The Classless Sorcerer's Self-Stealing System

A looming dread hung in the dungeon air like a hot and humid day, sticking to Blychert's skin in the most uncomfortable ways imaginable.

Despite the overwhelming power level of their newly established delving group, by and large thanks to the presence of the Undaunted, there was still an uncertain and altogether unpleasant sensation around entering an unknown section of the dungeon. Considering it wasn't even found on the system's map interface, there was no reconciling with what might be lurking within.

Under normal circumstances, Bly couldn't imagine stepping foot into such a peculiar space so unprepared, especially given his own history with such anomalies. It seemed like something for intense scrutiny—something a highly trained reconnaissance team might undertake, for example—and not one to be trifled with so heedlessly.

But then, they had neither the luxury of time nor survival resources at their disposal.

They couldn't simply gamble with their lives and wait around to find out if the rescue was indeed on the way. There was no telling if the dungeon might produce another shifting event, or if volatility changes would render any idea of escape futile past this point. Plus, the Undaunted couldn't just leave the rest of them behind—the most vulnerable among them, Bly not excluded—to forge a path ahead without any extra weight to lug around. Such a path might only mean certain death for those left behind in waiting. Though of course, bringing everyone along was equally no guarantee of safety.

There was simply no definitive solution.

By all accounts, they were responsible for themselves in the here and now, and as Nelkaar suggested, there was truly only one way forward.

Shadows bloomed on the edges of the group, which otherwise travelled slowly through a seemingly magical void of darkness. Velanni, the Undaunted's primary spellcaster, produced a singularly vibrant source of light above the group, casting itself to a range of nearly thirty feet in radius from a point above her head. And yet, the light ceased beyond that point, rendering everything else within the mysterious, unaccounted chamber as an unknown quantity, at least as far as line of sight was concerned.

The farther they pushed, the more Bly got the sense that they weren't walking into something completely unknown, at least to him. He didn't have the same experience with dungeons as the rest of the group surely did, but he was familiar enough with the kinds of sensations that he was receiving from this place to warrant a sense of alarm.

There was something down here, Bly was sure of it, it was vaguely reminiscent of his interactions with the Pale Lady. But it was different somehow—

"Your heart is beating fast." Nelkaar murmured over her shoulder, the glint of her masked helmet catching Bly's gaze, who was momentarily startled by the comment, "Are you frightened?"

The question made Bly somewhat uncomfortable

It wasn't so much that he was afraid, but more that he was anxious. It was an anxiousness that had been with him since he left the Gleaming Caves for the last time, though he didn't necessarily recognize it as that until now.

That pull…

There was something tugging on the back of his mind, gesturing and beckoning, but always silent. The same exact sensation had happened to him in the Gleaming Caves all those months ago, and it had nearly cost him his life in his fight against Glemberfang. But this was a new kind of pull. It didn't make him uneasy like before, it made him feel strangely welcome. Not necessarily in a good way, but welcome, nonetheless.

"I don't think this was a good idea." Bly murmured back, shaking his head in protest, "Maybe we should turn back?"

"Why do you say that?" Nelkaar asked genuinely, "You've sensed something?"

"I don't—" Blychert stammered, not sure how to phrase it. Grumbling, he continued, "It's hard to explain. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't believe me, even if I tried."

Nelkaar nodded slowly, "I see. Well, we are of the same mind then. I too feel an unsettling presence in this place."

"Wait—you do?" Bly perked up at that. Had she experienced something like him before?

"Indeed." Nelkaar replied, "Which is exactly why we must continue. Still your troubled heart, Trelen, I will protect you… to the best of my ability."

Well, that wasn't exactly reassuring. But then, Bly wasn't about to argue with someone that was nearly triple his level, false though it was.

"Hold." Nelkaar raised her arm suddenly, indicating for the group to stop. As everyone complied to the swordsman's command, Nelkaar stepped forward. Her boots tapped against the stone ever so softly, her armor shifting in gentle rattle, as she seemed to stare into the blackened void ahead of them.

"What is it?" Nazojan asked, approaching from the rear of the group, "Why have we stopped?"

A sudden burst of pain ripped through Blychert's skull, inducing one of the worst migraines he'd surely have had in months, if not his entire life. He'd felt the onset of one earlier, but it was nothing compared to this one. This… this was blazing a path through his head like never before.

"Guh—!" Bly winced, keeling over somewhat. Clutching at the side of his head, a wave of heat flushed his senses, fogging his mind and vision to the point where he nearly collapsed right then and there.

"Trelen? What's the matter?" Someone's voice seemed to echo in Bly's mind, but he couldn't say who, though it wasn't the only one. Whispers in the dark shrouded him—unintelligible, unidentifiable, but present. What were they? What was happening to him? These sorts of incidents were always accompanied by strange visions… the cliff, the water, the sunrise, his father's voice. None of that was present here. It was just… whispers? Just whispers, and the volume of their indiscernible voices rose and battered his mind ceaselessly.

Thump. Thump.

What was that noise?

Thump! Thump!

Something was out there… in the darkness. He could hear its heartbeat. He could hear its heartbeat growing louder and louder!

"Trelen?" Someone touched his shoulder, a heavy hand at that, "What is it, boy? Speak."

"It's… here…" Bly heaved, a long strand of saliva dripping out from the corner of his mouth. Glancing up into the faces of Nazojan, Jhannrick, and Nelkaar's mask, he said, "It's coming…"

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The pulsing thump grew stronger, thrumming until a quake rippled throughout the entire chamber all of a sudden. Stones erupted at their feet, fell from the faraway ceiling, and smashed to pieces against the floor.

"Battle formation!" Nazojan shouted over his shoulder.

Bly could barely keep to his own feet, and so he begrudgingly held onto the sleeve of Jhannrick's robe for support.

"Mana at the ready, Trelen." Jhannrick insisted, a tone that was both deeply serious but also highly sympathetic. It was just about the only thing Bly could make out amidst the tumult, "Don't overexert yourself. Whatever we might face, focus on your defenses."

The group repositioned itself, with Bly and Jhannrick taking up a more central position alongside the other spellcasters. Their ranged attackers paced to the rear, while Nazojan and Falko flanked Nelkaar at the head of the group.

"System command…" Blychert murmured under his breath, his voice quavering slightly, "Activate ability, x-p transmogrifier. Execute… mana replenishment."

The migraine had yet to subside, and he could barely keep track of his own surroundings, but Bly wasn't taking any risks in such a vulnerable position at this. Whatever he was sensing, it was more than dangerous. If his gut told him anything, Bly was certain to need every resource he had at his disposal.

A light rose from the void suddenly, as silence gripped the group; a single prick of bluish-purple light there in the midst of the darkness. However, it didn't take more than a second or two for the light to burst forward.

Without much of any warning, a column of thunderous energy abruptly filled the void, streaking forward at lightning speed.

Bly barely registered what had happened, his body thrust backward slightly from the sheer force of wind generated by that column of energy. Most of the others behind him were caught off unaware, some flying to the ground while others shielded themselves behind spells of their own, though Jhannrick kept him steady.

The heat was intense, though as Bly squinted, he realized Nelkaar's silhouette at the head of the group, her great longsword holding the entirety of the plume of energy at bay with a single parry.

However, it wasn't holding.

Nelkaar was about to crack!

"Wait—" Bly murmured desperately, scampering up to his feet as he thrust his arms outward.

He just needed a moment—just a few seconds to pump everything he had into a singular barrier spell. Even now, as the scars from his attempt at such a similar undertaking a year ago still marred his hands and fingers, he had no choice but to try. If Nelkaar truly believed that his strength was needed, even if that strength came by way of a good-for-nothing classless, then once again he was prepared to give it everything he had.

"Input—spell override—" Bly grimaced, the pain coursing through his head competing with the force of wind and heat battering him from the front, "Execute shield—"

But he was too late, and the plume of energy lashed forward.

***

[SAGE ---> Raven System Alert]

- - - World Fragment anomaly detected; Progenitor credentials confirmed; SVAC auto-activation sequencer initialized - - -

> Operator Status: active; null bind parameters detected - - - extract.

> Run bypass… authority level partial validation, set instance clock to [0]… critical_error, reset stratagem.

> Run bypass… authority level partial validation, set operator 'spell list' to [6]… stratagem_initialized, GEM integrity stabilized at [52%], warning_message_03-F uncoded.

> System Command: input spell override; Spell [Time Shift, Legendary] will consume [5,000 xp] to initialize 'absolute zero' instance; effect lasting until World Fragment is normalized, or until operator status is confirmed;

> Link to active resource [experience points].

> [Experience Points: 21,456]

> Execute

***

Blychert opened his eyes, fully expecting to be consumed and ripped to shreds by the massive wall of energy that stood before him.

But it never came.

As his vision adjusted, he noticed the few lines of text scrolling across his sage terminal, before looking out to the rest of the group. Everyone was deathly still, right down to their frozen expressions. The plume of energy still clung to Nelkaar's blade, unmoving where it had previously sought to sunder everything in its path.

Bly stepped forward, shaking Nazojan on the arm but to no avail. They were completely and utterly frozen in place, along with everything else—the air, the light, all of it.

"Huaggggggh…" Something grumbled from beyond the plume of energy, its voice deep and terrible, filling Bly with an immediate sense of dread. Suddenly, a silhouette of something gargantuan rose inside the plume of energy, a massive pair of outstretched wings and a horned head. Two burning orbs of blueish light, eyes nestled in that silhouette, unfurled and then narrowed, "I… do not… understand. What is this illusion...? I can sense you... over there. Speak."

"What… what are you?" Bly's voice cracked slightly. If this was some kind of dungeon spawn, it was certainly terrifying to hear it speak to him. He'd never once heard of a spawn talking like this. But then, he'd never quite been in a situation like this either.

"Mother…?" The creature beckoned, a confused and slow tone of voice, "Yes, I am awake now. But where are you?"

"Who is she?" Bly persisted, "Your… mother?"

The silhouette tilted its head belatedly, "Mother… no, she is not here. It was your presence that stirred me. Though for what purpose...? You entered my pod, survived my birthing... most curiously. Though it would appear these other creatures will not fare as well as you. Your illusion cannot be sustained for long."

Blychert looked worriedly at the rest of his group, to their frozen faces suspended in space and time, a mere blip away from being consumed by a totally annihilating beam of energy. He had no idea how to break the hold on them; he wasn't even sure how he managed it in the first place. It was Sage, it was—it was that thing that had activated his transmogrifier for the first time over a year ago. He hadn't encountered it again since, and so he had no idea what to even look for.

"You are a spawn of Reach, are you not? You must be a herald of the abundance." The silhouette asked, a ponderous tone of voice as its shadow shifted, "Has the great war began? Have you come to tell me what my purpose is to be? How I might serve the Mother?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bly shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around whatever the hell his sage terminal had done to him. This was the first time since the Guildhall incident that it had acted of its own accord, and it had certainly done something now that he'd never imagined possible but by the greatest of spellcasters. Stalling, Bly asked, "Who is Reach? What even are you? Why is—why is all of this happening to me? Why can I hear the voices, feel the pull? I don't know anything about any war. I don't know what your purpose is any more than I know mine. So... maybe we can help each other?"

The shadowy creature shifted, one of its wings folding inward, "Yes... perhaps. We are both called to the abundance, for such was promised by the One True Redeemer, Ysh'balat. I feel it within my lifeblood, though I was born not moments ago. Might that their words resonate within us, we shall be freed from our shackles, and delivered from this oblivion. We should inherit the world that was overwritten, turning winter into spring… a new world, for the chosen children to blossom. I see it so clearly..."

"Winter…" Bly's eyes widened.

"Until all the world is wrought with abundance, laid bare for the seeds of spring. What beautiful flowers that will bring."

Her words echoed in Blychert's mind on a loop; over, and over, and over again. What did any of it mean? What was she trying to do? And why, beyond any logical reasoning, was Blychert somehow stuck right in the middle of it all.

Who was she? What was her purpose? And what part did this creature play in that goal?

"Hey, what exactly… do you mean by a new world?" Blychert murmured coldly, his fist clenching somewhat. Glancing up, he shouted, "What about the lives of everyone already living in this one?"

The creature's eyes narrowed, and it growled, "I see… so the abundance truly does not bloom within you after all. For how could a chosen child say such things? How unfortunate…"

"What the hell does that even mean?" Bly snarled back, "Hey! What does that mean?!"

"It is not my desire to kill the spawn of Reach." The creature replied, and its silhouette rose to an even greater form thereafter, its massive wings unfurling once again, "However, I cannot permit one whose path leads towards the preservation to endure in this matter. Forgive me, mother…"

***

[SAGE ---> Winter System Notification]

> New spawn type [************] detected.

> New threat level [************] detected.

> [Kubranul, Thunderfang Dragon] set to active; hostile.

> Spawn Type: Dragon

> Spawn Rank: *****

> Spawn Zone: *****

***

"Wait—wait, you're in the depths of the dungeon!" Bly urged, "You can't leave this place! You kill me, you won't have anyone. I can—can help you!"

"And yet, I sense that your illusion is cracking. You do not possess enough mana to help even yourself." The creature said in response, "Goodbye, spawn of Reach. This is where your journey ends."

Classless or not, Blychert was suddenly in serious trouble.