The First Archmage

(Gavin)

Now that I found some Flame Fairies willing to join the Order and move to our headquarters, then dropped them off, I can locate the True Tier I Dungeon Tulmis told me about. It's located in an ocean.

After several hours of flying, I locate the whirlpool that marks its entrance. Other than the sparkles, it would look like any other whirlpool formed in the ocean.

Descending down to it, I place my hand on the edge of the whirlpool.

Trial of the Tier I Species Available

Attempt

Don't

"Attempt," I state.

A moment later, I feel myself sucked into it, finding myself in a long, narrow tunnel. It's dark as hell, with absolutely no light around me. Not really an issue for me, though, considering what I am and my array of Skills.

I can see just fine in the dark, listening to the sounds around me and reading the magics in the air, feeling the vibrations in the air and the ground on my skin.

The tunnel is approximately five feet in width, and thousands in length. It's completely and entirely empty, which is suspicious. Too easy of a task.

As soon as I begin walking, the real challenge presents itself. Kobolds almost melt out of the walls. Or rather, the walls themselves seem to melt, kobolds forming from the liquid, then attacking. They're easy to deal with, my magic illuminating the tunnel in both directions as I slay all of the kobolds the form, before and behind.

However, as I walk, the kobolds grow stronger, and even my powerful SIT doesn't allow me to see the end of the tunnel. The kobolds grow larger, and I begin to wonder just how long before this ends. Hours pass, yet I have not begun to see the end of the tunnel, and even though I regenerate my Resources within seconds, I am still exhausted.

Not even my Roars work on the strongest of them I have faced, forcing me to rely on my magic, with both my spells and weapons forged of Aether, my magic and body. I'm unable to use several of my favored spells in here.

Blood Smite is effective, but only hits a single target at a time. When facing dozens, I can't keep recasting, especially since another melts out of the walls immediately after one is slain. Spear of Frozen Lightning is powerful enough to wipe them all out, but that also traps me in.

I had to use my Violet Dragon to dig myself out of that issue.

Sustaining the Violet Dragon on a level large enough to fill the tunnel on one side takes up a lot of Resources as well, leaving me needing to pretty much deal with the kobolds on the other side physically, and that drains me as well, especially since kobolds aren't just before and behind, but also spawning to my sides.

Which isn't fun. My clothes have long since been ruined because of the amount of physical and magical attacks I've taken directly. They aren't powerful enough to hurt me, but they're still annoying. Especially since I may soon be facing kobolds powerful enough to damage me.

Other spells that would be useful here would be manipulating the gravity, except that sustaining that drains me, and I can only sustain it for so long before being wiped out. Black Holes are nice, but also draining, and doesn't extend too far.

Teleporting isn't exactly a good idea, since I'd just end up in the middle of more kobolds, and the ceiling of the tunnel only reaches a few feet above me, meaning that flying isn't exactly feasible, either.

I see something ahead, barely at the reaches of my vision. It's about damn time.

Instead of powering through even harder, I continue at the pace I'm at. There's no way I'd manage to do it if I pushed myself harder because 'the end is in sight'. Especially since, as I draw closer, I see it's just another wall.

I'm tempted to use Aetherial Blade on it, out of sheer exhaustion, though it won't work. It needs a lot of open space to manifest.

As soon as I reach the wall, I summon the Violet Dragon. There are no kobolds forming in a rectangle three feet wide and six feet tall, which means that that is definitely the next space.

The Violet Dragon gets to work protecting me, protecting me from all three sides apart from the front as I examine the 'door', trying to find a way through. I push, I pull, I punch, I attack, but nothing seems to work.

This is a Dungeon, Gavin. There is probably some hidden switch or something.

Looking around, I spot a portion of the wall to my left that has no melting forms on it. Slowly and carefully, I make my way over to it, the Violet Dragon swirling around me completely. When I reach that spot, a space around six inches on each side, I press my hand to it, then look at the door. No change.

Maybe…

I flow all eleven Resources into it at once, and when I do, it glows golden, and a golden light forms behind me. I look over and see the doorway glowing golden.

With a burst of speed unlike any I've used here, I charge through the kobolds, then through the doorway.

As soon as I'm through, I take stock of my surroundings, not allowing myself a moment to rest or read the notification, just in case of an immediate attack.

The room seems to be carved out of a cave, with a bed sitting against one wall, a bath, a table with food on it, another room for relieving myself, and the doorway I just passed through, the glow faded, returning the door to its smooth, stone state.

Maybe the message in my vision would be an indicator of what this room is.

Trial of the Tier I Species Stage I Passed

10-Hour Rest Period Before Stage II

Oh. Rest period. I suppose even this will be that gracious to me.

I eat a light meal, then wash up in the bath before collapsing on the bed, passing out immediately, sleeping for a total of eight and a half hours, according to the notice. After another meal and relieving myself in the relief room, I reform my pants, then wait out the time for the next Stage.

As soon as nine hours, fifty-five minutes from when I entered the rest area passes, the doorway glows golden once more, another notice appearing my vision.

Trial of the Tier I Species Stage II Ready

5 Minutes To Ejection if Not Begun

I suppose that means I should head through it, so I head through the doorway, immediately finding myself submerged in magic-filled water. A quick test tells me that the Violet Dragon will be useless here.

There's too much magic in the water for it to work. It seems this Trial is designed to make me use other things.

Using a careful application of manipulated wind, I create a bubble of air around my head so that I can breathe just fine, though it hinders my vision a little bit, even with it being spread thin and clear. Then again, the water itself isn't very well-illuminated.

Summoning a Spear of Frozen Lightning, I launch it, then wait for it to impact something. And wait. And wait. And wait.

The spell itself eventually fizzles away, the magic in the water eating away at it. In fact, it's affecting my body. If I don't get out of this water soon enough, it may well kill me.

That would leave swimming up. I can't manipulate the water, so I start swimming as fast as I can, using air to boost myself when I'm able, though there isn't much for me to do.

The further up I go, the more I begin to doubt my direction. The light isn't getting any brighter at all. Or rather… there's no light forming in my vision.

I attempt to Teleport, only to find myself blocked. There's too much magic here. In fact… there's too much magic for really anything outside of a straight-up manipulation of the elements, isn't there?

Summoning up my control over air, I weave together several Resources to create an underwater tornado to propel myself higher. After several minutes, I find absolutely no change in the lighting above.

I need to go down. Dammit! Twisting, I cancel the tornado and face downwards, then summon another one. The magic in the water kills it fast, so I have to keep summoning new ones.

I begin to feel my body weaken, the magic in the water starting to break through my defenses. Pushing as hard as I can, I pass through something, finding myself falling into the air… and momentarily disoriented, down becoming forward.

Catching myself, I find myself back in the rest area, though not strong enough to pull myself to my feet, quickly collapsing entirely on the ground.

This place really is trying to kill me. The instinct is to go up. The further up one goes before realizing it, the longer they're exposed to the water that eats away at them.

Life Restore helps heal my body, but it doesn't work all the way. Damage of just magic itself is in an entirely different class, and this Trial is meant to kill people.

Those that don't come out stronger, yet at the same time, it's still… not good.

I doze off at some point, and when I wake, I drag myself onto the bed, passing back out, waking with only an hour left. I bathe, relieve myself, eat, then reform my pants, which faded from the magic in the water, even though they'll probably just get destroyed again.

The Human ancestry in me still wants me clothed. I'm not a Fairy.

When the glow fades after passing into the next Stage, I find myself in a maze. Roughly seven feet in height, with walls four feet apart, giving me a little bit less moving space than the first Stage gave me.

I begin walking, wary of any incoming attacks. Nothing spawns, and I come across no traps, just… walking and walking and walking.

I would Teleport, except that I'd just end up elsewhere in the maze I'm in. Without knowing where the exit is, that would just result in me getting even more lost.

So instead, I walk, relying on my unfathomly high INT to keep track of the passages, despite them being nearly identical.

Hours pass, and I grow hungry, feeling my stomach rumble. Unlike the other stages, I can take a break in here, so I stop and…

Where is my ring?

Staring at my hand, I notice a distinct lack of a spatial ring. Searching my memory, I look to see if I lost it in the previous Stage. It takes me awhile, but I determine that I didn't have it during that, so I look to see if I lost it during the tunnel of the kobolds.

No…

Looking back far enough, it wasn't on my finger when I first appeared here.

That means I'm without the resources within that ring – including the food I always keep, just in case of a situation like this.

That means I can't take my time in this Stage, and need to move on to the next one, and now. As soon as I come to that conclusion, I take off at nearly my full speed.

It will wear me out faster than walking, but I need to get out of here, before I starve.

Hours pass, yet I still find no exit. It's just an endless maze.

It continues on and on and on, the tunnels blurring together, even my nigh-impossible INT struggling to keep track of everything, until, finally, just as I'm about to collapse, I see the glowing golden doorway.

One more rest area, and then likely the final stage, if we stick to the System's four-tier system.

Two more stages if I'm unlucky, and it sticks to the Titles' tiering.

I burst through the doorway, tumbling onto the ground as I do.

It's not the cave floor of the rest area though. Reading the message, I don't even need to look up to know where I am.

Trial of the Tier I Species Stage III Passed!

All Stages Passed!

You may select your Secondary Species!

All Enlightened Species that can be taken on as a Subspecies are available.

Primary Species: Human – Human not available

I dismiss that notification, and another window appears.

Choose Your Secondary Species:

Forest Elf

Wood Elf

Wind Elf

Elemental Fairy

Spirit Fairy

Fairy

Forest Fairy

River Fairy

Mountain Fairy

Black Wolf Beastborn

Kemmel Beastborn

Wolf Beastkin

Bear Beastkin

Lizard Beastkin

Snake Beastkin

Mole Beastkin

Tiger Beastkin

So it doesn't give me a broad spectrum, but rather, specific ones. It looks like it's based on which ones I've become friendly with.

My choice was set from the start, except… I'm not seeing it. My natural Fairy Form is the Eternal Fairy, so shouldn't that be available? I know I can take it on as a Subspecies. So why am I not able to take it on as the Secondary Species?

Unless…

My mother was a Dekami. A true Dekami. According to Twist, Eternal Fairies were the offspring of a Fairy and someone of the same heritage as my mother. In other words, they came from Dekami as well.

Does that affect the ability to take it on? Does the fact that Eternal Fairies are half-Dekami mean they're treated like something other than an Enlightened?

But then… I'm just 'Human'. Why would I still be Human if they weren't considered that?

More questions for the Dekami Scholar, I suppose.

Looking at the differences between the Fairies, it seems that the Stats themselves are the same, no matter which one I pick. However, each has its own bonuses. Fairies themselves have a higher affinity for all magics using their natural Resources, while the others have bonuses for their elements or are only able to use them. Mountain Fairies, Forest Fairies, and River Fairies have multiple elements and greater power when in said environments.

Making my decision, I select it.

As soon as I do, I feel my body shifting, changing every-so-slightly. Power courses through me as I'm changed both physically and magically, and the Fairies' innate sense of magic in the air around me grows strong.

The changes finish, and I feel my being restore, healing completely, my energy returned.

Congratulations!

You are now a Timeless One (IV) and a Fairy (I)!

You will be ejected from the Trial

Immediately upon closing the notice, I find myself bursting out of the portal to the Dungeon.