Stygian Mage

Soren stood there in a daze, staring at the image. He broke out of his daze after a while and looked at the shopkeeper.

“Can you please tell me, what is this?”

Soren pointed at the image of the gun and asked. “Oh, that’s kind of a projectile shooter. It was developed by one of the ‘Travelers’ and she named it ‘Gun’.”

Soren raised his eyebrows at the revelation. “Can you tell me how it works?” He asked the shopkeeper.

Although he was not a gun expert, he knew more than enough about them. He wondered if that Traveler had somehow invented gunpowder in this world.

“Of course” The shopkeeper took out a black case from inside a drawer and brought out a gun from it. He then disassembled it and started explaining to Soren.

“This is based on the system of spell casting. The bullet acts like a ‘one-time’ use Spell Vessel and is loaded with a small piece of mana crystal which powers the Spell Vessel. This trigger here is used to activate it.” The shopkeeper briefly explained the process to Soren.

“The mana crystal inside the bullet breaks apart when the trigger is pulled and supplies mana to the Spell Vessel, which then gets activated. The explosion, created by the spell, pushes the projectile forward at a high speed, towards the pointed target.”

The shopkeeper slowly explained with some gestures and then gave a demonstration on how to use the gun to Soren.

“So, even this is powered by mana,” Soren muttered in a low voice.

He then looked through the list and chose one of the standard ones from it. The gun he chose had a gray and black color outer surface. Although there were some differences, it was quite similar to the pistol from his homeworld.

“It costs 60 low-grade mana crystals. It comes with 3 magazines with 11 bullet capacity and a holster to keep it.”

The shopkeeper calculated and stated the price to Soren.

Soren nodded and gave him his card. He also bought around 50 bullets which cost him about 25 mana crystals.

After finishing the transaction, he was left with about 130 mana crystals. Soren took his card back, picked the gun case and went out of the building.

………

He then went towards the Hunter’s Association’s building. He was already exposed so he wanted to change his personal information now. He went into the building and went towards the counter desk.

It was not Cecilia this time but a different girl sitting behind the counter desk for humans. He handed his Hunter I.D over to her and asked her to update his status from a Non-Initiator to an Initiator.

“Please pass mana through this crystal sphere.” She took out a transparent crystal ball and asked Soren to supply mana into it. He did as asked and soon the ball lit up, confirming the presence of mana.

“Congratulations on becoming an Initiator, Sir. We provide some special privileges to the Initiators which will also be provided to you. As a beginner, you will gain access to high-level jobs, storage, item teleportation and some of the common stuff like a reduced penalty on leaving the job after accepting or failing to complete it. You will also be paid more for the same job as compared to a Non-Initiator.”

She updated his information and handed his Hunter I.D back to him. It was now black colored and his name was written on the top with silver letters.

He nodded as he took back his card. After finishing the process, he went out of the building.

……..

The sun was already nearing the horizon and the sky looked bloody red.

He didn’t have anything else to do now so he just went to the library. After paying the fee for 1 day, he started browsing the books.

He started reading different types of books and made Isaac copy all of them.

Going through them, he found out a little about the place he was in.

The planet he was on had a name—‘Astara’ which he already knew. It was one of the Major Worlds.

The worlds were divided into three categories according to the mana level they had.

Major World – Minor World – Barren World

This was purely depended on the level of mana they had and not the living conditions. A Barren world could be more advanced in technology than a Major world, even though it was quite unlikely.

Soren also read some hints in many books about a war that happened ages ago. There was not much information about this war just that it had spread so much destruction and chaos that its effect was still seen. Information about this war was really vague and didn’t have much consistency. Different books stated different causes of this war. One thing was common in every book, though: This war had changed everything.

Many worlds were destroyed and many had become barren. Death counts had reached an unimaginable number. Intelligent beings died like insects, left and right.

This war had ended an era and started a new one.

The remnant radiation from the war still caused different effects in many places. One of the effects was something that Soren was very much familiar with – Space Cracks.

Soren had thought about his Bloodline before and had tried to come up with a reason why all the Travelers had a high-grade Bloodline.

At first, he thought that it was because of some kind of radiation that evolved them when they go through the space crack. After giving it some thought, though, he had rejected this idea.

But after reading these books, he had a sudden epiphany.

It was not that all the ‘Travelers’ had exceptional Bloodline but only those, who had exceptional Bloodline, could survive in the space crack and become a ‘Traveler’.

He was sure that many other people must have also been involved in some Space Crack but they couldn’t survive and pass through it to become a ‘Traveler’.

……….

Soren again focused on the books and started reading further. He read through the night and only stopped when it was already afternoon the next day.

He stretched his arms and legs that had become slightly stiff, being in the same position for quite a while. He then rubbed his face and the bridge of nose to ease the light headache.

He finally stepped out of the library and went back to his hotel room.

After cleaning himself and eating his brunch, he started his cultivation. He also wanted to work on assimilating the other Spell Vessels so that he could remove their limit on uses.

CP – 12%

He started studying about his spells with the help of Isaac. Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours as he continued his study and cultivation for 2 days straight.

Knock – Knock!!

Soren heard a knock on his door and opened his eyes. He answered the door and found a man in the hotelman’s uniform standing outside.

He politely greeted Soren and gave him a letter.

Soren closed the door and sat on the sofa nearby while opening the letter.

“Come at the same restaurant by 4 pm today.” Soren saw these words on the letter. At the bottom, there was also the insignia of the Liston family.

Soren crumbled the letter and threw it in the dustbin carelessly. He then put both his legs on the table and reclined on the sofa comfortably, thinking about something.

After a while, he got up and changed his clothes. He soon went out of the hotel, walking towards the restaurant.

It was almost 4 pm by that time. He also hadn’t brought his guns or his knife for the meeting.

As soon as he entered the restaurant, a waiter came to him and led him to a room on the third floor. It was like a suite room specially made for V.I.P customers. As he entered, he noticed there were already 5 people sitting inside.

“Oh, you are here,” Faron said waving at Soren, signaling him to take a seat.

“So, let me introduce you first. This is Soren Farrow, the ‘Traveler’ that you guys have been hearing rumors about.” Faron introduced Soren and said.

“This is Kyle, as you already know him. He is our archer.” Kyle simply nodded towards Soren when introduced. He was still wearing the silver jacket with a silver bow, which was placed by his side currently.

“This is Ellie, our scout, and ranger.” Faron then pointed towards a girl sitting on his right.

She had short green hair that came to her earlobes and was wearing a brown leather armor, that barely covered her body, with a green color scout’s cloak on top.

Although her looks could not be said to be amongst the best, she emanated the air of an untamed cat which emphasized her wild beauty. She looked like someone that would always be proactive no matter the situation. If not for the obvious signs of her being human, Soren would have thought of her as a cat-girl.

“Hi! I am Ellie. You can call me El if you want.” She winked at Soren and waved at him, trying to act cute. Soren simply nodded towards her, ignoring the later part.

“This is Ward, our melee fighter, and tank.” Faron then pointed towards a big man who was sitting beside Ellie. He was completely bald and had tanned skin.

Even though he was sitting down, he was still towering over others as if he was standing. He was wearing brown colored full body plate-armor, which had quite a few scratches and dents on them, and there was a big hammer hanging on his back.

He looked at Soren while smiling and nodded. “Hello, nice to meet you.”

He held his hand forward as a gesture for a handshake towards Soren.

“Hello, nice to meet you too.” Soren accepted the gesture and shook his big hand.

Faron then pointed towards the last man in the room.

“He is our Spell Caster, Phil. His specialty is fire and healing magic.”

He had blonde curly hair and looked quite young, seemingly in his early 20’s. He was wearing a red robe over white innerwear. He also had a wooden staff leaning on the table by his side.

“Senior, why did you introduce me at the last?” Phil furrowed his eyebrows and asked Faron. He was giving off an air of arrogance which was hard to miss.

“Phil, does it really matter?” Ellie jumped into the conversation and interrupted him. Phil looked at Ellie and smiled. “Of course it matters. I am the leader of our team so I should be introduced first.”

“You are not our leader.” Ward interrupted while staring at the blonde guy.

Soren sat on his chair and stayed out from this useless banter while observing them.

He had no intention of joining in this stupid argument. He was observing their actions, taking everything in. He also noticed that Kyle was doing the same by the side. He was also observing but his target was Soren.

Phil looked at the big guy and sneered. He was about to say something but…

“Ok—Ok! Soren, this is Phil. This is Ward. This is Ellie and this is Kyle. Now, shut up all of you.” Faron stated, seemingly getting pissed off at the stupid fight.

“Now, if you are done bickering, can we get to the purpose of this meeting?” Faron stated looking at all of them.

He took out a map and spread it on the table. There were some places marked on it. Looking at it, it seemed to be the map of the forest nearby the Eastwood town.

“You guys have to clear some areas in the jungle this time.”

Faron pointed at some markings on the map and said, “These areas are important for the Liston family. You will clear them one by one. These are the colonies and lairs established by some low-level beasts. According to our intelligence report, the highest cultivation level they have is Rank 0: Layer 9. In the field, Kyle will be in command and he will be responsible for any changes in plans. Soren is accompanying you guys for experience. It hasn’t been long since he became an Initiator so you guys help him out a little.”

He continued, “These orders are from the family head, directly. You will depart the day after tomorrow. You have till then to prepare anything you might need. The day after tomorrow, in the morning, report on the main gate. That’s all.”

Faron finished giving his orders and then handed the map to Kyle. Soren was hearing all this nonchalantly without any care.

He didn’t really care what the Liston family wanted. He got up from his seat same as everyone else and headed out. The others were talking to each other in a low voice, afraid to piss off Faron again.

“Ah! Soren, I forgot to ask you, have you chosen a development path?” Faron asked Soren as they reached the exit of the restaurant.

“Spell Caster; my main elements are ‘Ice’ and ‘Darkness’.” Soren nodded and told him about his combat style and attributes. He wasn’t planning on hiding this as it was nigh impossible to do so.

“Ah! Then the Fireball…Anyway, you should be fine.”

Faron said and simply nodded to acknowledge Soren’s response. After saying goodbyes, they went their own way.

……..

Soren directly went to his room as he had some things to do before heading out for the mission. He called for Isaac as he sat on the bed.

Isaac, can you control the mana that I take in during cultivation.

“It’s possible, Master. But not for longer duration.” A mysterious smile formed on Soren’s lips as he started his experiment.