The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"Formshift: Fairy," I trigger the Skill Ultarna gave me, allowing it to simply transform me instead of previewing it and making adjustments.

My body changes, shrinking. Do I really have to become a kid to be a Fairy?

I'm still shrinking.

And now I'm tiny.

Super freaking tiny. Way more than I should be, even as a kid with my normal short stature.

"Uh, Oberon," I look down at my pants, which are no longer able to fit around me, and are bunched up on the floor. I grab them and pull them up to my waist before looking back to the Fairy. "Why the fuck am I so small?"

"No clue," he says as I look back up at him. "Considering your personality, the fact that your natural Fairy Form is that of a five year-old is quite intriguing. And I've never heard of any Fairy with violet hair, eyes, and wings before."

"What?" I ask, twisting my head.

Extending from my back are two thin, transparent wings of a glittering violet. They flutter with just a desire, and a moment later, I'm in the air.

"This is cool," I touch back down on the ground and look at Oberon. "What is all this stuff I'm sensing?"

"Our sense for Mana," he responds. "It's a little bit different from a human's, and your Mana Sense Skill won't have much relevancy, apart from detecting it in other living things. You'll be able to sense Mana, Spirit, Arcane, and Aether naturally, and probably are right now."

"My clothes don't fit anymore," I will my wings to vanish.

"Wait," Oberon says.

"What?"

"For starters," he says. "You're not in a human form. Your body is lighter and more fragile, you have wings, glittery cheeks, pointed ears, and inhuman eye and hair coloring. You-"

"Really don't want to go around naked," I say, feeling my body grow as I force it to adjust. "Huh. I can only get it to around ten."

"Fairies can't age past twelve," he says. "Most don't past ten. Since your default was five, I'm not surprised ten is as old as you can appear. But remember – those are human ages. We Fairies do not gauge one's body in that way. To a human, you appear ten. To a Fairy, you're whatever age you are, regardless of what you look to other Species. So even though they would say you're ten, we'd still say you're eighteen."

"Is my default age being five bad?"

"Not bad," he says. "Just unusual. Your default form reflects how you'd appear if you were that Species. For a Fairy, the age we no longer age after says a lot. You'll see most Fairies between eight and eleven, and the rare few a year past. Even rarer at six, and only twice in my life have I known of a Fairy to stop at five."

"What does it mean?" I try to pull my pants up, but they don't fit. My feet don't fit in my boots, either. Well, they do, but they're too small to fit comfortable. I'd need padding. And a good belt. I can just make that. There we go. "That's better."

"If you're going to go around clothed," Oberon sighs. "Do it like that dolt of a son, and just wear a tunic that covers what you want to hide. I've never understood why humans are so intent on covering their bodies. We are animals, just like a wolf or a bear."

"Those have fur."

"To keep them warm in winter," he nods.

"Why did you call Warren a dolt?" I ask. "Most Fairies I've seen who actually wear clothes only have the tunic, too."

"Have you seen him manifest clothes?"

"Yeah," I nod. "It's in a swirl of flame, the color of which is sometimes purple, but often a color representing the season."

"The flames isn't normal."

"It isn't?"

"Not in the slightest," he sighs. "At least, outside of elemental Fairies, ones who are aligned with the element of those flames. Warren saw a Flame Fairy manifesting stuff when he was a toddler, and became a bit obsessed with that. Now, he's got the small desire to have that happen, and so, it does. You have an interesting form, Gavin. Why don't you finish your adjustments? If you will set it as a form, and stay in it for your time studying with me, I would be willing to teach you more."

"Okay," I tell him. "What Attributes are normal for a Fairy?"

"The common Fairy," he says. "Would have INT, AGI, CHA, PER, and LIF, as well as the four stats I listed. I would like you to have minimal stats – what your stats are as a natural Fairy."

"Understood," I nod.

Name: Zelv

Age: 18 years

Titles: None

Species: Fairy Level 1 0/25

Class:

INT: 23, AGI: 21, CHA: 34, STR: 18, PER: 29, LIF: 613

MNA: 241, SPA: 293, ACA: 219

Mana: 241/241

Spirit: 293/293

Arcane: 152/152

Arcane: 181/181

Tier I: Spirit Sense 5, Divine Detection 5, Spirit Manipulation 4, Sweets Quality Detection 1

Mastered Tier I Skills: Mana Sense, Spirit Detection

Tier II Skills: Dispel 3, Mental Resistance 1, Appraisal Resistance 5, Divine Resistance 5, Curse Resistance 7

Tier VII Skills: Rift Sense 3

Mastered Tier VII Skills: Clarity of Power

Language Skills: Dekami Runic 5, Jozan 5, Velusan 5, Silvar Spirit 3, Kar Sacred 10, Ygdris Fairy 5

Mastered Manipulations: Mana

Mastered Masteries: Bare-handed Fighting

Mastered Resistances: Pain, Lightning, Air, Heat, Fire, Water, Cold, Frost, Stone, Light, Shadow, Mental Pain, Magic

Fairy:

+2 INT, CHA, LIF, SPA

+1 AGI, HLT, LFA, MNA

Everything looks good to me. I show it to Oberon, to see if it meets his standards.

"Um," he says. "That's quite a lot of Skills to have starting out."

"I'm not giving up my Resistances," I tell him. "I didn't put them on my other Form, as I didn't want to risk giving away that I was more than I wanted to seem, and I'm grateful for that, but I am not doing that for other Forms. Sorry, but no."

"I don't even want to ask how you managed to acquire so many Resistances, and master them all."

"My Bloodline gives me a bonus to learning and Leveling any Skill."

"There are only three I know of that do that," he looks me up and down, then scrutinizes my entire appearance. "Dekami?"

"How did you guess?"

"Your absurd stats," he answers. "For your human form. Speaking of them…"

"I am not going back to having low LIF," I tell him. "I took a risk with that with my Marty form, in case Nies contacted me and looked at my stats – which he did – but I have a tendency to use up my LIF randomly."

"Oh, that's fine," he says. "I was referring to your others."

"My others?" I ask. "What about them? I know Marty's was lower, but-"

"They're high," he says. "I said 'natural'."

"Those are the stats I had when I took on Fairy Form," I tell him, and he gives me a look of disbelief. "I swear it on the blood in my veins."

He huffs after the Divine Power fades.

"You throw Blood Oaths around too casually."

"I am the Hero of the Origin of Blood Oaths," I say. "It was true, so I saw no harm in it."

"Blood Oaths aren't to be made carelessly!"

"I'm all too aware of that, Oberon," I say. "Considering I have a Blood Quest that is the result of me doing one years ago, when I was a lot more temperamental and dealing with a lot of things and changes in my life."

"Hm," he says as he looks through the list. "I can understand why you retained these Skills, however… there are two I have questions on. How in the forest did you acquire something like 'Sweets Quality Detection'?"

"Nies gave it to me," I answer. "You'd have to ask him for why, it seemed kind of random."

"You have an interesting patron, Gavin," he says. "For my other question… just what did you to do not only obtain, but master Clarity of Power?"

"I condensed my Resources," I answer. "Making them denser within me. I seem to be naturally adept at manipulating Resources, before my bonuses. That's based off of what I can tell, and what Nies has told me."

Wow, it really is like you aren't Gavin, Ekre says in my head. I've been trying to detect your real self since you shifted, and I can't.

"Hey, Ekre," I say so Oberon knows that I'm talking with a god. "Sorry for bothering you, I know you aren't really a fan of Nies and me, but-"

It's Nies I'm not a fan of, he interrupts me. You're amusing, even if you did commit genocide.

"That was at the request of a goddess," I say. "And that Species' patron god gave me the O-K for it. Personally. He showed up and flat-out-"

Hubert came to you?

"Is that really his name?" I ask. "Nies called him that, too."

No, but it's something complicated most mortals have a hard time actually saying, so we just call him 'Hubert' when talking with you mortals. What kind of name is that?

"A weird one," I answer. "How did you guys pick it?"

I meant your Fairy Form's name.

"Do you like it?"

Nies is pouting at me, he sighs. He doesn't want me talking with you, apparently.

"Remind him," I say. "That I built him not just an altar, but a shrine, and put a lot of food on it. Oh, and that I gathered him thousands of followers, possibly millions."

You and I both know that you did that to increase your Blessing's power. I know you're somewhat disappointed in how 'weak' it is.

"Well," I say. "Considering that most Quests already granted double Experience, an additional three isn't much, even if it's to the Class of my choice, but the bonus three to Species is awesome, especially once I can actually gain Experience in my true Form again. Needing to only give up ninety percent of the actual reward for a Quest is great, too. I thought it was only thousands, even though it had been a couple of years since Nies showed up to give Marty the Quest to find his real form."

Oberon gives me a befuddled look, and I grin at him.

I couldn't give you an estimate, you'd have to get that from Nies himself. Oh, he fell asleep. The lazy bum.

Ekre's presence fades from my mind, and I shrug.

"I think he's done talking," I tell the Fairy.

"Your form is fine," he says. "Though those clothes look ridiculous on you. Way too big."

"I don't have my Bloodline or Class bonuses," I say. "As I did think that would fall withing your restrictions on the latter, and I can't trigger them on the former. Therefore, I can't just manifest clothes into existence. Would you be kind enough to?"

"You'll have to do it yourself, if you want them," he says. "I forbid you from asking for help."

"So basically," I say. "You want me to go around naked until I can learn the appropriate Skills and utilize them properly?"

"You're a Fairy now," he says. "This is normal for our kind."

"My mind is still that of a human."

The familiar presence of a Spirit manifests beside me, and Oberon's eyes widen. A moment later, a black tunic forms around my torso, my pants and boots disappearing.

"Thank you, Meiva," I say.

"You're welcome," the First King of Jozan responds. "Oberon was going to, but I got tired of his game. Testing your anger, after your claims of calming down, was not appropriate, especially for a King as old and wise as you, Oberon. Yes, the minds of Fairies may be childish, but that was just plain uncalled for. You know better."

"Hmph!" Oberon pouts.

Am I going to have to be the mature one, here?

Something tackles me from behind, pinning me to the ground. I try to wrestle them off of me, only to find Nies clinging tightly to me, his three 'guardians' standing behind me, looking amused. Oberon's eyes are wide with shock at this point.

He can probably sense the Divine Presence Nies is far from suppressing, and doesn't know how to react.

"Nies," I struggle to pull him off of me, or at least, get him into a position on my front, so I can look at him properly as he hugs me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight this time!"

"This body is so weak," I look at Oberon, having only managed to get Nies halfway around me, so he's clinging to my side. "Are Fairies really this weak naturally?"

"Yes," he nods. "Very few of them have the STR Attribute unlocked, after Access, which means that very few of them would be stronger than a normal Fairy. Warren is one of the rare few to have the STR Attribute unlocked, likely because of his time in the arena."

Makes sense, but if that's the case, does that mean most of the Fairies I rescued have it as well? Or just a handful of them? From my understanding, most of them used their magic and Spirits to fight, unlike Warren, who preferred martial arts.

"Is that," Oberon hesitates. "Is that your patron?"

"Yeah," I give up trying to move Nies. "This is Nies, the Origin of Oaths and Quests."

"Forgive my rudeness, Your Divinity," Oberon bows to him. "And for my attack on your Hero, a couple of years ago."

"If Gavin was serious," Nies looks at Oberon. "He'd have killed you in a few moments. You can make it up to me by giving me lots of good food."

"I understand," I say. "Not wanting to let me out of your sight, Nies, but does that mean you also need to cling to me at all times?"

"Yes!" He asks, then yelps. "Reij doesn't seem to like that."

"Reij?" Oberon stares at the Ouroboros that nipped Nies's arm. "An Ourboros… but I couldn't sense it? How?"

"It was given to me," I look at the Fairy King. "By a being from outside the universe, a being that makes the Divine Beings look like children."

I look down at Nies, then back at Oberon.

"Maybe 'amateurs' would have been a better word?" I shrug. "He makes them look weak and pathetic. Reij here turns undetectable when he bites his tail, and is capable of consuming any magical attack sent my way – and will, unless I've told him not to. When you attacked me previously, it took a lot of control from me to keep him from simply consuming all of your magic."

Nies yelps again.

"I think he likes you."

"Okay, okay!" Nies looks at Reij as he releases me. "I'll let go of Gavin! But I'm still not letting him out of my sight!"

"What if I have to take a shit?" I ask, and he stares at me intensely. "I suppose it's better than you not talking to me. I missed you randomly chatting with me. Are you going to ride your tigers around?"

Nies gives me a 'duh' look, and I snort. Oberon looks at me, confused.

"Despite," I explain. "Being the Origin of Oaths and Quests, Nies is incredibly lazy. When we first met, he also often had a bland 'whatever' way about him. He prefers riding his tigers around to walking, so that he can keep up with his laziness."

"Ah," Oberon says, then looks at Nies. "Welcome to my palace, Lord Nies."

"You do realize I built it, right?" Nies asks, and Oberon gives him a stupefied stare. "I made it for the First Fairy, after I bopped them into existence. You can ask Yggdrasil if you don't believe me."

You didn't 'bop them into existence', Nies, Yggdrasil's powerful voice enters my mind. You took a dying child and reworked his makeup to allow him to survive the illness he was suffering from. That, in turn, morphed his body more, until he became the First Fairy.

"See?" Nies asks. "Bopped him into existence," he looks at me, then smacks me in the back of the head. "And now I bopped you."

Thank you for finally leaving me, Nies, Yggdrasil says. You do realize that your tigers like to pee in me, right? And poop in me? That isn't very pleasant.

"Doesn't it immediately turn into-"

That's beside the point, Sein, Yggdrasil says. It's still not pleasant. By the way, I'm going to be leaving this world in a few days, there's a Council of Worlds taking place, and it's been a long time since I was last awake for one. Watch over things while I'm gone, and try not to burn the world to a crisp. Again.

"That was an accident," Nies says. "And I did help restore it."

Oberon isn't the only one staring at Nies in confusion now.

"What?" Nies looks at me in confusion. "I just forgot to moderate my Divine Flames when I tried to kill that dino. They're a lot more powerful in mortal realms than they are in the Divine Realm. All Divine Powers are. I'm not in the habit of going into the mortal realms. I'm not letting you out of my sight while you're in a Formshift Form, though, so I'm here until you switch back, and I'll be back again, you switch back into one."

"Got it," I say, then look at Oberon. "I think that means we can pretend Nies isn't here. Do you wish for me to make any adjustments to the Form? Or leave it as it is now?"

"This is fine," he says.

"Confirm Form," I say. "Fairy: Zelv."

Form Confirm: Fairy Zelv

Are you sure? If so, confirm again.

WARNING: CONFIRMING THE FORM MAKES IT PERMANENT

YOU WILL NEED A FORM REMOVAL TO REMOVE THE FORM

"Confirm Form: Fairy, Zelv," I repeat.

Form Confirmed: Fairy Zelv

If you wish to lose this Form, you will need to use a Form Removal

Got it.

"Done," I tell Oberon, and he nods.

"Let us return to the dining hall," he says. "I am sure you are hungry, after your journey here."

"I am," I tell him. "Also, I believe Nies will be hungry as well, though he would probably prefer desserts and snacks over meal food."

"That is fine," Oberon says. "We do an exquisite dessert array. You arrived just as we began dinner, and they are likely waiting for our return. It will be a small while before dessert arrives."

"I'm sure the Divine Being can wait," I say. "Seeing as he's lazy, he's probably used to waiting."

I give Nies a pointed look, as he's already climbed back onto a tiger, though his gaze has remained fixed on me. The god just pouts in return, and Oberon chuckles.

Oberon leaves the room, and I follow him, Nies behind me. The guards outside startle when they see me, then freeze up when they see Nies, unsure of how to react to the god that has graced them with his presence. Michael and Warren are gone, likely back in the dining hall.

"I believe your King is walking," I tell them. "If you're his guards, are you not to stay with him?"

The guards hurry to return to Oberon's sides, and he gives me an amused glance before looking forward.