The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"Where are we?" Ryan asks. "How come we didn't just land right in it?"

"Where I grew up," I answer, walking down the path to the village. "And because it's more respectful to my people to approach using the path if you don't live within the village."

As I no longer live in Kar, I cannot simply approach from elsewhere.

Moron.

"Excuse me?"

"What?" Ryan asks.

You're a fucking Magus of Kar, Gavin. Your people won't give a damn where you come in from. Also, Kar's bitching at me again about you not asking to Advance.

"Please remind him that all I'd get from it would be the LIF bonus from being your Hero, Nies. I can't gain Experience for Classes."

Yeah, yeah. I'll tell him again. It's so much hassle.

He huffs, then stops communicating, and I resume walking, reaching the village after a few more minutes.

They've rebuilt it entirely, and I can't even see any signs that there was anything else here, though the construction is still new.

As I enter the village, an old man approaches me, flanked by two warriors. Chief, Garret, and Emilia.

"Chief," I dip my head to him.

"Hello, Gavin," he smiles. "Welcome home."

"It is good to see you're still alive," I say. "Though that's to be expected of an Adventurer as powerful as Elijah Mountainstep."

"So," he says. "You know my name, do you?"

"Indeed, Chief," I say. "And this isn't my home, not anymore. It hasn't been in years."

"You are a Villager of Kar," he steps forward, touching my chest. "In here. You always will be. Because of that, this is your home."

"It isn't," I say. "Not anymore, Chief. I've never worshiped Kar, never praised him. I serve another Divine Being. I haven't lived here in years, and don't follow our practices much. I-"

"THAT IS IT!" A voice screams, startling me. We all jump, looking to my left, where a boy around fourteen or fifteen in standing, dressed in forest garb, his hazel-brown eyes blazing with fury, his tawny brown hair crackling with a Divine Energy. "WILL YOU JUST FUCKING GIVE IT UP ALREADY, GAVIN?"

Uh… Nies?

I warned you.

"Will you, Kar?" I ask. "I know Nies has told you several times that I can't acquire Experience for my Classes until after the Blood Quest's time period restriction's up. Actually, now that you're here, Lord Kar, I would like to request that you remove Magus of Kar from me."

The anger in his eyes boils even heavier.

"You would dare-"

"Now, please," I say calmly, ignoring the fury of the god before me. "Or I will simply do it when I go to a Tier III Dungeon."

His nostrils flare.

Class: Magus of Kar has been Removed!

"Thank you, Lord Kar," I say. "I am not a citizen of Kar. I wasn't by birth, and I haven't been for six years, now. You should focus your attention and efforts on people who actually worship you."

I turn my gaze to Chief.

"Thank you," I say. "For raising me. You are much better father than my real one could ever be, and that will be his downfall. I am rejecting the Quest Reward for returning here as an adult, that I received from you, Garret, Emilia."

Quest Ended: Reunite With Kar

No Penalty

No Rewards

"Thank you all," I say. "For raising me as one of you. However, I have greater duties to attend to, and cannot be bound to the place of others any further. Again, thank you, but this is the end of it, for me."

Chief looks upset, but also understanding.

"Very well, then, Gavin," he says. "If you are ever in Jozan again, then feel free to return here. You will always have a place to sleep and friends with us."

I nod, then turn to the Divine Being once more.

"Kar," I say. "I'm aware that the reason you wanted me to Advance it again was to avoid something like this. You want me as one of your warriors, because you've come to care for me as one of your own, despite my blood saying I'm not. You know that the higher my Class and it's Level is, the harder it would be for me to remove it, later on. Maybe one day, I might take it back on, but you had to know this day would come. I'm sorry, and thank you for watching over me all these years. I know you're the reason Chief found me in the woods."

His anger fades, and tears form in his eyes. Then, he runs over to me, slamming into me and hugging me, crying into my tunic.

"You'll always be one of my children," he sobs. "I don't care about your bloodline. Please come back… when you can."

When I can… I'm sorry, but that day may never come, if Nahor is to be believed. I don't trust him completely, but part of me believes he might have been honest about my upcoming death. That's part of why I can't allow myself to be held back by a link to something.

That's why I gave up my status as Duke to Zelar to my former wife. Now, with this severance, my only connection to Jozan is my son. A son who has never seen me, and likely never will.

But he has Alyssa, and he has Tyler. He will be fine, and so that connection has no hold on me. I know that Jozan, Kar, Kaz, and Len will watch over him.

Kar eventually releases me, and I dip my head to him, then manipulate the air to fly away, taking Ryan with me deep into the mountains, landing near a cave.

"I have some business to attend to," I tell him. "Practice your runes in here."

"Isn't this place filled with monsters and stuff?"

"See those plants?" I point to plants growing around the entrance. "Monsters hate them. Stay in here, and you'll be safe."

Ryan starts to protest, but I fly off, taking myself higher and higher, reaching one of the peaks of the mountains, ignoring the cold and the snow. I walk to the center of it, then collapse, allowing myself to cry.

That was so hard. So, so hard. I didn't want to give it up, but I had to. If I didn't, I'd always be held back, always want to come back home in the end. I'd never go too far from Jozan. I can't do that, not if I'm to completely my Quests. I need to destroy the Boundary of Sages and found my Order officially. I need to bring my father to his death and create a haven for people of all Species who want to learn and grow together.

When I finally collect myself, I use my magic to erase all evidence of my tears, then look into the monsters' territory. For miles, wyverns reign.

Removing my robe and tunic, I extend my wings, then fly into the territory, making a beeline straight for Bert's roost, landing and staring at the startled beast. It narrows its gaze at me.

"You have changed, Gavin," he says, his voice rumbling. "Ascended to the Second Tier. Congratulations. What brings you here, after six years of being gone? Come to harass me and my kin again?"

"I'm past such childish things," I say. "I'm more in the kill-to-get-what-I-want mindset, now. Such as when I killed your brother a month or so ago."

He narrows his gaze at me further.

"So," he says. "That is why he hasn't responded to me. I was preparing to fly down that way. I see that you are honest, though not about your being past childish things. As you did not attack, am I to assume you are not here to fight? Are you here to be the pest you always have been?"

He saw through that? I really want to do some wyvern-spooking, but now isn't the time for that.

"About seven years ago," I say. "A powerful Adventurer came through. A follower of the Divine Being known as Aulor. When he left, he possessed a book, a Grimoir containing enchantments, alchemy, and Mana magics, written by Tristan Lightblade. I am seeking the location he found it in. Specifically, I am seeking the Spatial Ring that would have been with the Grimoire.

"Considering," I say. "That the valley and mountain for roughly twenty miles is your domain, I believed that you would be the one to know its location."

"The temple where he located the Grimoire," Bert tells me. "Is past my territory. Just past it is a Dragon's domain. Not far within that is the temple where the Grimoire was hidden. Gabriel managed to enter the temple while the Dragon slept, timing himself properly after much studying. He proved bothersome to deal with, so I let him be."

"Lead me to it."

"No."

"You might be more powerful than your brother, Bert," I narrow my gaze, then level the full power of my Mana across the area, forcing the ancient Scaled Wyvern to the ground. "But you are no match for an Ascended Human of my caliber."

Mana Presence is Now Level 7!

"Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

I release my Mana Presence, and Bert stands, shaking himself off for a moment before flying off. I follow him to the edge of his territory, spotting the 'temple'.

It's more like an open-roof pavilion with statues surrounding it, each one brimming with power. I recognize the enchantments – they're contained within the Grimoire. Tristan must have set them up.

Standing the center of the 'temple' is a pedestal, upon which stands a black ring similar to the one I retrieved with the other Grimoire.

"The Dragon's coming, so I am leaving," Bert says, then flaps his wings, stopping his progress before flipping and flying away.

Adolescent Dragon Level 16

Yeah, yeah. It's powerful as fuck, and someone at my Level probably shouldn't be able to handle it. But I'm here, so I'm going to.

The Violet Dragon forms around me, then blasts forward as I create numerous Voids around the Dragon, creating Spears of Frozen Lightning and firing them. I unleash several Roars, Air Bolt Chains, Ice Lances, Lightnign Bolt Chains and Firebolt Chains, rapidly gaining Levels to those weaker Skills as I battle the Dragon.

It attacks as well, of course, the two of us flying around as we do our best to evade the other's attacks. I manipulate the air to counteract its gusts of winds, create Magic Barriers to shield me from its Roars, use the Violet Dragon to stop its breath from reaching me.

Though the Dragon has far more power than I do, in the end, it isn't enough for my versatile set of Skills. Its defenses wear down, and my Voids and Spears of Frozen Lightning riddle its body with holes. Mostly its wings, but it manages to stay flying through a mix of its magics.

Mixing runes together, I weave together a new spell while simultaneously attacking the Dragon and blocking and evading its attacks.

"Come to me, O blackest night," I chant, weaving the spell, my magic permeating the air around me as I do. "Come to me, O brightest day. Live as one and fight as two. Crash together and clash together. Cut through all who dare defy you, Aetherial Sword!"

The spell completes, the charging finishing a few seconds later.

And then…

The world explodes into light and dark as a hair-thin, nigh-invisible blade forms in front of me, light to my right, darkness to my left, but only briefly, as the two halves spin rapidly around the blade that formed.

A blade that I raise up with my magic, then bring down, slashing through the Dragon and cleaving through the ground.

New Skill!

Aetherial Sword: A sword formed of Aether, wielding the might of time and space to cleave through mighty foes. Lesser beings bow before your might.

A Tier VII Spell. Naturally. Nothing this powerful could ever be anything lower.

It drained me, though. It used up nearly all of my Aether, which I'd left nearly full, throwing every other Resource at the Dragon after my Violet Dragon failed to penetrate its defenses. A seven-minute charge-up to cast it, I only chanted at the end, to complete the spell. The Dragon was even powerful enough to ignore my Gravity Manipulation and Black Holes.

Winning that fight and creating that new spell net me three Levels to Ascended Human, putting me only two away from being ready to take on the Advancement Quest for Tier III.

I descend to the ground, walking over to the pedestal and taking the ring into my hand. It's the same size as my other, and is completely empty.

Gabriel probably didn't notice it, when he took the Grimoire. He was probably too focused on the ancient source of magics in his hands to notice something as small and 'simple' as a ring.

After sending the ring into my other hand, I pull out the amulet I've carried since finding his body and pull it on, allowing its effects to repel the monsters around me. They shouldn't bother me with my aura as a Tier II Species, but one never knows.

Then again, the aura of the amulet might not work to ward everything off, but still. One never knows.

With that complete, I sit down, resting my back against the pedestal, my wings stretched to either side behind me, and I close my eyes, resting.

A few hours later, I'm woken to a message in my vision.

Quest Completed!

Blood Oath Quest: Restore Jozan to Power.

Blooded King Restored

Turasite Bastards Slain

Jozan King Public Opinion Exceeding Required Amount

Jozan National Reputation Exceeding Required Amount

Reward: 50,000 Experience, can be allocated however you wish

Fifty thousand… that's double what it started off as. I suppose having the reputation required increase and the amount of time that passed caused it to be difficult enough to do that. Tyler acquiring decent public opinion was surprisingly easy, leaving it to just the national reputation that was required. It was much, much higher than the 25,000 that was needed. If I remember correctly, it needed 35,000, when I started talking to the other nations and the besatkin.

Isil, Naira, and Trii all hold Jozan in a higher regard, now, for sure.

In addition to that, I made sure that the beastkin tribes who were willing to work with me saw Jozan in a higher light than they did the nations touching them. We never directly attacked them, at least, not often. Maybe sometimes, we'd send soldiers to assist our neighbors, but that was easily explained away. We'd never actually known them in person, so we only knew their reputation.

With that, I was able to assure them that our new king had no interest in fighting them.

Jozan's new king.

There's a strong chance that other nations began to see Jozan in a new light, especially when they heard it was ending wars and making amends, as well as ending wars for other nations in a peaceful manner.

Then, of course… there are all the people I helped in other regions of the world, each knowing me as an agent of Jozan. That, of course, boosted the reputation as well, already putting it up some before King Tyler ever returned home.

And now, because of that, I have 50,000 Experience to allocate.

What the hell am I going to do with it? I can only allocate to my Species. Can I hold onto it? Or do I have to spend it now?

Congratulations on completing your Quest, Nahor says into my head.

Thanks.

By the way, it's serious when it means 'however you wish' – you can spend it into any Class, your Species, your Subspecies, and your Bloodline.

My Subspecies? Oh, right. If I hit Level 25 of a Species Tier, I can take on another Subspecies.

Thanks, Nahor.

You're welcome. Congratulations again. I suppose this is the end of your journey with Jozan?

For now. I may return, one day. Before… that.

Maybe. Maybe not. Good luck. I need to go, before Nies locates me. He's been hunting me for years, and with me communicating with you… even if he can't detect me properly, I risk it with prolonged communications.

Why's he hunting you?

Oh, he just wants to find my Divine Realm and beat me up a little. I may have stolen some of his treats awhile back. Congratulations, and good luck.

His presence fades from my mind, and I look at all of my things that I can Level with the experience. Naturally, I send Experience into my Species, taking the last two Levels needed.

+10 to All Stats, to LIF

Experience Remaining: 48,073

I pull up my Subspecies menu.

Subspecies Available:

Fairy

Beastborn

Beastkin

Wyvern

Scaled Wyvern

Well, okay, then, Bert. I guess we're friends, now?

I pick Fairy as my next Subspecies.

+2 INT, CHA, LIF, SPA

+1 AGI, HLT, LFA, MNA

Experience Remaining: 40,573

Now to figure out what to spend it on next. What's required to Advanced my Species to the Third Tier?

I pull up the screen and assess my options. As expected, the last one is the best.

Eternal

+10 to All Stats, LIF each Level

Quest: Completed

It's already completed, too. In other words… I can take it on right now. When I pry for information about the Quest through Archmage, it looks like the Quest required slaying a being of the Second Tier of their Species, and it acted retroactively.

Which is odd, since the requirement for being able to take on Eternal includes slaying a being of the Second Tier of their Species. That, and 5,00 total Attributes, 10,000 total Resources, and at least 20 Titles.

So now I'm curious… how Nies and Twist could say that Eternal was already an option for me, before I reached those thresholds.

I accept the Quest, feeling my body shift and change, my power intensifying more.

Your Species has Advanced to Tier III!

You are Now an Eternal!

+10 to all Attributes, LIF each Level

You have Successfully Advanced Your Species to Tier III!

+40 LIF!

+200 OFV!

+200 RRN!

New Title!

First Ultra Enlightened: You are the first Enlightened to successfully Advance to Tier III of their Species

New Title!

Ultra Enlightened: You are an Enlightened you Advanced to the Third Tier of their Species.

New Title!

First Eternal: You are the first of the Eternals, a powerful class of Tier III Species. Your life is long, your power, high.

New Title!

Eternal: A powerful Class of Tier III Species. Your life is long, your power high.

At first, I don't feel any different when it's complete, though when I look at myself in the mirror I conjure up with Arcane…

Though my irises are still violet, and my pupils still black, the rest of my eyes are almost like universes, with stars and galaxies within them, shifting and changing, like O's cloak.

I stroke Reij, and he releases his tail, looking at me curiously for a moment before taking his tail into his mouth and vanishing from sight once more.

I stand, stretching my wings out, then focus, reverting my eyes back to 'normal'. That is, the only thing out of the 'ordinary' being that the irises are violet.

I fly around for a few minutes, unleashing my new power upon the environment around me, then land back by the pedestal, resuming my previous position sitting against it.

For my next batch of Experience…

I decide to use it on Dekami, acquiring five more Levels to it. I could probably push it another five, or even all the way up, but I'd rather way for now. Well. I couldn't actually go all the way up. I might be able to push two or three more Levels with this Experience, but definitely not more than five.

+125 to All Possible Stats

Experience Remaining: 23,281

What to do next, then? After a lot of internal debate, I decide to go against using it on a Class and just go for Eternal, giving it more Experience, bringing me up to Level 21 of Eternal, with 218 Experience Leftover. I add it into Eternal as well. If I hadn't done that and gone for a Class, I definitely would've been low on Experience for it, probably only reaching Level 15-20, and being stuck there until I can acquire Experience once more.

+200 to All Attributes, LIF

Experience Remaining: 0

New Title!

Millennial Attribute: One who has no Attribute, regardless of visibility or accessibility, below 1,000 Points. You are above all mortals. Fear little.

So. Even my hidden Attributes are over 1,000 Points. Do the Senses count for Attributes, or are they something else? I know it's only the first row that counts for Attributes, but I don't know if the Senses sit on it or not.

Perception has Reach 1,000 Points

All Senses not Already Visible are Now Visible

SIT: 1,093

TST: 1,086

HRG: 1,112

SML: 1,099

TCH: 1,089

Looking at them, they rest under the Attributes line, so I guess Senses has its own. I suppose that makes sense, since even though they're a subcategory of the Attributes, and the Boost Resources receive their own line, despite being a subcategory of Resources.

I perform a few Experiments, determining that I now regenerate Resources at a rate of approximately fifteen seconds per point. Just under fifteen and a quarter.

It'll take me around seventeen and a third hours to go from empty to full.

My allocations and changes complete, I flap my wings once, twice, then rapidly ascend into the sky before flying to the cave I left Ryan within. He's currently studying his runes, but looks up when I approach.

"You're different," he says.

My eyes are normal, so he shouldn't tell any difference.

"The aura you're giving off," he says. "The one that says you're a being above me – it's a lot more powerful than it was before. Did you Advanced your Species to the Third Tier?"

Ah, right. That's a thing.

"Yes," I answer. "I was capable of it, after something happened. Let us leave, now."

"Where are we going?"

"To another continent," I answer. "It is time to begin the official founding of my Order."