisterously.
There was even a subtle grin on Rowan’s face. Vorn couldn’t tell what he was smiling about, the joke, or the sheer pain that he was putting him through.
‘Probably both, the godsdamned sadist.’ Vorn said to himself, still curled up in a ball in their soulscape.
As if sensing the pain Vorn was in, Rowan said, “With how little confidence he has, it's practically our duty to improve his self-esteem.” A tinge of mirth and a small shit-eating grin gave away his true intentions.
Blythe, as if reading Rowan’s mind, picked up exactly what he was implying. The same shit-eating grin spread across his face, but far wider.
“Truly, we must. Such a shame to have such a talented and hard working individual think so lowly of themselves.” With each emphasized word, the embarrassment Vorn felt increased a whole magnitude. This must be some ancient forbidden execution magic. To bring it forth on an ally… The depth of their sadism must know no bounds.
— — —
Vorn was still pouting by the time they got home.
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“It’s not my fault you don’t think highly enough of yourself.” Rowan said, completely unrepentant, “I saw the perfect opportunity to take matters into my own hands, and I took it.”
Vorn’s face burned thinking about it, a whole fifteen minutes of them… He couldn’t even remember it without shivering with embarrassment.
“You know, you probably shouldn’t make your weaknesses so easy to exploit. I know an easy way to rectify this one, however.” Rowan said, sagely.
“What?”
“Just believe what we are saying. It really is that easy.”
— — —
By the time they made it back to their apartment, the sun was just setting. As they opened the door to their home, it dawned on Vorn that perhaps they allotted too much time to this training exercise.
They said they would go delving the day after tomorrow, leaving them with an entire day to burn. Rowan could go and find his mentor, but Vorn had his next meeting scheduled in a week, so that was out of the question for him.
Granted, Vorn wasn’t against Rowan getting some one-on-one time with his mentor, but he was afraid that without anyone to break them up they might go a little… far.
As he had done with every uncertain decision, Vorn pulled out his ultimate weapon… Just asking.
“What do you want to do with our free day? The most productive thing to do would probably be to train with that demonic Elf, but I worry that the two of you might go a little too hard without a clear deadline.”
“A fair concern. However, you don’t have to worry. Our body is so sore that it would be borderline impossible to train tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I shredded most of the muscles in our body having to move so quickly today. Honestly, the fact you didn’t notice is just… I’m beginning to realize why I felt so terrible when I first got here. Do you just not have a sense of pain when you’re distracted?” Rowan sighed, exasperated.
“Is it really that bad?” Vorn asked, slightly skeptical.
“Go ahead and take over for a second. I’m sure you’ll be able to feel just how bad it is now that no one is teaching you magic.”
“... On second thought, I’ll go ahead and trust your judgment on this one.”
“That would probably be for the best.”
After a few moments had passed, Rowan added, “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have painkillers here, would you?”
“What? What are those?” Vorn questioned.
“I can hear the grin in your voice, you little bastard.” Rowan said, amusement betraying his otherwise acerbic words.
— — —
After a quite relaxing day for Vorn, and a boring as sin day for Rowan, it was finally time to meet their party at the guild.
As they walked through the stained wooden entryway, they noticed Arc seemingly talking to a blank space next to the job board. Considering that their friend most likely hadn’t gone insane in the twenty-six hours between their last meeting, Rowan figured it must have been Rexen standing there. Oddly enough, even knowing that he must have been occupying the space didn’t reveal him to their eyes. It was as if there was a person-shaped blank space that his eyes couldn’t help but glaze over. The effect was quite pronounced now that he could actively observe it.
He couldn’t help but slightly jump when he felt the tap on his shoulder that seemed to be the key to seeing Rexen. Like magic, where before there was no one, there he stood clear as day.
“There has got to be a way to see through that ability. I knew you were there and couldn’t spot you.” He said blithely, only Vorn was aware of just how spooked he really was by that jumpscare.
“Sorry… If it’s any consolation, I’ve been looking for a way to break the illusion for y-years myself. No luck so far, though.” Rexen said, as meek as ever.
“There’s nothing for it, then. We will just have to make sure to break the illusion before we get into any fights. If we can’t, then coordinate with us through the communication stone. So long as no one gets stabbed or poisoned, we’ll do fine.” Rowan planned out loud.
“Enough with the boring talk, we can do that on the way to our destination! Right now we need to decide where that will be!” Arc interjected in her typically energetic fashion.
“Well, we need to look at our options first.” Rowan stated, his dry tone sponging up any excitement in the air.
'Heavenly Cloud Pagoda - ??? Ranked Dungeon, assumed highly dangerous.
A few of our scout groups have gone missing from this dungeon, with the most concerning being an A-ranked party. Others who have gone through noticed nothing amiss and ranked the dungeon between C1 and B1. It is assumed that there is a condition to unlocking a secret, more dangerous part of the dungeon. B-rank parties and above will be rewarded handsomely for discovering this condition. Note: The Delver’s Guild has put out an official ban on parties below B1 rank exploring this dungeon.
Current Missions:
Discover the mystery of the missing parties - A1 Rank’
“Well, that’s one down. I’m pretty sure we only qualify as C-rank due to clearing the Orc Dungeon. And what does it mean by B1?” Rowan asked.
“Oh, the one indicates evolutions. We’re currently a B0 party because we cleared the Orc Dungeon so effectively, but we would need to evolve or prove ourselves truly incredible to go up an evolution ranking.” Ark explained.
“Hmm, so the point still stands that the Cloud Pagoda is out.”
Rowan went back to browsing.
‘Small World - A0 - B1 Ranked Dungeon, highly unpredictable, enter at your own risk.
The Small World Dungeon is, despite the lackluster name, not to be underestimated. While the dungeon itself is very large, with the full size not yet fully explored, the true danger comes from the exceptionally large beasts. If your party can’t use large area of effect spells, or some other method of targeting large swathes of flesh, don’t bother entering. Beware: Multiple Sub-dungeons have been spotted. The majority of these have not been explored, so the danger cannot be categorized.
Current Missions:
Bring back 25lbs of C, or above, ranked monster hide - B0 Rank
Bring back 50lbs of meat…
Bring…
Report the details of any of the sub-dungeons - Variable Rank’
“This one sounds interesting, but sadly we can’t enter it either. Truthfully, that is probably for the best. Testing our new team in such a dangerous dungeon right off the bat probably wouldn’t be a good idea.” Rowan admitted, only half acknowledging to himself that he probably would have gone anyway had he been able to.
‘The Jade Forest - D0 - B0 Ranked Dungeon.
The Jade Forest is a large, wild swathe of land that is dominated mostly by bestial monsters. Goblins have been reported, but they seem to be a rare find. Be sure to back plenty of camping supplies, the forest is very damp, and firewood is hard to come by. Avoid the center of the forest, there have been reports of Dire Bears in the area, they are easily avoidable though, so engage at your own risk.
Current Missions:
Bring 10 Warg hides - C0 Rank
Bring 20…
Bring…
Kill and harvest the Dire Bears in the central forest - A0 Rank’
“I say we hunt some Dire Bears in the Jade Forest. Should be easy enough for our first mission as a new party.” Rowan said with, what Rexen considered, a disconcerting smile.
Maybe he was too quick to join this party.