The First Archmage

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is Warren sleeping next to me.

His Spirit is incredibly low.

Skill Gained!

Spirit Detection 1/10: The ability to sense Spirit in and around everything

Huh. I’m surprised I haven’t gained that before now. I will admit that I’ve never really tried before, though.

Why is Warren’s Spirit so low?

There are so many messages in my view, I get suspicious, and check the date.

Saturday, the 20th Day of the 3rd Month of the 1,350th Year of the Age of Chaos

A full month… I was out for a more than a full month. We have three months before we leave here, now. Less than three months.

What the hell happened?

I check my messages.

Mental Pain Resistance is now Level 10!

+20 Human Experience!

I have no memory of being in pain at all… yet that went up six full Levels to mastery.

+100 RRN!

Did my RRN really go up that much while I was out? The System added it all up because I wasn’t dismissing them, I’m sure.

+1 OFV!

So my OFV went up again… interesting.

-20 LIF!

This is starting to become routine for me…

Skill Gained!

Magic Resistance 1/10: The ability to resist the effects of magic

Magic Resistance is now Mastered!

+10 Human Experience!

So whatever happened not only granted me a Skill that supposedly doesn’t exist, but also caused it to be mastered. What the hell happened to me?

My Resources haven’t gone up, either. They’re the same as they were when I gained that point of MNA.

+3 INT!

+5 CON!

So the first one increased somehow, but the second one… what, exactly, did my body go through while I was out? And how come I don’t feel any different, other than from those boosts?

In addition to that…

The fogginess is gone. Completely. Not a single trace of it left within me.

Skill Gained!

Clarity of Power 1/10: Reduces the Fog of Power that comes with increasing Resource Pools rapidly or forcing them to hold more than they can hold. A high enough Fog of Power will still take effect, even at Level 10. This simply reduces how quickly it forms.

Clarity of Power is now Mastered!

+70 Human Experience!

+70 Archwizard Experience!

+70 Adept of Kar Experience!

What… is Fog of Power? Closing my eyes and focusing, I see if I can pull up its info box just by wanting to, since it isn’t a tangible thing.

Fog of Power:

A fog that begins to fill one’s mind as they overexert themselves through magic or expansion of Resources. Hinders ability to use magics, as well as function, as it grows stronger. Can only be reduced by resting and not increasing Resource Pools or using magic. Clarity of Power reduces how quickly the Fog of Power forms, but can never completely block its formation.

Adept of Kar went up a Level from that, and Human is now almost Level 23. Definitely just three more days of grinding to be able to Advance it. I wonder what my options will be. I give myself three weeks to bring the Subspecies, if I do have one available, up to Level 25, too.

That looks like all of the messages I had available. I continue to sense for Warren’s Spirit, not stopping until Spirit Detection is Level 10. I have to wonder why Spirit Sense is sensing spirits, but Spirit Detection is sensing Spirit. Mana Sense is sensing Mana. Consistency isn’t there.

-0 CHA!

Shut up.

“Warren,” I gently shake him awake, and he looks at me.

His glamour isn’t active right now, and his hair is a light brown with golden streaks through it, his eyes green mixed with gold.

“You’re awake,” his eyes widen as he wakes up fully, and he scrambles to sitting, looking me up and down. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? I had to make another contract so I could keep your pain minimized, you seemed to be in so much pain. Even the Gift of Soothing didn’t work a whole lot.”

“I’m not in any now,” I respond when he finally stops. “I feel fine, actually. The fogginess is gone. What happened?”

“You stood up at the restaurant,” he says. “Said something, then your eyes rolled into the back of your head, and you dropped to the ground. A moment later, you started screaming, and you looked like you were in pain. Your skin was bubbling. Michael and I brought you back here while Eli ran for a medic. None of the healers could find anything wrong, though – no curses or anything. Elikar grabbed another spirit and told it to form a contract with me so I could ease your pain, but even that wasn’t enough. I had to keep rebuffing it, but spending more Spirit than what I did would’ve meant you’d go longer with more pain, so I had to keep doing it small. You’ve been quiet the last few days, but…”

“I know how long I was out,” I tell him. “Was I unconscious the entire time?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “I’ve been watching you this entire time. The others have been training. We have less than three months before our agreed stopping point.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “We can leave it as that – I gained a couple of useful things.”

And lost more LIF…

Despite having Clarity of Power, I doubt I could handle more rapid growth right now. This seems to be an effect from the fog, not from expanding my resources. Gaining that point of MNA simply pushed the fog too high for me.

“Also,” he adds. “Some magician paid for your room while you’ve been out, so you could stay here and not get moved to where we’re staying. We, ah, can’t afford a house or anything, so we don’t have one.”

“That’s fine,” I climb off the bed. “Where are the others now?”

“Probably eating breakfast,” he answers. “That, or on their way to bring me breakfast. Weirdly, you haven’t eaten anything, yet didn’t seem affected by it.”

You’re welcome.

“Nies did that,” I say, then mentally thank him.

Just bring me sacrifices, once I find a temple for you to actually… oh, there’s one there. Found one. It’s in a place that’s hard to get to, though.

“How hard?”

The Dungeons that lead to it are all in dangerous territory. Places where Tristan hid his Grimoires. Not that they’d be difficult for you to find, but whatever. I’m sure you’ll find your way there someday. It’s actually got the perfect place for you to base your Order.

“Really?”

Yeah. It has no intelligent society whatsoever. It’s the center continent for the world, in technicality. I dunno why no one ever settled on it. The Sages of old had a base there for awhile, but then they erected their Boundary and left it. It’s the perfect place. So you can give me your offerings when you eventually make your way there. For now, I’ll just eat Ekre’s food.

Screw off, Nies.

No.

Your two followers are dead, so now we’re on even grounds.

I’m still superior.

We both have just a single Hero.

Mine’s more powerful, and not hiding in a time ruin because he’s going to die if he leaves. So I’m superior.

You know I’m working on increasing Max’s life.

If he converted over to me, he’d have no issue gaining LIF.

You and I both know that gaining LIF alone won’t cut it… his Species will still cause him to die.

My Hero doesn’t have that problem. I’m superior. What did you put in this, salt, salt, and more salt?

Get out of my realm!

Scones.

Nies said that like someone would say ‘whatever’.

“What?” Warren asks.

“I was talking to Nies,” I say.

“I know.”

“And now he’s ‘arguing’ with Ekre,” I finish.

“Ah,” he says. “Sorry for interrupting you.”

“Am I hearing Gavin?” Michael pokes his head into the room, and I can hear swishing again. “He’s awake!”

Michael rushes into the room and gives me a hug, and my brothers enter behind him, Dylan putting down the food he had in before the two of them give me a hug as well.

“What the heck?” I wiggle my way out of their grip.

“Sorry!” Michael exclaims. “I just got so excited that you were awake that I couldn’t resist! If you were one of my brothers, I would’ve given you kisses, too!”

That’s because you’re part-wolf, Michael.

“But you’re human, so that’s seen as weird and inappropriate,” he adds.

“We grew up in a more physical society,” Dylan tells me. “I guess habits are hard to kill. How do you feel?”

“Fine,” I answer. “How are your guys’ stats?”

“Good,” he answers. “Status, status-”

“No,” I hold up a hand, and he stops talking. “We can share our statuses with each other at the end of the six months. Anyway, I haven’t eaten in over a month, so I’m going to head out to eat breakfast, if anyone wants to join me. After that, I’m going into the Dungeon and killing a bunch of shit. I’ve lost more than a month of training and Experience.”

“I’m definitely in for that,” Warren says.

“Same here,” Michael says. “We’ve got to talk about the spiders.”

“He’s still having issues,” Eli giggles.

“It’s not my fault!” Michael protests. “They’re just so crawly, and their webs are so sticky!”

“Try to avoid getting shot by their webs, “I say. “That should reduce it. Also – you can use Mana to detach the webs, just manipulate a little bit of your Mana into it.”

“I know,” Michael’s ears droop. “It’s just so hard, dealing with them.”

“After breakfast,” I tell him. “I’m going to kill the wyvern on Floor 17, then fight the undead on the Floors below it. When I was little, one of my closest friends was killed by an undead, and I nearly lost my life. I’ve dealt with undead once since, and was terrified shitless. That was after we fled Jozan.”

I’m going to finish that Dungeon. Once I can handle undead, I’m going to return to it, and kill every last Undead in it.

“Okay,” Michael hangs his head down. “I’ll… I’ll try harder!”

“Let’s go,” I leave the room, and the team follows me.

“Glad you’re feeling better,” the innkeeper says as we pass through the foyer. “You doing alright?”

“Just getting too strong, too fast,” I smile at him. “I’ve recovered from that, now. We’re going out for breakfast, then more Dungeon.”

“Good luck!” He laughs.

We leave and go to a nice breakfast restaurant, where I eat until my stomach is filled. My brothers have already eaten, and don’t touch anything, while Warren eats a fair bit and Michael eats a little.

Then, the five of us make our way to the Dungeon, where we separate as we go farther down, until it’s just me. All of the Bosses are dead until I reach Floor 17, where a wyvern as tall as I am standing when it’s on all fours awaits.

“Hello,” I greet it in Shatus. “It’s nice to be of your acquaintance.”

It screeches at me.

“I’ve killed a baby when I was much, much weaker,” I raise a hand as it starts to charge me. “You are of no threat to my more powerful self.”

The Magic Bolt rips right through its head, and the wyvern slides across the floor from the momentum. It stops at my feet, then fades away, leaving behind a decent-sized monster crystal.

+30 Human Experience!

+30 Archer Experience!

I send the monster crystal into my ring, then walk toward the exit, and ignore the safe Floor as I make my way to the nineteenth Floor.

Once there, I close my eyes, feeling my body tremble, my breath increase, my palms sweat. I can hear them, the sounds of their bones clattering as they move through the caverns, and I flash back to when I was six years old, hearing their screams, my screams. The blood. The body.

His body…

Brody…

“ENOUGH!” I roar, pushing the images to the back of my mind.

All sounds halt, and I notice a team of ten Adventurers who had begun to exit a tunnel. They’re frozen, too, with fear clear on their faces.

Skill Gained!

(III) Roar 1/10: With a shout, instill fear into those around you, either generally, to your foes, or to monsters

Huh. So that’s a Skill. Interesting. Seeing it calmed me down a little.

It’s Tier III… is it one of the ‘rare’ ones that don’t have multiple Tiers? Or is it like most Tier III Skills, and has additional Tiers to it?

“Sorry, guys,” I say to the Adventurers. “Bad experience with undead in the past.”

I take a deep breath, then look down the tunnels, hearing the undead begin to move again.

“Time to go kill some of them.”