-After the king grabbed the two heroes and warped away
The three arrived in a stone room with a bed. Astrid still looked terrified. “What happened? Where are we?”
Creon grabbed their shoulders. “Calm down, you too. We should be safe for now. I used an artifact to warp us away to a safe room under the castle.”
Drake’s eyes widened hearing this. “We’re still in the castle!? We need to get out of here!”
Creon tried to reassure them once more. “We’re safe in here. The walls are enchanted to be almost indestructible, and it blocks all magic, including detection magic. My trusted advisor is the only one who knows about this room, so we’ll wait in here until he comes to tell us the danger has passed. If he doesn’t come…..it doesn’t matter for now. Let’s worry about that later.”
Astrid and Drake sat on the couch taking deep breaths, while Creon paced around the room with a worried expression, waiting for his advisor.
Finally, after an hour, part of a wall disappeared and an old man walked in.
Creon rushed forward. “Stanum! You’ve finally come! Tell me, how bad are the casualties?”
The old man seemed startled by the king’s sudden outburst. “Your highness, we’ve been looking everywhere for you! Casualties? Sir, the only casualties we found were your five guards in the throne room. We rushed in after sensing the large amount of mana but discovered five corpses on the ground with you nowhere to be seen. What happened, your highness?”
Creon breathed a sigh of relief. “First, let’s go to the war room. I’ll explain what happened on the way there.”
The four of them made their way to the war room. Creon didn’t want to go back to the throne room after what had just happened in there, which is why he chose to go to the war room instead. Stanum listened to the king with an incredulous look as he heard what had happened. Creon’s explanation ended just as they entered the war room. “Stanum, since you now know what happened, I have a few tasks for you. First of all, find two mages that specialize in fire and water magic that are willing to protect the heroes and teach them as well. Second, assign all the mages in the army to come together and set up a barrier around the castle. It was a disgrace to the kingdom that a stranger simply teleported in the throne room, kidnapped a hero, and almost took my head. We will learn from this mistake, and it will never happen again.”
Stanum nodded in understanding, then took the heroes away to their quarters before beginning his tasks.
Creon sat back in a chair and raised his hand up to his eyes. “What a disaster.”
The next day, Drake and Astrid woke up and headed over to the training pavilion after eating. On the way there, they passed dozens of mages heading to some location. Arriving at the pavilion, they found two mages waiting for them. One was a brown haired bearded man wearing red robes, and the other was a beautiful blonde woman wearing blue robes.
The man stepped forward. “My name is Faegore, she’s Vinera, and we’ll be teaching you how to use magic.”
Faegore grabbed Drake and led him away from Vinera and Astrid. “Alright. According to the person who hired us, you two have no experience with magic, but you still have extremely high affinities, correct?”
Drake nodded.
Faegore shook his head. “I have no idea how that’s even possible, but I’m not paid to ask questions. Since you have no experience, here’s a brief explanation. Mana is energy that’s all around us. It’s not visible unless there’s a large amount of it in one place. As mages, we use this energy and control it with incantations to produce spells. There’s probably something I forgot, but the technicalities bore me so let’s just get started.” Faegore laughed. “Haha, don’t worry, kid. If I forgot it it’s probably not that important anyways.”
“.....”
“Let’s start with the easiest spell for a fire mage. Watch me.”
Faegore raised his hand. “Fireball!”
An orb of fire formed in front of his hand and shot forward a few meters before dying. The whole process took around a second.
“Alright, now you try. Just imagine a fireball shooting from your hand, and say ‘fireball”’
Drake raised his hand yelled. “Fireball!”
An orb of flame a little smaller than a soccer ball shot from his hand, the same way Faegore demonstrated.
“Good job!” Faegore slapped Drake’s back, making him lose his balance and fall flat on his face. “Ah, my bad. I forgot you’re still level 1.”
Vinera looked over at the other group. “Looks like that idiot Faegore has already started teaching him spells. Let’s get started as well.” She looked back at Astrid. “Water magic focuses on healing, but healing magic is a bit difficult to learn, so I’ll teach that to you in the future. For now, this is the first spell you’ll be learning.” Vinera raised her hand, much like Faegore did. “Water burst!”
A large stream of water burst from her hand, soaking the ground. “I can’t say it’s a strong spell, but it’s a start. Like I said earlier, you won’t really learn important spells until you have more experience. Alright, now you try.”
Astrid followed Vinera’s steps, raising her hand and imagining a burst of water. “Water burst!”
Water poured out her hand, landing on the ground a few meters away.
Faegore walked over Drake. “Looks like you two finished your first lesson as well.” His mouth turned into a grin. “Now, who wants to go hunt some beasts?”
-Back at Sakree’s cabin
The sun had just begun to set and Hydrexyl knew he only had around 20 minutes to hunt, unless he wanted to be out at night, most likely getting hunted. He had just picked a random direction in the clearing and walked forward. Traversing through the forest, he tried to make as little noise as possible, but it was difficult avoiding every twig and dry leaf on the ground. Focusing on the ground also probably wouldn’t help him find prey. He walked through the forest for around ten minutes, trying not to go too far away from the clearing, and in this time he didn’t find signs of any animals.
‘This is strange, didn’t Sakree say the forest is ‘filled with creatures’?'
Hydrexyl was about to head back to the clearing, when he heard a growl. His head snapped over to a bush, where he had heard the sound come from, and found two yellow eyes glaring back at him. Suddenly, a black shadow leaped at him, snarling.
He barely managed to duck to the side, but still got cut on his shoulder. Holding his bleeding shoulder, he stood back up and faced whatever had just attacked him. It looked like a giant black panther, three meters long with a mouth full of sharp fangs.
Name:Mutated PantherLevel:10
He muttered to himself. “I’ve learned magic, now, let’s see if I can use it in a battle.”
Hydrexyl concentrated, trying not to make any movements that would alert his opponent. Warned by its instinct, the panther jumped to the left and avoided the spike that emerged from the ground.
Angry, it leaped at him once more.
‘Sakree said the only thing that limits me is my imagination. I wonder if this would work.’
Hydrexyl imagine a line of green particles rising from the ground, and as he did, a wall of earth shot up. It nearly depleted his mana, but he was happy that his experiment had worked. However, his moment of success was soon cut short, as the panther destroyed the wall with a simple swipe of its paw. It almost seemed to laugh, like it was funny that its prey thought it could be stopped by such a pitifully weak shield. It leaped at him for the final time, its paw raised above its head, about to deliver the killing blow.
Hydrexyl knew he had messed up, not rationing his mana. The panther was getting closer and there was nothing he could do. It was too close for him to dodge out the way again. He lifted his hands and apologized to Elaxus for not being able to serve him. Suddenly, he felt a strange force gather at his hands. It burst forwards, repelling the incoming panther. The panther flew backwards into the air, and was impaled by the earth spike, dying almost immediately. Hydrexyl fainted as he saw a notification appear.
You have learned the skill, Mana Conversion
Mana Conversion-When mana reaches zero, you can now use hp as a substitution
You have gained insight on the divine element Aether
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have come out victorious against all odds, fighting an opponent much stronger than you while being restricted
+2 strength
+2 agility
Still somewhat dazed, Hydrexyl pushed the notifications out of the way and opened his status
Name:HydrexylAge:22Race:Human(Mutated)Level:3Titles:Hero, Anomaly, MutationHealth:85Mana:85Strength:87Intellect:85Defense:85Agility:87Endurance:85Luck:2Elemental AffinitiesLight: 50%Earth: 52%Aether: 51%
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He wasn’t unconscious for very long, but his health and mana had become full after leveling up. He was curious about what had happened before he had passed out, but decided to put it aside until he could talk to Sakree about it. He walked over to the dead panther, broke the spike off with some effort, and started dragging the corpse back to the cabin. When he arrived, the moon was hanging overhead and Sakree was waiting outside.
“There you are! I was about to go look for your corpse, good thing you came back before I did.”
Sakree finally noticed why Hydrexyl had taken so long to come back.
“Oh my. When I said to go get dinner I expected a rabbit or two. Not a three meter long mutated panther. You’re not dragging that thing inside my house. Eat out here.”
Hydrexyl finally stopped, letting the panther go. He stared at it for a moment before looking up at Sakree.
“Do I have to eat this thing raw?”
“Do you know any fire magic?”
“No.”
“Then I guess you’re eating it raw.”
“......”
“Don’t look at me like that! Here, I’ll at least give you knife so you can skin it.”
Sakree handed him a knife before going back in the cabin.
Hydrexyl sighed, kneeling down next to panther to start skinning it.
The days seemed to blend together as six months quickly passed. Every day was very similar. Sakree and Hydrexyl would practice magic in the morning, and then Hydrexyl would go hunt in the forests to practice magic in battles and to gain levels. During their magic studies, they would experiment with his aether infinity, and Hydrexyl discovered that in some ways, aether magic resembles telekinesis. During this time period, Hydrexyl also gradually increased the notches on his bracelet, eventually reaching 3x gravity.
A yelp resounded through the forest as an animal flew through the air and had its neck slit by a dagger.
You have leveled up
‘Status!’
Name:HydrexylAge:23Race:Human(Mutated)Level:64Titles:Hero, Anomaly, MutationHealth:1305Mana:1305Strength:1351Intellect:1305Defense:1305Agility:1330Endurance:1305Luck:26Elemental AffinitiesLight: 53%Earth: 54%Aether: 53%
Hydrexyl had grown quite a bit stronger over the past six months. His muscular body now wasn’t only for show.
He left the animal on the spike and headed back to the cabin.
When he arrived, Sakree was waiting for him.
“Ah, doesn’t this remind you of the first time you went hunting?” She laughed. “Almost got yourself killed by a panther. My, how the times have changed.”
She wasn’t quite tall enough to pat his shoulder, but her look of proudness towards him had the same effect.
“Well kid, it looks like our time together is gonna end. Elaxus summoned us to the castle. My guess is that he’ll send you on your first mission.”
Hydrexyl had a look of hopefulness.
“Hold your horses, no need to be so eager. You know, spending the past six months with you wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I have a feeling you and I won’t meet again after we go to see Elaxus, so I want to give you something. Call it a ‘graduation gift’ if you want.”
Sakree pulled out a ring made of white jade.
“This is a ring enchanted by spatial magic. It stores inanimate objects in a separate dimension, so you don’t have to carry around everything you have. There should be around 10x10x10 cubic meters of space in it.”
Hydrexyl received it gratefully. “Thank you, Sakree. For everything. I promise to come visit you in the future when I get the chance.”
Sakree smiled. “Let’s get going, kid.”
She whispered an incantation, opening a portal to the castle. They walked through, arriving in front of the throne room.
A familiar voice boomed. “You may enter.”
Hydrexyl entered, Sakree following behind him, and he saw the man that had created him. Sakree stayed in the back as Hydrexyl walked to the center of the throne room and kneeled.
Elaxus smiled. “Welcome back, Hydrexyl. I can sense that you’ve become stronger.”
“Thank you, your highness. I have trained diligently during my time with Sakree, waiting for the day that I can be of use to you.”
Elaxus nodded. “Good. Rise, I have your first assignment for you.”
Hydrexyl stood up eagerly. “What is it sir?”
Elaxus pointed at Sakree. “Kill her.”
Hydrexyl’s eagerness faded. “Sir?”
“You heard me. Kill Sakree.”
“Your majesty, I don’t underst-
“You don’t need to understand. You need to follow orders. I created you because I needed a weapon. Weapons don’t ask questions, weapons kill whoever you point them towards. And I’ve pointed towards Sakree.”
Hydrexyl looked over at Sakree. Her face was devoid of any emotion. She didn’t look surprised, she didn’t look confused, she didn’t look angry. She simply stared back at him with a blank face, and gently nodded.
Hydrexyl slowly lifted his hand towards her. “I’m sorry.” He said it so softly that no one could hear it, but Sakree could tell what he had said through his lips moving.
‘Aether pull.’
Her body flew towards him and an earth spike emerged from the ground, piercing her. Hydrexyl flinched as her blood splattered over him. It slid down his arm, onto his ring. The first present he had been given, and it was dyed with the blood of the person who had given it to him. He had just killed the only person in the world that had taken care of him.
The sound of laughter filled the throne room. “Wonderful! You failed to disappoint me. Do you know why I had you kill her?”
“......”
Elaxus continued on, regardless. “I had you kill her because I want the perfect weapon. And to become the perfect weapon, you’ll need to throw away useless things such as love and compassion. Those things will only get in the way of completing your mission. Do you understand?”
Hydrexyl closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, they looked cold and dead. Devoid of any emotion. He looked at Sakree’s corpse hanging from a spike, with a look of indifference.
“Yes, your majesty.”
----------------------------------------
I thought about giving Hydrexyl levels for killing Sakree, but in the end chose not to. I'll only give him levels for killing someone if they are a threat to him. Sakree was a higher level than him, but had already resigned to her fate, and wasn't dangerous to Hydrexyl. I want a system where someone couldn't round up a bunch of children or slaves and kill them for experience.