The walk took far longer than Cyrus wished it would’ve, but it did end once they arrived. A door in the middle of the woods was an eyebrow raiser but once it was mentioned that it was a cosmic space there were plenty of varying reactions. Apparently this was an incredibly rare find, things like this were normally only found in the dungeon. Even then, gaining access to a cosmic space usually came with incredible rewards guarded by devious obstacles. He supposed that dealing with the Bastion of Light and the worshippers more than counted as his obstacles. Plus, coming to another world damn well better have some benefits.
While he was still angry, at the very least over the course of two ish months he was able to better come to terms with his situation. Not to say that he intended on being any less lethal than before. If there were any chance of going home, the path was only going to end with pools of blood.
Entering the garden was exactly how he remembered, it was extravagant in comparison to the dark and messy forest just outside the doors. Bright and gentle colors spread across the field of view in every direction and a variety of herbs that would make any real alchemist salivate. Well, not even an alchemist as Peluna was practically drooling while looking around. She abandoned her spot behind Grim and ran over to the river, kneeling down and tasting the water herself.
In truth, it was probably fresher than most water sources since it was untainted by outside life. Grim even broke from his calm fixture and was looking all over in child like wonder.
The real issue was Farah. Everything he thought he knew about the woodland hunter was being rewritten. When they first met he thought she was just a normal elf, that clearly was very wrong. There were no mannerisms wherever she grew up because the first thing he saw her do was go over to the herb garden and shove several in her cosmic pouch. Absolutely unashamed of what she did, she just smiled at Cyrus.
Arrogant brat.
He briefly muttered to himself about lecturing her but thought better of it. There was only one way that conversation was going to end and it certainly wasn’t going to be with her learning a lesson. She seemed and acted innocent but there was nothing about her that was. It was almost cute. Almost.
While the others were getting acquainted with his garden, he took a few moments to take a look at the gains from his fight with Serence’s mighty band of idiots.
*Dwarf [Billo] – Level 29 Killed. Experience awarded*
*Human – Level 37 Killed. Experience awarded*
*…*
*Level up to 49! – Free points awarded*
*Level up to 50! – Free points awarded*
*Spell Unlocked [Wrath] – Your attack will send a line of Void fire across the ground. While the fire will not spread, it will not go out until you deactivate it or run out of magic. Void wounds cause heavy damage.
*Skill Unlocked [Self Repair] – Healers aren’t always handy; potions can’t always do the job. Fully heals a single wound one time. 24-hour cooldown*
*System Update – Level 50 grants rank D privileges per System requirements. 10 Free points per level. Class Upgrade Trial becomes available: Pass the trial to receive upgrade (0/1 Pass) Attempts left 3/3*
Perhaps the most eye-catching thing to Cyrus right now was the spell and skill that he unlocked. Both seemed to be incredibly useful, especially the healing even if it was only to be used one time a day. If Peluna wasn’t readily available it was a good last resort save in the case he was heavily injured. Hell, if his arm got cut off he might actually be able to survive. From what he knew of healing, the spell does nothing to help the residue pain left behind.
The [Wrath] spell was also incredible. While his rapier was coated in magic the effects were incredible, allowing him to melt through armor like butter. This had untapped potential as he could use it to cut enemies off from one another or perhaps melt their legs off. That was likely being too optimistic but it never hurt to dream. Besides extending his sword aura this was his first real ranged attack. [Grip of Death] didn’t really count in his book because there wasn’t any damage dealt and if the enemies level was high enough there were also no effects. The new spell was a surefire method of hurting his enemy regardless of level.
The class upgrade trial also sounded interesting but he was wary as well, there were limited attempts. While it was nice knowing he had more than one try if he failed, this also meant that it was likely difficult. Albus had never told him anything like this could become available through the System unless this was only tailored to himself but that seemed unlikely. It was also nice that he would now get 10 free points per level instead of 5. Speaking of free points, he currently had 14 at his disposal from the two levels. Making good on his self-promise from earlier, he dumped every single one into Charisma.
Name: Cyrus Rainer
Race: Outsider
Level: 50
Class: Avenger - Epic
Titles: Beginner, First steps, Survived the Void, Herb Lover, Slayer, Defiance, Champion Slayer, Leviathan Slayer, King Slayer, Boss Clear
Strength: 202
Dexterity: 167
Constitution: 212
Intelligence: 103
Charisma: 32
Luck: 38
Free Points: 0
While it was still miniscule compared to his other stats, some Charisma was better than nothing at this point. With some respect, he did regret not putting a few point into intelligence so he could raise his magic ability more with these new spells he obtained, but it was far too late. He’d be getting more free points from now on with each level so there would be other opportunities. He’d make sure to ask the group about the class trial later, but for now there were other priorities. Namely, being the person they kidnapped.
Grim stood by Serence, forcing the elf to his knees in the middle of the garden. Cyrus really wasn’t sure how he was going to make him talk, while he wasn’t against torture there was no chance he would be the one to do it. Hopefully the fear of torture itself would be enough to make him spill his heart out.
“Serence, why did you try to kill me in the dungeon?” Cyrus asked him directly, crossing his arms while looking down at the man.
The elf smiled and spit on the ground next to Cyrus’ boot. “How’s that for an answer? You’ll be dead anyways even if I’m not the one to do you in.”
Grim growled from above and tightened the grip on his shoulder. “I promise your death will be quicker if you tell answer the damn question.”
“As if I’ll tell you anything bas-UGH!” Serence was cut off by a blade touching his throat. Without a single sound being made Farah was on the ground next to the elf, almost playfully rubbing the blades tip over his adams apple. She was clearly enjoying herself while he squirmed next to her.
While Cyrus would never do it himself, he had to admit how effective her methods were. She was intimidating and eager to keep going, passionate about all the wrong things some would say.
“Any chance you’d like to answer that question now? If not I’ll gladly take a nap while you and Farah bond a little.” Cyrus remarked with a relaxed tone, Farah also seemed on board with the way she giggled in excitement.
It was all too much for the sadistic elf himself and he just barely shook his head. “N…N-No I’ll tell you! When the Guild master found out that you were a Void user, he hired me to have you killed. He didn’t even care if I did it in public as long as you ended up dying. He paid me a massive sum for the job after I reported you dead.”
So it really was the Guild master, supposedly he was a really strong adventurer, probably way out of their league at the moment too. If the orders came from him, there had to be a reason. He also noticed that Farah peeked up at him at the mention of Void magic, apparently this magic was way more trouble than it was worth.
“What does Void magic have to do with me being hunted? I haven’t done anything wrong, so there shouldn’t be a reason.” Cyrus snarled down at the elf.
“W-Wait! I was only given the mission, it’s never my job to pry and ask questions about my quarry. I did ask but he only mentioned that it was his own mission with his brethren to wipe out any Void users. He told me there were additional rewards if I found any others.” The tip of Farah’s blade pressed harder against his throat, egging him on. “Th-That’s all I know! I swear!” He begged.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Hm, I think he’s telling the truth Cyrus” Farah said while looking up from her spot on the ground. She took the knife away and stood up as well.
“I also don’t see any deceit in his eyes, he told the truth.” Peluna agrees from the side.
This is unbelievable, just where are they getting this information? “I can’t hold back any longer, how are you two able to tell he’s telling the truth? For all we know we just got bullshitted.”
Peluna’s response his only to roll her eyes at the question, as if it should be obvious. No doubt she has more questions for him but is holding them back. Instead, Farah chooses to respond first. “It’s a wonder how you don’t know these things, those of us with especially high Charisma can tell when our target is lying. My class also gives me a massive advantage in the field of stealth and intelligence gathering like this.”
“Okay yea, I get it. My Charisma sucks, I’ve figured it out by now. Thanks for confirming what he said though, I suppose that means we no longer need to keep him around.” There really was no reason, there was no chance he was going to let him go after they went through all this trouble.
“Ooo, can I keep him Cyrus? I would love to get to know Serence a little better. He’s even sent a couple hunters in the woods to chase after me before.” Farah licked her lips in anticipation and at this point, Cyrus was pretty sure the prisoner had long since wet his pants. Not that he really blamed him. While he did want to see him die, leaving him with her would be a fate far worse than death.
“As fun as that might be for our guest, I’d rather just be rid of him.” Without waiting for an argument he drew his rapier, Grim stepped back in surprise and Farah also got out of the way as he activated [Wrath] and slashed upwards inches away from the elf’s body. Purple flames ripped up from the ground like a ravine and engulfed him. His screams were quickly drowned out as he turned to nothing but ash, leaving no trace of the murderer that once kneeled there. One might ask if he regretted taking the kill and testing out his new spell.
*Elf [Serence] – Level 33 Killed. Experience awarded multiplied for revenge*
*Level up to 51! – Free points awarded*
No regret in the slightest.
With just the one level, he had been rewarded with 12 free points. At first he was tempted to just dump them all in Charisma like he had last time but thought better of it this time. The reason? Because the [Wrath] spell was draining his energy at an unbelievable rate with every few seconds he left it active; so he put the flame out without waiting any longer. Instead, he split the points between Intelligence and Charisma. His magic was in desperate need of an upgrade if just one cast of the spell was draining him that much.
“Here I thought you weren’t ruthless, turns out your more fun than I thought.” Farah laughed ceremoniously at the display, putting her hunting knife away. She stepped closer and smacked Cyrus on the back good naturedly.
“I don’t think that was necessary, you could have killed him a normal way you know.” Peluna says with a shake of her head, even her tone sounds disappointed. She looks to Grim, waiting for him to support her answer.
Grim simply shrugs in response. “I mean, he was going to die either way. Seems like a good time to test a new skill, given I’ve never seen him use it before.” He answers neutrally, Peluna still doesn’t seem delighted with his answer either but she doesn’t push it.
Changing the subject, Farah looks to Cyrus instead. “So you use Void magic huh? Guess that explains why you were being hunted. Care to fill me in on the deets? Or do I have to keep guessing?” She asks curiously, it does seem genuine and he couldn’t feel any real malice coming off her. Rather, it seemed to constantly teeter on the more playful and joking side. It was sort of refreshing.
“I guess I can let you in on it.” He shrugged, not really minding as she had helped them kill the archer and followed through by helping interrogate Serence. So far she had been nothing but helpful. “But first, what do you mean that it makes sense?”
Farah chewed her lip; seemingly like she was debating weather or not she should say or not. Fortunately she responded in favor. “I’ve done plenty of work for less reputable clients, so I hear things. I know there’s a group of powerful individuals going around hunting any Void users. Your kind is going extinct. I never found out who they are or why, the closest I ever heard was that they were trying to prevent anyone with Void magic from doing something. I didn’t find any leads as to what that was.”
As great as it was to have Farah answer his question, he was instead left with more questions. This group had to be the masked worshippers that kidnapped him when he first fell on this world. If it was known that they were actively hunting Void users, then it was more than likely they were the ones who replaced Kyro as well. The only issue was that there were no leads on their identities, the only pieces he had were the Guild master. That wasn’t much to work with and it was frustrating Cyrus to no end. How was he even supposed to compete if he didn’t know who he had to kill? What were they trying to prevent Void users from doing? Too many questions and not enough answers.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by a firm grip on his shoulder. “You okay there mate? That aura you just gave off was no joke.” Grim asked him, his voice stern but not uncaring. Looking around, even Farah’s eyes were wide looking at him, had he been radiating killing intent without meaning too?
“I’m good, there was just a lot to take in is all.” Cyrus replied, shrugging his companions hand off his shoulder.
“This have something to do with whatever you’ve been hiding from us? Having access to a cosmic space like this already raises a lot of questions.” Grim presses, it was unlike him to get into his privacy but something in Grim’s face seemed more earnest than usual. Like he wasn’t just curious, but concerned? Maybe his Charisma actually meant something in this case because it felt like he could sense the deeper feelings behind the question.
Cyrus ran his hand up through his hair, the constant questioning was stressing him out. “Look, all you need to know is that this space was gifted to me. Those worshippers that Farah mentioned, I intend to hunt them down all the same. The only place to start is with the Guild master as far as I can see.”
“That’s all good and well, but the Guild master you want to kill was last heard to be bottlenecking level 200, I don’t know if he passed it but he could squash all four of us like bugs. At the same time.” Farah answers, she looks the most relaxed out of anyone, and chose to lie in the grass.
“Four of us? Since when did you join the group?” Peluna asks like it was a surprise. Frankly, Grim and Cyrus kind of saw it coming based on how helpful she was.
“I’m in it for the fun of course, and you three seem like you could use someone with my skill set. Plus, I can get information. I’m level 56 and all I want in return is a place to stay.”
The offer sounded way too good to be true, then again, it was Farah. From what he observed, she was really having a blast just from this little adventure she dropped in on. If it was anyone else, he might actually suspect them of lying. Strangely enough, he didn’t think she had any impure intentions. Her method of killing was very forward and she had been honest in what she wanted.
“Done.” Cyrus locked in without hesitation. Peluna blanched and Grim gave a thumbs up. At least someone agreed with him. “If the Guild master is so high leveled, then how are we going to take him out? I don’t even know who he is.”
“I’ve seen him once, he’s a dwarf with some incredible defensive abilities. It’s even rumored that few could ever get past his armor because its grade is so high. Supposedly it’s mythical.” Grim informs them, rubbing his chin in thought.
“I’m all for a good fight, even with the odds against me. But even I won’t go on a suicide mission, that wouldn’t be any fun.” Farah groans, sounding put out by not being able to fight directly.
Peluna sighs, shaking her head. “You three are going about this all wrong. His level is far out of our reach and we don’t have the time to try to reach it. That is, even if we survive to make it that high. We could just inform the town Lord.”
Grim and Farah perk up at that idea, Cyrus doesn’t understand how that would help though. “That’s going to help us… how?”
“Listen here genius, the Guild master in any given town is appointed and approved of by the town Lord. They also retain the right to fire them as well or banish them from the town itself. Not to mention, that the town Lord is over level 200, she could fight him off and capture him if possible since we can’t.” Farah informs him.
“Thing is, if we’re going to try and implicate the Guild master, then we’re going to need some damn good evidence. Otherwise this is going to come back in our faces. Hell, she could even turn and kill us herself for trying to frame him.” Grim implies.
This was like a puzzle and honestly, Cyrus was beginning to get a headache. If only levels didn’t exist and he could just go around taking revenge however he wanted. Then again, if there weren’t any levels than Cyrus would have no ability to get the revenge he wanted. His old college self-had barely ever seen a fight besides on the internet or in a game. Now, here he was talking about killing targets.
Even with his lust for revenge, Cyrus knew there was no way they could kill someone at level 200. “I agree, we’ll just have to get evidence that he’s not fit to be the Guild master than. Still, some levels wouldn’t hurt. Maybe we could spend some time in the dungeon at some point, I also want to address the class upgrade trial I got.”
The mention of the trial was met with a congratulations from his companions. Seemingly, it was ritual for anyone at level 50 to receive the quest, depending on the rarity of your class the difficulty would only increase dramatically. According to Farah, she passed the trial on her second try and raised her rarity from Uncommon to Rare.
Farah also explained that everyone had a different trial presented to them. Some people fight monsters, others have been heard to complete a maze or survive a situation. Regardless of the trial, time becomes distorted to the individual taking it and only seconds would pass in the actual world while they attempted it. Many trials were decided by level and fighting ability by majority, she had failed the first time because she had gotten killed during the trial.
She heard that Rare level trials were often met with failures and many even weren’t able to do it on all 3 attempts. The trial was reinitiated at level 100 for another 3 attempts if the person couldn’t do it. Thing is, if you pass it on your initiation of the quest than you have the chance to upgrade it even further at level 100. After finding out that Cyrus already had an epic class she practically just wished him good luck, though she had little confidence he would pass. It was nice knowing that he already had an Epic grade class, but the trial was putting him off. He decided that maybe he could try it at level 60 or so, just to be safe.
After Farah answered any more questions he had, he also decided to return the favor. It was only fair that she knew what she would be getting into by deciding to join the crew. Even when they told her about Kyro and their eventual goal to find out if he’s an imposter and kill him, she didn’t bat an eye in the slightest. It was like she was unbothered by the threat of looming death and more intrigued by the situation. If life was a game, she was clearly enjoying the hell out of it.
As they bonded, Grim and Farah seemed to get along just fine. If anything, the demon seemed to find her antics and evil side more amusing than anything. Peluna was a different story, as she and Farah could be described as polar opposites. Two sides of two different coins. While they clashed on things that related to morality, due to Peluna having a ton of it and Farah having none of it, they didn’t openly fight. More like they chose to leave most of the arguments alone and move on to a different topic. At least they could be civil, making traveling together tolerable at the minimum.
It was getting rowdy as the serious conversational topics began to delve into nothing more than antics. Serence and the worshippers became a blurry memory once Grim realized he could turn some of the herbs into an alcoholic mix. Technically, by earth’s standards he wasn’t old enough to drink quite yet, but no one here was going to tell on him so he should be safe. Two drinks in he was wasted, despite his stats nothing could be said for his ability to hold his liquor.
It had become a contest with Grim and Farah lasting through a dozen rounds before they also decided to quit. Peluna hadn’t done so bad either and finished 5 rounds before she was too far gone as well. Whatever they said that night, laughed about, or even admitted became little more than a passing memory as darkness overcame his vision once more.