“From the ashes, rise. Like a Phoenix, you will burst into flame.”
“So...Ashes of the Stars,” Chilly nodded along. “Makes sense, though I’m pretty scared of losing Vitality.”
“Honestly dude, you need the DPS.”
“Mhmm,” Chilly hummed. “You’re not wrong, but I’ve got Chaeli for that.”
“One, you no longer are,” the penguin pointed at Chaeli then Teluria and flexed its diminutive flippers. Then it pointed at Rahlin and slapped its chest twice. Lastly, it pointed at Sooty and tapped Chilly’s shield. “The greater your numbers, the stronger you end.”
“Rahlin’s the tank, huh,” Chilly scratched at his stubble. The rough hairs were getting out of hand. “So where do I fit in if we don’t need a tank or DPS?”
“Penguins live together,” Nobody shrugged.
“A penguin can't fly, but it can swim.”
Nobody stepped up and put a flipper on Mr. Lait’s shoulder. “One need not swim the fastest. We only hope you can swim the furthest.”
Mr. Lait looked at Nobody, little pink hearts appearing in the black voids of the penguin’s pupils.
“Focus on your strength,” they said together, looking deep into each other’s eyes. The air grew sultry. Nobody’s Realm Walker transformed into a headband with two wooden horns curling back from the temples. Likewise, Lait’s Realm Walker rippled and transformed into a suit of wooden Living Steel armor. The two penguins approached each other, their beaks opening in anticipation—
A colossal wooden bat with the letters BONK carved into the surface flattened the two embracing penguins.
The two penguins popped up, and their ornaments transformed back into wooden swords as they giggled uncontrollably. Mr. Chaos tapped its foot with a deep frown furrowing its brow, which only had the two penguins giggling harder.
Chilly ignored the penguins as he considered their words. “The more I think about it, the more I feel like the glue that holds the party together. I’ve got AOE healing, resistance buffs, and some minor damage to stop enemy regeneration. Hell, even the Chains of Subjugation can help my allies deal more fire damage.”
Another penguin shoved the giggling duo aside and shooed Mr. Chaos out of the way then looked up to Chilly. “Absolute power pierces through millions of skills.”
“And levels grant that.” Chilly nodded, just as another penguin floated on by.
The penguin was sitting in a lotus position at about chest height. Its head was shaved of feathers and a robe made of flexible wood covered its body. It floated up to Chilly and opened its eyes, then began to speak.
Except no sound came out.
“Uhuh,” Chilly nodded along as the penguin spoke. All the penguins around looked at their comrade and nodded along. Clearly, what the penguin was saying was important. “Uhuh, uhuh. I have no idea what you are saying.”
Mr. Dynamo remained taciturn and calmly continued to explain to Chilly a matter of great importance that he couldn’t hear at all.
“Ok,” Chilly said. “Let’s play twenty questions. You are also in support of Ashes?”
Mr. Dynamo nodded, taking a deep breath and placing both flippers on its core.
Chilly narrowed his eyes. “Monk, meditation, energy. Xianxia? Oh! Meridians. You’re saying that Ashes provides the most energy? No! The best foundation. I see. And Inoculation is specializing unnecessarily, and Vitality isn’t really building my foundation.”
Mr. Dynamo smiled, as another penguin floated up to inspect the penguin’s bald pate.
“The limit lies beyond the stars.”
“Ok,” Chilly nodded, “makes sense to me, but if that’s the case then we have a slight problem.”
Chilly slapped his thighs and got up. He made his way over to the others and grabbed their attention.
“Have you chosen a suitable skill yet?” Teluria asked, her eyes scanning his body for any visible signs of a new skill.
“Not yet, I just had a couple of administrative questions first,” Chilly said, then turned to Rahlin. “You’ve fought this guy before, right? What is he like? What is the plan for taking him out?”
“Sure, we can do a quick rundown of how the fight’ll go,” Rahlin started. “Hellbringer’s a big blob of flesh. A jacked-up gluttony demon, if any of you are familiar. It’s got a big stomach that splits into a mouth. Lotta nasty teeth. Don’t get swallowed.”
He gave each member of the party a meaningful glance.
“Hellbringer got a chain flail with heads at the ends. Each one hits for a different element or effect. Worst one is the ash-covered one, which I suppose is yours...Sooty. They inflict ailments and different damage types, but the main gist is don’t get hit. Luckily, only I should have to worry about the flail since I’m going to be the one getting all close and personal with the meat sack. I have a skill to cure ailments, and with Chilly’s healing and resistance buffs I should be fine to tank it for a good long while.”
“The other thing to worry ‘bout is the headless bodies followin’ it around. They got collars like Sooty ‘ere, and cast buff and healing spells on it. Real annoying to deal with ‘em since they have these shields ‘round them, but it shouldn’t be a big problem for us. Or for you.” Rahlin pointed at Chaeli.
“Your job is going to be to assassinate the headless healers with that teleport assassinate attack of yours. They aren’t going to let you whack them sitting down, so your going to need to bob in and out.”
Chaeli nodded her understanding.
“And me?” Chilly asked.
“You’ve got the boring job. Cover the arena in your sparkles and make sure all of us and the boss are always covered. Besides that, there are going to be adds coming from the walls. Don’t let them get to ‘im or he’ll eat ‘em and we’ll be back to square one.”
“Cover arena and kill adds, got it.” Chilly nodded.
“And I?” Telluria asked.
“You're our primary DPS. With Gar-Khan back in Tel...uh, the village,” Rahlin said, shooting Chilly a glance who stubbornly ignored it with a frown and crossed arms. “We’re going to need you to keep up the damage for as long and as hard as you can.”
“I can do that,” Teluria replied.
“Now, I know I asked this already, but you sure the Hellbringer won’t level match you, uh, Teluria?” Rahlin grunted.
“Oh, no. There is still some influence of the dungeon left on me. That beast should recognize me as an ally when we enter.”
“And you, soot man. You won’t join us?”
[I shall refrain from joining as I fear the Hellbringer would use my meager power against you] Sooty signed, which Chilly translated with the help of the penguins.
“Hmm, it’s still like a bloody cheat, bringing a level twenty into a level nineteen boss fight,” Rahlin grunted. “I’ll take it.”
“About that,” Chilly raised his hand sheepishly.
“What did you do?” Chaeli said.
“So, I got a skill that increases my level, and uh, I think I’m going to take it,” Chilly said.
The rest of the group stood still and silent for an awkwardly long moment.
The silence broke when Teluria giggled into her hand, which prompted Chaeli to stomp into his personal space.
“You filthy cheater. That’s why you asked me about breaking the level cap yesterday! How’d you do it?! Huh? How!”
Chilly backpedaled, holding his hands up to keep the raging Warforged away. “Uh, I don’t know. I swear, it just happened.”
“Y-you, you...Uh!” she threw her hands up and backed up. A fleck of ash touched down on her pristine pauldron.
“Blessed by the gods,” Rahlin murmured.
“I don’t—” Chilly started but paused when a penguin with an overly large baseball bat, that had the letters BONK carved onto the side, stomped up.
The penguin jumped up and bonked the large Dragonkin right on his crimson snout and elicited a sonorous crack.
“What—” Rahlin started, completely ignoring the penguin's attack, but Chilly forestalled the question with a raised hand.
“Hold on,” he said, watching as another penguin materialized beside the bat-wielder.
“Thanks. For. The. Chapter.” the second penguin said, punctuating each word by tapping Realm Walker on the hard ground while glaring at Rahlin.
“Ember has been disappoint! The Taken do not step first!” Mr. Chaos added, leaning the great bat onto its shoulder with a huff.
“Uh, Chilly?” Teluria asked demurely. “Why are you looking at my feet?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing, never mind.” Chilly said, turning back to Rahlin who had adopted a contemplative look. “I think if I’m being helped by anyone, it’s by the Royal Penguins.”
“I see...” Rahlin said, his lowered brows darkening his lizard eyes that scanned Chilly’s face.
“By the way,” Chilly continued, “does the name Ember mean anything to you?”
Rahlin stiffened, his meaty hands closing into tight sledgehammers.
“...it does.”
“Sorry,” Chilly said. The Dragonborn’s reaction indicated that he had hit a nerve with that remark. Or, the penguins had hit a nerve, as he was just repeating their words. “Didn’t mean to—”
“What did they say?” Rahlin interjected.
“Uhm,” Chilly shot his gaze to the others who only looked on with interest. Somehow this had turned into an interrogation. “Ember is a disappointment? Has been disappointed. Something, I don’t know. There was also something about the Taken not stepping in as well.”
Rahlin, Teluria and Sooty all froze. Staring - or in Sooty’s case, facing - at Chilly with wide eyes.
“Wait I recognize that. Taken...” Chaeli said. “Who were they again?”
“Old gods,” Rahlin whispered.
Teluria giggled again and then skipped up to Chilly. She grabbed his arm and pressed her chest up against his armored bicep.
“You’re our little hero!”
Chilly chuckled awkwardly, a flush rising to his cheeks as he awkwardly pried the elf off of his arm.
“So, yeah. Uh. Will the skill make the boss higher level?”
“Definitely,” Rahlin rumbled, staring at Chilly before looking away with a wry shake of his head. “It should be fine if you don’t take the skill until after the fight. Your role in the upcoming battle should be manageable with your current configuration.”
“Is everyone ok with that?” Chilly asked. “I’m going in with only seven skills.”
The rest of the group nodded and after another session of grilling Rahlin for details and triple-checking that all of their augments were in order, they pushed open the great doors leading to Hellbringer’s Domain.
Chilly dismissed the notification and stepped deeper into what was a large chamber whose ceiling was lost in a hazy brimstone cloud. His nose twitched as an acrid burning assaulted his nostrils and he sensed his life regeneration spool up to stop the damage over time.
In the center of the chamber stood a great throne decorated with numerous skulls and bones of various creatures. Atop the throne sat a blob of flesh. Horribly distended rolls of fat drooped over the sides of the throne. The skin was a mottled grayish-red with tufts of hair growing out in random intervals as if the creature was covered in dozens of overgrown moles. Two chunky arms gripped a black-iron flail with a half dozen chains connected to a mound of skulls languishing on its stomach. The head and legs where no where to be seen. Presumably hidden beneath its bulk.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Beside the throne, a group of headless humanoids stood with chains leading to an iron loop held loosely in the boss’ other hand. Their clothes were shabby and mismatched with holes through which open wounds and sores were visible.
If those aren’t undead of some sort, I’ll eat my boot, Chilly thought as his domain rushed to fill the huge chamber. The wave enveloped the boss and its minions in purple embers and radiant green mist that instantly went to work to weaken and damage the enemies.
A shudder rippled across the layers of fat. Where the nipples should have been on the fat blob, two horizontal slits appeared and spread to reveal baleful bloodshot eyes that rolled around until they settled upon the newcomers. Beneath the eyes, another slit - far more massive and nearly entirely encompassing the breadth of the mound - opened to reveal rows of shark-like teeth and a colossal tongue slathered in thick saliva.
The boss smacked its lips and began to speak—
The penguin snapped its flippers and silence descended upon Chilly. He looked in askance at the penguin but paused when he spotted his companions grimacing at whatever the boss was saying.
“Thanks,” Chilly said, to which Mr. Xenix nodded.
“As your dim corrupting spark, Lights the mortals in the dark,” Mr. Xenix intoned, gesturing to the softly smoldering boss. “Though I know not what you are, Hurtful, hateful, baleful star.”
A flipper lifted, then cut down to signify the start of the battle.
Chilly grinned as sound returned. “Light ‘em up!”
Their group burst into motion as protective red bubbles spawned around the healers. Rahlin roared and blurred forwards as a plethora of phantom dragon claws appeared around his cast-iron scales. Teluria raised her palm and a portal of shifting blue spun into existence. A second later, her canted eyes narrowed further and a meter-long lance of ice with a glowing red core shot out of the portal with enough velocity to tear the air.
The spears shot forwards so fast that they didn’t even have enough time to arc down before they crashed into the boss and injected their superheated payload deep within its skin.
“Fresh Meat!”
The boss roared, shaking the chamber and causing little pebbles to fall from the ceiling as it lumbered to its feet. The group of headless healers began to glow with green, yellow, and blue light as wounds across the boss’ surface healed and strengthened, only for more ice spears to revert the recovery.
Chilly nodded in satisfaction and jogged forwards to completely cover the great arena in his domain. Chaeli had completely vanished, and Rahlin was just about to slam into the boss, but his job in this fight would be different.
“Minions! Aid me!”
All around the edges of the arena, monsters appeared. Humanoid zombies crawled out of cracks in the floor as spiders chittered down from the ceiling. Hounds with glowing red eyes snarled and spat as they emerged from dark caves. All were level seventeen; two levels below the boss.
The moment they stepped into the chamber the Smoldering Embers in the air alighted on their skin and wails spread as the balefire burned. The monsters recovered from the shock and began to sprint towards the boss. Despite the chaos-infused fire eating away at their flesh, Chilly’s vastly reduced life meant that the power of the embers was but a faint echo of what it once was, and the monsters managed to push through the damage to rush to the aid of their progenitor.
Chilly shook his head and sprinted towards the nearest monsters. Star Fuel ripped out and tickled the monsters, but a quick use of Flame Dash spread a huge area of burning ground beneath the monsters which sufficiently empowered the Smoldering Embers to vaporize the charging monsters.
Chilly continued to sprint, doing a lap around the boss, and physically tackling a particularly tough hellhound just before it could leap into the Hellbringer’s open and waiting maw. The close range and burning ground quickly eradicated the hound, and Chilly rolled to his feet to continue clearing the adds.
He spammed Flame Dash at every opportunity, though he made sure not to spread the burning ground beneath the boss itself because the ground effect did not discriminate and would damage his allies as well. The first couple laps were the toughest, with monsters nearly making it to the boss before he managed to catch them. The longer the fight progressed, however, the more he could spam Flame Dash and the more burning ground he could summon. The minute duration ground effect smoldered darkly in a tight ring around the boss and filled the outskirts of the arena in an impenetrable wall of fire.
Monsters died. Screams resounded as monsters fell into a raging inferno a second after their summonings. Chilly continued, using Flame Dash as often as he could and running laps around the boss to clear any tougher monsters that neared the boss with personal uses of Star Fuel.
“Food! Give Me Food!”
Chilly idly glanced at the boss and blinked at the carnage. Only three healers remained, with eviscerated bodies spread chaotically around the arena. Blood leaked out of frozen and cauterized wounds on the boss as a hail of projectiles beat back its impressive bulk from an array of six swirling blue portals. A blizzard of razor-sharp snowflakes danced and cut, while somehow avoiding the bobbing and weaving Dragonborn who worked to avoid the multiple heads of the flail with impeccable agility.
“Beware of the spine goblin traveler!”
Chilly’s gaze snapped up and he spotted a hunched gray humanoid with spines along its back slinked along a wire hanging over the center of the arena. The goblin reached the center, and the moment that it was positioned above the boss’ mouth it let out a victorious cry and jumped off.
Chilly’s eyes narrowed and he took a running leap and doubled tapped Flame Dash to teleport into the air above the boss.
The spines of the goblin jabbed into him, but his momentum prevailed and he and the goblin went flying over the side. The goblin wailed, scratching and biting him which had Starfire Aegis and Aegis Aurora flare in reaction.
Spoiler
They landed in a mess of limbs within the raging inferno of the burning ground. Chilly stood and fended off the enraged goblin with his shields as Star Fuel ripped out in starts and spurts whenever his life dipped below full.
In the time it took for flame dash to come off cooldown the goblin burned away.
Chilly took a breath and wiped some ash off his shoulders. Then, he rolled his shoulders and sprinted back into the action.
Nearly a thousand low-leveled mobs and three more sneaky spine goblins later, the main group finally managed to take out the Hellbringer.
Chilly slowed to a stop and put his hands on his knees as he panted. The body of the boss was rapidly decomposing under the effect of Smoldering Embers. Each of the chains connecting the boss to its slaves also began to burn. A line of black fire spread like a fuse out of the room towards where Sooty was waiting at the entrance.
“The head! Quickly!” Chilly wheezed and a blur of darkness quickly grabbed the black head impaled on the end of the flail and sprinted out of the room before Chilly’s fire could vaporize it.
A second of silence passed then:
“I’m fReeEEeeEEEeee!” an alien voice sounded from the open gates and a soot-stained humanoid sprinted in. His arms raised, trailing waves of ash that billowed off of him in waves to reveal pale gray skin underneath. He did a lap of the room, shedding the final layers of ash before he stopped with bright eyes in the center.
He grabbed Teluria by the hands and spun her around. Both of them laughing with faces full of joy, before Sooty couldn’t handle it anymore and let go of the maiden’s hands and sprinted again around the arena periodically letting out whoops of excitement.
Chilly smiled and plopped down, watching the gray-skinned man express his jubilation.
Sooty finished his lap, and his eyes settled on Chilly. He ran over and grabbed Chilly’s hands.
“Thank you! Thank you, so much!” Sooty grinned wide, revealing a pair of elongated incisors, almost like a vampire. “I can’t thank you enough. Oh, I have a gift. Yes, a gift. Here. I? Yes. One second.”
Sooty sprinted out of the room before Chilly could tell him that it wasn’t necessary. He ran back, holding his hammer loosely in his grip.
“Here, for you,” Sooty said, shoving the blacksmithing implement into Chilly’s hands, then yanked it back and grabbed Chilly’s hand and tapped the ugly iron bracelet with the tip of the hammer. The heavy iron cracked and fell to the ground and Chilly felt his life and armor diminish slightly.
Sooty then flicked some iron flakes off his arm and shoved the hammer into his hands.
“You don’t have to,” Chilly started, but Sooty shook his head and reached into his pocket with shaking hands. He brought out a necklace crafted of delicate swirls of gold and jade depicting a stylized cross or an ornate hammer.
“I want you to have it. I’m done using that infernal thing, and this necklace is just payment for making you wear that horrid thing for so long. You can throw them in a lava pool if you don’t want them, but I hope you use them well.” Sooty said, his energy noticeably reducing from earlier.
“Well, ok. Thanks then. I’ll use both...well.” Chilly said, glancing down at the hammer as Sooty skipped to Teluria with a wide grin.
Hammer of Barad-dur
Convert up to 10 Essences of Steel to Essences of Branding
30h cooldown
Essences of Branding
Brand a random explicit on an item
Brand: Mod cannot be modified or removed
It was similar to Teluria’s horn, except instead of creating Essences of Exchange, it created Essences of Branding. He already had several ideas on how he could use the new essences to craft epic-level gear.
He put the hammer away and turned to study the amulet.
Legendary? And six mods? Chilly raised a brow as he considered the necklace. It was only level twelve which was suboptimal but having two extra mods on the item might make up for it. When he got back to the village he would ask around for a method of raising the level of an item.
Chaeli called him over, and Chilly halted his ruminations to join her and Rahlin around the loot the boss had dropped.
“Look at this,” Chaeli said, picking up a skull-shaped mask with flames dancing along its surface. “It would fit you so well!”
“That would be pretty good for me,” Chilly agreed, then turned towards an iridescent octahedron that lay untouched on the ground.
“Who is taking the soul fragment?” Chilly asked.
“Already got it,” Rahlin rumbled, his arms crossed over his chest. “It gives increased fire damage, so it’s best on you.”
Chaeli pouted, to which Rahlin snorted. “We can kill this boss again if you really want it, little one. With Chilly properly taking care of the horde and you clearing out the healers it ain't so bad.”
That brightened her up, and without further ado, Chilly grabbed the silver object and watched as it melded with his skin.
You have gained the Blessing Of Tyranny
10% increased fire damage
His cape flared, and the embers in the air blazed bright as all his magic grew stronger from the blessing.
Chilly stood, taking a deep breath. He had one final task before this whole thing would be done. He brought up his interface and scrolled to the skill offerings. He focused on Ashes of the Stars and gasped as the skill settled into his bones.
Light pulsed through his skin as his bones began to glow with incandescent radiance. He threw his head back, his mouth falling open as his eyes were flooded with light from behind.
His companions took several steps back and even Sooty’s wild euphoria was briefly slaked as they turned to stare.
A minute passed in rapture. Waves of light played underneath his skin. Ever so slowly, the lights faded to just a faint luminance. With a gasp and half-lidded eyes, Chilly lowed his head and slowly sank to the floor. He brought up the tooltip for his new skill and when his eyes finally managed to focus he couldn’t help but laugh.
Ashes of the Stars
Stardust gathers in your bones and acts as a catalyst to empower every other skill in your arsenal.
2 levels
End of Arc 2: The Wendigo
This ends the midgame. I originally planned this book in three segments. In the early game he would struggle. In the mid game he would be about even, and in the endgame - once he collected the guardians - he would shoot past the power level of the dungeon and start steam rolling. I’m not sure I’ll go that far, but with several weeks of peace and rest to farm up and optimize his gear, Sooty is going to be...a force to be reckoned with.
If you’ve made it this far...damn. Thanks. You’re chill. If you haven’t...damn. Message me. I’d love to know how you know to message me without reading this message.
I may be taking a bit of a hiatus, so now is the time to write a scathing review or leave a comment on this chapter how you think the last arc went. (Too fast? Too slow? Wendigo was boring? The bosses weren't bossy enough? Not enough mermaids? etc...)
Anyway, I’ve got a few ideas and was wondering if y’all would give a story idea I had a critical eye. If you are willing to listen to me ramble that is (this AN is longer then the chapter up above, lol).
In an ill fated dungeon run that almost leads to a full party wipe, a burgeoning mage loots a ring in a vain hope of recouping his losses. The ring, however, is cursed, sealing away his magic and mana behind an enigmatic interface and the whims of fate.
Follow along to see how a mage - who can't properly prepare spells - survives and thrives in a traditional fantasy world of sword and sorcery.
This is a reader interactive story where comments and rep will grant the main character temporary access to magic spells. Whether he becomes an archmage or struggles with only the most basic attack spells is entirely up to you to decide.
You may find the rules for providing spells in the AN at the end of every chapter. Do note that only spells offered in the most recent few chapters will be incorporated into the story.
The magic system will evolve as the story progresses.
My idea is that you start with a right git, and we give him shitty spells in the beginning and when he becomes nicer later we start giving him better spells. Maybe introduce a quest system?
Current maximum spell length: 1
Runes: ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Spell Rules:
Comments that contain a runic combination in brackets (ie. [ ? ? ? ]) will be put up for consideration if it isn’t already up for consideration. Runes can be repeated ([ ? ? ? ] is valid), however if the runic combination exceeds the current maximum spell length, then the left most runes will be used to determine the spell (ie. [ ? ? ? ] becomes [ ? ? ] if the maximum length is 2).
Once a spell is up for consideration, it will appear at the end of every chapter in a poll with a name and a short description of its effect for your convenience. The highest voted spell will be removed from the list, named and given to Snap during the following dawn. The name will be based on the username of the person who originally suggested it. (ie. Flamebeard Fantastical Fireball). If you desire to name the spell yourself, please put that in the comment (though I ask that your name be descriptive).
To keep the polls short, only 5 spells will ever be considered at a time following a first in, first out method.
A spell’s tier is the length of its runic combination. (ie. [ ? ? ? ] is a 3rd tier spell, while [ ? ? ? ? ? ] is a 5th tier spell). Higher tier spells are generally more powerful, but because I am human and can make mistakes, I urge you to point out balance problems where you spot them.
As an additional challenge, higher tier spells will require cooperation to send following the formula (Tier*10%). (ie. 3rd tier spells require 30% of the votes on a poll, while 7th tier spells require 70%). If a poll fails to produce a valid spell, I will choose the most fitting tier 1 spell.
At the end of every major arc, the maximum spell length (highest tier you can send) will increase by one.
a lot of comments, and the rep counting sheet is really big by this point. It might be good because as the book progresses people stop sending tier 1s and start sending higher tiers which will counteract the growing reader population. shrug
“Troll behind!” Mia screamed.
“Busy,” I roared back, summoning up the spell matrix for [Chain Lightning]. My mana pathways groaned, little pulses of angry red appearing along my arms as I pushed my body to its limits.
“Weavers descending,” Jason said, his voice carrying but containing all the peace of a combat veteran. “Murnoc, get that shield up. Now!”
Murnoc grunted, his hand clutching at a cracked stump of one of his orcish tusks, but lifted his scepter anyway and a burst of holy energy coalesced into a golden semi-translucent shield that blocked the terrier sized spiders from above.
“Jason, down!” I barked, unleashing a torrent of crackling blue energy right over the warrior’s head and into the nearly endless stream of goblins harassing our flank. The lightning crashed into the first goblin with almost physical force, knocking the little green creature into its brethren even as every muscle in its body spasmed from the tier five spell frying its nerves. Then, my spell jumped to the next goblin wreaking havoc with its nervous system. Then the next. And the next.
Within a heartbeat the first twenty meters of the tunnel became full of smoking, spasming goblin corpses, and a thick smog that stunk of burnt flesh and sewage.
“Ugh,” Mia gagged. “Snap, we talked about this. Use [Rock Wave] underground.”
I suppressed a grin, refreshing my [Clean Air] spell. It was always fun messing with Mia, and besides it wasn’t as if I had to deal with the smell.
“Save it,” Jason said curtly. “Murnoc, slow the troll. Rest of you, formation four. We break through.”
Murnoc whimpered in his typically grotesque orcish tongue as he began begging some nebulous deity for borrowed power. A second later, gossamer golden strands flew out into the hallway and anchored themselves to the walls. The Troll smashed into them, completely oblivious to the spell, and stumbled as the strands wrapped around him. It tottered for a second, then fell face first as its hulking body was entirely entombed by the power of a deity.
“[Shield Charge]!” Jason roared.
I stepped in behind him, shadowing the only decently competent member of our party as he bulled forwards, throwing burnt goblin corpses every which way. Mia hid like a coward as per usual. I put her out of my mind as I began to channel another spell just as Jason reached the end of the magnificent carnage my spell wrought.
“[Flame Shield]!” I said and Jason’s tower shield became wreathed in tongues of superheated plasma. I winced and stumbled as half my vision turned red when a blood vessel in my left eye ruptured from the overdrawn mana.
“Nearly out!” I managed to gasp, just as Jason crashed into the horde.
“[Stone Bulwark]” Jason roared, and his body took on a gray cast as he shoved his shield forwards. The goblins didn’t stand a chance. Broken and burnt bodies flew through the air as Jason’s mass-enhancing spell turned his shield charge into a wrecking ball of building dropping proportions.
Jason whipped out his slender longsword, somehow managing to slice any stragglers with elegant thrusts as he passed. I slunk behind him, making sure that as much of my mass was blocked by his formidable bulk as I saw a flicker of shadow to my side.
I whipped around only to see Mia rip out her serrated dagger from a goblin’s eye that sprayed my once immaculate robes with a mixture of red and clear liquids.
“Watch it,” I groused, surreptitiously shoving the goblin away with an unformed spellform that made my muscles twinge at the effort. Mia gave me a look, as if it wasn’t her fault that I was now filthy, and slunk away.
I lost sight of her, and swore under my breath as the momentary distraction put a gap between Jason and I. I tried to catch up, but a goblin straggler covered in burns from head to toe staggered to its feet and turned on me with madness in its eyes.
“Uh, help!” I called out, pitching my voice higher to catch the attention of my party members.
The goblin screamed an unintelligible warcry, spraying me with flying drops of spittle, and charged with a malformed dagger of bent iron raised high. Jason spun from the front, high eyes alighting on my plight.
“[Wind Slash],” He whipped his sword, sending a heroic distortion of air that decapitated the offending goblin just as a pair of goblins jumped onto his back and stabbed him with their improvised equipment.
“Argh!” Jason grunted in a very manly manner as another three goblins landed on his back and despite his warrior’s strength they dragged him to the ground. Mia appeared from the shadows with her daggers raised, but her constant hiding meant she was too slow.
“[Thunderwave]!”
A crack of electrical yellow energy blasted out from my hand, bowling Mia over, and clearing the goblins from Jason’s back in one efficient intonation. Jason easily tanked the electrical energies and rolled to his feet with only a small amount of smoke rising from his singed leathers.
“I can’t hold ‘em back much longer boss,” Murnoc stammered from behind. I spun and saw the Troll flex and snap a half dozen golden threads.
Jason staggered to his feet, using the wall as support as his free hand put pressure on a red spot on his lower back.
“Mia, Murnoc, on the troll. Snap, Weavers.” Jason managed to gasp out, as he downed a red potion and then a green potion in rapid succession. With renewed energy he raced past me to engage the large troll despite how futile it would be without my great magics.
I looked up, and saw Murnoc’s golden shield flicker as he failed in the most basic of multi-spell casting. With a sigh, I downed my last blue mana potion and shuddered as I felt the alchemical mixture artificially increase my mana production. A stabbing headache assaulted me, as I spooled my mana to once again save these hopeless losers.
“[Marrow Blight]” I whispered, a sadistic gleam in my eye as the purple miasma of the spell slipped past Murnoc’s deity’s shield and sunk into the first of the Weavers. It shuddered, pustules of lymph oozing from the joints in its exoskeleton as its mandibles clicked frantically while its body decayed. I grinned, shooting a basic mana bolt at it to speed its fall only for the spell to shatter harmlessly against the golden shield.
Hairline fractures spread across the shield, the feeble formation unable to block even the most basic of my spells. I frowned, annoyed that I would have to wait, but then I smiled as the first spider collapsed under the [Marrow Blight]. A wave of purple mist spread out from its corpse and blasted outwards to consume the entire horde of dog-sized spiders. They wailed, halting their chittering assault of the cracking golden barrier as rot began to ooze out of their many eyes.
Then the barrier broke.
Jason had barely a second to register the new threat before he was rudely buried beneath nearly a tonne of rotting arachnid flesh. Purple spores exploded outwards, catching the Troll and all three of my teammates in a circle of hideous rot.
“Argh!” Murnoc whimpered, clutching at his broken tusk that had begun oozing a red-tinged pale yellow fluid. Mia instantly vanished and appeared in a - relatively - safer section of the tunnel as weeping sores appeared all across her skin.
Naturally Jason took my spell best, even managing to shove off the spider gunk stuck to his back and impale the Troll in heart. It gurgled, and lashed out with ponderous limbs, catching our fearless leader in the chest and launching him across the hallway.
The Troll stumbled, barely catching itself with a hand on the wall.
The rend over its heart rippled, the flesh healing even as more purple spores seeped directly into its bloodstream. The dumb beast let out a confused mewl as it suddenly lost its balance and tipped over. Its extremities twitched as the poison was pumped directly into its brain and fried its nervous system.
I grinned. As usual I had somehow managed to defeat all the remaining enemies with just a single spell. I really was the best.
“Backstabbing slimy git!” Mia croaked through cracked lips. “I shoulda known. You’re a PKer!”
I scoffed. What a ridiculous claim. For what reason would I ever kill my own teammates? The very concept was preposterous. Just because she was hit by one of my little spells didn’t mean I was out to get her. Besides, I could end the spell anytime I wanted. She was never in any real danger.
I ignored the paranoid girl, and shuffled up to the Troll and unleashed a low powered [Magic Bolt] directly into its brain. I leaned down and confirmed that it really was dead, and then I canceled the [Marrow Blight].
“Haa...” Murnoc gurgled, falling over and expelling a disgusting yellow and black stream of liquid I won’t even bother describing out of every orifice. The disgusting orc was practically more monster than man. Why the civilized races even bothered letting these monsters into our cities was anyone's guess. As far as I had figured out, the reason was steeped in pity.
“Relax, Mia. I stopped the spell.” I said, moving over to the crumpled form of Jason. It would be a damn shame if he died. It was so hard to replace a good leader.
“You...left that on...for longer than necessary,” Mia coughed, guzzling three red health potions in rapid succession, which barely made a dent on the massive damage done to her fragile rogue’s body. It was a shock that she even survived. Without any defensive passives, I would have expected her to keel over after only a second of being exposed to my spell. Maybe she was hiding one? Yeah, that made sense. She was a filthy rogue after all.
“Longer than necessary?” I exclaimed. “I had to make sure that the Troll was dead, didn’t I? If I stopped the spell before it was dead, then it would have healed up in a second and killed us all before we could have recovered.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have needed to recover if you didn’t douse us with high-level magic!” Mia rebuked.
“Pshh. That was nothing. I am capable of far grander feats. Anyway, I did what was necessary to save us all,” I said, making a basic medical check of Jason’s broken body. Luckily, he was breathing. Unluckily, he had broken his pelvis in at least three different places and was currently unconscious. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand. Growing up in sewers and all.”
“You...you...high class bastard!” Mia screamed, immediately falling into a fit of coughing that threw specks of blood all across her toned legs.
“Name calling are we?” I retorted. It was always fun arguing with Mia, but I was mostly focused on Jason. I could try to fix him up, but that would take a lot of mana, and I was already running on fumes. Even if I healed him up with my best healing spell, he would be a cripple until he saw a proper healer. I was pretty awesome, but even I didn’t know all of the high tier recovery spells required to repair the damaged nerves and bone marrow resulting from a shattered pelvis.
In other words. He was out of commission for this run.
Damn.
Anyway.
“Do you have any more potions, Mia?” I said, gesturing to Jason. “I think he’s dying.”
That shut her up, and had her rushing over. Her fingers fluttered over his injuries and after a moment came to the same conclusion I had: The man would live, but without a dedicated - and expensive - healer he wouldn’t ever walk again.
“Can you heal him? I’m out of potions.” she asked, not taking her puppy dog eyes off of the broken man.
“No, my specialty is attack magic as you should already know.”
“We’ll just have to carry him back to the surface. Oh, Jason,” she murmured, caressing his blood-caked cheeks. “It’s going to be alright, I’ll get you out of here.”
Ugh.
I rolled my eyes - behind her back of course - and shuffled over to the prone orc. His condition was even more disgusting than before if that could be believed. Various fluids dribbled out of every orifice and sores covered his body. His eyes were glassy and staring, and it didn’t appear like he was breathing.
I curled my lip in disgust. No way was I going to touch him to see if he was still alive.
“[Detect Life]” I whispered, channeling as little energy as I could into the cantrip, but it still burned like firebrand whiskey coming out.
I hissed, barely registering the feedback from the spell that informed me of Murnoc’s passing. I stood, shaking out my hand to get rid of the tingling as I looked around. Behind us, the tunnel was partially blocked by the remains of the Troll and Weavers. Around us lay the massacre of the goblins. Ahead, however, the corridor ended in a ornate stone door that had a depiction of a snakehead whose fangs protruded on either side of a keyhole recessed deep within its throat.
“Come on, at least let’s get him into the safe room over there.” I said, already moving.
Mia looked up and nodded. “Yeah, more Weavers could rain down on us at any moment.”
Well duh, I shook my head then went to help her drag Jason next to the door. The man was obscenely heavy, partly due to his armor, but also because his large frame was at least a hundred stone by itself. It only reaffirmed my conviction to not waste mana on him. There was no way that he would be able to walk around even if I did manage to repair him.
Mia fell to the side, panting and coughing up some more specks of red. “Can you open it?”
I snorted and wiggled my fingers to limber them up. [Detect Trap] revealed nothing but a plain keyhole. A keyhole that we were lacking the key for, but that would be no problem for a mage of my stature. I popped the cork on my wineskin and a quick cast of [Manipulate Water] had a stream of diluted wine streaming in to fill the keyhole.
The wine picked up dust and gunk from the inside of the keyhole. Disgusting, but I could just swap my wineskin for Jason’s or Mia’s later. I flexed my magical might and the liquid pressed deeper, filing every nook and cranny and applying a torsional force to apply pressure to the pins. A series of clicks resounded and I felt the whole assembly rotate the faintest margins.
I grinned, instantly casting a modified [Ice Lance] to flash freeze the wine. The spell took hold, sucking water out of the air to bolster the volume until I had a fairly decent handle of ice that became more red the closer it grew to the keyhole. With a triumphant twist I rotated the ice-key and I heard a satisfying kerchunk.
“No problem!” I said as the whole door slid to the side revealing a small, torchlit room with a single ornate wooden chest sitting innocently in the center.
Bingo!
Mia struggled to her feet and dragged Jason - with my help - into the room then collapsed once more.
“Can you get Murnoc?” She said, clutching at her chest like a drama queen.
“Hmm?” I said, ignoring her antics and inspecting the chest for traps or signs that it was a mimic. “He died to the Weavers. Bite right to the neck.”
Mia’s mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish. It was kind of cute in a retarded sort of way.
“You could at least pretend to be sad,” Mia glared at me, which I pointedly ignored.
“I barely knew the guy,” I said, having concluded that the chest was just a normal container, devoid of traps. With a grunt of effort I tossed open the lid to reveal a veritable dragon’s horde of dramas and jewels. I couldn’t help but whistle. Long and low.
“Oh, damn,” Mia whispered, and I instantly went on guard. Rogues were known to steal things like this all the time. She gulped. “That is a lot of...a lot.”
“Yes,” I said, wary. “Turns out my informant was right. Looks like we’re going to be rich.”
“We can use this to fix up Jason.” Mia whispered, still in awe at my find. “Maybe even revive Murnoc if we can get to the surface quick enough.”
I blinked. That was...monumentally stupid. All our hard work would just vanish in a blink of an eye. I scanned the contents of the chest with a critical eye. It would probably be enough to heal up Jason, but a revive was expensive, and there was no way the semi-intelligent baboon had shilled out for life-insurance.
Mia started to cry for some inexplicable reason and rushed over to Jason’s prone form.
“Oh, Jason. It’s going to be alright. We found a windfall. We’re going to get you to the surface and heal—”
Mia keeled over with a hole in the back of her skull.
I shook out my hand, my mana pathways literally trembling from overuse. I knelt beside Jason, and sighed. It really was a shame. He was a competent leader. Nothing for it though, it was better to die quickly and cleanly than to be eaten alive by monsters. I took Mia’s fallen dagger and sliced his throat, making sure to stay clear of the spray of blood.
I would have preferred to use a [Magic Bolt] like I had with Mia, but I was all tapped out. Permanently breaking my pathways in one of my arms wasn’t worth it to have a slightly more elegant method of killing.
I wiped my hands on a relatively clean section of Mia’s cloak and retrieved the tiny dimensional bag strapped to Jason’s waist. I made my way over to the chest and began to shovel coins and jewels into the bag when suddenly a glimmer of emerald caught my eye.
A silver ring looking like a snake consuming a beryl gemstone lay on top of the coins. Its surface shone in a high shine, as if polished by the greatest jewelsmiths in Miridon.
“This just gets better and better!” I crowed, lifting up the ring and examining it with [Appraise]. I blinked in shock. “A huge dimensional bag?”
I instantly slipped the ring on, pleased that it fit over my ring finger perfectly. Naturally considering how powerful of a magic artifact it was. The tiny dimensional bag we had could barely hold a large rucksack’s contents, and only slightly reduced the weight. But this was a huge dimensional bag which meant I could literally store a small apartment into it and it would weigh practically nothing to boot.
A glimmer passed over the ring and I felt a wave of rejuvenating mana pass over my abused mana channels. I couldn’t help but moan in relief as the power soothed my aches.
“And it heals mana pathways too!” An ear splitting grin split my face as I held the ring up to the light. It was a little gaudy but that was more than worth it to have these benefits. Actually, it kind of suited me. Yeah, it was a ring for a high mage. No. An Archmage!
I laughed amidst the corpses.
“Let’s see what’s in you already.” I said, sending a sliver of mana into the ring. Instead of an instinctual knowledge of its contents a strange blue box appeared in my vision.
Dimensional Storage (Empty)
Available Spell(s): (None)
“That’s strange,” I murmured. It was odd to have a visual representation as it required unnecessary extra frameworks to support the interface but that only reinforced the artifact’s quality. The second line was a little strange. A list of spells was more than a little odd for a storage artifact. Clearly it wasn’t talking about the spells I knew since it was displaying ‘None’, but perhaps it was able to store spells as well as physical objects?
That would be stupendous. Being able to cast a plethora of high powered spells right before a battle would be a game changer. I would be able to travel the lands and pay skilled healers to fill up the artifact with life saving remedies or even [Resurrect] spells. I rubbed my wizardly beard with anticipation but a second later my rumination was interrupted by the interface floating in front of me.
As I watched the emerald flared and the second line changed.
Available Spell(s): |?| |?| |?| |?| |?| |?| |?|
“Old Syrrilic?” I muttered with a frown. That was an...ancient language. Extinct for millennia. Even I only vaguely recognized it from my extensive studies. The fact that the artifact was using the Old Runes meant that it predated...well, everything.
“Let’s see,” I said. “The first rune looks remarkably like Ure, which has many meanings but if it is referring to a spell then it must be [Magic Bolt—.”
The interface changed.
Available Spell(s): |?:Magic Bolt| |?| |?| |?| |?| |?| |?|
I grinned.
For a moment there, I was worried that the artifact would be fiendishly difficult to use due to the language barrier, but the fact that it allowed me to update the names of the spells to their modern equivalents was just another mark in its favor. It truly was an incredible find.
Now, I just needed to confirm that I could actually use the spells stored within. I raised my hand to point at the far wall. Then, I channeled my mana through my recently healed channels and into the ring. Instantly I felt the artifact respond and the runes for each of the seven spells pulsed in my mind. I chose Ure, and to my delight a blast of pure white energy shot out of my hand to splash over the far wall.
“Looks like I can use the stored spells,” I hummed to myself and pulled up the interface.
Available Spell(s): |?| |?| |?| |?| |?| |?|
“As expected, the spell is consumed by the casting,” I said, with a sage-like nod. “Now, can I charge a spell into the artifact?”
Once again, I raised my hand up high, and prepared a basic [Magic Bolt] spell. The - oh so familiar - spell matrix sprung to the forefront of my mind and I prepared to push it through to the ring when suddenly the mana drained and my head twinged with minor backlash.
[Magic Bolt] unavailable
“What do you mean unavailable?” I frowned. I tried again but received a similar result.
I muttered unintelligibly as I used all my senses to try to figure out what went wrong. On a whim, I tried to cast the spell normally, but before the magic could even coalesce, it withered and sparked up my channels. I winced, my frown growing stormy.
“Is this ring eating my mana or something?” I said, moving to grab the ring but just as my fingers closed around it, it vanished and reappeared on the pointer finger of my other hand. I blinked, moving to grab it again, but it once more teleported to a different finger.
A hint of fear trickled into my consciousness. This was how cursed items behaved, but my appraisal didn’t say that it was cursed. The spell couldn’t have failed to detect something so basic. It just couldn’t.
Resolutely, I return to testing my spells. It takes nearly a whole hour of painstaking mental gymnastics and by the end I am panting with wild eyes.
None of my spells worked. Every single one fizzled and the strange blue box informed me that the spell wasn’t available. It was like I lost the ability to cast spells in the first place.
“Argh!” I roared my frustration into the air, once more ripping at the teleporting ring, but nothing I did could remove it from my hand.
An answering roar sounds through the corridor, and I froze. Slowly, with jerky movements I turned to stare down the corridor as another roar shook the corridor.